Getting my excuses in early

I will be away all Bank Holiday weekend in what, in hope rather than in expectation, I will call 'sunny' Manchester. The next Labour MP for Manchester Withington, Lucy Powell, is getting married. Not taking a laptop with me, so unless I manage to slip my handlers and get to an internet cafe, I won't be blogging or checking comments.

Wanted to blog about today's votes - and yesterday's, although Tom Harris has comprehensively covered that - but more important to clear the desk. One of those things... the more 'interesting' the week is politically, the less chance you get to blog. I might feel sufficiently refreshed by Monday to do a catch up. Who knows.

Tonight's council meeting

Buses being debated at Bristol City Council tonight. If I'm not in the Chamber I'll watch it on the webcast. Before anyone starts griping about why Labour wasn't saying these things when they were running the Council, the answer is, they were - but they were also trying to work with First Bus and the other local authorities and this obliged us to pursue a rather more conciliatory strategy, building consensus, don't rock the pram or the Tories/ Lib Dems will throw their toys out...

Mark has also put down some questions about the waste strategy (i.e. where is it, what is it and how the hell are you going to make the sums add up with the PFI element?) but I understand there's a good chance they won't get to it.

Two nations divided by a common newspaper

Hat-tip to Alex for this one. (Not Hilton, a different one). I'm pretty sure I've blogged on here before about my support for the HPV virus vaccination programme in schools. The Daily Mail wasn't happy, at least not in the UK. Looks like they were quite keen on it in their Irish edition, however, which is quite bizarre considering that I'd have thought there'd be far more resistance to such things (i.e. the notion of schoolgirls being sexually active) over there.

Keira Knightley 'ad' is banned

Bit of a debate going on over whether an 'ad' (if you can call it that) about domestic violence, featuring Keira Knightley, should be shown on TV. The censors said it was too violent, but what's the point of showing a sanitised version? It's meant to be shocking. And that's what I told the Independent. You can see the whole, uncut version, on YouTube.

Just me moaning about things

In the library in Portcullis House. I seem to have finally persuaded the parliamentary IT people that my 'repaired' phone (back from the manufacturers after a month's intensive care) is not working. It took two visits and much explanation on my part of the fact that (a) there is no signal and (b) you can't make or receive calls or texts, which I think would fit most people's definition of 'not working', but we had to have much consultation and expert furrowing of brows before it was confirmed. Am now trying to persuade them that it's not worth sending it away again to be repaired. I'm now plonked in a corner looking at emails while the guy sets up my 'temporary' replacement, which I might not let them have back.

Spotted on my trips to and fro - Diane Abbott and Moira Stewart deep in conversation over a coffee.

More on buses in the BEP today; the Lib Dem seems to be saying that the problem is that the bus drivers don't smile enough. They don't smile, they can't spell... Although Cllr Rogers then comes back in on the comments to say it's a symptom, not a cause. Fair enough (fare enough?) but doesn't really get us very far, does it? Like the buses really....

Rhinestone Cowboy

Friends of the Earth are launching the next stage of their Food Chain campaign tomorrow, see the politics.co.uk site for more details, but it's basically about how UK taxpayers are inadvertently funding the destruction of the rainforest by propping up the EU's industrialised farming system. For the launch tomorrow they've invited MPs along for a photo-op which involves one of those bucking broncos. And yes I am going to have a go. And if there's a ridiculous photo, I will post it.

I assume it's going to be in Parliament Square, but that's more or less occupied by Tamil campaigners at the moment, including the hunger striker, so not sure it would be quite right.

She bangs the drums

Just been looking at Sarah Brown's Twitter profile. Most of her tweets - and they are obviously hers, not the work of a Downing Street apparatchik - are about her work on maternal health, which seems to be picking up momentum. Of all the Millennium Development Goals maternal health is the one which is least likely to be met - more than half a million women each year die in childbirth or from pregnancy-related problems - and it really needs a champion, which Sarah is doing by promoting the work of the White Ribbon Alliance. And she manages to get the balance right; despite using her profile to draw attention to the issue, it's still about the cause, not about her - unlike some of the celebrities who align themselves with 'worthy' causes.

She's also obviously interested in other development issues - she's been tweeting today about malaria too. What is also appealing about her 'tweets' is that you get little insights into normal life at Downing Street; she's been planting vegetable seeds with the two boys (at least I assume it's at No. 10, might be Chequers I suppose) and the seed trays are 'peat free', she says. I don't know her at all, but I get the impression that she must be quite clued up about environmental and ethical issues. The press recently reported that she declined to eat veal and foie gras at a banquet at the recent Nato summit in France, which as you can imagine, met with my approval.

And today's Times is saying nice things about her too.

If only I could sell myself.... (updated)

...the way that even I would buy.*

A little while ago there was a bit of a rumpus in the blogosphere about the fact that Lib Dems seemed to have paid for a Google ad which led to a BBC piece having a bit of a go about the Labour MP, Dawn Butler. See Hopi's take on it, here and here.

Well it seems that Bristol Conservatives have now got in on the act. Here's a not particularly interesting piece from the Telegraph about a Lib Dem PPC who has defected to the Tories for what seem to me to be entirely careerist reasons, but that's beside the point. Have a look at the ad at the bottom. Care to comment, James?

PS While we're kind of on the subject of the Tories nicking other parties' candidates, in Blackburn they seem to be looking to the BNP to boost their gene pool. And here's what the candidate has to say about it:

Mr Holt told of his shock at being approached.
He said: “I had no real interest in the town council but they sort of sold it to me... I was a little bit surprised they asked me. I never volunteered it. I still subscribe to the BNP’s principles, but I was taking a break from it. When the Conservatives approached me it seemed like the right thing to do. But I have never renounced the BNP and I never would. They were happy to have me. I laughed at first but they persuaded me.”

So if the Tories had no idea who he was, and didn't know anything about his past involvement in BNP politics - which it what they've claimed, but is rather implausible given how frequently he'd stood as a BNP candidate in Blackburn - then why did they make unsolicited overtures to him? Do they just randomly approach complete strangers and ask them to stand as Tory candidates? Or did they get into a conversation with him on the doorstep and thought he sounded like their kind of guy? Someone's got some explaining to do.

*Soulwax, Too Many DJs, in case you're wondering.

Catch a wave

Been trying to find out through Twitter how TwitterFall works - something to do with all tweets on a specific hashtag appearing on screen. Anyway, my enquiries led Paul from Portishead to reply to me with this gem: what happened when the old fogeys at the Telegraph tried to get with it and show all tweets relating to Budget 2009 on their website. Maybe it should now rename itself the Twittergraph?

She's not there

One might think that if one were in the business of organising a picket of an MP's surgery, along with organising the placards and leaflets and remembering to invite the Trots to boost the numbers, one of the items on the checklist might be to find out when and where the surgery is being held. Rather than just making a random guess. Otherwise one runs the risk of turning up at a time and a place where said MP is not holding a surgery, and has never held a surgery (no disabled access). And no sign of the MP, who is busy doing other things in other places.

To digress for a moment, I was told today of the time my predecessor's office was picketed by anti-war protestors, who made an awful lot of noise shouting and blowing horns, and pelting an effigy of Jean with tomatoes. One of their number then knocked on the office door and asked if she could use the loo. And looked somewhat effronted when told to clear off.

On a more serious note, however, it's just not on to picket an MP's surgery in the first place. By all means turn up at an event where the MP is going to be speaking, or try to collar them in a public place. (Although that's not an invitation to do so!)

But surgeries are for people with problems. Sometimes very serious problems. At today's surgery - held at another time, in another place - I had a young woman who ended up in tears telling me about her housing and health problems; obviously I can't talk about her case, but it was a big step for her to pluck up the courage to come and see her MP and ask for help. I also saw two women who have gone through an absolutely horrendous time over the past few years, which again I can't talk about, and several people very worried about their asylum or immigration status, and others with financial problems. Why should any of them be subjected to a barrage of political protest when they turn up to see their MP to talk about what are essentially very private matters?

We missed the bus

Transport Minister Paul Clark joined me and local councillors Terry Cook, Mark Bradshaw, Brenda Hugill, and the ubiquitous Paul Smith in Lawrence Hill today for the launch of Labour's 'Brunelcard' campaign. We think an Oyster card type system for local bus and rail services would cut delays (no endless waits while the person in front fiddles around for change), be more convenient (no last-minute rush into the newsagents by the bus stop to buy a pack of chewing gum just so you don't have to try to persuade the driver to give you change from a tenner), cut the cost of journeys and encourage more people to use the buses and trains.

But it seems we've missed the bus. Big time. While we've been banging on about fare rises, unreliable or cancelled services, dirty buses, rude drivers and First's failure to bring fares down in lines with the drop in fuel prices, not to mention the need for a quality bus contract and an Integrated Transport Authority, the real scandal about First Bus in Bristol has passed us by.

We've been left standing at the bus stop while Cllr Woodman sails past on his way to Original FM to reveal the dreadful truth about First Bus. They don't know how to spell Colston! They spelt it with an 'e'! As Cllr Woodman says, 'it shows just how awful First Bus is'. And it takes a Liberal Democrat to tell us. We hang our Labour heads in shame.

The hidden side of everything

I follow @freakonomics on Twitter. You may have read the book, but if not, it's basically an alternative take on economics and social issues - e.g did crime drop dramatically in New York because of the 'zero tolerance' policies adopted by the city Mayor, or was it because Roe-v-Wade had made abortion more easily available a couple of decades earlier? Their strapline is "The Hidden Side of Everything". So here's one of their latest tweets for starters... Discuss!

Did Celebrating Earth Day Make You Pollute More?
By Freakonomics.
Beware moral self-regulation. Doing good works, it turns out, may make people feel justified in doing ill. A new study from psychologists at Northwestern University suggests that “affirming a moral identity leads people to feel licensed to act immorally.” In other words, as Ryan Sager points out, acting green one day might leave you more willing to indulge your planet-destroying consumption impulses the next.

Picture this

Have just had notice through of a Labour photo op next week, headed "Kitty Ussher on Miners' Knee".

It's actually about a recent announcement that James Purnell has accepted the recommendation of the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council "that the condition commonly known as Miners’ Knee should be added to the list of prescribed diseases". But still, punctuation aside, it conjures up images, doesn't it?

Taking up space

I'm reluctant to do anything that would draw extra attention to the publicity seeking efforts of a certain airline, but seeing as I've started a bit of a row on Twitter, I may as well follow up here. Ryanair have suggested a 'fat tax' on obese passengers, which seems to me just a backdoor way of milking more money out of their customers whilst still advertising 'low cost' flights. However...

I have a teensy bit of sympathy on this, not on the weight issue, but on how much space someone takes up. I spent ten years commuting to London by train and the fact is, if you're small, the bigger people make a beeline for the seat next to you. And then you're stuck, either squashed right up against the window, unable to move, or precariously trying to balance on the half-an-aisle-seat you've been left. (Which was always my preferred option; better to topple unceremoniously into the aisle as the train goes over a bumpy bit than to be sandwiched between the window and someone's hot sweaty flesh for an hour). Experienced commuters soon learn 'maximising body space' tricks, like opening a newspaper or arranging your coat and baggage artfully around you. Or just glaring at people who are heading towards you.

The ones I always hated the most though, were the men who sat with their legs wide apart. A bit of unwanted physical contact with people on public transport is probably unavoidable, but there are some things you really don't want to see first thing in the morning.

I have a letter in the BEP today

Tory has missed the bus on fares

"I read with interest the Conservative candidate for Bristol East's Feedback piece on bus fares in Bristol ("Bristol MPs say bus fares are too high", April 15).

I know she has only recently started taking an interest in local politics, which perhaps explains why she suggests that Dawn Primarolo and I have only just "woken up to the cost of travelling on First buses". The truth, as Post readers will know, is that both of us have been campaigning on this issue for a long time. This has included talking to ministers, meeting with successive managing directors of First Bus, talking to employee representatives and the local authority, and yes, writing letters to try to pin down First to give some firm commitments as to how it intends to improve our bus services. We have made it clear we believe that First must shape up or ship out.

Ms Shafi talks about the prospect of another company coming in to provide a bus service in Bristol, and yet her party, the Conservatives, voted against the Local Transport Act and the new Quality Contract scheme which would make this a viable option.

She also proposes an Integrated Transport Authority, which again was included in the legislation her party opposed. I have long been an advocate of the need for Bristol and the surrounding area to have its own transport authority, and I am glad that she has now come on board. Perhaps she could talk to her Conservative colleagues on the other three councils and persuade them of its merits now?

Finally, I note that Ms Shafi signs off by saying that letter writing is not taking 'proper action'. Perhaps she could inform us what she has done personally to campaign for better transport in Bristol (other than writing her letter, of course)?

Kerry McCarthy, MP."

I did a debate with Ms Shafi at St Brendans Sixth Form College the other week. When she started complaining about the buses, I challenged her on the above points. Her reply? "I'm not here as a Conservative, I'm speaking as someone who wants to use the buses but can't..." I expect I'll be hearing that line frequently over the coming months.

One of the students asked a cracking question, about how could a Conservative frontbench stuffed full of Old Etonians claim to speak for young people like him? Ms Shafi posited herself as an example of just how much Cameron's Conservative Party has changed - at which stage I urged the students to take a look at the Rees-Mogg progeny, Jacob and Annunziata, who are both fighting very marginal seats in nearby Somerset.

Charlotte Leslie, another Bristol Tory PPC, uses the same response in debates - look at me, I'm young and blonde, and I've been selected for a marginal seat; look how much the Tories have changed. Yes, I mutter under my breath, but you're still rather posh Charlotte, aren't you?

More on expenses

At least Gordon's announcement this week has triggered a slightly better informed debate about MPs' expenses than we've had over the past year or so. Michael White has an interesting piece in the Guardian, although I think he's wrong on the second jobs issue. (We're only asking people to declare hours worked and money earned - what's wrong with that? Constituents can then decide whether or not they're getting value for money from a part-time MP).

I'm not convinced the daily allowance is the solution, and I voted against it last time, for some of the very reasons that are being put forward now ('clocking in' culture, unfair on people who want to devote more time to constituency than Commons work, lack of transparency in that no receipts are required). I seem to think I got rather a lot of flak for doing so at the time.

But now I think we've reached the stage where the imperative to scrap the second homes allowance is so strong, any alternative would be better. I see the PM's proposals as an interim measure until the full review is concluded at the end of the year.

Michael says he has only 'modest' expectations of sensible comments on his post. Mine are even lower. But have a look at what he says about the systems in other European countries before you rush to judgment.

You're not big and you're not clever

H/T to Hopi for bringing this to my attention (a bit late, but there you go). Excellent article by Steve Richards in the Independent.

The change we don't need

Conservative Future.... more than a little weird.

She's like a rainbow (2)

Trying green and purple now, after Paul and bevanite complained about the blue. I was just scrolling quickly past the list of tags that I've added to this page, and all I glimpsed was 'Keanu Reeves', 'Marlon Brando', 'Michael Fabricant'... Every girl's dream trio.

Postscript. Sorry, didn't like the green. The blue is much nicer. Why should we let the devil have all the best colours?

More on the Budget - renewables

Because I know at least one reader of this blog will be interested in the renewables stuff - actually two, if you count Paul Smith - here's some more detail which has come through in a press release from the Renewable Energy Association, which represents the UK renewables industry.

"Main measures for renewables

The Budget contained the three main measures the REA had highlighted for renewables:

Up to £4bn of finance for new renewable energy projects in the UK will be provided by the European Investment Bank responding to serious difficulties in access to finance.

The number of Renewables Obligation Certificates allocated to new offshore wind projects will be increased to 2 per MWh for 2010/11 and 1.75 in 2011/12 before reverting to the 1.5 ROC/MWh level. The government valued this at £525m. Projects eligibility is subject to specified criteria.

The decentralised renewables sector will receive £70m of new grant support to bridge the period to the introduction of the new renewable energy tariffs; £45m for the Low Carbon Buildings Programme and £25m for community heating.

This matches the key proposals made in the REA's pre-budget submission to the Treasury, but provides less hard cash.

In addition the budget offers

o £10 million in new grants for anaerobic digestion to turn organic waste into green energy

o Authorising £4bn of networks investment by the private sector to improve access for renewable energy (a 50% increase on 5 years ago)

o £ 405m to support the Low Carbon Industrial Vision including £250m for ‘advanced industrial projects of strategic importance’.

o £50m for the Technology Strategy Board for future growth industries including low carbon technology."