Praguetory

May

2008-05-18T22:14:00.002+02:00

May 18

Something completely different. Kasparov telling it like it is.

May 12

It seems that in the one isolated spot where Labour won on May 1st, they can't take power. Hehe.

May 8

Outgoing Labour councillors and malcontent Labour MPs have been doing the Conservative Party an incredible service since the local elections. They've all been busy spouting myriad complaints about their party's leadership of the country. In the wake of poll losses this serves to make them look like hypocrites not martyrs and when Labour politicians are giving you reasons not to vote Labour why should the public at large. The result of this infighting - Labour's lowest ever poll rating. They are in a hole, but I think that after a pasting in Crewe the Labour Party will wake up and get more disciplined. can't see the Tory leader increasing further.

May 7

I'm caught in two minds whether to have a mini-break from politics or keep the momentum going. What I should be doing is trying to recruit new members to the party which should be like shooting fish in a barrel, but the Conservative social diary looks pretty full. Speaking of which, I'm looking forward to catching up with Maggie Throup and some of the Bromsgrove CF group at an event this Friday.

May 6

I want to say hi to Geoff V who based on his frequent appearances in the mybloglog avatar list on the left has been a most frequent visitor to my blog through thick and thin. I wonder what makes him return? (See comments for Geoff's reply)

May 4

On PoliticalBetting Labour MP Nick Palmer made the comment that Labour has kept the ‘Guardianista’ and ethnic votes but has lost the white working class vote. The results in Birmingham and my time spent campaigning there corroborate this theory. Take the seat of Birmingham Erdington, home of Sion 'Just Like You' Simon with a 10,000 and 30% majority from 2005 that doesn't even feature on any Tory target list.

Check out what has happened in the locals between 2004* and 2008 here.

Erdington Con 2678 (1441) Lab 1187 (1845)
Kingstanding Con 1296 (823) Lab 1376 (1585)
Stockland Green Con 1946 (1077) Lab 1874 (1746)
Tyburn Con 1125 (1016) Lab 1144 (1507)

Total Conservative 7045 (4757) Labour 5581 (6673)

* 2004 results in brackets taking the second placed Tory/Labourite in the all-out elections that took place then. CCHQ - it's time to select a candidate here.

May 3

My old friend Peter Smallbone won the final council seat in Birmingham Edgbaston. All 12 councillors in this Labour-held seat are now Conservative.

The full results for the Edgbaston constituency were:
Bartley Green Ward - Vivienne Barton - Con Hold Majority 2418
Edgbaston Ward - Deirdre Alden - Con Hold - Majority 1517
Harborne Ward - John Alden - Con Hold - Majority 1328
Quinton Ward - Peter Smallbone - Con Gain - Majority 376

A full on-the-spot report from Deirdre Alden our PPC in Edgbaston is here.

May 2

After a very very hard fought campaign all four seats in Northfield were won by Conservatives last night!! This means that there is now a full slate of Conservative Cllrs in Northfield.

The majorities are as follows:

WARD CANDIDATE MAJORITY
Northfield Les Lawrence 1308 CON HOLD
Kings Norton Geoff Sutton 853 CON HOLD
Weoley Eddie Freeman 598 *CON GAIN*
Longbridge Ken Wood 277 *CON GAIN*

May 1

Good luck to

Deirdre Alden
John Alden
Bob Beauchamp
Matt Bennett
Jenny Brewer
Nigel Dawkins
Eddie Freeman
Graham Green
Len Gregory
Andrew Hardie
Bob Harvey
Carl Husted
Maura Judges
Gary Sambrook
Derek Johnson
Sam Pearce
Peter Smallbone
Neville Summerfield
Geoff Sutton
Ken Wood

and any other Tory candidates tonight...

Update - those in bold won seats from Labour! Hip hip hoorah.

Disgraceful Labour Campaign In Crewe & Nantwich

2008-05-11T02:14:00.015+02:00

Update 16 May

I'm going to Crewe. Here's something for the weekend.

Hat tip 4wd.

Update 14 May

Others 54 Labour 0 - luckily someone was keeping score over at the Grauniad. Labour's tax reversal is being dubbed the Crewe Cut. If only they could have put the bribe directly in the voters back-pockets, but I suppose the logic is that if you spray enough money around some of it will hit the mark. It seems that when Mervyn King said yesterday that we were at the end of the nice decade, he may have been right in more ways than one.

Update 13 May

Labour's managed it again. A party on the brink of bankruptcy has managed to spend a few billion on an a by-election. It's wholly irresponsible.

Tax cuts + increased borrowing = pre by-election bribe.

However, it would be hypocritical of me not to welcome the small (for now temporary) increase in personal allowances. I hope one day that extracting payroll taxes from people dependent on benefits - making them slaves of the state - will come to be seen as an absurd historical aberration & this panicked move by the government certainly shifts the political debate to the right. As the legendary free marketeer Mart Laar once reminded me in a speech, a highly effective way to reduce public spending is to starve the beast.

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Visited the area today and apart from the preponderance of Tory posters that sums it up. I go into more detail here, where the good councillor host is bored and will not be taking further ridicule (everyone was laughing at him). Amusingly, the said councillor refers to this extraordinary article by the sub-standard Tim Hames where he sweetly urges the Tories to limit their majority at the next General Election.

Hames rightly gets a hammering in the comments, but I take especial issue with this quote.

'Conservatives... should instinctively support Mr Brown's (10p tax) reform.'

I know a lot of Conservatives and I know of not one who applauds Brown's tax trick. Apart from its regressive impact, no Tories would favour making the benefit trap even deeper which is one of the obvious side-effects of the doubling of tax on the lowest paid. A passing reader might mistake Hames for a simpleton, but I take the view that he is also a Labour sycophant trying and failing to dress up favours to the Great Leader as political commentary - he certainly has form. Guido is looking for dead tree targets. Hames is a nice juicy piece of low-hanging fruit.

Vote Conservative This Thursday

2008-04-28T11:24:00.000+02:00

The national picture shows a Labour Party that can find £50 billion to prop up banks, but whacks the low paid for an extra £7 billion by doubling the tax rate for them. A government that tries to deny rights to the families of dead soldiers whilst indulging hardened criminals. A cabale that lectures on democracy, but won’t keep its referendum promise. But when you come to vote on Thursday, it will be for local representation. What Birmingham Conservatives have achieved is a microcosm, but worth repeating.

When Labour was kicked out of Brum in 2003 we had worsening council services, rising council taxes and behaviour from some of their politicians that would disgrace a banana republic.

Under the progressive partnership Birmingham council has risen from the indignity of being a zero star local authority to reach three stars whilst keeping council tax rises below the rate of inflation. We are holders of the ‘Cleanest City’ award beating 65 other cities.

Men and women of integrity, the current City Cabinet have hardly put a foot wrong. A vote against the Progressive Partnership that runs Brum offends common sense.

That Flag Does Not Suit You, Sir

2008-04-25T18:49:00.006+02:00

Steve Bedser is one of the last Labour councillors in South Birmingham. In his election leaflet he has wrapped himself in the Union Jack in a desperate bid for re-election. This from the party that has brought us a decade of constitutional vandalism that has left us with a dog's breakfast devolution settlement that could tear the union apart.

April

2008-04-01T22:43:00.007+02:00

28 April

On the doorstep.

"If you were a Labour activist I'd have given you a mouthful of abuse"

(pleading) "You have to get rid of them"

"Labour voters should be prosecuted for treason"

"Things have never been so bad. The country is being destroyed"

On the other hand, one woman put our leaflet in the bin as I passed it to her. I got her to retrieve it and give it back to me. lol.

26 April

Did you know that Conservatives are on average happier than Lefties? Makes sense to me. ;-)

21 April

Re the 10p tax rise, it seems I am a year and a month quicker on the uptake than the embryonic Labour rebels. Why does that not surprise me? Hammering the poor is bad enough, what really takes the biscuit is the way that Brown denies that this move made poor people worse off. He'd tell you the day is night if he thought he could get away with it.

19 April

Can't wait 'til the elections are over.

15 April

If I were a Labour activist, (stay with me, chaps) I'd be sick of defending Gordon. Over at Labour Home, after months of brassing it out and/or keeping their heads down, we finally see the first signs of honesty from Labour fans.

14 April

Something's bugging me. Obviously Mr Brown is struggling with popularity of late, but I don't like one particular developing narrative. That narrative goes like this. Labour has been in charge for a long time; now that the 'inevitable' economic downturn comes they will be punished at the polls. This lets them off the hook.

I'd prefer Labour to be seen to have failed and for there to be a general recognition that the trends that they have set in motion (family disintegration, softness on criminals, welfare dependency, bureaucracy, regulation, nannying, intrusion, higher public expenditure, appeasing extremists, cronyism, spinning etc) have been deeply damaging and need to be reversed.

So what the Conservative Party needs to do is more than just make the case that Labour have failed. Whilst emphasising that there is no quick fix we need to describe where we want to get to (cohesive communities, competitive business environment, safe cities, high quality of life) and describe concrete examples of what we propose to do to get there (e.g tax simplification measures, clearly explained welfare reforms, education programme etc).

In sum, not only do we need to make the argument that Labour have failed, but to present the case for change and show that we have the ideas and determination to deliver! That's how we will enthuse the electorate and bring about meaningful political and cultural change.

13 April

Been ill this weekend which has been a respite from work and campaigning - so I had a look round the blogs. Snafu is still churning out good stuff and wins the award for awkward questions.

Thinking about staying in Brum longer term at the mo. Oversupply of city centre apartments has its plus points. You can get something like this right in the centre of Brum for 695 quid a month (and undoubtedly less if I'm negotiating).

12 April

How do you think Einstein would play chess? Here's your answer.

9 April

I'm acting as the election agent for Sam Pearce who will be standing in the South Birmingham ward of Springfield for the Conservatives. Our first leaflet has been prepared. You can see it here. We're getting a team together to deliver our message to ward residents this weekend - which we'll make a sociable occasion. If you want to join us, mail me at praguetory@googlemail.com.

3 April

I watched Question Time in Birmingham with my parents this evening. Sarah Teather was truly risible. Sometimes I do worry about how you combat stupidity in political debate.

1 April

As some of you know, I am not actually in Prague or indeed Czech partly because of the local elections here. This is what I am missing out on. Politics meets chess. If I was there, I'd have paid the £3,000 to play Kasparov in the beautiful castle setting.

On a more serious note, I am watching Zimbabwe. Mirroring the nation, many Zimba blogs have died, but Still Here, Kubatanablogs, Eddie Cross and David Coltart are still going.

March

2008-03-01T08:47:00.018+01:00

March 31

Two of my old favourites Wilted Rose and Andrew Allison are back blogging - go visit. Whilst blogging about blogging I must mention Buls. Their content is risible, but I do appreciate them giving me a platform to demolish their left-wing bilge.

March 27

An old mate of mine enjoyed the saying 'if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem'. These NUTters are certainly not part of the solution, but their actions should be a wake-up call for all sensible Brits. Let's get off the fence and take on these self-haters.

March 22

I've been asked to be an election agent, so I have decided to come out on the Stirrer local forum for the duration of the campaign. In other news, Richard Corbett is now accepting comments.

March 18

Further evidence that Labour has lost none of its arrogance. To seek legal redress to prevent coroners blaming the MOD marks a new low. Changing tack, how can Ken Livingstone credibly seek to be re-elected whist all these things are going on?

March 13

Can you spot me amongst the group of Tories gathered for some campaigning in Quinton here? A highly motivated group. On that subject, I doubt that Ed Balls' memorable two word intervention will be forgotten in a hurry. Youtubed here.

I picked up the Birmingham Post today - very well presented paper. I'm just as impressed with their blog. Stick with it, guys and if you need a guest post, you know where I am. Anyway, I'm off to Kampa Park tonight, where Brad and Angelina were spotted last time they were in Prague.

March 9 - Tower Blocks & Filthy Dwellings

The trend with tower blocks is to demolish them. In the meantime, many people are having a pretty miserable experience living in them. Yesterday I leafletted 4 10 storey tower blocks. Me and my fellow leafleteer took the lift to the top floor then worked downwards, each of us taking the dangerously poorly lit stairwells. There was some variety in the buildings. Sometimes the smell of alcohol overpowered the other fragrances on the stairwells, in other cases it was definitely the urine and in one lift the stink of stale cannabis won out. One thing that was consistent was a little used noticeboard in the reception areas outlining the times and area of the local ASBO (i.e. a vast area at all times of day and night) - and nothing else. I think most prisons provide a nicer living environment than this. We have to do better than this. Any ideas for improving the environment for tower block residents without breaking the bank?

On the plus side, there was very little litter, unlike in the gardens of the nearby council houses. About 80% of these gardens were a disgrace. Apart from some young girls leaning out of the window to ask what I was delivering, I didn't meet any residents, which is a pity as I wanted to ask them why they didn't tidy up the litter in their front gardens. The messes looked like it had developed over years rather than days. The presence of the occasional well kept residence heightened the misery, I'm afraid. Any ideas for improving the local environment? Considering that it costs 300 quid for a council to replace a tree on a street, maybe a more imaginative use of money would be to have cleanest/most improved garden/street awards at an ultra-local level.

March 7

I naturally think of Nick Clegg as an out-of-touch PC snob, so it's good to see that he's cementing this image in the mind of the public. There's nothing democratic about denying the British public a vote on the Lisbon constitreaty and nothing liberal about enforcing a three-line whip over this matter. This week's events raise the recurring question of what is the point of the Liberal Democrats? After his first month in the job I criticised Nick Clegg for singularly failing to make an impact. He has now - a negative one. Unless the Tories decide to go through another of their suicidal episodes, I predict that the steady stream of defecting Liberals could soon become a flood.

March 6

ID cards - First they came for the non-EU nationals...

March 2

It's being suggested that this young man who goes by the name Magnus Carlsen could become one of the greatest chess players of all time. At 17 he has a positive overall record against recent world champ Veselin Topalov.

March 1

Did you enjoy your Leap Year Day? I went to the Moseley festival quiz last night and was the least productive member of a mid-table team. I hadn't even heard of any of the artists mentioned in the art round. The 'low brow' round bore little resemblance to the Dog and Duck quiz and who knows the difference between a koala hand and a human hand?

February

2008-02-03T22:13:00.021+01:00

Feb 28th

Interesting if brief interview this morning on Breakfast TV with Heather Brooke who has been successfully campaigning for increased transparency in Parliament. WHen I get a chance I'll have a detailed look at her website. Blogrolled.

Feb 26th

It takes some doing, but Councillor Bob Piper is the most reprehensible serving politician in England. Informed by ignorance and blind hatred it is easy to run rings around him in an argument, which is the reason he won't let me have my say on his blog. His only religion is crypto-Communism so I guess he'll have no qualms about some of the violent fantasies played out in the comment section - personally I think this sort of stuff is well beyond the pale.

Feb 25th

It's been pointed out to me that in the bottom mayoral picture on the far right are two former councillors for Kings Norton (now 100% Tory) Laura Ross and her husband Duncan - who mentioned what a big lad he was when I correctly reported that Laura was looking for alternative employment in advance of last year's election where she was the defeated incumbent. The unsuccessful mayoral referendum petition is not a street or grassroots campaign, it's a Labour campaign.

Feb 22nd

The regular reader(s) of this blog will know I'm generally a pretty tolerant guy, but David Blunkett!? being wheeled out on Sky to ~~defend~~ commentate on the Commons Speaker Michael Martin's irregularities is somewhat irksome.

Feb 21st

I find proposals for elected mayors to offend my pro-democratic and pro-small government tendencies. I'd rather give more powers to local governments that are arranged in the traditional Leader & Cabinet manner. Being as we already have councillors, I'd rather have elected police chiefs than elected mayors. Nonetheless, it can be argued that support for and opposition to elected mayors is cross-party. If 5% of the voting population signs up for it, legislation triggers a referendum and in Birmingham, support for a mayoral referendum has formed the main campaign of the local paper and the Labour Party for about a year - check here for 100! Birmingham Mail stories related to this campaign. Both are eager to portray this campaign as a grassroots one. This is rather skewered when you consider the people manning the stands. It may be a cross-party issue, but it's definitely a Labour campaign as you can see if you click on the pictures and check out the sources.

Source 1 and Source 2. By the way, it is rumoured that with a month left until the petition deadline expires they are miles off meeting the threshhold. Steve Dyson (editor of Birmingham Mail) and Neil Elkes (chief political editor) have shown poor judgment by flogging this dead horse and have allied themselves with a shambolic local Labour Party in the process.

White people will want to know his/her motivation/credentials are but I like this blog because it's funny. Blogrolled.

Feb 20th

Re Northern Rock, Cityunslicker eats his hat. Meanwhile Ken Purchase and other idiots on the Left are celebrating the nationalisation. My take is that NR is a disastrous but all-too-typical saga of Labour incompetence. The decision to nationalise is yet another misguided attempt to kick the issue into the long grass rather than take a short-term hit and move on. It won't work and the existence of a government-backed bank acting like any other commercial player will have a pernicious impact on the rest of the financial sector.

Feb 17th

It seems that my name goes before me in Birmingham Conservative circles, but it is a bit embarassing to be introduced as Dominic Fisher aka Praguetory. Some have suggested I could/should stand in a non-target seat in the upcoming locals, but this is impossible because you need to be registered as living in a local authority for a year before you can be a candidate. I was out delivering with Cllr Bobby Alden who represents Birmingham Erdington the seat that he lives in. Although there is a limited amount that a councillor can achieve due to the centralised democracy we have, he seems to have earned the trust of his constituents. Residents emerged from their houses with thank you cards and for advice and car drivers were screeching to a halt upon seeing him to get out and asking him to make representations about traffic issues. The incumbent Erdington Labour councillor Jilly Bermingham has apparently decided not to stand using a laughably weak excuse that would be too cruel to repeat here, but is a source of Tory derision. Rumour is that Labour have picked someone from outside the area to replace her.

I've decided to add Susan Polgar's blog to the roll. She was the first female grandmaster and posts prolifically here. She is part of the a sister act that became world team chess champions for their country. An interesting programme on her and how she reached the chess heights is here.

Feb 16th

They say that there aren't many Tory members in Birmingham - there were around 100 out in force last night at a beer and skittles night. It seems that wii bowling helps with real bowling as my team walked away with the bubbly and I top scored on the evening. I agree with this diagnosis of Tory tax dithering. You don't win an argument if you lack clarity and conviction.

Feb 14th

Charlie/Gordon Brown is a lovable/unlovable loser, a child/man possessed of endless determination and optimism/cynicism, but who is ultimately dominated by a "permanent case of bad luck", and is often dominated by his peers. These traits are best-shown from his baseball team/Cabinet: Charlie/Gordon Brown is the manager of the team and its pitcher/Prime minister, Charlie/Gordon Brown consistently loses (his all-time baseball/PMQ record is said to be 0-27).

Feb 12th

In respect of the EU referendum, I was interested by Trixie's eye-witness account of Labour admitting that they don't keep their promises and that we shouldn't expect them to.

I can see certain circumstances where it could be unreasonable to punish a party (outside of the ballot box) for failing on their manifesto commitments. Required legislation might fail to pass or as in the case of single sex hospital wards, the government might simply be too incompetent to deliver their promises. But it is unreasonable and inexcusable for Labour to fail to call a referendum. The only obstacle to doing so is Brown's own cowardice/dishonour.

Labour sycophant David Boothroyd predictably turns up in the comments thread at Trixie's with the party line that the constitution is different to the treaty. It's easy to spout the party line on a blog, but Labour's lawyers clearly felt that this line of argument wouldn't stand up in court. They'd rather admit that their promises are worthless than make that case. That tired mantra is firmly skewered.

Feb 11th

Well two out of three ain't bad. Highlight of the Villa match was the chant of 'there's only one Kevin Keegan' after Carew racked up his hat-trick.

Feb 9th

Back to Brum. As part of my mission I have to bring back cheddar cheese (lots of it), Yorkshire Tea and a strapless and transparent bra.

Feb 8th

I'm off to watch Villa play Newcastle with my former Lenton housemates this weekend. It will be interesting to see whether Keegan and Wise (pictured) can motivate the Geordies.

Feb 7th

I've decided to stop commenting at political websites for Lent.

Feb 6th

Good first question from David Cameron on how many reviews Gordon Brown has initiated (the answer is 52 or one every 4 days). By the way, I didn't know that Andy Fordham was an MP but he was sat behind Gordon today.

Feb 5th

As Laban pointed out (but nobody else seemed to notice) BBC radio presenter and full-blown AIDs sufferer Nigel Wrench was suspended by the BBC just less than a year ago when he was charged with male rape. Details of the incident are beginning to emerge from court. In 2000, Nigel told the Pink Paper 'Since I've been HIV+ I've had unsafe sex more times than I can remember, often with men whose names I could not tell you now'.

When sacking Robert Kilroy-Silk, the BBC's Jana Bennett said

'Presenters of this kind of programme have a responsibility to uphold the BBC's impartiality. This does not mean that people who express highly controversial views are not welcome on the BBC but they cannot be presenters of a news, current affairs or topical discussion programme.'

Some people have asked why this did not apply in Wrench's case? Personally, I liken his admitted behaviour to HIV syringe attacks which usually attract severe prison sentences. So I'm asking why he wasn't arrested/sectioned.

Others will ask whether the overwhelming media silence is related to his orientation or his employers. Certainly, when a previously obscure 19 year old football player is named in respect of a reported rape before he is even charged with a crime, it does beg the question.

Feb 4th

I don't think I'm naturally musical, but I have a great deal of admiration for those who do have that talent and fulfil their potential. So it's nice to see this young man's achievement being recognised.

Feb 3rd

The Conway verdict and subsequent withdrawal of the whip is an opportunity to clean up politics, but as with Garry Newlove's widow's impassioned speech where the media and political classes seemed to take a call for law and order as a debate on supermarket alcohol prices (!?*&!^&) the initial fallout doesn't engender confidence that we're heading in the right direction.

For avoidance of doubt, these are the required basic measures that should be taken by Parliamentary authorities

1. All expenses must be receipted
2. Random, independent and thorough checks of the validity of expenses
3. MPs must declare all staff including the nature of any personal relationship (it's not just Bob Spink that has an ex on his payroll). New staff must be notified as soon as they are employed and changes in the nature of the relationship must be notified, too.
4. More detailed and frequent check should take place over related party employees

I would like to see legislation that supports the following ideas

1. Expenses fraud (i.e. failure to comply with any of the above) = automatic by-election
2. Voters in any constituency can trigger a by-election if more than 20% of them sign a recall petition.

The above should be enough in itself to bring the House to order. However, in the short term, the party leaders can take a number of steps to clean things up.

1. Require all their MPs to submit a similar list of expenses to the one Ben Wallace has prepared
2. Get MPs to list all staff including the nature of any personal relationship and ask those MPs to vouch that they can provide evidence to support the assertion that these payroll arrangements are arms length.

January

2008-01-01T14:30:00.000+01:00

The blog is going to become more like a journal - mainly political commentary with a soupcon of the personal. Unless someone takes me up on the offer in my previous post I am just going to produce 12 posts this year - one a month updated as and when. Daily blogging is bad for the soul.

Jan 29th

Derek Conway should go and now that the subject is in the public domain, let's rifle a few more drawers and turn a few tables over - I want this 'can of worms' to be opened. Cameron still needs to convince me that he's the man who can deliver a massive improvement in standards in public life.

Check out this incredible speech. Full text here.

Jan 27th

Prague has an unfortunate reputation for cheap beer and cheap women - personally I would favour red-light tolerance zones well away from the city centre. I don't want to be too hard on this fat, ugly Scottish Socialist - after all we need users of prostitutes like him to come forward if we're going to tackle the menace of international sex trafficking.

Jan 24th

Labour's line of argument re donor sleaze is that we're all as bad as each other or more specifically the Tories are as bad as us. I am sure it can look like that if you squint your eyes...

Jan 23rd

The death of Bobby Fischer raises the canard that very few chess players are successful in other fields. The PayPal founder and facebook investor Peter Thiel is one. He says "Taken too far, chess can become an alternate reality in which one loses sight of the real world, my chess ability was roughly at the limit. Had I become any stronger, there would have been some massive tradeoffs with success in other domains in life." Same goes for blogging methinks. Anyway I like this site and have added it to my links.

Jan 22nd

The Labour party line on red Ken - Ken may be an unaccountable, fraudulent, dictatorial, ineffective, wheeler-dealing, uncontrollable, criminal, PR-obsessed, Trotskyite, conspiratorial, pro-fanatical, anti-Israeli, revolutionary, anti-semitic, profligate, imperial alcoholic... but he's our unaccountable, fraudulent, dictatorial, ineffective, wheeler-dealing, uncontrollable, criminal, PR-obsessed, Trotskyite, conspiratorial, pro-fanatical, anti-Israeli, revolutionary, anti-semitic, profligate, imperial alcoholic. Hat tip - Luke Akehursts.

Jan 21st

Police pay march planned for Wednesday. How did it come to this?

Jan 19th

Rhetorical question. How long can a story about a plane not crashing stay in the news? They've done it again.

Jan 18th

Off to Nostress restaurant tonight, I'll spend tomorrow demolishing a monastery and then on to a Rubik's cube party, so no updates for a bit.

Jan 17th

I think that 2008 has been a boring year for politics so far. Dragging donation declarations out of PHain is not my idea of fun and am I alone in being bored with hearing Labour MPs using the term 'global economic problems'?

Jan 16th

Hero of the day is Helen Newlove.

Jan 14th

More speculation today over at the Royal Court of Justice on how serious Diana's relationship with Dodi was and other irrelevancies. Why the **** is this garbage clogging up our courts and media?

I rarely have much nice to say about Alex Hilton, so let me seize on this post. Considering he is not a compliance professional he has some good ideas. Speaking of which I'd quite like the job of Labour Treasurer - the last thing they need is a barrister.

Jan 13th

Asking fellow Tories what the point of the Lib Dems always raises a laugh, but Nick Clegg takes things to extremes. He appears to excel in making no impact.

Jan 12th

Most Labour bloggers aren't bothering to defend Hain, but my understanding is that the Labour party line is that he's a nice bloke. Not the strongest of defences.

Jan 11th

Hain's oversight in full.

Jan 10th

Apparently Mike Rouse's poligeek meet up is happening. Judging by the latest status updates on my facebook, my life has become a bit skewed towards politics and blogging.

January 9th

Yesterday's PM press conference was a yawn. I think I did, but I'm not sure whether I watched it all. What I'm finding ~~fascinating~~ mildly interesting is Brown and Darling's attitude to inflation. Although controlling inflation and setting interest rates is in the remit of the Bank Of England, Darling seems inappropriately disposed to opining on what they could or should do next. On public pay, controller Brown wants to make long-term pay agreements (you can see the potential benefit to the government) but I'm sure I'm not the only one who has noticed that Brown is mooting this idea just as the inflationary outlook looks especially uncertain. And re household bill price hikes, Darling seems determined to put a lid on them by any means. Of course he can't hold back economics, but I wouldn't want to be holding utility shares whilst he's holding the Chancellorship,

Jan 8th

I have to take my hat off to Obama's presentational skills. Charisma is the ability to influence people without logic and is political gold. For a politician to convince people to support him/her even if they don't agree with them on policy needs charisma. The reactions in the comments at Iain Dale's testifies to Obama's charisma.

Barack's performances are well-rehearsed, but not many commentators seem to be mentioning how cliched his techniques are. Here's five.

1. Producing appeasing signals

I love the way that Obama uses his hands when he speaks. Even when he is making strong verbal attacks his body language is assertive but never aggressive. Here's an example. Even if you don't remember a word you'll see a calm, collaborative and precise person.

2. Associating with babies

This is a no-brainer. It's not just about looking like a nice guy, but also cutting off attacks.

Don't attack me you might hurt the baby. ;-)

3. The politician's smile.

Hillary v Obama? I'll let you make your minds up on which is the most convincing.

4. Whispering to create an illusion of physical and psychological intimacy.

Barack cleverly related an anecdote that involved whispering in a New Hampshire speech.

5. Make themselves appear popular.

Public adulation is the best and Barack's road to change video succeeds in conveying that message.

Conclusion

A fair amount of Obama's support depends on how he makes me people feel about supporting him. His message of hope, change and healing will get him the Democratic nomination - whether his feel-good message is enough to take him to the White House is less clear.

Jan 7th

The Labour Party line is that if a recession comes right-wing commentators will have talked us into it. Regardless of whether economic growth turns negative, a combination of low pay settlements against a background of spiralling energy prices and spiking council taxes persuades me that there will continue to be widespread falls in disposable income in 2008.

Jan 6th

Good weekend so far - a few episodes that touched on 'Brand Britain'. The continued reporting of stabbings and shootings is very damaging, but I'll probably do a guest post elsewhere on this theme. My web poll reveals that 'Bottler Brown' is your favourite Gordon nickname, but 'Incapability Brown' isn't far behind. I wish I'd given you the choice of Macavity too, but oh well. New poll to start soon.

Jan 4th

I'm not the only Tory in Prague. Tonight I'm celebrating the engagement of my friends Emily and Jim (who was a member when he was in the UK). Later on, I might meet up with 'staunch Tory' Justin for his wife's birthday and tomorrow we're going out on the town with James and his wife. When I first met James and I said I was interested in politics his horrified reaction was 'You're not Labour are you?'. Probably won't be updating the site again until Sunday.

Jan 3rd

Of course I agree with my favourite police bloggers, PC South West, PC Bloggs and Inspector Gadget on the police pay negotiations.

The main issue is that the agreed rise has not been back-dated - a travesty. The government's position is indefensible. I note the Scots implemented the deal in full and I can't be the only person comparing the police award with MPs' impending pay rise.

What should the Tories do? Pledge to make a one-off bonus payment to plug the missing pay if elected. It would signal our commitment to fair dealing and is not inflationary or even expensive. One question if I join the planned police rallies in Jacqui Smith's constituency and Westminster can I be arrested for impersonating a police officer?

Fancy a game of chess on facebook? - my ID is Dominic Fisher from the West Midlands.

If you're not sure whether you're good enough check through the above game (I was white)

Jan 2nd

Can we be surprised that Africa's elected leaders morph into military dictators when we sit on our hands in response to Mugabe? Some people don't seem to realise that inaction is a decision and I think the consequences will continue - don't just watch Kenya - keep an eye on Uganda, too. Desperate stuff. I recommend Kenyan Pundit and Joseph Karoki's picture blog.

Jan 1st

I'm not very good at predictions, but I did enjoy one in the Telegraph forecasting that Labour would go bankrupt in 2008. Careful reading of the financial statements and Labour's fundraising prospects suggests that the position is indeed precarious.

Don't Leave Your Vote At Home

2007-11-29T11:53:00.000+01:00

Don't leave your vote at home.

This post will remain as a standing link.

Hat tip - Conservatives Abroad.

The Missing Package Red Herring

2007-11-21T08:49:00.000+01:00

Alistair Darling is talking about the steps the government is taking to find the missing package. We should be less concerned about this actual known breach than the fact that junior civil servants can access and transmit HMR&C personal data.

Whilst known missing/lost data is important, a far greater risk of fraud relates to deliberate theft of data by HMR&C employees. It's apparent that access to this personal information is insufficiently restricted. The internal security measures to protect this data should resemble Fort Knox.

- Low level staff should not be able to gain access to more than individual records.
- It shouldn't be possible to put this data on to a CD.
- Auditors should visit the site to do their work.

Finding these two CDs isn't the end of the matter. It's a smelly red herring.

Last Day Of Tory Conference 2007

2007-10-03T15:02:00.002+02:00

Labour’s Betrayal – Their Promises Mean Nothing

Well before Brown took over, I’d been making the point that because Blair promised to serve a full Parliamentary term, we should have been granted a general election as soon as a new PM took up post. Obviously, Labour betrayed the public both on that promise and on other 2005 manifesto commitments, but they have - in the light of some improved polls - been hyping the idea of an early election.

Natural Instincts Of A Cynical Leader

Brown’s natural instinct would not be to call an election. Can you imagine his fear at being one of the shortest-lived PMs in British history? In addition, he has already signalled that he only has one election in him and having an election would drain much of the power he currently holds over his party and swathes of the civil service like a sword of Damocles. Up until a few days ago, I was pretty sure that the election speculation Labour has been igniting was pure brinkmanship. But under a welter of cynically timed announcements and actual preparations on the ground is it any longer possible for Gordon to step back?

The Case For Labour To Go Now

Don't expect any principled argument here. Having denied us an election on the hand-over of power from Blair to Brown, the arguments around timing are purely psychological and/or party political, not democratic.

Gordon must be acutely aware of the many political landmines that look ready to explode. In the very near distance are striking unions, EU constitution and cattle epidemic issues. When and how other issues on the radar play out such as public sector pay disputes , the West Lothian question and credit crunching is less easy to guess but no less serious.

Moreover, the salient (unintended) consequence of Labour’s games seems to be a sharpening of the Conservative Party’s focus. If war is said to drive technological advances, it seems that the election speculation is proving to be a handy catalyst in the Conservative Party’s quest to get the unity, policies and clarity of message that will be required cometh the polling day. Yet another factor trending in the wrong direction for delay.

Gordon Brown – Well Short Of Being a Statesman

Of course, like any opposition member or supporter I welcome any opportunity to vote for change, but that won’t stop me calling Brown a deceitful opportunist many rungs short of statesman status. Did Thatcher call an election in 1982 at the height of her popularity immediately after the Falklands War? Of course she didn’t, because, unlike Brown, when she said she was getting on with the job she meant it.

Rabbit In Headlights

So the choice for Gordon is to go now and certainly look like a man afraid of what the future has in store for the country or make a humiliating retreat, for which he’ll deserve to be called a big girl’s blouse.

What Brown Stands For

Under Brown and Blair, Labour has embodied drift and deceit. Brown’s taken this further than ever before with an original twist even Blair shied away from - national socialist rhetoric exemplified by the "British jobs for British workers" slogan Gordon recently stole from the BNP.

So What Can Labour Offer?

A snap election would be a mandate election, but what could a Labour party led by Brown offer the country? Whenever there have been difficult decisions, Labour has kicked the issue into the long grass of reports, inquiries and commissions and much of what you’d expect a political party to run on, is tangled in that quagmire.

In Conclusion

In a nutshell, this tired government can not offer any fresh thinking and their promises can not be trusted. Never has the need to beat Labour been more pressing - never have their tactics been more base. We must highlight and oppose the many failings of Labour and espouse the alternatives we shall present with passion and conviction. If Brown names his date, we’re ready.

Cameron Speech Update

Focused on what the Conservatives would do and what they stand for. Strong, consistent message demonstrating sound principles and a desire to change things for the better. Why not give us the election you've been hawking, Mr Brown?

Exit Interview

2007-07-28T10:03:00.000+02:00

I said that I would respond to any questions on the final comment thread.

Paul the HalfSwiss asked would you rather have eternal good health but no money or eternal riches and suffer a slow and painful existence?

The former. I try not to be a materialistic person.

Matt Revell asked will I still crop up in the comments on other people's blogs?

Almost certainly. Probably less frequently.

Sam Tarran asked whether I'll still be stalking the grounds of the blogosphere?

I shall be spending more time helping out with The Ghost Cabinet. If I get the itch to post, I might ask other bloggers whether I can do a guest blog.

Ed asked when am I coming back?

Not for a while – unless Brown calls a snap GE.

Mutley the dog asked whether I think some of these lefty types take life a bit too seriously?

Thanks for taking care of the site from time to time, Mutley. 42 of my posts are labelled games, but not everyone has a sense of humour. Maybe the NHS can help.

Unity asked whether those nasty labour bloggers bruised my ego?

In the words of Dr. Seuss "Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind". So that would be a no. ;-)

Tim asked whether I would suggest that there might be a *conspiracy* against me?

I pointed out the coincidence of receiving 4 comments in half an hour one weekday afternoon from 4 blogging buddies. Conspiracies involve deception or subterfuge, so no I wouldn’t call it a conspiracy.

Tim also asked you didn't have anything to do with Grant Shapps’ campaign in Ealing, did you?

Now who’s talking conspiracies.

This post really is the end. You've had your fill. I'm not publishing comments.

Slipping Off The Radar

2007-07-23T22:09:00.000+02:00

On 23 July 2006, the Praguetory blog was born. One year on, I've decided that the time has come to put the toy back in the box. I shall continue to use the site as my political dashboard so the blogroll will remain up-to-date.

I'd like to thank commenters, linkers and lurkers. As anyone who has read this blog knows I could chunter on at length in this post, but instead, I'll do a final entry this weekend where I'll answer any questions you leave in the comments to this post.

Update

Matt Wardman, a good blogging friend of mine - has set up a fun poll. Not quite sure what to make of the options he is offering.

Learning From Canadian Tories

2007-07-23T15:45:00.001+02:00

James Forsyth at the Spectator is a commentator with whom I frequently disagree (usually because his arguments are fallacious or based on false premises). He is asking whether a party has ever come back from "this far behind" to win an election. For the purpose of his question, I'll set to one side the fact that the swings at Ealing and Sedgefield would make the Tories the largest party nationally if repeated at a GE and that the Tories won the local elections by a landslide and answer the question as is.

I blogged previously on the parallels between Gordon Brown and ex-Canadian PM Paul Martin. Paul Martin called an election in 2006 where his liberal party were showing a 5% to 10% lead in the polls. The Conservatives won easily in the end as shown by the graphic. More narrative here, but the key feature of the Conservative campaign was their "policy a day" initiative that won round the public and the media. The Conservative leader Stephen Harper isn't and wasn't seen as charismatic, but he was certainly seen as authentic and substantial.

Authenticity is the word Tim Montgomerie at Conservative Home has been using to press home what the Tories need to convey to attract new votes. I couldn't agree more. But don't expect anything I say to carry any weight. In fact the opposite will probably happen, as witnessed by my reshuffle advice to the party to retain Willetts and Maude where they are and demote Osborne.

Labour Archiving Services

2007-07-22T22:42:00.000+02:00

My last post was my 600th published. So this is my 601st. Another Labour saddo has spent today trawling through all my posts and archiving them on his PC - and I didn't even engage him to do it! Seems like a nice bloke. I'm sure there was a good reason for him to try to get another blogger sacked in the past, so nothing to worry about. Lol.

He's also going to be on Wolverhampton Radio with Paul Uppal later this week where he'll have the opportunity to consider a monologue I have prepared relating to Gordon Brown. I'm sure his counter-arguments will be grounded in logic and reason rather than a prepared ad hominem attack - that approach certainly hasn't worked for Gordon at PMQs! - but then again, if, like Gordon, your capacity to think on your feet is limited, it's worth a try.

I'm getting deja vu.

Bookish Economics

2007-07-22T21:25:00.000+02:00

The most commonly cited weakness of Zimbabwe is the democratic problems and I don't deny these deficiencies, but I believe that the left-wing ideology is just as much as a problem. Let's go through the roll call

- lack of legal protection for private property rights
- printing money to tackle inflation
- nationalisation
- price controls
- state control of the media

Meanwhile life expectancy has fallen by about 30 years over the last 10 years. Zimbabwe now has the lowest life expectancy in the world. This is yet another reason why I oppose big government and left-wing ideology wherever I see it. Speaking of which a good post from The Darker Side Of Bridget Jones.

Rapid Rebuttal

2007-07-19T22:59:00.000+02:00

I have no special knowledge about how the voters of Ealing vote and we will know soon enough, but I will say that the Tory rebuttal of the "Tony Lit donation" smear was far too weak and was a blemish in an otherwise excellent campaign. As Mark Twain said;

“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes”

and indeed the lie that Tony Lit was a Labour donor was not rebutted strongly enough. Lit's response that he attends many such events in a business capacity was simply not forceful enough. The media scrum following the revelation was a chance for Tony to really put the knife into Labour. In his shoes I would have been delighted to make the following points to the press on the Sunday ;

1. I was at the function for business purposes. I agree that it is not ideal that Labour organise events like this as a front for fund-raising activities, but from a business perspective it made sense for Sunrise Radio to be in attendance.
2. The payment for the dinner was made by Sunrise Radio Ltd not me. Therefore, my lawyers will be in touch should any journalists continue to libel me by calling me a Labour donor.
3. I understand that Sunrise Radio Ltd are contacting the Labour Party as a matter of urgency in respect of this apparent breach of privacy, copyright and Data Protection.
4. Is it any surprise that the British people have so little trust in Labour when Labour can't even be trusted to keep private business arrangements confidential?

Monday's headlines start looking a bit different if he rebuts in that style. Might have been worth a few votes, but I guess that Tony Lit is new to politics. One thing is crystal though. Tony is a Tory and he has put in a sterling effort for the party. Best of luck.

Good Lord

2007-07-19T11:48:00.000+02:00

The legend known as the Irregular Blogger, the linguanaut or plain old Damon Lord is coming to visit Prague next week. In Cardiff Conservative Future circles, Damon is well known for being an eternal student and a fun bloke. His post on how Facebook discriminates against Gay Lords was a particular joy.

Damon tells me that he has a particular interest in Czech culture and history, so I have suggested showing him some historic sights. Attached are a couple of snaps from the Vysehrad Castle area which I am looking forward to introduce to Damon and Angie.

As for this weekend, I am heading back to the UK where I plan to meet a range of Midlands bloggers including some ~~people who could damage their livelihood if caught blogging~~ nasty anonymous bloggers.

London Mayoralty Issues

2007-07-18T18:06:00.000+02:00

I am encouraged that many of the Conservative candidates for the London mayoralty primary have placed emphasis on law and order. Given that Lee Rotherham's thoughts on these matters are the most developed I think it's a real pity that he hasn't made the final six.

Policy plagiarism between fellow Conservatives is to be encouraged and so I hope that the other candidates read Lee's well researched article on his website and pick up some of his ideas. I'm sure he'd be happy to share his experiences and assist them with developing policy in this area.

Ron Paul

2007-07-18T13:32:00.000+02:00

Knocking George Bush is a popular activity. Call me unfashionable, but I bear no ill-will towards him. Nonetheless, I do think that he has deeply damaged the Conservative cause by virtue of the profligate state spending he has overseen whilst in government.

However, the daylight between Bush and true conservatism is allowing one man to make an appealing pitch in the US Republican candidacy race. Ron Paul has been preaching the benefits of capitalism, free markets and small government for decades - it is finally striking a big chord with the public. His name is close to the top of all the internet searches and he is the leading candidate on youtube. Pretty addictive stuff. His campaign is pulling young activists into the Republic Party so that they can influence the nomination.

On the downside, his isolationist principles could lead to massive worldwide upheaval, but then again why should other nations be able to free-ride on US military protection? However well-intentioned, the US role as global policeman has infantilised other countries. If Ron Paul's momentum continues maybe it would serve as a reminder that America's politicians over-riding responsibility is to their own electorate.

Not only do I support Ron Paul, if he gets in I might well move to the US. Here's his campaign site.

Education Education Education

2007-07-17T08:55:00.001+02:00

An omission in my sidebar links that I've been meaning to rectify is the absence (no pun intended) of teacher blogs. Frank Chalk is the best known teaching blog although I find his (?) posts a bit hit and miss. Discouragingly, Frank doesn't link to any teaching blogs in his blogroll. Does he fear competition or does he think they're all boring?

Well, the Tomisswithlove blog certainly isn't boring - just reading it is a white knuckle ride - and would sway any swing parents to keep the kids away from attending an inner city comp. The Darker Side Of Bridget Jones blog gets in the basis of her quality blogroll and comes up with the occasional pearler of a post. But that's it, so far. Calling all blogging teachers, make yourself known.

Eastern Slovakia

2007-07-16T17:21:00.000+02:00

This is the view from some land I own in Slovakia. We're planning on putting some holiday cottages up on this site. The early reports we have received from our local architects relating to the basic site issues are very encouraging. Never mind being able to afford it, if this land was in the UK, it wouldn't be available for purchase.
In other good news, Slovakia's tax take as a proportion of GDP has now fallen by over 10 percentage points in the last 10 years (Source) to just 29% of GDP whilst industrial production is rising by 17% per annum and GDP growth is pushing double figures. Sounds like a good place to invest unless you're a Socialist and then of course, you won't believe the link between low taxation and economic success. ;-).

Mike Rouse Digs Deeper

2007-07-16T15:04:00.000+02:00

There was a big story at the weekend about a "couple who broke up for financial reasons".

Mike Rouse debated it with one of our mutual blogging mates and decided to do a post on how his views developed in the light of the story - here.

Well, the subject of the original article has contacted Mike Rouse and further altered Mike's perceptions as described in a follow up post. As a result of the turn of events Mike has a much more interesting and rounded story.

In respect of the problems faced by young couples, there is no single remedy or policy solution. In truth, there are several underlying problems that need to be tackled including public housing allocation, taxes, benefits, the overall housing market and crime. David Cameron's promise to put the interests of ordinary families at the heart of policy is an important commitment to getting on top of the malaise.

A Bias For Inaction

2007-07-16T08:12:00.000+02:00

As mentioned last week, I have some posts on small government saved up. To set the scene, several of my favourite political insights are summed up by the following Reagan quote.

The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the
government and I'm here to help.'

If uttered by a Labour politician it would certainly send a shudder - Caroline (Supernanny) Flint (honourable mentions to Brown and Blair) being the modern British politician who has, in my opinion, come furthest on the trajectory of taking state "help" to its natural totalitarian conclusion.

It's a most unfortunate paradox that although at the micro level, it is preferable to have political representatives who are both willing and able to serve/act for their electorate, at the macro level preferable to have a political leadership with a natural and confident bias for inaction.

Labour's legislative frenzy (98% of which is done via statutory instrument - i.e. without a full Parliamentary debate) provides evidence that they are an excellent example of a statist government. The Tory's approach to the public services and ideas such as elected police sheriffs and abolition of regional assemblies are initiatives that could reverse the tide. These are appealing ideas, but we need to communicate better with the electorate on how different our approach to governing will be.

£23 billion of government over-runs

2007-07-12T21:23:00.001+02:00

Developing... more tomorrow.

Friday Update

Based on analysis of official records for 300 public sector projects completed since 2005 or ongoing, the Taxpayer's Alliance have calculated a running total of £23 billion in cost overruns. I make that £75 million per project and close to a grand per household. A most horrendous case is a freaking Art Gallery in Sandwell which is £30 million over budget!

The surveyed sample only scratches the surface of a certain type of government waste and inefficiency.

Nevertheless it's about the same amount as the latest estimates for annual Czech government revenues. Pitiful.