Having Like-Minded Friends

You're the best!!!

Where Next For Labour?*

*Due to its methodogy ICM generally overstates the Labour vote.

Time For A Break

To understand where we're at, this post-Crewe analysis is worth reading. Brown-bashing has in truth become a national sport - and he deserves it. Whether online, at the ballot box or even in Question Time audiences, the national mood is anti-Brown and anti-Labour. As a long-standing critic of the government, this is pretty gratifying stuff. Financially and morally bankrupt, the Labour Party has a choice between electoral oblivion and the blood-curdling task of finding someone willing and able to overthrow the most stubborn and self-righteous leader in recent Western history*. Re where they go next, Labour grassroots seem to be generating more heat than light over at Labour Home.

We are in different times, so it makes sense for me to have a little break before deciding what to do next. It seems likely that I will be in Birmingham for the near future, so if you have any ideas for political projects, please mail me at praguetory@googlemail.com. Have fun.

*Labourites may be interested to know that I have a 70 - 1 accumulator bet that comes in provided Brown leaves before the next general election. I also made a fair sum on the General Election that never was - I'm enriching myself on the back of Labour misfortune!

May

May 23

I couldn't have scripted a more ineffective Labour campaign if I'd been writing the election literature myself.



Gordon Brown and Steve McCabe are my heroes of the day.

May 22



May 21

Two Michaelangelo quotes.

'Faith in one's self... is the best and safest course.'

'The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we hit it.'

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

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.

---

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

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

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

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

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

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.