Monday 23rd April - Decision Time

I'd like to endorse Greg Hands' call to lobby grassroots representatives on the Party Board about how MEP selections are carried out. According to Conservative Home the recommendations on the table can be summarised as follows;

(1) Ordinary members lose their decisive say on MEP candidate selection;
(2) Incumbent MEPs - many of them unsupportive of David Cameron's pledge to leave the EPP - will be kept at the top of regional lists if a committee of party appointees and Association Chairmen agree;
(3) All retiring MEPs can only be replaced by women;
(4) Lower slots on the regional lists will be decided by all members.

The first three recommendations are all horribly anti-democratic and that they are being tabled should in itself be an embarassment to the party.



The three elected members of the party board towards whom party members who believe in democracy should be making representations are Charles Barwell (on the left of the picture), Emma Pidding (centre right) and Jeremy Middleton (on the right). Mail addresses are jeremy@middletonenterprises.com, emma.pidding@richardsoneyres.co.uk and mail@charlesbarwell.com.

I have to say that I don't know much of Emma or Jeremy. Charles Barwell is a fellow Brummie and Villa fan and I regularly check out his blog. On his home page he lists maintaining a united party as his number one area of focus. Like the other members of the Board he has an opportunity on Monday to prevent a resolution that would cause serious disunity in the party.

If the party leadership is looking for a clause four moment, this could be their chance. However, supporting these anti-democratic measures is indefensible and would be a terrible horse for them to back.

Vaughan - One Day Cricket's Emile Heskey

In yesterday's Daily Telegraph, Derek Pringle says about Michael Vaughan

"He is not a one-day natural, something England have spent 85 matches finding out."

Vaughan's woeful batting stats show this "discovery" should have been made a long time ago.


Just as football strikers should keep or lose their place based on their scoring record (has there ever been an international striker for a major footballing nation to have a worse scoring ratio than Emile's 5 goals in 43?) batsmen should be judged on how many runs they score and how quickly. I'd like to understand the dynamics that have kept Vaughan in the team. Is he not embarassed?

A strike rate of less than 75 is unworthy of any international one-day batsman in the modern game and 80 is par. Vaughan's is 67!!! and his batting average is just as poor. He has never scored a one day century - think of some of the international minnows he's played against. He took 20 balls to get off the mark the other day. Leading nations score between 5 and 6 an over in one-dayers, which means that having passengers like Vaughan put the rest of the team under pressure. Check out the Aussie player profiles. All of their batsman and all-rounders have noticably better stats than Vaughan. I have been arguing for years that he shouldn't be in the team. Vaughan's cajoling to his squad this World Cup has been painful. Like being told by the class dunce that you need to pull your socks up.

Twas ever thus for England. Check this scorecard back in Nasser Hussain's day. He was another top Test player who should never played one dayers. Despite all four top batsmen scoring well, India almost reached our total. The only way England can win one dayers is if our opponents collapse or Pietersen is causing damage. Not good enough. Pick another team and start by looking which players are scoring in 20 20. Vaughan - ffs resign from the One Day scene - do it for your country - you're roobbish. And Fletcher needs to be kicked, too.

Flat Taxes Creeping Westwards

It’s a firmly entrenched stereotype that the former Soviet states in Central and Eastern Europe look to the West for innovative trends and ideas. One notable exception is flat tax, almost untested in the West, which has become ever more popular in Central and Eastern Europe.

The purest flat tax policy was introduced in Slovakia with a 19% flat rate applied to income, corporate and consumption taxes. Since its introduction unemployment has halved and with recent reported GDP growth in Slovakia hitting 9.8%, it’s no surprise that Czech heads have been turned. In fact, over the last year when Czech professionals have found out that I’m interested in politics the most common question they’ve asked is when I think they will have flat tax.

In recent weeks, the Czech government has put a watered down flat tax proposal on the table. The new headline rate is 15%, but because this is applied to "super-gross income" (including employer contributions) it is estimated to equivocate to a 23% rate and of course its simplicity is diminished by this gimmick. Czech Business Weekly was disappointed with the timidity of the reform and led with the headline "It ain’t Slovakia", but also speculated that this reform may be a first step.

Former ODS finance minister and political big beast Vlastimil Tlusty is insisting on a full-blooded reform package exactly in line with the ODS election manifesto. I have sympathy with his view, but of course the ODS are leading the most fragile of coalitions. The ODS leadership are gambling by linking the approval of this legislation with the existence of the government so there are some interesting times ahead. Should the legislation be approved, it will take hold in January 2008 and flat taxes will take a further step westwards.

Flat taxes are not on the radar in British mainstream politics and I realise that they are not about to be, but the impact of overseas reform on UK industry is already noticeable if you follow these things. Although those in the Conservative Party who are looking for a shopping list of Tory tax cuts right now are being tactically naïve, we should be able to promise to simplify the British tax system – there’s plenty to go at there.

Hazel Blears Facebook Invite

There are likely to be two important vacancies opening at the top of the Labour Party quite soon - and the Deputy Leadership is also going to be contested. When Hazel agreed to be my facebook friend (or was it the other way around?), I decided to give her a friendly hand in her quest for the Deputy Leadership tiara. She's a great friend to have as she keeps in regular touch. Here's an invite attached to her latest missive.

-----------------------------

Time and Place Date: Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Time: 6:30pm - 8:00pm
Location: 1st Floor Lecture Theatre, Queen Annes Business Centre,
Street: 28 Broadway, SW1H 9JX
City/Town: London

Description
Hazel Blears MP will be giving a lecture to SERA members, as part of our Deputy Leadership Lecture series.

This is a great opportunity to hear from the candidates (Note 1) and express your views to them on the importance of environmental policy (Note 2), and what you think are the key issues for the third term Labour government and the next 10 years. Do they support personal carbon quotas? How would they solve the energy gap? Are they in favour of building new nuclear power stations? How will they ensure implementation across the board of a positive environmental strategy? (Note 3) This is your opportunity to explore these areas and any others of your choosing with all (Note 4) those wishing to be a part of leading our party.

GUESTS ARE ALLOWED TO BRING FRIENDS TO THIS EVENT!

---------------------------------

Note 1 - candidates plural? (bit misleading)
Note 2 - this makes me want to go
Note 3 - I wonder whether they would just send an email in advance outlining their basic position so we can prepare our questions.
Note 4 - All?I doubt that we can expect Brown, Meacher, McDonnell, Benn, Blears, Cruddas, Hain, Harman & Johnson to be in attendance?

Interestingly, I am slated to be London on this evening, although I am supposed to be playing chess for one of the oldest clubs in the capital... I think I'll play chess.

Health Of The Nation

I've set up a health section in my links bar. A regular commenter here, Mens Sana is a consultant in the NHS. He/she has just started blogging and Mens Sana's commenting style translates to his or her blog we can expect posts that are honest, direct and opinionated. The first post is about doctor's pay - a nice starter for ten.

The wildly successful NHS blog doc - Dr Crippen does some great posts (I especially like his anecdotes) but is also performing a unique role in rounding up the best of the medical blogs.

I've recently become aware of Dr Grumble, another NHS doctor who is a favourite curmudgeon of mine. I particularly like the way that he campaigned strongly against MMC/MTAS and the rapier wit in a recent post about being right all along.

I hope that she won't be offended if I say that Dr Michelle Tempest is an old favourite of mine. In fact, I believe that more than one of her posts have affected me in a positive way. I'm sure I can't say that about many bloggers.

My knowledge of the health sector is fragmented. I'm trying to learn more about the NHS. Does anyone have any other suggested links?

Name To A Handle & A Face To A Name

I've been pencilled in for an 18 Doughty Street appearance in early May. Like many bloggers, I am probably more eloquent in writing than in person (which in my case means I'm really in trouble). Just to dampen visual expectations, I'm a short, pasty-faced bloke with a whiny Brummie accent - if I wasn't balding I'd look younger than 32. My enthusiasm can come across as hyperactivity. Otherwise, I'm just a normal bloke.

I harbour fantasies of a verbal jousting with Alex Hilton, but the truth is that the topic for discussion is going to be local election results which will bring out the not-so-inner political geek in me. I'm slightly concerned about all the things that I disagree with Iain Dale about coming to the surface live on air. I'm by no means experienced with the medium of TV so any well-meaning practical advice would be gratefully received (should I wear my McLenin T-shirt?). On-topic, I'm going to a conference on arguing this week.

Social Conservatism

Discussing social conservatism is a minefield, but discuss it we must. Finally (and I mean finally) a consensus is forming that social attitudes are a root cause of the malaise in public services and damaging trends in government dependency, but as for responding to this with practical policies the Tories remain some way off. Matt Sinclair does a truly superb piece on this theme. In my opinion it is stunning both in its imagery and in its perceptiveness. I agree that an incredible challenge lies ahead for Cameron's Conservatives, (which I hope will be informed by IDS and other specialists) but one that can not be shirked.

Matt manages to combine intellectual rigour and an engaging style in his writing. I think this is why he topped the young conservative poll that I ran in January. Elsewhere, I fully support the call he made in February at Conservative Home for Young Conservatives to explore and develop their political ideology. I understand that Matt has now left the LSE for pastures new, but I expect him to continue to make a significant contribution to right-thinking ideas in the future. A star in the making, I'd suggest.

Kasparov Kaptured

I have always followed Russian politics closely. Visiting Moscow in 1998 and again in 2002 strengthened my interest. They say that Russians like strong leaders, but I have been increasingly unhappy with the authoritarian rule of Vladimir Putin. Reading Putin's Russia published by Anna Politkovskaya in 2004 was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. Anna Politkovskaya was assassinated late last year.

When in 2005, Garry Kasparov retired from chess to concentrate on politics with this salvo

"In chess I have done all I could and even more. Now I intend to use my intellect and strategic thinking in Russian politics. ... I will do all I can to oppose Putin's dictatorship."

Kasparov's mission was a liberal and libertarian one with individual freedoms at the core of the message. I was right behind him. So I was a little disappointed to hear of him coining it from corporate chess displays in the US shortly after the launch of his new career and wondered quietly to myself whether he had the guts to follow through. It appears he has. See here and here. As Garry says, this is one game he cannot afford to lose and I believe that he is right to pull support from across the political spectrum - replacing tyranny with real democracy is more important than arguments between the left and right.

Tories Select Energetic Local Woman To Fight Birmingham Northfield

Readers may recall my interest in a safe (?) Labour-held seat - "Birmingham Northfield". On that thread, the 2005 PPC (Vicky Ford) said that she agreed that the seat could fall to a good local candidate with time to their ground work. In 2005, as with most Birmingham candidates, Vicky was selected far too late. Therefore, it is encouraging that we have selected early this time.

The winner of the selection process was Keely Rogers aged 25 and although I haven't met her, we have many mutual friends. She is local and I believe she stood in the 2004 council elections in one of the Northfield wards. I remember being amused at this article where the hack describes 22 year old Keely making a terrifyingly composed speech whilst being characteristically drerogatory about her accent. Note to London journos. That's what a Brummie accent sounds like and it's a plus if you want to relate to people and win an election in this neck of the woods. Good to hear that she describes herself as a right-winger - that will help too.

Keely is a good, local candidate and has plenty of time to make a mark. I wish her well and hope to assist with her campaign.

Insulting The Electorate Competition

Norwich North MP Ian Gibson was a little unfortunate when comments he made about the prevalence of diabetes in Norfolk were taken as a slur on his constituents.

Here's a good one. Labour council candidate Bill Lees had this to say about the inhabitants of the Birmingham suburb of Kings Heath.

"...legions of plug ugly, baseball-capped and ski-panted mingers from Kings Heath..."

Source. Bill is standing for election in the ward of Moseley and Kings Heath! Rather than apologising he is going with the context line. Has anyone got any similar examples of politicians insulting their electorate?