Road users hit again.

Once again the government has hit rural community and the transportation industry. From midnight tonight petrol duty goes up by 2p per litre, but that is before they add VAT on top of the already charged duty (they get you twice) which at the current rate of 15% makes it 2.3p per litre.

At the end of the year, VAT will go back to 17.5% so we will be hit again, this is the third raise in 9 months. Road Hauliers have had a huge increase in insolvency's due to the combination of the recession and excessive fuel bills.

Even environmental campaigners are complaining this time, stating that most people have cut road use down as far as they can with out improved public transport - but fuel duty goes in the general tax pot, helping to pay the vast sums involved in unwanted projects like the National ID Card. In fact fuel duty hurts public transport as they have to pay for the fuel, at the same rate.

This causes real problems for people in rural community, where on the whole salary's are lower and having a car to travel to the shops (which can be 20+ miles away) is essential. Having already seen to the closure of a large quantity of rural post offices, being able to get to the nearest town is essential.

Rail does not provide an affordable alternative, as I show below:

To drive my car to London costs about £35, leaving when I want. If I want to park in central london, at an NCP I can for say £20 for the day and another £6 gets me a one day travel card. Total cost £61, and an increase of £6 per added person. if I take 4 people it only costs £22 per person, including the travel card, and we can travel when we want (it costs £16 per person if we park further out for free and get the tube in)

If I want to travel before 9.00am the cost per person is £126 with the £6 for the one day travel card applying, so £132 PER PERSON! not only that, but you have to change trains and travel when the trains run.

The Liberal Democrats want to cut down on road use, but we want to do this by improving and lowering the costs of public transport, making it a cheaper and viable option vs the car. Not only that but we want to increase the ability of the rail system to transport bicycles so you have the option to take your bike and use it at the other end.

Both the Conservative and Labour governments have hugely increased the cost of fuel using road users to fund expensive government projects, and there are no signs that the Conservatives plan to reverse this trend. The only party with a well reasoned policy are the Liberal Democrats - we just have to hope that they get enough of the vote next year to do some good.

You can help with this, Vote Liberal Democrat at the next election - If everybody who thought, "I would vote for them but they wont win" did, and if everybody who thought "they are all the same" gives us the chance to prove them wrong, then we have the opportunity to win by a landslide!

Do your bit for the future of Britain, Vote Liberal Democrat.

When is enough enough?

I have just read a new report about and incident in London.

link

The police's comment at the end shows that they no longer regard stop and search as anti terrorist powers but part of every day policing. Searching people for no reason other than targets or the fact the officer feels like it is bad enough, but in this case the targets of the stop and search were children.

The spiralling abuse of these powers shows the result of what happens when you give people broad unregulated powers. The Labour government has already stated that it's policy is to wait till the horse has bolted before locking the stable door when the Home Secretary said that they would regulated the abuse of the police car tracking system (using every cctv camera in the country) when it happened. With little concern for the fact that it it has already happened by that point.

This attitude has been prevalent with the current government, providing more and more power with little or no regulation.

The Magistrates Association is up in arms at government plans to give police the power to give instant fines (3 points and a criminal conviction on you record) for 'Dangerous Driving' allowing them to be both jury and sentencer. What constitutes dangerous driving can vary widely, and be effected by the mood and attitude. This will have 2 side effects, more fines will be given out as it saves the police the time and paperwork of going to court and people will end up with a criminal conviction with out realising it. In court you can get as much as a £5000 fine and 9 points, so for the worst cases they will be too lenient, and for milder cases they will be too strict.

Link

The government has plans for another 21 offences to be dealt with in this way, but they have been delayed for further consultation - something the government has a habit of ignoring anyway if it goes against their plans.

Paul Holmes the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman pointed out that

"The police have been given wide-ranging powers without adequate debate."

Note that it is the Liberal Democrats commenting not the Conservatives, who them selves have been frequently known to increase police power rather than curtail it.

This is becoming a serious issue as Britain becomes more and more a police state, we can only hope that the Liberal Democrats are successful enough at the next election to have some say in fixing the situation.

Distroyed Data and Swine Flu

This morning has brought 2 issues, More deaths due to the misdiagnosis of Swine Flu and the Police wanting more control over our information.

The news of a mother who died from meningitis when it was misdiagnosed as swine flu over the phone is another tragic example of the state the current has gotten the NHS in to. Where under trained staff man phones, and pretty much everything is classed as swine flu.

The result of this is people are told not to leave their home and too avoid contact with others, this has caused several deaths, with one sixteen year old dying from Tonsillitis, something that I have not heard of killing anyone in the UK in recent years. Now rather than seeing a doctor the NHS has been gotten in to the state where you call a call centre and someone reads questions and diagnosis off the screen, the same way you would with IT support. I have never found this worked particularly well in IT, so I doubt it performs in health issues either.

After a comment in an American paper saying if he was British and used the NHS he would have died, Dr Stephen Hawkin spoke out saying he has received most of his medical support on the NHS - I wonder if he would get the same level of service today he did then, or whether we would loose one of the worlds most brilliant minds.

A shake up of the funding and structure of the NHS is desperately required, not just with the IT budget the way the Conservatives suggest but across the board, the Conservatives put accountants in charge rather than doctors and this has caused a huge degradation of the system, what is needed is a hybrid where you have mangers dealing with the business issues at the behest of doctors rather than telling the doctors that more cleaning staff would cost too much money and the occasional case of MRSA is a reasonable risk when offset against the cost. Tell that to the patients who's lives are ruined by it.

Also in the news is a piece of software that causes data on the internet to 'self destruct' after a specific period of time, after which no one can recover it.

The Police don't like this, note I said Police not the security services, the Police are supposed to be there to protect us, but more and more this comes from limiting our freedoms and keeping us under close surveillance. The assumption is we are guilty till we prove to them otherwise.

The comment from a police forensics expert is that it that data should work like the police being able to enter a persons home and search. If this is the case though I can shred or burn any correspondence I don't want others to see so Vanish would actually be supplying what he is asking for (somthing I doubt anyone has pointed out to him).

The more we become reliant on the internet and data, the more we need the ability to protect our selves, not just from 'Over enthusiastic policing' but from hackers and criminals wanting to use this against us.

Should the Liberal Democrats get in to power, privacy and human rights are high on the agenda, not only with plans to protect the privacy of the individual, and to implement a permanent right to privacy in a bill of rights, but increasing the rights of the victim rather than the criminal.

The world we are heading towards is a very scary place where our every movement is monitored by the government in case we do something wrong, the Liberal Democrats will not only move direction away from this, by try and prevent future governments from heading in that direction again, giving us what I see as our only chance to keep Britain as a free nation.

Peter Mandelson, Spying and Students

Not a good start to the week from the government, Whilst the Prime Minister is at his Fife constituency desperately trying to avoid getting kicked out at the next election, Peter Mandelson is supposedly running the country from Corfu via blackberry . . . . (Note that Peter Mandelson is not currently an MP and not elected, another of New Labours knocks against democracy with the large increase in unelected officials in the cabinet)

Independent Article

Chris Huhne has pointed out the frightening levels of government surveillance, with over 1500 surveillance requests made every day last year - an very few of them relating to Anti Terrorism, the excuse for bringing the said laws in. I have already posted at length about this and no doubt will again, but Chris brings the points well enough now -even using on of my favourite statements about it, that George Orwell's 1984 was supposed to be a warning, not a blueprint.

BBC Article

What I really want to get my teeth in to this morning is the student situation, a report from Scotland shows a climate of spiralling debt for students, meaning most students from poorer family's have to work well over the recommended 10 hours maximum per week, with student loans, commercial loans and credit card debts leaving them in a terrifying financial situation, and one that had a direct impact on their ability to study (how do you study well when you are exhausted and cant stop thinking about your financial problems). This means lower grades and less chance of getting a good job that will help to pay off the debt.

BBC Article

The governments plans to solve falling attendance from poorer family's, not by reducing the financial strain, but by reducing the grades required by poorer students by 2 grades. This will just cause a two tier system in the university's and lead to resentment from student that had to study harder to get in - adding to the problems rather than resolving any.

And then to add insult to injury they are talking about limiting the number of multiple occupancy houses allowed in any one area so that finding a shared house will be harder for students (and anyone else who need to share due to being unable to afford the extortionate levels of rent at the moment - a problem that is on the increase and means there is a need for more shared housing not less). As shared accommodation becomes less plentiful it means that those still able to provide it will be able to charge a premium, putting yet more strain on student finances.

BBC Article

The government claims to understand there is an issue with rental costs in the country, but it seems that they are intent to throw petrol on the fire rather than to put it out. A policy we are seeing appear with frightening frequency across all levels of government policy.

What we need is a clear national constitution, setting out people's rights, Who is eligible to take what office in government, and what level of surveillance is allowable for national security with out infringing on people right to some level of privacy.

Along with the a consultation and rework of the electoral system in the UK, setting fixed terms amongst other things (something that will stop governments from calling elections when it is convenient for their position in the polls) the Liberal Democrats will also add a Bill of Rights to the British Legislation, something we have never had and something that will curtail all governments to come.

The Scottish Assembly is looking at the student situation, but this is something that needs to be done nationally. Though there is not the money in the economy to do all we would like at the moment, cutting back on the 12 Billion IT expenditure that the government has started, and that is spiralling out of control, over budget and is currently 5 years late in some cases (and that recent research shows has had no positive effect on government efficiency, in fact government efficiency is getting worse not better) and improving the military procurement system will put some money in the budget.

We will strive diligently to improve the finances of the worst off, unlike the current government and work for a fairer society for all. Unlike the Conservatives, and now New Labour (as Mandelsons holiday shows) we do not rely on big business for our funding, that is both our greatest strength (as we do not have to try and appease them with policy) and our greatest weakness (as we are always low on funds, and do not have enough money to stand in every constituency at times). We are funded by the people we represent, so we can centre our policy on their requirements with out having to pander to our sponsors desires or loose them.

If the Liberal Democrats get in we can offer real change. Though there is a strong feeling that all politicians are the same, there have only been two parties in power in living memory, Labour and the Conservatives, and in their current forms they are hard to distinguish from each other. If every voter that wasn't vote Liberal Democrat because they think we can't win we would have a good chance, if every voter that dosn't vote because they think we are all the same, was to give us the change to prove them wrong (what have they got to loose, if they are wrong and we are different then they have gained if they are wrong nothing changes) we would win by a landslide.

I call on all voters to bear this in mind, give us a chance, get behind us rather than splitting to various small independents or "special interest" parties, then you will have a chance to see real change, positive and lasting change and a change that will set Britain up to move forward in the 21st century as a shining example of what can be done buy the people that the rest of the world can follow!

What has become of our Society.

Reading the news today, I saw one of the saddest articles I have seen for one time. It was sad not just because it was reporting the death of a young man, but because his neighbours had heard him screaming for help and not one had gone to check what the problem was.

He had gotten stuck in a drain returning home, and yelled and screamed, his neighbours assumed it was a drunken game and ignored it - as a result the man lost his life. It is a sad example of what has become of our society, where young women are recomended to call fire rather than help or rape, as people will come to watch a fire and will ignore the other two.

The last 2 governments (Labour and Conservative) have created an attitude of "I'm all right mate" with in society, where everyone is more interested in watching their neighbours to report for some reason or another rather than helping each other. This is a trend we need to reverse, where people go to help someone in need rather than ignore it, or worse stand and watch.

I wish I could provide some fall proof plan that would cause society to change overnight, but that is not possible, fixing this mess is going to take years of work from successive governments that are prepared to look at and deal with the issue. I cannot see either the Conservatives or the Labour Party doing this.

Our best hope is a hung parliament at the next election, giving the Liberal Democrats some say in the governing of the country.

I call to every person that reads this, to talk about it with your friends. If every voter that didn't vote Liberal Democrat because they doing thing we can win voted for us, we would be in a good position to go in to opposition, if not rule. If every person that didn't vote because they think all politicians are the same, gave us a chance and voted for us - we would have a landslide victory.

Not all politicians are the same, but in living memory only 2 parties have run Britain, The Conservatives and the Labour Party. So talk to your friends, relatives and co-workers and give us a chance to prove you wrong and proved that there can be honesty and democracy in government.

BBC Sensationalism over landlord issue

I was saddened and disgusted last night and this morning over the BBCs biased and over simplified reporting of a complex situation.

BBC News Report

In Boston we have one of the largest, if not the largest transient worker population in the country, and this comes with various problems. Education of their children, Policing the extra people with a different culture and providing medical facilities to name but a few.

Rather than these large problems the BBC chose to focus on a narrow section of landlords that do not want migrant workers in their homes. Due to the race relations act, this is classed as racial discrimination, when in fact it is class discrimination - the same people do not usually want benefit claimants either.

As the race relations act pushes this underground it means that the estate agents cannot ask the questions they need to to find out what kind of migrant they are dealing with, is it a transient land worker or a full time professional, so a blanket comes down causing them to react to an accent rather than the form of employment - the race relations act is actually causing racial discrimination here rather than preventing it.

The BBC decided that rather than looking at the entire complicated situation it would focus on this narrow section and show our estate agents in the worst possible light (I would be interested to see the footage in full, rather than the edited highlights that are provided.)

Below is a copy of the comment I sent to the BBC, which reiterates some of the points I have made here and expands on some others.

I have just seen on line the article due to go out today on rentals for immigrants in Boston, and the article on line (so I am assuming the television article) is grossly oversimplifying a complicated situation.

Most Landlords and Estate Agents are not racist or trying to prevent genuine migrants from using their property, unfortunately there is a large quantity of transient migrant workers in the cause problems. The landlords that do not want these workers in their properties are the same ones that do not want benefits claimants in their property's and for similar reasons. When you look at one of the rental properties that are designed for migrant workers, they usually have too many beds, and mattresses under all of those and are in a bad state of repair.

Unfortunately the race relations act is a general coverall policy that leaves little room to manoeuvre for specific problems, as this issue is not so much racial as class based. Due to the legislation that is in place, it means that the questions that landlords and estate agents might want to ask, so that genuine immigrants don't suffer are not allowed because of the race relations act.

The lad who said it was OK to block "Muslims" was obviously in the wrong, as this is a direct attack on a specific racial group, and one that wouldn't be affected by the migrant worker problem in this area.

This is a provocative topic in the area, and one I am disappointed in seeing the BBC go charging in - hyping up with the current trend of over sensational journalism without having done the proper ground work first. There are a large number of racial issues in the area which need dealing with calm and care. Making sure that there is appropriate accommodation for the workers and dealing with the landlords that put 4 to a single bedroom would have been a far better target for your report rather than the landlords that are trying to care for their properties. Unfortunately a small number of these will be doing it for racist reasons but the vast majority will have seen what happens to these "Migrant" houses, where people frequently sleep in shifts whilst the others are working and don't want to see the damage that goes with it occur to their property.

Looking in to the gross government underfunding of the area, as the transient workers are not taken in to account. A situation that is stretching the local police force and education services to its limit. The potential closure of some local schools that are under performing, as the fact that a majority of their students do not speak English as a first language is not taken in to account in government statistics and the fact that they may be closed has meant that any funding is cut (and they are having to teach in the dining hall as the education board will not give them a budget for portacabins) so the children of the migrant workers and the children from the local area are getting a substandard education as a result. St Beads in Boston is officially the worst school in the country, but if you take a look at the make up of its students (which the government does not) the reason why is glaringly obvious.

These are far bigger issues than a few landlords (as most estate agents have landlords that are happy to take migrants as well as those that are not) not wanting migrant workers and the BBCs time and the licence payers money would have been far better spent looking in to these.

Lincolnshire's economy depends on these migrants as in general the British are not prepared to work on the land. It is a situation that would warrant an in depth report on the entire situation, taken from a balanced perspective, and that is what I would normally expect from the BBC. One that would help define the problem in all areas and help to find solutions, both with land lords and agents that are genuinely racist as well as those that are exploiting the migrants. Unfortunately the BBC seems to be following the tabloid press in to the realm of sensationalist journalism and if this continues it will soon be as pointless to watch the BBC news as it is to read a tabloid.

I would be appreciative if anyone that reads this and is in agreement with me contacts the BBC and tells them so, hopefully they will take a step back and do some responsible reporting and look in to the entire situation.