A shift in Political alliances across the pond?

Not inspired by the tribalism of Anglo US politics I have not really bothered with the US democratic process since hearing that Jesse The Body Ventura was the winner of the Minnesota Gubernatorial race back in 1998!Democracy in the many real ways does not exist in America. One voter, one vote is the principal of democratic elections - save for the Electoral College system in the USA. This is a flawed system;  just ask President Gore!Will EU and UN representatives be allowed to monitor the elections of Florida and other suspect States, as they have throughout states in Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia?

Will the equivalent of the Returning Officer for each state actually be allowed to call the vote bases on the votes cast or will somebody’s second cousin in a TV studio buck the trend and give it to the Republican?

Given that the Clintons have had a long relationship with New Labour, and that GW Bush did not even know that Blair was a Socialist pretty much all Thatcher-Regan bonds have been severed between Westminster and The Beltway.

Who is there left that can offer the American people, never mind a disinterested Brit an alternative?  

As usual with him, Iain Dale nails an early trend here!

And just in case Iain gets close enough for a picture and an interview with the Candidate allow me to remind people of the photo below taken last Spring.

It is of a world class politician of the highest caliber…. oh and the future President of the United States of America?

 

The full story can be found at Esther Mcvey’s blog here.

Creative editing of EU ministers meeting press conference

Did you see Comrade Brown on the news yesterday evening at the Press Conference in Downing Street?

How cringing was it when the French journo had the temerity to ask his President a question in French which “our beloved leader” (acknowledgements to Lord Gnome) was left with the cameras on him.

I don’t think I have seen anyone looking worse since John Redwood was not signing “Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau” back in . All it need was a flat cap and a shout of “Mr Grimsdale!!!” and I swear it was Norman Wisdom up on stage.

Funnily enough this was not included in the 4 plus minutes of video released on the Downing Street web site last night.

One only hopes it will not appear on one of our European Partners web sites as that would make Brown look foolish and we can’t have that can we?

Politics gain is……..Tranmere’s gain

I am a football jinx!

If I see a game, even on TV the results do not favour my teams.This was a well know fact in London, where I was regularly stuck out on the pavement at The Earl of Chatham so I could not see the TV screen when the games were on. Not too bad in Summer for the Euro’s and World Cups  but a bit chilly on European qualifying nights in winter and spring!

The jinx has returned and I did not know till now…

My season ticket at Tranmere has not been used yet this year.

Out of the four home games this season my seat has been empty.

The Hereford game, I could not go to as we still had family up and it is not the done thing in our family to miss a family meal.

The next Friday game against Bristol I was working in Bristol (of all places) and did not get back to the Wirral until 9 pm.

I could not go to these games and did not go -  number of points available 6. Number scored 1.

Last Saturday saw me working with Esther McVey carrying out a street surgery in Pensby in the morning and working on the “F bus” campaign in the afternoon and I missed the Yeovil game.

Having over 1,500 hundred leaflets delivered today in the Pensby and Thingwall ward I did not get to the Gillingham game. 

I could have gone to these games and did not go -  number of points available 6. Number scored 6.

With eight remaining home games this season between now and the May elections, if I stay campaigning and stay away will that be 24 points for the “Superwhite Army!

With this in mind I think I may start going to Labour and Lib-Dem party function on a Saturday afternoon just to make sure; or failing that Everton!

Peter Hain resignation

Following on the curse of being Welsh Secretary for New Labour (who can forget Ron Brown and Clapham Common) Iain Dale has an interesting view of the current situation on his blog at :-

http://iaindale.blogspot.com/2008/01/hain-to-be-investigated-by-met.html

If only I had read this at 12:22 I could have put a bet on at the bookies!

www.politicalbetting.com has a few interesting bets going in their Politics UK section, such as the when Jacki Smith will leave as Home Secretary, but my favourite is  ”Leader Changes: Gordon Brown’s departure date Friday 4 July 2008“.

What do they know?

Abuse of Disabled Parking In West Kirby

An article in today’s “Times” tells of the abuse of drivers using Disabled Persons’ Badges while not accompanied by the badge holder. The full article can be seen at http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article3241387.ece 

As I regularly drive my disabled Aunt around Wirral I am getting more and more annoyed at able bodied people parking their cars in disabled bays.

People that park in contravention of Disabled Parking spaces should suffer the same fate as people that fraudulently use Disabled Persons Parking Badges. That is a fine of up to £1,000.

In Liverpool, their Parking Manager has linked in with the Merseyside police and seized hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of vehicle from people illegally using these badges. I strongly believe Wirral Council should do the same.

Abuse of the disabled parking bays in West Kirby and across the whole of The Wirral is rife and is anti-social.

I read last week a letter in one of our free newspapers from a parent who had difficulties at the “parent and child” parking spaces in Morrison’s in West Kirby, resulting from disabled drives using the toddler bays because the disabled bays are full of cars not showing badges also.

The picture below is a case in point. It is the bays outside of the old Bridge Arcade on Grange Road/ Bridge Road.  (I must clarify that it is not a recent image and was taken about May 30th 2006.)

It is of a picture of a two space Disabled Persons Parking Bay, clearly lined and signed and a gold colour Rover 75 being parked in contravention of the local parking place order.

The fact that the driver was waiting for someone to come out to the fish and chip shop seemed to be a valid reason in the drivers mind for parking there in a Disabled Persons Parking Bay and not in the Council run Pay and Display car park some forty yards away.

Wirral Cabinet to vote on shutting Pensby Park School

This evening the Labour / Liberal Democrat rulling ”soviet” will vote of shutting Pensby Park Junior School.

This is against the wishes of the Staff, Teachers and Parents.

A plan by the Govenors to become a “Special School” is dismissed out of hand by the report of the Director of Childrens Services.

Listed in Section 7 of the report - Staffing Implications

7.1 When a school closes, all staff at the school are made redundant.

A full copy of the report is available at : -

http://www.wirral.gov.uk/minute/public/cabcsll080123rep7_26158.pdf

How long before the Lib-Dems Councillors blame the Tories who are not in the Cabinet!

However perhaps Lib-Dem Ward Councillor Sarah Quinn may save the day and ask for intervention from one of the Lid Dems on the Council Cabinet? I would start with her own mother Cllr Jean Quinn!

“Keep the Post Offices Open” update

The news that Heswall Village Post Office is to shut has been reported today in The Daily Post.

This is a blow for the community and has grave implications to the local population who rely on these facilities.

Having worked on Esther McVey’s campaign to stop any such closures in Wirral West we had been hitting the streets of Wirral and in particularly Pensby for months! Each Saturday we had been to shopping areas in Meols, Hoylake, West Kirby, Greasby, Irby, Pensby and Upton. On one occasion in May I had even been to Prenton… (OK that was my mistake!)

I do find it strange that, based on Hansard, the local New Labour MP Ben Chapman only started campaigning to stop the closure of Lower Heswall in November 2007, some six months after we had begun and the picture above of Esther and I campaigning at Hoylake Post Office was taken.

Too little too late!

When he asked what discussions the Secretary of State had on the proposed closure the answer was simple. “None”!

How about subsidising The Post Office to keep essential sub branches open… or did all the money go to Northern Rock?

“…i’d like to help you son; but your too young to vote!”

Last Wednesday I was delighted to take part in a Politics morning at Hilbre High School Humanities College in West Kirby.

Originally, I had gone to support Esther Mcvey who was taking part in the exercise with members of the local Labour and Liberal democrats. (Two ideologies, but only one voice on Wirral Borough Council?) Joining Esther were Cllr Peter Reisdorf  from the Lib-Dems and Cllr Walter Smith  for the Labour party.

However, I was thrown into the deep end and had a class all to myself. Having not been in a school class for almost 20 years it was a shock to find the Head of Politics who organised it was both younger than me and a Councilor!

Individually we were quizzed on a number of topics in the first session and subsequently took part in a “Question Time” type event in the main auditorium.

It was amazing to me that here where a group of 15 and 16 year old that were both obviously intelligent and highly articulate but did not have a direct voice into politics.

Questions asked ranged from “Immigration”, “The NHS”, “The War in Iraq” and “How to Campaign against Bus Service reductions” (or reading between the lines “How do a group of 15 and 16 year olds form a group to pressure “the grown ups” to listen to us!). 

My favorite was the question resulting from the smoking age being raised to 18! - this question was based on the legal age for sale of Alcohol and Tobacco being 18. 

Having already had this in our breakout session earlier in the morning I widened the question to include the Voting Age being 18.

I did point out that I was both a smoker and a drinker and pleaded with the kids not to smoke or drink as both were bad for your health and that by my age they would have spent a fortune! 

Some of these children will be leaving school as early as next summer and if they are lucky enough to get a job will become tax payers. Yet they will not be able to vote until they are 18 for either their local, national or European representatives. 

Is this democracy? Only listen to those that have a vote?

Surely any cuts in Leisure Services will affect this age group significantly and yet their voices are not listened to either locally or nationally when policy is devised.

The minimum age for recruits to Her Majesties forces is 16-and-a-half; troops are not able to take part in operations until they turn 18. 
Whilst still under 16 they can wear the uniform of the Crown with pride and carry out UK based training and deployment but can’t wind down at the end of the day with a cigarette or a beer? 

“No Taxation without Representation” already has caused some problems for this country by way of George Washington! Could there be a link between 16 and 17 years olds being disenfranchised and problems with anti social behavior on our streets?

Ask the children hanging around the West Kirby Concourse on a cold Friday night in January why they are there and you will get the reply “Because we got nothing else to do!” or “We are bored”.

Where have all the excellent out of hours activities gone that I used to do when I was a youngster? 

Is it right to further cut Leisure Services on The Wirral when already so many of our children have no where to go in the evenings?

I may only be a Council Candidate but the pupils at Hilbre have at least got their point across to one grown up!

“Keep the Post Offices Open” Campaign

Back in November we were thrilled to hear that Esther Mcvey eight month campaign to prevent Post Offices in Wirral West from closing succeeded!

That means no closure in Pensby! We are the only area in Wirral to escape the Labour Party axe.

To celebrate Charles Hendry MP, the Shadow Minster for Post Offices met up with some of our campaign team at the Newton Post Office. In the picture can be seen Cllr Geoffrey Watt, me, Esther and Mr Hendry and other campaigners.

The full story can be seen at Esther’s Blog at : -

http://esther2009.wordpress.com/2007/11/07/save-our-post-office-campaign/trackback/

John M Meyer - Conservative Candidate for Pensby, Barnston and Thingwall ward in the May 2008 elections to Wirral Borough Council

Hello I am John Meyer.

I will be standing as the Conservative candidate in the Local Elections in May 2008 for the Pensby and Thingwall ward.

Some of you may know me from around the area, particularly if you live in the Pensby, Barnston and Thingwall ward of Wirral Council, where I am the Team Leader for the Conservative Action Team.

Others will have seen me as part of Esther McVey’s team througout Wirral West

For those of you that have elluded me allow me to tell you a little about me: -

I am 37 years old and run my own business specialising in Traffic Management and IT.

I was born and live in West Kirby.

My parents and older siblings lived in Newton when I was born and we moved to Hoylake in 1974 to the home my parents still live in.

I was educated on the Wirral and in Suffolk. After Carlett Park I went to University in London and I stayed in London working until returning to the Wirral in 2001.

I am a season ticket holder at Tranmere Rovers, an accomplished tennis player and a frustrated golfer!

I have been involved in Politics for over 25 years and have held office in The Conservative Party at either national, regional or local levels on a number of occasions going back to 1990. May 2008 will see me stand for Local Government for the first time.