Chris Whiteside's Blog

David Cameron gave a strong performance today at Prime Minister's question time - if things go on this way it will have to be renamed Prime Minister's humiliation time. However the best line of the afternoon came from acting Lib/Dem leader Vince Cable, who suggested that the perception of the Prime minister had changed from Stalin to Mr Bean - creating chaos out of order. If a reputation for incompetence comes to stick to this government - and heaven knows, they truly deserve it - they will be finished, however long drawn out the death throes may be.

The Independent has a report today with a statement from British Energy which lists the four most likely sites for new Nuclear build All are existing power station sites, but none are in West Cumbria This is potentially disastrous news for Copeland and we need to work together to sell the unique advantages of West Cumbria as a possible site for a new reactor.

Last week I and a number of other councillors spent some hours in the council offices debating how we could bring more jobs to Copeland. One of them subsequently pointed out an irony to me. While we were having that debate, and for several weeks previously, the labour party offices have been redone by visting workmen from Birmingham, who have been staying in a hotel. Whoever the work was organised by, was any attempt made to see if a local firm was able to do this work?

I went to the Neighbourhood Forum serving Millom and Haverigg this evening. Apart from grant applications the main items on the agenda were 1) CLOSER TO HOME Consultation about the future of hospitals in West, North, and East Cumbria. See separate post on my hospitals blog (link at right) 2) WHEELS TO WORK An initiative to lend scooters to young people who need help with transport to get jobs. One very interesting thing which came out of this - the organiser, who is very concerned about road safety, won't let anyone have a scooter to get from Millom to Barrow because he doesn't consider that section of the A595 to be safe. I entirely agree with him - but what does this say about our local road infrastructure? 3) LOCAL TRANSPORT There were presentations from the County officers responsible for community transport, buses and rail respectively. The interesting thing which came out of this one was that there will be extra trains from Whitehaven to Carlisle on the Sundays in Decem...

It was suggested tonight on local TV that West Cumbria has the worse problems with underage drinking in the country. Local police were shown testing an alcohol detector pack, and appearing outside the West Cumberland Hospital to discuss the problems of excessive drinking. One thing which will help get this problem under control is the excellent "pubwatch" scheme under which landlords are co-operating to ensure that people who are banned from one pub are banned from them all. It would be a good thing if it was made easier for licensing authorities such as Copeland to use the licensing system to encourage pubwatch membership. The government should clarify the law so that it is clear that councils can do this.

The phrase usually attributed to Voltaire, "I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" represents a principle which is one of the touchstones of a functioning democracy. I have no time for David Irving, and never have had. Twenty-five years ago, when I was an undergraduate, some idiot supplied him with a list of the names and addresses of Conservative students on which my details appeared. Irving sent out two mailings: I returned unopened the first one with a covering note indicating my disdain for what he represented, which sufficiently annoyed him that to the best of my knowledge I was the only person on the list to whom he didn't send a subsequent mailing a few weeks later. Nor have I any time for the BNP, or their leader. And nor do I consider that these gentlemen hae anything constructive to add to British political debate, let alone anything to say which would justify inviting them to speak to the Oxford Union. Those who attem...

In today's papers the government's spinners were reduced to the suggestion that however disastrous the last week was for the labour government (and incidentally, for the country) it was not as bad as the week the pound was ejected from the Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992. This forlorn line came from both Olympics minister Tessa Jowell and from Tony Lloyd, the chairman of the parliamentary Labour party, who said that it was a bad week but it wasn't Black Wednesday. If the dwindling band of loyalists who are still willing to put their heads above the parapet and defend the government in public are reduced to arguments like that one, tbey really must be desperate.

Having attended the excellent Christmas Fayre in Egremont earlier today we went back at the start of the evening for the torchlit procession and firework display. It all went very smoothly, and I would like to congratulate Egremont Town Council, the Special Events committee, and everyone involved in putting on such a successful event.

We have spent part of this afternoon with the family at the excellent Egremont Christmas Fayre. For anyone who is interested and reads this in time to be able to get there, a torchlit procession will form up at the Methodist Hall in the centre of Egremont at about 5.30 pm and go through the town to where a firework display will be held at 6pm

The first "Stand-Up, Speak-Up" event in this constituency will be held at Keswick Conservative Club from 7pm to 8.30 pm on the evening of Wednesday 28th November. It is open to all residents of the new Copeland constituency (including the four Allerdale wards of Keswick, Dalton, Crummock, and Derwent Valley.) David Cameron launched the "Stand up, Speak up" campaign to give every interested person a platform to say what problems you think politicians should do more to tackle and to influence the Conservative election manifesto. You can take part in this campaign online at http://standupspeakup.conservatives.com/ The meeting in Keswick will particularly focus on hospital services, plus Housing and Planning. This is your opportunity to tell me, and other local Conservatives, what your views and concerns are on these issues and how we should address them in the next Conservative manifesto.

Last week's announcement by the Health Secretary appeared to have killed off the CATS proposals for Cumbria and Lancashire. It now seems that they are not as dead as we thought. More details on my hospitals campaign blog - see link at right.

The events of the last few days demonstrate very clearly that two of Gordon Brown's most cherished policies ought to be dead in the water. The first is ID cards. The more information you put on a system, the more attractive it is to criminals to hack into it, and the more disastrous it will be if they succeed. If the government cannot prevent a data security fiaso like the missing HM Revenue fiasco with the existing systems, how can they guarantee that criminals or terrorists will not get hold of the ID card sytem data, potentialy with even more serious results. The second is the idea of extending the limit for detaining terrorist suspects without charge. Sir Ken Macdonald, the current Director of Public Prosecutions, and Lord Goldsmith, who was Blair's Attorney General, both gave evidence that there is no evidence of a need to extend the current 28 day limit. This follows the Admiral West fiasco, when the minister who was brought in by Gordon Brown to take charge of anti-terro...

At a meeting with Copeland Councillors today, representatives of the North Cumbria Acute Hospitals Trust and the PCT made a number of very important announcements. These include * The consultation period on the "Closer to Home" proposals has been extended to 1st February 2008 - there will be a public consultation meeting on an evening in January, details to be announced * Marie Burnham has reshuffled the Executive Directors and senior leadership of the Acute Trust * The PCT has had a meeting with consultants about the "Closer to Home" proposals. This appears to have been a full and frank exchange of views, and discussions are continuing in several areas. Councillors were told there was a consensus that the number of extra transfers of patients from Whitehaven to Carlisle or other hospitals as a result of "Closer to Home" is likely to be of the order of one or two out-ot-hours emergency surgery cases per week. More details on my hospitals blog - see link at...

Over the past 36 hours I have receieved a LOT of feedback from people who have been unhappy about how Digital TV Switchover has worked. One particularly sore point is the fact that the full set of Digital services are not being provided, particularly in some parts of the Gosforth and Eskdale areas. This does vary according to who I talk to, but some people also appear to have had problems with their set-top-boxes. We also have the Copeland Homes issue. I am looking into a number of these points and hope to post more about them within a week or so.

I welcome the news that the CATS proposals for diagnostic and treatment centres in Cumbria and Lancashire have been abandoned. The problem with the national CATS contract as it stood was that the transfer of NHS resources to the new centres could have posed a threat to existing hospitals including the West Cumberland Hospital, Millom Community Hospital, and Keswick hospital. More details on my hospitals blog - link at right

Northern Rock plays an important role in the communities of many parts of Northern England, and I fully understand why the government was concerned to ensure that their depositors were not in danger of losing all their money. However, the situation brought about by the Chancellor, whereby all of us as taxpayers are effectivly now lending £900 to Northern Rock does present problems. As someone asked on Political Betting this evening, will Darling explain how many schools and hospitals might have to close to finance his commitment to Northern Rock ? Or does that equation only apply to Conservative proposals? The government must be very careful that their guarantees to Northern Rock do not create a situation where potential purchasers of the company may make a major killing at the taxpayer's expense.

While clearing the house today I found a book of cartoons. It includes one showing a Scots Prime Minister of the UK, with two of his most senior lieutenants, also Scots, and all wearing full traditional Scottish dress. The chairman of the governing party is reading a letter, and saying "Goodness, Prime Minister! Now it's the English demanding independence and the right to run their own affairs ..." Not an unfamiliar situation to those who want either an English parliament, or as the Conservatives are proposing, an English Grand committee to take those decisions for England which in Scotland and Wales are delegated to the devolved bodies. But in fact, this cartoon was published in 1961, and it showed the Scots leaders, not of the present Labour government, but of the early 1960's Conservative government. This cartoon was drawn at a time when nobody would have imagined that the Conservatives might lose out in Scotland by being seen as the English party, nor that there...

Having watched the TV debate on the Politics show today between the two candidates to be leader of the Lib/Dems I thought there was a very clear winner - David Cameron (I imagine that Gordon Brown may also have enjoyed watching the debate.) The exchanges between Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne looked more like something which would have disgraced a school debating society than a discussion between two members of parliament, of whom the winner is likely to be presented to voters within the next two or three years as a potential Prime Minister.

An interesting article this week in the Financial Times - a paper that has backed Labour in some recent General Elections - about how senior civil servants allegedly view the Brown government. Brown bunker traps Sir Gus By Sue Cameron Oh dear! No one in Whitehall expected Gordon Brown to revert to type so quickly. He has been in Number 10 less than six months but, to the horror of civil servants, he has already hunkered down and cut most communication with the rest of government. Insiders say that no papers, no ideas and no decisions are getting through the barbed wire – only announcements from the leader that have been discussed with no one outside Mr Brown’s inner circle. As a result, the corridors of power have become the corridors of impotence. Whitehall teems with unhappy cabinet ministers who have not been consulted or even informed about proposals that concern them – little details such as the date of the Budget, troop withdrawals in Iraq or the cancelling of the general electi...

Two days after the analogue terrestial TV signal was switched off for most of Copeland, it appears that several hundred people have been left without TV service. It has been estimated that 96% of households in the affected area have converted but that 4% were unable to convert or did not do so in time. It is alleged that about 2% of households "did not want to convert" even though this meant they would be left without TV service: another 2%, or about 424 homes, have run into problems. According to an article in the News and Star, it is believed that 178 people who applied for help with the change have been hit because of late applications, 82 people have yet to arrange for an appointment to have their homes and televisions converted and a further 164 are households who are Copeland Homes tenants living in flats and who have not been provided with digital service. I am disturbed and surprised at the suggestion that there is a problem with this latter category. We were assured ...

This morning security minister, Admiral Lord West said on the radio that he was not yet "fully convinced" of the need to extend the 28 day limit for holding suspects without trial. By this lunchtime, after a personal interview with the Prime minister, he was insisting that he did believe that a longer time was necessary. He was a simple sailor not a politician, he said, and perhaps had not chosen his words carefully enough. E.g. New Labour speak for "Oops, I got the line wrong." One has to ask what is the point of bringing in outside experts to provide a wider range of knowledge to Mr Brown's "Big Tent" when you then transparently over-ride their views, and force them to go on television and say things they clearly don't believe?

For the thirteenth consecutive year the auditors have refused to approve the accounts of the European Union. I cannot think of another organisation to which this could happen. Any commercial business which could not get its books approved in such a timescale would almost certainly be forced into bankruptcy or be taken over as a result of a collapse in public confidence and the directors would be in grave danger of going to jail. Any elected government or council administration which could not sort out the books in such a period would almost certainly have been voted out of office long since. If the electors failed to remove a council administration the Audit Commission or the government would undoubtedly have taken legal action in the same way that the Thatcher government suspended Liverpool Council and sent in commissioners when Militant refused to set a budget. Indeed, the failure to get the books audited was one of the factors which did result in the resignation of an entire EU Comm...

All the remaining analogue TV signals were turned off this morning at the Bigrigg, Gosforth, and Eskdale transmitters. Digital UK has suggested that about 20,000 homes and families in the affected area are now Digital compatible but that there may be 500 homes which are not: they will now be without television service. It is ironic that the comparatively small change of turning off the BBC2 analogue channel attracted considerable attention from all the world's media, but I have not seen more than the slightest reference in the national press of the much more significant switchover today when everything else went over. If you know of anyone who is having trouble, please refer them to one of the following. Help centres running today until 7pm and tomorrow from 10 am to 6pm are available at Whitehaven Harbour: Age Concern, Old Customs House Cleator Moor: Cleator Moor CIvic Hall Egremont: Age Concern Shop, Market Place Seascale: Methodist Church Hall. Alternatively you can call Digital...

David Cameron was due to make an important speech today at the Young Foundation, which was set up in memory of the late Lord Young. There have been a number of comments made for and against this speech, usually on the basis of selectively quoting soundbites, but I thought the whole speech was interesting enough to be worth quoting in full. “I am honoured to speak at the Young Foundation. Michael Young stood for so much of what is great about our country: the spirit of enterprise, and enterprise for social progress. It is entirely right that there is a foundation to promote his legacy. Because Lord Young was that essentially English thing – an institution-builder. He recognised that we live, not as isolated individuals, nor as undifferentiated members of the mass – but as friends, neighbours, colleagues, families: …we exist in our particular and personal relationships. Institutions – whether churches or schools or businesses or charities – are the means by which we formalise our relatio...

In the early hours of tomorrow morning, Wednesday 14th November, all the remaining analogue Terrestial TV signals will be switched off for most of Copeland, those who get their signal from the Bigrigg, Gosforth, or Eskdale transmitters. If you live in Copeland and have lost BBC2 this affects you: you will lose all other TV services the day after tomorrow unless you are digital ready. You will need a set-top box for each analogue TV you wish to continue to use from tomorrow onwards. If you have gone digital, you will need to re-adjust your equipment on Wednesday. If you have a Matsui, Daiwoo, or Ferguson set-top box which has had a problem locking on to the right channels but is currently working, remember to try "Add Channel" first rather than do a complete re-tune.

Just three days to go now until the remaining analogue signals for terrestial TV services are turned off from the Bigrigg, Gosforth, and Eskdale transmitters, in the early hours of Wednesday 14th November.

Today is both Armistice Day (the 89th anniversary of the armistice which ended the fighting in the First World War) and Remembrance Sunday. I find as I grow older that the annual commemoration of those who were killed in the two great wars of the 20th century and all the other wars since grows more, not less, poignant. My grandfather was one of the lucky ones who went off to serve in the Great War and came back. His brother, Robert Whiteside, who served with the Lancashire Fusiliers, was less fortunate. He was killed on 1st October 1918, just six weeks before the end of the war, aged 18. So at 11 am this morning I will think of my great-uncle Robert and all the millions of other men and women who have been killed in war, and of those who were mained, widowed, or orphaned. I am not, and never will be, a pacifist. Hitler's belief that Britain and France no longer had the will to fight was one of the contributory factors which led to the second world war a generation later. But there ...

I have referred below to the problem with some set-top boxes in Copeland. One of the many good points made to me by the local trade is that they have had to make more than one visit to a large number of households as the set-top boxes re-set themselves and looked for the wrong channels. The government's help scheme for elderly and disabled residents includes support for one set-top box on the viewer's main TV. I have been asked whether the help scheme will pay for multiple call out charges if an elderly or disabled resident has to call the engineers out more than once. I presume the answer is yes: it would be extremely unfair if that were not the case. I will check the point and post the answer here on Monday.

Matthew Parris writes today in The Times of his "unmistakable feeling that British politics has just changed." His article, "Synthetic rage has gone. This is real fury." continues as follows: "Look at the high clouds. Something is changing in the upper atmosphere of British politics. Westminster senses it. The Tories sniff the wind and paw the ground. Liberal Democrats shift uneasily, excited yet a little bit scared. And Labour shivers. Government's troubles multiply. But one could write that of this week, many that have passed, and scores yet to come. Labour's troubles are not what is new. Its Government has been in deep trouble before. I have lost count of the weeks we called “Tony Blair's worst week yet” and we were not wrong. Mr Blair would laugh that every week was his worst yet ? until the next one ? yet the Earth continued in its orbit; and he was not wrong either. If the intended jigsaw being assembled was an epic classical tragedy, The Fall...

The local TV trade in Copeland has been having a very stressful time as the final switchover to Digital TV on Wednesday 14th November gets ever closer. Three weeks ago, when the analogue BBC2 signal was switched off for viewers who get their signal from the Bigrigg, Gosforth, and Eskdale transmitters, the national press descended on Whitehaven, and local TV engineers were kept very busy re-tuning TVs and set-top boxes. Shortly thereafter the press decamped but the local issues have continued. Come Wednesday morning, everyone will have to adjust their set-top boxes and digital televisions. Analogue televisions without a set-top box will become useless except for playing previously recorded programmes. Most residents of the affected area managed to get their set-top boxes configured without too much difficulty, but the local trade was kept very busy helping people re-tune, and a large group of set-top boxes made by a company known as Access Devices, now renamed Step 1, have caused a part...

The nuclear industry is critical both to West Cumbria and to our country. The case for this industry needs to be put in a positive and constructive manner. The MP for Copeland, nicknamed "Jedi Jamie" after he announced in his maiden speech that he was the first Jedi member of parliament, failed to do so this week. The House of Commons was debating the Local Government and Environment, Food and Rural Affairs sections of the Queen's speech. An MP for Kent was making a speach about the impact of a proposed bridge on his constituency. Up pops the MP for Copeland and asks whether the speaker supports new Nuclear Build, an issue due to be discussed in a later debate on another section of the Queen's speech. Shortly afterwards, the MP for Copeland caught the speaker's eye, and made a speech himself. He appears to be under the impression that the following comment about his fellow MPs will help him persuade them of the benefits of nuclear power: "I must say that, for...

Most of Copeland has already lost the BBC2 analogue signal: the remaining Terrestial TV channels will have the analogue signal switched off this coming Wednesday, 14th November. If you live in Copeland and have lost BBC2 this affects you. You will need a set-top box for each analogue TV you wish to continue to use after 14th November. It would be a good idea not to leave it until next Wednesday to get your set-top boxes and make sure they are working.

In less than a week, on 14th November, the remaining analogue Terrestial TV signals will be switched off for most of Copeland, those who get their signal from the Bigrigg, Gosforth, or Eskdale transmitters. If you live in Copeland and have lost BBC2 this affects you. You will need a set-top box for each analogue TV you wish to continue to use after 14th November. It would be a good idea not to leave it until next Wednesday to get your set-top boxes and make sure they are working.

I've taken a day and a half of my annual holiday yesterday and today to attend a succession of council meetings: full council on Tuesday afternoon, an Overview and Scrutiny task group on bus passes and concessionary fares this morning, and a flood risk presentation this afternoon. This last meeting was the presentation to councillors and officers of Copeland's new Strategic Floor Risk Assessment document (SFRA.) Unlike most of the huge raft of documents which now form part of the planning process thanks to John Prescott, this one is actually useful. It sets out the current professional view of the areas of the Borough which are respectively effective flood plain, areas with High risk of flooding, Medium risk, and the remainder (area 1). It also lists the procedures to be followed when development in various areas are considered to look at flood risk and how you would deal with it. I know from painful experience that flooding can appear in the most unlikely places: some six or s...

Digital UK estimate that there are still 500 homes affected by the Digital Switchover which are not ready for the final switch-off of all remaining analogue terrestial TV services in the early hours of 14th November. The Comet storer in Workington is staying open all night from Tuesday evening through the switchover period, so if you find you need another SCART cable, set-top box or anything else you can pop up there to get it. Yesterday at the meeting of Copeland Council I asked about the charge for shared aerials made by Copeland Homes. 1) The Leader of the council advised that there had been a problem with this, and she referred me to a member of the Executive who sits on the board of Copeland Homes. 2) He referred me to the Chairman of the Board of Copeland homes (who is also a Copeland Councillor) 3) The Chairman explained that he was not allowed to give me an immediate answer in open council because the matter had been discussed in the confidential section of the Board meeting ag...

More than twenty consultants working at West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven have signed a letter expressing concern at the "Closer to Home" consultation document. They raise a number of concerns which the doctors feel need to be addressed before the proposals meet clinical needs for a safe and effective service. More details are given at the "Support West Cumbria Hospital Services" blog (http://savewestcumbriahospitals.blogspot.com - see link at right) or in tomorrow's Whitehaven News.

Most of Copeland has already lost the BBC2 analogue signal: the remaining Terrestial TV channels will have the analogue signal switched off on 14th November. If you live in Copeland and have lost BBC2 this affects you. You will need a set-top box for each analogue TV you wish to continue to use after 14th November. It would be a good idea not to leave it until next Wednesday to get your set-top boxes and make sure they are working.

Just ten days from now, in the early hours of 14th November, all remaining analogue signals will be turned off for terrestial TV viewers who get their signal from the Bigrigg transmitter just South of Whitehaven or the Gosforth and Eskdale transmitters. This means that the majority of Copeland will only have digital signals. Some people in the Parton area served by the Bleach Green transmitter (including some of my Bransty ward), others served by the St Bees transmitter, and a large part of South Copeland around Millom, are not yet affected. However, like everyone else in the country, they will go digital too within the next few years. If you are affected by this and need help, you can call DIgital UK on 0845 6 505050. For details of the Help scheme available to many elderly and disabled people, ring 0800 5 19 20 21. Age Concern NW Cumbria is running an advice line which you can call on 01946 68981.

I was astonished and disappointed both by the response of Sir Ian Blair to the De Menezes verdict and by the interview that the Mayor of London, Ken Livingston, gave on the Today programme this morning. Blair’s comment that “sometimes that’s what happens” was at best tactless, but his suggestion that there was no systemic failure by the Met represents, given the evidence presented in court and the verdict, quite unacceptable complacency. And what a transformation from “Red Ken” the rebel, to whom no member of the security forces from the bobby on the beat or Private Tommy Atkins up to Chief Constables and Generals could get anything right; to “Establishment Ken” who appears willing to defend Sir Ian Blair no matter how disastrously he gets things wrong. The Health and Safety Executive has form, in the past, for bringing ridiculous prosecutions against the Metropolitan police, as when they brought charges against Sir Ian’s predecessor after an injury sustained by an officer who was quit...

David Cameron's approach to immigration has received praise from Trevor Phillips, the head of the new equality quango, who described it as a "turning point". Reacting to a speech on Monday in which the Tory leader called for a "grown-up conversation" on immigration, Mr Phillips said Mr Cameron had set himself apart from an unfortunate Conservative tradition that stretched back to Enoch Powell's "rivers of blood" speech in 1968. "For the first time in my adult life I heard a party leader clearly attempting to deracialise the issue of immigration and to treat it like any other question of political and economic management," Mr Phillips said. He added that this “seems to me like a turning point in our national debate about immigration – one that will make it possible for us to speak openly and sensibly about the subject, which most of the country sees as the single-most important in politics."

Just 12 days to go until the remaining analogue TV channels are switched off for most terrestrial TV viewers in Copeland in the early hours of 14th November.

Conservative Campaign Centre has released a poster referring to the election which never was, but which might have been today. It reads TODAY HAS BEEN CANCELLED We're sorry to inform you that THE GENERAL ELECTION planned for today has been cancelled. We apologise for the delay to the change Britain needs The following services are affected Abolition of Stamp Duty for nine out of ten first time buyers Abolition of Inheritance tax for everyone except millionaires Stopping NHS Cuts and the closure of District General Hospitals, A&E and Maternity Teaching by ability and more discipline in schools National Citizen Service for all school leavers Taxing pollution, not families Proper immigration controls and a new border police force A vote on the European constitution Ending the early release of prisoners These services are now delayed until THE ELECTION OF A CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT Until then, for further announcements, visit www.Conservatives.com

All remaining terrestial TV analogue signals will be switched off on 14th November for customers served by the Bigrigg transmitters and those at Gosforth and Eskdale which rebroadcast it's signal. This affects you if you live in Copeland and have lost BBC2: to be precise, if Borders appears in the slot where BBC2 used to be and the slot where Borders used to be produces static. In this case you now have less than two weeks to get your TVs digital ready if you don't want to lose the rest of your Television service. Don't leave it too late to act!