Chris Whiteside's Blog

“An intelligent person is never afraid or ashamed to find errors in his understanding of things.”    ( Bryant McGill  )

“Integrity is the integument that makes intelligence more acceptable”    ( Constance Chuks Friday  )

Prime Minister David Cameron is due to make a speech this morning which will outline how he plans to cut net migration from the European Union and to deliver the control that British people want.   The Prime Minister will set out a package of measures that will remove the financial incentives that attract migrants to Britain. The reforms will mean that in future:   EU workers will: ·          not get in work benefits until they have been in the UK for 4 years; ·          not get social housing until they have been here for 4 years; and ·          not get child benefits and tax credits for children living elsewhere in Europe no matter how long they have paid taxes in the UK.   EU jobseekers will: ·          not be supported by UK taxpayers; and  ·      ...

“Modern intelligence won't accept anything on authority. But it will accept anything without authority.”    ( G.K. Chesterton , The Man Who Knew Too Much   )  

Dan Hodges tweeted earlier this week that he was thinking of setting Ed Miliband's last six months to the tune of "We didn't start the Fire." Now such a clip has appeared on Youtube. Hat tip to Guido's "Order Order" blog for the video below. This is the man who could be Prime Minister in less than six month's time ...

“It is a law of nature we overlook, that intellectual versatility is the compensation for change, danger, and trouble. An animal perfectly in harmony with its environment is a perfect mechanism. Nature never appeals to intelligence until habit and instinct are useless. There is no intelligence where there is no change and no need of change. Only those animals partake of intelligence that have a huge variety of needs and dangers.”    ( H.G. Wells , The Time Machine   )   

Adrian Davis-Johnston's parody of Gloria Gaynor's "I will survive" in support of the campaign to protect services at WCH. (Hashtag #WeNeedWestCumberlandHospital) will be performed live in Workington on Sunday 30th November as part of the town's Christmas Lights switch-on, with all proceeds going to the Great North Air Ambulance. It is also available for pre-order on iTunes at www.iwontsurvive.com . As has repeatedly been pointed out by Adrian, myself, and other campaigners, the nearest alternative hospitals to WCH such as the North Cumberland Infirmary at Carlisle or FGH at Barrow are respectively an hour away from Whitehaven or Millom on terrible roads, and more like ninety minutes away from much of South Copeland. Given the importance of getting people to treatment quickly, any reduction in major trauma, maternity or other emergency services at the West Cumberland could have a dire impact on West Cumbria. This was the Youtube version of Adrian's take ...

Twenty-five local GPs from Copeland and Allerdale have written to the Whitehaven News expressing concerns about proposals for services at West Cumberland Hospital, particularly maternity and paediatrics. The doctors said: “We are deeply concerned, in light of recent comments, that the medical director of our acute trust neither appears to recognise the special challenges of providing maternity services in our area, nor be prepared to await the advice of the expert panel that the Clinical Commissioning Group has brought together to review these issues.” The full text of the letter can be read on the Whitehaven News website at http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk/letters/you-say/our-families-need-these-vital-services-1.1176325 A spokesperson for North Cumbria University Hospitals Trust responded as follows: “Our very firm intention is that more, not less, patients will be treated in West Cumbria in the future. We are already starting to see this happen and even following the importa...

"When people can’t look at a tweet publicly taunting a man over the death of his six-year-old son and realise there is something deeply, horribly wrong, then they have a problem. If they can’t understand that a tweet like that transcends the most basic laws of human decency, they have a problem. And if they can’t simply and unequivocally condemn that tweet, without constructing straw men, throwing deflections and trying to draw spurious moral parallels, then they have a serious, serious problem." (Dan Hodges, writing in the Telegraph yesterday about the Jack Monroe tweet)

Anger is a driving force which motivates many people who are involved in politics. If channelled in the right way it is not necessarily a negative thing. I was very angry, just before turning 18, when my father was rung up on the day he was supposed to go into hospital for a heart valve operation, and told that shop stewards representing porters and cleaners had blocked my dad's heart operation on the grounds that they supposedly knew better than doctors whether it was an emergency. (That was about the time some NHS shop steward was quoted in the press as saying "If someone dies, so be it." My father was one of the people whose potential death that union was treating as acceptable collateral damage in an industrial dispute.) That anger was an important driving force for my becoming involved in politics, but I channelled it in what I regard as a positive direction: supporting Mrs Thatcher's plans to put the national finances on a sound footing so th...

MPs have passed the bill giving constituents the power to recall them with some, but not all, of the amendments which had been proposed to make it easier to use. One amendment passed by 204 votes to 125 was to reduce the number of sitting days for which an MP has to be suspended by the House of Commons before becoming subject to a recall petition by half, to 10 days rather than 20. Other amendments which were agreed gave power to trigger a recall process in cases of expenses fraud where an MP was given a non-custodial sentence, and in cases where information about historic wrongdoing came to light after an MP was elected. Some of the other amendments, such as one from Zac Goldsmith which took the House of Commons privileges committee out of the process, were not agreed, however. The bill now goes to the House of Lords. I'm pleased to see there is some movement on this though I would have liked to see a stronger bill, provided the recall mechanism is...

“It is one thing to be clever and another to be wise.”    ( George R.R. Martin )

Mark Wallace has an excellent post on Conservative Home at   http://www.conservativehome.com/leftwatch/2014/11/remember-the-left-is-more-compassionate-than-you-will-ever-be.html in which he gives two recent examples of a left-wing journalist and a Labour PPC respectively using tactics which would have half the left demanding the resignation of any Tory MP or PPC who used them. It is a problem for people in all parts of the political spectrum, but the left are particularly prone to it, to be so convinced of your own rightness that any nasty trick you play on your opponents can be justified. For example, one he quotes a tweet from a Guardian journalist called Jack Monroe who had made a poisonous attack on David Cameron concerning what DC had said about his dead son. It will not be a surprise to any reader of this blog to learn that I am not Gordon Brown's biggest fan. But there is one type of nasty comment which I would never make about Gordo, would never excuse or jus...

"There is literally nothing Miliband can’t mess up. "Having abdicated almost completely in a seat that they held until 2010, the compensation was meant to be that Labour got to sit back and watch all the negative headlines hurt the Conservatives. Instead, Emily Thornberry managed to drag the focus back on to her own party’s problems by   a) unwisely tweeting an apparently surprised or judgemental picture of a house with England flags hanging out of the window,  b) issuing perhaps the world’s clumsiest apology (including an unbelievable claim that she had never seen anything like it before), and    c) in so doing panicking her leader into sacking her. "To be honest, Thornberry could have survived the farce – she was a notoriously smug lefty before the tweet and she remained so after – but Miliband’s desperation saw him make her jump before she was pushed. On Monday he was beaten by a popstar. Yesterday he was defeated by a house. The Labour leader shou...

Below are some quotes from the Guardian about the Emily Thornberry tweet issue. A number of people who saw the tweet out of context would have been baffled by the fuss, because the tweet itself did not have anything rude about the house of its' owner. The row has been entirely about what people assume was meant by bothering to tweet the picture. Hence the reason I am quoting Labour figures as reported in the Guardian is that the reaction of those on the left who are angry about what they think the tweet said about their own side is what best demonstrates why there was an issue. Here are some examples from this weekend's report on the Guardian website about Labour's, quote "Civil war" on the issue ... "Labour has erupted into civil war over the “snobby” tweet sent by the sacked shadow attorney general, prompting senior MPs to warn that Ed Miliband’s chances in the general election are being actively damaged by the fallout over the affair." ...

"The political mismanagement needs to stop and we need strong management at the County Council. Somebody needs to carry the can and that person has to be the leader." (County Councillor James Airey, leader of the Conservative opposition on Cumbria County Council, talking about the Cumbria CC fiasco over the disastrous proposals for on-street parking charges which were eventually dropped last week.)

Earlier this week it came out that the Broadway Hotel in Blackpool fined a Whitehaven couple £100 for posting a bad review on Trip Advisor. (The hotel later agreed to refund the money after a huge public outcry.) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-30111525 Also this week Labour supporters tried to have Myleen Klass fired as the "Face of Littlewoods" for criticising Ed Miliband's tax policy. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/politics/6106475/Labour-supporters-demand-Littlewoods-drop-Myleene.html The hotel policy was criticised as outrageous and almost certainly illegal, but was it any better for Labour party members to try to take revenge on Myleen Klass for expressing an opinion they didn't agree with (and showing up Ed Miliband)? But it's not just hotels and a few socialists who have a problem with free speech. When I was a student I was a strong opponent of the so called "No Platform" policy which some on the left applied to anyon...

“In left-wing circles it is always felt that there is something slightly disgraceful in being an Englishman and that it is a duty to snigger at every English institution, from horse racing to suet puddings. It is a strange fact, but it is unquestionably true that almost any English intellectual would feel more ashamed of standing to attention during ‘God save the King’ than of stealing from a poor box.” (George Orwell) As Guido Fawkes pointed out, one of the reasons the tweet from Emily Thornberry of a house with three St George's Cross flags and a white van caused such a fuss was probably because people assumed it was an expression of the sort of "progressive" metropolitan disdain for both patriotism and actual working people that Orwell was talking about.

It seems that there has been a bonfire of disastrous and unpopular Labour policies in Cumbria this week. First the belated  but welcome abandonment by the County Council of the ghastly proposal to kill our town centres by charging for on-street parking. Now Copeland Council is having a budget review and say they are considering reversing the decisions to close Civic Hall and the public toilets in Whitehaven. "There is more joy in heaven over one sinner that repents" so I hope they carry through on these changes but one has to wonder what is going on. Could it be that the penny has dropped that there is a General Election next year, not to mention those for the first directly-elected mayor of Copeland and for the rest of the council? 

Congratulations to everyone involved in the switch-on ceremony for Keswick's Christmas lights this evening. My wife and I went to watch: our son was playing with Keswick School Jazz band. Despite the miserable weather there were lots of people there who were obviously having a good time.

Ninety-six years ago today, on 21st November 1918, the German High Seas Fleet, then the second most powerful in the world surrendered to the Royal Navy to be interned at Scapa Flow. A few months later the caretaker German crews scuttled their ships. When we think about the enormous cost of World War one, as we should, and remember all those who lost their lives, as we should, let us also remember with gratitude that the courage and sacrifice of those who served in the Royal Navy during the Great War ultimately achieved a complete victory. They successfully defended our country from an immense challenge, which threatened the people of these islands not just with defeat but starvation.

"Yesterday David Cameron was at the wheel of a car racing at a hundred miles an hour to a brick wall. And as if by a miracle, the Labour party somehow managed to throw themselves between the car and the wall at the very last minute." (Nick Robinson on the Radio 4 Today programme this morning describing Labour MP Emily Thornberry's Tweet which appeared to be intended, and was certainly taken, to insult working-class patriotic voters in Rochester and Strood)

Prime Minister David Cameron writes ... Six years on from the crash that brought the world to its knees, there are again warning signs for the global economy. As I met with world leaders at the G20 Summit, the problems were plain to see. The Eurozone is on the brink of recession. Emerging market economies are slowing down. And the epidemic of Ebola, conflict in the Middle East and Russia's illegal actions in Ukraine are adding a dangerous backdrop of instability and uncertainty. The British economy by contrast is growing, with record numbers of new businesses and employment up 1.75 million in four years - more than in the rest of the EU put together. But the problems in the global economy pose a real risk to our recovery - and we must protect ourselves. When we faced similar problems before, too many politicians offered easy answers, thinking we could spend, borrow and tax our way to prosperity. They were wrong then - and they are wrong now. So we must send a clear mes...

" ... an opinion poll in Scotland showed that more people believe in the Loch Ness Monster than believe in his" (Ed Miliband's)  "leadership: the only problem for the Labour party is he does actually exist." ( David Cameron at PMQs yesterday)

I have never been a fan of University tuition fees and enthusiastically supported the Conservative Party's opposition to them in 2001 and 2005. However, I reluctantly complied with the advice from CCC in 2010 not to sign the NUS pledge to vote against tuition fees, because by that time Britain's financial situation had become vastly worse and honesty demanded that candidates should not sign pledges which any government their party might form would be unable to honour. And here you have the irony of both today's student protest, and the one a few years ago, when students protesting about tuition fee increases attacked a party headquarters. All three main political parties have introduced or increased tuition fees when in office. All three main political parties have voted against them when in opposition. But in terms of keeping promises, we have one party which has twice promised not to introduce or raise student tuition fees and then twice br...

Yesterday's inflation figures edged up by a tenth of one percentage point but remain well within target. UK inflation, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) , rose to an annual rate of 1.3% in October, up from 1.2% in the previous month and therefore marginally above its recent five-year low. This compares with a target range for CPI inflation of within 4%, with the centre of the target range being 2%. The Office for National Statistics (ONS), said the rise was because transport costs fell by less than they did a year ago. In addition, prices in the recreation and culture sectors rose, particularly for computer games and toys. However, the price of food and non-alcoholic beverages fell by 1.4% in October, when compared with last year, marking the sixth consecutive month without a rise - the longest such period since 2000. Furniture and household equipment prices also fell, by 1.1%, most notably three-piece suites and settees. The ONS also reported that...

“Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.”    ( Samuel Taylor Coleridge )

In a belated but welcome display of sanity, Cumbria County Council has dropped the proposed onstreet parking charges which could well have been the last nail in the coffin of our town centres. Conservatives, local residents, and local business leaders have fought these charges tooth and nail all the way down the line and I am pleased that our voices have finally been listened to. It just goes to show that it is always worth standing up to oppose things you think are wrong or misguided.

The Home Affairs Select Committee was quoted this morning on the BBC as saying that Rotherham was not an isolated example. I think that all police forces and local authorities need to be very alert for the possibility that systematic child abuse could be taking place in their area, without falling prey to preconceptions of who may be responsible. In Rotherham the culprits were of one particular ethnic minority and they took advantage of the fear by the authorities of being accused of racism. However, the key problem was a lack of open minds. Any evidence of child abuse must be properly investigated in as sensitive a way as possible and it would be just as dangerous to approach the evidence with any preconception that a particular ethnic or  social group is, or isn't, likely to be involved, or about who the victims might be, whatever that preconception is. If serial paedophiles have one thing in common, it is that many of them gain acces...

"You can't just point at things and tax them" ( Myleen Klass gives some advice to Ed Miliband during the debate below)

Hat tip to Political Betting for the following exchange between Roger and DavidL this evening. At a risk of stating the obvious I am not necessarily endorsing everything in this exchange, but thought it worth sharing. Roger said ... "On any conventional reading I can't see why people don't like this government much. They're not particularly right wing they've presided over reasonably well off people becoming much richer and those without a job are now apparently working. They don't beat on minorities like they used to.....What's not to like? "I don't like them because I'm allergic to Tories but I've seem many less attractive Tory governments. The appearance of UKIP is living proof of what a really ugly right wing party can look like..... David L replied "I would go further (but then I would). I think this has been an excellent government who have coped with a truly terrible position much better than could reasonably be expecte...

There once was a man who said: "God Must think it exceedingly odd If he finds that this tree Continues to be When there's no one about in the Quad."   (Ronald Arbuthnott Knox) "Dear Sir: Your astonishment's odd; I am always about in the quad. And that's why the tree Will continue to be Since observed by, Yours faithfully, God.”  (Anonymous, but often also attributed to Knox. The lack of a declared human author is part of the joke.)

"The King, observing with judicious eyes The state of both his universities, To Oxford sent a troop of horse, and why? That learned body wanted loyalty; To Cambridge books, as very well discerning How much that loyal body wanted learning." (Joseph Trapp) "The King to Oxford sent a troop of horse, For Tories own no argument but force: With equal skill to Cambridge books he sent, For Whigs admit no force but argument." (William Browne) Trapp's epigram, and Browne's reply, were written about the library collected by John Moore, who had been Bishop of Norwich and then Ely. When he died in 1714, Moore's collection of books and papers contained over 30,000 items, and may have been the largest in England. To celebrate his coronation, King George I caused it to be purchased intact, at a cost of 6,000 guineas, and donated to Cambridge University Library . Moore's library alone contained nearly twice the material in the existing University...

THEY DON'T TRUST LABOUR - DO YOU? Who do you trust with the economy, with jobs, with supporting our businesses and funding our public services? When business owners and leaders were asked, they didn't say Labour: By 58% to 13% they trust the Conservatives over Labour to run the economy By 53% to 18% they believe the Conservatives are best for small businesses By 53% to 21% they believe the Conservatives are best for creating jobs And the most telling statistic of all: by 53% to 17% they trust the Conservatives over Labour to produce a growing economy that can guarantee funding for health and education for the long term. (Source: YouGov survey, 6-9 November 2014)   These are the people who create jobs - and they know that a Labour government would be a disaster for Britain: hitting businesses, costing jobs, dragging our economy backwards, and leaving us with less money to fund our vital public services. Thanks,     Matt Hancock Minister for...

"Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night: God said,  'Let Newton be!' and all was light."         (Alexander Pope) "It did not last: the devil howling, 'Ho! Let Einstein be!', restored the status-quo."         (J.C.Squire) "But that was not all . The electron piped-in, 'Let Schroedinger be and not be!' After all there is only a probability ... "         (Milind Sharma) (I found it very surprising when looking up these quotes to check them how many websites repeat Squire's quote on Einstein out of context, without the Pope quote on Newton to which it is a reply and without which it is entirely meaningless.)

Today this blog passed the figure of 250,000 page views since the traffic counters went live a few years ago. Thanks to all those who have dropped in over that time and I hope you found it interesting.

"Britain's frustration is no game. It is not a political ploy to gain advantages and concessions from our partners." "The UK case on free movement is as compelling as it is misunderstood. And it is misunderstood. It is a matter of numbers.   "Whereas some European populations are falling, the UK has grown by 7% in a decade…. the sheer scale of the influx has put strains on our health, welfare, housing and education services that we struggle to meet - and has held down wages for many of the poorest members of our society. "I do recognise - reluctantly - that our small island simply cannot absorb the present and projected numbers at the current speed: it is not physically or politically possible without huge public disquiet… I hate having to make this argument. I hate it. As a boy, I was brought up among immigrants in South London. They were my friends and my neighbours… we do not seek to end free movement - far from it: but, while the pressur...

I would be the first to agree that we cannot be complacent, but a set of good economic figures released yesterday confirms that recovery from the disastrous economic situation inherited by the present government when Labour left office is definitely under way.   New figures from the Office for National Statistics show there are now a record number of people in work, with employment up by over 1.7 million since the election, meaning more people with the security of a good job and a regular pay packet.    As these strong jobs numbers show, our long-term economic plan is delivering for Britain - creating a stronger, healthier economy, and moving us closer towards our target of full employment.   We’ve been doing this by backing business with lower jobs taxes and better infrastructure, while reforming welfare to make sure work always pays. And as today’s figures confirm, this approach is working, with another big fall in unemployment, and more people than ...

"This latest survey suggests that 13% of the country reckon Ed is fit to be Prime Minister. "That's pretty shocking, huh? "Who are they, this 13%? "Are they all resident in secure institutions?" (Rod Liddle, column in today's "The Sun," referring to an IPSOS/MORI opinion poll in which Ed Miliband scored the worst popularity ratings for any leader of a British political party since records began.)

"The typical British person regards politics and everything that is associated with politics as being weird. They see it as being removed from their life. "This is a real problem. We've seen that there has been a drop off in turn out of elections going all the way back to the early 2000s, which is a huge issue for democracy, because the decisions are being made by people who get 30 or 40 percent of the vote on a 50 to 60 percent turn out. It's a real problem with younger people. Generally speaking, the younger you get, the more removed you are from politics." (Joe Twyman, head of political and social research at YouGov, quoted in an article in "Vice" this week on the book "Sex, Lies and the Ballot Box" by Phil Cowley and Rob Ford.)

"When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say,  For Their Tomorrow,  We gave Our Today." (John Maxwell Edwards - best known from the Kohima memorial - see below.) The source for the following information is  http://www.allaboutsikhs.com/historical-events/historical-sikh-events-sikhs-in-world-war-ii.html The Kohima Epitaph   In March 1944, the Japanese 31st Division moved northwestward in Burma, swept through the Naga hills, invaded India, and fell upon Imphal and Kohima. Confidently the Japanese planned to press toward the India Plains. The Allies in the CBI Theater faced a disaster of monumental proportions unless the enemy was stopped. A crucial battle ensued at Kohima where some 2,500 British Empire troops came under siege. They fought a formidable Japanese force numbering 15,000 soldiers supported by 10,000 ammunition laden oxen. For weeks the belligerents sparred in bloody artillery duels interrupted only by hand to hand skirmishes and bayonet atta...

I shall be taking a minute's silent reflection at 11am today to think of all those who have lost their lives in war. For a time the custom of doing this at 11am on the 11th November went into abeyance because so many people attend Remembrance services on the Sunday nearest to that date. But I welcome the return of the custom that we take a break on the 11th whichever day it is, because actually stopping what you are doing on a working day is even more powerful. And we need to remember.

“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, We will remember them.”    ( Laurence Binyon )

“It has been said, 'time heals all wounds.' I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone.”    ( Rose Kennedy )

There was a good attendance by people of all ages at the Remembrance Sunday ceremony at the Castle Park war memorial in Whitehaven today. Although it is a gray and wet day, the rain held off for the ceremony itself. I was pleased to see that so many people wanted to remember those who were killed in the conflicts in which this country has been involved. First, because those who  died to defend this country should be remembered. And second because the better we remember the cost of war the more likely it is that we will so arrange our affairs that we lose as few people to them as possible in the future. I don't doubt the sincerity of those people who have made occasional attempts - the "Stop the War Coalition" were at it again this year - to promote alternative means of remembering the fallen such as the so-called white poppies. But to me the symbolism of the nation coming together to remember the people who died in past conflicts has always held a message about the ...

"Tears shed at Remembrance Ceremonies are more often than not tears shed for loved ones we have lost. Taking time out to show up is where the respect lies. After all, it was promised to those lads that marched away that we would remember them." (Mick Lonergan, extract from a letter in The Independent this week)

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I could not agree more strongly with Iain Dale about how disastrous it is that politicians are constantly trumping up accusations of misconduct and sometimes criminal conduct against one another. Now in the very rare circumstance where genuine evidence comes into the hands of a politician that another, whether of the same party or an opponent has done something criminal or corrupt, of course they should make sure it is handed over to the police for an impartial investigation. But in the real world, how often is it going to happen that an MP or councillor sees such evidence, and when they do, is it more likely that it will incriminate an opponent or someone in the same party? So if someone is constantly reporting their political opponents but never complains about an ally, is it more likely that they are presenting genuine evidence, or using trumped-up charges as a political campaigning tool? A perfect way to make public contempt for the political process and everyone involved i...

So much is at stake at the next election - and the choice has never been clearer. Rather than addressing the big challenges facing our country, Labour have spent the last week fighting amongst themselves  - with senior Labour figures: Admitting they "lack an overall vision" and that "a Labour government would not have a sense of direction"  (Lord Soley, former Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party) Calling for a return to Labour's "democratic socialist" roots  (Jon Trickett MP)  and debating outdated political theories rather than the things that matter to hardworking people There's no leadership  - only weakness. No long-term plan  - just short-term gimmicks. We have to stop Labour getting into power and putting everything we've achieved at risk.  Please join  Team2015  today and volunteer to play your part in this vital election campaign. While we're reducing the deficit, creating more jobs and cutting income tax t...