Chris Whiteside's Blog

I completed the Swimathon this afternoon - 200 lengths of Hensingham pool, which is 5,000 metres - in about an hour and 48 minutes. I was one of seven local swimmers who took part in Copeland today, and of thousands who took part around the country. Thanks again to those who have already sponsored me to take part in Swimathon 2012 to raise money for Cancer care, and who have helped me to meet and exceed my fundraising target. You can see my fundraising page on  the swimathon website here .

.. to all those who have sponsored me in the Swimathon this coming Sunday and supported Marie Curie cancer care. My sponsors have included work colleagues, family, friends, and people I know from politics including Conservatives, Labour supporters, and people of no particular political view. In all cases it is much appreciated. I had invited people to try to top the gentleman who wrote on my sponsorship page that he would multiply his donation by ten if I did the swim in Whitehaven harbour. My boss duly suggested that the T-shirt I wore in the picture on the sponsorship page should have "Keeping the tories afloat" on it. Since people whose politics differs from mine have been kind enough to sponsor me I have not taken up the suggestion, though it did make me chuckle!

Thanks again to those who have already sponsored me to take part in Swimathon 2012 to raise money for Cancer care. If anyone wants to try to top the gentleman who posted that if I swim the 5,000 metres in Whitehaven harbour he will multiply the amount of sponsorhip by ten, do go ahead! This will be the nineteenth consecutive year I have taken part. I plan to swim 5,000 metres at Copeland pool this Sunday (29th April). My son and daughter are also planning to do the "Simply Swim" challenge this year. The National Swimathon is 26 years old this year and is taking place this  weekend (27th to 29th April 2012). Since the Swimathon was launched in 1986, well over £35 million has been raised for a host of good causes, and over half a million swimmers have taken part. Anyone who would like to sponsor me and support Marie Curie cancer care can do so at the swimathon website here .

I was on record while I was a Copeland Councillor as expressing my concern at whether the stadium proposals were workable, sustainable, or realistic. And I had the greatest doubts over the ability of Copeland Borough Council under its present leadership to deliver them. I take no pleasure in being proved right in a way which is humiliating for Copeland and West Cumbria. This week the backers of the proposal for a stadium at Pow Beck - Copeland Borough Council, Whitehaven Rugby League Club and Whitehaven Amateur Football Club - belatedly admitted that their present plans for a stadium at Pow Beck are not cost effective. Both I and Councillor David Moore, leader of the Conservative opposition on Copeland BC,  told them that fifteen months ago. They have also accepted that it is not possible to deliver the new stadium in time to host planned Rugby World Cup games in 2013. To say that the loss of these games is a disappointment for the area is something of an understatement....

Some twenty-eight years ago, while four digit "Personal Identification Numbers" were new, I remember there being some concern about whether people would be able to remember them. Certainly I used to carry a note of the number of my first chip and PIN card, carefully disguised so that a person who found it would not realise what it was. The other day I tried to come up with a count of how many passcodes, identification numbers, and passwords I have had to memorise for regular daily use - first the ones I use sufficiently frequently that I have actually memorised them, and then the ones which I still have to write down. The first frightening thing is how many there are, and the second frightening thing is that this number of codes is probably not at all unusual for a person in a white collar or management job. Between work, bank details, and other important systems, I have successfully memorised the following eleven identifiers * Three PIN codes with four di...

If you were setting up a Patron Saint for England today, it is most unlikely that you would select St George. The strongest contender would probably be St Alban, the first known Christian martyr in these islands, who has going for him that 1) he definately existed 2) he actually lived in England 3) although we know little about him, it is almost certain that he gave his life to protect another individual from unjust persecution and for his new Christian faith 4) the site of his death has been commemorated and has been a continuous place of worship for not far short of two thousand years By comparison St George may not have existed at all, probably never set foot within a thousand miles of England and certainly never lived here, and the most famous story about him, the story of the dragon, has at best been transformed into legend by a series of distortions and is at worst complete fantasy. What St George has going for him, however, is that English people have honoured his...

I was very pleased to learn that the Mayor of Copeland, Councillor John Jackson, has been cleared of the charges made against him by an anonymous complainant. I could not believe that John would ever have made the remark he was supposed to have made, and none of the people who were at the event concerned who I have spoken to had heard him say anything of the sort. Indeed, several Labour supporters and councillors have made a point of openly and publicly rejecting the charges against John. One Labour councillor - John Kane - who was at the White Mare on the night in question, wrote on the Whitehaven News website that he had not heard anything of the sort, and that the person responsible for the allegation should "hang their head in shame." The allegations have been investigated and no case to answer has been found. I have often been involved, in various capacities, in trying to persuade people to put their names forward for public office. We need people with in...

Thanks to those who have already sponsored me to take part in Swimathon 2012 to raise money for Cancer care. Even including the gentleman who posted that if I swim the 5,000 metres in Whitehaven harbour he will multiply the amount of sponsorhip by ten! This will be the nineteenth consecutive year I have taken part. I plan to swim 5,000 metres at Copeland pool a fortnight today on Sunday 29th April. My son and daughter are also thinking about taking part this year. The National Swimathon is 26 years old this year and will be taking place over the weekend of 27th to 29th April 2012. Since the Swimathon was launched in 1986, well over £35 million has been raised for a host of good causes, and over half a million swimmers have taken part. In West Cumbria you can take part at Copeland pool in Hensingham on Sunday 29th, with sessions starting at 9 am and 12 noon. Other locations in Cumbria where you can take part include: * Appleby Swimming Pool * The Park Leisure Centre, Barrow-in-furnes...

I do hope that the debate on the future of the Union becomes a bit more constructive and even tempered - on both sides - than it has sometimes been recently in the run up to the Scottish referendum on Independence. Both my parents had ancestors on both sides of the border between England and Scotland, and I think of myself as British rather than English. I am proud of both my English and Scots ancestors and would greatly regret the breakup of the UK. But if a significant part of any of the nations within the United Kingdom wishes to break away, the decision must be made through the ballot box. Whether the eventual vote is a "Yes" or "No" it is vital that the debate and the final vote are seen on both sides, particularly by whoever loses, as fair. If Scotland does break away, we need to ensure that the divorce is amicable because an acrimonious split and a poor starting relationship between the two (or more) countries which replaced the UK would have the potential to...

Opinion polls and the Bradford West by-election suggest that none of the mainstream parties are very popular with the public at the moment and I can fully understand that. Whoever had won the 2010 election would have been left a terrible mess to sort out and been forced to decided, now whether to kick everybody, including vulnerable people, in the teeth, but how and when to kick everybody in the teeth. There is a particularly good article in the Telegraph today by Ruth Porter, entitled " Gordon Brown’s poisonous legacy lives on " which describes some of the worst aspects of the situation inherited by the present coalition government, particularly the fact that the benefits changes under Gordon Brown "systematically pulled families with children into the benefits system" with the consequence that by 2010 "the state was the main provider for a third of all UK households." The first problem with this is that it was one of the major reasons why government spe...

I realise that some of the people who read this blog have a religious faith and others do not. To those who do, I pray that the spirit of the risen lord, or whatever is the equivalent in your own creed, will be with you this Easter and evermore. To those who do not have a religious conviction, can I express the hope that you are enjoying the Easter holiday. To both groups, I wish you a very happy Easter.

A few weeks ago evidence was brought to the attention of the government which suggested that the correct procedures were not being followed by some abortion clinics. The Secretary of State for health, Andrew Lansley, asked the relevant inspectorate to carry out spot checks, on abortion clinics, which they agreed to do. Various people, particularly members of the opposition, have been jumping up and down complaining about the Secretary of State's decision to ask for these inspections, after the details have been published of the alternative inspection work which was cancelled or deferred as a result, and of the opportunity cost of the inspections. However, the people who are criticising Andrew Lansley about this are not always quite so quick to point out that the exercise found that more than fifty abortion clinics - slightly more than one in seven of those inspected - were not in fact complying with the law. Shadow Health secretary Andy Burnhan was careful to preface his remarks on...

Exactly thirty years ago a murderous fascist regime invaded the Falkland Islands. Two hundred and fifty eight British men and women were killed in defeating that invasion. Whatever your view of the merits of Argentina's claim to the islands, the Gatieri Junta were the ones who first resorted to force to prop up their regime, one which had been responsible for the deaths of many innocent Argentine civilians before they started the war in which they sent another 649 Argentinians to their deaths in addition to the British casualties. The men and women of the British Task force which defeated the Argentinian invasion were not just defending Britain and the Falklands. They did the people of Argentina a favour by defeating, and thereby causing the overthow of, a tyrannical regime who were quite literally no better than criminal gangsters in uniform. Britain can and should look back with pride on the courage and sacrifice of the men and women who died to liberate the Falklands from that r...

Lord Newton of Braintree, the former secretary of state for Social Security who has just died, should have been remembered as one of the very, very few politicians ever to see a problem twenty or thirty years ahead and take effective action to solve it. Unfortunately, because of the folly of a subsequent government, Tony will have a footnote in history as the man who took action which should have solved a problem, only to have the funds he had put aside grabbed and frittered away. I knew and liked Tony Newton, who was one of the "Eastern Area Mafia" which at one point provided half a dozen members of the cabinet. He was a very loyal friend who had much less of an ego and more interest in getting on with the job than many involved in politics. Once a mutual friend - it may have been James Blatch, my predecessor as Chairman of Eastern Area YCs who is now a journalist - introduced Tony at a meeting by pointing out that as he had gone straight from Cambridge to the Conservative R...

If you want a practical example of why the Coalition government is right to scrap the Standards Board for England, I cannot think of a better one than the two standards board complaints which have been brought over the past few years against the present Mayor of Copeland, Councillor John Jackson. John is a man of integrity who has worked hard for the local community over many years. A few years ago he was falsely accused of conspiring with a council officer against the leader of Copeland council. There was not the tiniest scintilla of truth in the allegations against John Jackson at that time, but he had to put up with being "investigated" and the fact that the accusations were made was public knowledge. (For the avoidance of doubt, I do not accept, admit or imply that the allegations against any of the other people accused at the same time, including myself, were true either.) About the only thing of which nobody could accuse the person who made that particular set of accusa...

A petition was put forward earlier this year on the Downing Street website, and received the necessary 100,000 signatures before the time limit ran out on 19th February, asking the government to look at exempting the Air ambulance from fuel tax in the same way as the lifeboat service. The petition reads as follows: "The Air Ambulance Service is forced to meet rising fuel prices year on year including VAT. The Air Ambulance Service have saved successive governments millions and millions of pounds funded by charitable donations given by the general public to run what has proven to be an essential service. Whilst the Lifeboat Service has been exempt from VAT on fuel costs since 1977, a similar privilege has not been afforded to the Air Ambulance Service; We call on the government to have an urgent review of this situation and in doing so, We call on the government to return in the form of grants to Air Ambulance Service providers all the future VAT which the Treasury collects from th...

REMINDER: today (Friday 23rd March 2012) is the last day to comment in the latest phase of public consultation about the long-term storage of Nuclear Waste, and whether a repository is a better solution than the present arrangements. You can respond and find out more online at www.westcumbriamrws.org.uk .

REMINDER: The latest phase of discussion about what we do about the long-term storage of Nuclear Waste, and whether a repository is a better solution than the present arrangements, continues until this Friday 23rd March. A series of Community drop-in events have been held around Cumbria, all of which are now complete. However you can still respond and find out more online at www.westcumbriamrws.org.uk .

Today I delivered a Budget that supports work. I wanted to write to you immediately to explain our plans and set out some of the key measures. This is a radical, reforming Budget that helps Britain earn its way in the world. It is a Budget that rewards work, unashamedly backs businesses and puts us on the side of those who aspire to do better for themselves and their families. SUPPORTING WORKING FAMILIES I wanted to help working families on middle and lower incomes. That is why I today announced the largest ever increase in the personal allowance, a tax cut of up to £220 for 24 million income taxpayers next year. Together with previous increases, this means that this Government will have taken 2 million of the lowest paid out of tax altogether, and basic rate taxpayers will be up to £526 better off. SCRAPPING THE DAMAGING 50p RATE No Chancellor can justify a tax rate that damages our economy and raises next to nothing. This is why I also announced that we are reducing the top rate of ...

There is an absoutely fascinating article by Frazer Nelson,which appeared in the Telegraph this week and is accessible on their website here , called " Sticking with Gordon Brown’s flawed policy keeps people in poverty ." It begins with the inspiring story of Stephen Stubbs, a partially sighted 47-year-old living in Darlington, who was being followed by a television crew documenting how hard it is to find work. Stephen applied for 2,000 jobs rather than sit back and accept life on benefits. But eventually his persistence was rewarded, and he did find a position. As the article saya, "The idea of a 4pm-2am shift working for the Student Loans Company might dismay many of us, but Mr Stubbs spoke as if he’d won the lottery. “If I can do it, anyone can,” he told Channel 4’s cameras." Nelson's article goes on to identify a problem with the definition of Poverty in the Child Poverty Act, an piece of law, incidentally, which the Labour MP for Copeland claims his contrib...

My score on 15th March 2012 Economic Left/Right: 3.75 (e.g. right of centre, but not anywhere near the extremes, on economics) Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.41 (In other words the political compass site classes me as a social liberal)

As a small boy I loved "The Monkees" T.V. show, and I am astonished to learn that their lead singer Davy Jones, a Manchester lad who made it big in the US, has died at the age of 66. He was a wonderful singer but I particularly remember him for his sense of fun his comic ability. He leaves a widow and four daughters. Rest in Peace

If you told a hundred adults that today was national offer day, I suspect that eighty or so of them wouldn't have a clue what you were talking about. Of the other ten, about five would be only too well aware of that today was indeed National Offer Day. They would be or parents of children aged about ten, or teachers or other staff involved in the process of "secondary transfer," e.g. assigning children in the present "year six" to secondary schools in the coming autumn, would know exactly what you meant and I suspect most will either be very pleased and relieved or extremely upset. The ones who knew what you meant but didn't already know it was National Offer day would be the parents who had been through it comparatively recently but don't have a child going through secondary transfer this year: and they would all say something like "yes: thank goodness it doesn't affect us this year." Certainly I and my wife, who had two children to worry ...

The latest phase of discussion about what we do about the long-term storage of Nuclear Waste, and whether a repository is a better solution than the present arrangements, continues for just over three weeks, until Friday 23rd March. A series of Community drop-in events have been held around Cumbria, all of which are now complete. However you can still respond and find out more online at www.westcumbriamrws.org.uk .

A year ago an earthquake and tsunami hit Japan. In September Japan's National Police Agency gave the number of confirmed deaths caused by the earthquake and tsunami as 15,850 with a further 3,287 people missing. How many confirmed deaths resulted from radiation leakage or the other nuclear related accidents which the earthquake caused at the Fukushima Nuclear plant? Zero. 92.5% of the fatalities confirmed by April as a result of the earthquake and Tsunami died by drowning, including both the people who died at the Fukushima nuclear plant. Media coverage in the UK of the anniversary of the disaster centred entirely on the Fukushima plant, which might have been a legitimate story placed in context, but it seems bizarre that the way Japan is recovering from the rest of the disaster, or what the cost was in lives and money, was completely ignored. When there is a natural cataclysm which kills well over fifteen thousand people, and the press coverage is disproportionately concentrated o...

Yes, another post about beating the metal thieves. As any regular reader of this blog may well have gathered, I have strong opinions about this. Both I and two of my brothers-in-law work or have worked in industries which are particularly affected by the plague of metal theft. And since thousands of homes in West Cumbria had their telephone service cut off for a big slice of a weekend late last year, because incompetent would-be metal theives ripped out a section of fibre telephone cable near Workington in the hope that it was copper, I've felt even more strongly about it. Which is why I'm pleased to note that one of the things I called for in earlier blog posts is starting to happen - the courts are starting to hand out sentences proportionate to the damage the metal thieves could potentially cause - and where people steal cable from the railway signal networks or BT's network that can mean causing the death of innocent people - rather than the value of the metal stolen. K...

Police working to beat the metal thieves have carried out a series of raids in various parts of Britain this year, including the North, and now a series of raids in WIltshire have produced a spectacular result. Around one ton of stolen BT cable was recovered during a series of co-ordinated raids on scrap metal yards. ​Representatives of BT’s Metal Theft Task Force and 12 other agencies joined more than 100 police officers to serve warrants at dealerships in Wiltshire. Sites in Melksham, Trowbridge, Swindon and Christian Malford near Chippenham were visited during the operation. Ten people - including a 12-year-old boy - were arrested for offences including theft, handling stolen goods and burglary. Property recovered included one ton of BT cable at the Melksham yard and more stolen cable belonging to BT at the Trowbridge yard, as well as stolen beer barrels, drain covers, water valves, metal pipes and around £10,500 cash. Luke Beeson, BT Security general manager for metal theft, said...

I see that the government of Argentina has complained to the UN over the Falklands. Presumably, just as Galtieri's military Junta was trying to prop itself up during political difficulties when it invaded the islands, the present president is attempting to shore up her domestic political position with an equally childish appeal to the most xenophobic forms of chauvinism. I suppose we should think ourselves fortunate that this time the Argentinians are choosing forms of protest which only waste time and money rather than lives. The latest ridiculous argument is that it in some way "militarises" the islands to have sent Prince William to the Falklands on a routine posting as a navy Air Sea Rescue pilot, and to have sent a modern destroyer, HMS Dauntless, to visit them. If Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner should lose the next election, she should be able to get a job as a stand-up comedian on the basis of her accusation that the British decision to send HMS...

Another day to take care if you are out and about: temperatures in Whitehaven were below freezing for most of the day yesterday and is currently (8.00 am) about four degrees below freezing according to the air temperature thermometer in my car. A two-inch thick block of ice which my daughter removed from the top of a water container yesterday morning was still lying beside it un-melted this morning, while a stick of ice, sticking up out of the water at and angle of about 45 degrees and looking for all the world like an ice sundial, had formed on the surface of the same container as the bizarre result of a very cold wind. We can only assume that the cold wind created a wave in the water and then froze the top of it, and then more water was driven to the top of the ice-stick by the wind and then froze, so that the stick of ice gradually got higher until the surface of the water was completely frozen. By this time the stick of ice was about three inches high. I have never seen anything li...

Take great care if you are out and about in any part of Cumbria or many other parts of Britain today - the roads and pavements are icy. Certainly they are lethal in Whitehaven this morning which alomst certainly means that many parts of the county will be worse. Take particular care if you might be minded to do anything involving moving heavy objects outside, especially on a slope. The advice should probably be, don't! It being brown bin collection day, I have just brought our brown bin round from the back garden and up our steep drive. Despite taking great care I could very easily have injured myself, was probably foolish even to attempt it and will not be trying anything like that in these sorts of conditions again.