How to beat the 24-hour news machine

You have to hand it to the coalition government, they've certainly got newshounds like me chasing our tails, spinning in ever-decreasing circles.

Notwithstanding the "immediate" nature of the modern news media, does anybody have the faintest idea where we are right now with the cuts in public spending in Cornwall? OK, so we all knew that Building Schools for the Future was likely to be scrapped - six Cornish secondary schools losing a £69million investment - but the cuts are coming so fast that I have to admit, I can't keep up.

This is what I think I've reported so far: jobs and training schemes for under 24s, the Isles of Scilly ferry link, Camborne-Redruth road, nearly £14m in as-yet-unspecified Cornwall Council cuts (this year,) cuts in education services, and today the six new or refurbished Cornish schools - all axed or frozen.

I'm also aware of cuts to the police service but haven't yet had time to look at the detail. And the RDA. Did Danny Alexander really say he wanted to see suggestions for 40% cuts in every government department? My eyes grow cloudy, my memory dims. And we're only two months in.

At the same time we've had an emergency budget which put up taxes. In addition to this, and before the general election, Cornwall Council told us it was cutting £108 million over four years. That was only in February yet it now seems like a lifetime ago.

Usually Members of Parliament, and leading members of Cornwall Council, are falling over themselves to issue "hallelujah!" press releases extolling page after page of fabulous good news. Yet now they seem strangely silent and reluctant to return my calls.

Maybe the spin doctors who advise the political classes have finally figured out a way to win: make the news so unremittingly, repetitively bad; rattle it out with machine-gun rapidity; and eventually the media will lose interest - just another day in Darfur; a bit of an earthquake somewhere far away. The news editors and programme producers will just say "What? Another cuts story? I don't want that - get me something fresh! Get me the skateboarding duck!"

So please help this confused old hack keep on top of his job. I'm doing my best but could sure use your assistance. If you can manage a comprehensive list of all the public spending cuts in Cornwall since the general election, just post a comment on this blog. Thank you.

And the new MP for Devonwall is...

Fifty MPs face abolition. That's one in 12, so at first sight it looks as if Cornwall might keep the six it has now.

But it also heralds an average eight per cent increase in the size of every UK constituency (except two in Scotland - Orkney & Shetland and the Western Isles.) So how can the Boundary Commission increase the size of all six Cornish constituencies without taking in some voters from Devon?

The choice appears to be between surrendering the "natural and historic" boundaries to the east of North Cornwall and South East Cornwall, or surrendering one of Cornwall's MPs.

The timing of all this is just eye-watering (especially if you work for the Boundary Commission.) The Commission has to undertake a root-and-branch reform of the entire UK (except two small parts of Scotland) before the end of 2013. That then leaves just 17 months before the next general election in May 2015.

Political parties may well have to select prospective Parliamentary candidates without knowing the constituencies they will be contesting.

Value for money or cynical expediency?

Extract from an email from Cornwall Council's Head of Legal Services:

"Under the provisions of the Accounts and Audit (Amendment No.2) (England) Regulations 2009, the Council was obliged to disclose the amount paid to Peter Lewis by way of compensation.

"I was present at all the meetings regarding the new severance policy and I recall it being said that Compromise Agreements were a standard means by which the arrangements for staff departures from organisations were set out when such departures were individually negotiated and that confidentiality clauses were standard provisions in such Agreements.

"The Chief Executive kept the Leader and the relevant Cabinet Member advised of the negotiations which he properly undertook as part of his delegated powers. He took advice in relation to those negotiations from the Assistant Director of HR and myself and we were satisfied that it was appropriate for the Council to enter into the Compromise Agreement on the terms set out therein."

Richard Williams
Head of Legal and Democratic Services
Cornwall Council

Who knew and when

I have it on good authority that the £78,750 compensation for loss of office, plus £24,782 pension contributions for former Cornwall Council Corporate Director Peter Lewis was a deal worked out between Peter himself and his boss, chief executive Kevin Lavery mano a mano. Head of legal services Richard Williams kept it, er, legal. Out of 123 democratically elected councillors, only two - the leader, Alec Robertson, and relevant Cabinet member, Jim Currie - were "kept advised." As for the other 121 councillors, the first they knew about it was when they heard it on the news.

Second home voters escape scrutiny

It looks as if Friday's meeting of the Electoral Review Panel generated more heat than light when it came to the discussion about second home voters. Cornwall councillors Jeremy Rowe and Alex Folkes have already blogged about this.

As I understand it the Panel is making the following recommendations: that the idea of cross-referencing the council tax discount register with the electoral roll will be considered (but don't hold your breath - senior officials have already dismissed it as too time-consuming and too expensive;) the council will write to deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg seeking a clarification of the law; and that the council's annual canvass will include a note to all potential electors in Cornwall reminding them that they should not vote if they're not entitled to (yes, really.)

Not much of a revolution. If Nick Clegg now fails to deal with second home voting in his forthcoming Parliamentary Reform Bill, could it be the end of the issue for the Liberal Democrats? Clegg had an opportunity to say something about second homes today when he made his statement about individual voter registration - but if he has any thoughts on the subject, he kept them to himself.

The revolving doors of perception

Top brass at County Hall are all suited and booted for their trip to Bournemouth and the annual conference of the Local Government Association. The LGA slogan this year is "Changing times, changing minds" - which is spookily similar to "Changing minds for changing times," the slogan of a US life-coaching and motivation company:

"Headquartered in Washington, DC, our company is a nationally recognized, innovative management consulting firm specializing in strategic planning, team building and change work. Our innovative human development technology, P.R.A.I.S.E.!, is an acronym for our tested and non-religious method that successfully achieves desired shifts in organizations, groups, agencies, families and individuals and has undergone rigorous study by Georgia State and evaluation through programs via Catholic University."

Anybody know what this means? I've read it three times and still don't get it. But let's hope councillors Alec Robertson, Jim Currie, Neil Burden et al are suitably inspired when they get back to Cornwall at the end of the week.

Nick Clegg speaks: a Nation waits

Just had this from the lobby: "The statement by the Deputy Prime Minister this afternoon (1530) on Electoral Reform will also cover plans to equalise the size of constituencies, and bring the number down from the current 650."

Will Cornwall lose one of its MPs? Share a constituency, or two, with Devon? I hope we'll be able to shed some light on the implications later today, and on BBC Radio Cornwall tomorrow morning.