For the benefit of all those North Cornwall Lib Dems who regard the former Dunfermline MP Willie Rennie as one of their own (Willie was the party organiser who put Paul Tyler in the House of Commons) I draw to your attention this blog post from Guido Fawkes.
Sunday, 30 May 2010
Saturday, 29 May 2010
Another Cornwall
I spent the last three days of last week banged up at Truro Crown Court, waiting for the jury to rule on the tragic "firework through the letter box" case which resulted in three teenage boys being sent to a young offenders' institute for between five and seven years.
It felt strange to be back before a High Court Judge - in a previous life I was a regular scribe on the press benches of the old Bodmin Crown Court - and on my way home on Friday evening I went for a stroll around the town's Berryfields Estate.
Back in November, when Mary Fox died in the blaze caused by the firework, the national newspapers went to town with wild stories about feral gangs of youths terrorising residents. The estate's residents, supported by local MP Dan Rogerson, were quick to point out that 99% of what the newspapers were saying was total garbage - and on the evidence of what I found on Friday evening I have to agree.
It is 30 years since I first reported from the Berryfields Estate but there are some facts which can never change. It was built more than 40 years ago specifically to house hundreds of people relocating from London (mainly East Enders); the estate was effectively separate from the main part of Bodmin and there was little or no thought given to "organic" growth of the town; the first generation of Berryfield Estate residents brought with them a sackful of socio-economic problems which Bodmin was ill-equipped to deal with; and despite winning a design award it is still ridiculously easy to get hopelessly lost.
There is some graffiti. I saw one car which probably hasn't moved for a while (owing to a shortage of wheels.) Mary Fox's house on Friday evening was still a crime scene. But that is about it.
I am not pretending that there are no problems with anti-social behaviour on the Berryfields Estate. The police have set up a local office and try to patrol, on foot, as often as possible. The estate is unlikely to feature in tourist brochures any time soon. But it is not a war zone. Most of the accents I heard were Cornish, rather than Cockney (in 1980 it was most definitely the other way round.) Not once did I feel unsafe.
Anyway the first point of this particular blog post is to suggest that improvng the health, housing and economic prospects of Berryfield Estate residents is probably not as high up the political agenda as it ought to be. The second point is to ask what design lessons have been learned from those who seek now to develop new estates, and eco towns, all over Cornwall?
It felt strange to be back before a High Court Judge - in a previous life I was a regular scribe on the press benches of the old Bodmin Crown Court - and on my way home on Friday evening I went for a stroll around the town's Berryfields Estate.
Back in November, when Mary Fox died in the blaze caused by the firework, the national newspapers went to town with wild stories about feral gangs of youths terrorising residents. The estate's residents, supported by local MP Dan Rogerson, were quick to point out that 99% of what the newspapers were saying was total garbage - and on the evidence of what I found on Friday evening I have to agree.
It is 30 years since I first reported from the Berryfields Estate but there are some facts which can never change. It was built more than 40 years ago specifically to house hundreds of people relocating from London (mainly East Enders); the estate was effectively separate from the main part of Bodmin and there was little or no thought given to "organic" growth of the town; the first generation of Berryfield Estate residents brought with them a sackful of socio-economic problems which Bodmin was ill-equipped to deal with; and despite winning a design award it is still ridiculously easy to get hopelessly lost.
There is some graffiti. I saw one car which probably hasn't moved for a while (owing to a shortage of wheels.) Mary Fox's house on Friday evening was still a crime scene. But that is about it.
I am not pretending that there are no problems with anti-social behaviour on the Berryfields Estate. The police have set up a local office and try to patrol, on foot, as often as possible. The estate is unlikely to feature in tourist brochures any time soon. But it is not a war zone. Most of the accents I heard were Cornish, rather than Cockney (in 1980 it was most definitely the other way round.) Not once did I feel unsafe.
Anyway the first point of this particular blog post is to suggest that improvng the health, housing and economic prospects of Berryfield Estate residents is probably not as high up the political agenda as it ought to be. The second point is to ask what design lessons have been learned from those who seek now to develop new estates, and eco towns, all over Cornwall?
And the next one, please
Downing Street tells me the new Chief Secretary to the Treasury is the Scottish Secretary, Danny Alexander. I suspect that any Cornish Lib Dems hoping their pet projects might now be spared the axe will be rather disappointed.
Why do all these kinds of stories tend to break on a Saturday evening? Is there nothing good on telly? (Oh. Apparently it's the Eurovision Song Contest. That explains everything.)
Why do all these kinds of stories tend to break on a Saturday evening? Is there nothing good on telly? (Oh. Apparently it's the Eurovision Song Contest. That explains everything.)
David Laws quits
Well that didn't take long, did it? Whether the next Chief Secretary to the Treasury is seen as more or less Right-wing than David Laws may wipe the smiles from the faces of his Left-leaning Lib Dem colleagues (or should I say opponents?) in Cornwall.
Whoops
A handful - and I stress that at the moment it is only a handful - of Cornwall's more Leftish Liberal Democrats tell me they are secretly delighted that the Yeovil Lib Dem MP and Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Laws has come unstuck over his expenses' claims.
Between 2001 and September 2009 Mr Laws claimed up to £950 a month to rent rooms from his partner. This has been against the rules since 2006 - something which Mr Laws has acknowledged. He has promised to refund taxpayers £40,000.
Before the general election, it was widely accepted that many MPs, from all three of the main political parties, had abused the Parliamentary expenses system. While several Conservative and Labour MPs lost the whip or were deselected as candidates, the Liberal Democrats were alone in failing to take any kind if disciplinary action.
Mr Laws has referred himself to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, but I wonder if his career will survive long enough for the Commissioner to reach a judgement. The Cornwall Lib Dems who are now chuckling quietly to themselves point out that since Mr Laws is the architecht of the £6.2 billion public spending cuts, including deep cuts to a number of projects backed by the South West RDA, Cornwall might well benefit from a different Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
Between 2001 and September 2009 Mr Laws claimed up to £950 a month to rent rooms from his partner. This has been against the rules since 2006 - something which Mr Laws has acknowledged. He has promised to refund taxpayers £40,000.
Before the general election, it was widely accepted that many MPs, from all three of the main political parties, had abused the Parliamentary expenses system. While several Conservative and Labour MPs lost the whip or were deselected as candidates, the Liberal Democrats were alone in failing to take any kind if disciplinary action.
Mr Laws has referred himself to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, but I wonder if his career will survive long enough for the Commissioner to reach a judgement. The Cornwall Lib Dems who are now chuckling quietly to themselves point out that since Mr Laws is the architecht of the £6.2 billion public spending cuts, including deep cuts to a number of projects backed by the South West RDA, Cornwall might well benefit from a different Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
Friday, 28 May 2010
Libs, Cons, triumph again
What, if anything, should we make of last night's by-elections on Truro city and Falmouth town councils? Here are the results:
Truro
Lib Dem 604; Conservative 524; Mebyon Kernow 156
(turnout 32%)
Falmouth
Conservative 324; Labour 304; Mebyon Kernow 167
(turnout 16%)
OK so this was the first test in Cornwall of voter opinion since the Con-Lib coalition but I suggest we should not read too much into it - other than perhaps note the increasing importance of the postal vote (48% in Falmouth) as indicative of the organising power of political parties.
Truro
Lib Dem 604; Conservative 524; Mebyon Kernow 156
(turnout 32%)
Falmouth
Conservative 324; Labour 304; Mebyon Kernow 167
(turnout 16%)
OK so this was the first test in Cornwall of voter opinion since the Con-Lib coalition but I suggest we should not read too much into it - other than perhaps note the increasing importance of the postal vote (48% in Falmouth) as indicative of the organising power of political parties.
Thursday, 27 May 2010
Polling Day in Truro & Falmouth
Voters go to the polls today for city and town council by-elections in Truro and in Falmouth: Truro's Trehaverne ward and Falmouth's Penwerris ward.
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