Paddy Tipping is my MP

My letter on Lebanon to Paddy Tipping

2006-08-23T13:12:00.000-07:00

I have been appalled by the recent conflict in Lebanon. What particularly got my back up was the way the Government backed Israel 100%, which seemed neither fair nor helpful. In addition, it appears that the UK was used as a conduit for bombs which were then used to destroy Lebanese power stations, bridges and other vital items of civilian infrastructure, as well as killing anyone unlucky to be underneath it. Margaret Beckett's only problem with this was that the US hadn't filled out the correct paperwork.

I decided to write to Paddy Tipping. It didn't seem likely that much would come of it. He's a loyal minister, Tony Blair has made it pretty clear that he considers the bombing a vital part of the 'War against Terror', so what can you expect. On the other hand, if we the public sit back passively, we can't expect our democratic government to do what we'd like it to.

I wrote the following letter to Paddy Tipping

Paddy Tipping raises the problem of China's contribution to climate change

2006-07-20T14:15:00.000-07:00

Paddy Tipping asked the Deputy Prime Minister about the problem of China's contribution to global warming via coal fired power stations.

With the Chinese economy growing by 13 per cent. a year and reports that a new coal-fired power station is being opened every fortnight in China, it is a major source of carbon pollution. How confident is the Deputy Prime Minister about involving China in a successful outcome, post-Kyoto?

I'm glad that Paddy Tipping has raised this, because I think it's a big problem, and I don't share Prescott's confidence. China is desperate for energy and climate change may be even lower on their list of priorities than it is in the more affluent West.

Emissions from coal are a big problem, particularly as with oil running out, the Developed World is likely to turn to coal gasification as a major source of transport energy. Although it might be possible to capture the carbon produced, it seems likely that a lot of it wouldn't be, because it's more difficult and more expensive.

Unfortunately at the end of the debate, John Prescott reveals his (almost) total ignorance of the topic when he fails to understand the question about contraction and convergence. I agree with Martin Owen's comment "God help us!". It illustrates starkly how little the Government actually knows or cares about climate change.

Paddy Tipping queries use of MoD firing range

2006-07-20T13:34:00.000-07:00

Paddy Tipping has received a Written Answer to his question:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many of the 14 allocated days have been used in training for the firing of the 120 mm Challenger tanks at the Warcop range in each year since 2001.

Answer:None

He also asked:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what payments have been made to the Strathmore Estates for training use of their land within the Warcop byelawed area in each year since 2001.

To which he received the classic evasion:

Payments are made by this Department to the Strathmore Estate according to the licence agreement, and reviewed every three years. I am unable to provide the amounts as this would prejudice our position commercially with other landowners in the area with whom we have similar agreements.

This really irritates me - the government uses the 'commercially sensitive' shield to hide behind in all sort of areas, including far more important ones such as how much IT systems have cost or are going to cost the taxpayer. Part of ensuring a strong democracy is that we, the public, know what the government spend our money on. If they won't tell us, how can we decide if they are doing a good job or not?

As the Warcop range isn't in the Sherwood constituency, and Paddy Tipping has little interest in defense issues, presumably this is a rambling issue (Padding Tipping is Vice-President of the Rambling Association) - the Army have fenced off a good chunk of Cumbria, and don't appear to be actually doing anything with it.

Paddy Tipping campaigns on another local traffic issue

2006-07-13T13:11:00.000-07:00

The local paper Mansfield Today, reports on a local campaign in Kings Clipstone for traffic calming measures and in the longer term a new bypass.

It contains the following:

The campaign has already been backed by Sherwood MP Paddy Tipping, who has promised to work with residents to obtain traffic-calming measures and to put pressure on highways chiefs to reduce traffic using the busy road.

Sustainable Forestry in Africa

2006-07-13T13:06:00.000-07:00

Paddy Tipping has received an answer to his Written Question:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps he is taking to promote sustainable forestry in Africa.

The reply from Gareth Thomas MP was:

Poor governance and weak law enforcement hinder the achievement of sustainable forestry in Africa. Earlier this year we committed £11 million over the next four years to the Forest Governance Support Programme in Cameroon. In addition we committed £12 million over the next five years in support of Partnership Agreements with African countries under the European Union's Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan.

Communications from Paddy's Party

2006-04-07T13:10:00.000-07:00

A long time ago (2004?) I clicked on a website link to submit a question for Tony Blair at conference. My question was "When are you going to release the Attorney General's advice on Iraq?". Not surprisingly it didn't make the shortlist, because the answer "When I'm forced to because it has been leaked." wasn't particularly on-message. What that did do was put me on to the Labour Party supporters' mailing list, which seems kind of bizarre given the obvious hostility of my question to the current Party Leader. Possible explanations include:

a) They were getting lots of hostile emails from Labour Party members, so it didn't necessarily mean I wasn't a loyal Party man.
b) They thought the spam equivalent of Party political broadcasts might win me round.
c) They didn't read my email at all, because it wasn't a genuine request for questions but a sham with the fringe benefit of building a mailing list.

My money's on c), but that's just a hunch.

The emails have an all-star line up, the first being from 'Tony Blair' himself. Today's offering was one from Patrick Stewart, the bald Star Trek captain. (I'm pretty suspicious that the 'author' is actually the person advertised). Would Patrick Stewart really be likely to use phrases like record investment in our schools and hospitals and '...with more Community Support Officers serving local communities'. Sounds more like a career conscious junior minister to me.

This has prompted me to dig back through the archives. The Jo Brand one sounds quite authentic in tone. There's a pretty serious howler in there though: 'A tenner to help keep the Tories out of government? It's cheaper than paying 15 per cent interest on your mortgage that's for sure.'

Jo believes that Tory policies are likely to make interest rates treble. Hmmm, I'd love to see the economic model that led her to that one, particularly given that they are now set by the Bank of England. When a sportsman extols the virtues of butter subsititute or a comedian praises a political party, you must remember that the area of expertise that made them famous has not necessarily equipped them for other areas.

EDM 641 - Sustainable Communities Bill

2006-04-05T13:19:00.000-07:00

Along with over 200 other MPs, Paddy Tipping has signed Early Day Motion 641 - Sustainable Communities Bill, which is supported by this campaign.

This is a cross party bill which is aimed at reducing the steady decline in local services - shops, bus routes, schools etc. and the attendant social and environmental problems that result from this. It also advocates more decentralisation of political powers.

Paddy Tipping is our MP

2006-03-16T13:11:00.000-08:00

Although I've been a bit more diligent of late, I don't put as much content onto the site as I would like to. I have therefore decided to throw the site open to anyone in his Sherwood constituency, as it would benefit from some different angles and opinions.

If you would like to become a contributor, then please contact me and I will give you a password to create your own posts. This offer certainly extends to Paddy Tipping and anyone on his team, and also to other candidates/parties, although I would ask them to make clear their interest.

The only other condition is that you don't contribute from a position of anonymity. When I started the blog I didn't put my real name onto the site, but I subsequently decided that it wasn't very fair to lurk in the shadows and write posts, some of which were very critical, from a position of anonymity. He has to stick his head over the parapet and use his real identity, so I think that anyone posting on this site should do the same.

Badger Culling and Bovine Tuberculosis

2006-03-10T13:01:00.000-08:00

In a recent Commons ,
question on testing cattle for TB, Paddy Tipping encouraged the examination of other options to culling badgers (who carry the disease).

Bovine tuberculosis is an increasingly serious and costly problem. The focus so far has been on badger culling, but does the Minister accept that better farm biosecurity has an important role to play in reducing the incidence of the disease?

Badger culling is a very controversial issue and there is disagreement over its effectiveness. Many argue that only complete extermination (which would be very difficult, expensive and ethically dubious), would be effective, as partial culls can increase the spread of the disease by dispersing the surviving badgers.

Nottinghamshire County Council funding

2006-03-08T12:33:00.000-08:00

There's been an absolutely flurry of activity from Paddy Tipping MP, which I am struggling to keep up with. Next up is a written question:

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much was allocated to Nottinghamshire county council for (a) 2006–07 and (b) each year since 1996–97 in (i) cash and (ii) real terms.

To which Phil Woolas, ODPM minister returns a number of figures, which you can see
here

The gist of his covering blurb is that due to changes in funding methods, and allocation of responsibilities, you can't compare like with like.

Presumably what's behind Paddy's question is the growing problem of council tax rises and funding.

Paddy Tipping lodges question on claims handling

2006-03-06T12:50:00.000-08:00

Paddy Tipping continues to pursue the cause of local miners with written question

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what organisation she intends to select to regulate claims handlers.

Bridget Prentice (who?) (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs) replies

The Compensation Bill provides a power to designate or set up a Regulator to ensure we have maximum flexibility to safeguard consumer interests. It also allows the Secretary of State to regulate directly if necessary.

My noble Friend Baroness Ashton of Upholland will be announcing further details on the Government's proposed approach at Report Stage in the House of Lords.

This has presumably been prompted by the issue of solicitors charging Nottinghamshire ex-miners to handle claiming from a government compensation scheme. The details are a little obscure, but in essence the solicitors appear to have offered a paid service to the miners without telling them that a similar service had already been funded by central government and would therefore have been free. They have not broken any law by doing this, but the common interpretation would be that they have grossly abused the trust of their clients. Perhaps worse still, union officials, who put the miners in touch with the solicitors, appear to have personally profited from participating in cheating the people whose interests they have a duty to protect.

A46 campaign continues

2006-03-04T12:41:00.000-08:00

Nottinghamshire MPs struggle to get improvements made to the A46 continues in a cross-party effort. Hucknall Today quotes Paddy Tipping as follows:

"I had an informal discussion with Stephen Ladyman following the debate.

"He convened a meeting with officials to look at the budget position of the A46. He accepts that there is a problem and is talking to officials about a variety of ways forward.I'm confident he is taking the matter seriously and hopeful that we'll get a reasonable outcome.

"I use the A46 a lot and it is a very dangerous road with a bad accident record.
The whole of the rest of the road has been upgraded and it just makes sense to do this."

Paddy Tipping argues for devolution

2006-03-03T13:01:00.000-08:00

In a recent debate Paddy Tipping asked

Does the Chief Secretary accept that one important way to make efficiency gains is for central Government to have a more strategic, slimmed-down role, with resources devolved to local level, so that local solutions can be found for local problems?

Des Browne (Chief Treasury Secretary) replied

Absolutely—[Interruption.] Let me just make the point that, in the whole of my public and political life, I have been arguing for and supporting devolution. Certainly, no Back Bencher needs to persuade me of its importance, or of what it has delivered for Scotland. The most important thing for my hon. Friend and his constituents is not only that decisions are made at the appropriate level—and some of them ought to be devolved - but that we devolve jobs out of the south-east. Part of the process of the efficiency agenda involves moving jobs from London and the south-east to the regions of England, Scotland and elsewhere, and we have been successful in doing so.

(Note the way Des changes topic dramatically half way through, and uses the word devolution incorrectly. Relocating civil servants isn't devolution unless you also transfer control of them from central to regional level.)

This is not the first time Paddy Tipping has spoken in favour of devolution, for example this long speech back in 2001

Paddy Tipping presses for more UK coal production

2006-02-17T11:58:00.000-08:00

Paddy Tipping contributed to a debate on energy prices with the following:

Reliable indigenous affordable fuel supplies can reduce costs. What steps is my right hon. Friend taking to support UK Coal? In particular, when will he make an announcement on the loan guarantee application at Harworth colliery?

Paddy Tipping is understandably concerned about the extreme reliance of the UK on gas as an energy source. With North Sea gas running out rapidly, this is increasingly imported, and as recent shortages have shown, the countries across which it is transported are likely to use it to meet their own needs first. One solution that Paddy Tipping is keen on is to encourage (subsidise) UK coal production. Coal normally would produce considerably more CO2 than gas, when used for electricity generation, but new 'clean coal' technologies can offset this.

Lack of GNER services raised by Paddy Tipping

2006-02-15T14:03:00.000-08:00

In a recent parliamentary debate on Network Rail, Paddy Tipping MP asked the Transport Minister Derek Twigg to investigate:

Does greater co-operation include discussions with the Office of the Rail Regulator? Will my hon. Friend look particularly at services on the Great North Eastern Railway main line, where the Office of the Rail Regulator has blocked plans from GNER to deliver the extra 12 services promised in its franchise?

More information on this issue can be found in this article. Since this debate, the Regulator is reconsidering their decision to favour services by Grand Central at GNER's expense as reported in Rail News, which notes there have been "reports of strong pressure from the government and GNER", part of which has evidently been applied by Paddy Tipping.

Nottinghamshire crime

2006-02-14T13:53:00.000-08:00

Paddy Tipping gets a mention in this Times article for his request in Feb 2004 to the Home Office to investigate the high levels of crime in Nottinghamshire.

Paddy Tipping supports full smoking ban

2006-02-14T13:43:00.000-08:00

Paddy Tipping voted against excluding private clubs from the smoking ban.
I agree with this for a couple of reasons:

1) Employees of private clubs should have equal protection to employees of pubs. If the private club didn't employee anyone, and those behind the bar were volunteer members, then that would be a different matter, but that wasn't what was proposed.
2) The number of private clubs is very significant. A failure to extend the ban to them could make it difficult for pubs to compete.

I'm not entirely comfortable with the principle of a ban at all, however. As a non-smoker, I must admit welcoming it from a personal, selfish point of view, but it's hard to justify limiting other people's freedoms for my benefit. OK, there's a health consideration, but I don't have to go in pubs at all - it's a free choice, and it's also more or less a free choice to work in them.

Paddy Tipping joins other Nottinghamshire MPs in pressing for A46 improvements

2006-02-02T15:26:00.000-08:00

Paddy Tipping tackles a local Sherwood constituency issue
in this debate on improving the A46

The debate consisted of a cross-party group of a number of Nottinghamshire MPs ganging up on the Transport Minister Stephen Ladyman and trying to squeeze some cash out of him.

Since then there has been another massive crash on this road which has been nationally reported. (In this particular case, however, the cause of the accident seems to have been not so much the inherent dangerousness of the road, but a driver overtaking like a madman).

Dementia prescriptions questioned

2006-02-01T14:30:00.000-08:00

Paddy Tipping put a question to Jane Kennedy (Minister of State (Quality and Patient Safety), Department of Health)

If she will make a statement on the prescribing of drugs to Alzheimer patients experiencing dementia.

Her reply was

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence is consulting on draft guidance on the use of drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. The consultation ends on 13 February.

He followed up by a pointed question

Does my right hon. Friend accept that the early prescribing of Alzheimer's drugs can lead to savings in both community and residential care, and is she confident that the methodology that NICE uses adequately reflects the cost of that care?

Which Jane Kennedy replied to with a defence of NICE

NICE has taken account of the costs of full-time care in its current draft guidance on drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. It has looked at a range of costs, as opposed to a single figure that critics had previously claimed was too low. I stress that the consultation is still underway and NICE will listen to all the representations that it receives.

No doubt he is referring to this controversy

Paddy Tipping defends tail docking

2006-01-20T14:41:00.000-08:00

This Telegraph article (registration required), reports that Ben Bradshaw (the animal welfare minister), will be including a full ban on tail docking in the animal welfare legislation.

Paddy Tipping, however, is in favour of an exemption for working dogs because docking avoids the potential for more harmful damage to tails later in life. From a position of considerable canine ignorance, this sounds sensible enough to me, but apparently 90% of vets are in favour of a ban. (Wonder where this figure came from).

The article also quotes a spokesman from the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) who put the case for a working dog exemption. Interestingly on the BASC website, you can see this picture of Paddy Tipping at their 2004 fair.
.

He doesn't list shooting as an interest, but it frequently crops up in his questions and activities. Perhaps he is even a BASC member.

Paddy comments on WTO meeting in Doha

2006-01-19T14:15:00.000-08:00

Paddy Tipping spoke at a debate on the Doha Round of the World Trade Organisation talks.

An important but complex process must be resolved over a short period. Does my right hon. Friend accept that not just agriculture issues, but the opening up of services, are important in this context? Is there not a possibility of some trade-off involving those two modalities.

Modalities are specific commitments (involving rules and formulae) made by countries to get reduce subsidies and improve access to markets for other countries.

Paddy Tipping questions Tony Blair over World Trade Organisation

2006-01-19T04:52:00.000-08:00

At Prime Minister's Question Time, Paddy Tipping asked:

Although real progress was made last year towards making poverty history, the results of the World Trade Organisation discussions in Hong Kong were disappointing. What steps is my right hon. Friend going to take to give impetus to the process, so that we can move towards fair trade?

Tony Blair's answer was somewhat woolly:

We are in discussion with our principal allies, in Europe, America and elsewhere, about how we push the WTO talks on. It is important that the offer in those talks is bold and ambitious. The talks are about trade and services, as well as agriculture. We need Europe and America, as well as the emerging countries such as Brazil and India, to do more in terms of opening up their markets. The benefits of a successful trade round for all of us, not just the poorest people in the world, will be considerable. I assure my hon. Friend that we will continue to do all that we can to achieve that.

He frames out the problem - a particular point to note is his reference to trade and services. Because of existing tariffs, the Developing world tends to be forced to export only primary products such as agricultural ones. The more profitable parts of product processing are therefore carried out in the Developed world, perpetuating the disparity in wealth. What the PM omits is to answer the actual question - 'what steps is he going to take?'

Paddy Tipping supports animal welfare bill

2006-01-16T13:20:00.000-08:00

Paddy Tipping made a lengthy speech in support of improved animal welfare, one of his key political interests.

Read full text at theyworkforyou.com

Can't fault anything he puts forward, it's about time we tightened up laws on animal cruelty, particularly in the area of mistreatment of pets which is notoriously difficult to prosecute and attracts what seem to be to be derisory penalties. However, I think it's time that a bit more attention was turned to permitted farming practices, which affects so many more animals than many of the classic animal welfare issues such as hunting, circuses and pet maltreatment.

Paddy Tipping speaks on police restructuring

2006-01-04T13:50:00.000-08:00

Paddy Tipping MP spoke at a recent debate on restructuring in order to support the government's proposals to amalgamate a number of police forces.

Her Majesty's inspectorate and the Home Secretary will know about the difficulties that Nottinghamshire police face: serious crime and high rates of homicide. Is that not a typical example of why we need to increase resilience to tackle the way in which the face of crime has changed over the past 30 years? Change is necessary now.

He is clearly referring to the problems which Nottinghamshire police have had in resourcing significant cases, such as the shooting of schoolgirl Danielle Beccan, and the disruption that this has caused to their other duties. Presumably by closer integration with regional forces, it might be a bit easier to transfer resources from one force to another. However, are any forces currently conspicuously over-resourced? In addition there are limits to the flexibility of individual officers. Police are likely to perform better if they know the area, and few would want to commute across the entire East Midlands area, for example, on a case by case basis.

Later he interrupts David Davis to say

The right hon. Gentleman has a distinguished record as a former Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. Given that there are 43 different police authorities and forces, is he really telling the House that there is no scope for efficiency savings? Surely we should examine such efficiency savings carefully and look at bigger organisations. Yes, there will up-front costs due to reorganisation, but he must accept that such a way forward could reduce costs in the long term.

Amalgamation doesn't always bring efficiency gains - note the 'could' in his last sentence. I would be very sceptical about the ability of such reorganisation to deliver real savings - certainly we would never be able to measure them.

Mining Claims Solicitors criticised by Paddy Tipping MP

2005-12-16T14:10:00.000-08:00

Paddy Tipping comments on the ongoing scandal of mining compensation claims in this article on the BBC website.

I feel we are lining the pockets of solicitors, lawyers, trade unions and professional advisors - they are doing well out of the scheme while men who are sick and old are still waiting for their money.

Malcolm Wicks, the energy minister was rather more ambiguous in his statement to the Commons

But the report equally suggests that in some cases, claimants appear to have been invited to agree to make such contributions without it being crystal clear to them that such donations were a matter for their choice and that other solicitors would not seek to make them.

I find it rather difficult to believe that retired miners with chronic illnesses would voluntarily make donations to solicitors' practices, so it is difficult to escape the conclusion that the solicitors worked these vulnerable people for every money they could get, even though they knew their clients would be losing money by using them rather than another more principled solicitor. Very professional.

So, good on Paddy Tipping for voicing his concerns.

Paddy Tipping joins government assault on civil liberties

2005-11-07T13:24:00.000-08:00

Once again, Paddy Tipping MP, who has been a firm supporter of the government's massive encroachment on civil liberties, has been using his vote to push through some more legislation.

One particularly worrying example is the clause debated here. By voting against this amendment, Paddy Tipping made it a criminal offence to encourage terrorism. Let's just look at what the implications of that. By that, I mean what it actually makes illegal, and not merely what the government say they intended to make illegal. As Dominic Greave put it so neatly

"it is not the business of Parliament to create law that is discretionary in its application."

In other words, MPs may have a specific target in mind, but laws can be used as easily to apprehend elderly conference delegates as international terrorists.

Professor Robert A. Pape from the University of Chicago has published a book called "Dying to Win : The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism". (You can tell it's a serious piece of scholarship by the colon in the title). Some of the major conclusions of the book include:

a) Suicide bombings are carried out to advance political goals.

b) Suicide bombings have been frequently successful in obtaining concessions from the targeted governments.

So, if you are angry about Iraq/Palestine etc. etc. then suicide bombing is an established way of campaigning about it, and a method with a good chance of success. If that isn't going to encourage the wavering suicide bomber, then I don't know what is. According to the new law, Pape could be looking at 7 years inside for that piece of research. Does Paddy Tipping intend this? If not, then either he hasn't read or understood the legislation that he has voted for.

There are ample examples that expose the misguidedness of this clause - Alan Simpson, another Nottingham MP, cites the example of George Orwell praising those who fought against the fascists in Spain.

Paddy Tipping can perhaps console himself with the fact that he has the support of editorials in the Sun, if not the Mirror.

Paddy Tipping comments on primary school merger

2005-10-19T14:07:00.000-07:00

Once again the 'Hucknall Today', that stalwart source of Paddy Tipping related news, features the Sherwood MP. The article covers the merger of Whyburn and Spring Street, two Hucknall primary schools.

Paddy sums up, carefully avoiding coming down on one side or the other:

"The vote reflects what a difficult decision it was.
"People want the best possible education for their children but the scheme has raised concerns about traffic problems on Roberts Lane and St Patrick's Road, which are close to the Whyburn site. It is a delicate balance.
"I know local people will be disappointed with the decision. But one improvement from the original proposal is that ground levels will not be increased on part of the site, which means the view for residents of Greenwood Vale will not be as bad as it might have been.
"The extra traffic the proposal will bring is to be monitored and the Whyburn school travel plan will be revised."

Paddy Tipping demands more primary school funding

2005-09-20T14:56:00.000-07:00

One of Paddy Tipping's more recent Commons appearances was to enquire of Maria Eagle, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Education:

What the spending per primary school pupil was in (a) Nottinghamshire and (b) England in 2004–05.

A question he clearly already knew the answer to - £3,210 compared to a national average of £3,560. Paddy Tipping followed up with

Spending on primary schools in Nottinghamshire has doubled under this Government, but the figures show that Nottinghamshire is seriously disadvantaged against the national norm—out of 150 local authorities, it is the 129th worst funded. A new funding formula is being put together, so what hope is there for children in Nottinghamshire of a better, fairer and more equitable system from 1 April next year?

According to Maria Eagle MP, the consultation is complete, and a decision will be made soon.

Primary school funding is not something I know much about at all, but I would note that over half of Nottingham pupils went on to fail to get 5 or more GCSE grade Cs or above, so there is an awful lot of room for improvement in the educational system. You can see Nottinghamshire primary school results here, on the BBC site. However, it's difficult to gauge the value of this, because you can't separate the value of the teaching from the raw material that they get to work with.

About time for an update

2005-09-07T14:16:00.000-07:00

Apologies for not updating more often, but I'm very busy at the moment both at work and at home (I'm moving house - still in the Sherwood constituency!), so it's hard to make room for everything. Posting generally takes a bit of background reading, rather than writing the first thing that comes into my head, so it can take quite a while to put one together. Anyway, I mean to keep this going, so hopefully more normal service will be resumed soon.

Paddy Tipping enquires into coal mining subsidies

2005-06-28T05:31:00.000-07:00

Paddy Tipping has received a written answer on coal subsidied

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what financial support he made available for the deep coal mine industry in 2004–05; and how much such support he has made available in the 2005–06 financial year.

Malcolm Wicks (Minister of State (Energy), Department of Trade and Industry) replied:

Some £21.4 million of Coal Investment Aid was paid to UK deep mines in 2004–05.

A further £35.7 million remains available, of which we expect to pay claims of about £24 million in 2005–06

In general, I oppose the use of public money to perpetuate unprofitable businesses, but energy is one of the few areas where it is possible to make the case. There is growing global pressure on the earth's energy resources and the UK will no longer be self-sufficient in oil, gas or coal. Therefore there are national strategic considerations as well as financial ones. Given the rising cost of energy, we should be conserving UK reserves as far as possible. Unfortunately most of the North Sea oil reserves have been used at the point in time at which oil was at its cheapest in real terms. Now with soaring oil prices, we are being forced to import at much higher prices than we sold our own for. Will the same occur with coal?

The DTI have produced a report UK Coal Production 2004-2016.. This projects UK coal use as being likely to fall or at most stay steady. The key behind this is the high sulphur content of the UK coal - which makes it unsuitable due to emissions targets. However, North Sea gas production is depleting rapidly (more so than expected), and worldwide supply is struggling. I suspect that this report (written in March 2004) significantly underestimates the likely rise in gas prices. They offer two scenarios, one in which gas remains at the same price in real terms in 2016, in the other it has increased by 30%. In actual fact since March 2004, gas has gone up nearly 25% already, in less than 18 months.

With this in mind, we are probably going to be digging up every last scrap of coal and burning it, regardless of sulphur content. It would therefore seem prudent to keep the UK coal industry running, and to invest in clean coal technologies. That said, the longer the finite coal reserves can be eked out, the better. We are sitting on a resource which will only grow more valuable - to ourselves and to others.

Paddy Tipping continues Gedling development battle

2005-06-16T04:52:00.000-07:00

The campaign over Top Wighay and Gedling colliery continues with a
lengthy speech in the Commons by Paddy Tipping.

In essence, Gedling Borough Council are planning a large housing development at Top Wighay (against massive local opposition), but to do nothing with Gedling colliery - a brownfield plot.

His reasons for opposing it are well put, and worth reading in full on the link above.

Paddy Tipping campaigns on public sector pension reform

2005-06-03T05:19:00.000-07:00

Paddy Tipping pressed the issue with the newly appointed John Hutton recent debate

"I welcome my right hon. Friend to his new post and remind him that public sector pension reform is one of the big issues facing him. Does he accept that the trade unions recognise that change is necessary—indeed, inevitable—but that they are reluctant to discuss the detail and the timetable for work? Given that, will he hold some meetings soon to see whether there is a chance of finding consensus on this real problem?"

The short debate contained little real meat - unsurprisingly John Hutton wanted to resolve the situation satisfactorily, but no detail was gone into.

In the last session Paddy Tipping put forward EDM 579 which sought the annullment of the 2004 amendments to the Local Government Pension Scheme and collected a massive 252 signatures.

I don't know exactly what Paddy Tipping is objecting to in the legislation (which is a very good illustration of why he ought to have his own blog) but this is what I think.

Public pensions are suffering the standard problems of defined-benefit (final salary) schemes - they are getting increasingly expensive, as this news item describes The shortfall in public sector pension schemes is £690bn, far greater than official figures indicate, a leading actuary firm has said.

From my back of envelope calculations: for someone who retires at 60, a standard 1/60th per year final salary scheme is probably worth about a third of their salary - ie if they earn £24,000 then they are getting an extra £8,000 put into their pension in return for £1,600 or so of their own contributions. (Not taking into account any rise in seniority during career, which would increase the pension's value still further). That's how much it is likely cost to fund it, and that's how much it ought to be valued at when comparing salaries with other jobs that don't offer a final salary.

Given the problems of an ageing population, it seems inevitable that the retirement age will need to rise, probably to 70 over the next 40 years, and no financial sleight-of-hand will change this. It would therefore seem sensible to raise the retirement age for public sector workers. That said, increasing the age at which an employee is entitled to retire is clearly a change to their terms of employment, for which they should receive some compensation. Alternatively, the retirement at 60 option could simply be closed to new joiners.

Tighter weapon regulation backed by Paddy Tipping

2005-06-01T04:34:00.000-07:00

Hucknall Today reports on a killing in which a mentally ill man had used a crossbow and samurai sword to kill a neighbour, who he irrationally believed was trying to harm him.

The weapons do not currently require a licence, and had been mail ordered without any checks being carried out on the purchaser.

Paddy Tipping endorsed the following comment by the judge

"I must record my concern that it is possible for such weapons to be bought in this way without any licence being required and without even any paper records of who purchased them."

Another MP, Graham Allen, went further and called for their inclusion in forthcoming legislation to restrict the sale of replica firearms and to increase the minimum age to buy a knife from 16 to 18.

This seems fair enough, but legislation to restrict items, based on the fact that someone who was mentally ill could use them to cause harm, requires some careful consideration. Given that the average DIY store contains a huge variety of implements which could be just as lethal as a sword, it seems unlikely that they wouldn't be able to find a substitute - unless all these are restricted too. Clearly the benefit must outweigh the expense and detrimental effect to law-abiding owners. To achieve any significant benefit, it seems that a outright ban would be necessary, for example in this case, Boyer had not been diagnosed as mentally ill, so would still have been able to acquire the weapons, even if a licensing system had been in place.

The papers also point the finger at Hollywood. For example this
Telegraph article tells us:

Boyer ordered the weapons for less than £150 and started to watch violent films to learn how to use them.

Not having sat through the trial, the following is obviously speculation, but it seems highly unlikely that Boyer wasn't already watching the named films such as 'Kill Bill' - given that these are popular mainstream titles. I would further question the level of expertise that you can gain by watching a Hollywood beat-em-up, and whether someone would require any specific knowledge at all in order to inflict a fatal injury to an unarmed victim with a sword. There are echoes of the 'Child's Play' frenzy, when tabloids cited this film as a contributing factor in the murder of a child, in spite of expert witnesses contradicting this at the trial.

Paddy Tipping backs biofuels

2005-05-19T05:14:00.000-07:00

Paddy Tipping has launched a Game Conservancy Trust scheme to create bio fuel through woodland management as detailed here. (Dec 04 - bit late, but I've only just found the page).

Dr. Alastair Leake, project manager at Loddington explains:

“The timber from our woodland is turned into wood chips which are then fed directly into the feed hopper of the new boiler".

Bio fuels are 'carbon neutral' and do not contribute to global warming. Perhaps more importantly they are a sustainable energy source. Currently the UK is highly dependent on natural gas for both heating and electricity. Natural gas, however is rapidly running out - global production is likely to peak within 20 years, and from that point on, everyone will have to start cutting back. North Sea gas production is falling fast, so the UK will become dependent on imported gas at rocketing prices. To make matters worse, the main contributor to the UK reducing its CO2 emissions has been a switch from coal to gas fired power stations. As gas runs out, coal use and therefore emissions are likely to increase unless there has been a very radical move to renewables such as biofuels - (which there is currently no sign of).

It is good that Paddy Tipping recognises that we need to be considerably more pro-active about improving energy sources. He has also spoken on the topic in the Commons.

Do we really want, by 2020, 70 per cent. of our electricity to be generated from gas, 90 per cent. of which will be imported? That would be a crazy situation to work ourselves into.

Personally I would question whether it will be possible to import enough gas to supply 63% of our electricity, even if we wanted to - because we won't be the only country desperate for energy. I think Paddy is quite right to refer to UK coal as an energy reserve - it is likely that we will need every energy resource we can lay our hands on, and permitting UK Coal to shut down pits for short term financial reasons is not in our national interest.

Paddy Tipping returned as Sherwood MP

2005-05-06T05:57:00.000-07:00

	Votes	Share
Paddy Tipping, Labour	22,824	48.4
Bruce Laughton, Conservative	16,172	34.3
Peter Harris, Liberal Democrat	6,384	13.6
Moritz Dawkins, UK Independence Party	1,737	3.7

Congratulations to Paddy Tipping, who has once again been returned as the Sherwood MP.

Sherwood election result

2005-05-04T09:06:00.000-07:00

For those of you planning on staying up late tomorrow, the Sherwood result will be coming in at an estimated time of 3.30am.

A full list of all constituencies

A moment of self-realisation

2005-05-04T05:54:00.000-07:00

David Blunkett has clarified why it's so important for Labour to not only win, but to maintain their crushing majority.

"The real danger of abstentions could lead to a parliament where the disaffected determine the policy of the country"

That's right. If you don't vote Labour like a good little boy, then rebellious Labour MPs may be able to stop the government whipping through bill after bill, in the manner to which it has become accustomed.
See Independent article.

Chicken Yoghurt spells out the implications of this:

Don't like millionaires making political donations in return for favours?
You're a disaffected crank.
Don't want creationists running our schools?
A disaffected crank.
Don't like the government selling weapons to repressive regimes?
Disaffected crank.
Don't like it that the government is willing to use information gained though torture?
Crank.

It turns out I'm a disaffected crank then, especially as I'd add to that list 'Don't like Cabinet members using their position to do favours for their lovers and then lying about it.'.

Luckily, with his excellent voting record, there is little danger of Paddy Tipping attracting David Blunkett's ire.

Hucknall Today - Profile of Candidates

2005-05-03T04:53:00.000-07:00

The local newspaper, Hucknall Today, has run profiles and statements from the four Sherwood candidates.

See article

Phone in

2005-05-01T11:51:00.000-07:00

I caught a bit of the national phone-in today to the party leaders. To be honest it seemed like a bit of a waste of time. Generally callers confronted them with personal anecdotes which (and for once I agreed with Blair) could not be usefully generalised. In addition, lacking the briefing and research that political interviewers normally have, they could be fobbed off with any old rubbish by the politicians.

I was particularly disappointed with the lucky punter who got to confront Blair about Iraq. 'There's lots of questions unanswered.', he asserted. Well ask me one, retorted Blair. The best he could manage was 'Where were the WMDs', an underarm ball that Blair battered effortlessly into the long grass. 'Four inquiries into the misuse of intelligence.', 'Can't apologise for removing Saddam', '8 million Iraqis voted' etc. etc. I think he even slipped in a 'let the Tories in by the back door'.

I'm unlikely to ever get to put my questions but if I did, they would be:

Why didn't you read the Foreign Office legal advice?
Why wasn't the full Attorney General's advice circulated to the cabinet as required by parliamentary protocol?
Why do you use the removal of Saddam to justify the war, when you said yourself that regime change alone could not be justification, and the Attorney General warned you that it could not be?
Why did you allow the Attorney General's opinion of 17 March 2003 to be represented as a summary of the advice of 7 March 2003, when it bore little relation in content or conclusion?
What exactly was the 'material breach' of UN resolutions that Iraq was committing on 17 March 2003, and what evidence did you have to conclude this?
How could Jack Straw be justified in saying there was 'no question about the legality' when the Foreign Office had concluded that a UN Security Council decision was a necessity, and almost everyone except the Attorney General and the US agreed with them?
When the Intelligence told you that Iraq may have a few weapons, why did you tell the country that they definitely had major stockpiles?
If rebuilding Iraq is such a success, why has the number of children under 5 that are suffering from malnutrition doubled since occupation?
You said that if you became an electoral liability to the Labour party you would resign, why are you still here?

That should be enough to be getting along with. Why do they matter?

As Rory Bremner said "If these things really don't matter to us, we have no right to live in a democracy."

The Scandal of Postal Votes

2005-04-25T14:14:00.000-07:00

I am strongly opposed to the widespread use of postal votes. They may encourage a slightly higher turnout, mostly from people who otherwise would not make the effort (a dubious benefit in itself), but the opportunities for fraud and coercion far outweigh this. We have never historically had any serious doubts about the validity of UK polls - why on earth are we jeopardising this record to scrape up a few extra % for the turnout?

The recent case of postal vote fraud in Blackburn is particular cause for concern, as spelt out in this article

Responding to an earlier refusal from the government to overhaul the postal voting rules [the judge] said: "Anybody who has sat through the case I have just tried and listened to evidence of electoral fraud that would disgrace a banana republic would find this statement surprising."

As a bare minimum they ought to be keeping postal votes separate so that the ratios can be compared to those of the standard votes. Though obviously not foolproof, this could flag up problems for further investigation if one party seems to be favoured disproportionately.

Sherwood constituency candidates

2005-04-22T04:50:00.000-07:00

Some more internet searching on the candidates has uncovered the following (and I apologise for the fact that none of this is extensive, detailed and authoritative, but that's because the candidates obviously aren't giving the internet much priority:

Bruce Laughton (Con)

An open letter by Roger Helmer MP (Con) to John Prescott opposing regional government was signed by Bruce Laughton in 2002. I have a feeling that I wouldn't agree with many of Bruce's policies (no election literature yet = no ideas what they are), but I'm definitely behind him on this one. We need more layers of government about as much as we need more illegal wars. The East Midlands Regional Assembly motto, "where life works", says everything about the money and time wasting activities that a body without any real responsibilities or purpose is likely to indulge in.

Peter Harris (Lib Dem)

Peter Harris used to be involved with this Southwell Lib Dem website. However, it hasn't been updated since 2001, so you aren't likely to find much of interest. For example, back in 1998, Peter Harris had a successful campaign to get lorry drivers to avoid going through Thurgarton, which no doubt improved their lives, but doesn't give us much to go on regarding his suitability as an MP.

Peter Harris is a member of the Nottinghamshire Orienteering Club as these event results show.

Moritz Dawkins (UKIP)

Still nothing on the mysterious Mr Dawkins. A Google search now returns this site as the number one result, which isn't particularly helpful.

Iraq, Iraq, Iraq

2005-04-20T03:04:00.000-07:00

From a personal point of view, there's only one really pressing issue on my mind as I cast my ballot.

Martin Samuel describes the same issue in the Times

We know where the parties stand:

Labour pro-war and ready to use deceit, Tories pro-war but ready to U-turn for political points, Lib Dem anti-war but curiously silent about it. UKIP...there's a thought, I've no idea. A quick bit of research by using Google to search their site (see here) reveals absolutely nothing. The only scrap is that they have a candidate who left Labour over Iraq, so presumably they aren't strongly pro.

Electing an MP isn't just about the party though, it's also about the individual. To try to get a better perspective, I've emailed a basic questionnaire out to the candidates. Watch this space for replies...if any.

More info on Sherwood constituency candidates

2005-04-14T04:55:00.000-07:00

Here are a list of contact details for clients, and a link to their website/party's website. I would note that the level of information is pretty pathetic with no information on personal position/policies. Bruce Laughton has the most info, but no policies, just a biography. Paddy Tipping has a smaller biography, Mark Harris just has contact details, and the only web manifestation of Moritz Dawkins is a mobile phone number on the UKIP website!

Paddy Tipping(Labour)
Biography & Contact Details

Bruce Laughton(Conservative)
Biography & Contact Details

bruce.laughton@btinternet.com

Peter Harris(Lib Dem)
Contact Details

14 Hillside Drive, SOUTHWELL, Notts, NG25 0JZ Email: peterharris@cix.co.uk Tel: 01636 815391

Moritz Dawkins(UKIP)
Mobile Phone Number

07966 093828

If any of the candidates wish to submit information or statements then I would be happy to publish them on this website (which is now receiving over two hundred unique visitors per month - and rising). I believe that the internet should be a core political communication tool. It levels the playing field enabling a small party/independent to equal the web presence of the major parties, it allows instant update and two way communication. What could be better?

The Sherwood candidates

2005-04-08T05:31:00.000-07:00

With the General Election afoot, it's time to take a look at who might be my MP instead of Paddy Tipping in the next session:

Politics.co.uk

Dawkins, Moritz (UK Independence Party (UKIP))

Harris, Peter (Liberal Democrats)

Laughton, Bruce (Conservative Party)

Tipping, Paddy (Labour Party)

As yet no election literature from any of them, but when there is, I will post it on the site.

For some indication of how they might do, here are some previous election results. Somehow I don't think I'll be changing the name of this site.

Question Time - Iraq war

2005-04-06T14:54:00.000-07:00

I've just watched a fairly disgusting display by David Blunkett on Question Time. I am sick of seeing and hearing senior Labour ministers attempting to defend the decision to attack Iraq by blaming intelligence failure and claiming that the Government acted in good faith. All the evidence (eg Butler report) is that whilst the intelligence's best guess was an over-estimate of his capability they made it clear that the true position was far from clear. Blair knew that, but this was not reflected in what he said publicly.

It would also appear that Straw directly lied about the legal position when he said there 'there was no question about the legality of the war', when it has emerged that the Home Office thought that it was illegal, and the Attorney General, whilst coming down on the side of legality acknowledged that a very strong case could be made against it, and even the UN Secretary General has publicly stated that he believed that it was illegal.

In any case, even if you accepted that they made an honest mistake (which I don't), you shouldn't get to make a mistake that kills in excess of 100,000 people and keep your job.

David Blunkett, who was caught abusing his position as Home Secretary to fast track his the application of his lover's nanny (and then lying about it afterwards), should be too embarrassed to appear in public and talk about trust.

This is the leadership of the party that Paddy Tipping is a member of, and it reflects very badly on him.

Paddy Tipping comments on Nottinghamshire Chief Constable

2005-04-04T04:40:00.000-07:00

Following the storm over an interview given to the Sunday Telegraph by the Chief Constable, Stephen Green, Paddy Tipping comments in Hucknall Today:

"I think the Chief Constable has got to show leadership and reassure people he can tackle serious organised crime and murders.
"He has given the impression he is struggling and can't cope and he has got to persuade people in Nottinghamshire that the police in Nottinghamshire are up to the job. I think they are."

"I don't deny there are problems but since Steve Green became the Chief Constable nearly five years ago, the number of police officers in the county has increased by 211. He has also had an extra 257 civilian support staff and 102 new community support officers. Also, the level of crime fell by ten per cent in Nottinghamshire last year."

So, a little implied criticism of Chief Constable, and some general reassurance. It is difficult, however, to reconcile this picture of falling crime and increasing resources with the alarming quotes from Stephen Green. Although Mr Green has expressed regrets that the interview was 'not his finest hour', he has not contested the quotes, so presumably he did actually say them.

The article also mentions that Paddy and other Nottinghamshire MPs have been pressing for increased funding for the police. This implies that they have already acknowledged that there is a resourcing problem, in which case why shoot the messenger for publicly saying so, just before a general election? Whoops, I seem to have answered my own question.

An update on the blackmail allegations mentioned in the previous post is that it would appear Graham Allen MP got the wrong end of the stick. Rather than the Sunday Telegraph threatening to compromise investigations if it didn't get its interview, it was going to run an embarrassing piece reporting on an investigation which had already been compromised through incompetence.

Paddy Tipping seeks to end exploitation of sick coal miners

2005-03-24T05:12:00.000-08:00

Paddy Tipping MP spoke at length in a recent Westminster Hall debate on Coal Health Claims.

It would appear that claims handling organisations, including trade unions are taking significant proportions of compensation claims. As Paddy says:

They are cowboys: they are making false claims, raising false expectations, taking money out of people's pockets who cannot afford it, and on many occasions leaving people in debt. Enough is enough.

He also highlights the suspect connections between some solicitors and these organisations, and criticised the Law Society for not exercising more control.

Finally he defended Capita IRISC over claim handling problems - instead highlighting DTI under-estimates of the number of potential claimants.

Paddy Tipping backs Gedling colliery development

2005-03-22T05:09:00.000-08:00

Map of Gelding Colliery
Recently in the Commons, Paddy Tipping MP enquired:

Will the Deputy Prime Minister visit the Gedling borough area again in the next couple of months, to look at the excellent work that English Partnerships is doing at the former Gedling colliery site? It has made £2 million available for regeneration there. On his visit, will he also press the Tory-controlled Gedling borough council to get its finger out and grant planning permission there?

John Prescott replied:

I will leave it to my hon. Friend to give such very direct advice, but English Partnerships is certainly playing a major role in the coalfield communities. Many of them have been transformed, and given hope where there was only despair after the massive closure of the pits and the communities by the previous Administration. It is a delight to visit those areas now to see that they are providing, in some cases, more jobs than were involved in the pits themselves. New ideas and innovations, very much led by English Partnerships, have brought the public and private sectors together. The Glasshoughton site is now a ski instruction area, which employs more people than were involved in the mine. The chief ski instructor is an ex-miner, which is good.

I don't know much about the Gedling colliery proposals, but given the pressure on Nottingham's green belt (eg Top Wighay), it seems a good place for a bit of infill. It would appear that somewhere in the order of 1000 homes are proposed.
There's no information on the the English Partnerships website about it. But some quick digging on the Gedling council site reveals some concern over provision of school places, and pressure on local roads (which are certainly at capacity in the mornings).

Well done, Adam Price MP

2005-03-17T12:18:00.000-08:00

Adam Price is not the MP for my constituency, but if he was I would be glad to vote for him. Today he was forced to leave the Commons chamber, because he said that Blair "misled" the house. In Commons protocol, it is not permissible to accuse another MP of lying, even if the truth is staring you in the face. Paddy Tipping MP doesn't think that Blair lied - in response to a letter from me, he wrote "I don't believe that Parliament was misled but I have no doubt that serious mistakes took place"

The dictionary defines mislead as transitive verb : to lead into a mistaken action or belief : to cause to have a false impression

On the 10 April 2002, Blair told the Commons:

"there is no doubt at all that the development of weapons of mass destruction by Saddam Hussein poses a severe threat not just to the region, but to the wider world. […] He is a threat to his own people and to the region and, if allowed to develop these weapons, a threat to us also."

Not only was Blair completely wrong, and therefore the statement was false and misleading, but intelligence assessments in March 2002 said:

"Intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic missile programmes is sporadic and patchy. [...] From the evidence available to us, we believe Iraq retains some production equipment, and some small stocks of CW agent precursors, and may have hidden small quantities of agents and weapons."

So, not only was it incorrect to say Iraq had WMDs, but intelligence assessments at the time merely stated that he might have had small quantities of WMDs. They also concluded that he was unlikely to be a threat, even to his neighbours, unless attacked. If Blair had read the intelligence assessments then he lied, if he didn't then he was implausibly negligent. Which is it?

Here's another nice summary of what Blair had to say on Iraq from the BBC. Misleading statement after misleading statement is indeed compelling evidence that he is a deliberate liar

Nottinghamshire police row

2005-03-15T04:58:00.000-08:00

Paddy Tipping's question regarding Nottinghamshire police funding to Hazel Blears was no doubt related to Nottinghamshire Police being bottom in performance tables.

Now Nottinghamshire police chief, Stephen Green, has sparked off a heated political row after this interview given to the Sunday Telegraph. Quotes include:

"We are in a long-standing crisis situation with major crime and it won't go away overnight."
"I want to increase the number of operational cops by reducing the numbers doing back-office jobs. It's frustrating to know that I could make better use of the money I've got, but I'm constrained from doing it because officer numbers is a political football. All the parties have the same fixation."
"We are now routinely going out to 'foreign' forces to get additional officers."

Following this, the Guardian quotes Graham Allen MP, Nottingham North that the Telegraph placed Steve Green under "extreme duress", by blackmailing him into giving the interview by threatening to run articles on current covert investigations. This is a pretty extraordinary allegation, which the Telegraph has categorically denied, and it will be very interesting to see how this develops.

Graham Allen also said "The remarks are either very naive or very foolish", and other politicians have joined the attack. John Clarke, the chairman of the Nottinghamshire police authority, said: "I am horrified by this article. It was the wrong move by Steve Green."

Steve Green's complaints that Government funding restrictions were forcing him to waste police officers in civilian administrative roles have subsequently been supported by three other chief constables. Looks like it is a genuine problem caused by over-constraining targets. Perhaps they are also naive and/or foolish.

I would suggest that if the Government wish to regain the public trust after so sorely abusing it over Iraq, they could do a lot better than shooting the messenger and trying to cover up negative consequences of its own policies. Trust is built by taking responsibility, not trying to spin and weasel your way out of situations.

Nottinghamshire Bus Services

2005-03-11T04:57:00.000-08:00

Paddy Tipping recently received a
Written Answer regarding Nottinghamshire bus services from Tony McNulty, which revealed that government funding had been 5.43 million. To put this in perspective that works out as about £1.80 per year for each of the 750,000 people in Nottinghamshire. Given that a typical car or bus user is likely to be spending hundreds of pounds annually on transport, this is totally insignificant. Whether you are in favour or not of public transport, you have to question the purpose of funding at such a trivial level.

I live outside Nottingham, so I have the problem that the buses are very infrequent and relatively expensive. Consequently I don't really use them. This Department rural bus subsidy study found that the median cost of continued (those that weren't axed) rural bus services in 2000-2001 was £2.83 per mile. On that reckoning the cost of running a bus from my village to the Nottingham City centre would be at least £30. With generally a handful of passengers on each, they are obviously not very economic. It is possible that if the service was better, passengers would increase, and it would become economic, but it would require every bus to be almost full. Sadly I can't see that happening outside the city, even if the service was free to users.

He also received a Written Answer from Charlotte Atkins, Transport, regarding the potential extension of the Nottingham Express Transit system, a new tram system. The Department is currently evaluating the proposals.

Paddy campaigns to keep coal mine open

2005-03-09T13:12:00.001-08:00

Paddy Tipping quizzed Mike O'Brien (Minister for Energy) over two potential pit closures, specifically about the potential for government pressure to keep them open to be put on the owner UK Coal. Mike O'Brien was upbeat about current discussions bearing fruit, but this news item is less optimistic

BBC reports planned closure of Welbeck colliery

Early Day Motion lodged by Paddy Tipping

2005-02-07T15:03:00.000-08:00

Paddy Tipping has lodged an Early Day Motion

That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, praying that the Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2004 (S.I., 2004, No. 3372), dated 17th December 2004, a copy of which was laid before this House on 22nd December, be annulled.

It has gained considerable support with 97 signatures to date.

Paddy Tipping also spoke up in the Commons at a recent debate on Local Government Grants on 2 Feb 2005

"The Minister will know that there has been widespread consultation on the local government pension scheme and that regulations have been laid before the House. Will he give two assurances? First, will Members have the opportunity to discuss those new regulations? Secondly, even at this late stage, will he meet representatives of the members involved?"

In 2001, Paddy Tipping was one of a few MPs who voted against an increase in their own pensions.

Nottinghamshire Law and Order

2005-02-04T09:11:00.000-08:00

Nottingham has acquired a reputation for the city centre being overrun with binge drinking louts, or as Paddy Tipping rather more kindly put it, "The town has a history of being a lively night out". He recently spent Friday night with the police to see it for himself. He is in favour of 24 hour licensing, particularly as it will stagger closing times. I would agree with this, and also think that people should be allowed to decide themselves the times at which they wish to buy and sell alcohol.

Hucknall Today

At the Commons, he also engaged in a little mutual back patting on the topic of police funding with Hazel Blears (highly career motivated Home office minister). Apparently there are more police than ever in Nottingham (although with rising population, you'd be worried if there were less), and also record investment. (Where MPs say investment, I would normally say spending, because you don't get the money back, as you normally do when you invest).

Paddy Tipping on Iraq

2005-01-17T08:25:00.000-08:00

Read my letter to Paddy Tipping MP and his reply

I am very unhappy about the decisions that the Government made on Iraq, particularly as I believe the country was deliberately deceived as to the threat level and likelihood of Iraq having WMDs. This is a core issue for me, and will be at the next general election. As a result there is no way I am going to vote for Blair's party, so Paddy isn't going to get my support unless the Labour party finds its spine and shows Blair the door.

Recycling in the constituency

2005-01-11T05:14:00.000-08:00

Paddy is fairly hot on green issues - which I like. Recycling in the area seems fairly well advanced, we have recently been put on a 'Twin-Bin' scheme with one bin for waste, and one for recycling.

Here he is debating the topic

Here are some website links covering local recycling:

Gedling Borough Council

http://www.gedling.gov.uk/ index/ds-home/ds-recycling/ds-recyclingcentres-2.htm

Nottinghamshire County Council

http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/ home/environment/recycling/links.htm

Paddy Tipping supports ID cards

2005-01-10T13:35:00.000-08:00

At the recent vote on 20th December Paddy voted in favour of the introduction of ID cards (as did fellow Nottinghamshire MPs, Geoff Hoon, John Heppell, Graham Allen - Nottingham South MP Alan Simpson didn't vote). As his constituent I'm not too pleased about this:

a) Biometric identification isn't that good. See this New Scientist article. It's not going to stop multiple identities, or provide a rapid and foolproof way of identifying people.

b) The cost of the scheme is likely to outweigh any savings in fraud reduction etc. A rough rule of thumb for large government IT projects seems to be that they cost three times as much as the estimate. Plus we'll probably never be allowed to know how much it costs for 'commercial reasons'.

c) It will have little value in reducing terrorism, because terrorism isn't a problem now. How many people have been killed by terrorists in the UK since 9/11? (Clue: it's less than one). Spend the money on something that will save lives, like cleaning hospitals properly.

d) It's particularly susceptible to function creep, with plenty of provisions in the bill for expanding the remit.

e) The government has a miserable record on even simple IT projects like issuing passports. The chances of this not being chaos seem pretty low.

f) The database would be very susceptible to misuse, either by the government itself, or by individuals using the information illegally.

Paddy Tipping enquires about flood defenses

2004-12-16T09:56:00.000-08:00

Paddy Tipping MP recently submitted the following question about flood defenses. The Trent floodplain lies on the southern edge of his constituency, a mile-wide swathe identified on Dept. of Environment maps as being in a flood risk zone.

Environment Agency flood map

Paddy Tipping (Sherwood, Lab)

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the cost of flood prevention schemes undertaken since 1997 was, broken down by county.

IElliot Morley (Scunthorpe, Lab)

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave him on 17 November 2004, Official Report Column 1482W. I plan to place this information in the Library of the House shortly.

Nottingshire development threats

2004-12-15T13:19:00.000-08:00

Paddy Tipping continues to attempt to protect the local environment, opposing two developments.

Annesley Developments have made an application to drain Annesley lagoon, near Newstead Abbey, and to turn it into a landfill. Paddy Tipping has met the leaders of the 'Friends Of Annesley Lagoons' in order to offer support and to discuss tactics.

Read Hucknall Today article

In a major setback to the on-going campaign to prevent housing development at Top Wighay in the Green Belt, Gedling Borough Council is now supporting the proposal in order to help meet the Local Plan requirement for 8,000 homes. This is in spite of a recent report which recommended reducing this requirement by 1,000. Paddy Tipping is encouraging the local opposition group to mount a legal challenge.

Read Hucknall Today article

Recent Early Day Motions

2004-11-19T01:51:00.000-08:00

Some recent Early Day Motions signed by Paddy Tipping (and my own thoughts on the topics) are:

Public Sector Pensions - which supports the TUC lobbying parliament about, amongst other things, an increase in the retirement age from 60 to 65, which they identify as being a significant reduction in their terms and conditions. This is true but that would apply to many pensioners (not just those working in the public sector) - and the increase in the retirement age is pretty much the only practical way to deal with the pensions crisis.
Heritage Lottery Fund 10th Anniversary - which congratulates them on the good work done in the last 10 years.
Wheelchair passengers travelling in guard's vans on Southern trains - the old rolling stock used by Southern means that wheelchair passengers have to travel in the guard van with bars on the window etc. A fair point, but the cost of replacing trains is going to be rather high, particularly when compared to numbers of wheelchair passengers. I wouldn't have thought that was a 'reasonable' adjustment under the DDA. Perhaps Southern in the interim could allow wheelchair passengers to travel for free in recognition of the lower quality service it is providing to them.
Bird's Eye Factory Closure in Grimsby - A motion urging them to reinvest in the factory and keep it open, rather than lay off the employees and close it down. However, surely if they thought this was going to work, they would do it anyway?

Paddy Tipping's Expenses

2004-10-22T13:30:00.000-07:00

All MPs' expenses claims have now been released, so it can now be revealed that for 03-04, Paddy Tipping claimed £118,858 in expenses. (Presumably prior to the Freedom of Information Act which required their release, this had been kept Top Secret in case the Russkies got their hands on this sensitive material).

The breakdown of this is as follows:

Additional Costs Allowance
Basically this is to pay for staying in London. He claimed £11,790 out of a possible £20,333
London Supplement
For London MPs only. Obviously he doesn't qualify for this.
Incidental Expenses Provision
To pay for other costs associated with office and surgery. He went right up to the limit here, claiming the maximum £18,799
Staffing allowance
This came to £63,704. The maximum allowance is £64,273-£74,985 depending on staff based in London.
Members' Travel
At £15,358, this looks pretty steep, particularly as it only covers UK and some European travel. However, at today's amazingly high rail prices, this would only buy 168 standard class open return train tickets between Nottingham and London.
Staff Travel
A mere £301 as a maximum of 18 journeys are allowed.
Stationery, Postage and IT
These came to £2,149, £6,064 and £693 respectively. Postage costs indicate that Paddy sends about double the average MP.

Spreadsheet of all MPs expenses

Explanation of categories

Empty property figures requested by Paddy Tipping

2004-10-22T10:10:00.000-07:00

Paddy Tipping MP has received a Written Answer to his question:

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many empty homes there are in each local authority area in the East Midlands.

The full list by local authority district, can be seen here.

A potential motivation for him asking this question is his opposition to the Top Wighay development (see earlier posts). This is in the Ashfield district, which currently contains an estimated 1,580 empty homes, undermining the argument that the development is necessary.

Paddy Tipping sugar quota concern

2004-10-21T06:27:00.000-07:00

Another appearance in the Commons when he quizzed Margaret Beckett about the renegotiation of EU sugar quotas:
Paddy Tipping (Sherwood, Lab)

"When she last met European Union colleagues to discuss the sugar regime."

Margaret Beckett (Derby South, Lab)

"At the Agriculture Council meeting on 19 July, Commissioner Fischler presented his latest communication setting out his preferred approach to reform of the EU sugar regime. EU Ministers will be resuming discussions at the November Agriculture Council meeting."

Paddy Tipping (Sherwood, Lab)

"In those discussions, will the Secretary of State argue strongly against equal quota cuts in all member states and in favour of taking out inefficient producers such as those in Greece and Finland, so that countries such as the United Kingdom, factories such as British Sugar's factory in Newark, and Nottinghamshire farmers can continue to prosper?"

Margaret Beckett (Derby South, Lab)

"I take my hon. Friend's point, and assure him that in our discussions I will, as ever, endeavour to safeguard and protect the competitive position of British farmers. I know he will understand, though, when I say that using the arguments he suggests may not work entirely to our advantage, certainly during a transitional period. Although qualified majority voting will apply, any proposals must carry a majority in the Council. However, I accept his underlying point: the present sugar regime is enormously distorting, and cannot be sustained."

Paddy Tipping advocates smoking education

2004-10-20T05:36:00.000-07:00

At his first speech in the Commons this session, Paddy Tipping MP asked John Healey (Labour MP for Wentworth, and Economic Secretary)

"Are not health and education programmes the most appropriate way in which to help people—particularly people from low-income families—quit smoking, rather than simply pricing them out of the market?"

This followed a question for Anthony Steen MP, which implied that the Government had not banned smoking in public places because of the benefit to the Treasury from Tobacco Duty.

John Healey replied:

"Successive Governments, including this one, have used the high price of cigarettes to encourage people to reduce smoking. That policy has been successful after the past two decades, but it is not the only measure that we take. The education campaigns that my hon. Friend mentioned are, in part, responsible for the recent cut in young people's regular smoking. The Government are considering a wide range of measures as part of our public health consultation, and my hon. Friends in the Department of Health will take my hon. Friend's comments as a late representation to that process."

Personally, I don't know which is more effective - education or punitive taxation, although it's fairly obvious which is easier on the Treasury. Does anybody in the UK today really not know that smoking has serious health implications, which for me casts doubt on the potential effectiveness of education.

Parliamentary Question

2004-10-12T04:39:00.000-07:00

Bill Rammell (Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs) has issued a Written Answer to Paddy Tipping's Parliamentary Question "What recent discussions he has had with North Korea on nuclear policy?"

The answer refers to his official report, which runs to less than a page. In essence, North Korea has been involved in six party talks on the dismantling of their nuclear programme, but they have been considering pulling out. Bill Rammell urged them not to do this, and to follow Libya's example of declaring and terminating their WMD programmes.

You can see the full Written Answer here at
theyworkforyou.com.

Bill Rammell's official report on the visit can be seen here on the Parliamentary Publications website

Criticism of job centre closure

2004-10-01T15:18:00.000-07:00

Paddy Tipping has publicly criticised Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) plans to close Hucknall job centre as part of a proposed cutback of 30,000 jobs nationwide.
The closure would not occur till at least 2006, and a consultation process is currently in progress. If you have a view then you should write either to Hucknall Job Centre, or Paddy Tipping's constituency office.

Full article in Hucknall Today

Paddy Tipping attends celebration of Countryside and Rights of Way Act

2004-09-22T01:24:00.000-07:00

Paddy Tipping was one of 400 guests celebrating the new Act, which gives increased freedom of access to the countryside, on the day it came into force. This event in Derbyshire Peak District National Park, was not attended by Alun Michael following threats from pro-hunt protestors, but in spite of being one of 4 MPs named as targets, Paddy was not put off.

Most Recent Commons Speech

2004-09-20T07:35:00.000-07:00

With Parliament in recess at the moment till October, news is a bit slow at the moment - an ideal opportunity for a retrospective. Paddy last spoke in the Commons on 22 July 2004 at a Fisheries debate. That may sound like a long time, but according to theyworkforyou.com, he is about average. He spoke in parliament 53 times in the last year — 294th out of 658 MPs.

This particular appearance was to ask Ben Bradshaw MP:

What progress did my hon. Friend make at the International Whaling Commission on the demise of so-called scientific whaling and, more importantly, on developing a conservation agenda?

It would appear that the Japanese are trying to increase their 'scientific' whaling, and are lobbying other nations to support them.

As Chairman of the sub-committee on environment, food and rural affairs, this is obviously within his remit, but Paddy Tipping also appears to have a personal interest in areas such as the green belt, conservation and sustainable energy.

You can read the whole debate here.

Paddy Tipping targeted by hunt protestors

2004-09-19T01:26:00.000-07:00

Paddy Tipping MP was one of four MPs named by an anonymous caller, who threatened that their constituency offices would be 'trashed' because of their involvement in the campaign to ban hunting with dogs. Nottinghamshire police will be increasing surveillance on his office, and of the neighbouring constituency of Geoff Hoon who was another of the named MPs.

Paddy votes to ban hunting

2004-09-15T05:43:00.000-07:00

At a debate beseiged by pro-hunt protestors, Paddy Tipping was one of 356 MPs who voted to reintroduce a bill for a total ban on hunting with dogs. This would come into force in 2006 to allow time for existing hunts to be wound up.

Previously the bill has been overturned by the House of Lords, but today Alun Michael MP specifically threatened the use of the Parliament Act, a long-disused piece of legislation which would enable the Commons to overrule them.

Register of Members' Interests

2004-09-13T20:31:00.000-07:00

The Register of Members' Interests can now be accessed on-line. This exists:

"to provide information of any pecuniary interest or other material benefit which a Member receives which might reasonably be thought by others to influence his or her actions, speeches or votes in Parliament, or actions taken in his or her capacity as a Member of Parliament"

Whilst many MPs' entries are a catalogue of junkets, non-executive directorships and highly paid speeches, Paddy Tipping's entry is a modest Vice-President of the Ramblers' Association. He receives no payment for this work.

Opposition to Top Wighay development

2004-09-07T06:56:00.000-07:00

Paddy Tipping MP is opposing the development of the council owned Top Wighay Farm, north of Hucknall. Local residents in the adjoining villages of Linby and Papplewick fear that the proposed 2,000 homes, 186 acres of industrial units and a 1,000-space park-and-ride site, will result in these rural villages being swallowed up by Hucknall. Paddy has arranged a meeting with Gedling Borough Council, which will also be attended by the Greenbelt Action Group, formed from five local parish councils.

Full details of the development can be seen at www.linby.org

See the location of the proposed development on Streetmap

Read the article in Hucknall Today

Why blog an MP?

2004-09-05T01:31:00.000-07:00

I believe that people should be more involved in politics. Not in the sense of joining a political party, but by being aware of current issues, knowing who their MP is, and knowing what their stance is on these issues. That way, when it comes to an election they can make an informed democratic choice based on the candidates' policies and how much they trust them to appropriately represent their views. Otherwise voting will be based on random chance, tribal loyalty and hearsay.

The web offers an opportunity to be better informed than ever before about what is being done on your behalf. You can find a profile of your MP (ePolitix.com), you can look up what they have said in parliament (theyworkforyou.com)and what they have voted for (publicwhip.org.uk).

What is often missing is a general picture of what your MP thinks - some MPs vote consistently with the party whip and speak rarely. The profile may tell you how many children they have and where they went to school, but to be honest, that's not really all that important. Getting a clear picture of their stance and the issues that they are currently campaigning on is difficult, without piecing it together from dozens of disparate sources. This blog and other blogs in the bloggerheads campaign exist to provide that information in a single place.

Inception

2004-09-03T02:10:00.000-07:00

Inspired by the good work at Bloggerheads I have started this blog for my local Nottinghamshire MP.

So far, I have only got as far as setting up the blog, and adding a few links. Rest assured, though, there will be more to come.