David Pitt-Watson is the chairman of a City finance group which happens to be a Northern Rock shareholder.
For more, see Guido Fawkes.
One wonders what Tamsin Dunwoody, the socialist former AM for Preseli Pembrokeshire, whose grandfather was the redoubtable Labour general secretary, Morgan Phillips, makes of it.
Tuesday, 11 March 2008
DEFRA - a case for outsourcing?
The euphuese of the National Audit Office's press release barely conceals the NAO's criticism of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in its report of last Thursday. Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment Secretary, Steve Webb, was rather more robust:
“Defra is a financial basket case. There are glaring deficiencies in its financial management, whilst the people who rely on Defra, such as farmers dependent on subsidies, have received atrocious service.
“The situation is now so bad that key programmes are being slashed simply to try to balance the books."
This is why we in Wales should be concerned. The overspend on the failed farmers' payments system in England hits DEFRA's other, UK-wide, work.
“Defra is the lead department in tacking climate change, which is the biggest challenge facing the planet. It is appalling that it has been allowed to get into this mess,” says Steve Webb.
I have a suggestion. Since the Welsh Assembly Government got its farm payments scheme pretty well right, and the Labour government in Westminster is so keen on agencies and outsourcing, couldn't DEFRA solve one of its problems by commissioning WAG to service the English farmers?
“Defra is a financial basket case. There are glaring deficiencies in its financial management, whilst the people who rely on Defra, such as farmers dependent on subsidies, have received atrocious service.
“The situation is now so bad that key programmes are being slashed simply to try to balance the books."
This is why we in Wales should be concerned. The overspend on the failed farmers' payments system in England hits DEFRA's other, UK-wide, work.
“Defra is the lead department in tacking climate change, which is the biggest challenge facing the planet. It is appalling that it has been allowed to get into this mess,” says Steve Webb.
I have a suggestion. Since the Welsh Assembly Government got its farm payments scheme pretty well right, and the Labour government in Westminster is so keen on agencies and outsourcing, couldn't DEFRA solve one of its problems by commissioning WAG to service the English farmers?
Monday, 10 March 2008
Women in IT
The European commissioner for information society and media, Viviane Reding, has set her sights on debunking geeky IT stereotypes which she believes are putting women off working in technology.
By this time next year, Reding plans to establish a European code of best practice for women in IT - to address the so-called 'leaky pipeline' phenomenon, whereby girls steadily lose interest in working in technology as they progress through education and settle on a career.
Given that the first person to grasp the potential of automatic logic was a British woman, Ada, Countess Lovelace, and that the pioneers of high-level language programming were the US "sewing circle" which included Jean Sammet, and Grace Murray Hopper, it is a sad reflection on our times that this initiative is necessary.
By this time next year, Reding plans to establish a European code of best practice for women in IT - to address the so-called 'leaky pipeline' phenomenon, whereby girls steadily lose interest in working in technology as they progress through education and settle on a career.
Given that the first person to grasp the potential of automatic logic was a British woman, Ada, Countess Lovelace, and that the pioneers of high-level language programming were the US "sewing circle" which included Jean Sammet, and Grace Murray Hopper, it is a sad reflection on our times that this initiative is necessary.
Our industrial history - more than just winning coal
Not many people know how deep was the involvement of Neath, Aberavon and their hinterland in industrial developments, nor how far back the involvement goes.
A new heritage trail announced by the European Route of Industrial Heritage organisation includes Neath Abbey Ironworks as well as Aberdulais Falls and the mining museums at Afan Argoed and Cefn Coed.
Herian (Heritage in Action) has produced a superb illustrated pocket booklet, which should be available in your nearest museum, National Trust visitor shop and a few other places from today. Ordnance Survey grid references of all sites are given.
Only the old woollen mill in Neath Abbey is neglected. However, it is represented anonymously, in that one of the machines in the National Woollen Museum at Newcastle Emlyn was originally sited by the Clydach.
Sunday, 9 March 2008
The People's Republic of Mortimer
Not connected with John, Caroline or Penelope as far as I know, this blog was brought indirectly to our attention by Peter Black.
A sample (in the course of a discussion of "Batty Great Aunt Margaret Hodgepodge's" troll about Englishness)
Henry I - 1100 - hm, everyone knows medieval history is pointless and rubbish, but let’s see what Wiki says…
"Upon his succession he granted the baronage a Charter of Liberties, which formed a basis for subsequent challenges to rights of kings and presaged the Magna Carta, which subjected the King to law.
"The rest of Henry’s reign was filled with judicial and financial reforms. He established the biannual Exchequer to reform the treasury. He used itinerant officials to curb abuses of power at the local and regional level, garnering the praise of the people"
Ha, strike him out! Last thing we need is a medieval monarch who is more liberal and competent than the Labour party.
A sample (in the course of a discussion of "Batty Great Aunt Margaret Hodgepodge's" troll about Englishness)
Henry I - 1100 - hm, everyone knows medieval history is pointless and rubbish, but let’s see what Wiki says…
"Upon his succession he granted the baronage a Charter of Liberties, which formed a basis for subsequent challenges to rights of kings and presaged the Magna Carta, which subjected the King to law.
"The rest of Henry’s reign was filled with judicial and financial reforms. He established the biannual Exchequer to reform the treasury. He used itinerant officials to curb abuses of power at the local and regional level, garnering the praise of the people"
Ha, strike him out! Last thing we need is a medieval monarch who is more liberal and competent than the Labour party.
Saturday, 8 March 2008
Compulsory ID cards may be for the chop, but the national database remains
The government has ditched plans to force people to get a biometric ID card when they renew or apply for a passport. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith also announced last week that any Parliamentary vote to make ID cards compulsory for British citizens will now be delayed until 2015.
But the government still intends to force foreign nationals living in Britain to register their biometric details on the National Identity Register and carry an ID card by the end of this year. ID cards will also be required by people working air-side at Heathrow and other high security risk areas from next year.
After that the target is students and young people, who will voluntarily have the option of registering for an ID card from 2010.
Anyone renewing or applying for a new passport from 2011 onwards will be required to add their biometric details to the National Identity Register.
So the part of the scheme which is most objectionable, the national database, is still to go ahead, while, experts assess, the skids are under the ID card. (Some of us would have found a simple, cheap, identity card, such as is carried in some continental countries quite useful.) The Register has already cost millions, will cost many more, is intrusive, prone to errors (judging by government performance in the last twenty years) and unsafe.
On the latter point, a government minister said that the system was secure because the register could not be accessed online. If this is so, then what is the point of having it? Perhaps the intention is to batch enquiries like the good old days of the original tape-based DVL system. Even this is only as secure as the people handling the enquiries.
But the government still intends to force foreign nationals living in Britain to register their biometric details on the National Identity Register and carry an ID card by the end of this year. ID cards will also be required by people working air-side at Heathrow and other high security risk areas from next year.
After that the target is students and young people, who will voluntarily have the option of registering for an ID card from 2010.
Anyone renewing or applying for a new passport from 2011 onwards will be required to add their biometric details to the National Identity Register.
So the part of the scheme which is most objectionable, the national database, is still to go ahead, while, experts assess, the skids are under the ID card. (Some of us would have found a simple, cheap, identity card, such as is carried in some continental countries quite useful.) The Register has already cost millions, will cost many more, is intrusive, prone to errors (judging by government performance in the last twenty years) and unsafe.
On the latter point, a government minister said that the system was secure because the register could not be accessed online. If this is so, then what is the point of having it? Perhaps the intention is to batch enquiries like the good old days of the original tape-based DVL system. Even this is only as secure as the people handling the enquiries.
Friday, 7 March 2008
You wouldn't treat animals like this
Jenny Willott, who shadows what I still think of as the Home Office, has asked a series of parliamentary questions which reveal a 561% increase in prisoner-on-prisoner violence since 1996.
She writes: “It is completely unacceptable that over 200 inmates are attacking each other in our prisons every week.
“The Government’s addiction to criminal justice legislation has left our jails packed to the rafters. Prisoners are kept in ever-closer proximity, and prison officers are stretched even further with the inevitable result of increased violence.
“How can we expect offenders to be rehabilitated within the penal system if they are exposed to such high levels of violence? These figures suggest that there is a real risk they may become more dangerous criminals than when they went in.
“Ministers must realise that we cannot build our way out of the current prison crisis. The Government must take a more long-term view and move drug addicts and prisoners with mental health problems into more appropriate accommodation, as well as examining alternatives to short custodial sentences.”
I would go further: staffing of prisons needs to be increased. Apart from increasing the chance of defusing violence before it gets out of hand, it would allow supervision of activities which would get prisoners out of their cells.
If animals are crammed together artificially, they attack one another and/or self-mutilate. There are Europe-wide rules on animal husbandry as a result; why should we treat people any worse?
Prison should punish and restrain, not degrade.
Tory plans have come in for criticism from David Heath, LibDem MP for Somerton and Frome. He said:
“The Tories spend months working on a prisons policy and come up with three ideas that have already been thought of by someone else.
“The Liberal Democrats have long argued for fixed term sentences, with a maximum and minimum tariff announced by a judge in an open court, and for the creation of a Victims’ Compensation Fund paid for by prisoners doing productive work within our prison system.
“The Tories share their final idea, that we can somehow build our way out of the prison overcrowding crisis, with the Government, who have already started the process.
“This represents a fundamental misunderstanding based on the naïve assumption that 100,000 places will be enough. It will not if we continue to send ever increasing amounts of people to prison.
“There is no evidence that our extremely high incarceration rates are doing any good. Crime rates in Britain are similar to those in Denmark and yet our rate of incarceration is twice as high.”
She writes: “It is completely unacceptable that over 200 inmates are attacking each other in our prisons every week.
“The Government’s addiction to criminal justice legislation has left our jails packed to the rafters. Prisoners are kept in ever-closer proximity, and prison officers are stretched even further with the inevitable result of increased violence.
“How can we expect offenders to be rehabilitated within the penal system if they are exposed to such high levels of violence? These figures suggest that there is a real risk they may become more dangerous criminals than when they went in.
“Ministers must realise that we cannot build our way out of the current prison crisis. The Government must take a more long-term view and move drug addicts and prisoners with mental health problems into more appropriate accommodation, as well as examining alternatives to short custodial sentences.”
I would go further: staffing of prisons needs to be increased. Apart from increasing the chance of defusing violence before it gets out of hand, it would allow supervision of activities which would get prisoners out of their cells.
If animals are crammed together artificially, they attack one another and/or self-mutilate. There are Europe-wide rules on animal husbandry as a result; why should we treat people any worse?
Prison should punish and restrain, not degrade.
Tory plans have come in for criticism from David Heath, LibDem MP for Somerton and Frome. He said:
“The Tories spend months working on a prisons policy and come up with three ideas that have already been thought of by someone else.
“The Liberal Democrats have long argued for fixed term sentences, with a maximum and minimum tariff announced by a judge in an open court, and for the creation of a Victims’ Compensation Fund paid for by prisoners doing productive work within our prison system.
“The Tories share their final idea, that we can somehow build our way out of the prison overcrowding crisis, with the Government, who have already started the process.
“This represents a fundamental misunderstanding based on the naïve assumption that 100,000 places will be enough. It will not if we continue to send ever increasing amounts of people to prison.
“There is no evidence that our extremely high incarceration rates are doing any good. Crime rates in Britain are similar to those in Denmark and yet our rate of incarceration is twice as high.”
Monday, 3 March 2008
"Drest in a little brief authority"
Today I became a co-opted member of Coedffranc Community Council, which covers Skewen. Community councils form the lowest tier of elected local government, and not all areas of Wales are served by community councils. For instance, the Port Talbot part of this county borough has no community councils, while Neath (including parts included in the Aberavon parliamentary constituency) is completely covered by community councils.
The English equivalent is a town (a term also used in Wales, as in Neath or Cowbridge Town Councils) or parish council. CCs concern themselves typically with community safety, street lighting, allotments, cemeteries, playing fields, community centres, litter, war memorials, seats and shelters, and rights of way. CCs in Neath Port Talbot are also asked for their opinions on some planning applications, though the final decision remains with the county borough council.
Co-option is undemocratic, and should only be used as a last resort. The situation here is that several councillors have left the area and the vacancies need to be filled. The law does not allow for elections to community councils (or unitary authorities, for that matter) within six months of the date when regular elections would normally be held.
So I am to be a community councillor for just two months, attending two meetings: one this Wednesday, and another in April.
I'll throw my hat into the ring for the elections on 1st May, hoping to obtain a democratic mandate. However, I hope that more than the "usual suspects" come forward. It is a good way for public-spirited citizens to serve their community, without being submerged in all the paper-work which is increasingly swamping councillors on the CBC.
Sadly, the lower age limit of 21 prevents the people who could make a vital contribution directly to the council, but one hopes that will change in the not-too-distant future.
The English equivalent is a town (a term also used in Wales, as in Neath or Cowbridge Town Councils) or parish council. CCs concern themselves typically with community safety, street lighting, allotments, cemeteries, playing fields, community centres, litter, war memorials, seats and shelters, and rights of way. CCs in Neath Port Talbot are also asked for their opinions on some planning applications, though the final decision remains with the county borough council.
Co-option is undemocratic, and should only be used as a last resort. The situation here is that several councillors have left the area and the vacancies need to be filled. The law does not allow for elections to community councils (or unitary authorities, for that matter) within six months of the date when regular elections would normally be held.
So I am to be a community councillor for just two months, attending two meetings: one this Wednesday, and another in April.
I'll throw my hat into the ring for the elections on 1st May, hoping to obtain a democratic mandate. However, I hope that more than the "usual suspects" come forward. It is a good way for public-spirited citizens to serve their community, without being submerged in all the paper-work which is increasingly swamping councillors on the CBC.
Sadly, the lower age limit of 21 prevents the people who could make a vital contribution directly to the council, but one hopes that will change in the not-too-distant future.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)