Bring Back Socialism

Ed Miliband told the general public today that he was 'bringing back Socialism' to Britain. Socialism of course is that great political economic philosophy which brought about such successes as stagflation, the Winter of Discontent, decline in manufacturing and the 1983 Labour Party Manifesto (known as the longest suicide note on history). Tony Blair made Labour electable in the 1990s by getting rid of clause four making clear that Labour would not bring back Socialism to Britain. Will Red Ed reverse it? his latest announcement is a result of trade unions tugging at his leash for sure.

Len McCluskey is up to his old tricks in Labour again.

Exclusive: Next Party Political Broadcast

Today I went with Jamie, Jenny, Felipe and other prominent local Conservatives to film the next Party Political Broadcast. This will be shown during the Conference on the BBC and ITV as well as in the hall. I will put up all the backstage photos closer to the date but just to tempt you here are two photos of the day.

Photo Courtesy of @JennyWhoJenny

With Ken.

Photo Bombing Dave

Dave was caught photo bombing his sister in law today by chillaxing behind her when she took a photo for her Instagram.

Back in Nottingham with Lilian Greenwood

I'm back writing for the blog and back in Nottingham. So to start off the new university year here is some Nottingham politics.

Do you remember Steve Barclay's reply to my email on Syria? Well I also wrote an email to Lilian Greenwood the Labour MP for Nottingham South. This was her reply to my concerns over Syrian intervention.

I do agree with Lilian Greenwood's decision to vote against war in Syria however there is some sort of hint that this decision was more a party political than a moral. I doubt the PM was 'conceited' in going to war with Syria. He was not looking for a moment a shine but to do what he thought was right. His judgement of what is right may be criticised but that is a poor decision he will be known for and not anything to do with vanity.

Also the motion that was debated was not to decide whether to intervene in Syria or not, it was one to plan a route ahead for what could be done in Syria. The government was seeking UN backing and more information on top of what they already knew, it wasn't a declaration of war. This may have not been the Government's intentions earlier on in the week but as the mood of the people and MPs became clear the motion was changed.

Although I agree with Lilian Greenwood's decision it does smack of lacking personal judgement on Syria and more following Ed Miliband's poor arguments and party political play over a decision of consciousness. I think the way Red Ed conducted himself in the vote was not at all proper and that showed in polling afterwards. I'm not suprised though that Lilian Greenwood has backed this. She is a shadow minister and so for a job will follow this stupid man over an electoral cliff. I'm just disappointed.

Lilian Greenwood is pretty close to Red Ed, which is a shame.

This is just one of the reasons why I ask the good people of Nottingham South to ditch Labour and back Rowena Holland (the Conservative Candidate) who now is on twitter @VoteRowena . Rowena stood for the Conservatives in 2010 and received a big swing of 7.4% away from Labour due to her hard work and ability to listen to the people. Let's see if we can make Nottingham South blue this time around.

Rowena out and about campaigning for a better Nottingham South.

Weekly Poll Lowdown

We apologise for the delayed service of the HS2 express poll leaving London to who knows where. There will be no refunds of the £80 billion price tag. Your results are pretty conclusive; you think HS2 is a stupid idea and should be scrapped by the government.

Sorry for the delays.

Should the Government scrap HS2?

Yes	76%
No	24%
Unsure	0%

Total votes: 17

For the first time in a long while we are in agreement. You're completely right. HS2 is the biggest waste of money under this government and since my last post on it, which you can read here, there have been developments which further damn this Victorian folly.

The CBI, although believing in a push for infrastructure spending from the government, issued a warning over its cost saying of HS2 "it must be demonstrably clear that the benefits outweigh the costs" (obviously this is not true at the moment). 73% of business wants money spent on the 'deterioration' of the road networks rather than the railways; do remember that the vast majority of transportation of goods is done by lorries and no new railway will change this. Only 35% of businesses back the government's policy of HS2 at the moment which must be a blow for coal miner Patrick McLoughlin, who also happens to be the Transport Secretary. 

Patrick McLoughlin after a hard days work.

Indeed the Transport Secretary over the past few weeks has re-written the entire government argument on HS2. He has admitted inaccurate plans from his predecessor, which I'm sure Justine Greening took very well, and is now basing the HS2 plan on capacity. The Government is now saying that soon we will run out capacity on the railways lines and will have to build more tracks so that's why we need HS2. However it is worth noting that actually HS2 doesn't go near any lines that need extra capacity (if you're that interesting in commuting they run down the East Coast Mainline). Also if we need extra capacity and it is no longer about the 20 mins saved by high speed rail why not just use ordinary and cheaper trains? I don't think this new argument has been thought through very well.

HS2 may even be defeated in the Commons. If Ed Miliband, who usually can't make his mind up on what flavoured tea to have at breakfast, finally decides that the cost is too much there is a definite defeat for the government ahead. Even if Red Ed does back HS2 the rebellion in Labour and the Tories may be so big that the vote is lost anyway. I think the government, if the pressure is kept on them, will quietly kick the high speed rail idea out. 

So sorry train spotters of Britain, HS2 may never happen. 

Vote in the new poll on the sidebar.

Conservative Garden Party

A few weeks ago was the Hill and Staithe branch garden party which was super. The Pimms was flowing and all the games were great. To show off what went on a video has been produced of that fateful day (it contains a very bad picture of me).

Many thanks goes to those who organised it and David and Judy Hodgson for the use of their wonderful garden. Oh yes, and if you're wondering about the weekly poll lowdown it will be up later.

Boris Says 'Get Stuffed' to Assembly Member

Boris loses his rag at opposition assembly members over plans to change the London Fire Service. Go get them Boris.