Paul Flynn - Read My Day

Stunt or stupidity?

Leg-pull?

As a founder member of Cynics-R-Us I smell a publicity stunt.

An intriguing new shop in city centre has been visited by PC Plod. Newportonians have allegedly been scandalised by an art object prominently on display in the window. Prosecution is a possibility.

By first reaction was to commend the shop on a clever publicity stunt to draw attention to their new venture. It may be. It’s difficult to believe that anyone would be outraged by what seems to be a human body made out of rags- sorry an attractive vintage art object.

The interestingly named Starling Vendetta Boutique is proudly displaying the work of the artist Kate Montgomery.

It is alleged that the ‘council’ has advised shop owners Flick Sawkins and Angela Harker to tow the police line and use a fig leaf for the man’s bits.  I have difficulty in believing this.

In 1973 there was a great controversy when the Newport Councillors banned the showing of ‘Last Tango in Paris’. They had not seen the film and made the decision on the evidence of a letter from the Festival of Light. They were rightly derided and reversed the decision months later.

I doubt whether any of the councillors approved this decision. They are all resonable and broad minded. The few vintage councillors who were at the Civic Centre in the seventies will not want to repeat the ridicule of the 'Tango' ban. There is a 140 strong petition demanding the removal of the fig leaf on the grounds of artistic freedom plus a bit of council-bashing.

Why do I have the sensation that someone is pulling my leg?

Mass medication

Part of President Bush’s brave new world is a New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. They feel they have not done enough pushing Ritalin on millions of their children. Now they want to screen all schoolchildren for mental illness. The law has been passed in some states, and the program is named Teen Screen. Normal kids are labelled mentally ill with an array of disorders such as mathematics disorder; reading disorder, conduct disorder, just to name a few. This is ludicrous and is being promoted by the profit hungry Pharmaceutical companies in order to get the kids hooked.

Despite the evidence linking psychiatric drugs to suicide and violence, the drugs will be prescribed to millions more children and teens based on subjective diagnoses made without any physical tests, such as blood tests, brain scans or X-rays.

There is growing resistance to Teen Screen from adults who still have their marbles. They, presumably, are the ones who escaped Ritalin when they were children.

Yawning Bread

The reach of the blogosphere continues to surprise..

A section of this blog appears today on a Singapore Blog with the fascinating name Yawning Bread. The author Lim Wee Kiak writes:- 

“Intrigued that there were 34 UK MPs with individual bogs, I visited some of them. I took a particular interest in Paul Flynn's because he was from the Labour Party -- he's the MP for Newport West -- which currently forms the government in Britain. Is he reduced to saying safe things in defence of the government?

Not at all. In fact, it was quite refreshing to read an entry where he decried his fellow MPs' tendency to bay for Chief Constables' blood each time a police force makes a mistake when overall, they are doing a good job.”

Yawning Bread complains that no Singapore MPs have there own blogs. Meanwhile a sinister blog-threatening move at the Assembly.Their Satndards Committee is probing possible breaches of their code of conduct through the use of blogs.

What’s the worry? Let 60 blogs bloom - even if the outlook is Black.

Guilty but twp

Splurge

A party founded on high ideals has disgraced themselves.

They have been caught in a cynical calculated act of hypocrisy and mis-use of public funds.

They voted against the new Communication Allowance (CA). Then they were the first to plunge into the trough in a dishonest spending splurge clearly timed to win votes in the Assembly  Elections.

The CA is paid by taxpayers to allow MPs to keep in touch with their constituents. It’s not to be used in areas outside of MPs constituencies to drum up support on issues that are not parliament’s responsibilities. Nor it is to be spent for political purposes. The future of this new-born CA reform is in peril because it has been abused. Others are accused of bending the rules.

Plaid's action has been condemned by the Electoral Commission and the Common Standards Committee. Still there is no remorse. They claim they acted in ‘good faith.’ Do they expect anyone to believe them? The three MPs have been caught with their pants down. They say they were first out of the block and have been punished. Guilty but twp (stupid) is the verdict.

How about an honest admission and confession?

Exiled wealth

The splendid forthright and courageous MP Gordon Prentice has won a place in the Private Members’ Bill lottery.

He is at the bottom of the pile with little chance of getting the bill into law unless he gets the Government on his side. One of his many campaigns has been exposing what may be the foreign based tax exile Lords Ashcroft and Laidlaw.

They both gave undertakings to live in Britain and pay taxes here in exchange for their ermine. Neither apparently have done so. Last week Gordon pressed for details on what, if any, taxes are being paid. There seems to be no mechanism for unfrocking, or de-ermine-ing Lords in these circumstances.

Gordon’s Bill will fill that Gap. A move on while on the Government may bestow  their smile.

Drug Triumph

Four out of ten heroin addicts have given up their drugs in a London trial. Local drug crime has plummeted. The addicts lives have been stabilised as they were supplied with methadone or diamorphine. It’s expensive but a lot less than locking them up in prison.

I visited a similar trial abroad nine years ago and I studied the results in several other countries. This is the essence of my European Drugs Convention. Shift policies from throwing addicts into prison to those remedies that work. We have had 36 years of increasing drugs’ deaths and crimes. This is the way to reverse the trend.

To keep up the momentum of the new drugs convention, I am speaking at the world conference of Red Cross/Red Crescent societies late next week. The Red Cross have a marvellous record of practical humane harm redictions drug treatments. Great reforms are about to take place.

Lethal opportunism

The Northern Rock crisis is unprecedented in recent times and very dangerous. Delicately balanced are jobs, investments and the stability of the banking industry and the economy.

There are no certain solutions, only hopeful takeovers that might work. Failure could do immense damage. Good people have been burning the midnight oil seeking answers that will help the company, their workers, shareholders and the world economy. These include local entrepreneurs. This is a time for restraint and patience. Parties should forge unity and a common cause.

This afternoon we witnessed a demeaning display of opportunistic political posturing from the Tories. No solution came from them, only carping and sneering- self-indulgent, irresponsible politics at their worst.

They looked pleased with themselves. They may have done great harm.

Arise Citizen Wigley !

Scorched earth
Plaid Cymru have decided to join the sinking ship of the unelected House of Lords - on their  own terms.

They want no titles. I doubt whether their nominees can join without the Garter King of Arms insisting on titles, fake heraldry and at least a bit of prancing about in ermine. Good luck to them if they can separate the role of legislator and that of an unelected titled national chieftain. The Lords will not like it. In ten years Tony Blair failed to get rid of the 'Silver stick in waiting' and the rest of the pantomime flummery.

This decision is a pragmatic one. The anti-devolution fossils in the Lords are defeated but are adopting a scorched earth policy on the progress of Welsh legislation. Expect to see Lords-a-fuming when the Orders in Council hit them. The under worked Neil Kinnock, Ted Rowlands and the Gwent Papal Knights are out to avenge the hammering the Welsh Labour Party gave them on the coalition.

Dafydd Wigley is the obvious choice. He seems to have made a full recovery from his health problems and would be a formidable heavyweight who can frustrate the last ditch attempts by Westminster to stop power flowing down the M4 to Cardiff.

Jobsworths in
Hounding Chief Constables is a new blood sport.

Brunstrom in North Wales and Ian Blair in London shared a wonderful record in reducing crime in the past two years. Brunstrom has bravely faced down the ridicule of the tabloids  and cut road traffic deaths remarkably.

If he had been a Jeremy Clarkson rave-a-like who has presided over an increase in roads death, presumably that would have kept MPs off his back.

Ian Blair in London has had similar success with falling crime figures and changing the sleazy racial culture of the Met. He has been courageous, innovative and brilliantly successful. He has been sniped at police who have risen from the ranks. There is a corrosive tension between those and graduates like Blair who rose via the fast track. Some have been out to sabotage his career for years.

Of course both have made major mistakes. Who doesn't ? Changing two brave coppers for sychophantic jobsworths won't help.

Voodoo
To my astonishment more than 200 MPs signed up to an EDM demanding  more NHS money for homeopathy.
The splendidly sane doctor and journalist Ben Goldacre has consistently exposed the empty claims of this voodoo medicine. It's science-free and they routinely suppress evidence of trials that prove the uselessness of their drugs. At best they  are on a par with placebos.

The only good they do is to keep patients off powerful drugs that may have adverse side effects. No-one is harmed by sugar pills with a virtual nil atom content of active substances - just a memory.

Their best claim is that people get better with homeopathy. Of course they do. Most illnesses do not last for a lifetime. The human body is a miraculous healing organism. Many illnesses clear up  anyway.

We are fortunate to live in an era with a sumptuous scientific heritage. Why do so many of our MPs cling to superstitions unworthy of the Dark Ages ?

Samaritans for MPs?

Gibbering
Should the Samaritans set up a special telephone line for MPs on Saturday afternoons?
That's when  MPs are at their worst-in a state of deep gloom, gibbering to themselves or running round in little circles whimpering. It's Post Surgery Syndrome.

Saturday mornings are when we have our confrontations with the concentrated misery of the problems of our constituents.  It's rare to get through a surgery without someone becoming deeply upset. Often it's the M P. Some problems are literally life or death ones. The serious complainant is usually apologetic for using up an MP's time. Often they have been badly treated by officialdom or bamboozled by bureaucracy - especially the CSA or Tax Credits. If we can do something to help, they are the satisfying ones.

Others have infuriatingly trivial problems of their own creation. An MP from a Northern constituency told me one of his regulars turned up at his surgery last Saturday. Unwisely he does not insist on appointments and allows people to drop in. This man explained that he had bought a suit and the trousers were too long. Would the MP go down toM&S and change them for him.

The MP suggested that they went to the queue of ten people waiting to be seen and asked them if they thought it would be a good idea for him to spend an hour down at M&S before he heard about their cases.

Having appointments eliminates complainants as daft as this. But it can still be hell. The accumulated cases of dire human misery with real problems is wearing. Indignation at the utter unreasonableness of other provokes explosive fury.  It's dangerous mix.

Roll on, next Saturday.

Argusballs
The front page does not know what the backpage is doing.

The Newport Daily the Argus did a good job on reporting the recent Chartist Commemorations.  Yesterday was a bad day. The front page lead was a frightening story on drink fuelled violence in Pontypool. This was followed by a typical pontificating editorial demanding action. It's always someone else's fault.

They demand more punishment for offenders  but complain that higher taxes will hit sensible drinkers. As usual it's Government and the Courts that are to blame. Of course.

Perhaps they editorial writers should have glance of the backpage of the same edition of the paper which contains an open invitation to binge drink. Will the Argus take some of the blame and refuse advertising that could certainly lead to pub violence.

Unlikely, I think.

Wages of sin
Cut politicians pay is a popular demand.

For once, I agree. UKIP MEP  Ashley Mote continued to receive his  salary while serving his sentence for defrauding the taxpayers. Why should the taxpayers continue to pay his salary when he is prison where he cannot possible do the job for which he is paid?

Mr Mote was sentenced to nine months in prison in September after being convicted of benefit fraud and has since been released. Members of the European Parliament receive the same salary as a Member of Parliament and are paid by the British taxpayer.  Under British law an MP or MEP can continue to receive their salary and does not have to stand down as long as their jail sentence does not exceed 12 months.

Leader of the House Harriet Harman is one the case. She is trying to find ways to stop MPs and MEPs pay while they are in slammer.

About time too.

Honour the Brave

The extent of the losses in Iraq and Afghanistan scarcely pierce the public consciousness. Yesterday I tabled a complete list of all the fallen on the House of Commons Order Paper.  Tragically, the list was out of date in 24 hours. Captain John McDermid of The Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland,  was killed in southern Afghanistan.  This takes the death toll of servicemen and women in Afghanistan and Iraq to 255 - equalling that of the Falklands War.

FATALITIES IN AFGHANISTAN

That this House salutes the bravery of the armed forces serving in Afghanistan and records with sorrow the deaths of:

Lance Corporal Jake Alderton of 36 Engineer Regiment, Major Alexis Roberts, 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles, aged 32 from Kent, Colour Sergeant Phillip Newman, 4th Battalion The Mercian Regiment, aged 36, Private Brian Tunnicliffe, 2nd Battalion The Mercian Regiment (Worcesters and Foresters), aged 33 from Ilkeston, Corporal Ivano Violino from 36 Engineer Regiment, aged 29 from Salford, Sergeant Craig Brelsford, 2nd Battalion The Mercian Regiment, aged 25 from Nottingham, Private Johan Botha, 2nd Battalion The Mercian Regiment from South Africa, Private Damian Wright, 2nd Battalion The Mercian Regiment, aged 23 from Mansfield, Private Ben Ford, 2nd Battalion The Mercian Regiment, aged 18 from Chesterfield, Senior Aircraftman Christopher Bridge from C flight, 51 Squadron Royal Air Force Regiment, aged 20, from Sheffield, Private Aaron James McClure, 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, aged 19 from Ipswich, Private Robert Graham Foster, 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, aged 19 from Harlow, Private John Thrumble, 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, aged 21 from Chelmsford, Captain David Hicks of 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, aged 26 from Surrey, Private Tony Rawson of 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, aged 27 from Dagenham, Essex, Lance Corporal Michael Jones, Royal Marines aged 26 from Newbald, Yorkshire, Sergeant Barry Keen of 14 Signal Regiment, aged 34 from Gateshead; Guardsman David Atherton from the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, aged 25 from Manchester; Lance Corporal Alex Hawkins of 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, aged 22 from East Dereham, Norfolk, Guardsman Daryl Hickey, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, aged 27 from Birmingham, Sergeant Dave Wilkinson from 19 Regiment Royal Artillery, aged 33 from Ashford, Kent, Captain Sean Dolan of 1st Battalion The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters, aged 40 from the West Midlands, Drummer Thomas Wright, 1st Battalion The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters, aged 21 from Ripley, Derbyshire, Guardsman Neil `Tony' Downes, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, aged 20 from Manchester, Lance Corporal Paul `Sandy' Sandford, 1st Battalion the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters, aged 23 from Nottingham, Corporal Mike Gilyeat, Royal Military Police, aged 28, Corporal Darren Bonner, 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, aged 31 from Norfolk, Guardsman Daniel Probyn, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, aged 22 from Tipton, Lance Corporal George Russell Davey, 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, aged 23 from Suffolk, Guardsman Simon Davison, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, aged 22 from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Private Chris Gray, A Company, 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, aged 19 from Leicestershire, WO2 Michael `Mick' Smith, 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, aged 39 from Liverpool, Marine Benjamin Reddy, 42 Commando Royal Marines, aged 22 from Ascot in Berkshire, Lance Bombardier Ross Clark, aged 25 from South Africa; Lance Bombadier Liam McLaughlin, aged 21 from Lancashire; Marine Scott Summers, 42 Commando Royal Marines, aged 23 from Crawley, East Sussex, Marine Jonathan Holland, 45 Commando Royal Marines, aged 23 from Chorley in Lancashire, Lance Corporal Mathew Ford, 45 Commando Royal Marines, aged 30 from Immingham, Lincolnshire, Marine Thomas Curry, 42 Commando Royal Marines, aged 21 from East London, Lance Bombardier James Dwyer, 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, aged 22, Marine Richard J Watson, 42 Commando Royal Marines, aged 23 from Caterham Surrey, Marine Jonathan Wigley, 45 Commando Royal Marines, aged 21 from Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, Marine Gary Wright, 45 Commando Royal Marines, aged 22 from Glasgow, Lance Corporal Paul Muirhead, 1 Royal Irish Regiment, aged 29 from Bearley, Warwickshire, Lance Corporal Luke McCulloch, 1 Royal Irish Regiment, aged 21, Corporal Mark William Wright, 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, aged 27 from Edinburgh, Private Craig O'Donnell, The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 5th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland, aged 24 from Clydebank, Flight Lieutenant Steven Johnson, aged 38, from Collingham, Notts, Flight Lieutenant Leigh Anthony Mitchelmore, aged 28 from Bournemouth, Flight Lieutenant Gareth Rodney Nicholas, aged 40 from Redruth, Cornwall, Flight Lieutenant Allan James Squires, aged 39, from Clatterbridge, Flight Lieutenant Steven Swarbrick, aged 28 from Liverpool, Flight Sergeant Gary Wayne Andrews, aged 48 from Tankerton in Kent, Flight Sergeant Stephen Beattie, aged 42 from Dundee; Flight Sergeant Gerard Martin Bell, aged 48 from Ely, Cambridgeshire; Flight Sergeant Adrian Davies, aged 49 from Amersham, Bucks, Sergeant Benjamin James Knight, aged 25 from Bridgewater, Sergeant John Joseph Langton, aged 29 from Liverpool, Sergeant Gary Paul Quilliam, aged 42 from Manchester, Corporal Oliver Simon Dicketts, the Parachute Regiment, Marine Joseph David Windall, Royal Marines, aged 22, Ranger Anare Draiva, 1 Royal Irish Regiment, aged 27 from Fiji, Lance Corporal Jonathan Peter Hetherington, 14 Signal Regiment (Electronic Warfare), aged 22 from South Wales, Corporal Bryan James Budd, 3rd Battalion the Parachute Regiment, aged 29 from Ripon, Lance Corporal Sean Tansey, The Life Guards, aged 26 from Washington, Tyne and Wear, Private Leigh Reeves, Royal Logistics Corps, aged 25 from Leicester, Private Andrew Barrie Cutts, Air Assault Support Regiment, Royal Logistics Corps, aged 19 from Mansfield, Captain Alex Eida, Royal Horse Artillery, aged 29 from Surrey, Second Lieutenant Ralph Johnson, Household Cavalry Regiment, aged 24 from Windsor, Lance Corporal Ross Nicholls, Blues and Royals, aged 27 from Edinburgh, Private Damien Jackson, 3rd Battalion the Parachute Regiment, aged 19 from South Shields, Tyne and Wear, Corporal Peter Thorpe, Royal Signals, aged 27 from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, Lance Corporal Jabron Hashmi, Intelligence Corps, aged 24 from Birmingham, Captain David Patten, the Parachute Regiment, aged 39, and Sergeant Paul Bartlett, Royal Marines, aged 35 and Captain Jim Philippson, 7 Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, aged 29 from St Albans in Hertfordshire, Lance Corporal Peter Edward Craddock, 1st Battalion The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment, Corporal Mark Cridge, 7 Signal Regiment, aged 25, Lance Corporal Steven Sherwood, 1st Battalion, The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry, aged 23 from Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, Private Jonathan Kitulagoda, the Rifle Volunteers, aged 23 from Clifton, Bedfordshire, Sergeant Robert Busuttil and Corporal John Gregory both from the Royal Logistic Corps and Private Darren John George, the Royal Anglian Regiment.

FATALITIES IN IRAQ

That this House salutes the bravery of the armed forces serving in Iraq and records with sorrow the deaths of:

Lance Corporal Sarah Holmes, 29 Postal Courier and Movement Regiment, aged 26 from Wantage, Oxfordshire, Sergeant Mark Stansfield, 32 Close Support Squadron, UK Logistic Battalion, aged 32 from Oxfordshire, Sergeant Eddie Collins, the Parachute Regiment, Lance Sergeant Chris Casey, 1st Battalion, Irish Guards aged 27 from London, Lance Corporal Kirk Redpath, 1st Battalion, Irish Guards aged 22 from Romford, Leading Aircraftman Martin Beard of No 1 Squadron Royal Air Force Regiment, aged 20 from Rainworth, near Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, Private Craig Barber of 2nd Battalion The Royal Welsh, aged 20 from Ogmore Vale, Corporal Steve Edwards of the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, aged 35 from Thrapston, Northamptonshire, Lance Corporal Timothy Darren `Daz' Flowers of The Corps of Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers, aged 25, Senior Aircraftsman Matthew Caulwell, aged 22 from Birmingham, Senior Aircraftsman Christopher Dunsmore, aged 29 from Leicester, Senior Aircraftsman Peter McFerran, aged 24 from Connah's Quay, Corporal Christopher Read, of 158 Provost Company, 3rd Regiment Royal Military Police, aged 22 from Poole, Dorset, Lance Corporal Ryan Francis, 2nd Battalion The Royal Welsh, aged 23 from Llanelli, Rifleman Edward Vakubua, 4th Battalion The Rifles, aged 23 from Fiji, Corporal Paul Joszko, 2nd Battalion The Royal Welsh (The Royal Regiment of Wales), aged 28 from Mountain Ash, Wales and Private Scott Kennedy, Black Watch, 3rd Battalion The Royal Regimentof Scotland, aged 20 from Oakley, Dunfermline, Private James Kerr, Black Watch, 3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland, aged 20 from Cowdenbeath, Corporal John Rigby 4th Battalion The Rifles, aged 24 from Rye, Major Paul Harding, 4th Battalion The Rifles, aged 48, from Winchester, Lance Corporal James Cartwright, aged 21, from Badger Squadron, 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, Corporal Rodney Wilson, aged 30, from 4th Battalion The Rifles, Corporal Jeremy Brookes, 4th Battalion the Rifles, aged 28 from Birmingham, Private Kevin Thompson, Royal Logistic Corps, aged 21 from Lancaster, Major Nick Bateson, Corps of Royal Signals, aged 49 from Kent, Rifleman Paul Donnachie, 2nd Battalion The Rifles, aged 18 from Reading, Kingsman Alan Joseph Jones, 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, aged 20 from Liverpool, Corporal Ben Leaning, The Queen's Royal Lancers, aged 24 from Scunthorpe, and Trooper Kristen Turton, The Queen's Royal Lancers, aged 27 from Grimsby,

Colour Sergeant M L Powell, aged 37 from South Wales, and Sergeant Mark J McLaren, Royal Air Force, aged 27 from Northumberland, Second Lieutenant Joanna Yorke Dyer, aged 24 from Yeovil, Corporal Kris O'Neill, Royal Army Medical Corps, aged 27 from Catterick, Private Eleanor Dlugosz, Royal Army Medical Corps, aged 19 from Southampton, Kingsman Adam James Smith, 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, aged 19 from the Isle of Man and Rifleman Aaron Lincoln of the 2nd Battalion, The Rifles, aged 18 from Durham. Kingsman Wilson, 2nd Battalion, The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, aged 28 from Workington, Private Jonathon Dany Wysoczan, 1st Battalion The Staffordshire Regiment, aged 21 from Stoke-on-Trent, Rifleman Daniel Lee Coffey, 2nd Battalion The Rifles, aged 21 from Exeter, Private Luke Daniel Simpson, 1st Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment, aged 21 from Howden, near York, Second Lieutenant Jonathan Carlos Bracho-Cooke, 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, aged 24 from Hove, Private Michael Tench, 2nd Battalion The Light Infantry, aged 18 from Sunderland, Kingsman Alex Green, 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, aged 21 from Warrington, Sergeant Wayne Rees, The Queen's Royal Lancers, aged 36 from Nottingham, Sergeant Graham Hesketh, 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, aged 35 from Liverpool, Sergeant Jonathan Hollingsworth, the Parachute Regiment, Warrant Officer Class 2 Lee Hopkins, Royal Corps of Signals, aged 35 from Wellingborough, Staff Sergeant Sharron Elliott, Intelligence Corps, aged 34 from Ipswich, Corporal Ben Nowak, 45 Commando Royal Marines, aged 27 from Liverpool, Marine Jason Hylton, 539 Assault Squadron Royal Marines, aged 33 from Burton-on-Trent, Kingsman Jamie Lee Hancock, 2nd Battalion the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, aged 19 from Wigan, Lieutenant Tom Tanswell, 58 (Eyre's) Battery, 12 Regiment Royal Artillery, aged 27 from London and Lance Corporal Dennis Brady, Royal Army Medical Corps, aged 37 from Barrow-in-Furness, Gunner Lee Thornton, 58 (Eyre's) Battery, 12 Regiment Royal Artillery, aged 22 from Blackpool, Gunner Samuela Vanua, aged 27 from Fiji, and Gunner Stephen Robert Wright, aged 20 from Preston, Lancashire, both from 58 (Eyre's) Battery, 12 Regiment Royal Artillery, Corporal Matthew Cornish, of 1 LI killed in Iraq, aged 29 from Yorkshire, Corporal John Johnston Cosby, 1st Battalion The Devonshire and Dorset Light Infantry, aged 28 from Belfast, Lieutenant Tom Mildinhall, aged 26 from Battersea, South London, and Lance Corporal Paul Farrelly, aged 27 from Runcorn, both from the Queen's Dragoon Guards, Private Joseva Lewaicei, aged 25 from Lautoka, Fiji, and Private Adam Morris, aged 19 from Leicester, both from the 2nd Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment, Wing Commander John Coxen RAF, aged 47 from Liverpool, Lieutenant Commander Darren Chapman, Fleet Air Arm, aged 40, Captain David Dobson, Army Air Corps, aged 27, Flight Lieutenant Sarah-Jayne Mulvihill RAF, aged 32 from Canterbury, Marine Paul Collins, aged 21, Lieutenant Richard Palmer, the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, aged 27, Captain Richard Holmes, aged 28, and Private Lee Ellis, aged 23, both from the 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment, Trooper Carl Smith, 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's), aged 23 from Kettering, Corporal Gordon Alexander Pritchard, Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, aged 21 and Lance Corporal Allan Douglas, Highlanders (Seaforth, Gordons and Camerons), aged 22 from Aberdeen, Sergeant John Jones, 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, aged 31, from Castle Bromwich, Birmingham, Sergeant Chris Hickey, 1st Battalion The Coldstream Guards, Captain Ken Masters, Royal Military Police, aged 40, Major Matthew Bacon, Intelligence Corps, aged 34 from London, Fusilier Donal Anthony Meade, aged 20 from Plumstead in South East London, and Fusilier Stephen Robert Manning, aged 22 from Erith in Kent, both from the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, Second Lieutenant Richard Shearer, aged 26 from Nuneaton, Private Leon Spicer, aged 26 from Tamworth, and Private Phillip Hewett, aged 21 from Tamworth, all from the 1st Battalion Staffordshire Regiment, Signaller Paul William Didsbury, 21st Signal Regiment (Air Support), aged 18, Lance Corporal Alan Brackenbury, The King's Royal Hussars, aged 21 from East Riding, Yorkshire, Guardsman Anthony John Wakefield, 1st Battalion The Coldstream Guards, aged 24 from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Private Mark Dobson, Tyne-Tees Regiment, aged 41 from County Durham, Squadron Leader Patrick Marshall, Headquarters Strike Command, aged 39, Flight Lieutenant David Stead, 47 Squadron, RAF Lyneham aged 35 from Yorkshire, Flight Lieutenant Andrew Smith, 47 Squadron, RAF Lyneham, aged 25, Flight Lieutenant Paul Pardoel, 47 Squadron, RAF Lyneham, aged 35, Master Engineer Gary Nicholson, 47 Squadron, RAF Lyneham, aged 42, Chief Technician Richard Brown, RAF Lyneham, aged 40, Flight Sergeant Mark Gibson, 47 Squadron, RAF Lyneham, aged 34 and Sergeant Robert O'Connor, RAF Lyneham, aged 38, Corporal David Williams, RAF Lyneham, aged 37 and Acting Lance Corporal Steven Jones, Royal Signals, aged 25 from Fareham, Sergeant Paul Connolly, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, aged 33 from Crawley in West Sussex, Private Pita Tukutukuwaqa, The Black Watch, aged 27 from Fiji, Sergeant Stuart Gray, The Black Watch, aged 31 from Dunfermline, Fife, Private Paul Lowe, The Black Watch, aged 19 from Fife, Private Scott McArdle, The Black Watch, aged 22 from Glenrothes, Staff Sergeant Denise Michelle Rose, Royal Military Police, aged 34 from Liverpool, Private Kevin McHale, The Black Watch, aged 27 from Lochgelly in Fife, Corporal Marc Taylor, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, aged 27 from Ellesmere Port, Gunner David Lawrence, Royal Artillery, aged 25 from Wallsall, Fusilier Stephen Jones, The Royal Welch Fusiliers, aged 22 from Denbeigh, Lance Corporal Paul Thomas, The Light Infantry, aged 29 from Welshpool, Private Marc Ferns, The Black Watch, aged 21 from Glenrothes in Fife, Private Lee O'Callaghan, Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment, age 20 from London, Private Christopher Rayment, Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment, aged 22 from London, Flight Lieutenant Kristian Gover, 33 Squadron RAF, aged 30, Fusilier Gordon Gentle, Royal Highland Fusiliers, aged 19 from Glasgow, Corporal Richard Ivell, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, aged 29 from near Doncaster, South Yorkshire and Sapper Robert Thomson, Royal Engineers, aged 22 from West Lothian, Rifleman Vincent Windsor, Royal Green Jackets, aged 23 from Oxfordshire and Lance Corporal Andrew Craw, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, aged 21 from Clackmannanshire, Major James Stenner, Welsh Guards, aged 30 from Monmouthshire, Sergeant Norman Patterson, Cheshire Regiment, aged 28 from Staffordshire, Private Ryan Thomas, Royal Regiment of Wales, aged 18 from Resolven, near Neath in Glamorgan, Corporal Ian Plan, Royal Marines, aged 31 from Poole, Sergeant John Nightingale, 217 Transport Squadron, aged 32 from Leeds, Fusilier Russell Beeston, 52nd Lowland Regiment, aged 26 from Govan, Major Matthew Titchener, 150 Provost Company, aged 32 from Southport, Merseyside, Company Sergeant Major Colin Wall, 150 Provost Company, aged 34 from Crawleyside, County Durham, Corporal Dewi Pritchard, 116 Provost Company, aged 35 from Bridgend, Captain David Jones, Queen's Lancashire Regiment, aged 29 from Louth in Lincolnshire, Private Jason Smith, 52nd Lowland Regiment, aged 32 from Hawick, Captain James Linton, 40 Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, aged 43 from Warminster, Sergeant Simon Hamilton-Jewell, aged 41 from Chessington, Corporal Russell Aston, aged 30 from Swadlincote, Corporal Paul Long, aged 24 from Colchester, Corporal Simon Miller, aged 21 from Washington, Tyne and Wear, Lance-Corporal Benjamin Hyde, aged 23 from Northallerton in Yorkshire, Lance-Corporal Thomas Keys, aged 20 from Llanuwchllyn, near Bala in Wales, Mr Leonard Harvey, aged 55, based at Wattisham in Suffolk and Corporal David Shepherd, Royal Air Force Police, aged 34, Gunner Duncan Pritchard, 16 Squadron RAF Regiment, aged 22 and Private Andrew Kelly, 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, aged 18 from Tavistock, Lance Corporal James McCue, 7 Air Assault Battalion, REME, aged 27 from Paisley, Fusilier Kelan Turrington, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, aged 18, Lance Corporal Ian Malone, 1st Battalion, aged 28 from Dublin, and Piper Christopher Muzvuru, aged 21 from Zimbabwe, both from the 1st Battalion, Irish Guards, Lieutenant Alexander Tweedie, aged 25, and Lance Corporal Karl Shearer, both from the Household Cavalry Regiment, Staff Sergeant Chris Muir, Army School of Ammunition, Royal Logistic Corps, aged 32 from Romsey in Hampshire, Lance Corporal Shaun Brierley, 212 Signal Squadron, 1 (UK) Armoured Division HQ and Signal Regiment, aged 28 from West Yorkshire, Marine Christopher Maddison, 9 Assault Squadron Royal Marines, aged 24 from Scarborough, Major Steve Ballard, 3 Commando Brigade, Royal Marines, aged 33, from Swindon, Lance Corporal of Horse Matty Hull, Household Cavalry Regiment, aged 25 from Windsor, Corporal Stephen Allbutt, aged 35 from Stoke-on-Trent, and Trooper David Clarke, aged 19 from Littleworth, Staffordshire both from the Queen's Royal Lancers, Lance Corporal Barry Stephen, 1st Battalion the Black Watch, aged 31 from Perth; Sergeant Steven Roberts, 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, aged 33 from Bradford and Sapper Luke Allsopp, 33 Engineer Regiment (EOD), aged 24 from North London, Staff Sergeant Simon Cullingworth, 33 Engineer Regiment (EOD), aged 36 from Essex, Flight Lieutenant Kevin Barry Main, Pilot IX (B) Squadron and Flight Lieutenant David Rhys Williams, Navigator, IX (B) Squadron, Lieutenant Philip Green RN, aged 30 from Caythorpe, Lincolnshire, Lieutenant Andy King RN, aged 35 from Helston, Cornwall, Lieutenant Marc Lawrence RN, aged 26 from Westgate-on-Sea, Kent, Lieutenant Philip West RN, aged 32 from Budock Water, Cornwall, Lieutenant James Williams RN, aged 28 from Falmouth, Cornwall and Lieutenant Andrew Wilson RN, aged 26 from Exeter all from 849 Squadron, RNAS Culdrose, Colour Sergeant John Cecil, Royal Marines, UK Landing Force Command Support Group, aged 35 from Plymouth, Lance Bombardier Llywelyn Evans, 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, aged 24 from Llandudno, Captain Philip Stuart Guy, Royal Marines, aged 29 from Skipton, Yorkshire, Marine Sholto Hedenskog, Royal Marines, aged 26, from Cape Town, South Africa, Sergeant Les Hehir, 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, aged 34, from Poole, Dorset, Operator Mechanic (Communications) Second Class Ian Seymour RN, 148 Commando Battery Royal Artillery, aged 29 years, from Poole, Dorset, Warrant Officer Second Class Mark Stratford, Royal Marines, aged 39, from Plymouth and Major Jason Ward, Royal Marines, UK Landing Force Command Support Group, aged 34 from Torquay in Devon.

Cash for honours and cash for comrades

Yates says he was wrong

Digging deep into the civilservice-ese in which the head of the civil service, Sir Gus O'Donnell communicates, his message today challenges Yates of the Yard's claims to our committee last month.

He emphatically denied that Tony Blair ever laid down conditions for his police interview - certainly no threat to resign. A string of papers last week claimed that Yates said he did. He did not say so. Only a perverse interpretation could reach that conclusion and a disregard of Yates clear statement that Blair only problem was fitting interviews into his diary.

We challenged Mr Yates last month over leaks during the inquiry and he had insisted they had not come from the police, adding he had never met a lobby (political) journalist.

Yates has written to the committee correcting his statement that he had never spoken to a lobby journalist. Lots of lobby journalists were very surprised at that remark

I mentioned today that the committee had evidence that we have never put into the public domains that 24 hours before the police interviewed or arrests witnesses, there was a flurry of press activity around their homes. While this may be clairvoyance of course, there is a more persuasive explanation.

And he said the entire affair which lasted for more than a year had proved a major distraction for the prime minister as he had to deal with a stream of headlines "some accurate, some wildly inaccurate".

Sir Gus's evidence strongly supported the judgement of many committee members.   We believed that a  political stunt by the SNP was taken seriously by the police which resulted in elongated 16th month inquiry that severely hampered the final year of Blair's premiership. Yates was on fishing expedition, hoping that something would turn up. the chance of conviction was zilch from the start.

Peerages for cash is wrong, but has been and accepted political device used by all three major parties. Labour was caught holding the parcel when the music stopped.

Sir Gus complained that the police judgement was wrong from the start. He said "It's at that point I think that you really need the judgement. Given the nature of the legislation, given the nature of what would constitute something the Crown Prosecution Service would constitute was worth taking to trial, then I think you would need to say it's at that point you need maximum judgement," he said.

The implication is clear. This investigation was not going anywhere. It could have concluded within a couple of months. To clear the air, it would marvellous if the committee could persuade Tony Blair or Lord Levy to give evidence. Sadly not likely.

Cash for Comrades

Gordon Prentice cleverly asked Sir Gus today whether any civil servants had been shocked and complained about  the job taken by serving MP (Ian McCartney) paying £115,000. Former civil servants are bound by strict rules. Are there double standards with a serving MP ?

Sir Gus has responsibility for civil servants if not for MPs. I have signed Dai Davies's EDM which read: "It's  inappropriate for the rt. hon. Member for Makerfield (Ian McCartney), as a former trade and industry Minister, to accept a paid advisory role with US multinational engineering company Fluor; regards the reported consultancy contract of up to £115,000 a year to advise Fluor, which has considerable interest in securing multi-million pound contracts with the UK nuclear industry as unacceptable; further notes that the rt. hon. Member for Sheffield Central (Richard Caborn), a former trade minister, has been offered a non-executive directorship worth nearly £100,000 a year with the trilateral partnership of nuclear firms AMEC, AREVA of France and the Washington Group from the US, which are keen to secure multi-million contracts for the clean-up of Sellafield; believes that former ministers should not take on consultancy work so shortly after leaving government office; and calls upon the rt. hon. Members to reconsider their decision to take up these consultancies as additional employment."

Dick Caborn says that he has not made a final decision on his many job offers. We know that Lord O'Neill and former MP Brian Wilson are consultants to companies close to the nuclear industry.

This one will run. I wonder if any of the 'Cash for Comrades' four would like to help our committee in our inquiry into lobbying.

Great principles: atrocious politics

Plaid MEP Jill Evans is a splendid pacifist with a fine record of campaigning since she was one of the original Greenham Common marchers.

Attacking the £16,billion, 6,000 job St Athan Military Academy is a very bad politics that will wound her party. Adam Price MP argues that Plaid should look to the party's roots in attacking the Bombing School before the last war. Pacifism was not embraced by all the bombers. Saunders Lewis described the role of the soldier as a 'noble' one in an article in the newspapers the Empire News in the fifties.

The British Army has played a great role recently in peacekeeping in Bosnia and Sierra Leone. Jill's paper is an interesting academic musing for an independent Wales. For the practical politics of today, it is a politically suicidal blunder.

Pacifism has always had  support in Plaid - especially with its previous leader Gwynfor Evans. But there has never been majority support among its members  and certainly not among its voters.

The absence of a Plaid voice from tonight's Dragon's Eye programme expressed the party's acute embarrassment. Now it's damage limitation for them.

No representation without taxation

It was Gordon Prentice who pitched in on the  Lord Ashcroft puzzle. He gave a "clear and unequivocal assurance" that he would be taking up permanent residence in the UK by the end of 2000.

O'Donnell says that Ashcroft status as a possible tax exile is nothing to do with him.

In response, Prentice hits him with a formal freedom of information request for the information demanded. He is seeking details of how much tax if any Lord Ashcroft pays, only whether is paying at all. That was a condition of awarding him a peerage. A Labour MP investigating the parliamentary honours system today called for peerages to be stripped from individuals "who make British laws but refuse to pay our taxes".

Gordon Prentice has previously said there should be  for mechanism to jettison tax exiles from parliament. He mentioned the example of another Tory peer, Lord Laidlaw, who has taken a leave of absence from the House of Lords after he took no action to change his tax-exile status in Monaco.

The House of Lords appointments commission imposed the condition in approving his appointment in 2004 but has no powers to take away this peerage.

The commission has since introduced new rules that make tax exiles ineligible for a peerage.

Surrendering to Terrorism

Newport Target?

Oh no Gordon! Not more security checks. The 7/11 bombers went through security checks undetected. However sophisticated security measures become, intelligent determined terrorists will find a way through.

Our massive army of security workers may provide a fragile sense of security. The costs are massive, the practical benefit is minute. The frustration of endless waits at airports will be replicated at railway stations. There are an almost infinite number of opportunities for terrorists to bomb large gatherings of people. It is impossible to defend them all.

What we will create is more frustrating delays to the able-bodied and agonising one for the disabled without protecting us against terror attacks by any significant degree.

I have a greatly respected constituent who is convinced that terrorists will attack the Newport Railway Tunnel. To make his point he has left a plastic bag at the Cae Perllan Road entrance to the tunnel on several occasions. Returning 24 hours later, he found that no-one has investigated and removed his bag which might have contained a bomb. He is worried that a potential target is neglected.

There are more than 40,000 tunnels and bridges in Britain that are equally tempting targets. It would be impossible to police them all. Will we have to go through the delay of security checks at theatres, football matches, buses and trains? If we inflict this on use, the terrorists have won.

There is a real fear of terrorism. But let’s put it in proportion. More people are killed every five days in road accidents than have been killed in the past five years in terrorist attacks. This may be good politics, Gordon playing up to the irrational fears of the public, but it feeds the delusion of omnipotence of terrorists and makes life more difficult for all of us.

Welcome Chicago

A group of bright students from Chicago dropped into the Commons toady. It’s an annual event and my hour long session with them is a component of their education.

The question today were on Old labour ; New labour, Abortion Law, Hilary Clinton, The British versus USA health services, Global warming and British politicians freedom from the need to beg money to fund our elections.

As always the merging of our twin cultures shaped our common concerns. I told them that the subject that always electrifies 11 years old here into lively debate is whether Homer Simpson is a good father or not.

Our political systems are very different but it is invigorating and stimulating to hear the views of a fresh generation of the greatest – but flawed – democracy on earth.

Bonkers Plaid

A Plaid MEP, with support of an MP, has condemned the jobs coming to St Athans. Certainly Wales has a great record in peace campaigning, but this is ridiculous.

The condemnation is because jobs will be part of military training. Not true. It will be training in hi-tech and vocational skills that can be applied to a hundreds other jobs. Yes some of our recent military adventures have been disasters. But our peace- keeping in ending civil wars has been immensely beneficial.

We rely on these skills to achieve these life saving victories. All young people within a ten mile radius of St Athans should prepare to consider St Athans as a fulfilling, decently paid career choice. It will be Wales’s greatest job boost after a series of hammer blows to the economy.

To oppose this is bonkers.

Spot the difference

Two parties: one message

Two Welsh MPs from different parties spoke about Afghanistan yesterday. Can you spot the difference? Who is in the bold print?

The history of foreign military engagement in Afghanistan over the last 200 years shows how perilous that can be. Britain suffered greatly in the 19th century and early 20th century. The Soviet Union was driven out of Afghanistan in the 1980s after losing 15,000 members of the Red Army. But a million Afghans died too.

I remember vividly another prophetic comment in 2001 by a Member of the Russian Duma, who told me: “You Brits have conquered Afghanistan. Very clever. We did that in six days and we were there for 10 years. We lost 15,000 of our soldiers. We killed 1 million Afghans, and when we ran out, there were 300,000 mujaheddin surrounding Kabul. It will happen to you.”

“We have already been in Afghanistan for six years. The Taliban were very unpopular, but as a result of aerial bombing, mainly by the Americans, the occupation is increasingly unpopular. By destroying the poppy crop with chemical herbicide – and in many places that is the only cash crop being grown – the local population is being massively radicalised.

Probably the most worrying message of all is that the mood of the country has changed. It welcomed us in 2001. It was glad to see the back of the Taliban. It was fed up with their rules. Now, the people are so fed up with living in a country that has war without end that many of them would willingly welcome the Taliban back as a group that would create law and order again.

“Instead of eradicating the poppy crop, it should be bought and used for the production of medical morphine, of which there is a huge under-supply.”

“There is another possibility. According to yesterday’s The Guardian, a former civil servant who used to be in charge of the Foreign Office was in despair about the drugs situation in Afghanistan and now favours the turning over of the drug market to a legal supply of poppies for medicine. The case has been well argued. It happened successfully in Turkey. There is a shortage of morphine in the developing world because of its price. Someone who is dying of a terminal disease in a developing world country has a 6 per cent. chance of getting morphine. We could greatly increase the supply and turn the trade into a legal one.”

The remarks in bold are from an Adam Price interviewed in this morning’s Western Mail. The others are a speech I made in the Commons yesterday. They are remarkably similar. Where we part is that Adam’s headline calls for an immediate withdrawal of troops. Shame. That a schoolboy politics way of grabbing a cheap headline. It’s fantasy stuff that would be derided in the House of Commons.

Adam also called for a debate on this subject. There was one yesterday and two others in the past fortnight. Why not drop in and see us sometime, Adam. After all you are an MP.

Honour the Brave

Lunchtime today, they were two very moving tributes paid to their sons by bereaved mothers.

Their soldier sons were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are asking for very little but they will need to move a few mountains to get it. Backed by the Daily Mirror, the campaign is to give a new medal ‘The Elizabeth Star’ to those who have been seriously injured and the families of those who were killed in action.

The Prime Minister and 400 MPs are in favour. So what’s the problem? Some military brass hats and MOD civil servants are opposed. They think that a new medal might devalue the currency of British medals that are given sparingly.

Not that the same argument affects them. In their refurbished MOD HQ, civil servants sitting on their seats that each cost £1,500 proudly accept their CBEs , their knighthoods and other gongs for their desk based work.

This is one battle the bereaved must win.

Topical Injection

New life has been injected into stolid Commons procedure.

Debates are predictable except as PM question time when MPs can ask questions on any subject within the PM’s responsibility. Now the spontaneity and surprises of PMQs is a daily event.

Ministers are faced with 15 minutes if topical questions. The ministers must be on their toes because any question can be raised. Previously a week’s notice was required of the subject, giving ministers time beef on the subjects and prepare replies.

The Canadian and Indian parliaments already have slots for impromptu questions. This is bold innovation which will be a nightmare for second rate ministers and a delight for backbenchers and the public.

Manic optimism

Backbench sense

There were two classes of speech in the Commons debate today on Foreign Affairs. One lot were maniacally optimistic windy rhetoric. The others were thoughtful, realistic and wise. The first lot came from the frontbenchers the wise ones from backbenchers .

The best was for the MP for Billericay John Baron on Iran.   There is contagious delusion that is pushing the Western World into a confrontation with Iraq as foolish as the war in Iraq

How can anyone pretend that the Iraq War is a success with half a million dead, nearly two million Iraqis in internal exile and the same number living as refugees in Jordan and Syria? The collapsing morale of our soldier in Afghanistan in the face of their impossible task cannot be ignored. But those were the delusions of both front benches.

Lip service was paid to our war dead. But there is no practical clear plan from any party to avoid future deaths of our valiant soldiers. We are failing them.

Amphetamines for kids

Again, gratitude to Panorama. A well researched programme that report evidence that Ritalin is doing little or no good. All at a cost of £28 million that could be invested in other NHS treatments that work.

An urgent investigation was launched a few years ago into claims these drugs used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder could be killing children.

In 1995 Panorama reported a nine fold increase in the use of these drugs in a few years. They found one school in the UK where ALL the children were on Ritalin. In the US teachers prescribe this drug which is very similar to amphetamines.

It’s no surprise that it stunts growth and does no good. The Pharmaceutical companies are sniggering all the way to the bank. Another wonder drugs fails. The legacy is a damaged generation.

Echo of joy

An ecstatic e-mail tonight from the Stow Hill area of Newport by the splendid ECHO community team. Last year they pioneered a new mini-park named the Mouse Park (pictured). Their e-mail speaks for itself.. Well done!

We won!!!!

Do you remember that rainy day when we did the clean-up of the area? Alex Smith our wonderful Youth Worker planned and organised the clean-up and then entered ECHO for the "Keep Wales Tidy Award". We thought that it was great to be short-listed but when ECHO was announced as the winners; Alex, Pat and I were so thunderstruck we stumbled as we walked up the steps to receive the award.

There were 100 entries in the 10 categories and we won in the category "Pride in our Communities Large Partnership Award”. We couldn't have done this without the all the groups who took part so MANY, MANY, MANY Thanks to the Police, Community Safety Wardens, St Woolos School, the Young People, the GAP centre, the SHARE Centre, ECHO Committee and volunteers, the York Place Group and any other volunteers who took part on the day.

The award is a wooden dragon and a framed certificate (which can be seen in our office) along with £500 which will be in our bank account!

Thank you all so very much

Whoopee! Where's the champagne?

Knaves or buffoons ?

Nuclear Quartet

What have Richard Caborn MP, Ian McCartney, Lord O'Neill  and former energy minister Brian Wilson in common? They achieved high office without much obvious talent. With the possible exception of Wilson, they are stodgy, predictable and unimaginative politicians. A prize of a bag of House of Commons humbugs is on offer to the first reader who can recall anything original said by any of them.

Now they share the rich delights of semi retirement jobs promoting nuclear power. Ian McCartney is an 'adviser', 'definitely not a lobbyist' with Fluor at a cool £115,000 a year. That's double his parliamentary salary. Richard Caborn, an undistinguished ex-Sports Minister, is reported in today's Observer to be about to accept a £96,000 job with a nuclear cleanup group, Amec. Where do they find the time, while they are still MPs? Brian Wilson is already a non-exec director of the same company.  Former Labour MP Lord O'Neill is a consultant to the Washington Group.

By a cosy coincidence all four comrades' new friends are in companies  bidding for fat £73 billion  contracts to clean up Britain's nuclear mess - bequeathed to taxpayers by a costly nuclear industry that has never paid its own way. As three of them are as dim as Toc-H lamps, it's unlikely they are being  employed for their enterprise or business acumen.

Could it be, that these mostly American companies believe that need political cronies to open doors to fat contracts in the proud tradition of Yankee porkbarrel politics?  Could be. Could also be that they sincerely believe that nuclear power will progress the causes of working people and socialism. Or is the money a big factor ? Perhaps I am being a tad cynical.

Poison Pair
For the umpteenth time, the old lags of the 2000 fuel protest are threatening us with huge new campaigns and gridlocks. Have they not noticed that we can now arrange our own gridlocks without their help?

Burbling, bumbling  Brynle Williams AM promises something will happen. He made the same threat in 2001 and almost every year since. He ludicrously demanded in 2000 a 60% cut in fuel tax in 60 days. 

Today's People newspaper gives space to Brynle's fellow protester Andrew Spence  He promises protest that will bring 'chaos' to our roads. Will anyone notice?

By an oversight, the People's ace reporter Nigel Nelson omits certain facts about Mr Spence. He is described as a 'farmer.' Like Brynle that's not the whole story. They are both politicians. Brynle's lamentable contribution to the Welsh Assembly has been limited to soporific pleas to give even more money to farmers.  Spence has been a parliamentary candidate - for the the BNP.  Sadly Nigel Nelson omits to mention this.

Spence is concerned that he might not be able to blockade petrol distribution station this time. "New terror laws mean we could be classed as terrorists if we interfere with supplies."
Perhaps that's not what the law intended. But still, it's just something we will have to tolerate. Even if it does interfere with the fuel protesters right to further poison our habitat.

Bravo

Another triumph for a Gwent politician. Just as we are settling down from our foaming euphoria after Welsh MPs won half the awards for the best websites (All right that's the last time I'll mention  it) another accolade is won by Monmouth's David T.C. Davies.

The prestigious journal the New Statesman has awarded him the coveted  fifth place in their list of  Top Ten Tory Twits.  Last year the nation woke to 'Top Cat" on GMTV saying that every home should be armed.  The Statesmen admiringly reports, " A normal domestic scene in his kitchen was interrupted as boyish David brandishing a Taser gun at the camera and looking menacing. His smiling family tucked into their cornflakes." Admirable.

Cruel that the Daily Mail credited this brilliant piece of statesmanship to the other David 'Davis'.

Congratulations David for reminding the nation of our quaint Gwent tradition of enlivening  family domestic life with the use of lethal weapons.