Paul Flynn - Read My Day

New Nuclear for Gwent?

A Junior Moment

Today’s debate on energy was surreal.

Both main parties are cuddling up to nuclear power. Only three years ago, Labour said nuclear was an unattractive option. The two Tory energy gurus, Peter Ainsworth and Zac Goldsmith said that nuclear would be acceptable only as a ‘last option.’

 

I asked Secretary of State John Hutton why he has been bewitched by the Pied Piper of nuclear which after massive UK subsidies has never delivered on time or on budget and has left us with a £73 bn clean-up bill. ‘New’ nuclear in Finland is two years late and a £1billion over budget. Why not invest in the practical popular attainable renewables of wave, tidal, solar and wind?

 

His answer proved he is deeply under the nuclear spell. Helpfully Tory Ann Main asked about the vast security costs of new installations because of the terrorist threat. She said

 

"Will he briefly address the comments of Hamish Roberts, managing director of the Aon natural resources team for strategic risk management? He said that the Government’s plans for nuclear expansion are unachievable unless they think beyond the risks of safety. Will the Secretary of State address the terrorism risks in future plans for fuel security?"

 

It is a serious point which did not get an answer. John Hutton gave the impression that there was no problem. his answer was the equivalent of  "There, there, don't you worry your pretty head about these thiang."  Presumably a couple of Home Guards with rifles will see off any saboteurs.

 

Monmouth’s David Davies, playing truant from his job as a policeman, demanded lots more nuclear stations. He is a prime nuclear glutton. "Will he ensure that we get on with building nuclear power stations as quickly as possible? Rather than building only enough to generate 24 per cent. of our electricity, should we not go beyond that, as the French have?"  There was a plan for a nuclear power station in Portskewitt in his constituency. It was before the Gwent County Council in 1979. It was turned down by a large majority not entirely because of the persuasive powers of Jon Vaughan Jones and me. We were young county councillors then. The chance of 2,000 jobs was rejected because of the accident at Three Mile Island in March 1979 while the planning application was being processed by the County Council.

 

 

David has some excuse for not knowing about this. He was only nine years old at the time. Today he was probably having a 'junior moment.' If he is so keen, I wonder if he will exhume the idea and demand a nuclear power station on his own doorstep and volunteer  Portskewett as a site. 

That should spark a lively local debate.

Freedom to poison

Smoke damaged brains

The most stupid claim for months arrived in an e-mail today.

Colin Grainger, Chairman of Freedom2Choose says “One thing, however, is clear: the Smoking Ban has not been a success.” No? Apart from: -

 

* The number of smokers successfully quitting has soared because of the smoking ban in England, which celebrates its first anniversary this week. Research shows that almost 235,000 people managed to stub it out with help from the NHS in the nine months from April to December 2007 - a rise of 22 per cent on the year before.

* Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson writes: We expect many lives have been saved. Everyone has the right to enjoy the benefits of a cleaner, healthier environment.'

* Fears that smokers would smoke more at home appear to be unrealised, with 67 per cent imposing a ban at home, compared with 61 per cent before the ban

* 80 per cent of those polled believed the legislation banning smoking was a good thing.

* In a survey of more than 1,000 people with lung conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma, 56 per cent said they were able to go out more without the risk of suffering attacks of breathlessness from passive smoking in pubs and restaurants.

Hilariously Colin Grainger adds, “Freedom2Choose is not pro-smoking - it is a pro-choice organisation - we neither condemn nor condone what is, after all, a legal pastime for adults.” I have replied asking who funds this group.

No prize for guessing whom it might be.

Cause for joy

There has long been concern about the health of a Scottish Labour MP.

It was no surprise to hear that one was resigning for health reasons. The shock is that is Glasgow East MP David Marshall who appeared to be hale and hearty in the Commons a short while ago.

The one rumoured to have a terminal disease is continuing in office. I wish David Marshall well. It has been reported that he is suffering from severe depression. It must be a cause of very serious concern for David to resign. He has had a great deal of bad luck in his parliamentary career. He lost the Chairmanship of the Transport Select Committee in a deal with the Tories to get a chairmanship of the Culture committee for Gerald Kaufman.

While I have no wish to understate the seriousness of David’s condition, there is probably an epidemic of low spirits among Labour MPs. Things have never been worse. Even in 1983. Deepening this gloom is the subterranean standing of MPs in public opinion, probably now below that of estate agents and double-glazing salesmen. Those who define their status by the office of MP are deflated.

The rest of us are not. The sleaze allegations are greatly exaggerated. MPs are still in a wonderfully privileged position to question and influence Government. For the first time in history, MPs have the resources to serve our constituents well and to promote our services. Much has gone wrong, but we are well place to push reforms.

This week we celebrate the greatest political achievement of politics in 100 years – the NHS.  As a PM once said, ‘Rejoice!’

In denial

How long can it continue?

The death of soldier number 110 in Afghanistan was announced today. The inevitable ritual follows. Heartfelt tributes to the courage and character of the casualty are made followed by a Ministerial statement of regret. Then an assurance that the sacrifice was worthwhile because we are fighting an essential war.

Tonight there was a repeat of the fatuous claim that if we were not fighting the Taleban in Afghanistan we would be fighting them here. No we would not. El Qaeda may be a threat but the Taleban are not.

These tired justifications for the deaths of our courageous soldiers are now gossamer thin. No one has re-defined the purpose of the Helmand incursion since John Reid said he hoped it would last  ‘ three years  without a shot being fired.’ That was two and a half years ago.

How many more lives must be lost before the Government reassess this abjectly failing mission?

 

Resignation-itis

Vindictive

This is crazy. What offence has Scottish Labour leader Wendy Alexander committed that makes her unfit to hold her office? Can anyone tell me?

She sought advice on contributions for an internal Labour party Election. No public cash was involved. She followed the written advice to the letter. A benefactor offered money from his own pocket. The election never took place because there was no opponent.

The person, who gave Wendy the advice, changed his mind and then reported her for breaking rules that she knew nothing about.  At worst this was a technical breach of new little understood rules. No one was harmed and no one lost anything. So why resign?

Her ‘punishment’ was orchestrated to do political mischief. Her one-day suspension was announced in order that it could not be suffered immediately. The charge would linger over her throughout the summer recess.  This was a malign and vindictive decision by a body that has failed to abide by the high standards they are expected to uphold. They have prostituted their office for political advantage.

A similar case was the second resignation of Peter Mandelson over the Hinduga Brothers passports affair. Everyone remembers the resignation. Few recall that Peter was found to be entirely innocent of the trumped up charges.

The smell of guilt lingers. The innocence of the behaviour is forgotten. That will also be the fate of Wendy Alexander.

Egotist v Oddballs

The by-election that the hapless David Davis has caused is now beneath farce.

Ten of thousands of pounds of public money will be spent on a contest of The Egotist versus the Eccentrics. Not a single serious opponent is standing with any hope of victory.

Among the 26 oddballs is ex-MP for the Vale of Glamorgan Walter Sweeney. He was a one-parliament wonder whose only remembered contribution to politics was being the only MP ever to argue for an increase in the tolls on the Severn Bridge.

 There is also David Icke who believes that we 'live' in a 'holographic internet' in that our brains  are connected to a central 'computer' that feeds us the same collective reality that we decode from waveforms and electrical signals into the holographic 3D 'world' that we all think we see.

David Davis’s brain is linked to a different computer in which the population is terrified of CCTV cameras and DNA tests. Another example of resignation-it is.

Has the political world gone mad?

Atal y cwlio

Splendid to see a protest today at the Senedd against the barbaric decision to slaughter badgers in Wales.

I t was an expensive folly when tried in England and in Ireland. Of course it did not reduce the spread of Bovine TB.  Twenty-one pages of the BBC website were filled with well-reasoned objections to this shameful piece of mindless sucking-up to the farmers.

Today Cardiff heard authentic voice of public outrage. Some interesting practical suggestions are being made.  One is a proposed retaliatory boycott of Welsh Farming Produce. They are sold now on the basis of being 'welfare friendly'. Sales will not be boosted if Welsh beef is branded as ‘Produced with cruelty’.

Another idea is to campaign on the fringes of the target area. If the cull works, there will certainly be fresh outbreaks of TB in all surrounding areas. If Gwent is chosen, that will include English farming lands on the perimeter.

Perhaps the best idea is to make farmers responsible for the consequences of their own blind policies. Now taxpayers pick up the bill for compensation. If farmers had to pay to insure their own cattle, they would take serious measures to reduce the risk. The science says that the infections cross cattle-to-cattle. Many unnecessary cattle journeys could be eliminated.

The Welsh Farmers Lobby will rue the day they outraged intelligent, well-informed and compassionate public opinion.

Royal PR Stumble

Energy Revolution

At last some really good news from Gordon.

Is it really a conversion to the sanity of renewables? I put a question on where ‘nuclear’ come in this lot. As it depends on a finite fuel that will soon face a price hike, nuclear is not renewable in the war that wind, tide, solar and wave are.

He is promising that £100 billion will be spent over the next 12 years converting to a low carbon economy involving a 10-fold increase in power generation from renewable sources.

These are big ambitions on a scale that matches the big crises of global warming and peak oil.

It will mean 7,000 more wind turbines being built - often in the face of local opposition - across the countryside and around the coastline.

It’s fair to call it a revolution in political thinking. All parties have their green zealots. This is the strongest commitment by a party leader.

Of course the daily Mail has done scare mongering on cost.  But those with a clear view of the challenge have welcomed Brown’s courageous stand. This week I will be chairing a British-Irish Parliamentary Body inquiry into renewables. This announcement will give us all a huge boost. What we recommend will soon be mainstream Government policy.

Green sense is winning.

Royal PR stumble

Have the Royal Spinners spun themselves into a hole?

Back in the dark days of Camilla-gate, the royals set up a high-powered body of news manipulators named the Way Forward. A Mori's confidential report said the public thought the royals were ''wasteful,'' known for their ''conspicuous consumption'' and ''extravagant life style. They were thought to be ''arrogant, aloof, and spoiled -- and there were too many of them.

Since then every morsel of royal news has been carefully manicured into acceptable gobbets for public consumption. A bright wheeze was to disguise lavish spending by expressing it as pennies spent for every woman, man and child in Britain.

66p per person does not sound much. Or does it. Behind the headline figures are the details that are mildly shocking. 'The £40m total figure included an average cost of £46,000 per train journey, £138,000 for the Duke of York's to visit the US, and £18,900 for a single trip to the pub by the Prince of Wales as part of his 'The Pub is the Hub' campaign.  It also lists a £415,000 bill for the Queen's 5-day visit to the US in 2007, including a cost to UK taxpayers of £22,000 for a day trip to the Kentucky Derby.

As politicians have discovered it’s the details that matter. The public accepted global totals on MP spending but were scandalised by the price of small items.

There is still along way to go with royal finances. They still do not pay tax in the way that the rest of us do. These figures do not include the main cost of the royals that is in providing them with security for every public relations appearance they make. One event alone cost the taxpayer £2million. Every visit by a minor or major royal costs a fortune to the public purse. The press are begging to see the flaws in the Royal Spin.

The Way Forward has taken a step back.

file:///Users/paulflynn/Desktop/Arch.movfile:///Volumes/2nd%20drive/Movies/Arch.mov

Welsh 108

Sad coincidence.

Today I updated my Commons tribute to those British soldiers who have lost their lives in Afghanistan in a new  Commons Early Day Motion (EDM). In November I tabled five EDMs giving the names and ranks of the soldiers killed. EDMs are limited to 250 words. Today EDM number six on War Deaths in Afghanistan was tabled. It is 247 words long.

At the time of tabling this morning, the name of the 108th casualty had not been revealed. The sad news later today is that he is Sgt Major Michael Williams, from Bedwas in Caerphilly County, who was killed in action on Tuesday.

"He was a massive Cardiff City fan, and he was so excited to see them play in the FA Cup final," it was reported. “He talked about the great weekend he had with 40 friends in London, even though Cardiff lost, staying in a hotel that overlooked Wembley.”

Tributes have been paid to the courage of Sgt Major Williams. The good sense of his military and political masters is still in question. It cannot be much longer before public opinion is aroused to seek out the new war aims and question their practicality.

In a written parliamentary question today, I invited the Defence  Secretary to update his judgment on the outcomes of the Helmand mission on drugs, re-construction, winning hearts and minds and pacification.

Sadly neither Des Browne nor Kim Howells are ready to confess the sad truth of the failing politics of this doomed mission.

Early Day Motion

EDM 1909

 

FATALITIES IN AFGHANISTAN (NO. 6)

26.06.2008

Flynn, Paul

That this House salutes the bravery of the armed forces serving in Afghanistan and records with sorrow the deaths of the following who have lost their lives since November 2007, Captain John McDermid, The Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland, aged 43 from Glasgow, Trooper Jack Sadler,  The Honourable Artillery Company, aged 21 from Exeter, Sergeant Lee Johnson, 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment, aged 33 from Stockton-on-Tees, Corporal Darryl Gardiner, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, aged 25 from Salisbury, Wiltshire, Corporal Damian Stephen Lawrence, 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards), aged 25 from Whitby,  Corporal Damian Mulvihill, 40 Commando Royal Marines, aged 32 from Plymouth, Lieutenant John Thornton, 40 Commando Royal Marines, aged 22 from Ferndown, Marine David Marsh, 40 Commando Royal Marines, aged 24 from Sheffield, Senior Aircraftman Graham Livingstone, Royal Air Force Regiment, aged 23 from Glasgow, Senior Aircraftman Gary Thompson, Royal Auxiliary Air Force Regiment, aged 51 from Nottingham, Trooper Robert Pearson, The Queen's Royal Lancers Regiment, aged 22 from Grimsby, Trooper Ratu Sakeasi Babakobau, Household Cavalry Regiment, aged 29 from Fiji, James Thompson, Marine Dale Gostick, 22 from Oxford, Private Nathan Cuthbertson, aged 19 from Sunderland, Private Daniel Gamble aged 22 from Uckfield, East Sussex, Private Charles David Murray, aged 19 from Carlisle, Lance Corporal James Bateman, from Staines, Middlesex and Private Jeff Doherty, from Southam, Warwickshire, Corporal Sarah Bryant, aged 26 of the Intelligence Corps; Corporal Sean Robert Reeve, aged 28, Royal Signals, Lance Corporal Richard Larkin, aged 39, and Paul Stout, aged 31, a soldier from 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment killed on Tuesday 24th June 2008 during a deliberate operation against the Taliban.

Euro-joy

One London taxi-driver confounded their reputation as loud-mouthed right wing air heads

I had a problem. I urgently needed a taxi to get to a meeting at 8.00 this morning. No other form of transport would do. My speedy sudden departure from France for Wednesday’s vote meant that I left my car in Strasbourg and many of my possessions. 

The only money I had today was Euro. To my great surprise the taxi-driver agreed, with hardly a murmur, to take my fare in Euro and I got to the meeting in time.

One small step forward for Euro understanding.

Cult of Denial

The war of words on Global Warming continues in the correspondence section of my website.

The deniers seemed to have a cult-like devotion to this odd cause. They share a view that proving that something said by Global Warming Cassandras was slightly incorrect, proves that everything they say is wrong.

Some have raised interested alternative explanations and one has produced a long list of deniers who have scientific credentials.  They appear to have won some converts among those who feel comfortable living in denial of an unpleasant prospect. They have made little progress in parliament where only 5 out of 650 are deniers – and a pretty strange 5 too. One accusation is that I based my  concern on Al Gore at the 11th hours. The speech I made about the subject was printed in an article in Agenda some two years ago. I was alarmed then and I am slightly relieved now that Governments across the world have accepted the truth of the perils.

Picking small holes in arguments does not undermine belief in the overwhelming mass of unquestionable mountainous evidence of a global disaster that will bring dire consequences for our grandchildren.

Deniers aroused

 

Plunder and poison

A lively response from my posting a few days ago on Global Warming deniers.

 

Only one offers rational arguments and links. The others were perverse. I have just seen the film the 11th Hour and commend it unreservedly. The effect of the united view of these  distinguished world leaders is profoundly alarming.

 

Some comments I received were critical of my call for more fear. Unless we are alarmed at the prospect of the threat to our human habitat, little will be done. We will sleepwalk into deepening vortex of poisoning and plundering our planet.

Many of the deniers were influenced by a bad science Channel Four programme last year. George Monbiot in the Guardian had some trenchant comments on that.

 

"Were it not for dissent, science, like politics, would have stayed in the Dark Ages. All the great heroes of the discipline - Galileo, Newton, Darwin, Einstein - took tremendous risks in confronting mainstream opinion. Today’s crank has often proved to be tomorrow’s visionary.

But the syllogism does not apply. Being a crank does not automatically make you a visionary. There is little prospect, for example, that Dr Mantombazana Tshabalala-Msimang, the South African health minister who has claimed that AIDS can be treated with garlic, lemon and beetroot, will one day be hailed as a genius. But the point is often confused. Professor David Bellamy, for example, while making the incorrect claim that wind farms do not have “any measurable effect” on total emissions of carbon dioxide, has compared himself to Galileo(1).

The problem with “The Great Global Warming Swindle”, which caused a sensation when it was broadcast on Channel 4 last week, is that to make its case it relies not on future visionaries, but on people whose findings have already been proved wrong. The implications could not be graver. Just as the British government launches its climate change bill and Gordon Brown and David Cameron start jostling to establish their green credentials, thousands of people have been misled into believing that there is no problem to address.

The film’s main contention is that the current increase in global temperatures is caused not by rising greenhouse gases, but by changes in the activity of the Sun. It is built around the discovery in 1991 by the Danish atmospheric physicist Dr Eigil Friis-Christensen that recent temperature variations on earth are in “strikingly good agreement” with the length of the cycle of sunspots - the shorter they are, the higher the temperature(2).

Unfortunately, he found nothing of the kind. A paper published in the journal Eos in 2004 reveals that the “agreement” was the result of “incorrect handling of the physical data”(3). The real data for recent years show the opposite: that temperatures have continued to rise as the length of the sunspot cycle has increased. When this error was exposed, Friis-Christensen and his co-author published a new paper, purporting to produce similar results(4). But this too turned out to be an artefact of mistakes they had made - in this case in their arithmetic(5).

So Friis-Christensen and another author developed yet another means of demonstrating that the Sun is responsible, claiming to have discovered a remarkable agreement between cosmic radiation influenced by the Sun and global cloud cover(6). This is the mechanism the film proposes for global warming. But, yet again, the method was exposed as faulty. They had been using satellite data which did not in fact measure global cloud cover. A paper in the Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics shows that when the right data are used, a correlation is not found(7).

So the hypothesis changed again. Without acknowledging that his previous paper was wrong, Friis-Christensen’s co-author, Henrik Svensmark, declared that there was in fact a correlation - not with total cloud cover but with “low cloud cover”(8). This too turned out to be incorrect(9).

The film also maintains that manmade global warming is disproved by conflicting temperature data. Professor John Christy speaks about the discrepancy he discovered between temperatures at the earth’s surface and temperatures in the troposphere (or lower atmosphere). But the programme fails to mention that in 2005 his data were proved wrong, by three papers in Science magazine(13,14,15).

Christy himself admitted last year that he was mistaken. Until recently, when found to be wrong, scientists went quietly back to their labs to start again. Now, emboldened by the global denial industry, some of them, like the film makers, shriek “censorship!” This is the best example of manufactured victimhood I have ever come across. If you demonstrate that someone is wrong, you are now deemed to be silencing him.

But there is one scientist in the film whose work has not been debunked: the oceanographer Carl Wunsch. He appears to support the idea that increasing carbon dioxide is not responsible for rising global temperatures. Professor Wunsch says that he was “completely misrepresented” by the programme, and “totally misled” by the people who made it(17).

But for the people who commissioned this film, all that counts is the sensation. Channel 4 has always had a problem with science. No one in its science unit appears to understand the difference between a peer-reviewed scientific paper and a clipping from the Daily Mail. It keeps commissioning people whose claims have been discredited - like Martin Durkin and a certain nutritionist of our acquaintance. But its failure to understand the scientific process just makes the job of whipping up a storm that much easier. The less true a programme is, the greater the controversy.

Planning Panic Tonight's large majority on the planning bill left about 30 MPs fuming. They had travelled back from alien soil to take part in what was thought to a be a knife edge vote. It sailed through with a majority of forty. Some returned yesterday. Others set out at 7.00 am and 9.30 this morning. Again there were probably equal numbers of MPs from Government and Opposition sides. Their votes cancelled each other out. The whips refused pairing. There will be blood on the carpet because of these futile journeys. Perhaps both whips' offices should have a copy of the wartime poster on their walls which asked, 'Is your journey really necessary?' 400 more jobs Newport has enjoyed a cornucopia of good news on jobs recently. Today's announcement that Admiral Insurance is to create another 400 within the city boundaries brings the recent total of new jobs to 1,500. Already there are more people working in the city than ever before. Admiral is a fine resourceful company which is firmly rooted in south Wales. Congratulations all concerned and good luck Admiral.

 

Royal time-share

Hacienda profit

It’s pretty ungrateful. Not a whisper of thanks for a useful suggestion I made to help the royals. About ten years ago, there was some public distress about the cost of the royal family.

In a spirit of helpfulness, I suggested that letting out rooms at the eight royal palaces on a time-share basis could raise a few bob. An ‘expert” calculated that one royal palace could bring in profits of £100 million a year. That would go some way to make the family self-sufficient and rescue them from the dependency culture. The royal flunkies were pretty sniffy about the idea.

Now it’s happened. The new Welsh hacienda of Charles and Camilla is have some spare flats that can hired out to visitors. Not quite the idea that I suggested. My plan was to use one of the existing palaces. After all, just one of them has 600 rooms.

This is an additional home. It does not offer the same value or appeal as dossing in a real royal palace. No doubt a note of thanks is heading my way with the offer of a bauble or a knighthood, which I will politely decline, of course.

Alsatian fear

A ripple of panic is reported where the English language is a threat.

Not in those area where Welsh or Irish has survived against the odds for centuries. This time it in the land between the Vosges and the Rhine where the language of Moliere is being undermined.

The land of Alsace is familiar with language problems between French and Alsatian. They are both still strong as the languages of communication among the workers. But globalisation and the takeover of major firms by English-speaking companies mean that communication in English is increasing.

There is widespread acceptance that English is now the universal language and that the old ‘lingua franca’ is in accelerating retreat.  The French do not want to lose out of international business opportunities and they are enthusiastic users of English. But measures to insist on the use of French are becoming inevitable.

Rebel rouser

The jarring nerves of the party whips are reaching breaking point.

A deal with Clive Betts, the leading rebel has cut the threat of a government defeat. There will be a rebellion tomorrow because the ‘deal’ looks fragile.

John Grogan has replaced Clive Betts as rebel-rouser. He is a greatly respected back-bencher.  Some grumbling MPs of both Tory and Labour parties are being dragged away from their duties on foreign soil.

They will grumble even louder tomorrow, if the vote goes through with a substantial majority.

Are the whips out of control or have they simply lost their nerve/

Absurd whipping

Irrational

Is pairing returning for MPs? This entirely sensible arrangement has fallen out of use.

It was a ‘gentleman’s (woman’s) agreement’ between two MPs of opposing views to absent themselves from a parliamentary vote. It fell into disrepute because it was used by barristers to play truant and earn fat fees by neglecting their parliamentary duties.

Insisting that every MP be physically present for key votes has created its own absurdities and outrage. The Conservatives refused to pair seriously ill Labour MPs in the 42 days vote. This has aroused  Labour anger.

On another key vote a few months ago, nine MPs were flown back prematurely from a week long meeting. They voted and then flew back to continue their meeting. Four of the MPs voted for, five against.  Nine return fares to make a difference of one vote. Eight of them could have paired. Good for the public purse and the environment.

For Wednesday’s key planning vote, there have been signs of whips panic in banning all MPs from foreign visits this week. Over the weekend this was softened as many ‘rebels’ were been forced to remain in the country.

It was suggested a meeting today, the an appeal could be made to the humanitarian instincts of the whips? Humanitarian? Whips? 

More chance of persuading a viper to behave like a budgerigar.

A Prince of Wales

Two incidents took place today in the life of the nation.

Charlas and Camiila visited their umpteenth home which is in Carmarthenshire. As part of their relentless PR pitch,  they will play at being farmers there.

At the Senedd, Tower Colliery miners will be congratulated on behalf of the country. BBC Wales squealed with excitement this morning at the prospect of the royal visit. The Tower miracle was created when 240 miners each invested £8,000 from their redundancy packages to raise £2m to purchase the mine. Following the buyout, Tower produced 600,000 tonnes of coal a year with a turnover of £300m.

Tyrone O’Sullivan said the reception was a real appreciation of what Tower had achieved over the last 13 years. "It's also recognition of the enormous contribution we have made to Wales, to employment and to the mining industry."

Rhodri Morgan said the miners had been "inspirational" while Ieuan Wyn Jones described Tower as "an icon of Welsh resistance".

I know who my Prince of Wales is.

Wireless

It's a minor hi-tech miracle and wonderfully useful.

A rare event, but  I must declare a minor financial interest. A relative told me a few years ago that he and his friends were launching a WI-Fi company.  Out of family loyalty I bought shares for the first time in my life. I will not personally benefit.

Wi-Fi is now almost universally available in all the world’s hotels. WI-Fi fufils the promise of the original word for radio and is entirely 'wireless'. It allows MPs to work more efficiently through instant contact with constituents, media and e-mails. There is a golden rule on cost. The posher the hotel the bigger the bill. In the American hotels where I stayed last week, the charge was $10 to $12 a day. In a three star French Hotel it was three Euro an hour. At a two star motel it’s free.

One of the few disappointing areas in the House of Commons. Wi-Fi is available but only in limited areas and not for Apple Macs. The computer services in Parliament are content to languish ten years behind the times. 

How long before the Commons catches up  with a bog standard French Hotel?

Invisible cloud threatens

Stop seduction

There is a cloud on the Government’s horizon that’s invisible to the media. I have seen no mention in today’s papers of a possible Government defeat on Wednesday. The whips are dragging MPs back from foreign visits with the same thoroughness as they did for the 42 days vote.

An amendment by Sheffield MP Clive Betts has the backing of 60 MPs – more that enough to wipe out the Government’s majority. It challenges the undemocratic heart of the bill that could hand over major planning decisions to a commissioner who is not accountable to popular opinion.

It’s intended to cut the time that planning consents take. The Government’s main concern is the prolonged inquiries into nuclear power stations. While I am sympathetic with the notion of an accelerated planning procedures, I will be in the ‘No ‘ lobby on his one. The Government's seduction by the nuclear lobby must be frustrated.

Yankee Odyssey

Was my journey to the USA really necessary?

In these times of infinite cynicism of politicians’ motives   I do not expect many to agree with my subjective judgement.

The downside was

•    Missing out on three parliamentary debates in which I would have a lot to say. Two were on Afghanistan and one on Welsh Energy Policy.
•    Prolonged travelling time although, these days, more time seems to be spent in airports than actually flying.
•    Another dollop of guilt about adding to my carbon footprint even though I will offset the journeys.
•    Trying to avoid, not always successfully,  the deadly American vice of over eating.

The upside was

•    Face to face exchanges with influential top American politicians and officials. Challenging the brain dead Bush loyalists and encouraging those who are living for an Obama victory.
•    Puncturing the absurd claims that Afghanistan is anything but a disaster sliding down a vortex to hell.
•    Offering an alternative view to MPs from other Euro countries to the persuasive fables of the fading Neo-Cons. Both old and new Europe was well represented in our delegations and are open to disillusionment on the Iraq myths.
•    Spending a week with fellow British MPs of three parties and seeking common sense solutions free from the the boundaries of our party stockades.

More fear, please

Global warming deniers have undermined well-founded public alarm on Global Warming.  Panic is our only hope. Channel Four and Nigel Lawson have pushed the seductive message of comfort and reassurance that Global warming is not happening.

It’s bunkum, but the weak long for happy delusions that will ease their worries. Confronted by the loud-mouthed environmental ignoramus brigade of fuel gluttons and macho poseurs, British politicians' green convictions are wilting. Today's Observer poll suggests that six out ten
Britons are not convinced that global warming is the supremely vital issue.

The public fear must be cranked up again. The encouraging finding of the poll is that that the most intelligent are the most worried. There are more than a million environment organisations in the world. A new film  The 11th Hour says that each has a pixel in the mosaic of a sustainable future.

The new economy must be powered by renewable energy and based on a reusable economy. Back sliding politicians must be influenced by all decisions we make as consumers and in the ballot boxes

Misery galore.

Elusive happiness

Misery mongering could become a new Olympic Sport. It would be timely as Britain already excels.

MP Tom Harris has been thumped for stating the obvious that Britons are "bloody miserable" despite the current economic problems. He was comparing this generation with previous ones, who were not so healthy or wealthy.

Materially we have at least four times the wealth, services and leisure of the generation of my childhood. Happier? Probably not. Of course ailments like stress, depression and social phobia had not been invented then. People did not have the vocabulary to mourn. The dreams of the war generation of politicains have been achieved and surpassed in ways become the imagination of that time.

A young child transported back to the cruel world of the 1927 miners' life, said he had never had such a good time. All he had to play with was a stick. Anyone in doubt on the truth of Tom Harris’ comments should check the next media news bulletin. Whingeing will always outnumber hard news. Yes we are an immensely privileged and favoured nation compared with 90% of all countries. The population have been conditioned to dis-believe all good news. ‘Either the figures or wrong or it’s dismissed as spin. If a problem reduces, the Meldrews invent ‘hidden’ crises.

It’s an unbreakable cycle of misery for which there is no remedy.

 

Pharmas unveiled 

The British Medical Journal has produced an incisive piece on the sales technique of the Big Pharmas.

Across all specialties, in hospitals and universities everywhere, many leading specialists are being paid generous fees to peddle influence on behalf of the world’s biggest drug companies.

Kimberly Elliott, who was a drug company sales representative for almost two decades in the United States, puts it directly. "Key opinion leaders were salespeople for us, and we would routinely measure the return on our investment, by tracking prescriptions before and after their presentations," she said. "If that speaker didn’t make the impact the company was looking for, then you wouldn’t invite them back."

Click on image to view video

View the second video clip interview with Kimberly Elliot

Access @ http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/336/7658/1402?ijkey=914vdwBBxz8uGID&keytype=ref

From the age of 23, Ms Elliott worked for several global drug companies, including Westwood Squibb, SmithKline Beecham, and Novartis, leaving the industry 18 years later, only last year. Ms Elliott says she would pay these respected doctors $2500 (£1280; {euro}1610) for a single lecture, which was largely based on slides supplied by the company. "These people are paid a lot of money to say what they say," she said. "I’m not saying the key opinion leaders are bad, but they are salespeople just like the sales representatives are."

Chris Morgan

I was very sorry to hear of the death of Chris Morgan, former BBC Wales’s television newsreader at the age of 55.

He was also privately an active member of the Labour Party. In 1986 he was of the aspirant candidates for the Labour nomination for Newport West.

Chris Morgan was a close friend of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and was best man at his wedding. The presenter and journalist died in May following an incident at King's Langley train station in Hertfordshire.

His recent work was on the Sunday Times as their religious affair correspondent. Chris was a good friend and a principled journalist. There are not many of those.

Zombie Dore

There are stories that the Dore Company may be going through a rollover.

They say a controversial treatment for Dyslexia, which has been criticised for its uncertain science base  may phoenix in a new incarnation. It has been claimed that the previous owner has bought out the company's assets but not its debts. It may be possible to continue selling Dore products in some form, without repaying Dore's creditors.

The unfavourable publicity may hamper the future sales of the ‘new’ company. I may say more in a fresh EDM as more information arrives.