You can make history by signing up for the biggest blog ever

Posted by on Oct 15, 2006 in updates | 3 comments You can join me and take part in the day in the life of a blogger on Tuesday, so future generations can glimpse the life of 21st century Britain. A digital time capsule will be posted on a website and then archived permanently at the British Library. This is an ingenious way of recording social history and actors Stephen Fry and Sir Derek Jacobi, the writer Bill Bryson and historian Bettany...
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James gets through to Mid-Norfolk final

Posted by on Oct 14, 2006 in Uncategorized | 17 comments Great news, James Tumbridge has made it through to the final round for the Mid-Norfolk selection following his breathtaking transatlantic return home from a long weekend in Canada. The final decision will be made next Saturday. He will be standing against health campaigner Vicky Ford, businessman George Freeman and political consultant Laura Sandys. As you can imagine, James, a barrister, is...
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Steiner school dilemma in Cambridge

Posted by on Oct 14, 2006 in updates | 3 comments With our education system failing so many of our young people, an excellent and affordable alternative is the more personal approach offered by Rudolph Steiner schools. Steiner believed that education should be designed to meet the changing needs of a child as they develop physically, mentally and emotionally. He believed that education should help a child to reach their full potential,he did...
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Killer on loose in Cambridge after day trip to city

Posted by on Oct 13, 2006 in Uncategorized | 8 comments Can John Reid please tell me why a dangerous killer is on the loose in Cambridge? He slipped the net in Debenham’s yesterday while on a day trip to the city from nearby Haverhill Prison. We have been warned not to approach Mark Ryder . He killed a man after escaping from a prison-organised boating trip to Brighton Marina in the 1990s; he was serving a jail term for stealing cars at the...
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Our face to face with Andrew Lansley

Posted by on Oct 13, 2006 in Uncategorized | 6 comments It’s not every day you get the chance to be part of a small group discussing hot topics of the day with a Shadow Minister. Especially when the subject is health, an issue causing great concern up and down the country as our hospital’s struggle to survive and staff morale is at an all-time low. A forum was held yesterday on the NHS and hospital closures by the Conservative...
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James’ transatlantic race for Mid-Norfolk

Posted by on Oct 13, 2006 in Uncategorized | 10 comments Distance was no object for barrister James Tumbridge, who is now on the latest shortlist of 10 for the next round of Conservative candidates contesting the plum Mid-Norfolk seat tomorrow. He had flown to Canada for the weekend when the message came to say there was now a place for him in the line-up, having not been selected for the original list this weekend. This followed the news that...
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Surely now is the time for Patricia Hewitt to resign

Posted by on Oct 12, 2006 in Uncategorized | 11 comments With our NHS limping from one catastrophe to another, our primary care trusts struggling to balance their books after being millions in debt, forcing staff cuts and bed closures on an essential front-line service, surely this is the time for Patricia Hewitt to resign. There is no public confidence in how she has carried out her job as Secretary of State for Health. Charles Clarke was forced to...
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Now Annunziata wants Mid-Norfolk

Posted by on Oct 12, 2006 in Uncategorized | 7 comments There’s been some chopping and changing on the Mid-Norfolk shortlist after the glamorous Louise Bagshawe found success in Corby and Maria Hutchings, who lashed out at Blair on live TV last year over special school closures, wants to concentrate on Stevenage. Two very well-bred ladies will be filling their shoes at the next round on Saturday, Annunziata Rees-Mogg, daughter of William...
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Is the UK prepared for TB threat?

Posted by on Oct 11, 2006 in Uncategorized | 10 comments While the UK gears itself in its usual haphazard way for influenza and bird flu, what thought is it giving to the threat of a TB outbreak? Health officials raised the alert yesterday over a new drug-resistant and more deadly form of tuberculosis, saying the disease now posed a more serious threat to Europe than at any time since the Second World War. TB is described as the world’s...
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Why isn’t £2.50 a day value for money for Alzheimer sufferers?

Posted by on Oct 11, 2006 in Alzheimer's | 2 comments I don’t understand the reasons for NICE’s refusal to allow Alzheimer sufferers access to drugs costing £2.50 a day at the early stage of this terrible, soul destroying illness. There was enough evidence on the news this morning from sufferers who described the incredible difference it had made to their lives in a matter of weeks. If the drugs do not prove effective, then surely the...
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Defra drowns in its inefficiency

Posted by on Oct 10, 2006 in Uncategorized | 9 comments I was hoping someone from Defra with a nuance of intelligence would have picked up on some of excellent points raised in this Sunday Times article on freeing our congested roads by using our rivers and sea more. Each barge can carry the equivalent of more than 20 lorryloads, it surely must be an answer to so many of our problems. And as barges are already used in London to transport its rubbish...
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Norfolk’s 100-year-old parish councillor still going strong

Posted by on Oct 10, 2006 in Uncategorized | 5 comments No wonder so many A-listers want a Norfolk seat, it is the perfect base for a healthy, politically active life, as Jack Chase, will vouch, who is 100 today and still serving as a parish councillor. He is almost certainly the country’s oldest parish councillor and remains as committed as ever to tackling the issues in his village of Caister, near Great Yarmouth. A pity the web link did not...
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Let’s hope India’s racehorse buyers will soon return to the UK

Posted by on Oct 9, 2006 in Uncategorized | 6 comments The UK has been losing millions of pounds in racehorse sales due to an over-stringent ban imposed by the Indian government which my MEP Robert Sturdy is hoping to have lifted. The ban has been in place for the last five years following the outbreak of a single known case of a disease called Contagious Equine Metritis. India insists on a three-year clear period of infection before trading again...
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Adam Rickitt makes next Norfolk round

Posted by on Oct 9, 2006 in Uncategorized | 5 comments Former Coronation Street star Adam Rickitt is a step closer to seeing his dream realised and becoming a Norfolk MP. He was one of 10 A-listers selected to go through to the next round next weekend, though unfortunately neither of the two local candidates, including James Tumbridge, were successful. I think competing against 18 A-listers must have been the toughest challenge yet faced in any...
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Only cowards fear the truth

Posted by on Oct 8, 2006 in Uncategorized | 12 comments I was deeply saddened to learn of the brutal assassination of Anna Politkovskaya, Russian’s most famous investigative journalist. She was returning home from a shopping trip when she was gunned down in the lift of her apartment block in Moscow. It was an apparent ruthless contract killing. She was a fearless. grey-haired woman of 48 whose only weapon was the truth. Despite repeated death...
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Back to the classroom for me

Posted by on Oct 8, 2006 in updates | 14 comments I believe strongly in lifelong learning, gaining new knowledge, so it’s back to the classroom for me. I had missed the deadline for my proposal for an Open University MPhil (I wanted to do Social Science Research), so I have signed up for the CIPR diploma, which is set at post graduate level. My first class was yesterday, and I was the only non-corporate/local authority person; I hope...
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The most courageous woman of the year

Posted by on Oct 7, 2006 in updates | 7 comments A book and a film are certain to follow the conviction of a brutal murderer who 17 years strangled a 22-year-old woman. Twice a jury failed to convict him and the labourer was acquitted. But it was the gritty determination of the woman’s broken-hearted mother to see justice done – forcing a change in the double jeopardy law – that led to Billy Dunlop finally being jailed for...
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20 Tory candidates want new Norfolk seat

Posted by on Oct 6, 2006 in Uncategorized | 9 comments An astounding 18 of David Cameron’s A-listers will be heading for East Anglia tomorrow, including Adam Rickitt and Louise Bagshawe, hoping to be picked for the true blue hotspot of Mid-Norfolk. There are 20 candidates in all on the shortlist for this new constituency, including the “dashing” James Tumbridge who last year stood in Norwich North against Ian Gibson. Adam, who is to...
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What is Abramovich spending his millions on next?

Posted by on Oct 6, 2006 in updates | 5 comments Has Roman Abramovich tired of buying footballers? Or does he want to spend a few spare million on a new hobby – racehorses? I popped down the road to Tattersalls in Newmarket yesterday to watch the yearlings sell for hundreds of thousands of guineas, just loose change for some who were there. Tattersalls is the world’s oldest bloostock auctioneers dating back to 1766 and a fellow...
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Will the French conker us?

Posted by on Oct 5, 2006 in updates | 13 comments Hard to believe, but it seems the French hope to beat us at our own game – conkers! While our nanny state is intent on banning this favourite pastime from our local schools, our European neighbours have been hammering away at it in great style. Mais oui, they even hope to thrash us in the World Championship this weekend – is nothing sacred for the Brits! The game was introduced to...
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Professionals must get on with the job

Posted by on Oct 5, 2006 in Uncategorized | 7 comments Allowing a police officer with a political/religious conscience to be excused from an assignment where he felt “uncomfortable” may be seen as very generous of the Met. All citizens have personal views, but have to continue working professionally and keep them in check. If you are unable to do so, you are obviously not suited to the job. Mostly, in the UK, British people are not...
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Julian gathers support for child abductors to be added to sex register

Posted by on Oct 4, 2006 in Uncategorized | 4 comments Julian Sturdy is gathering support to plug the legal loophole regarding strangers who abduct children, or attempt to, and are currently not placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register He raised this issue today with Shadow Children’s Minister Tim Loughton at the Conservative Party Conference, with Tim admitting he was not aware of the situation. The loophole means these people are still...
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How many more fake honours have been given?

Posted by on Oct 4, 2006 in Uncategorized | 5 comments I find it hard to believe that Michael Eke is the only conman/woman to be bestowed an honour by the Queen. His may have been the first case to be discovered, but how thoroughly are these applications checked? If it hadn’t been for his greed and his incredible audacity, the chances are he would have got away with it. He’s not the first Walter Mitty character to live a deluded life,...
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UKIP spoof of Cameron weblog

Posted by on Oct 3, 2006 in Uncategorized | 12 comments Well UKIP did fail to make it into Iain’s guide to political blogging; not sure if he plans to head off to their party conference and offer them advice on the social media. So it seems UKIP’s way of breaking into this latest viral form of communication is to present a spoof of David Cameron’s weblog. Well, they do say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery… I...
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So much to say, so little time

Posted by on Oct 3, 2006 in updates | 5 comments We are back at Great Ormond Street Hospital today, David has just had one week of pain since our last appointment, let’s see what the tests come up with today, though his progress certainly looks promising, just very slow as he has been taking very strong antibiotics for a year now which are turning his bones yellow. There is so much I would have like to have said today had I...
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