John Prescott’s shameful legacy

Posted by Ellee on Apr 30, 2007 in Uncategorized | 17 comments While the world debates the legacy of Tony Blair’s tempestuous leadership – 10 years on Wednesday – the legacy of his ridiculed deputy leader will come under far less scrutiny when he steps down. After all, what is there to say? What remarkable achievement has marked John Prescott’s term in office, one of the highest in the land, which limped from one...
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Meet Veronica, a reformed alcoholic

Posted by Ellee on Apr 29, 2007 in updates | 22 comments My name is Veronica and I am a reformed alcoholic. And I don’t want it to happen to you too, which is why I have trained as a therapist and launched a training programme. There has been considerable media coverage about Alcohol Concern‘s idea recommending the prosecution of parents who allow under 15-year-olds to drink. However, I don’t believe prosecuting adults this...
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A day of human rights

Posted by Ellee on Apr 27, 2007 in updates | 12 comments Today I shall be in Cambridge participating in human rights debates, including ‘honour’ based violence against women, secret detention, children’s rights and the Israel-Palestine conflict. What better time to raise the mysterious disappearance of BBC reporter Alan Johstone which is causing increasing concern. Expert speakers will include activists and policy...
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Some green reasons to quit the Strasbourg travelling circus

Posted by Ellee on Apr 27, 2007 in updates | 5 comments If saving £200 million a year is not good enough reason to stop the ridiculous European Parliament’s travelling circus sitting in Strasbourg to simply appease the French, then how about on grounds of saving carbon emissions. A green study of the European Parliament’s two-seat operation, including environmental costs, transport and energy’, has shown this wasteful journey...
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Planning a Greek trip

Posted by Ellee on Apr 26, 2007 in updates | 19 comments I would like to take my mother Loula to Greece for a week next month, back to Thessaloniki, her birthplace. I’m planning to book a hotel via the internet and wondered which online site you would recommend for flights. I doubt I will be as lucky as Maalie and find a 1p flight which he has paid each way for a trip to Finland (read the comments). One of my favourite films is Shirley...
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Green is the new black

Posted by Ellee on Apr 26, 2007 in updates | 13 comments Who says celebrity endorsement doesn’t work?  I would have liked one of these £5 eco-friendly bleached cotton shopping bags too, but there was no way  I was going to get up early and queue,  even if Reese Witherspoon, Lily Allen and Alicia Silverstone carry them around. I’m delighted that these bags carry a simple green message to encourage the...
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Tears of joy turn to tears of sorrow

Posted by Ellee on Apr 26, 2007 in Uncategorized | 6 comments I send my deepest sympathy to our fearless campaigning MP Richard Bacon whose tears of ecstatic joy have turned to tears of unimaginable sorrow within the space of two days. On Monday, Richard’s wife gave Victoria gave birth to their first child. Tragically, his mother-in-law Elizabeth Panton died yesterday on a visit to see their baby son Rollo in a horrific accident. Doctors...
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Labour’s leadership row hots up

Posted by Ellee on Apr 25, 2007 in Uncategorized | 16 comments Daggers are already all but drawn in Labour’s leadership contest, with would-be contenders Michael Meacher and  John McDonnell publicly rubbishing each other’s claims. A campaign has also been launched on facebook called Stand Down Meacher by Labour blogger Grimmerupnorth, and has 125 members so far. It supports McDonnell as the only credible left candidate...
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Meeting my blogging hero

Posted by Ellee on Apr 24, 2007 in updates | 20 comments One of my first blogging heroes was – and still is - Neville Hobson and I am really looking forward to meeting him this evening for the first time when he speaks at this PR Unspun event in London. Neville is a master extraordinaire in the social media field, and is very much into virtual marketing. I am also looking forward to meeting Jacqui White, online communications director...
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Could you accept blood money?

Posted by Ellee on Apr 24, 2007 in updates | 27 comments How could any father accept money from a friend of his daughter’s suspected killer? I thought at first that Tim Blackman was brilliant in travelling to Japan to highlight Lucie’s disappearance, visiting bars with her photo. His relentless pursuit helped lead to the arrest and 6 1/2 year trial of millionaire playboy Joji Obara, who has just been cleared of Lucie...
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Sir Christopher Evans and the witch-hunt

Posted by Ellee on Apr 23, 2007 in Uncategorized | 7 comments I wonder if the Labour Party has returned the £1 million loaned to them by the benevolent Cambridge entrepreneur Sir Christopher Evans, who waits to hear whether charges will be made against him in the cash for honours row. He has hotly denied any wrong doing and believes there was a witch hunt against him, and has been waiting for Labour Party to repay his loan. Of the police investigation, he...
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EU laws crack down on internet trade

Posted by Ellee on Apr 23, 2007 in Uncategorized | 13 comments Are you familiar with consumer protection law in Lithuania or Romania? What about Spain or Greece? This may be a new requirement of EU legislation, which SmallBizPod highlights today - and could have a significant impact on small businesses who trade online. In a nutshell, it is all very well if you’re a multinational with an international legal department,...
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Robert and the EU treaty

Posted by Ellee on Apr 23, 2007 in updates | 14 comments   My MEP Robert Sturdy has a letter in today’s Times challenging the reasons for Tony Blair’s refusal to hold a referendum over the EU treaty. With Gordon Brown widely predicted to be Blair’s successor, I wonder if  Blair wants to push this through quickly as he knows  Brown has a much cooler approach to Europe – and we don’t even know what...
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Today’s "warm hearted" Russia

Posted by Ellee on Apr 21, 2007 in updates | 12 comments  A guest post by James Higham The historical moulding of the modern Russian Perhaps I’m not the one to ask about Russia on a number of  counts: as foreigners, Tom and I are both relatively sheltered, the mindless bureaucracy tends to be taken care of by those we’re associated with, we live better than the average citizen and we are eternally an object of interest. Forever...
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Road pricing trial and its sweetener for motorists

Posted by Ellee on Apr 20, 2007 in Uncategorized | 21 comments  Government plans about how it should trial its controversial road pricing scheme, despite protests from more than 1.8 million people who petitioned against it, is already having problems. My nearby city, Cambridge, is one of the cities lined up for this. Yet plans so far appear to be very poorly thought out, with the Government said to be looking for volunteers to try out its proposed...
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Nuclear waste disposal and forum groups

Posted by Ellee on Apr 19, 2007 in Uncategorized | 17 comments Defra has advertised for members to form a new Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM). But has Defra learnt any lessons from the blunders it made with its last committee? Let me remind you what happened two years ago when it was described as “an unholy row” by Times columnist Magnus Linklater when one of the leading scientists on the committee, Dr Keith...
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The social media and Virginia Tech massacre

Posted by Ellee on Apr 18, 2007 in updates | 30 comments How private is the personal anguish of students who have published their grief on the Web following  the Virginia Tech massacre? Many of their accounts have  been highlighted in worldwide media reports. But some feel the press has been too intrusive. Never before has the Internet been so high profile during a crime following the merciless slayings in Virginia Tech....
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Hogarth’s Britain

Posted by Ellee on Apr 17, 2007 in updates | 14 comments There are only 11 days left before the   Hogarth exhibition comes to an end at Tate Britain, and it is      definitely one not to miss. I popped in after my spot of auto blogging and found it stunning and mesmerising. Is there a contemporary artist who portrays today’s life in the same way as Hogarth’s vivid images of...
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Auto blogging today

Posted by Ellee on Apr 17, 2007 in updates | 17 comments I have been invited by my CIPR diploma leader Heather Yaxley to join her in London today to speak about blogging to the motor industry, her specialised area. Interestingly, Heather’s recent post mentions Jeremy Clarkson’s Top Gear blog, he wants your views on the programme. And, true to form, he doesn’t mince his words? “You may say that, as a public service...
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Judge seeks answers from Home Office on failing mental health system

Posted by Ellee on Apr 16, 2007 in Uncategorized | 34 comments I imagine Judge Peter Jacobs will be listening with special interest today when controversial plans to allow mentally ill people to be detained against their will are discussed in the Commons. Last week he was forced to jail a mentally ill man because there was no alternative available in the community care system. He was so incensed, that he asked Home Office officials to explain why,...
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What kind of government lets people go blind?

Posted by Ellee on Apr 14, 2007 in Uncategorized | 48 comments On 30 June 2006, the Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt wrote a letter to The Times and The Guardian stating:  “This Government is committed to a publicly-funded health service that is free at the point of use and available to all, regardless of means.” If that is the case, then why is Norfolk Primary Care Trust refusing to fund medication that could prevent...
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The royal split

Posted by Ellee on Apr 14, 2007 in updates | 21 comments Prince William and college sweetheart Kate Middleton certainly made a nice looking couple, but have now split. Moving on is going to be tough for her, she will always be known as the Prince’s former girlfriend and, judging by the huge smile she always had, they enjoyed a fabulous romance – up until recently. I don’t think the paparazzi hounded her particularly badly, except on...
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Thought of the day, from Hugh MacLeod

Posted by Ellee on Apr 13, 2007 in updates | 19 comments   True, or not true? And when does one stop being young? Another succinct snapshot of life from...
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Tory Radio’s bright new look

Posted by Ellee on Apr 13, 2007 in updates | 8 comments I really like Tory Radio’s bright new banner, I think it looks very classy, with the spotlight on Conservative leaders past and present. Jonathan Sheppard has written a series of “What Labour said” posts which highlight what Labour said in 1997, and what actually happened. If you have any further examples, you are invited to leave them in the comments. Some...
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How can £7 flights to America make a profit?

Posted by Ellee on Apr 13, 2007 in updates | 21 comments How can Ryanair make a profit by charging only £7 for one-way flights to America? It’s ridiculously cheap. Low-cost fares across the Atlantic will be made possible by the “open skiesâ€? agreement, which will lift the restrictions on where airlines can fly. Only BA, Virgin, American and United are currently allowed to fly from Heathrow to the US. From next year this will be...
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