Off to Nottingham uni

Posted by on Jun 29, 2007 in updates | 25 comments I’m taking my son David to the open day at Nottingham University today. I can still remember him on his first day at school. He had just turned four and was the youngest boy in his class. I was the one left standing at the school gates feeling bereft. So how am I going to feel when he flies the nest for good?  And where did those last 12 years go to? David wants to do...
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Conservative women and Africa

Posted by on Jun 29, 2007 in Uncategorized | 3 comments Gordon Brown is not the only one to include Africa on his agenda by appointing Mark Malloch Brown as a new minister for Africa, Asia and the UN. It is a hot topic which will be debated at the Conservative Women’s Organisation’s conference in November. The Environment and Women as Peacemakers are also very topical issues which will be discussed. The sparkling...
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The missing – Damien Nettles

Posted by on Jun 29, 2007 in updates | 6 comments Damien Nettles went missing after a night out with friends on the Isle of Wight  in November, 1996 when he was just 16.  He had parted company from them at around 10.30pm. He was last seen at around midnight walking along the High Street in West Cowes shortly after buying chips. Damien was caught on CCTV footage talking to five or six men, only three have ever...
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Will Miliband blog about foreign affairs?

Posted by on Jun 28, 2007 in Uncategorized | 8 comments I did have some belief that Miliband’s heart was in the right place as Environment Secretary, trying to undo some of the considerable wrongs created by his predecessor, the inept Margaret Beckett. She certainly deserved to get the push. Although Miliband’s blog came in for much criticism for being nothing other than a ministerial post, which it largely was, he did keep...
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The sad story of Grace

Posted by on Jun 28, 2007 in updates | 9 comments I heard a tragic story today about a young woman of 26 called Grace who visited her parents in Cambridge recently. For some reason she was pushing a car when she fell and landed flat on her chest. She later contracted pneumonia and died afterwards of septicaemia – all this happened within the space of two-and-a-half weeks. I find it incredible that a fit and healthy young woman...
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Blair’s Question Time may continue

Posted by on Jun 28, 2007 in Uncategorized | 9 comments Although Prime Minister’s Question Time may have come to an end for Tony Blair, the police have also put more questions to him, possibly in the last week, in the cash-for-honours scandal. Could there be more to come? Could he be called as a key witness if/when charges are made? It will be interesting to see what changes Gordon Brown introduces for party funding and...
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Robert Sturdy challenges EU mercury inconsistency

Posted by on Jun 28, 2007 in updates | 4 comments MEP Robert Sturdy has asked the European Commission to explain how it can justify enforcing the use of energy saving light bulbs which contain mercury, while at the same time banning barometers for this very same reason, an inconsistency which was highlighted by bloggers in their comments about this. Robert has fired off some questions to Commissioners Stavros Dimas...
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The missing – Jessica Foster

Posted by on Jun 28, 2007 in updates | 6 comments Glendene Grant has asked me to publicise the case of her missing daughter, Jessica Foster, who was last seen in March 2006 in North Las Vegas when she was 21. She said: “We need to have everyone know who Jessie Foster is. We need to find her and bring her home. We need to make people aware of Jessie and that she is missing, and that her case is being investigated as a...
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Cherie’s last words

Posted by on Jun 27, 2007 in Uncategorized | 20 comments Tony Blair’s exit from 10 Downing Street will be immortalised by his wife’s undignified final blast at the press: “I don’t think I will miss you lot”. If Cherie feels aggrieved about her media coverage, she has herself to blame. She started off with a clean slate, just like Sarah Brown does now. I remember her refusal to tell anyone if her baby Leo had been...
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Who would you call if your house was flooded?

Posted by on Jun 27, 2007 in updates | 2 comments   Would you know who to call for help if your home suffered flooding on the same scale as in the Sheffield area?  My first thought would be to ring fire brigade, but the chances are they may not be able to help. The excellent East Anglian Daily Times reports today how the Suffolk Fire Brigades Union feared it could not cope if there was flooding on a similar scale in...
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Why Quentin Davies is a dead duck

Posted by on Jun 27, 2007 in updates | 8 comments I watched Quentin Davies on Newsnight last night and what struck me most was how he had not even thought through his political future as a Labour MP. Asked if he was likely to stand as a Labour candidate in his constituency of Grantham and Stamford in the next general election, he said he had no idea. He has clearly not decided what happens next. Perhaps his admiration of Gordon Brown will have...
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The missing – Raluca Denisa David

Posted by on Jun 27, 2007 in updates | 0 comments Raluca Denisa David mysteriously vanished this year on 25th May in Greece; poignantly, it was International Missing Children’s Day. According to reports, the 13-year-old girl disappeared in Kypseli, Greece. I am not sure if this is Kypseli, in central Athens, or Kypseli, a village on the island of Santorini. It would be helpful if these posters could provide clearer information. I could...
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Social justice needed for fathers

Posted by on Jun 26, 2007 in updates | 13 comments If Conservatives are truly committed to social justice, then one of the issues they must tackle is the unfairness some fathers face during divorce and separation. A father who cared for his children, and had the support of his ex-wife, has been jailed for 42 days for failing to pay a £45,000 backlog in maintenance over 12 years, but he cared for them in his own way and had the...
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The missing – Javian Matthews (found)

Posted by on Jun 26, 2007 in updates | 3 comments Javian Matthews, 15, has been missing from Tottenham, north London since 21 February this year. He has not been seen or heard from since and his whereabouts are a complete mystery. Last month his image was projected on Marble Arch to mark International Missing Children’s Day, along with images of Madeleine McCann and 15-year-old Samantha Osborn. Update: After posting this story, I was...
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Did Harriet Harman blog her way to victory?

Posted by on Jun 25, 2007 in Uncategorized | 22 comments I spent half an hour on Saturday studying the blogs of the contestants running for deputy Labour leader and my conclusion was that Harriet Harman clearly deserved to win, even though the odds were against her. But at least one poll showed she should win on trust. I’m sure you will come to the same conclusion too if you scrutinise their blogs, the way they expressed...
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The missing – China’s brick kiln kids

Posted by on Jun 25, 2007 in updates | 7 comments More than 1,000 missing children in China are believed to have been abducted and forced to work as slave labour in brick kilns for 16 hours a day.  The children, some as young as 8 and still wearing their school uniform., were guarded by fierce dogs and thugs who beat them. Many children had festering wounds on their black feet and around their waists, apparently from burns. Some were even...
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Vodka and the EU treaty

Posted by on Jun 22, 2007 in updates | 9 comments Robert Sturdy MEP reports from the latest EP sitting at Strasbourg: Forget the Cold War. This month in Strasbourg the Vodka War reached its conclusion with casualties on both sides. After months of relentless debate and negotiation, and several vodka tasting sessions, MEPs voted this week on the definitions of spirit drinks. It was concluded that Vodka can be made only from grain or...
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My blog is to be archived at The British Library

Posted by on Jun 22, 2007 in updates | 16 comments I feel incredibly privileged to have been asked by The British Library if they could include my blog in an archived collection of blogs for research purposes. They are inviting 150 “key sites” for this project, cordinated by the UK Web Archiving Consortium. This is what they said: “The British Library is building a collection of blogs. This collection will form...
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My new Sony Ericsson phone

Posted by on Jun 22, 2007 in updates | 10 comments I haven’t upgraded my mobile phone for over two years and realised I was paying a high tariff on my contract, especially when calling other mobile phones. After hearing about a great offer that Sally signed up for with T-Mobile (the same company I use), I decided to follow suit and have just switched over to a Sony Ericsson K810i. And it was a free upgrade. Sally has...
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Cherie challenges government’s smoking ban

Posted by on Jun 22, 2007 in Uncategorized | 10 comments I wonder if Cherie Blair ever discusses her work with Tony when they eat dinner, if she bounces ideas off her barrister trained husband. If so, I can imagine his horror at the thought of her fighting the government’s smoking ban, due to be implemented next week, on behalf of a lapdance club. Flamboyant pink-suited Dave West wants her to launch a legal challenge to allow guests and...
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Will Nancy enjoy Manchester life?

Posted by on Jun 22, 2007 in updates | 4 comments I assume that Sven and Nancy are still an item, which makes me wonder what she thinks about moving to Manchester if he should becomes the new manager of Manchester City. I don’t know the city very well, but during visits there have found the people to be much friendlier than the south. If Nancy should worry that Manchester is not glamorous enough for her, perhaps you have a few...
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The missing – Charlene Downes

Posted by on Jun 22, 2007 in updates | 1 comment Charlene Downes, 14, kissed and waved goodbye to her mother in Blackpool town centre in November, 2003 and has never been seen since. Charlene was known to have been among a number of young white girls who congregated around a district of Asian fast-food shops in the Lancashire seaside town. Yesterday, her mother wept as a kebab shop owner was heard on tape allegedly telling how he had...
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The Gordon Brown meme

Posted by on Jun 21, 2007 in Uncategorized | 12 comments I have been tagged by Nadine Dorries on the things Gordon Brown should be: Proud of: His wife and family His thick skin Apologise for: His policies which resulted in the poorest fifth of households comparatively paying more tax and receiving a lower share of benefits since Labour’s election victory in 1997. The contempt he has shown some Cabinet colleagues. Do immediately when he becomes...
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Why did Paddy Ashdown need bodyguards in Cambridge yesterday?

Posted by on Jun 21, 2007 in Uncategorized | 3 comments Doesn’t Gordon Brown think he has enough talented members in his own party to serve in a Cabinet? Interestingly, Nick Robinson’s blog on this subject has a comment from a Cambridge blogger about Paddy Ashdown’s visit to the university city yesterday – with bodyguards present. Cantab asks: “Lord Ashdown was in Cambridge yesterday evening in order to promote his new...
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The missing – Etan Patz

Posted by on Jun 21, 2007 in updates | 2 comments Etan Patz‘s disappearance on 25 May 1979 is the is the oldest open missing child case in New York City’s history. Six-year-old Etan had grabbed his school books and given his mother a goodbye kiss before leaving to catch the bus to school. He was never seen again. In the months and years that followed, Etan became the symbol for lost children all over America. Then, in...
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