Conference Tuesday

Conference isn't all listening to speeches, joining in with fringe debates &meeting up with old friends. For the past few years a social action project has taken place and this morning I joined a number of volunteers who are refurbishing and re-equiping a fomer Council property as a drop in centre on a nearby housing estate. With my DIY skills it's just as well they didn't give me anything too important to do.

Conference Monday

Today's big event was George Osbourne's speech which I watched on a screen as there is not enough room in the main hall for all who wanted to hear him. A tough, statesmanlike approach is needed and that's what we got with a firm policy on banks which take unnecessary risks. A fixing of Council Tax for 2 years will be appreciated by those on fixed incomes who have seen the proportion of their personal budget taken up by this tax increase massively. I've been looking at the press coverage of conference and it was always going to be restricted on a day when the Government nationalised another bank, Bradford & Bingley and the FTSE fell to 4,800.
Cllr Tom Day and I enjoyed a lighter moment in the main foyer of the Birmingham International Convention Centre.

Conservative Party Conference Sunday

Great line from Liam Fox winding up the discussion on the armed services where we heard an impassioned plea for more support for our servicemen serving in Afghanistan & Iraq from Falklands hero Simon Weston. Liam said "New Labour used to be called a charm offensive - but the charm resigned, and now they're just offensive."

Motorway madness

Sometimes Government moves much too slowly. One of Rugby's assets is it's location at the heart of the motorway network with the junction of the M1, M6 and the A14 just a couple of miles away at Catthorpe. However this junction was designed to accomodate much less traffic than currently passes through it, and there are often accidents in stationary traffic on the M1 on what has become known Rugby's Mad Mile, as vehicles queue up to change roads. This has caused 14 deaths in the past 5 years and regular closures of the motorway leading to gridlock in Rugby as traffic seeks another route and massive delays for many of our local businesses involved in logistics. It has been obvious for years that the junction needs re-designing. We are in the middle of yet another consultation on proposal to do that with work not due to start until 2011, and presumably a constuction period of 2 years. This all means that a solution won't be availalable for another 5 years. This is on top of a 10 year delay in getting Rugby's Western Relief Road under way. Why can't we sometimes just get on with things?

Football shirts response

When I was in Rwanda, I met several groups of people who asked me if I could help their oganisation or group. I also became aware of the enthusiasm for football and in particular the English Premier league. On one occasion, the way I was able to relate to someone I met was by pointing to the Liverpool shirt he was wearing and talking about the team; I also saw "Arsenal" & "Man Utd", signwritten on trucks (not graffitti!) and of course kids play the game everywhere. So I offered to send over some shirts my children used to wear and that thought developed into an appeal to send over a decent quantity. Following an article in a local paper, I have been overwhelmed by the number of offers I have receieved with many generous people keen to see shirts they no longer want being sent to those who will appreciate them. This is developing into something bigger than I had anticipated so I'm now working on a way to get them to Africa and distributed beyond the groups I met. I know just how much pleasure each of these shirts will give to people who currently have very little.

New Rugby Season

On Saturday afternoon I watched my son Tom's school play Rugby against Rugby in Rugby on Rugby School's Close, This is an honour for any player, as the game is still played on the very turf where William Webb Ellis picked up the ball and ran in 1823. My chance to play there was, like Tom, as a schoolboy and also like Tom, my team all those years ago was beaten by a well drilled side. Tom is also playing for a club side in Rugby and made up for yesterday's result with a win today.

Back to college

I enjoy putting new items on the blog but I don't enjoy the typing involved in doing so because I am no good at it. Computers were in their infancy when I was at School and University so they didn't feature in my education and I started my working career at a time when businesses employed secretaries to type letters. After a few years I had a PC on my desk in my own business and I started to input data & prepare documents but it's always been painfully slow and often inaccurate using one finger. Now I am writing more articles, letters & documents like this I thought it would be a good idea to learn to type properly. Accordingly I have enrolled at Warwickshire College, Rugby on an e-type course learning to touch type. The literature says I will "become a real whizz at using (my) computer keyboard" and I will be "able to save time and have faster results at my fingertips" Hope so! I did my first hour session yesterday and look forward to better blogging!

Government as Dad's Army?

Alistar Darling's interview earlier this week telling us that economic prospects are the worst for 60years put me in mind of Private Fraser, the Scot in Dad's Army who was forever rushing around warning his colleages "we're doomed, doomed I tell you". So does that make Gordon Brown to be Captain Mannering? .....and Ed Balls or should that be David Milliband as Private Pike?.... and who should be cast as Corporal Jones, "Don't panic"??

Update Sunday 14 September: It seems I'm not the only person to have noticed this connection. A correspondent has drawn my attention to this posting on the Labourhome website!

Back to the office

I have returned to find a massive response to the constituency wide survey we sent out last month. We are currently working our way through the information and I will be providing a summary as soon as I can. Lots of offers from people wanting to help our campaign and a lot of individual comments from people I am responding to individually with a variety of local & national issues. Something to keep me busy with over the next few weeks!

La Belle France

Now back from a holiday in France where we spent a few days with our children visiting the sights of Paris before meeting up with friends in Epernay and then travelling to the coast by TGV (High Speed Train). The decline in the value of sterling against the Euro, made even worse in the last few days as a result of Alastair Darling's helpful comments, means that Europe is an expensive place to visit right now with coffee & croissants in a cafe almost a luxury. We enjoyed the train journey which was efficient with the TGV running on a newly built track avoiding urban centres & the need to pass through existing stations, something that can be achieved with the space that France has. The food & wine remains as good as ever and I will need to visit the gym more often to get back to where I was before the holidays!