True Grit.

Hmm …

I’m thinking the word, here … ?

Is grit.

Yes, I know you were thinking “What did he say … ?”

Grit.

So you know.

At ANY rate, we’ve had the first batch of snow overnight,

Not much, thankfully.

But enough for me to want to make use of the grit I’d manage to pick up from local Lib-Dem County Councillor, David Kendall.

OK, granted that could be washed out if we get rain, rather than the predicted sleet or snow, tonight.

But if nothing else … ?

Well, if nothing else, here’s hoping it helps.

BBC News - Nick Clegg: Lords reform plans to be abandoned

BBC News - Nick Clegg: Lords reform plans to be abandoned

You know, I really don’t get political: I really don’t.

Which is possibly the BIGGEST amount I’ve ever written on here … !

I’m human.

And, as a famed philosopher once said, man is a political animal.

Well, he would’ve said ‘humanity is’, but you know what I mean.

At ANY rate … !

I don’t often get political.

But I’m also aware I’ve posted up the occasional piece that’s politically inclined.

Especially at the time of the last general election: when, to my personal disgust, the Liberal-Democrats — the party I’ve voted for all of my adult life — formed a coalition with the seriously right-wing Conservative Party.

As the junior party, I should add.

I wasn’t happy: and was left with the impression that not many other Lib Dem voters were, either.

So recent news — that the coalition partnership wasn’t a happy ship, in regards to House of Lords reform — had been something I was following.

Basically, the Liberal Democrats were hoping to make the Upper house of Parliament into a largely elected — rather than appointive — one.

Something that the Conservatives have blocked.

Now, I’m STILL none too convinced is Lords reform is something that should be done.

But on the other hand, the Lib Dems raise a good point in saying that it should be.

As a result, Nick Clegg has announced, tonight, that he and his party will seek to delay Conservative plans to redraw the constituency map of the UK — a key Tory policy — until AFTER the next general election, in 2015.

Personally … ?

I’m thinking the Liberal Democrats should learn their lesson: that ANY kind of coalition with the tories is a futile one: and that the time has come to pull out of it.

Here’s hoping.

Cash: Money, Elections and Campaigning like a Trooper.

You know, it’s REALLY not that often I get political, it really isn’t.

Actually … ?

It’s not that often I ask for money, either.

Although I’d say my mother would possibly disagree, there.

At ANY rate, you’ve probably worked out that there’s local elections up and coming in Brentwood, on the 3rd of May.

And that a friend of mine, Karen Chilvers, is standing as a Lib-Dem candidate.

And frankly … ?

Hmmm … How do I this … ?

Needs funds …

Here’s the letter she sent me …

Dear Paul

The night of 5/6 May, 2011 was one of the most difficult of my life. Just after midnight, I learned that I had lost out on being your councillor for another four years. I missed out by just 10 votes.

That result came at the end of the bitterest fight Brentwood has ever seen. The Tories stooped to new lows in their leaflets. They were so bad that they had to publish an apology for what they had said.

I really don’t want to repeat that night. I’m back again, determined to replace that memory with a win on 3rd May, 2012.

People are pleased that I am fighting to stop the Tory-led council allowing excess building in the area. They are also shocked that the council has, yet again, published its accounts late and cost residents thousands as a result. But there is a problem.

My agent, Ian Gale, has costed my campaign, and tells me we are “a little short” of the funds we need to pay for the campaign we have already planned. So I need your help - now.

With your support, we can make sure the Tories don’t buy the result here in Brentwood. They regularly spend twice as much as we do locally.

I’m asking you to give £25 — or more if you can. Otherwise, their is a real danger that we will have to cut back our plans on May 3rd.

Remember: I was just 10 votes short, last year. A tiny swing will win us the election. Every pound you give — or leaflet you deliver — could make the difference.

Thanks, again, for supporting me. We can get the result we want, here,on 3rd May.

With Best Wishes

Karen Chilvers,

Brentwood West Liberal Democrat Candidate.

There …

Now, that’s that letter she sent: and bear in mind here, that she lost the election by 10 votes: I couldn’t help but notice there were 9 people who objected to the Brunel House development, including myself.

Which will hopefully help.

»»·««

At any rate … ?

At any rate, I think I’m actually not going to ask you to give me money: although you’re welcome to, if you want to.

Cash, for preference … !

But on a SERIOUS note

I’m ACTUALLY going to ask you to give Karen your money: if, of course, funding local politics — or a Liberal-Democrat candidate — is something you think you’re comfortable with.

You can drag and drop the form over to you desktop, print it out, fill it out and send it to:

Karen Chilvers,

Liberal Democrats,

FREEPOST,

RLXE-JXLS-YCSU,

Brentwood.

CM14 4XR

Or, if you’re feeling digital, you can visit this link, and make a donation via PayPal.

Have fun.

Any Politics … ?

Hmmmm …

I think I’ve had a morning.

OK, I’ve had a morning: practically everybody today will have a morning, at some point.

What I mean is … …

I’ve had something of an interesting morning.

If you know your politics … ?

You probably have worked out who that is, sitting next to Councillor Chilvers, in the bottom picture.

Maybe I should explain, here … ?

It would be helpful, wouldn’t it … ?

»»•««

Bless her, Councillor Chilvers had been in touch with me, a couple of days ago.

Seemingly, she’d made arrangement for someone she described as a “Senior Lib-Dem MP” would be visiting the Brentwood West ward: she’s one of the three councillors for the area, so you know.

And quietly emailed me to ask if I’d be interested in coming along.

Was I … ?

Given* how sceptical about I’d been about the party I’ve voted for all my life being in coalition with the party I’ve always seen as the enemy … ?

Hell, yes!

It was rather tempting to take some tomatoes along, I will admit that … !

Obviously, the next confession … ?

Is whether I was nervous.

Wasn’t I just.

Sitting here at my desk, right now, I’m confident to admit I’m not sure whether I made a good impression or not.

I’m burbling, aren’t I … ?

At any rate, I was at the local Premier Inn, today, to meet and greet the Liberal Democrat party president, Tim Farron, M. P.

Who I’ve got to admit, I was pleasantly surprised by: he came across as very affable.

And very Lancastrian, I should add: not surprising, according to his Wikipedia entry he was born in Preston.

I have to admit, I was both nervous: and wondering whether I was coherent …

I’m hoping I managed to get across the fact that — having grown up during the 1980s, as Mr Farron had, himself — I’d seen many countries in Europe — those using versions of Proportional Representation — form coalition governments.

And that I was definitely not happy about that … !

Now, I’ll be honest, here, and give Tim his due. He managed to stress his point he felt it was a good thing for the country: and also point out that the Alternative Vote system is one his party’s hoping to introduce in their planned reforms of the House of Lords.

Hmmm …

Now I’m none too sure I’m completely reassured by that: the one thing for reform is to make sure the Upper House is truly democratic. Against is the fact it works, and has done for years.

But will give him his due, in trying to make the effort to be persuasive.

He also managed to quote a Dutch Liberal MP who visited the Lib-Dem parliamentary party, just before the election: one who’d been flattering the fact the UK’s party had kept their hands clean.

Clean, but empty.

As he said, himself, that’s not the case in government: those hands aren’t empty, or clean now.

»»•««

Just as a final point, at the moment.

I do know Tim gave us the Student tuition fees as an example of what he meant about clean/empty hands: he happily admitted they’s got they hands dirty.

Very, especially after pledging to oppose the moves.

He also stressed that part-time students wouldn’t be affected.

I’ve got to admit, I sent a quick text to my kid sister — Nephew Jude’s mum — Ruth.

She confirmed that.

And also admitted she’d have to abandon any plans, on financial grounds, if she was forced to do the course full-time.

Hmmm …

I’m hoping Tim’s reading this.

I’d love to know what he’d tell her.

* Karen was also very frank: she’d asked me and a local businessman called Chris along, as we’d both been sceptical about it.

Political Footballing …

You know, I’ve got admit, I’ve got BBC 4 on, in the background.

There’s a fascinating show being presented by Stephen Fry, about Richard Wagner.

Amazing watch: although, I’ll admit, Wagner’s not someone’s who’s work I’ve chosen to explore, given his reputation.

°°°°°

Which Mr Fry’s just covering, now: as he says, himself, it’s not a comfy area for him, as he’s Jewish.

Phew …

Heavy going stuff.

°°°°°

At any rate, that wasn’t I was going to tell you about, tonight …

What I was going to say was that — Sunday just gone — I got an email from Councillor David Kendall’s, who’s one of the Lib-Dem councillors for Brentwood, and also stood as the Brentwood and Ongar Lib-Dem PPC.

Or Prospective Parliamentary Candidate, if you want the full term …

At any rate, here’s what he sent me …

Hi Paul

I saw the e-mail you sent to our website regarding your take on the coalition. I can understand that not all Lib Dem voters are going to be supportive or in agreement with what has happened, but from talking to members of our parliamentary team I know the options open to us were limited.

I am sure many Lib Dem voters would have liked to have seen a centre left coalition with Labour, but the votes cast and numbers of MP's didn't stack up. I also get the feeling that a number of died in the wool Labour MP's were less than enthusiastic about the prospect of working with the Lib Dems in a coalition so it never looked likely to get off the ground.

What would you have liked to have seen happen ?

What are your main concerns about the coalition ?

If you voted Lib Dem for the General and the Borough Council elections what made you give us your support ?

I'm not sure I'll be able to provide the answers your looking for but I'll do my best.

Regards

David

Cllr David Kendall

And here’s what I replied …

Hi, David, and thanks for the email

Let’s get that last question out of the way, shall we … ?

I’ve got to confess, I’ve vote Lib-Dem for most of my life, now: most of the time, I see meself as being left-wing enough to vote for you, but not left-wing enough to vote Labour. And too left-wing for voting Conservative.

Actually, I’ve got to admit, I’m one of that generation that grew up, under Thatcher. And, while I could see some appeal in the woman, I also felt that I, as your fairly average working person, I could never seen her government offering much for me, as I’m neither a small business-man, nor someone who stood to benefit much from her policies.

I’m also thinking that growing up in Brentwood — safe Tory seat that it’s been for the last 3 decades or so — also showed me I had little in common either with the average Tory voter in the area, or with the local Labour party.

Who’ve never grabbed /much/ attention, ’round here.

And didn’t grab mine, to be frank. (An old school friend, Mark — or Mark Young, to give him his full name, I think he was a labour ppc at one point — one asked me what I thought of something that had come up at his local Young labour meeting: someone had suggested a Billy Bragg concert benefit gig for the Brentwood labour party. Much as I like some of Bragg’s poppier stuff, I couldn’t help but laugh in his face: ’round here, that would’ve been a major non-event, somehow.)

So the basic background to my support of the Lib-Dems is partly the fact that that’s how I’ve grown up.

But also the combination of three factors.

Firstly, I think that the changing of the tax threshold to £10, 000 directly affected — and benefited — me. Most of my working life, I’ve not had to sort of job that goes over minimum wage, so that … ? THAT I could vote for.

The second one factor was the change of voting system. As I’ve already said, I’m a lifelong Lib-dem voter, so my my vote — going on my party, as it were — being able to boost the party’s chances at becoming more of a force in Parliament can only be something of a good thing.

And thirdly, the simple fact that — as Nick Clegg, himself has stated — the 2010 election represented a serious chance of genuine change

•••••

As for what I think could have happened … ?

Hmmmm …

You know, I’m really not too sure.

I had a couple of possible ideas. Or maybe I should say hopes.

One was quite simply something I remember Sir David Steele expressing a hope for, back in the 1980s: the party quite simply if nothing else, becoming the Official Opposition. Not a realistic hope, I know, but one I would liked to have seen.

As to a coalition … ?

Well, I’ve got to admit, I kind of guessed that one with the torys was going to be inevitable, before the results were announced.

After all, the BBC’s coverage made it perfectly clear that a coalition with Labour was a complete non-starter: I think the impression I got wasn’t so much about Labour party objections … but the various phone calls that Nick Clegg with Gordon Brown were … contentious, let’s put it like that.

Not something that the mixture of Clegg and Cameron seems to suffer from.

•••••

As to what I would’ve liked to have seen happen?

Hmmm …

Well, personally, I’d’ve hoped for a stronger parliamentary position. That’s a first.

Secondly?

I’m a realist.

I know perfectly well that going into coalition with David Cameron’s tory party was a much more viable ">option than going into coalition with Labour, given both the numbers, and the fact that Nick Clegg and David Cameron seem to have a much more amiable working relationship than was reported between Nick Clegg and Gordon Brown.

But may I be blunt?

I feel that that — given the two parties histories — is a deal with the devil. I’d’ve been a lot happier if we’d gone right back into ">opposition.

•••••

So, questions.

Questions, questions, questions …

Hmmm …

Dozens, possibly …

But I’ll try and keep it to a minimum.

First off, let me get my pet bugaboo out of the way, first … !

I’m a blogger.

And quiz fan.

And former pub-quiz master.

And technology watcher.

That’s a key one, for me.

Now I think you’d’ve possibly guessed I’ve already written to both Brentwood Council, Essex Council, and the Brentwood Gazette about the use of open source software in Essex libraries, in schools and anywhere else.

Here’s my first question.

What are you — both as an individual Liberal Democrat, a councillor and representative of of your party — planning to do, both nationally and locally to promote open-source software by councils and national government. AND political parties, I should add.

That’s my first one.

Secondly …

Well …

I think it’s a fairly simple question.

I want to know what your party’s coalition government is going to do for me.

Actually do, rather than promise.

—————

Hmmmm …

Now, I’d probably — if I were less tired — probably be wanting to say more. A lot more.

But I do know I’ve not heard back from him, just yet.

Here’s hoping I here something a touch more definite than a speech a certain someone gave, today …

—————