Green’s Diary

Another Example of our Arogant Self Serving Government

UPDATE: The Daily Mail has revealed that a former social worker in Haringey raised her concerns about practices in the borough six months before ‘Baby P’ died. the concerns were passed to the children’s department in Whitehall, but it appears nothing was done.

So the problem now stretches further than just Haringey. Just what on earth is going on here?

Every time  mistakes are made, the very people responsible for them spout the aged old saying “lessons will be learnt”. But all too often, those lessons are simply not learnt.

Victoria Climbie was murdered in Haringey in 2000. Eight years on and yet another child has been killed - in Haringey. After the conviction of two people in the Climbie case, Haringey Council said that they took full responsibility and that lessons would be learnt.

Responsibility means resignations. Learning lessons means changing structures and practices to stop future incidents. Neither happened and now we are presented with the case of ‘baby P’. In the Commons today, David Cameron asked the Prime Minister what was going to happen which was met with the standard reviews, more reviews and then effectively carrying on as is. Mr Brown then claimed Cameron was playing party politics over the issue which only encouraged Dave to get even more angry (and rightly so) over the government’s apparent non-action.

The whole case tells me a couple of things. Firstly that Haringey Council is still as appalling with social services as it always has been. Secondly that they have no intention of actually sorting their services out to protect children from similar abuse in the future.

Thirdly, our Prime Minister is a complete disgrace. The fact that he couldn’t even say how upsetting the case is is a disgrace in itself, but his tone and response to Cameron’s question was even worse. He merly suggested more reviews should take place.

It’s time real action was actually taken over such appalling councils. it’s time the government stepped and and removed the people resonsible for this systematic failure. This evening, Ed Balls the Children’s Minister announced the predicable review of the case, however, it will be carried out by OFSTED rather than the Council itself and so should be a little fairer than the report published this morning.

What we have is a government and Prime Minister who clearly have no intention of dealing with such issues. the message they send out to us is that they don’t really care about us and even more concerning, they aren’t interested in protecting the most vulnerable in our society.

Gordon Brown has got some serious personality issues. As Guido points out in a most excellent article, for all his failings, at least Tony Blair could judge the mood of the country properly.

We have had 10 years of reviews in almost every government department, yet serious failings still occur, in some cases the same failings are being repeated. It cannot be allowed to continue, we must demand action and the government must act now.

November 12th, 2008 Posted by Stuart | Parliament, news | no comments

America United or Divided?

I wonder if anyone has noticed that America is still pretty much a 50/50 country when it comes to elections.

In 2004, Bush Jr won 51% of the vote and there were headlines such as ‘country divided’, now in 2008, Obama wins with 52% and the headlines all claim the country is united. If McCain had won with 52%, the country would be divided, yet because the black man gets 52% that means the country is united. The very fact that peo9ple are making so much of the fact that Obama is black just shows how divided a nation the US still is.

the BBc of course were very pleased with the result, they had been practically campaigning for Obama for the last six months. over the past two years they have given far more coverage to the Democrats than the Republicans. Now, there will be some that say well that’s because the Democrat’s nomination was up for grabs, whereas the Republicans had a clear winner. Despite that, if the BBC were really going to give the news as news rather than some sort of opinion show of liberal wombats, they would have made more of the fact that the Republicans got a clear nominee quite quickly. It was the Democrats who were squabbling, and it’s the Democrats who will continue to have the problems in the future.

As defeated the Republicans are that the media makes them out to be, they only lost the election by 4%. It was not a crushing defeat. It is not the end of the Republicans and in three years time, there will be calls for a fresh Republican presidency.

America is not a united nation, it is a divided nation that will never be completely united because of culture differences. Indeed, it is important to take note that even though Obama won some big states like Florida, McCain still won quite a few states. The map of the US still appears to be a 50/50 split between blue and red. If we delve into the districts within each state, we find that it is not as lear cut as that. There are no such things as red or blue states, infact, it appears to be something more of various shades of purple.

November 11th, 2008 Posted by Stuart | elections, politics | one comment

BBC Spelling

Unbelievable. This morning, during the service at the Cenotaph to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the end of WWI, the BBC managed to incorrectly spell ‘wreath’ as ‘reef’. It’s good to see that the BBC still employs highly educated and skilled people.

November 11th, 2008 Posted by Stuart | news | no comments

We Will Remember Them

Today is Remembrance Sunday. A day to remember the sacrifice paid by so many in wars past and present. It is also the 90th anniversary of the end of the first world war - the war to end all wars. Unfortunately, it was not to be and men and women are still fighting today to eradicate evil from our world.

I, like so many watched the annual Festival of Remembrance last night from the Royal Albert Hall. It was a very moving and stirring event. I very much doubt that anyone who watches such events will be able to not feel proud to be British. From the military splendour through to the simple, yet poignant scene of thousands of petals falling from the ceiling, each one representing a life lost in battle, one can not help but feel a sense of national pride: Pride in the service that our armed forces do to protect us from those who seek to destroy us. Pride in the organisational skills of our military leaders. Pride in our monarch and all that she stands for.

But, all this can be so easily forgotten as we go about our busy daily lives. As tough as it was to heave myself out of bed this morning to attend the university remembrance service, I thought to myself, these people are putting their lives on the line for me, the least I can do is get out of bed and stand in silence for two minutes to honour them. There are just four remaining British veterans of WWI. In a few years, there will be none and living examples of servicemen will be no more. We must do all we can to always honour them. We must wear our poppies with pride. We must stand in silence and we must never forget the sacrifice made that we could be free. We must also remember those who are still fighting today, in Iraq and Afghanistan, fighting for a free world, free from evil.

I thought I would end this post with the fourth verse of Laurence Binyon’s ‘For the Fallen’ poem:

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

November 9th, 2008 Posted by admin | news | no comments

Glenrothes - Results & Reflections

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Turnout: 52%

Majority (Labour): 6737

So, in a result which came as big a surprise to Labour as it did the SNP, Lindsay Roy has ended labour’s run of by election defeats by holding the seat of Glenrothes by over 6,000 votes. This is a big result for Labour, especially as they were expected to lose it. Indeed, it has come to light that even as late as 10:30pm, Gordon Brown was told that Labour were probably going to lose the election. Only once the ballots started to be counted it became apparent they were actually going to win. This is in line with what I heard during the day yesterday that the SNP had flooded the streets and Labour did not have optimistic hopes.

Perhaps a further disappointing result was that of the Conservatives. They saw about a 50% decrease in their vote and lost their deposit. Despite finishing 3rd, this was not a good result for the Conservatives, even in Fife.

So what contributed to Labour’s victory? Undoubtedly it has something to do with how Brown is being seen as a hero in the hour of need during the economic crisis. However, if we look at the raw statistics, it shows a 52% turnout which is really quite high for a by election, that’s higher than the turnout at the 2001 general election. My theory is that higher turnouts favour Labour. In Glasgow East, where the turnout was 42%, the SNP won. Here, the turnout is 10% higher and labour have taken 20% more of the vote compared to 2% less in Glasgow East. What this suggests is that in Glasgow East the Labour vote stayed at home, but in Glenrothes the story was different.

Alex Salmond must be kicking himself now, on the morning of the election he was confident of a strong SNP victory, his party didn’t even manage to halve the majority! The result shows that a pro independence vote is not a big as some may suggest. It also shows that Labour should never be written off.

I have to admit, my own predictions of a slender SNP majority were wildly exaggerated, I also expected the Tories to pick up a few more votes than they did.

Overall it was a very good night for Labour, as they not only held Glenrothes, but they also held Forth and Glasgow Baillieston as well. Does this signal Labour turning a corner? I think it might be a corner, but it is only a turn into a dead end road. We know who will be the leader of Labour at the next election. Don’t write off thje possibility of a spring 2009 general election, it could result in a hung parliament.

November 9th, 2008 Posted by admin | elections, politics | no comments

Glenrothes By-Election

UPDATE 12:20 - SNP are saying they expect the Labour majority to be halved, but that they won’t win.

This is probably the best outcome for the Conservatives because it means a unionist party still holds the seat, but Gordon’s skin is saved by victory.

I’ve been busy all day with a local council by election in Glasgow so havn’t had an opportunity to blog on Glenrothes.
Basically, in a nutshell, I think the SNP will win with a majority not exceeding 400 and if Labour win, the majority will be similar. You would have thought that Labour had learnt their lessons from Glasgow East, but it wold appear not. Yet again they have not put people on the ground. I hear today that the whole of Glenrothes has been flooded with SNP activists, Labour can be seen but are being dominated by the SNP.

My predictions for the final places are as follows:
1. SNP
2. Labour
3. Conservatives
4. Lib Dems
5. Others

The Tories and the Lib Dems don’t by their own admittance, stand any chance of victory, but the Lib Dems have been very inactive and in Scotland there is the SNP for the protest vote.

The BBC thinks Labour have won it and they are expecting a result at about 12:30, but we all know what tends to happen at election counts…
If there is a result soon, I’ll be blogging it live, if it takes longer to come out, I’ll publish the result vi twitter and publish full results in the morning.

November 7th, 2008 Posted by Stuart | elections, politics | no comments

President Obama

So, with many polls now closed it appears Brarck Obama will now be the next President of the USA.

It’s a disaster for John McCain and now the aim is damage limitation. I fear for the security of the world now. I didn’t expect McCain to win it, but I thought he might do a little better. Many of my firends who I usually agree with politically have been for Obama for a while now, but I myself prefer substance over style, experience over youth and policy over posters.

Obama gives us all three of the latter - three things that are going to present the US and the world with severe problems. A age is dawning, an age of uncertainty.

These of course are my thoughts at 03:30 GMT, so give me a day or so to digest the whole election and I’ll put up full analysis of the 22 month process.

November 5th, 2008 Posted by admin | elections, news, politics | no comments

US Election Night - RESULTS COMMENTARY LIVE NOW

3:14 - Florida race is looking quite close, McCain is closing in: just what he needs. Florida will keep him in the race, or will kill him off

2:28 - Obama looks set to win Pennsylvania - this would pretty much guarantee him victory. I think he is going to win this by a couple of country miles.

This evening, I’ll be posting thoughts and news throughout the night as exit polls and results are published. It promises to be an exciting night, whatever the result as we will either have America’s first black president, or America’s oldest president.

I’ll be making use of WiFi facilities and (as you may have seen earlier), I can now post through mobile phone. this feature is fully tested, but not completely reliable, so please bare with me if it all goes wrong.

In the meantime, the blog is available on mobile platforms, just go to the normal address and the blog will format for your device. The mobile version of the site is up and running, access it here, or point your mobile browser to http://m.toryboynews.co.uk

November 4th, 2008 Posted by admin | elections, news, politics | no comments

The Eve of a New Era

The polls have opened in many states across America and citizens are casting their votes to determine who will run the US for the next four years.

In recent days John McCain has been closing the gap on Obama’s lead in the polls, but I fear it is too little too late, but I hope not. We probably won’t have a drama similar to election 2000, by this time tomorrow we will almost certainly know who the next president of the US will be. All indications are that it will be Obama, but I’m still holding out hope for McCain.

Key states are going to be the eastern cost states. the northern block will probably vote Democrat, but the Southern half is not a forgone conclusion. Some of these states are swinging towards Obama in the polls, but it all depends on what people actually vote on the day.

The first results will not be out until after midnight GMT and the west coast states will not have results until 8/9AM GMT. It’s going to be a long night, but an interesting one I’m sure. With states like Nevada and Montana too close to call and Virginia perhaps going to vote Democrat for the first time since the 60’s, there promises to be some surprises in store.

The only question remaining is will we have a secure future in 24 hours, or will we have an uncertain one?

I’ll be posting regular comments here throughout the night and will provide full results and analysis over the next few days.

November 4th, 2008 Posted by admin | elections, news | 2 comments

US Election

UPDATE: just to let you know, I’ll be at an election night party tomorrow evening, so won’t be doing live blog this time. I will, however be posting new posts via mobile throughout the night. I’ll also be posting my thoughts regularly via twitter.

Please send your comments to elections@toryboynews.co.uk

Fear not, I’m talking about America, not Britain!

Tomorrow, US citizens go to the polls to select who they want to run their country for the next four years. The US Presidential election is a topic I have not blogged on until now. I feel that firstly I don’t really have much more to add to the debate, but more importantly, I don’t think (taking into consideration the high percentage of US readers of this blog) it is right for me to interfere with with a country I have nothing to do with directly.

That said, I have for a long time been a supporter of John McCain and the Republicans in general. I did quite like Huckerby, however McCain was the best once Huckerby was out of contention.

In John McCain we have a man of incredible intelligence and experience. A man who comes across as sensible and rational. A man who doesn’t worry about the media 24 hours a day and a man who is an incredibly skilled politician.

I can’t say the same for Obama. One only has to turn on the TV and see the sorts of people turning out at his rallies to know that he is a fashion fad and not a serious presidential candidate. I always get concerned when most the media mass around one particular candidate, not because I like to support the underdog, but because I hate following a crowd.

I’m not so sure that the issues the president will have to deal with over the next few years will be dealt with in the best way possible if Obama wins tomorrow. Issues such as Iran, Russia, Iraq, the economy and radical religion will be the big topics where big decisions will have to be made. Obama does not come across as a man who will think through things properly, McCain does.

No matter how many advisors the president has around him, he still has to make the decisions. With McCain tough decisions will be taken that might be unpopular, but will be in the national interest. With Obama, we will have decisions taken not in the national interest, but in the media’s interest.

This could have catastrophic effects on America and therefore , a risk that should not be taken.

Having said all that, I don’t think McCain will win, mainly due to some major errors in his campaign. Sarah Palin was designed to improve the image of the campaign but seems to have done more harm than good.

On the other hand, Obama’s campaign has been tightly controlled with no leaks, very few noticeable gaffes and a generally polished performance. This is what the media like and it’s what the short sighted members of the US citizenship like too. It’s not good for the US or the world, but sometimes things have to happen that aren’t good so that people can see how bad it is. I fear tomorrow may be the start of a new age of immaturity in American politics - a truly dangerous age is about to begin.

November 3rd, 2008 Posted by admin | elections, news | one comment