I’m somewhat shocked at their apparent realisation that not everything is possible, that money and wealth are actually required to get things done; that the wealth of a nation matters.

You need only look as far as the latest scheme to be launched by the NUS.  The funding blueprint proposes a scrapping of the tuition fee system and an introduction of a graduate ‘contribution’. Don’t let their slippery words detract from what they mean though, they mean a graduate tax that successful graduates will be paying on their income for the next 20 years. An earnings based tax which takes more from the most financially successful. The proposed system removes responsibility from people’s lives. No longer will students have to make a decision about whether university is for them; whether a degree is going to pay off in the end. It’ll be the natural progression from college. Finish your A-levels, go get a degree, and why not? The proposed system is a zero risk career path – you can’t lose, unless you happen to be successful, in which case you’ll be paying a small fortune for people to take degrees which are completely unsuitable for them. Higher education funding will inevitably turn into a bubble waiting to pop.

Who voted for their NUS delegate on this major issue? Not me sir, not in my name. I’m a politically active student and knew nothing of it so never had my chance to have the ultimate voice – in the ballot box. There’s a Facebook group against the proposals. We need a voice, a vote – if the elitists at the NUS are so confident that this blueprint is the will of the student body, then why not give us a referendum? It’s about time regular students took a stand and took back our union.

He has announced in the Accrington Observer that he will step down at the next election for ‘personal reasons’ rather than his expenses that came to light last week.

Mr Pope had a 5,587 majority over the Conservatives in the 2005 general election and the European election results for Hyndburn were as follows: Conservatives 6037 Labour 5020 UKIP 3906 BNP 2731 Lib 1285

Currently no Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate is in place.

]]> http://www.andrewbarrett.org.uk/2009/06/11/labour-mp-greg-pope-to-step-down-at-next-election/feed/ 0 http://www.andrewbarrett.org.uk/2009/04/26/daniel-hannan-does-it-again-at-conservative-spring-forum/ http://www.andrewbarrett.org.uk/2009/04/26/daniel-hannan-does-it-again-at-conservative-spring-forum/#comments Sun, 26 Apr 2009 16:45:51 +0000 Andrew Barrett http://www.andrewbarrett.org.uk/?p=208

I work as a resident doctor in one of the biggest hospitals in Mexico City and sadly, the situation is far from “under control”. As a doctor, I realise that the media does not report the truth. Authorities distributed vaccines among all the medical personnel with no results, because two of my partners who worked in this hospital (interns) were killed by this new virus in less than six days even though they were vaccinated as all of us were. The official number of deaths is 20, nevertheless, the true number of victims are more than 200. I understand that we must avoid to panic, but telling the truth it might be better now to prevent and avoid more deaths.

If this statement is true, its deeply worrying. The authorities may be trying to prevent panic, but without being open about the seriousness of the situation, people are going to be taking less precautions.

13:40-14:45 Routemap to Recovery – Speech by George Osborne at end

15:00 – 15:10 Speech by Daniel Hannan MEP on Gordons Broken referendum promise

15:10 – 16:00 Our vision for the future with Oliver Letwin

16:05 – 16:30 Speech by Leader of the Conservative Party David Cameron

At the end of the fairly long interview they announced the poll results of callers. I’m sorry I can’t remember the exact figure, but he definitely got some 70+% against Brown.

The poll asks:

From today, a new EU directive will come into force requiring internet and phone companies to store data on all the times and durations of all calls made and websites visited by anyone, for a twelve month period. This is to ensure evidence is available for criminal investigations. Do you approve or disapprove of this?

The answers were interesting. Those that disapprove by party identification: 64% 47% 56% 61% (the final figure being no party identifcation).

When given the arguments for and against, they were asked again whether they aproved or disapproved. Approved: 19% 32% 24% 18% Disapproved: 67% 49% 62% 62%

When asked which of the following about the “big-brother state” comes closer to their view:

“Give me my privacy back: this has gone too far. They can’t secure it, they are collecting more and more, and I do not want to live in a big brother state.”

The results were: 62% 45% 51% 60% an indication that Conservative voters are more concerned about the disastrous implementation of the big brother state.

“The state should have access to data about its people for security purposes – as long as it is not abused, I think the current levels, including these proposals, are about right.”

The results were: 31% 42% 40% 26% They signal that Conservative and independent voters can see what the Labour and Lib Dem ones miss, the state already abuses what it has – agreeing to stick with the status quo allows the state to slowly creep further and further.

The poll appears to display that the Conservative voters are championing liberty which is interesting, but to infer that solidly more research would have to be done. People are generally fed up with the interference of the state in their lives. The Liberal Democrats are disappearing into the wilderness. The Conservatives need to push this agenda, and show that it is the party of freedom.

The damage comes not just from McBride, but from Tony McNulty and Jacqui Smith too, for their part in the expenses row. Despite there being just a year to go before the general election, the government appears to be falling apart, rather than coming together to present a unified vision of the future to the country. Brown has no authority with the public now. It all started when he claimed his decision to not call an election, was nothing to do with the fact he was going to lose it. His attacks on the Conservatives as the ‘do nothing party’ do not wash. His claims that the economic crisis was all to do with America, ignore the domestic mess. His refusal to admit Britain is one of the worst countries in the industrialised world to weather the storm, vastly stretch the realms of imagination.

Where then from here? If the Conservatives are to become elected, it needs to be because they are the best team to run the country, to lift us from this economic disaster. They can’t just win because the opposition collapsed, they need a real mandate to make the tough decisions. David Cameron’s budget response, needs to be a coherent message of change. It needs to lay down the foundations of how a Conservative government would handle the economy if the public put their trust in them.

“Having spent four years shedding the image as the “nasty party”, Mr Cameron is obliged to administer the nastiest economic medicine ever prescribed by any government since the Second World War.” Michael Brown in the Independent.