Quotes for the Monarchy

Conservative Home has some choice quotes on the value of a constitutional monarchy, with my favourites being:

"Those who imagine that a politician would make a better figurehead than a hereditary monarch might perhaps make the acquaintance of more politicians." - Margaret Thatcher

and, for those who can count,

"According to the UN, seven of the top 10 countries in the world in terms of quality of life are constitutional monarchies." - Philip Blond

To which I would add:

“The monarchy is so extraordinarily useful. When Britain wins a battle she shouts, "God save the Queen"; when she loses, she votes down the prime minister.” - Winston Churchill

Happy Wedding Day

"Hurrah" for the happy couple.

Computer Says: "No"

A comedy turn from the city council's elections department as, "Computer is blamed for voting blunder". The CEN reports that the city council, "has blamed its computer for 'having a funny day.'”

Garbage in - Garbage out.

Tories Don't Elect Leader Using AV

The Yes campaign and Paddy Ashdown have repeatedly claimed that AV was used to elect David Cameron as leader of the Conservative Party. The Conservatives do not use AV for their leadership elections. Conservative MPs vote using the‘Exhaustive Ballot’ system – a series of separate run-off rounds, a crucial distinction which allows them to know who has been eliminated at each stage, and which candidates remain. MPs can only vote for one candidate, and vote using an ‘X’. The final round is a First Past the Post vote of all party members, who again vote for one candidate using an ‘X’. (Nor do the Labour Party use AV as it is being proposed in this referendum: they use an electoral college system, where union members, party members, and MPs each cast separate ranked ballots.)

See here for the other arguments.

Gordon's Golden Legacy

Gold was $275 an ounce when Gordon Brown sold our Gold reserves. Now it is $1500.

If sold today, the government would be more than £12 billion better off.

Happy Easter

Happy St George's Day

For confirmation that God is an Englishman...

A14 Again

Huge delays on the A14/M11 again. Unreported in the papers... just the usual clogging up of the nation's arterial routes.

New County Leader

Nick Clarke is the new leader of Cambridgeshire County Council...

“The public expects and demands strong, effective leadership, and I believe I have those qualities. I am confident I have the ability, the energy and the time to provide the dynamic leadership the council and the county needs. There are significant financial challenges ahead.

“But it is also time to get on with the job of creating prosperity, happiness and safe, strong communities for the people of our county.”

His blog is here.

Good luck Nick!

A14 Again...

Three vehicles crashed on the A14.

Published: 14/04/2011 08:22:00

Euro Joke...

A colleagues sent this...

An Irishman, a German, a Greek and a Portuguese man walked into a bar.

The German paid.

Voting Referendum Debate

If you have not made up your mind on the voting referendum then come along to the debate this Monday at St Luke's Church, Victoria Road, Cambridge CB4 3DZ from 7.30pm.

Joining me for the 'NO' campaign will be James Kilmartin. He works for the Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary Caroline Flint as her political researcher. Before that he worked for the Labour MP Joan Ryan. He graduated from Cambridge University in 2008 and was Deputy Chair of the Cambridge Universities Labour Club in 2007.

Council in Taxi Confusion

From the local authority that has to take itself to court, we now learn that the city's taxis have been licenced for 23 years... wrongly.

Taxis in Cambridge have been operating with incorrect paperwork for 23 years, the News can reveal. Incorrect Certificate of Compliances (CoC), or taxi MoTs, have been issued to drivers for more than two decades by Cambridge City Council, which is the licensing authority. The authority has been handing them out using section 43 of the Road Traffic Act 1972, but the Road Traffic Act 1988 scrapped the whole of the previous 1972 Act – making it invalid.

Candidates for the City Council Election

The full list is published by the City Council and can be found here. Good luck...