Military compensation

I don't normally read the News of the World but this story was highlighted to me by Charles at work (he of "What I have learned from Charles" fame).

I am not going to decry the work done by administrators in the military, simple things like pay, allowances, rations etc are of huge importance and the front line troops can't do their job without admin support. But to hear that a typist gets nearly £500,000 compensation for getting a typing related injury makes me rather angry. Particularly when you compare it with the insultingly small sums that properly injured service personnel get.

This extract from the NOTW sums it up rather well.

Jerome Church, secretary of the British Limbless Ex-Servicemen's Association, said last night: "It would be laughable if it wasn't so totally outrageous. If you can get half a million for tapping on one of the Queen's typewriters, that's many times what you'd get for being crippled fighting the Queen's enemies. Hearing about this would certainly upset the soldiers coming back from war zones with serious injuries."

Badly-injured TA Corporal Scott Garthley, 39, from Northampton, was a £75,000-a-year bank executive before the 2003 Iraq war—but now he is unable to work and is
struggling to survive on a war pension of just £70 (a week).

If anyone out in blogging-world can persuade me that service personnel are not chronically under valued I would love to hear it.

Back at work and back to blogging

Before I get stuck into my rants and comments on the news of the day I would like to say thank you to all the people who have sent their condolences, either through this site or elsewhere.

It is easy to feel rather alone when you lose someone so close and the kind words that have been sent go some way towards reducing that feeling. Susie has been particularly touched by the sense of community that has been shown from right across the political spectrum.

Thank from both of us.

Bad news at home

I am back early from my holiday, while I was away my mother was taken ill with a chest infection. Unfortunately she wasn't strong enough to fight the infection and she passed away over the weekend.

I will be blogging as an when I can but don't expect too much over the next couple of days.

Off on hols

I'm going off on holiday with the family. I'll be back in time to watch the London Mayoral candidate selection.

I've turned on comment moderation and I'm sure that there will be a flood of insightful comments waiting for me when I get back. In the mean time why not amuse yourselves by going through the archive and highlighting all the inconsistencies and contradictions. It's one of my wife's favourite pass-times.

All the best, see you in a few weeks.

I like marriage!

I've said it before and I'll say it again "I like marriage".

I was pleased to hear that DC is giving a sympathetic ear to IDS' family proposals. It was also interesting to listen to the Labour families minister squirming on the Today Programme when asked to state his position with regards to marriage.

Having the courage of you convictions is important in politics and if you believe that marriage is good for society it is important to say so and to back those words with actions.

Better than expected in Middlesex

What a great weekend!

As I have already said, I have decided to do a triathlon and being a foolhardy sort I have entered a sprint triathlon in Nottingham on the 12th of August. All the advice I have read says that you should start out with a swimming pool based triathlon as your first. I have chosen to ignore this advice and go for an open water event.

In preparation for this I went over to Heron Lake (Wraysbury in Middlesex) to have a practice swim with the Heron Lake Swimmers. Glorious, sunny morning surrounded by wetsuit clad swimmers I got in and started swimming. No pool sides to cling onto every 25m, no nice lines on the floor to help you swim in a straight line and lots of "serious swimmers" all around. Very different to the Spa!

I'm told that a lot of people freak out on their first open water swim, I loved it. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to swim the 800m needed for the triathlon but I did about 1,000m on Saturday. Bring it on!!!!!

That afternoon I went over to help out with Tony Lit's campaign in Ealing Southall (also in Middlesex), what a buzz. Tony's posters are all over the place, I saw him briefly on the high street chatting with local shoppers and business people, he is clearly very popular and the campaign team are also doing a very slick job.

By-elections are funny beasts giving very little time to get the candidate's profile up or to break into the public consciousness. Neither is the case for Tony. I'm not going to tempt fate but what I saw at the weekend and the recent news about Labour councillors defecting to the Conservatives indicates that we could get a very good result in this election.

We want Tony back!!!!!

Not me actually but young Zoe seems to!

Well he would say that wouldn't he?

Gordon Brown says that PMQs doesn't matter, after a rubbish PMQs. Harriet Harmen says that her shadow shouldn't ask difficult questions after being asked some difficult questions by Teresa May.

What next? Please don't campaign against us at the next election?

Boris for Mayor?

Never thought that I would write those words down and think that they might actually be taken seriously. But now that the possibility that Boris could run exists I suppose I ought to have a proper think about it, let's look at the qualities a sucessful candidate should have.

He should be well known and much loved. One of the regular comments that I hear is that the Conservatives need a "big name" to take on Livingstone, Boris has got one of the highest profile names in the party.

He should be a Conservative. There have been a number of names floating around who aren't Conservatives in any universe that I'm familiar with.

But not too much of a Conservative. One of Livingstone's greatest feats was to disassociate himself from the negative feelings that many people had about the Labour party. Boris has the ability to reach beyond our current group of supporters.

Needs to be able to win. I have written before that once Livingstone is put under the microscope his air of invulnerability will disappear, Boris' natural positiveness will highlight what a grumpy negative man Livinstone is.

He could run London government. This will be the toughest job for him. As I said people love Boris, Kitcheneresque posters of Boris adorn student walls, people look forward to his TV appearances but this is not Hartlepool, no monkey mayors here. If he wishes to win Boris will have to show more of the razor sharp intellect that he undoubtedly possesses, more grit, more seriousness and a genuine willingness to take on Livingstone.

I think that he has it in him and I would love to work alongside him.

Bipartisan agreement?

I'm just watching Gordon Brown's first PMQs. It seems that Brown's catchphrase is going to be "bipartisan agreement", he used it a number of time during the exchanges. However when David Cameron asked him about his willingness to incorporate Conservative plans into government policy he seemed to be less impressed. Does Brown think that bipartisan agreement means the Conservatives agree with him but that is where it ends?

Gordon Brown wasn't slick but he wasn't confident either and it was clear that his temper was only just below the surface. And he might want to learn that the deployment to Afghanistan is an operation, not an exercise.

Ming Campbell had a good day, asking if Brown would adopt a whole raft of Lib Dem policies, Brown said "no" but said that his door was always open to Ming. "It looks more like a trap-door" came the reply from the venerable one. Not bad for an off the cuff remark.

Des Browne got a slating. Good!

Brown screws the English....... again

Seems that the great advocate of Britishness doesn't quite put his rhetoric into action. The FT reports that as one of his last acts as Chancellor the unelected Prime Minister cut funding for English hospitals, but not for those in Scotland and Wales.

I'm sure he'll announce a small increase in NHS spending just before the election even though it won't come near the shortfall the he himself created. Age of spin dead? I rather think not.

Adding a bit of spice

Oh heaven, oh joy. Just when I thought life couldn't get any better I hear that the Spice Girls are doing a reunion gig.

I am floating on a cloud of happiness! Those of you too young to remember them the first time round are in for a rare treat, just don't forget to turn the sound off!

Brown's trial by ordeal

British soldier killed in action, floods and drownings, attempted terrorist attacks. Brown's first week has been quite a tough one. Unlike the last ten years Brown cannot run and hide when the going gets tough because he is the one in the hot seat.

If he doesn't break the habit of trying to be all controlling the pressure will break him. That may look like good news for the Conservatives but actually in difficult times it does no one any good having a failing leader.

I genuinely hope that Brown learns to trust, delegate and lead rather than just trying to control. We can beat him on his record over the last ten years, I would rather not have a catastrophic collapse in the next few months.