Letter to myself at 16

There is a meme going round the bloggesphere at the moment which I have found fascinating. The "letter to myself at 16" has given me a real insight into some people who I thought I knew quite well.

You can read letters by Iain, Chris, Donal and Shane.

Self indulgent as it is here is my letter:

Hi Jim,

It's James here, I don't remember when Jim became James but it does. There is no premeditation to this shift but by the time you hit 40 you'll find it hard to imagine you were ever called Jim. It's only the the guys you knew at school that still do. Oh yes, you're friends with a few people you currently know but not as many as you expect.

This letter may freak you out a bit but don't worry too much about the physics behind how this letter from December 2009 reaches you in 1985, just go with it. I want to pass on a couple of pieces of advice which I hope will make life a little easier for you.

Firstly, you did well in you “O” Levels without having to try too hard, “A” Levels need more focus and depth of knowledge. You are going to have to change your style of learning if you want to get a decent set of “A” Levels, and good exam results give you more options in life. You're bright, popular and lucky and that these traits have helped you achieve everything that you've wanted in life so far. Trust me, it won't be enough for much longer, later in life you'll have to compete with lucky, popular and bright people who also work like Trojans.

You're about to go through a couple of years of bad skin, really bad skin. This will knock your confidence at the very point that the school decides to introduce girls for the first time in it's history. After almost 400 years of teaching boys, they drop this bombshell (those bombshells) on you just as you should be focused on your school work.

Bad skin and a 10-1 boy-girl ratio doesn't make getting a girlfriend easy, don't worry too much about it. You will spend a lot of time with some wonderful girls and young women over the next few years, and when you get to university you'll realise that ending up in bed with some of them isn't the impossible task it seems at the moment. Have fun and don't hurt anyone.

When you meet the perfect woman, you'll know instantly. Or rather you'll instantly know that she is perfect physically, the emotional bond will take a month or two to develop. And just to keep it nice and shallow, she'll still turn heads of guys in their 20s when you are in your 40s, cool eh!

Last piece of advice, take risks. Physical, emotional and financial. Lots of people tell you that you take too many risks, they're wrong. For example, you'll decide to move to Scotland one lunchtime and be on the Aberdeen train by 4.30 that afternoon, you'll live in the Cairngorms for a year and love every minute it. You'll join the army after almost as much thought and love that too!

To be fair not all of your risks will pay off and you'll learn from those that don't. You'll learn to see opportunities that other people miss and grasp them. Most importantly if you sit back and let them pass you by you'll hate yourself.

By 40 you won't be as rich or cool or as famous as you currently hope, but you will be very happy with your life and there will be a host of opportunities still to grasp.

All the best,

James

P.S. Stop trying to cut your own hair, it looks shocking from the back.

I'm not going to tag anyone, but if you find this interesting have a go yourself. It's fun.

Cough and a cold

Blogging has been pretty non existent over the last few days, I have had the mother of all colds. MAN FLU!!!!!

This also coincided with the traditionally busy pre-Christmas period, so when not working I was mainly sleeping. I'm going to give you my thoughts on a few key issues over the next few days and then close down for Christmas.

Brown, trying to win elections rather than wars

The more I look at the government's defence cuts the more angry I get.

We have not had a proper Strategic Defence Review for over a decade and the world has changed quite a bit since then. Our forces are being asked to operate well outside the SDR planning assumptions and the childishly optimistic political assumptions about the campaign in Afghanistan added to the pressure on our troops and their equipment.

The government have consistently failed to grasp the scale or complexity of the tasks that they have given our troops. The drip feed of resources has left our troops exposed and has cost lives. All these things have been well documented on this blog and in other places.

But now Labour has added their final and deepest insult to the forces who serve on our behalf. During the last few years it has become clear that not only had the government failed to plan militarily but also financially. The cuts to existing and future programs to pay for additional helicopters is an admission of failure more eloquent than anything which might have been said at the dispatch box.

The truly sickening thing about this is that the Chinooks will not be available for years. Had Gordon Brown not cut £1.4bn from the helicopter programme in 2004 they would be in theatre at the moment.

I cannot help but think that this poorly thought through plan is more to do with winning elections than winning wars.

Congratulations to Jo Johnson

Jo Johnson has been selected as the Conservative Candidate for Orpington. I understand that the selection was tightly fought and the feed back that I have was that the calibre of the candidates was very high.

I have no doubt that Jo will make a great candidate and an excellent MP, if he has half of his big brother's wit and intellect (brown nosing I know) he will be a pleasure to work with.

Common sense at last

I don't care if you call it a U-turn, a roll-back, a road to Damascus conversion or anything else. Ed Balls has clearly seen sense (or has sense thrust upon him) and realised that putting 11 million people on a child protection register is beyond a joke.

The concessions to common sense only reduces this number to 9 million but it is a step in the right direction.

On the Andrew Marr show, Ed Balls moaned that his plan was being blamed for overly cautious Headteachers banning all adults from schools. Why do you think they have become so ridiculously over cautious Mr Balls? Might it have something to do with the atmosphere or universal mistrust that your poorly thought through plans have created.

Protecting children is hugely important, but we mustn't lose sight of the damage that is done in creating a gulf between adults and children.

Employment tax

There is a lot in Labour's latest PBR to dislike but the hike in National Insurance is the one that got me.

If you start a business you get a big shock the first time you employ someone. When you hand them their pay cheque you also send off another one to HMRC, it contains their income tax, their NI contribution, your NI contribution and if they're a recent graduate their student loan repayment. It is often a sum of money not much smaller than the one the employee receives.

I tell you something it really stings.

National Insurance is an employment tax, the money is not ring-fenced for health and pensions. It is a tax, pure and simple. And Labour have just announced that they are putting it up.

I find it hard to believe that at a time of record and rising unemployment the government would be so short sighted as to increase the financial cost of employing people.

Labour's spending cuts

So Gordon is going to cut waste and excessive public sector salaries is he?

Having been Chancellor for a decade and then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown has had plenty of time to sort out waste and excess in public spending but for some reason hasn't. Is it because he didn't believe that there was any waste, or did he see it but just feel that it was OK up until now?

Since being elected to the London Assembly I have seen how money was spent under Labour. Far too often spending money was seen as a positive end in itself, little regard paid to what benefit was being created and a belief that there would always be more money coming.

Gordon Brown talks about cutting waste and for all I know may even believe what he is saying, but he cannot and will not do anything about it because wasteful spending is in his DNA. Back in 2004 (just before an election) Labour asked Sir Peter Gershon to look into waste in government spending. He produced a report, to much fanfare, which was ignored as soon as the election was over.

It must be frustrating to have your work ignored like that, which is perhaps why he is now advising the Conservatives.

Congratulations to Col. Bob Stewart

I've just got news that Bob Stewart has been selected as the Conservative candidate for Beckenham. Bob will be a great candidate and MP and I look forward to working with him.

Beckenham had a strong field, so Bob clearly impressed to get through on the second ballot. Commiserations to the other four candidates, selections are an emotional roller-coaster and I know what it's like to get pipped in a final.

Six degrees of seperation

This is fun. Channel 4 have created a who-knows-who online app called "Who Knows Who".

It is rather like an online political version of the Kevin Bacon game, the more famous individuals even get a nice cartoony face to go onto their avatars.

Yes I have checked to see if I'm on it (I am) and to see if I get a funny face (I don't).

I can see that this could eat up hours if you're not careful.

City Hall podcast

My latest podcast for ToryRadio is now online, you can listen to it here.

This week I talk about the funny goings on at our budget committee, our bid for the World Cup, the Met's service of remembrance and directly elected police chiefs and my big night out at the Spirit of London Awards.

It's all about a bigger cake

Yesterday Boris used his Telegraph article to promote London as the economic engine of the country, arguing that investment in London'd infrastructure is good for the country as a whole. You can read the article in full here.

Boris was questioned about this plan by the BBC's Andrew Neil (see below), at one point Andrew asked Boris where public spending would be cut to fund the investment in London, Andrew missed the point and with all due respect to my friend and Mayor, Boris didn't properly exlain the answer.

If investment is made in London, it will generate more tax revenue for the treasury which can then be spent in the regions. A slightly smaller slice of a much bigger cake still gives you more cake.

Currently London is a net contributor of £19 billion per year. No where else in the country could investment realistically hope to generate £4-5 billion a year of tax. No one is arguing for a reduction in spending in the regions but while labour is available, investing in London will pay dividends for the whole nation.