A selection of political stories from the last couple of days.
INTRODUCTION
This is the third and last politically themed post in this series that I have been putting up today (although I have held some stories that might be considered political back for the next post which will be the last – I will then create a page containing links to these specific posts for ease of reference).
TORY STEALS MOD SECRETS, USES THEM TO HELP ADAM SMITH INTERNATIONAL
This story, which shows Tories at their worst and most unprincipled was brought to my attention by David Hencke. To read the full story of how MOD secrets were stolen and used to load the dice in favour of Adam Smith International click the image below.
ANOTHER ANGRY VOICE ON TORY ELECTOTRAL FRAUD
Thomas G Clark who blog as Another Angry Voicehas more on the Tory electoral fraud story, in the form of whistleblowers who have admitted to unknowingly assisting the Tories to commit electoral fraud. Click the image below to read the full piece.
PIP PIP
I have two pieces on Personal Independence Payments (PIP for short) for your attention. Firstly, DPACare asking for people who would be willing to be involved in a legal challenge to changes to PIP. If you are able to help DPAC, or would like to share their piece please click on the screenshot below.
The second PIP comes from 38 Degrees, in the form of a petition calling for people with mental health issues to be treated fairly under PIP. Please click the image below for more.
PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION
A situation that allows a party who gained 37% of the votes cast (under 25% of the electorate given the turnout) to form a “majority” government is obviously unacceptable. If you agree with this and are a UK resident please click on the screenshot below to sign and/ or share the petition, which is currently on 93,217 signatures, meaning that another 6,783will trigger a debate in the house. Just before putting up the screenshot link one final point for those who bring uop the orevious referendum on this subject: AV IS NOT PR
ROWSON SKEWERS HAMMOND
To end on a lighter note, below, with a link to the original, is Guardian cartoonist Martin Rowson’s take on Philip Hammond’s budget:
An account of Jack Monroe’s splendid victory in a defamation case that centred on twitter.
INTRODUCTION
This is the second politics themed post in this series. In this case it deals with a defamation case that has recently been settled after 21 months. The plaintiff was food blogger and political activist Jack Monroe, while the defendant was someone who cannot be described in broadcastable language and does not deserve to have her name further publicised (the usual adjective used of her is in this context deeply offensive to trolls).
THE BARE BONES
Jack Monroe launched the case over two tweets posted a few hours apart. The defendant had the opportunity to settle out of court for a mere £5,000 but chose to fight on. This resulted in an award to Monroe of £24,000 and the defendant being ordered to pay costs totalling a further £83,000.
THE LINKS
I have three links for you about this case. First, by clicking the image below you can read Mike Sivier of Vox Political’s account (the picture is his as well):
Nathan Capone examines the implications of this verdict from a case-law point of view in this post.
Finally, for the completists among you, here is a link to the judgement in full.
PHOTOGRAPHS
As always, I finish by showing some of my own photographs.
Lot 1556 in James and Sons’ March auctionLot 1557Lot 1558
Lot 1559
This will be the last item to go under the hammer in James and Sons’ March auction.
Links to three pieces originally published on Skwawkbox.
INTRODUCTION
We are now into the politics section of my super-sharing Saturday, which will encompass this post, a post about the Monroe vs Hopkins case and will finish with a post containing the remaining political links.
1. SKWAWKBOX SWATS THE #MAYFLY
This post is merely the latest in very damning series of posts the skwawkbox has produced about Theresa May and the Surrey County Council sweetheart deal. It contains a very short video produced by Ealing Labour 4 Corbyn as well as the text. Link via the image as usual
2. SKWAWKBOX EXPOSES DESPICABLE BEHAVIOUR BY BLAIRITES
Wimbledon CLP have been threatened with suspension over a leaflet that they intended to put out regarding a proposed new school. To read the full account on Skwawkbox click on the image of the “offending” leaflet below:
3. SKWAWKBOX ON AWFUL TORY BEHAVIOUR IN LANCASHIRE
This account features stories of intimidation up to an including death threats. To read about how the Tories are trying to take control of the town of Pendle by a combination of bullying, intimidation and gerrymandering click the image below.
PHOTOGRAPHS
As usual I end with some pictures…
These maps are going under the hammer at the end of our March auction.
The launch of a new facebook page with NAS West Norfolk connections, a bit about yesterday at work and some very interesting links.
INTRODUCTION
For the benefit of new readers it is worth reminding people that I am both NAS West Norfolk branch secretary and #actuallyautistic. Although the the National Autistic Society (NAS) has some paid staff at its London HQ branches are run by volunteers and branch money comes exclusively from fund-raising. This post therefore starts with some news from NAS West Norfolk that I consider worth sharing before continuing with a bit about yesterday at work which will include pictures and ending with some interesting links.
THE LAUNCH OF A NEW FACEBOOK PAGE
NAS West Norfolk’s Sports Co-ordinator, Grant Cotton, creator of the Autism Awareness Cup, has created a new facebook page to link all his activities. It can be viewed by clicking the image below:
YESTERDAY AT JAMES AND SONS
Yesterday was devoted to imaging as many of those lots for the March auction that were not yet images as possible (a catalogue for this auction, taking place on the 27th, 28th and 29th of March, can be viewed here). Most of the imaging I was doing yesterday was of coin lots. Here some pictures…
This is lot 248 – a seven image gallery for you to look at
This is lot 249 – a four image gallery.
From here until lot 124 we are looking at hi-res scans. Although I produced my usual three-image galleries for these coins with on exception I am sharing only the main image.
The exception – this New Zealand florin from 1934, where I choose to show the close-ups as well.
Lot 124 – the last of the scansLot 108 – the packaging indicated that three of these coins were special, so I did close ups as well as the main images
The close ups
Lot 107 – this time the packaging suggested that two of the coins deserved special attention, so they got it.
The close ups.
Lot 222Lot 223. This horrible plastic tub did not have a lid, so I rehoused the lot in a nice wooden box with a fully functioning lid (I did a ‘meringue’ style test on it, turning it upside down with the coins inside, making sure that it was not too high above a flat, clear surface when I did so).Lot 224.
LINKS
Most of these links are science related, so to clear the decks I shall start with the exception. This comes courtesy of Skwawkbox, and is a devastating indictment of Theresa May and her ‘sweetheart deal’ with Surrey County Council. I agree with the Skwawkbox assessment that this should be considered as resignation matter. As another blogger, Mike Sivier, put it when commenting on this same issue: “a turd by any other name would smell as faecal and this one sgtinks of big fat lie”. To read the Skwawbox piece click here.
SCIENCE 1: FROM LIVESCIENCE
Two very different pieces from the same source here. The first deals with small things (specifically spiders), the second with something very large (a nebula).
Wolf spiders having threesomes (yes, you read that right). Female wolf spiders are noted for eating their mates after copulation, and it may be that if two males tackle the same female there is more chance of one of them not being cannibalised. For the full story please click on the image below:
This piece is about the discovery of a huge new nebula and the attendant mystery of what its light source might be. For the full story click on the image below:
SCIENCE 2: WEIT (WITH AN ASSIST FROM YOU TUBE)
It is no great secret that I am a huge fan both of Jerry Coyne’s books (Why Evolution is True and Faith Versus Fact) and of the associated blog, whyevolutionistrue. Thus I am delighted to share with you the fact that a video series on chapter one of Why Evolution Is True is now being created. Episodes 1-3 are available to watch (and highly recommended by this blogger!), and according to WEIT’s own pieceabout the series there are two more episodes to come (yay!). I have embedded the videos below (they run in sequence) – enjoy!
This post is my response to Richard Murphy of Tax Research UK’s challenge to come up with a dream cabinet. I do not quite have a full cabinet here but I do have names, positions and explanations and/ or justifications for all my choices. I will start by listing the names and positions, and will then go into a little more detail in the next section about my reasons.
THE SELECTIONS
These are the positions I have managed to fill:
Prime Minister – Debbie Abrahams
Deputy Prime Minister – Angela Rayner
Chancellor of the Exchequer – Richard Murphy
Home Secretary – Kerry-Anne Mendoza
Foreign Secretary – Clive Lewis
Business Secretary – Rebecca Long-Bailey
Health Secretary – Jo Rust
Environment – Caroline Lucas
Transport – Thomas Sutcliffe
Neurodiversity Minister – Paddy-Joe Moran (askpergers.wordpress.com)
Education Secretary – Michael Rosen
Arts – Anna Bohlin
Sports – Elizabeth Ammon (@legsidelizzy)
Scottish Secretary – Mhairi Black
Disabilities – Paula Peters (DPAC)
Science – Patricia Fara
Work and Pensions – Mike Sivier
Women and Equality – Kate Osamor
Welsh Secretary – Leanne Wood
Defence – Emily Thornberry
Housing and Planning – Sian Berry
We now move on to the the….
EXPLANATIONS/ JUSTIFICATIONS
I will take each position in the order in which they appear above:
Prime Minister – Debbie Abrahams
Debbie Abrahams has impressed me ever since she entered the shadow cabinet to the extent that I was determined to put her in a top position, and in the end I opted for the top position for her.
Deputy Prime Minister – Angela Rayner
Another who has been consistently impressive since her promotion to the front bench. From what I read of her performance on Question time when she had to contend with three very right wing fellow panelists, a Liberal Democrat and the mloderator, Mr Arch-Establishment Dimbleby (I was not able to watch for myself as I refuse to let the BBC have any of my money) she seems to have done a fine job of further underlining her credentials.
Chancellor of the Exchequer – Richard Murphy
We need his kind of economic vision as a matter of urgency, and how better to get it and than have the man himself as chancellor of the exchequer.
Home Secretary – Kerry-Anne Mendoza
Editor of The Canary and author of many splendid articles. I am sufficiently impressed by what I have seen of her that I have no doubts about putting her straight into one of the four so-called “great offices of state”.
Foreign Secretary – Clive Lewis
He was always going to feature somewhere in my dream cabinet, and I have decided that this is the right role for him.
Business Secretary – Rebecca Long-Bailey
Someone else who has said a lot of the right things since joining the front bench.
Health Secretary – Jo Rust
The Labour Party candidate for Northwest Norfolk (my constituency) at the last general election, active in many roles and a passionate supporter of the NHS. Exactly the right kind of person to take on the formidable task of repairing the ruin caused by the likes of Lansley and Hunt.
Environment – Caroline Lucas
I want environmental policy in the hands of someone who is committed to protecting the environment, and to me no one ticks that box more definitively than Ms Lucas.
Transport – Thomas Sutcliffe
I am aware that it is always risky for selectors to pick themselves, but I believe I can justify this one. I have a lifetime’s knowledge of and commitment to public transport. Although I am creator of a London transport themed website, London would actually be at the back of the queue for attention from me is at it is less badly off transport-wise than the rest of the country.
Neurodiversity Minister – Paddy-Joe Moran
Paddy-Joe is autistic, the author of several books about autism and also writes the askpergersblog. Having decided to revive the idea of this post (see here for more details) it was a question of who to select for it. I wanted my Neurodiversity Minister to be neurodiverse themselves and in the end I went for Paddy-Joe.
Education Secretary – Michael Rosen
He would bring a lifetime’s knowledge and passionate commitment to the post. Education in this country would improve massively with Michael Rosen in this role.
Arts – Anna Bohlin
I do not know whether we could persuade her to come over from Sweden, but I am sure that she would be excellent in this role and would work well with her cabinet colleagues. For more details about her consult her blog.
Sports – Elizabeth Ammon
Also known by hew twitter handle – legsidelizzy. In addition to her cricket writing and commentaries she has made some very sound political points.
Scottish Secretary – Mhairi Black
Always assuming Scotland have not yet declared indepence, I would want Mhairi Black, who is the youngest but also one of the most impressive MPs currently in the house, in my cabinet, and this would seem the ideal role for her.
Disabilities – Paula Peters
I have gone for someone who is disabled and heavily involved in DPAC (Disabled People Against Cuts) for this important role.
Science – Patricia Fara
Author of a book on the history of science, a scientist herself and an impressive speaker (I have heard her give a talk here in King’s Lynn). She got the nod ahead of Brian Cox because I decided that I wanted a woman in charge of science policy.
Work and Pensions – Mike Sivier
Author of theVox Politicalblog, carer and very knowledgeable about the misdeeds of the DWP under the Tories he would be an excellent person to undertake the task of putting this area back on track.
Women and Equality – Kate Osamor
Like several of my other choices she has impressed ever since taking her place on the front bench, and she would be well suited to this role.
Welsh Secretary – Leanne Wood
Occasionally sounds too excitable for her own good, but says a lot of good things, and I believe would do them in this role.
Defence – Emily Thornberry
As shadow defence secretary (before being moved to shadow foreign secretary) she was quite impressive.
Housing and Planning – Sian Berry
She ran an excellent campaign for Mayor of London which deserved better reward than third place (in particular, it was a travesty that she ended up behind Goldsmith after he ran such a disgraceful campaign, but also for my money Khan could have had no complaints had she won outright). This is a position I would definitely want in the hands of someone thoroughly committed to protecting the environment. To reuse a remark I originally made as a comment in response to one of Anna’s posts:
Preservation of nature needs to be at the heart of planning decisions, not an optional (and often despised) extra. Your battle in Trosa is a battle for all of us everywhere.
PHOTOGRAPHS
After all that text here are some photographs for a bit of light relief…
The first seven pictures are from yesterday – this is the East Rudham (my parents’ village) egg shop
Starting with this one my remaining pictures are from today.
The real answer, as the organisation We Own It have pointed is a fully publicly owned and controlled railway system, but this is an interesting development regarding the worst rail operator in the country…
The badly managed and strike prone Southern Railway contract is to be investigated by Parliament’s financial watchdog, the National Audit Office.
After months if not a years of misery for commuters caused by failing services and strike action over safety the NAO has quietly decided to investigate the Department of Transport’s handling of the contract alongside another investigation into the modernisation of Thameslink services. Both are major commuter services into the capital and both are owner by Govia, the country’s biggest privatised train operator.
The decision by the NAO has been quietly slipped out on its website as an update to the Thameslink investigation without an official announcement. Such a move is bound to cause some consternation for transport secretary, Chris Grayling, and his officials.
Publication of the report due this summer will trigger…
Some stuff about putting pressure on MPs, some photographs and some general links.
INTRODUCTION
As well as the stuff relating to Sir Henry Bellingham, MP for Northwest Norfolk and therefore my local MP I have a few other links and of course a selection of photographs. Also before I move into the main body of the post I start with…
ERRATUM
In my last post but oneI described one the birds I had photographed as a long-tailed tit, when it was actually a pied wagtail. I have as those following the link will note made the correction to the original post, but I am not going to settle for the blogging equivalent of a correction notice in 6pt type at the bottom of page 27!
TACKLING THE MP 1: AN UNSATISFACTORY RESPONSE
I recently contacted my MP as part of a campaign brought to my attention by Alex Runswick of Unlock Democracy. Here is Sir Henry’s utterly predictable and deeply unsatisfactory response to my message about Propotional Representation:
Thank you for contacting me about Proportional Representation (PR).
I am afraid that I do not agree with your views on PR, and fully support First Past the Post (FPTP). This tried and tested system ensures stability and clear governance, preventing disproportionate influence by minority parties with minimal public support, who typically end up holding the balance of power in PR systems.
The British people were clear on this matter in 2011. While the Early Day Motion suggests that the referendum is not relevant, it is clear that the verdict was not only against the Alternative Vote system, but in favour of FPTP. The system is clearly well established and understood by voters, and also provides a very clear link between constituents and their representatives in Parliament.
More often than not, FPTP results in a Government with a working majority in Parliament, making decisive government possible. It allows the formation of a clear opposition that can provide an alternative to, and a check on, the Government of the day. The Government therefore has no plans to change the voting system for elections to the House of Commons.
I note that EDM 591 endorses the principle of votes that count equally. This is exactly what is happening through the Boundary Review, which will equalise the size of constituencies. As it stands, some constituencies have twice as many electors as others, and this cannot be right.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.
Every Best Wish
Henry Bellingham
Sir Henry Bellingham MP for North West Norfolk House of Commons London SW1A 0AA
The reference to the 2011 referendum is particularly annoying, since the system on offer as an alternative was very nearly as flawed as FPTP. Also in 2011 we had not had the farce of the 2015 General Election which saw a party in receiving the votes of 24% of the electorate enabled to form a so-called “majority government”.
TACKLING THE MP 2: A BUS SERVICES BILL
The Better Transport Campaignare seeking to get people to contact their MPs to gain support for a strong Bus Services Bill. For more details of what this is all about and if applicable to contact your MP (as I have already done, though not in my case with any real hope let alone expectation of support) please click the screenshot below:
PHOTOGRAPHS
Today was a nice sunny afternoon…
OTHER LINKS
Rationalising the Universe have put up an excellent post titled Quantum Numbers. To see the full post click on the diagram illustrating the shapes of electron orbitals that I have included below as a sample:
Ficitional newsreader Jonathan Pie provides a pungent take on the Trump inauguration (be warned there is some seriously strong language):
Finally, to end on light note, here is a link to a Guardian quiz entitled “what is your travel identity?”. When I did it it told me based on my answers that I always followed trends and sought to be cool. Anyone familiar with either me or this blog will realise that this assessment is further off beam than a faulty Trident!
The Tories, without shame, claim they’re the pro-women party because of the fact of their two female prime ministers. Right…
They’veknown for yearsthat their policies have a vastly disproportionateeffect on women – and that has never stopped or moderated their actions. They’ve evenrefused to publish impact assessments on the extent of the damage. In spite of the willingness of media mouthpieces to talk about the issue with deadpan face, it is, beyond doubt, pure posturing and snake-oil.
Jeremy Corbyn started his leadership of the Labour party by appointing the first-ever majority-female Shadow Cabinet and has continued to strengthen the position of women on the Labour front benches – and his party’s victory on Friday shows even more clearly that Labour is the real party that promotes and cares about women.
Stalking is not, of course, only suffered by women – but it isprimarilywomen who are…
I have no pictures to share currently, but several important links which seem to me to be related.
A THUNDERCLAP AND A BYELECTION
Starting with the second, the result of the Richmond Park Byelection is in, and Sarah Olney of the Liberal Democrats has beaten the nominally ‘Independent’ but actually Tory Zac Goldsmith. The Tories in their arrogant certainty that Goldsmith would retain the seat and could then be persuaded to retake the Tory whip did not field a candidate against him. UKIP also declined to stand against Mr Goldsmith. On the other side the Green party did not field a candidate, while although Labour did have a candidate (transport expert Christian Wolmar) they ran a very low key campaign.
Since none of the candidates standing in this election supported the expansion of Heathrow Airport (the issue that triggered Mr Goldsmith’s resignation) this election was not about that. Nor in a constituency where over 70% of people voted to remain was it about Brexit.
This vote has come about because many Tory voters were not enthused by the prospect of voting for an ‘Independent’ Zac Goldsmith, and by way of being a backdated punishment for the appalling campaign Mr Goldsmith ran in the London mayoral election.
I have two links for you to get more detail about this byelection:
I have signed up to support the 24 Hours of Reality thunderclap the message of which is “We have a climate agreement – now it is time for bold action“. To be part of a thunderclap yopu need to have an account with at least one out of facebook, twitter and/ or tumblr. The thunderclap brings together all the connections of everyone who takes part. I would urge everyone who can to support this thunderclap.
A variety of things that have come to my attention recently.
INTRODUCTION
This post is about a mixture of things from the last few days, hence the title.
CHAMPIONSHIPS AND CONTRIVANCES REVSITED
Some of you may remember that I put this post up on Thursday, with Somerset having secured an emphatic win in their game and Middlesex and Yorkshire going head to head in theirs. Sadly, when I checked what was going on on Friday afternoon, Lyth and Lees (the two opening batsmen, neither with any sort of status as bowlers) were purveying out-and-out filth for Yorkshire to help Middlesex set an agreed target. Yorkshire paid for accepting such an arrangement when their batting subsequently collapsed handing the title to Middlesex. Sadly, Somerset were innocent victims of this scam by Middlesex and Yorkshire, being robbed of would have been their first ever county championship not by good cricket but by dirty back room dealings.
BEES AND PARKS
This refers to two important issues that came up this weekend. Firstly, Greenpeace have exposed Bayer and Syngenta as having covered up evidence that their products were hugely damaging to bees. Greenpeace’s release can be viewed here, and here is a copy of their accompanying picture:
The parks part of the title of this section refers to an effort by 38 Degrees to secure better protection for our parklands. Living in King’s Lynn at this time gives this a particular resonance for me, so:
Britain’s parks are at risk. There’s no legal responsibility to look after them and squeezed budgets mean our local green spaces – from playgrounds, to the park you relax in on your lunch break – don’t have the money they need. We could end up being forced to pay to use our parks – or lose them altogether.
A group of MPs are looking into the crisis right now. They’re thinking of making protecting parks a legal requirement, and they’ll advise the government on what to do. A huge petition, signed by all of us, will prove how much we love our parks. It could convince the MPs to come up with a water-tight plan for protecting them.
Can you sign the petition now and demand that looking after our parks is made a legal requirement by the government? It only takes 30 seconds to add your name: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/save-our-parks
Here are some pictures of my own, including a few from King’s Lynn’s own parkland areas:
LABOUR LEADERSHIP ELECTION
I will let these beautiful infographics culled from twitter do the talking for me on this one:
SOME AUTISM RELATED STUFF
As NAS West Norfolk Branch Secretary and as someone who is #ActuallyAutistic I am always glad to share really excellent autism related content, and I have two absolute gems for you:
Finally to end this section, as regular readers will know one of the activities I am involved in via NAS West Norfolk is Musical Keys, and this is an advert they have recently produced:
THE FINISHING TOUCHES
One of my favourite blogs is that of singer Charlotte Hoather, who has just started at the Royal College of Music in London. Her post about her first week there can be viewed here.
To end this post I give you a series of pictures starring a snail…
This is the original picture that I took.This is cropped but not otherwise edited.This is the snail after my normal editing routine.This is a colour-boosted version.This version has the contrast enhanced.Finally, this version has had the colour boosted and the contrast enhanced.
A Southern Railway train: often overcrowded even if it runs. Pic Credit:BBC 
aspiblog 