Thursday, May 21, 2009
Voted, and what came with the ballot paper.
The postal ballot paper came this morning (Thursday 21st) and is already (as of 12.30) back completed at Civic Offices. It is possible that the party is massively in the lead in the South-East Euro-Elections at this point. The long ballot paper looks quite tatty actually, black on yellow in this case, and the party symbols are rather similar looking blobs. The Tory Tree without the colour coding is frankly pathetic. Once you find it the Labour Rose looks like a rose if you really study it for a minute, but you have to find Labour first before you realise that the symbol is for Labour and of course it is The Labour so it is down amongst the Ts party-wise.
The Bird of Liberty does stand out from most of the others and may be a familiar enough sight to attract the eye for many to where our party is listed.
The plum positions of course for the donkey vote are BNP (top spot) and UKIP (bottom spot). UKIP symbol probably the most distinctive again.
For my bit of MK the ballot paper arrived in the same post as a LibDem Euro-election leaflet and a couple of days after a FOCUS went out with the Euro-Election back page. Another booster was that the news on TV as I opened the envelope was of the Gurkha decision (hurrah). Downer of course is that the other news on TV was of the Rennard resignation. Sad day to pick for such a move, the day when postal ballots arrive on doorsteps.
Also in the same post a letter from MK Council announcing the rollout of the new Green Waste collection arrangements. It is possible that some residents will recall this is the fruit of years of work by MK LibDems in control of the relevant cabinet positions.
Briefly Milton Keynes will now have weekly collections of:
1 General waste in black sacks
2 Recyclable dry waste in pink sacks
3 Domestic food waste in new tight-seal containers, which will deter rats when put out
4 Green garden waste in green wheely bins
The domestic food waste will be treated as a raw material for agricultural products.
Let's see how all that works out!
Oh and Ryan the cheque will be in the post this evening.
The Bird of Liberty does stand out from most of the others and may be a familiar enough sight to attract the eye for many to where our party is listed.
The plum positions of course for the donkey vote are BNP (top spot) and UKIP (bottom spot). UKIP symbol probably the most distinctive again.
For my bit of MK the ballot paper arrived in the same post as a LibDem Euro-election leaflet and a couple of days after a FOCUS went out with the Euro-Election back page. Another booster was that the news on TV as I opened the envelope was of the Gurkha decision (hurrah). Downer of course is that the other news on TV was of the Rennard resignation. Sad day to pick for such a move, the day when postal ballots arrive on doorsteps.
Also in the same post a letter from MK Council announcing the rollout of the new Green Waste collection arrangements. It is possible that some residents will recall this is the fruit of years of work by MK LibDems in control of the relevant cabinet positions.
Briefly Milton Keynes will now have weekly collections of:
1 General waste in black sacks
2 Recyclable dry waste in pink sacks
3 Domestic food waste in new tight-seal containers, which will deter rats when put out
4 Green garden waste in green wheely bins
The domestic food waste will be treated as a raw material for agricultural products.
Let's see how all that works out!
Oh and Ryan the cheque will be in the post this evening.
Labels: Chris Rennard, euro elections, Milton Keynes, recycling, voting
Comments:
Post a Comment
Friday, April 24, 2009
Prisons and Europe
Prisons alas are likely to be in the political news over the next decade. So good news that the Government is apparently NOT going ahead with plans for three 2500-place Titan prisons.
The experience of the French (who built a 3600-place prison) suggest this is the right decision – according to HM Inspector of Prisons Ann Owers the verdict of French Ministry of Justice on such super-prisons is very clear – 'Never Again'.
However the Government still seems committed to spending something like £2.3 thousand million on 10,000 extra prison places with five new Prisons on the stocks – and at 1500 places per prison these are still pretty massive developments. It seems that CCTV will be an important part of ‘cost-saving’ in running such prisons, despite the fact that personal contact between prisoners and staff is a vital part of any genuine rehabilitation process.
This discussion in the Quaker news-sheet ‘Around Europe’ summarises a number of important aspects of the debate.
It concludes:
By the way, can I recommend ‘Around Europe’ as a general information source for LibDems? Have a look at the matters dealt with in the archives from the links on this page. For example the December 2008 issue looked at Women’s health and imprisonment in Europe.
And if you want to keep an eye on the questions some concerned citizens might put to our EuroCandidates, have a look at the QCEA Euro-Election page.
The experience of the French (who built a 3600-place prison) suggest this is the right decision – according to HM Inspector of Prisons Ann Owers the verdict of French Ministry of Justice on such super-prisons is very clear – 'Never Again'.
However the Government still seems committed to spending something like £2.3 thousand million on 10,000 extra prison places with five new Prisons on the stocks – and at 1500 places per prison these are still pretty massive developments. It seems that CCTV will be an important part of ‘cost-saving’ in running such prisons, despite the fact that personal contact between prisoners and staff is a vital part of any genuine rehabilitation process.
This discussion in the Quaker news-sheet ‘Around Europe’ summarises a number of important aspects of the debate.
It concludes:
In July 2007, shortly after becoming Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor, Jack Straw himself admitted that ‘the government would not be able to build its way out of the prisons’ crisis’.
Why then are these prisons being built? Why are the predictions of increases in future prison
populations being treated as a definite rather than as an opportunity to heed a warning, take action and develop new strategies for dealing with offenders? The current strategy of prison expansion is no strategy at all, rather a gigantic mistake.
By the way, can I recommend ‘Around Europe’ as a general information source for LibDems? Have a look at the matters dealt with in the archives from the links on this page. For example the December 2008 issue looked at Women’s health and imprisonment in Europe.
And if you want to keep an eye on the questions some concerned citizens might put to our EuroCandidates, have a look at the QCEA Euro-Election page.
Labels: euro elections, prisons
Comments:
Post a Comment
