Friday 25 February 2011

AV (again)


Do you think this is what he meant to say?

Thursday 24 February 2011

Fairer votes: the dishonesty of the No campaign

The Independent today reveals the depths to which the 'No' campaign is prepared to sink in trying to prevent a fairer voting system for Britain.

A series of advertisements has been launched by the 'No' campaign, suggesting that if the move to fairer votes is defeated, there will be more kit for soldiers serving overseas, more equipment for babies in hospital, and all sorts of other extra public spending.

The trouble is, it's completely untrue.

The 'No' campaign claims that moving to a fairer voting system will cost£250 million. But of that £250 million, £82 million is the cost of the referendum itself. If that's the cost of the referendum, it will have been spent whether people vote Yes or No.

And £150 million is apparently for 'electronic counting machines'. Yet nobody has said these would be needed. According to the Financial Times, the independent Electoral Commission hasn't even considered them. And they're not required in Australia, which has used AV for a very long time.

The tactic of the 'No to AV' campaign seems to be to invent some silly and untrue figures and hope the voters will believe them. Voting 'Yes' to fairer votes on 5 May, then, would appear to be an excellent way of demonstrating that we're not as gullible as the 'No' campaign believes we are.

Oh, and just a final thought. If David Cameron doesn't believe in the AV system, shouldn't he step down as Conservative Party leader in favour of David Davis, who would have been Tory leader if the Conservatives used First Past The Post for their own elections?

Tuesday 22 February 2011

Stagecoach starts packing up its things

So Stagecoach has taken its cue from Cambridgeshire County Council's Great Bus Cull and started to pack up its bags already. A mere week after the Cambridgeshire Conservatives took an axe to bus travel in the county, Stagecoach is de-registering a range of bus routes across Cambridgeshire.

The Stagecoach no 9 service between Ely and Cambridge will stop earlier in the evenings.

There will be reduced services to Milton (Citi 2 and Citi 4); Duxford and Whittlesford will no longer be served by the Citi 7; Cambridge will lose the City Circle; there will be reduced services on the 12a to Newmarket, the 15 to Swavesey, and into Cambridge from Longstowe and Comberton in the evenings.

The 31a school journeys from Trumpington and Netherhall School will cease to be operated by Stagecoach. The 30 from Ramsay to Huntingdon will cease to operate in the evenings and on Sundays, and the 45 from St Ives to Huntingdon in the evenings.

And that's just for starters. Woe betide you if you live in Cambridgeshire and don't drive.

A fairer, more democratic, greener, liberal country

Monday 14 February 2011

Climate change: A Summary of the Science

Someone's just pointed me to this summary from the Royal Society. It's worth reading in full, as it's a useful outline of where there is broad agreement on the state of scientific knowledge about climate change, but also where there are uncertainties. But if you don't have that luxury here's the summary at the end:
"There is strong evidence that changes in greenhouse gas concentrations due to human activity are the dominant cause of the global warming that has taken place over the last half century. This warming trend is expected to continue as are changes in precipitation over the long term in many regions. Further and more rapid increases in sea level are likely which will have profound implications for coastal communities and ecosystems.

It is not possible to determine exactly how much the Earth will warm or exactly how the climate will change in the future, but careful estimates of potential changes and associated uncertainties have been made. Scientists continue to work to narrow these areas of uncertainty. Uncertainty can work both ways, since the changes and their impacts may be either smaller or larger than those projected.

Like many important decisions, policy choices about climate change have to be made in the absence of perfect knowledge. Even if the remaining uncertainties were substantially resolved, the wide variety of interests, cultures and beliefs in society would make consensus about such choices difficult to achieve. However, the potential impacts of climate change are sufficiently serious that important decisions will need to be made. Climate science – including the substantial body of knowledge that is already well established, and the results of future research – is the essential basis for future climate projections and planning, and must be a vital component of public reasoning in this complex and challenging area."
The Royal Society is a Fellowship of the world's most eminent scientists and is the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence.

Saturday 5 February 2011

In case we forget

It's worth just reminding ourselves occasionally of the complete and utter mess in which Labour left the public finances when they were kicked out of office last year.

This year we'll be spending over £43bn just on the interest on our debts. That’s £830m per week. Just under £119m a day. For that money, we could
- build a new primary school every hour
- buy a new Chinook helicopter every day
- take 11 million people out of paying income tax
- triple the number of doctors in our hospitals.

Tuesday 1 February 2011

Ah, luxury ...

As a non-driver, I know how valuable a service our local buses provide, especially out here in the Fens. Like many other residents, I rely on them to go shopping, to the hospital, to leisure events (even though they stop too early in the evenings and I have to get a cab back - not cheap!) and for all the other aspects of life that we take for granted.

I was on a bus yesterday to get to March and back for a meeting. I'll need a bus to get to my Body Balance class in Ely later this week, a meeting on Thursday evening, and next week for my dental check-up and physiotherapy appointment. Without the buses, I'd be marooned here in our village; and I'm reasonably young (well, 50+ if the truth be told, but not yet drawing my pension) and healthy, and have my family here at home. I dread to imagine what life would be like if I were 70+ or 80+ with no car and no family, and no bus service either.

I'd always assumed that being able to get from place to place was a fairly fundamental part of life, and that as not everyone was able to drive a car - whether, like me, because they've never passed their test, or through ill health, lack of financial resources, or whatever other reason - ensuring provision of public transport was a basic duty of the powers that be.

Apparently I'm wrong. Fenland's lovable blogger Cllr Steve Tierney has gone on the record at the Cambs Times saying that buses are 'a luxury we can no longer afford'. I somehow doubt that Cambridgeshire's residents see them in the same light.

As part of drawing up its budget for the forthcoming year, Cambridgeshire County Council consulted a number of residents about their priorities. Not surprisingly, bus services came out in the top three. And yet, despite the obvious public support for ensuring people can get out and about, the Conservative-controlled county council is about to axe all support for all bus services across the county over the course of the next four years. Any route that can't turn a profit - and that's most of them out here in the countryside - will go to the wall.

Do you agree with Mr Tierney that it's a 'luxury' for people to be able to get out and about if they haven't got a car? Or, as I suspect, do you think public transport is a little more important than that?

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