My predictions for 2012

My predictions for 2012 are;

 

1.    Hungry will default. Europe can afford this but expect more turmoil.

 

2.    The Euro will survive against all odds. They will do whatever they can in the end to save the currency against all sense.

 

3.    Iran will have its nuclear installations bombed by the United States, If they don't then Israel will.

 

4.    Again No Lib Dem MP's will walk the floor and join Labour

 

5.    Again, Bracknell Town centre will still not have the new town centre it so needs.

 

6.    No new guitar bands will have a number one record. A reflection on the lack of promotion of guitar bands and investment by record companies in general instead favouring individual artists and TV program winners.

 

7.    Ed Milliand will still be leader. Yes I know a big risk with that prediction.

 

8.    2012 Olympics will be a massive success and transport problems won't be all that bad.

 

9.    England will go out in the Quarter finals of the Euros with only 10 men left in the match.

 

10. Barack Obama will win the US election and Sarkozy will only just win the French presidential elections.

 

Right now sit back and watch 6 out of 10 of these come true.

How did I do in last year’s predictions I made for 2011

 

A bit late I know but what can I say, I'm a busy man.

 

Anyway how did I do in last year's predictions I made for 2011.

 

1. Piersmorgan will win his twitter war with Lord Sugar and gain more followers on twitter. Because of his new job hosting the US talk show on CNN, replacing Larry King. Well this never seems to end, however Piersmorgan does have more followers now than Lord Sugar. So I believe I got this one right.

 

2.Labour will have more council seats than the Tories after the local elections this year. Gaining from Lib Dems and the Tories. Well the coalition did do badly in the local elections as expected. Well wrong here, Labour did gain 900 seats but the Tories did very well with most of the gains coming from the Lib Dems.

 

3.The No's will win the vote on AV - The yes campaign really needs to step up its game. Indeed and the Yes campaign never did, hence a beating of 3 to 1. Oh well there is always a next time or maybe not. Right here unfortunately.

 

4.North Korea will do something crazy, again resulting in loss of life. Well a certain leader of North Korea did die, but I'm not sure I can claim this as North Korea doing something crazy. Surprisingly there was no attacks on the South Korea Navy or bombardments of South Korea islands.

 

5. A premiership football club will go into administration. Nope, Portsmouth was in administration in 2010 so I guess this has already happened.

 

6. Ed Miliband will still be Labour leader throughout the year and will lead in the polls all year. Well mostly right, Ed is still there but in some polls he has been less popular than Nick Clegg and the Tories actually went ahead of Labour in the December polls due to David Camerons action in Europe.

 

7. No matter what happens to the AV vote. The coalition will stick together. Yep, Got a bit nasty but it's all forgotten, for now anyway.

 

8. No Lib Dem MP's will walk the floor and join Labour. Of course this is the case same again for 2012 I think.

 

9. There will not be a double dip recession in the UK. Not yet anyway, so correct for 2011. The economy is just hanging on in there.

 

10. Again, Bracknell Town centre will still not have the new town centre it so needs. Correct again, no real surprise here, same again for 2012.

 

6/10 not bad.

 

2012 predictions will of course follow.

 

London be careful what you dictate to Scotland

Westminster needs to be careful with its statement to change the legal status of a referendum. It is important and right that Scotland has the legal issues resolved in time for a referendum. But this should not be used to rush a vote through on Westminster terms.

This could fall into the SNP's hands and could be seen as London dictating to Scotland if the rules are decided at Westminster and not at Holyrood.

This move could cause a backlash and mean that Scotland breaks away from the union on a temporary upsurge in strong feelings over London pressure spurred on by the SNP.

This is very dangerous for the union and also for devolved democracy.

The SNP in the Scottish parliament has already overcome the odds in getting elected in a parliament designed to not give a majority to a single party. The Westminster parties should not underestimate the SNP or the First Minister, Alex Salmond.

We also shouldn't fear the 3 options vote as this will split the vote and will mean that the SNP is campaign for two options. A very hard position to hold.

So be careful because people are naturally rebellious when they are dictated to by those with power.

Three Conservative councillors suspended from Bracknell Forest Council

Three Conservative councillors have now been suspended from Bracknell Forest Council's Conservative group because they voted against the housing plans in November. Eight Conservative councillors in total voted against these plans, however the other 5 has not been suspended because the houses would be in the words they represent.

 

These councillors are Chas Baily, Hanworth, Michael Sargeant,Bullbrook and Shelagh Pile, Harmans Water,This was because even though there are 40 Tories on a council of 42 members the conservative leadership still felt it necessary impose a three-line whip.

 

At least these councillors voted for what they believed their electorate wanted. Yet another example of why it's so important to have some opposition members from other parties on this council.

Thousands of houses planned are due to lack of opposition

The council appear to be making moves to build thousands of house. It's another example who a lack of an opposition has led to too much power to the current Conservative group. You only have yourselves to blame because if the people of Bracknell, Crowthorne and Sandhurst continue to vote for the same councillors from the same party then this is the result. The council can push though whatever plans they want.

 

If you wish to  halt or even reduce the number of houses being planned in our area then perhaps you should join the Northern Arc Action Group http://www.narcag.co.uk/ and sign their petition.

Comment on Clarksons comment

The Bracknell Standard recently asked me about the Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson comments on the BBC One show where he said "Public sector workers who took part in the strikes should be shot adding "execute them in front of their families".

 

My reply printed in the paper was as follows;

 

Yes Clarkson should not of said it. But aren't there more important things to complain about. People say things like this all the time but they don't actually mean it. No one is going to shot anyone. 21,000 complaints, please people get a grip.

 

Don't moan that political correctness has gone mad and then phone up and complain when someone does something that is not quite PC.

 

What are your feelings on this subject?

Bracknell MP doesn't know which train line Bracknell is on

Our Bracknell MP has written in the Bracknell Standard to inform them that he welcomes plans to increase the number of carriages on train services in and out of London Paddington from Reading. Adding that "This is great news for rail passengers in the Bracknell constituency." Actually it's not great news for Bracknell at all.

Thing is the Bracknell line is from Reading to Waterloo not Paddington. It won't make any difference because users in Reading don't use this line for speed (Paddington line is much faster) but because they need to go to Waterloo. The line from Maidenhead where the Bracknell MP lives will have longer carriages however.

The biggest problems in Bracknell are frequency of trains to London (every half an hour) when more are required at both ends of rush hour. And the speed of them because it take an hour to get to London as there are no fast trains offered.

If Phillip Lee used the line from Bracknell rather than Maidenhead (where the Bracknell MP lives and which will have longer carriages) and read the detail of the train proposals perhaps he would realise how little effect this will have on our town as it won't provide an economic benefit to Bracknell directly only act to further demonstrate how Bracknell is missing out.

Read the article here

 

Do newspapers have blood on their hands?

Yesterday two of the families who had their phones hacked stated that the phone hacking stories had led to a suicide in their respective families.

There is of course no way of proving this 100 percent. But it does seem very plauseable.

The Leveson inquiry has heard from the parents of a schoolgirl murdered by a classmate in 1991 who claim press coverage of her death had contributed to their teenage son's suicide.
Margaret Watson said articles were ill-informed and inaccurate.

Former Blackburn footballer Garry Flitcroft claimed that he was persecuted by the press after he obtained an injunction preventing the Sunday People revealing details of an affair.
He said his children were teased and his father, who suffered from depression, stopped attending his games because of chanting from fans.
Flitcroft added that he believed that had contributed to his father's suicide several years later.

So I'm not sure if there is a direct link. But there is a link. Somewhere along the line the papers could have blood on their hands.

Don’t be fooled by the fuel price escalator debate

The debate and petitions calling for the for planned increases in fuel duty to be scrapped is hiding the real debate, which would otherwise be the subject of decreasing the duty on fuel prices. I suspect the government has kept Labours planned increases in duty simply because the chancellor always intended to not increase the duty but can use this debate to fed of any debate on a decrease in fuel duty.

 

I also remember that Labour did not always increase the price of duty on fuel to be fair to them. But the chancellor wants to use this opportunity to remind people that Labour would of increase the duty (when I suspect they actually wouldn't). It's just a vehicle to attack Labour and defect any tax decrease on fuel.

 

Personally I would very much support a rebate for UK haulier firms as a way of reducing the cost of transport for Britain's struggling lorry drivers and therefore business in general and with a knock on effect of holding of any further increases in food costs.

Some advice for an MP's political career

If the Prime Minster offers you the Home Secretary job. Do not under and circumstances accept it, simply politely decline.

Don't blame the Greeks

I was going to blog on the Greece referendum but events have been moving so fast that every few hours I would of had to of changed my blog.

I can't blame Greek PM George Papandreou for wanting to hold a referendum. It's his attempt to make something happen and to give the people a voice and a democratic choice in a country which has seen so much unrest and anger.

The Greek people never wanted to join the euro and were never given a choice by their political elite. Greece was able to use the power of the euro to borrow cheaply and that they did. But all this was false.

So what now. Would a government of national unity really help. I would be willing to bet it would only prove to the Greek people that the politicians are all the same.

The Greeks are playing for the mistakes of their leaders and for the control and pressure being placed on them by France and Germany for their own ends.

The sooner Greece and leave the euro the better for them because even if they are saved this time. the currency is not right for them or their economy. It never was.

Good luck Greece.

Safest place for a protest is St Pauls

This week I was asked by the Bracknell Standard what I think about the Occupy London Stock Exchange protest at St Paul's Cathedral in London.

 

My Response

 

A democracy should expect protest, and protests should not be comfortable. So I am happy for the protest to camp at St Paul's. I don't see why St Paul's had to close because these protestors are not violent.

 

Of course a better location would be the near a bank but then they would not be as safe from being moved on by the police at one of those locations.

 

So I support the reasons for this protest and I don't have an issue with its location. I don't even mind if the protesters are not there all night, don't see why that matters. what matters is the message, after all I rather suspect Jesus would be on their side and not on the side of the bankers who are protected from capitalism and are yet fundamental to it.