Archive for August, 2008

Trust the people

29 August, 2008 at 11:03 pm · Filed under Campaigns ·Tagged , , , , , ,

My Guardian blog on direct democracy has produced some interesting comments.

One expresses the understandable fear that if we submit the top 6 popular petitions as legislation, we’ll get “pro-hanging, anti-abortion, leave the EU, probably something about immigration, independence for Scotland…and free ice cream for everyone: at which point they’re all voted down by MPs (apart from that last one)“.

Well, the next best proxy for the petitions from a People’s Bills process is the Downing Street petitions website. I took a look just now. The top 10 petitions in terms of number of signatures currently are:

*Allow the Red Arrows to Fly at the 2012 Olympics

*instruct water companies to return to charging churches as charities rather than as business premises.

*give all Ex Gurkha soldiers and their families who have served our country British citizenship on leaving the service.

*Remove the unfair and unjust retrospective Vehicle Execise Duty levy (back to 2001 year vehicles) as announced in the Budget on 12/3/08

*Stop ISP’s from breaching customers privacy via advertising technologies.

*Save Bletchley Park

*Cut VAT on 100% fruit juices and smoothies to the minimum 5% allowed by EU law to encourage shoppers to take the healthier option and achieve their ‘five a day.

*ensure there is a Lasting Legacy for Shooting Sports in the UK by moving the venue away from the Woolwich Barracks.

*Reverse Gov’t Plans and Save Jodrell Bank Observatory From Closure

*reduce the tax on petrol and diesel by 20p per litre

If you take out the four non-legislative proposals (Red Arrows, Bletchley Park, Woolwich Barracks and Jodrell Bank), then you get your 6 petitions that could spawn People’s Bills. Quite an interesting mix of propositions, certainly not what you’d get direct from UKIP or the Daily Mail.

Gladstone said that liberalism is ‘trust of the people, tempered by prudence’. I realise prudence is a bit of a dirty word, thanks to Gordon Brown. But trust of the people could be an idea whose time has come.

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Time for the tram

29 August, 2008 at 8:04 pm · Filed under Going green ·Tagged , ,

Lib Dem GLA member Caroline Pidgeon is pressing Mayor Boris not to abandon plans for a cross-river tram.

Mayor Ken was initially keen on the plans - which would have a north-south tram route linking Peckham to Camden Town – but recently it seems to have been down-played. Camden wasn’t as keen on the scheme as councils south of the river, as they were worrying about the traffic impacts on Camden Town.

I think the tram could work, but I’d like to see TfL consider linking it to Islington if Camden’s not keen. There used to be a tram route down the Holloway Road: and a tramlink from Kings Cross to the Emirates, for example, could make sense a century on.

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Eating out

29 August, 2008 at 6:10 pm · Filed under Consumer ·Tagged , ,

The website Trusted Places has published its list of the Five Most Socially Conscious Restaurants in London (well, four restaurants and a ‘alternative lifestyles’ market).

Of the restaurants, all are in this neck of the woods: two in Kings Cross (Acorn House and Konstam); award-winning organic pub, the Duke of Cambridge, just down the road; and Jamie Oliver’s restaurant Fifteen.

Bizarrely, the Trusted Places website describes Fifteen as being in Barnsbury. It’s in Hackney.

Meanwhile the Islington Gazette has published its own awards for the best restaurants in the borough, including the Marquess Tavern in Canonbury, Fig & Olive on Upper Street and the Sacre Coeur on Theberton Street.

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49er

28 August, 2008 at 5:28 pm · Filed under Movies, media, music & culture

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According to Iain Dale’s diary, I’ve made it into the top 50 Lib Dem blogs voted for by readers of ‘Total Politics’ – at number 49!

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Return of repossessions

28 August, 2008 at 1:53 pm · Filed under Consumer, Liberal Democrats ·Tagged , , ,

Party conferences are memorable for all sorts of reasons.

I’ll always associate the Harrogate conference of September 1992 with ‘black Wednesday’. The day interest rates went through the roof, I was worried about losing mine. I’d moved to Islington earlier that year and we had a big mortgage to support. A group of us abandoned plans for a restaurant meal and contemplated life in negative equity over jacket potatoes instead. There was a chill in the air that was nothing to do with the north Yorkshire weather.

Now with falling house prices, but rising housing costs, it’s happening again. Last year there were more repossessions than for 15 years. So more families are facing the horror of losing their homes – and joining the long queue for affordable rented housing.

Islington’s housing market is relatively buoyant – in fact I think a modest fall in prices here relative to other areas would be a good thing. House prices are over-inflated and too many people are priced out of ever having a home. But there’s a big difference between a soft landing and a crash.

So while estate agents and developers try to talk up the market, it’s good to see that at this year’s Lib Dem conference, Vince Cable will be setting out plans for people who are getting left behind.

It’s not about subsidising mortgages, but practical measures to help people stay in their homes with help from housing associations; and help councils get more social housing too.

Once again Vince is providing excellent free advice to the Government: but is Labour listening? Unlikely given the complacency of Ministers reported by the FT…..

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Maine chance for direct democracy

28 August, 2008 at 1:09 pm · Filed under Liberal Democrats ·Tagged , , , ,

Next month I’m off to Bournemouth for Lib Dem party conference. One of the many things I like about our conferences is that the members who attend really make policy – it’s not just a rally. So it’s appropriate that the very first motion for debate is all about improving direct democracy at national level.

Two of the most interesting proposals are for People’s Bills and a People’s veto.

With People’s Bills, the idea is to let the voters set the agenda. The six legislative proposals that received the most petition signatures from registered voters in any given year would be guaranteed a second reading debate in the House of Commons. It doesn’t mean the law would necessarily get passed – that responsibility would still sit with MPs – but it does mean that ideas can get a real chance to become law even if they are not on the Government’s legislative programme.

What’s more if Government legislation is unpopular, citizens could apply a People’s Veto. If one million registered voters petitioned against an Act within 60 days of it being passed, a referendum
would have to be held on whether or not to repeal it.

This process might not have stopped the Iraq War (no legislation there) – but it could potentially have reversed such controversial measures as the poll tax or the Dangerous Dogs act, Section 28 or the hunting ban. And it could ensure a real public debate on issues like nuclear power, ID cards, or a third runway at Heathrow.

Even if the results in terms of legislation implemented are not dramatically different, the impact on the process of having people – and politicians – aware that they can really influence the agenda between elections could be revolutionary.

A similar process already works in the US state of Maine. Their state motto is Dirigo (I lead). Where they lead, perhaps we should follow.

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Guardian blog 28 August

28 August, 2008 at 12:48 pm · Filed under Campaigns

My latest Guardian blog – covering thoughts on GCSE results, direct democracy and housing policy – is now online. And I’ll be posting related items on this blog shortly.

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Planning ahead

28 August, 2008 at 8:51 am · Filed under Going green, Neighbourhood ·Tagged , ,

Most of us care about planning policy – even if we don’t know it at the time.

I was door-knocking in Canonbury the other day and called on an eminent economist. “Aha, I’m glad you’ve called, there’s something very important I want to ask your views on“; so in I went, frantically invoking the spirit of Vince and dredging key policies from the memory bank. And then it turned out to be about a nearby planning application. Not interest rates, but lots of interest. I shouldn’t have been surprised.

Planning applications rouse strong passions. Some unite – or divide – whole neighbourhoods. Others may only involve one or two people, but still have such a lasting impact – after all, it’s your home, your business, your life.

A lot of Islington people take an active interest in local planning issues, but many more, understandably, don’t have much to do with the planning process until they’re concerned about a specific application. And suddenly you can find that ‘policy’ is against you.

The planning policy framewok is overhauled about once a decade – and Islington’s is being looked at now. It has to go through several stages of consultation and the latest has gone live here.

There are sections on housing, open spaces, environment, jobs, tall buildings, shops and transport, among others. A lot of the planning rules are set by central Government, or the London Plan, but there are still some areas where Islington can make its own policy.

Various interest groups from big developers to the local Friends of the Earth will no doubt have their say.

I’d encourage individuals to register, take a look, make comments, and suggest any changes. More than your loft conversion may be at stake….

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Hot under the collar?

27 August, 2008 at 10:29 pm · Filed under Consumer ·Tagged

Looking back at my last two postings – one praising British Gas customer care, the next calling for a windfall tax on energy profits – it occurs to me that they do look a bit contradictory.

So has watching the Arsenal match in between caused a dramatic change of mind?

Actually I don’t think there’s a contradiction. I pay British Gas for the gas and for the homecare service, so I’m contributing to their profits. I’m not asking them to cut back on the service, but to use the proceeds in a more sustainable way.

We’re still waiting to see if the Government agree….

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Turning up the heat on the energy companies

27 August, 2008 at 9:57 pm · Filed under Campaigns, Consumer, Going green ·Tagged ,

It may be August, but we’ve just had our boiler checked for the coming year. And there’s a chill in the air as energy prices continue to rise.

This week the Sunday Express was even offering ‘have your gas bill paid’ as a competition prize.

We need a fairer deal for energy customers. A cross-party campaign organised by the Local Government Association is urging the Government to take more than £500M from the record profits of the six biggest energy companies to invest in a massive scheme to insulate half of all homes in England and Wales. In this first half of 2008 BP made a £6.7billion in profit – up 23%.

The Local Government Association hopes that the windfall tax would lift 500,000 people out of fuel poverty, knock £200 a year off the energy bills of ten million households, and cut domestic carbon emissions by 20%.

And I want local Labour MP Emily Thornberry to join me in backing the plan to raise £500 million from energy companies to fund a massive programme of home insulation.

Many Islington households are already paying over the odds for heating, while energy companies have benefited from a huge £9bn windfall: yet the Government does little or nothing to help. It’s desperately unfair.

A windfall tax on energy profits, to pay for energy insulation, would fight fuel poverty, improve homes and help tackle climate change.

All Labour offer is giving a few people a few extra pounds in the winter fuel allowance. We need real action from the Government now so that local residents don’t suffer more when winter comes.

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