Monthly Archives: October 2010

Last Friday evening (Oct 29th) I was privileged to be the guest (along with my Press Officer Neelam Cartmell) of the Kashmiri community in the Midlands, at Lahore Kebabish in Derby (where, I may say, you can get an excellent … Continue reading →

We are seeing a series of interesting proposals to help combat climate change.  First of all, there are biofuels.  In the US, they are turning increasing quantities of maize into bio-ethanol, used to substitute petrol.  In South East Asia, palm … Continue reading →

(The Confederation of Family Organisations in the European Union) Dear William, Did you read this before your signed it?  Forgive my continuing frankness, but I have never heard such palpable nonsense. “Longer maternity leave represents a benefit for young mothers … Continue reading →

Mr. John Brunskill, Europe Directorate, Foreign & Commonwealth Office Dear John, I have a copy of what appears to be a standard letter from you to a member of public concerned about European issues, and I have to say that … Continue reading →

We constantly have meetings and seminars in the European parliament, advertised on tasteful and artistic fliers which pop up all over the place.  One particularly caught my eye — a seminar on EU-Libyan relations.  It was illustrated with a picture … Continue reading →

I see that David Davis has joined a cross-party list of seventy MPs who are opposing the reduction in the Winter Fuel Allowance.  Meantime I’d like to see it cut to zero, at least for middle-class and better-off folk who … Continue reading →

For some curious reason, one or two people have marked me down as “against renewable energy” – perhaps because I have campaigned vigorously for local protest groups against wind farms.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  I am just … Continue reading →

Indonesia’s refusal to allow the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior to dock last week in the nation’s largest seaport rocked the world’s most prominent environmental non-governmental organisation on its heels. For the first time ever, a sovereign nation stood up for … Continue reading →

Chief Scientific Adviser to DECC, David MacKay, wrote to Matt Ridley of the Telegraph in response to an article he had written challenging climate orthodoxy.  I was sent a copy of the letter by the office of Minister of State … Continue reading →

Yesterday, Oct 18th, I was struck by two news stories.  First of all, the UN Conference on Biodiversity in Nagoya is all doom and gloom.  They anticipate the end of life on earth as we know it in reasonably short … Continue reading →

It seems that the government has announced that under certain restricted circumstances, the Police may take into account the ethnicity of members of the public when considering whom to stop and search.  This is known in the jargon as racial … Continue reading →

Nick Clegg wants to blow several billion pounds on what he’s calling his “Fairness Premium”.  This will provide extra tuition, from a very young age, to children from poorer backgrounds, as a response to the observed phenomenon that such children … Continue reading →

Browsing through a Folio Society edition of Kipling’s poems, I came across a stanza that lit up for me in the context of the current defence cuts we’re contemplating.  I Tweeted a couple of lines, but the Twitter format didn’t … Continue reading →

This morning, I was listening (without great enthusiasm) to the BBC Radio 4 “Sunday” programme, with Edward Stourton, when I heard a piece about a world-wide Day of Prayer for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.  Interesting, this.  I … Continue reading →

My letter to Melton Mowbray Council on the Sproxton wind turbine proposal I write to support those local residents of Sproxton who have objected to this proposal, and to register my own objection as an MEP representing the area.   … Continue reading →