Anders Hanson

People in Sheffield can be pretty rude about the Yorkshire Post, (”Yorkshire’s National Newspaper”),  basically saying that it is all about Leeds and very pro-Conservative.  Unless you read the letters page which is full of pro-UKIP letter writers.

But even I was surprised by how blatantly pro-Tory today’s Yorkshire Post was, with two thirds of the front page devoted to them.  Under a big heading “Cameron’s Cure”, it then had two big articles about the Conservatives with the headlines “Support the family and tackle social breakdown” and “Heseltine review to put Supertram back on track”.

Inside was a two page special report (remember this is still a broadsheet, and so that’s a lot of space) about his ‘vision to heal a broken society’ and with features on what he says about the North, local elections, constitution, his shadow cabinet, transport, NHS, family, crime, tax, Europe and his prospects at the next general election.  Just in case you didn’t quite get Cameron’s own spin, the Yorkshire Post helpfully put in a table highlighting “Britain’s Crime Plague” and the crime rates for different types of crime in Yorkshire.

They then also give the main comment piece over to them, called “A sense of purpose: Cameron’s road map for Tories”.  This includes wonderful lines like “There is much to hearten Conservatives in this newspaper’s wide-ranging interview with David Cameron” and “A seam of common sense runs through Mr Cameron’s ideas” and finally “Now it is time for his party to embrace that sense of purpose and give Mr Cameron its unstinting support as he develops promising ideas into a credible manifesto.”

YORKSHIRE POST: Support the family and tackle social breakdown

I’m surprised how few Liberal Democrats have commented on John Redwood’s proposals to ‘cut red-tape’ and ‘cut waste’ all in the aid of a ‘tax cut by any other name’.   Instead, the main Lib Dem reaction is not from bloggers but by Vince Cable’s official response on the party website, which seems somewhat lengthy, convoluted and all about the word ’spurious’.

I can’t help but get this uneasy feeling that the Tories are returning to their own ways, as soon as they start talking about cutting waste and cutting tax.  Not that I have a problem with either, and the Liberal Democrats have made similar proposals to make big savings in government.  But what makes me feel queasy is the way that all these tax cuts seem to be about removing protection for workers or cutting health and safety regulations.  Call me an old socialist, but these very regulations are there to protect people from being poorly treated at work, taken advantage of and working in the sorts of conditions that we would hope had gone out with the Victorians but are unfortunately still far too prevalent.  It certainly seems to be the return of the ‘nasty party’ once again.

This sort of stuff can at least be contrasted with the sorts of laws that the Liberal Democrats have proposed scrapping under Nick Clegg’s ‘Great Repeal Act’ idea.  These are things that improve people’s freedoms, make fighting crime effective rather than symbolic and get a rid of the silly laws that may not have a major impact on people’s lives but will at least cut paperwork and some huge lawyers fees.

It’s days like today that remind me why I’m a Liberal Democrat, and could never be a Conservative or Labour.

BBC POLITICS: Tory plan for red tape ‘tax cut’

LIBERAL DEMOCRATS: Tory tax plan spurious

LIBERAL DEMOCRATS: The Freedom Bill

First it was Cameron proposing a joint Lib Dem/Tory mayoral candidate in London.

Now it is Brown proposing that Lib Dems join his first Labour cabinet.

I can’t decide whether it is because they believe that the Lib Dems have such excellent potential mayors and ministers, or whether it is because they see as such a threat that they feel the need to stifle us by absorbing us in to some unholy alliance.

Either way, if the other parties feel the need to give us so much attention it doesn’t really give much credence to those anti-Liberal Democrat commentators who are so ready to believe that the Lib Dems are doomed under Ming Campbell’s leadership.

GUARDIAN: Revealed: Secret talks over Lib Dems in Brown cabinet

GUARDIAN: Campbell rules out Lib Dems serving in Brown cabinet

Tory MP Gary Streeter has put down an Early Day Motion criticising the treatment of those who don’t have a TV set by TV Licensing. The wording of the motion explains it properly:

EDM 1289

TREATMENT BY TV LICENSING OF PEOPLE WHO DO NOT OWN TELEVISION SETS

Streeter, Gary

That this House notes with concern that despite not owning or using a television set over one million people (two per cent. of the population) nonetheless receive letters from TV Licensing demanding information and a response to prove non-use; is concerned that in the absence of any such response such citizens receive further chasing letters intimidating in tone; recognises that there are many constantly reported cases of non-TV owners being distressed by such threatening letters; is further concerned that these letters are sent without any evidence that a TV is owned; notes that Capita plc, the company that operates the collection of the TV licence fee for the BBC, reported a 22 per cent. jump in profits before tax in 2004 to £148 million and a further jump in 2005 by 19 per cent. to £177 million; and calls upon TV Licensing to introduce a new system for collecting licence fees that is more sensitive to those citizens who legitimately choose not to have a television; and further calls upon TV Licensing to be required to use sophisticated non-intrusive detection technology which they presently refuse to use as they consider it more cost effective to harass innocent non-television owning citizens by unsupportable threatening letters.

Having received similar intimidating letters from TV Licensing myself I am fully behind him on this issue. A few years ago I moved in to a new flat and got a TV Licence immediately. However for the next month or two I continued receiving letters saying I didn’t have one. One day I came home from work to find a letter saying that TV Licensing had visited me and if I had been at home I would have “been cautioned and an interview would have taken place”. Every time I rang TV Licensing they confirmed I had a TV Licence and that it was simply because the letters and lists of who to visit were printed in advance. My argument was that if they were sending threatening letters then they should make sure their list was fully up to date.

I made a written complaint, and they did even ring me some weeks later as part of some market research in to how people felt their complaints had been handled, (badly would have been the reply), but instead I was informed that as my occupation was in marketing then I “wouldn’t give answers that were representative of the population” and so they couldn’t continue with their research.

Of course, the real solution would be to scrap the TV Licence all together and either have advertising on the BBC or instead add the cost of running the BBC in to general taxation which would surely cost each person less than the BBC having to pay Capita for providing the bureaucracy that runs TV Licensing.

EDM 1289: Treatment by TV Licensing of people who do not own television sets

Last night was the Annual Meeting of Sheffield City Council, with this year’s event all set to be more eventful than usual as the council is now in no overall control.

I suppose it shouldn’t be a surprise that Labour kept control, given they are still (for now) the biggest party on the council. But it was the way in which is happened, and the other votes for committee chairs that are perhaps the most enlightening.

When it came to the vote that decided on the cabinet and leadership of the council, the Tories and Greens abstained thus handing the leadership to Labour despite them supposedly opposing them so vehemently for so long. But what happened next was that Labour and the Greens then voted to put the sole Tory councillor in charge of one of the key scrutiny boards. OK, so the opposition did get an extra scrutiny position, but why give it to the Tories when their vote has collapsed at this election and they lost one of their two councillors? Did someone just use the words “stitch up”?

What happened in the vote is a complete contrast to the comments by the Tory just after the election, when she said that she didn’t want any positions or titles and would just do what was best for Sheffield. Still, given the way the Tories have backed some of Labour’s worst policies over the last few years it shouldn’t be a surprise really.

SHEFFIELD LIBERAL DEMOCRATS: Labour hold on to council reign, thanks to Greens and the Tory