Tuesday 23 April 2013

St. George’s Day Greetings.

I extend greetings Christians in my constituency on St. George’s Day on the 23rd April. St. George is the Patron Saint of England and among the most famous of Christian figures. The banner of St. George – the red cross of a martyr on a white background – was adopted for the uniform of English soldiers as far back as the reign of Richard I and later became the flag of England and White Ensign of the Royal Navy. Little is known about St. George himself but he is venerated in many countries of the world and I send my best wishes to all of my constituents who celebrate St. George’s Day.

Wednesday 10 April 2013

Football's Minute of Silence for Lady Thatcher

In justification of football having a minutes silence in memory of Lady Thatcher Dave Whelan, the Chairman of Wigan Athletic is quoted as saying in today's Guardian: “Football was in a bad way when she was Prime Minister, we saw all the changes in her time and they should pay tribute to that”. Putting aside her destruction of the post war consensus; the closure of large swathes of manufacturing industry; the squandering of North Sea Oil wealth on 3 million unemployed; the selling off at knock-down prices of gas, electricity and water; and the deregulation of financial services which sowed the seeds of the 2008 financial crisis, what did Mrs. Thatcher do to address the problems of football in the 1980s? She forced football clubs to erect fences around pitches to pen in fans. In April 1989, 96 people were crushed to death at Hillsborough because these fences prevented people in the Leppings Lane end from escaping onto the pitch. Some legacy!!

Council’s should 'fight back' rising energy bills by negotiating on behalf of residents

Council’s should 'fight back' rising energy bills by negotiating on behalf of residents Following an initiative taken by a number of councils in London who have joined together to try and collectively force energy companies to offer lower tariffs to customers, Birmingham MP Roger Godsiff, has written to all of the local councillors in his Hall Green constituency suggesting that Birmingham City Council should consider a similar scheme. Roger said: "Birmingham City Council is the second largest council in the country with 1 million people and it could operate a similar scheme for the residents of Birmingham. All that Birmingham residents have to do is register their interest and then the council could then negotiate on their behalf to get the best deal." Roger went on to say: "Councils are having to make massive cutbacks right across the board and I would have thought that anything that they can do to' fightback' the seemingly endless rises in energy prices makes a lot of sense".