I have spent my whole day wondering why people keep talking to me about Sarah Palin.

On the telephone tonight to a journalist, after yet another aside comment I thought 'blimey, everyone is obsessed with Palin today'

And the penny has only just dropped . The New Statesman is out today and I was interviewed about the Tea Party movement and Palin.
Here is an excerpt;

Dorries says she has been inspired by recent events in the US - the primary victories of O'Donnell and others. With a new government in place, she senses a "wind of change" in the political atmosphere in Britain. In the last parliament, she says, it was "very difficult to talk about the family unit, and to talk about mothers and children . . . as the foundation of society, because it was seen as a very unsexy, untrendy thing to do and the opposite of what a woman should be doing". Given the sympathetic political climate, she sees an opportunity to mobilise a perceived constituency of ignored, stay-at-home mothers. "I think it's time somebody started to represent those mums," she says.

Even I will have to buy a copy tomorrow to read what else I said!

So, Guido found one! http://order-order.com/

Apparently, I trended on Twitter all day. Not that I have a clue what that means. Of my 80,000 constituents, I would bet I'm being generous if I say 50 of them noticed

The left wing Twitterati have apparently gone into overdrive today, and so they should. Guido informs me that his expose claims to be a Labour activist web site organiser for Bedfordshire - or something similar, AND she writes adult entertainment - nice lady.

For the purpose of clarity, let me point out the following.

If you are genuinely disabled, or like my mum, retired and love to use the internet to chat to friends etc (she makes me look like a luddite) then that is fantastic and I wish you many hours of pleasure.

If you Twitter all day, every day about claiming disability benefit in one tweet whist arranging a night out in the pub in the next. If you tweet about claiming six months rent from the social fund whilst tweeting how bad your hangover is and if you stride into political meetings and shout the odds with energy and enthusiasm with no sign of any physical disability and if you claim to work for the Labour party and write porn at the same time as claiming your disability benefit - then don't expect someone like me not to a) inform the authorities and b) tell you to get of your Twitter and get a job. 

I will post my article in Iain Dale's book shortly, with his permission. In the article, in which I very clearly define the reasons why MPs should not blog or Twitter (yes, I know ) I mention someone who has posted 22,000 tweets in four months.
Today, someone has emailed my office with the details of a political/personal Tweeter who has posted 35,000 tweets in a similar amount of time.
I'm going to have to set up a Twitter account again so that I can check this out for myself!... Not.

Is there such a thing as Twitter addiction? How can anyone live a normal life who can do that? Surely these people cannot be in employment because if they are, how can they work? if they aren't then it's time they got a job which involves being sat at a key board because there's nothing much up with their fingers, brain or attention span!!

I wonder if very soon someone is going to identify a Twitter syndrome and we get to read about people who have become compulsive Tweeters. Will we hear stories of people who Tweet, oh I don't know, say 50 times a day and need to go into re-hab?

I will put money on that being a Daily Mail story one day. In the meantime, do you know of anyone else who has Tweeted more than 35,000 times in less than six months? If so, email my office and let me know. Or, better still, if it's someone you know is on benefits, contact the DWP.

I have just seen the list for the shadow cabinet and these are my Tory choices based on those I know, like and regard as good people

Diane Abbott.....  

Hilary Benn

Roberta Blackman-Woods....

Chris Bryant... even though he can be a right grump

Andy Burnham

Liam Byrne...

Vernon Coaker...

Mary Creagh..

Mike Gapes

Helen Goodman

Tom Harris

John Healey

Meg Hillier

Tessa Jowell

Eric Joyce

Barbara Keeley

Fiona Mactaggart

Pat McFadden

Ann McKechin

Stephen Timms

Iain Wright...

Just finished a fascinating  meeting with GPs and I have realised something quite profound, the majority of GPs have no idea how commissioning is going to work.

I have said before that if I were a GP, I would be excited about the opportunities that the abolition of the SHA and PCT would present in order to enable me to 'think outside the box' in terms of the provision and service I would be able to provide to patients and the opportunities it would provide for GPs, to extend and enhance their own practice based skills. 

As you explain the reality of the NHS commissioning board for specialised services, the role of the Local Authority in the provision of public health and the opportunity the consortia will provide for each practice, its like watching the scales fall away from their eyes.

I am about to write an email to Andrew Lansley. GPs are enthusiastic and love the idea, but are short on information and explanation and that's something we need to address.The rest of my evening is going to be spent writing a speech for a conference fringe meeting on trauma care. 


 

A press release went out from my office yesterday with regard to the next public meeting regarding Covanta. Details as posted below.
If anyone who is facing the same problem as we are in any other part of the country would like to come and hear what Professor Connett has to say, you are very welcome to attend but please call first to let us know in order that we can keep an eye on numbers. The text of the release is as follows;

A visiting American professor and expert on waste, dioxins and sustainable alternatives to landfill and incineration is to attend a further meeting to be called by Nadine Dorries MP

 

Over 300 people attended a Covanta protest meeting organised by Nadine on Saturday at the Marston Vale Forest Centre.

 

Following on from the meeting, Nadine is inviting residents and those interested in opposing the Covanta proposal to attend a meeting to be held at the Rufus Centre in Flitwick on the morning of Saturday, October 30^th at 10.30am.

 

Professor Dr Paul Connett Ph.D was described by Ralph Nader as “The only man I know who can make waste interesting” will be flying in for the weekend as the guest of Cynthia Bagchi.

 

Dr Connett has researched waste management issues for over 14 years and is a world-leading expert in incineration. He has given over 2000 talks in 52 countries with the aim of bringing clarity to the issue of incineration and sustainability.

Nadine said, ‘this is an exciting opportunity for us to drill down and discover the more technical objections we can raise to the Covanta proposal to build an incinerator the size of Wembley stadium in Mid Bedfordshire. We are very lucky to be able to have the Professor for the morning on Saturday and I urge as many people as possible to attend the meeting and hear what he has to say. We may glean a single piece of information which could just be the lifeline to ending this monstrous proposal’

 

In order to cover the cost of the Rufus Centre, attendees will be asked to contribute £2 each. Any remaining funds after the cost of the room has been covered will be donated to the Marston Moretaine Action Group.

 

 

 

DR. PAUL CONNETT Ph.D. CURRICULUM VITAE - short version. Updated: July, 1997. BA (Hon) in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University (1962). Ph.D. in Chemistry from Dartmouth College, NH. (USA) 1983. Since 1983, teaching in the chemistry department, St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY. Currently: tenured, full professor. Since 1985, engaged in research on waste m management, incineration and dioxin, and the sustainable alternatives to mega-landfills and incinerators. This research has involved:

• i) over 1200 public presentations;
• ii) travel to 47 US states and 34 other countries;
• iii) co-editing (with wife Ellen) the newsletter Waste Not, now in its tenth year of publication
• iv) co-authoring (with Tom Webster, Department of Public Health, Boston University) six papers on dioxin, presented at he 6th., 7th., 8th., 9th., 10th., and 16th. International Symposia on Chlorinated Dioxins, held in Japan, US., Sweden, Canada, Germany and Holland, The first five papers published in Chemosphere
• v) Co-producing (with Roger Bailey, Fine Arts department, St. Lawrence University) 41 videotapes on waste management and dioxin;
• vi) Authoring the 48 page booklet "Waste Management as if the Future Mattered" and several other articles on waste.
• vii) Many radio and TV appearances in many countries.

Other scientific interests: the democratic dangers posed by risk assessment; science in the public interest and the fluoride controversy. Other interests include the producing and hosting of a weekly program on classical music on North Country Public Radio (Canton, NY).

This picture tells you exactly why David Miliband should not have been the leader of the Labour party
  http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/benedictbrogan/100056019/david-is-off-ed-will-go-it-alone/?utm
_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

It's all in the eyes, the snarl, the twist of the face.

It was Harriet Harman who exposed the depth of David Miliband's resentment and anger.

What kind of man would not applaud his brother when he has just delivered the most important speech of his life? It would be fair to ask the question, if your brother doesn't support you, who would? In this case the answer was Harriet, who Ed Miliband worked for as an aid, making her tea and looking for her coat only a few years ago and who will now be her boss - when David Miliband asked her  "why are you clapping" she answered in a way which should have made him feel very ashamed, "because he's the leader and I support him". She could have added  "because he's your brother and you should support him".

This will come as a surprise to many; however, I hold the deepest admiration and respect for Harriet Harman, more importantly, so do all three of my Conservative daughters and almost every woman I know.

Politically, Harriet and I are at opposite ends of the spectrum and we are political enemies. Admiration would not prevent me from fighting my political corner against her. We hold profoundly differing beliefs. She took me head on during the abortion debate and worked a sneaky behind the scenes operation which guaranteed I lost. The battle lasted for eighteen months and it was fierce.

Although I squealed and yelled about it at the time, I would have done exactly the same thing had I been in her shoes. She felt as passionately about her cause as I felt about mine.

Being political enemies does not mean that we aren’t friendly or polite with each other and I also respect her for that.  

Some of her recent performances at the despatch box have been incredibly impressive to watch and as a woman in a man’s world she has worked a miracle to have held the posts she has and to have survived.

She has led the Labour party through some tough weeks and statements in the House and has done so exceedingly well. It was a mystery to me why she didn’t run for leader and I assumed it was because she felt her politics were too ‘left’ for New Labour. If anyone was going to get Union backing, surely it would have been she?

It would appear that the country, or maybe it’s just Westminster, is youth obsessed. In politics your fortune is predicted not so much by your ability, merit, experience and wisdom but by where you happen to be at a certain time and place in the Westminster cycle.  

Ed came into Parliament with my intake. Harriet has depths of knowledge in comparison.

Will they be able to work together? It must be incredibly difficult for both of them. Only a few years ago he was scouring the corridors of Westminster in search of her lost coat.

 I am sure that if she thinks he has got something wrong, her wisdom will provide her with the means to let him know.

 Comments to press being issued live during the meeting.

Covanta Public Meeting

There were almost 300 people at the Covanta protest meeting on Saturday. It was a good job it was a nice day and people could stand outside. We had thirty people in the corridor on the inside straining to hear.
 
Much came from the meeting in terms of information and a future plan of action.
 
To those who had information which was new to us all, please, please don't forget to post on the MMAG comment board so that Nikki and Hugh can collate and add to the letter template we will post for everyone to copy for letters of objection.
 
For residents reading this blog don't forget to add the MMAG website to you favourites
www.mmetag.com
 
Further information regarding the meeting with Professor Paul Connect from America who is flying in for one weekend will be posted later this week; however, we know the meeting will be during the weekend of October 30th. I'm just trying to organise a venue big enough.
 
The contact details of where to register your intent to object and further information will also be posted.
 
Thank you to everyone, especially Nikki, Andrea, Lynn, Hugh and Karen from Bedford Estates, who provided us with invaluable facts and figures regarding the impact of incinerators on house prices and the effect on the tourism economy of Mid Bedfordshire.
 
All will be included in the template letter of objection which will be online once we have collated all the relevant information together.
 
As one unit, working together, we can do this.

  The only attendee who wasn't really that interested! "What is all the fuss about?!"

My association is an election winning machine run by my Chairman, Andy Rayment and Deputy Chair Political, Steve Male.
Both are busy men and run the association in a regimented and disciplined manner.
As focused driven individuals, neither Andy or Steve suffer fools lighlty.
So when a 'nutter' began bombarding my association with telephone calls and emails, this made me laugh out loud http://www.bedfordshire-news.co.uk/Blogs/John-Balls-Diary/Monday-September-20.htm
I have heard that when a copy of this was leaked to my local newspapers, in indignation, it caused much mirth in the newspaper offices too.

So, my former Lib Dem opponent carries handcuffs around in her handbag. I'm not even going to ask....

Bedfordshire Blackberries have made Atticus in the Sunday Times. How funny.
I'm going to send the link to those who have complained. I may not have been able to do anything about the size of our Blackberries this year (local farmer cites reduced hedgecutting creating too much overhanging shade) however, a mention in Atticus is a result, of sorts.

Beds on Sunday have a great story today regarding legal action being taken against Covanta in the USA.
http://www.bedfordshire-news.co.uk/News/Covanta-facing-US-court-action.htm

Enough people will be working overtime to undermine Ed Miliband before his first weekend is over. Not me. I like him.

He is kindly, always stops for a chat and is really charming.

He is also to the left of his party. A relief for those Labour MPs disillusioned with the New Labour project and yearning to get back to the solid far left ideology of Labours roots.

So today Labour shuffles a few steps to the left.
The Liberal Democrats, who up until the General Election were to the left of New Labour have moved considerably right and pulled the Conservatives slightly across to the left in order to all fit in the same bed.
So, who's filling the void left on the right?

Maybe the people will do it themselves. Lets hope they aren't gazing across the pond.

More tea vicar?

Over 300 people attended the Covanta protest meeting. We had to open the fire doors for people to stand outside and the corridor was full. Pictures and full story tomorrow...

Now writing a blog on the nice guy.., who got it today.

I gave an after dinner speech tonight. Thank you to Basingstoke Conservatives for having made me so welcome and for the introduction as ' the MP who demonished the former finance Minister and aid to Gordon Brown, Angela Eagle, on Newsnight'!  As I tripped in through the front door, the totalpolitics guide to political blogging in the UK was lying on my doormat.

Having not blogged for most of the year I have slipped of the radar, however, I did write an article for the book on why MPs should not Twitter or blog. I know. The irony. Obviously, I couldn't resist a little peep inside to check what the article looked like in print  and laughed out loud to see a funny comment from Iain Dale, who knows me so well, written on the bottom.

The drive home from Basingstoke was easy. Empty, long, dark roads stretched out before me with the 2nd movement of the Grieg piano concerto playing in A minor, quite loud, on repeat. Each time it reaches the first piano solo, I am already somewhere else.

A You Tube version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE6pkTb49DQ

This is the Friday morning each year when I put on half a stone in one morning.
The MacMillan coffee morning in Mid Beds have built up year on year. This morning I had a four and there are others tomorrow.
The MacMillan coffee morning is a fantastic initiative  which raises millions of pounds to provide for the provision of MacMillan nurses in the homes of the terminally ill.

As an MP I often have need to contact them to help with terminally ill constituents and I will always be grateful for the compassionate help they provide.

If you have a coffee morning taking place near you then please do attend. it doesn't cost much, just a donation of whatever you feel you can afford, however, that donation will help a great deal.




A variety of pics taken at some of this mornings coffee mornings in Silsoe, Maulden, Ampthill and Haynes.

Diane Abbott is sat on the sofa on 'This Week' in chatter with Andrew Neil. Andrew has just said 'Diane says we don't yet know where the cuts are going to be '. Thank you Diane. Perhaps you would like to have a word with Angela Eagle !

 I have just arrived home after a stint on Newsnight with Angela Eagle. It’s a bit weird doing Newsnight in a remote studio; you can’t see what’s happening in the London studio. You don’t know if the presenter is looking at you or when you are to be asked to contribute. You are completely in the dark.

Angela Eagle had the temerity to complain that the cuts would hit women, children and pensioners the hardest.

The fact is none of us fully know what cuts are going to happen or where. As I pointed out to her, we don’t like the prospect of making cuts. We don’t want to make them, but we have to because her Government left us almost bankrupt. They borrowed money we couldn’t repay and spent vast amounts of money we didn’t have. I said that instead of sitting in a studio complaining, she should be apologising for the cuts we are going to have to make.

She responded to this by saying the problem wasn’t to do with her Government, it was all the fault of the banks.

When I pointed out that her Government had admitted they were going to have to make cuts too, they just didn’t say where, she claimed that they had laid out clearly in March where and what Labour were going to cut.

Well, blow me down, did the whole country blink and miss that then? Because I don’t remember seeing any Labour politician on Newsnight back in March spelling out to us what cuts they were going to make.

But in true Newsnight fashion, Labour got the most time, the biggest shout and of course, Jeremy Paxman knew full well that Labour had never spelt out what they were cutting, or where, that it wasn’t all about the banks and that we don’t know where the knives are going to fall yet - but he just let the nonsense trip from her lips.

I must try that one day. Appear on Newsnight re-write very recent history and see if Paxman will just sit there and let me get away with it.
Heres the link it's 39.30 into the programme. You can see Angela Eagle tell us what she thinks should be done to improve the representation of women in the workplace........but forgot to mention at anytime over the last thirteen years whilst she was in office...

http://tinyurl.com/5fcey6 

Wilsteasd is a great community and there is nothing like a love of football to bring a community together.

Wilstead now boasts brand spanking new, state of the art changing rooms and a club facility officially known as the ‘Jubilee Playing Fields Pavilion’ it didn’t arrive overnight though. It has taken literally years of fundraising and lobbying on behalf of committed and caring local residents, Mum’s and Dad’s, teachers and pupils from Wilstead lower school.

The Football Foundation excelled in their generosity by contributing almost £197,000 towards the building project and now the children from Wilstead, boys and girls, can use the playing fields to maximum benefit.

I am looking forward to the official opening party!

I have had complaints in from Harlington and Woburn. Meppershall, Cranfield and Houghton Conquest.  
As a diligent MP, I checked the complaints out for myself when in Harlington today.
They are correct. The Blackberries on the hedgerows in Bedfordshire are only a fraction of their usual size, tiny even.
Alas, I can get some things done in Bedfordshire, however, fixing the Blackberry crop is not one of them!

On Saturday morning a large meeting will take place at the Millennium Forest Park in Marston at 10.30am. The meeting was covered by the Beds on Sunday as follows http://tinyurl.com/2wdcnsg

Parish councillors from across the constituency will be attending, along with various action groups and residents. The purpose of the meeting is to establish a co-ordinated response to the Covanta proposal and for individual groups to work in effective unity.

Sue Clarke, a Parish councillor from Cranfield, is working on a joint Parish Council response to the consultation stage of the proposal. Our problem is the IPC. Although destined to be abolished, the situation exists whereby any application which had already been submitted to the IPC will be completed.

The IPC was established by the previous Government to take decisions regarding large infrastructural planning applications, thereby removing the Government from any responsibility. This Government wants local people to take planning decisions which will affect their quality of life. Covanta knew this and therefore made sure they had their application in process before the election was called.

If you care about Mid Bedfordshire and object to a Wembley sized incinerator blighting our countryside and importing waste from all over the East of England, then we will hopefully see you there!

The laughing, arguing, shouting which used to take place in my kitchen at the start of each day, I now hear only as a ghostly echo to all the mornings past.

As I adjust to the newly empty nest, I find myself missing the exasperation of an impossible lunch box request, or the demand to know instantly were a particular item of clothing would happen to be at that exact moment, 30 seconds before the school bus leaves.

Each time the red light flashes on my Blackberry, I dive to answer in anticipation of a request from one or the other of my offspring needing something. Me. It never is.

‘I’ve bought a Kenwood Chef’ I excitedly text to all three – I’m going to make your favourite Victoria sponges and scones and chocolate muffins. No response. Why would there be? How can a Victoria sponge compete with the distractions of fresher’s week? How desperate can my attempt to lure them back possibly sound?

Adjust I must. Job done. A silent, empty, clean and tidy house my reward and the knowledge that soon enough, one by one, they will thunder back home for visits because they want to.

This link is wonderful and articulated in a way American Mom’s do so well.

http://tinyurl.com/387jrq4

Some of the comments from former Lib Dem MPs have been disappointing to say the least over the last few days.

You would think that a party which, let’s face it, bombed at the General Election and scraped home with just fifty seven MPs, less than they had when the election campaign began, would be ecstatic to be sharing power with the largest party in Westminster.

The public love the coalition, there is a genuine public willingness to give it a go from everyone it would appear other than former Lib Dem MPs and activists.

Take the article in this morning’s Guardian by a Lib Dem who lost his seat, Evan Harris. He argues that the coalition was formed with the Conservatives ‘ because we saw that the arithmetic did not allow a coalition with Labour’ no mention then that the country may have revolted had the Lib Dem's chosen to prop up Gordon Brown, a man the country had strongly rejected at the ballot box. Or that there wasn’t actually a deal on the table with the Labour party which was anything like as generous as the Conservatives were offering. Or that the deal breaker for Nick Clegg, was a promise for voting reform and only David Cameron was amenable to that one.

No, according to Evan Harris, it was just a numbers game. He goes on to state;

The party voted to endorse the coalition agreement, but we did not vote to endorse the implementation of illiberal or unfair government policies that have emerged since.

What policies would those be?  A crack down on tax avoidance as trailed by this morning’s Daily Mail? Votes for prisoners? Trident kicked into the long grass? Education reform? Electoral reform with a vote to be taken in the House on AV with no concession to a threshold turnout or date? Welfare reform?  Softer policies on crime and prisons? Did the Lib Dem's think that if they became part of the coalition Government only Lib Dem policies would be introduced and that all other policies are 'unfair' or 'illiberal'?

It’s easy to see why Evan Harris is a former MP and Nick Clegg is Deputy Prime Minister. I am much happier with the comment made by Nick at conference.

‘This parliament we work together to fix the problems we face and put the country on a better path’

A far cry from the carping of Evan Harris who ends his article with the ominous words;

The majority of the members and activists in the (Lib Dem) party, in rural and urban areas, in the north and the south, are and remain anti-Conservative in their political outlook and philosophy. The party respects and admires Nick but he does not have a blank cheque.

Those of us who were elected are working hard to make the coalition work. None of us like it. We would all have preferred our own party to have won with an outright majority. We have all had to make sacrifices in terms of our own beliefs, however, If the coalition doesn’t last five years, you can be sure of this, it won’t be for the want of trying on behalf of the Conservative party.

http://tinyurl.com/3a2rrl4

It feels like every day I receive a phone call from a newspaper asking me to comment on the antics of Sally Bercow, aka Mrs Speaker.
It didn't matter which party you were in yesterday or what your political belief or ideology was, MPs were honoured and delighted to welcome the Pope to Westminster Hall. That's because we are grown ups.

We are also aware that a fundamental pre requisite for any MP is tolerance. Without it, I would argue that you have no right to serve as a lack of tolerance breeds prejudice. We welcome many visitors to the House of Commons every day from all backgrounds, religions and creeds. The role of an MP is to embrace, welcome and learn from them all.

Sally Bercow badly let her husband down and by doing so, diminished Parliament on such a great and important day.

It is no good her arguing her independence. Sally Bercow, a failed council candidate is not invited onto Question Time or any other television or radio programme. Mrs Speaker is the person who is invited. If her husband were not the Speaker, who would be remotely interested in what she Tweets or anything she has to say?

Stephen Fry and others can say what they wish whenever they wish to do so. We have soldiers who give their lives and fight every day in order that they can retain that right.

Sally Bercow cannot. She speaks from the Speakers apartment. She accepts invitations to appear on national TV and radio as his wife.

She makes comments which allude to the Speakers job and debated he grants. She is political and partisan and I am afraid that as a result of her actions, the Speakers popularity within the Labour party is disappearing a lot faster that it took him to gain it.

The situation is creeping towards serious and if Mr Speaker doesn't rein in his wife soon, he may live to regret it.

Many people have been touched by the visit of the Pope. Parliament has buzzed and even the strictly non religious attended Westminster Hall and were in awe.

Someone once told me that if you had trouble understanding how much God loves you, just imagine how deeply a father loves his child and it's just the same, but much, much more. I found this video which helps and as today is a special day, I think it's ok to post it. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flRvsO8m_KI&feature=PlayList&p=DE08E5C1F017C