Category Archives: Politics

Postings related to elections and general political stuff

Politics

More Money for Bank Profits?

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I came across an interesting article on the BBC News Website yesterday. It seems that after they have been heavily criticised over a number of practices, including late fees, usage fees, and an investigation of the whole industry by MP’s, they have a new way to try and make more money out of consumers.

This time they are targeting regular payers, the people who because they always pay off their bill in full, don’t make them much money. A Barclaycard customer contacted the BBC’s Moneybox programme after he received his bill at the normal time, but found that his payment date had moved from the 9th of the month to the 3rd. The fact that this occurred for his December bill also seems decidedly suspicious. Most peoples December bills would be bigger, plus with the Christmas holidays the cheque would have to be sent significantly earlier so as to get there on time. The consumer involved regards it entirely as a policy to maximise late payments by Barclaycard.

The response from Barclaycard is pretty honest. Ian Barber from the company said that Barclaycard was

“having to face up to the fact that clearly we are not making as much money out of customers that pay their bill in full as we are out of those that borrow�

and that they were

“quite open about it… if you pay your bill in full every month you may get a few days less to pay… That is the fact of it and we are not going to shy away from that.â€?

The suggestion from the article was that to avoid the problem you should set up a direct debit for the full bill, which is what we have set up on our cards already. However, it is worth noting that even with that, we have been hit by a similar problem ourselves. Since the direct debit payment is fixed, one of our card companies has moved our billing date, so rather than being billed early in the month, around the 3rd or 4th, it now bills almost two weeks later on the 15th. It is also worth pointing out that we have never actually been officially notified of the change, it just moved.

The golden rule seems to be that as the man from Barclaycard says credit card companies are primarily in it to make money, so it is always important to keep a close eye on what they are trying to charge you, whether it’s a £25 late charge for failing to pay £5, or moving the payment date to try and trip you up.

Politics

What makes a citizen?

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OK – time to get a bit serious here. For those of you that don’t know (and I’m sure there are some Canadians among you), today is Election Day in Canada. If it seems like it’s come around again rather quickly (for those of you that were paying attention!), that’s because it has – the last government was a minority government and a non-confidence vote was called, hence the early election.

And I have to say that despite being Canadian, that is all I know about it. I had even forgotten that there was an election in Canada until Richard looked up my friend Carla’s blog and found a posting on it. Mom did tell me the last time I spoke to her, but it slipped my mind. Which is a shame, since if the Conservatives win, it’ll be the first time in history that Canada has a Prime Mininster from western Canada – Stephen Harper, the leader of the Conservative Party, is from Calgary.

I do feel guilty that I don’t stay in touch with Canadian politics – mind you, I didn’t really stay in touch with Canadian politics when I lived there, except for the bits that concerned me. I do feel that I’m more politically aware since I’ve been living in the UK, but that may also be because Richard is rather aware of political trends, and, hey – I live with the guy. I’ve got to pick up on some things…

But that did get me thinking – who do I owe my allegiance to?

Sure, I have a Canadian passport, and those who know me know that I am quite proud to be Canadian (cue beer advert here…). But – I live in the UK. I pay taxes here. I contribute to the education of UK young people. I drive on the left side of the road. I still haven’t got used to warm beer (or beer of any sort, really…) but I think that’s probably a minor point. I can sing ‘God Save the Queen’ and I attend a Church of England church. I’m even contemplating becoming a clergy-person in said church. Any of my Canadian friends can tell you that my vocabulary is slowly changing, even if my accent isn’t. I think I officially got rid of the last t-shirt I bought in Canada last week. So why do I need to vote in the Canadian election?

I can see the argument – I have a duty to do so because that’s where I was born, and I should take responsibility for the running of ‘my’ country. But who am I to stick my nose in? I hear a very bitty version of the political situation when I talk to my parents (the recent BSE situation and the political reaction to it hit them rather hard, being cattle farmers) but as to the wider views, I really haven’t a clue. So what right do I have to put my two cents in and vote? I will say that I vote regulary here in the UK – being a member of the Commonwealth I don’t have to wait for a passport to do this – and I do think that those people who don’t vote have no right to complain about the government. But I do it because it’s relevant to my life right now, not my parent’s lives or a life I had five years ago.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not knocking the people like Carla who keep abreast of the political situation in their home country and vote regularly there. But I can’t see the relevance it has to my life here and now. To me it’s holding onto the past, and I’ve got a pretty good present and future to look forward to, thank-you-very-much.

Just one thing I’m annoyed with – it’s going to cost me £312 to become a British citizen. That includes the test to demonstrate knowledge of life in the UK (£34) and the book you need to pass it (£9.99). And yes, they make you go through the citizenship ceremony, and then make you pay for it…

Update:

Canadian Election Results:

Conservatives – 124 seats
Liberals – 103 seats
Bloc Quebecois – 51 seats
New Democratic Party – 29 seats
Independant – 1 seat

This means the Conservatives form the new government, but it, too is a minority government. It also means that an MP from Alberta is PM for the first time ever…

Movies & TV, Politics

Who Owns Britain?

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I’ve just watched “Whose Britain is It Anyway?â€? a programme on BBC2 that is essentially a TV version of the book “Who Owns Britainâ€?.

Starting from the premise that with about sixty million inhabitants, and sixty million acres of land, if ninety percent of the people live on only ten percent of the land, there must be some pretty big landowners around, it then takes a look at the ten percent of people who own the remaining ninety percent of the land. The task is made somewhat more difficult because a large amount of the land in the UK is not registered. This is because land only gets registered when it is sold or a mortgage is raised on it, so there are currently about four million properties, and millions of acres of land for which the owner is not registered, leading to several issues of ownership that were explored during the programme.

Oddly enough, although they are still comparatively big land owners still, two of the historically large landowners – the Church and the Crown, now actually own rather less – both only owning under one percent each. In fact government groups are the biggest single owners with the Ministry of Defence and the Forestry Commission owning about ten percent of the country. However, although they own less than in the past, the biggest group of landowners, and the group with the biggest single landowners in terms of area, and in terms of value are the aristocracy – the largest landowner having more than a quarter of a million acres of land in Scotland.

Having said that, what watching the programme also highlighted the importance of what is on the land. For example the land owned by the Duke of Westminster in Belgravia and Mayfair is worth about four billion pounds, but in terms of area, it is less than two hundred acres. In fact it started life as four fields and a bog that was given to the Duke’s ancestor, indeed being able to gain planning permission for a change of use from agricultural land to building land can massively increase the value, going from a few thousand pounds an acre to millions.

All in all it was quite an eye opener, especially that thanks to our tight planning laws, we are, despite what most people think, one of the least built up countries. What we are tending to do is to cram more houses into less space in built up areas, whilst at the same time keeping thousands of acres untouched. So do I think we should be out bulldozing the countryside? I think not. What the programme also highlighted is that large amounts of land are available to the public – the Forestry Commission as well as being the largest single landowner in the country, is also the largest provider of leisure activities, letting people use their land. The Ministry of Defence also lets public onto large parts of their land, and the point was made both by large landowners, and users, that economics of scale come in to play. By owning large amounts of land they are able to properly care for and manage the land for the benefit of all, much more than thousands of small owners could do on a one by one basis.

Politics

What a Difference a Few Hours Makes

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So only a few hours ago I was writing about the current crisis in the Liberal Democrats, and then within hours it has all changed.

Both yesterday and today, Kennedy was going to stick it out, and let the members decide, and the real prospects for a new leader were all remaining loyal, offering the prospect of a total unknown as the opposition put forward by the rebel MP’s. Then this afternoon, Kennedy did what ultimately is probably best for the party, and during a dignified and statesman like press conference stood aside.

Sir Menzies Campbell is now acting leader, and has put his name forward for the leadership election. There is talk that nobody will stand against him, but I believe that would be a mistake, certainly I would be keen to see Simon Hughes put his name forward.

However, I think the words of Lembit Opik sum up what a lot of people are thinking at the moment:

Unfortunately some fellow parliamentarians felt it was in their gift to force him out without an all-member ballot…

It has been divisive, and I have got some very strong words to say which I will now share quietly and privately, about the performance of some of my colleagues.

They have violated the values of some of the party, and crucially they have given the impression their words and their views are more important than the electorate which chose him in the first place.

And that, I do not think, was very constitutional.

And Alex Salmond, leader of the SNP has also been quick with his response:

Charles Kennedy confronted his problems and appealed for support – but his MPs have responded by knifing him in the front.

Julius Caesar was better treated by Brutus than Charles Kennedy by his colleagues.

My only hope now is that the party can be pulled together and get back on track pretty quickly, and can put this behind them – rather than this being the start of a slow slide into Conservative style arguments and quick change leaders. Certainly a look at the comments on the BBC News Have Your Say show a large number of people who are just as disgusted with the treatment of Kennedy as the person I know who is considering their membership. There is a lot of work to do to get back on track, fingers crossed it can all get done and it’s not another eight decades before the Liberal Democrats get another good result.

Politics

Liberal Democrats look to Replace the Conservatives

The Liberal Democrats have often talked of replacing the Conservatives as the real alternative to Labour, however whilst they haven’t achieved that in terms of seats and share of the vote, they seem to be going all out to do it in terms of hitting the self-destruct button in full glare of the public, something the Conservatives had down to a fine art during the past few years. So just as the Conservatives get the point and have a relatively trouble free leadership election, the Liberal Democrats look to be trying to take over the mantle, with a group of Liberal Democrat MP’s publicly threatening to resign, rather than work under Charles Kennedy. This seems to be at odds with the apparent support that Kennedy is receiving from party members.

However, what is most interesting looking down the list of MP’s in the group is that none of the really well known potential leaders are on the list. The media talks about Senior MP’s and peers, but note how it is the relatively unknown Liberal Democrat MP’s who are appearing in the media. Not names like Simon Hughes, who said he will make no announcement on whether he will stand until he fulfils his official role of chairing the committee overseeing the election arrangements (and I would be surprised if he does stand on his own). Not Sir Menzies Campbell, who although he has been critical of Kennedy in the past, told reporters “I have said on many occasions that I would not stand in a leadership election against Charles Kennedy, and I confirm that again this evening.â€? Another possible candidate, Mark Oaten has said “I will be actively campaigning for Charles as he reconfirms the members’ support.â€? Lembit Opik, leader of the party in Wales pointed out that Kennedy has delivered increased seats at each General Election, and personally he had “taken a courageous step which goes way beyond politics. You add those two things together and you’ve got the sign of a leader with real personal integrity.â€?

There is a real possibility that in a vote of the members, despite all this, Kennedy could retain the leadership, although a quick straw poll of people who I know are members finds definite groups both for and against Kennedy, some saying he should go, and others highlighting that there are, and have been a number of high profile alcoholics, the majority of whom kept it quiet – common examples being George W Bush and Winston Churchill. However what is interesting is that whether they would vote for Kennedy or not, they are all critical of the way the whole thing is being played out in the media. Indeed one, whose membership renewal has recently arrived is so disgusted with the whole way some of the MP’s are acting that they are sitting on the renewal until they see how things turn out.

Of course all of this is exactly why we now have the letter, any potential rivals are remaining loyal to the wishes of the members, so the only available option for the list of relative unknown ‘senior Liberal Democrat’ politicians on the list is to hit the political equivalent of the nuclear launch button, and like any nuclear conflict, there will be no winners.

Unfortunately, far from the idea that this will take the Liberal Democrats forward building on the record gains in 2005, these MP’s don’t seem to have learnt from the experience of the Conservatives that this sort of thing doesn’t help, just gives the media something to talk endlessly about, and stir up even more, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Liberal Democrats slide come May, and if my straw poll is anything to go by the membership fall. Seriously, I think the MP’s on the list need to take a step back from what they are doing, and ask themselves why it is that the potential new leaders are all ruling themselves out. Unfortunately, rather than doing that, I suspect they might end up resigning and then putting forward a total unknown for the election, we’ll wait and see.