Sun, Sausages and Surveys

I have survived the first really hot and sunny Saturday of the year without getting horribly sun burnt - always a cause for celebration when you are as fair skinned as me! I spent the morning out in Walderslade, before popping up to the office to scoop up a mountain of post, before heading back to meet the troops for a late lunch of sausages and chips.

Our surveys are coming back thick and fast and for the first time I am beginning to see the "cost of living" listed as a key concern. Sadly I expect to see it a lot more in the near future.

Joining Jamesy & KGB on Hospital Radio Medway

Today I recorded a two hour interview with DJs Jamesy & KGB (aka Ian and Bill) for Hospital Radio Medway and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

It was all a bit daunting to start off with because I was asked to send my top 10 records in advance but they couldn't be depressing or have any reference to death or dying in them - for obvious reasons. So when we started the interview I was very conscious that the listeners were most likely to be extremely unwell and that they were looking to be distracted and entertained - no pressure then! But when the two DJs are sitting in football tops, taking the mickey out of each other, it was hard not to relax and enjoy the experience.

The two hours flew by and we covered a whole range of topics from local politics, the state of the Conservative Party, Boris the Mayor through to crime (Ian is a police officer when he is not volunteering at the hospital), community action programmes and mixed sex wards. KGB (or Bill) is brilliant - he is a real "man of the people" with strong views on a number of issues. On a number of occasions I could hear myself chuckling into the mic as he and Ian exchanged witty remarks - although I was most upset when they both disagreed with me that blue cheese "is the best cheese" (their signature question).

It was actually harder than I thought to pick my top 10 records. My taste is so eclectic that the top 10 change on a daily basis! Anyway, here are the top 10 non-depressing tunes chosen for Hospital Radio Medway - if only I knew how to upload them onto a e-mixed tape for you all to listen to!!

1) Paint it Black, Rolling Stones
2) Town called Malice, The Jam
3) This is the One, The Stone Roses
4) History, Thirteen Senses
5) We've Got Tonight, Bob Seger
6) Islands in the Stream, Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers
7) Wish you were here, Pink Floyd
8) Chasing Cars, Snow Patrol
9) Romeo & Juliet, Dire Straits
10) The Man Who Sold the World, Nirvana

Cannabis U-Turn

Since this is the year for Labour U-Turns, it was only a matter of time before the Government realised it had got it fundamentally wrong on the reclassification of cannabis and re-grade it a class B drug. And rightly so. It should never have been downgraded in the first place.

The Home Secretary was right to point out that, given the increasing strength of modern day cannabis varieties, there is huge uncertainty over the impact on users' mental health. Shadow Home Secretary David Davis highlighted the dangers of the downgrading of cannabis to a Class C drug four years ago in a speech to Spring Forum. He said:

One thing can wreck opportunities, destroy freedom, and shatter lives: drugs. And the first thing I will do as Home Secretary is reverse this Government's foolish reclassification policy on cannabis. Let me tell you why. The Times recently told the story of a young cannabis user called Steve. His father Terry recalls how Steve turned to him one evening while watching television and said: "Why did you ring the BBC?" Terry said he hadn't. "Yes you did" Steve said. "You rang them and told them I was lazy and they've been broadcasting it all day". Steve had become paranoid and started to hear voices. Three years later, and after 3 months in a psychiatric ward, Steve lives at home with his parents. His paranoia is controlled by medication but he still hears voices, is unable to work and remains afraid to go out alone. But compared with some, Steve is lucky.

The paper featured another article. A moving account from the mother of an art student. After a harrowing account of his addiction, she wrote: "I knew how my bright, clever, acerbic, handsome son had been destroyed, his creative brain damaged, his strong physique crippled. What made this boy, my lively, lovely, articulate son with his many gifts of perception, art, facility with languages, writing skills, critical capacity, acting ability, physical beauty, elegance of mind and body, sell his life to drugs? George, her son, progressively declined into psychosis caused by cannabis. He died in a drug dealer's flat of heroin poisoning, the drug he took to escape the terrors of his psychotic episodes. This weekend is the fourth anniversary of his death.

You can't listen to those two stories and believe cannabis is harmless. After four studies proved the link between cannabis and psychosis, the papers were full of such stories. Including from those who had once been protagonists for cannabis legalisation. That was until their own children had suffered from the ill effects of marijuana. The past 20 years have seen super potent varieties of cannabis emerge, 10 times as powerful, and 10 times as dangerous. Making the problems worse.

Those who use cannabis by the age of 15 are over three times as likely to develop psychosis. In South London, the incidence of psychosis has doubled since 1964. Some commentators say it is not the job of government to stop people ruining their lives. Well I believe it is when youngsters start smoking marijuana at the age of 10 or less.

Today this Government's policy on drugs is sending mixed messages to our children. Reclassification of cannabis has persuaded many that cannabis is safe and legal. Wrong. It is neither. We have opposed this lunacy. And we will reverse it.

The Government has a responsibility to stop children and young people starting on the path of self-destruction. And it has a responsibility to stop those hell bent on self-destruction from ruining other people's lives.

Four years later, and for some four years too late, the Government has finally recognised that it made a huge mistake. If only it had listened earlier. For some it may just be too late.

Snodland Festival 2008

The Snodland Festival is back and 2008 promises to be absolutely fantastic.

This year it will be over the weekend of 19th & 20th July with two excellent pop tribute acts - Queen and Abba (Iain Dale are you reading this?) on Saturday; and then an amazing classical concert on the Sunday involving choirs from the primary schools in Snodland singing alongside the City of Rochester Symphony Orchestra.

Further information can be found at the festival website HERE.

Mixed Sex Wards

The Health Secretary Alan Johnson has said that he will abolish mixed sex hospital wards within a year. Hurrah. But will it actually happen? Well not if their past record is anything to go by.

In Labour's 1997 and 2001 manifestos they promised to eliminate mixed sex wards but 11 years on they are having to repeat their promise because they have failed to make true on the commitment. So why should we believe that this is anything more than just a cynical attempt to relaunch the Labour Party as it descends further down the opinion polls?

I think mixed sex wards are an abomination in what should be a dignified environment of care for the ill - especially, although not exclusively, for elderly patients. I genuinely hope that this is more than another promise to be broken by this failing Labour Government.

Chatham & Aylesford's Grand Day Out

Croydon Conservatives often come down and help us in our action days so today it was our turn to head up to Croydon to assist their campaign to elect Boris as London Mayor and others onto the Greater London Authority. It was a lovely sunny day and we managed to leaflet two entire polling districts for them before lunch. I hope our little bit helps secure Croydon South and Boris Johnson victory on Thursday.

UPDATE: we actually delivered 4 polling districts - we were split into two and the team I was in did two districts, as did the other team!!

An inspirational day

I had one of those days yesterday where you put your feet up at the end of it and feel totally inspired by the people you have spent the day with.

I started my day with a meeting with Citizens Advice in Chatham. I am a huge fan of the work Citizens Advice does and regularly receive their newsletters but until yesterday I hadn't been in an advice centre. I met with the manager, one of the Trustees, and one of the specialists and I came away extremely impressed by their hard work and dedication. I felt like I learnt a great deal more about Citizens Advice than I knew already - i.e. how they interact with other agencies and public services, the relationships they have with Councils, the process they go through with a client, and their exciting new plans for the Bureau going forward.

Then after an excellent lunch with the Thames Gateway Chamber of Commerce, I headed over to see a voluntary project run by a local man Mark Spurgeon (pictured) that provides activity programmes for people with learning and/or physical disabilities. I spent a long time talking to Mark about why he did it, what drove him to effectively give up a career and put on the twice-weekly sessions for people and their carers completely voluntarily. His answers were amazing. He was simply fed up with watching people going to sessions where everyone had to do the same activity regardless of whether they wanted to, or even could, do it. When we walked into the church hall where the programme meets, it was chaos. Some people were drawing, others were playing air hockey, some were doing puzzles, and one young man was making a complete racket on the drums. But they were all so happy. And so were their carers. One carer told me that this is the only place she'll bring two clients to, because they are so relaxed. Another carer told me that it was nice to come somewhere we she could talk to other carers with a cup of coffee - it took some of the stress out of the job for an hour or so a week. Mark's enthusiasm was exhausting! His dedication however is amazing.

Two thirds of 10p losers in South East still worse off

The u-turn by the Prime Minister earlier this week over the 1op tax band was not only humiliating but has added real uncertainty about the future amongst rank and file Labour politicians. But beyond the "Westminster Village" there remains total confusion about how these so called concessions will work and do they really compensate those who lose out from the change.

So far the Chancellor has only said that the winter fuel payment will be backdated to April - all other tax credits are unlikely to be backdated meaning that people will still lose out on hundreds of pounds. Using figures supplied by the Institute for Fiscal Studies it appears that even after the concessions 3 million families will still lose out nationally.

Locally it was estimated that before any concessions, approximately 708,144 families in the South East would lose out, even after tax credit changes. After concessions, only a limited amount can be compensated using the measures Alistair Darling has indicated. The maximum reduction in the number of losers is 40,084 from any changes to the Winter Fuel Allowance for women aged 60 – 64; the maximum reduction in the number of losers is 22,981 from an increase in the minimum wage; the maximum reduction in the number of losers is 160,334 from changes to the eligibility requirements for the Working Tax Credit; and the maximum reduction in the number of losers is 40,084 from an increase in the Working Tax Credit.

Therefore, this means that based on what the Government have said so far about their strategy for compensating the losers, a best estimate of the maximum total reduction in the number of losers as a result of the package is 263,483 out of 708,144.

These concessions help a third of those who lose out from the 10p tax band change. What about the rest? The change should never have been made, and voted for by Labour MPs, in the first place.