David Cameron, Andy Coulson, Rebekah Brooks & the Chipping Norton set

So what about David Cameron, Andy Coulson, Rebekah Brooks & "The Chipping Norton" set?

There are defining moments when a spotlight is shone into a world and all of a sudden everything is seen in brutal daylight....like the lights going up in the nightclub so everyone can see who it is they've been dancing with then trudge bleary eyed to the exit shaking their heads. Northern Rock and Lehman Brothers brought the suicidally greedy, debt-addicted bankers to their senses, the MPs expenses scandal presented us with a scandal that was beyond parody as we saw how the noses were in the troughs. This News of the World scandal may well be the a watershed for journalism but it may also be a defining moment in how politicians cosy up to the media.

This is not a party political point. Labour were almost as bad as the Conservatives (I say "almost" because Labour have had John Prescott & Alistair Campbell shouting from the rooftops about press corruption for years whilst David Cameron invited Andy Coulson into the inner sanctum when he was fresh from resigning after the original hacking scandal). The Andy Coulson appointment underlines how desperate politicians are to get on the right side of the media (and News International in particular). Reading this piece in the Telegraph makes you realise how much Cameron is thick as thieves with Rebekah Brooks & Andy Coulson

David Cameron, who has returned from Afghanistan as a profoundly damaged figure, now faces exactly such a crisis. The series of disgusting revelations concerning his friends and associates from Rupert Murdoch's News International has permanently and irrevocably damaged his reputation.

Until now it has been easy to argue that Mr Cameron was properly grounded with a decent set of values. Unfortunately, it is impossible to make that assertion any longer. He has made not one, but a long succession of chronic personal misjudgments.

He should never have employed Andy Coulson, the News of the World editor, as his director of communications. He should never have cultivated Rupert Murdoch. And – the worst mistake of all – he should never have allowed himself to become a close friend of Rebekah Brooks, the chief executive of the media giant News International, whose departure from that company in shame and disgrace can only be a matter of time.

It was called the Chipping Norton set, an incestuous collection of louche, affluent, power-hungry and amoral Londoners, located in and around the Prime Minister's Oxfordshire constituency. Brooks and her husband, the former racing trainer Charlie Brooks, live in a house scarcely a mile from David and Samantha Cameron's constituency home. The two couples meet frequently, and have continued to do so long after the phone hacking scandal became well known.

PR fixer Matthew Freud, married to Mr Murdoch's daughter Elisabeth, is another member of this Chipping Norton set. When Mr Cameron bumped into Freud at Rebekah Brooks's wedding two years ago, he and Mr Freud greeted each other with exuberant high-fives to signal their exclusive friendship.

The Prime Minister cannot claim in defence that he was naively drawn in to this lethal circle. He was warned – many times. Shortly before the last election he was explicitly told about the company he was keeping. Alan Rusbridger – editor of The Guardian newspaper, which has performed such a wonderful service to public decency by bringing to light the shattering depravity of Mr Murdoch's newspaper empire – went to meet one of Mr Cameron's closest advisers shortly before the last election. He briefed this adviser very carefully about Mr Coulson, telling him many troubling pieces of information that could not then be put into the public domain.

Mr Rusbridger then went to see Nick Clegg, now the deputy prime minister. So Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg – the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister – knew all about Mr Coulson before last May's coalition negotiations. And yet they both paid no attention and went on to make him the Downing Street director of communications, an indiscretion that beggars belief.

So the Prime Minister is in a mess. To put the matter rather more graphically, he is in a sewer. The question is this: how does he crawl out and salvage at least some of his reputation for decency and good judgment? This is a potentially deadly moment. If the Prime Minister plays his cards wrong, his public image will change in a matter of a few days. From a popular and respected national leader, he will come to be defined by his ill-judged friendship with the Chipping Norton set. This kind of personal degradation has happened before. By the end, Harold Wilson was irreparably damaged by his friendship with dodgy businessmen such as the raincoat manufacturer Lord Kagan. The Macmillan premiership fell apart under the weight of revelation from Lord Astor's Cliveden set.

Pretty harsh stuff coming from the most staunch of the Tory press.

Bombardier decision costs 1,400 jobs

Well this is a bizarre one

Bombardier announces 1,400 job losses

What on earth is going on there? How can it possibly be the right decision to give this contract to a foreign supplier? How can it make economic sense? Aside from the actual money itself staying in the UK this represents 1,400 people who will potentially have to start drawing benefits. It is 1,400 people who will suddenly stop pay tax.

Government incompetence on a grand scale. Pathetic. Look at the quotes:

"I don't know of any procurement that's been in France or Germany that has gone to any other company other than the indigenous rail manufacturers in their countries," said Mark Young, Unite's co-ordinating officer.

Shadow business secretary John Denham and shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle have written to Prime Minister David Cameron urging him to review the decision.

Maria Eagle told the BBC: "I find it amazing that the Secretary of State is denying that he has the power to make any difference here. He clearly does.

"In fact, the last train contract that was let for intercity trains was reviewed twice by the Labour government towards the end of its time in office and by the new Conservative government - they made significant changes to the contract as a result of their review."

But Ms Eagle told the BBC: "I find it amazing that the Secretary of State is denying that he has the power to make any difference here. He clearly does.

"In fact, the last train contract that was let for intercity trains was reviewed twice by the Labour government towards the end of its time in office and by the new Conservative government - they made significant changes to the contract as a result of their review."

Even Vince Cable is making rumblings "There is a perception that other EU countries appear to manage their public procurement processes with a sharper focus on domestic supply than we have hitherto"

Wish the NHS a happy birthday

Got this through today :

The NHS celebrates its 63rd birthday this week, with public satisfaction at an all-time high. But the coalition government's proposals will put everyone at risk. Including you.

Don't be fooled. Even after "listening", the government's legislation would let private companies grab any part of the NHS, putting profits before patients.

Now is the time to stop them, to make sure that the NHS will still be in good shape when it's 64.

This week, we're holding all sorts of events across the country to celebrate the NHS, and make sure we continue to put patients before profit. There are also plenty of online actions that you can do to help us get the message across to our politicians.

It takes just two minutes to make your voice heard, so please help us protect the NHS for the future.

Take action now: Wish the NHS a happy birthday

Thanks for your support,

The Million Voices Campaign

P.S. Don't forget to encourage your family, friends and colleagues to add their
voices to the million voices campaign: http://million-voices.org

Boycott News International and News Corps, it can be done.

Sent this to The Times today

Sir,

Unfortunately I will no longer be buying The Times due to your parent company's association with the News of the World and its actions by standing by Rebekah Brooks. I know this scandal is nothing to do with The Times and it is with a heavy heart I end my longstanding loyalty to your fine newspaper however I have no other way of protesting and voicing my utter disgust at this vile episode and the arrogance your parent company has displayed. If Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson didn't know about the phone hacking then they are two of the most incompetent people to ever grace your industry.

We shall see if anything comes back. I know it is slightly churlish and it wasn't anything to do with The Times but I have no other way to show my disgust at the actions of News Corps and News International both in the original phone hacking and their arrogant refusal to accept responsibilty for it now it's come to light.

What really makes me shudder is this tweet from Robert Peston : "News International execs tell me they fear there may have been worse examples of NOTW hacking than that of Milly Dowler's phone". Worse???

Alone my boycott of News International won't make much of a difference but ask any Scouser; these things can be done. The S*n is by far the most popular paper in the country yet on Merseyside you are as likely to see someone reading USA Today or L'Equipe. You can either meekly grumble about these things or vote with your feet. Scousers have stuck to the S*n boycott ever since Hillsborough. It can be done.

News of the World hacking Milly Dowler's phone then closing ranks

I mean this Milly Dowler phone hacking case is beyond reprehensible. Despicable only covers about 10% of the outrage and revulsion we should feel about this. For months this case has rumbled on each revelation getting more and more eyebrow raising. Personally I thought it was jaw-dropping when I found out they'd hacked a serving senior police officer's works mobile but this...

Not only did they hack into a missing girl's phone to listen in on her messages they actually deleted messages to clear space for others...this gave hope to Milly's family that she was still alive and accessing her phone. And for what? To sell a few low quality tabloid newspapers. You can see why Andy Coulson had to jump ship as Cameron's right hand man, he must have known where the investigation was going to lead. I remember Cameron's shrugged, grudging acceptance of his resignation as if to say "These silly allegations are just tittle tattle but I suppose I'll have to soldier on without him".

The PCC have had this happen on their watch and are doing very little, the police were forced into investigating after avoiding taking on the case, the politicians of the day were too afraid of the backlash to bring up the matter.

The only conclusion you can draw is that the press are a law onto themselves and basically out of control. That fact that it seems that Rebekah Brooks is going to just ignore the matter and carry on is testament to this. And yet this week News Corp are given the green light for their takeover...giving this corporation even more power and making it even more unassailable.

Something has to be done and it's clear that a voluntary code of conduct and a voluntary regulatory body aren't up to the job.

Government hiding the truth about the impact of their benefit reforms

Am amazed more isn't being made about this leaked memo outlining the true impact of coalition. If it is how it appears it's utterly appalling. That government departments are issuing private warnings about the possibilty of 40,000 families being made homeless and then ministers are telling the country the exact opposite is reprehensible.

The memo coming out of Eric Pickles' office states "Our modelling indicates that we could see an additional 20,000 homelessness acceptances as a result of the total benefit cap. This on top of the 20,000 additional acceptances already anticipated as a result of other changes to housing benefit"

This article in the Guardian outlines the way the coalition have resorted to lying whenever Labour have voiced concerns.

What makes it even more distasteful is that the government don't even think that the changes will save any money

"We are concerned the savings from this measure, currently estimated at £270million from 2014-2015, do not take account of the additional costs to local authorities through homelessness and temporary accommodation. We think it likely that the policy as it stands will generate a net cost"

This makes it clear, the changes aren't about the defecit, it is about the Tory ideology of "The devil take the hindmost". They see poverty & misery for ordinary people in this country as a price worth paying. 40,000 families are acceptable collateral damage as they slim down the state. The Lib Dems are standing by and doing nothing whilst it happens.

I hope now the media will start taking more notice when Labour highlight these fears...and I also hope Ed Miliband takes Cameron to the cleaners about this in the next PMQs, it's utterly indefensible.

June 30 Public Sector strikes. Mark Serwotka skewers Francis Maude

Don't believe the hype over yesterday's strikes. The lollipop ladies and nurses didn't cause this financial crisis so why are the government raiding their pensions? This article on New Statesman outlines exactly why these changes to the pensions are unjustified.

Just look at the graph, the pensions outlay is decreasing as a percentage of GDP. Mark Serwotka (Or "Sir Wotka" as he should be knighted) called Francis Maude to put up or shut up on the government's scaremongering and he simply couldn't. By the afternoon Maude (and his "unaffordable" mantra) had been locked in a cupboard and Danny Alexander was doing the rounds using the phrase "untenable".

So don't believe the hype over these strikes, this is just ordinary workers standing up for each other when faced with an ideological dismantling of their working conditions. Divide and Conquer is how the government will beat the ordinary people of this country into submission. They can casually say Labour are bought and paid for by the Unions (plainly nonsense given Labour's silence on the subject) but it seems to be a taboo to point out that the conservatives are bought and paid for by rich tax-dodging bankers.

The government are in disarray over this, they can't win the argument so they rely on media lapdogs, when they are put on the spot they are exposed. Listen to Francis Maude flounder and then think back to the NHS Reforms, the pitiful "bonfire of the quangos", the farce of the £9k student fees ("exceptional circumstances" anyone?).

So where is Labour on this, 1000s of members & supporters will have been on strike yesterday and ministers went out of their way to condemn to strike action as much as the government...it can't be right that the Labour party are too paralysed by fear of public opinion to make a stand on issues like this. Instead of vague allusions of sticking up for the "squeezed middle" we have to stand up and be counted in supporting and trying to protect ordinary hard-working people. Why did we let the agenda be set as loony left public sector fat-cats and their massively lucrative pensions instead of going out and saying "We will fight for public sector pensions just as much as we will fight for decent private sector provision". Unfortunately we allowed it to become "Divide and Conquer" and that's how they beat us every time.

Why are we afraid to stand up for unions, everyone knows they are on our side of the argument. Why try and be vague and mumbly about it? It is less toxic than the Tory affiliations with the bankers and tax-evaders. Again we let the media set the agenda and we are nipping around the sides. The government is there for the taking as Ed Miliband has proved 3 weeks in a row at Prime Ministers Questions...yet it falls to the likes of Serwotka, Crow and Bousted to skewer the ministers. It feels like a huge missed oportunity to show people that we are standing up for everyone rather than being afraid to stand up for anyone.

Mother in law email from Carolyn Bourne to Heidi Withers

I am posting this mainly so I can always find it and chuckle about it. Firmly on Carolyn's side it has to be said. Some superb quotes in there

from: Carolyn Bourne
to: heidi withers
subject: your lack of manners

Here are a few examples of your lack of manners:
When you are a guest in another's house, you do not declare what you will and will not eat - unless you are positively allergic to something.
You do not remark that you do not have enough food.

You do not start before everyone else.
You do not take additional helpings without being invited to by your host.

When a guest in another's house, you do not lie in bed until late morning in households that rise early - you fall in line with house norms.

You should never ever insult the family you are about to join at any time and most definitely not in public. I gather you passed this off as a joke but the reaction in the pub was one of shock, not laughter.

You regularly draw attention to yourself. Perhaps you should ask yourself why. No one gets married in a castle unless they own it. It is brash, celebrity style behaviour.

I understand your parents are unable to contribute very much towards the cost of your wedding. (There is nothing wrong with that except that convention is such that one might presume they would have saved over the years for their daughters' marriages.)

If this is the case, it would be most ladylike and gracious to lower your sights and have a modest wedding as befits both your incomes.

One could be accused of thinking that Heidi Withers must be patting herself on the back for having caught a most eligible young man. I pity Freddie.

Zane Lowe, Laruen Laverne & Beyonce at Glastonbury

Wow, amazing what Twitter will get itself worked up about. Seems as though Zane Lowe was honest about his opinions about an act on the BBC's Glastonbury coverage, in this case Beyonce. He said he didn't see her set so didn't comment. What's wrong with that?

Throughout the coverage I was wondering just what you'd have to do to get anything other than the gushing, sycophantic stream of hyperbole ("Just...Amazing") that follows every act.

In this case I thought Lauren Laverne saying how Beyonce's set encompassed punk & rock was clearly ridiculous. She glammed it up and the starry eyed girls in front lapped it up but it wasn't punk.

This blog post goes into more detail as does this but I'm with Zane Lowe on this one.

Africa Oye

Just to prove that the current deluge isn't all we ever get in the north west. Had an aqesome day at Liverpool's free African music festival. Sun, smiles and great music

Torrential rain? Gore-tex? Wellies? Must be England in June!

Ironically I got burnt to a crisp yesterday at Africa Oye in Sefton park. Love this country

1st Division play-off final

Had a great time at the Division One Play-off final with our Peterborough United fan friends. Great way to round off the season especially given that Posh emerged victorious despite being under the cosh for the majority of the 2nd half.

The Huddersfield Town fans had travelled in large numbers and dominted Old Trafford with their colour co-ordinated t-shirts....in contrast the Posh fans barely filled the lower tier but were a noisy boisterous bunch. They diid give me the daggers when I cheered Kilbane and Clarke though.

3 goals in 7 minutes were stunning given that Peterborough had barely had the ball for the previous 20, who cares though. Great day for Peterborough fan and daytripper alike.

Europa League Final zzzzz

Really dissappointed with the Europa League final last night...usually they are great games but last nights final in the ridiculously lob-sided Aviva Stadium (Lansdowne Road for the corporately challenged amongst us) was a sifled, scrppy stultified affair. Braga looked more afraid of losing than being desperate to win and Porto seemed to come down to their level. The game was illuminated by one piece of brilliance from Falcao although in truth Braga received at least one glorious chance to score themselves and really should have took their chance. In the end it looked like one of those games where both teams had about 14 players on the pitch. Never room to move, no space to run into. The Football League play-offs, on the other hand, have been excellent value with the games in Swansea, Cardiff & Huddersfield all showing exactly what a football match should look like.

The Poznan Celebration or attention seeking superfan knobbery

So Everton 2 - 1 Man City and our hoodoo over the billionaire mercenaries continues...Extremely gratifying given it was Lescott's first return to Goodison. Also gratifying given how much I detest the faux-zany superfan-wannabe scoring celebration that is "The Poznan". Honestly, what is that all about? I do know that going the game is meant to be fun...but your team has just scored a goal, why turn around and jump up and down looking at the arse of the person on the row above. It's the match not a performance art exhibit. I am just not impressed with all this co-ordination. Why do modern fans have an obsession with it. Music after a goal, all holding scraves up at once, flags, murals....what's wrong with just going to the game and enjoying the football. The trained seal routine just does not do it for me at all.

I have ceanothus envy

I am slighlty obsessed with ceanothus (californian lilac). One day I'll have one like this

Happy St George's Day

Although today my heart won't be with the 3 Lions or the England rose, it won't even be at Old Trafford with my beloved Everton. Waterloo have to go to Middlesboro today and win to avoid relegation. Tough task because our away form is not the best and Middlesboro have picked up markedly recently

Bluebells at Camp Hill Woods in Woolton

Taking the opportunity to walk in the woods on a truly "goldilocks" English summer day

Canvassing, campaigning, doorknocking & leafletting

Been spending some time working with Ian Jobling as he campaigns in the Allerton & Hunts Cross ward. It's been interesting and rewarding as we work our way through an area that has been Lib Dem for about 20 years.

We see apathy and resentment of politics in general and we are still meeting a lot of traditional Lib Dems but we are seeing plenty of people annoyed with the coalition and extremely dismayed with what Clegg et al have done. Having some superb conversations with people about what's happened in the last year.

I think it will be close but very interesting in May.

If you are on twitter check out #labourdoorstep hashtag to find out what's happening.

Andrew Lansley Rap

Just posting this so I can find it more easily in future.

A week away.

Spent a week away in the Cotswolds and it seems while I did Cameron has shown his true colours yet again. Losing his temper and dispensing petty, personal jibes yet again at prime-minister's questions and then his government try to bully the BBC and criticise them for describing the budget cuts as "cuts" and try to get them to use the word "savings".

Do us a favour, if you aren't upto the job call and election and f*ck off. You took millions upon millions of Ashcroft's money, got the media under your control and STILL didn't win the election....you and your Lib Dem quislings have no mandate from the people of this country so stop acting like any disagreement to your ideological dismantling of the country's public services is beyond the pale....think of all those vile personal attack Gordon Brown endured....if your skin isn't thick enough for the job quit now.