Wednesday, 10 February 2010
The Robin Hood tax
http://robinhoodtax.org.uk/
The idea of a Tobin Tax has always seemed pretty obvious. Not only would it raise vast amounts of money, no-one would notice the cost. Money wouldn't wash around the world quite so uncontrollably, destabilising currencies and economies at the click of a mouse.
I tried raising the topic on Kerry McCarthy's blog a while back. Didn't get a response though... maybe the time's right to try again, now that Gordon's leaning in the same direction.
Saturday, 6 February 2010
Cities of Sanctuary
It's a knee jerk reaction. A new initiative is linked to a perceived enemy; therefore it must be bad.
I think that's the mistake Bristol's Tory group is making with its assault on the 'City of Sanctuary' initiative. Among its many supporters they've spotted groups that benefit from funding from their No.1 Empire of Evil, the Legacy Commission. Therefore the whole thing must be a devious plan to extract more taxpayers money for politically correct projects and career enhancements.
Fronting this particular attack is Jay Jethwa (to her credit, not deterred by the ill-judged and racist 'coconut' jibe she got last time round). You can sense Tory leader Richard Eddy's instincts for a populist headline behind her, though.
Before jumping to their sinister conclusion about the whole 'city of sanctuary' movement, shouldn't the more level-headed Conservatives have urged caution? Wouldn't a more rational approach suggest that such organisations are bound to want Bristol to join the movement? It would be a betrayal of their objectives if they didn't.
So far as I can see, 'City of Sanctuary' is more like the Fair Trade Towns initiative, with recognition depending on a commitment to its principles by community groups, business, and (crucially) by local government. The promotional video, made by Sheffield, England's first sanctuary city, gives a bit more idea what it's all about.
I don't know just what resolution the council would choose to pass in support of Bristol becoming a city of sanctuary, but a quick web search reveals those passed by Bradford last March, and Swansea in December 2008. They're hardly the kind of stuff that would raise Tory blood pressure, indeed the Tories of those towns seem to have been enthusiastic.
A great pity if Richard Eddy's greed for a cheap headline means Bristol doesn't show the same unanimity.
I think that's the mistake Bristol's Tory group is making with its assault on the 'City of Sanctuary' initiative. Among its many supporters they've spotted groups that benefit from funding from their No.1 Empire of Evil, the Legacy Commission. Therefore the whole thing must be a devious plan to extract more taxpayers money for politically correct projects and career enhancements.
Fronting this particular attack is Jay Jethwa (to her credit, not deterred by the ill-judged and racist 'coconut' jibe she got last time round). You can sense Tory leader Richard Eddy's instincts for a populist headline behind her, though.
Before jumping to their sinister conclusion about the whole 'city of sanctuary' movement, shouldn't the more level-headed Conservatives have urged caution? Wouldn't a more rational approach suggest that such organisations are bound to want Bristol to join the movement? It would be a betrayal of their objectives if they didn't.
So far as I can see, 'City of Sanctuary' is more like the Fair Trade Towns initiative, with recognition depending on a commitment to its principles by community groups, business, and (crucially) by local government. The promotional video, made by Sheffield, England's first sanctuary city, gives a bit more idea what it's all about.
I don't know just what resolution the council would choose to pass in support of Bristol becoming a city of sanctuary, but a quick web search reveals those passed by Bradford last March, and Swansea in December 2008. They're hardly the kind of stuff that would raise Tory blood pressure, indeed the Tories of those towns seem to have been enthusiastic.
A great pity if Richard Eddy's greed for a cheap headline means Bristol doesn't show the same unanimity.
Thursday, 4 February 2010
Genesis of a Bendy Busroute
The decision was predictable enough... the South Bristol Bypass got the ok from the West of England Transport Executives this morning. Now it's down to the cabinets of North Somerset and Bristol to confirm they want to go ahead - followed by what (one hopes) will be close scrutiny of the whole thing by the Department of Transport.
Equally unsurpising (except in the fact that it was - in confidence - admitted by a key player) is that the Bus Rapid Transit route was added to the road scheme simply because a road by itself wouldn't stand a chance of funding. It always looked like the obvious explanation for such an unviable route - but here it was, straight from the horse's mouth.
Look out for the next bit of rebranding for BRT; Bus Rapid Transit will be deleted from the record, to be replaced by Bristol Rapid Transit. I expect we'll all still call it a bendybus.
And, while on about phrasing, how about Jon Rogers' new call, made at the same meeting, to 'bring balance to the city'? It appears to mean making South Bristol look like the North Fringe, but that doesn't sound quite the same.
More about the meeting, and what follows, on the Green Party pages.
Equally unsurpising (except in the fact that it was - in confidence - admitted by a key player) is that the Bus Rapid Transit route was added to the road scheme simply because a road by itself wouldn't stand a chance of funding. It always looked like the obvious explanation for such an unviable route - but here it was, straight from the horse's mouth.
Look out for the next bit of rebranding for BRT; Bus Rapid Transit will be deleted from the record, to be replaced by Bristol Rapid Transit. I expect we'll all still call it a bendybus.
And, while on about phrasing, how about Jon Rogers' new call, made at the same meeting, to 'bring balance to the city'? It appears to mean making South Bristol look like the North Fringe, but that doesn't sound quite the same.
More about the meeting, and what follows, on the Green Party pages.
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Isn't the NHS wonderful?
Delivered today, First Class, from the BRI.
Contains notice of an appointment for 2014.
The Leigh Court Puppeteers
In June 2007, the words 'South Bristol Ring Road' made their last appearance in the transport planners' list of projects. In July 2007, we first saw the South Bristol Link - just the same project in a new suit of clothes.
There had been no 'Windscale fire' to prompt the change of name, and many of us wondered why the rebranding had happened. Whose idea was it, and why?
The answer may lie in a briefing about the Ring Road prepared by GWE Business West a few months before. It commented:
'Think about a new name for the road – it has a serious image problem! South Bristol Link Road, Bedminster Bypass – anything to get away from the idea of a ring road – “ring roads take people through places, not to them” '.
So, sure enough, that's exactly what the planners and politicians did.
There was more than that to it, though.... Business West were worried too that the business case for the ring road didn't stand up:
" The argument for the ring road suggests it will have a beneficial impact in access to existing employment sites (and may even open up new). If this is the case then these need to be clearly identified. If Cater Road and Hawkfield Business Parks will benefit, where is the evidence? Need facts and figures to support the economic development arguments particularly as more recent evidence on new road provision would not support this case." (my emphasis)
Perhaps that explains the absolute lack of any substantive case for the regenerative effect of the proposed road. Better to say nothing than to reveal that the case doesn't stand up.
Still, who needs facts? The real problem, as always, is negative public perception! To counter this, Business West recommended:
"Produce some photos/pictures/artists impressions together for particular sections of the route to show what it could look like – tree lined avenues,
cycle/bus lanes, guided bus route etc. This would help to get away from the idea that the ring road is just a dual carriageway for cars that would segregate communities and produce barriers to walking and cycling access."
If you'd like to see how that turned out, the West of England's 'Travel+' website has the pictures
On Business West's website now, it would take an expert navigator and a lot of luck to find what they thought - and feared - back then. Now, they too talk of the 'South Bristol Link' with the same simple assumptions that it's a good way to spend money and carve through South Bristol and the Green Belt.
Almost exactly what's being presented in the officers' report to tomorrow's West of England Transport Committee.
There had been no 'Windscale fire' to prompt the change of name, and many of us wondered why the rebranding had happened. Whose idea was it, and why?
The answer may lie in a briefing about the Ring Road prepared by GWE Business West a few months before. It commented:
'Think about a new name for the road – it has a serious image problem! South Bristol Link Road, Bedminster Bypass – anything to get away from the idea of a ring road – “ring roads take people through places, not to them” '.
So, sure enough, that's exactly what the planners and politicians did.
There was more than that to it, though.... Business West were worried too that the business case for the ring road didn't stand up:
" The argument for the ring road suggests it will have a beneficial impact in access to existing employment sites (and may even open up new). If this is the case then these need to be clearly identified. If Cater Road and Hawkfield Business Parks will benefit, where is the evidence? Need facts and figures to support the economic development arguments particularly as more recent evidence on new road provision would not support this case." (my emphasis)
Perhaps that explains the absolute lack of any substantive case for the regenerative effect of the proposed road. Better to say nothing than to reveal that the case doesn't stand up.
Still, who needs facts? The real problem, as always, is negative public perception! To counter this, Business West recommended:
"Produce some photos/pictures/artists impressions together for particular sections of the route to show what it could look like – tree lined avenues,
cycle/bus lanes, guided bus route etc. This would help to get away from the idea that the ring road is just a dual carriageway for cars that would segregate communities and produce barriers to walking and cycling access."
If you'd like to see how that turned out, the West of England's 'Travel+' website has the pictures
On Business West's website now, it would take an expert navigator and a lot of luck to find what they thought - and feared - back then. Now, they too talk of the 'South Bristol Link' with the same simple assumptions that it's a good way to spend money and carve through South Bristol and the Green Belt.
Almost exactly what's being presented in the officers' report to tomorrow's West of England Transport Committee.
Monday, 1 February 2010
Another dodgy dossier
Yes.... it's the ring road again. Or rather its second rebranding, as the "South Bristol Link"
And this weeks dodgy dossier is the officers report(pdf)to the Joint Transport Executive Members of the West of England Partnership. It has much in common with the pre-Iraq War dossier on WMD; high on assertions, light on facts, and driven by ideology and the need to get support before a key deadline.
A week ago, councillors from all four local authorities looked at the case for the Ring Road plus Bus Rapid Transit that the Partnership aims to bid for in March.
They weren't satisfied with what they saw. They want more more 'information to be taken into account or work commissioned before a final decision is made'. That's because they were struck above all else by "the incompleteness of the report" (their emphasis), particularly on the economic (jobs and regeneration) performance. They wonder (so do I!) what's happened to work known to have been commissioned to do the economic analysis.
It certainly doesn't appear in the latest report. No reference to any economic analysis, though there's an assertion that benefit to cost ratios come in at a satisfactory 4. Still no commercial appraisal of the BRT service, which even at peak hour isn't expected to carry more than a couple of hundred passengers over its specially laid 7km route. There's confidence enough, though, to claim :
"the scheme will lead to improved accessibility for a number of key sites, and that this will result in increasing employment densities on these sites as well as an overall improvement in the quality of jobs on these sites."
No source for that, though. Maybe they found it on the web in someone's university dissertation?
There are a few stats thrown in, though no source is quoted for them, either. They're not about economics, though, they're about predicted traffic levels, and they don't really suggest the ring road will make much difference anyway! The key DfT yardstick of city-bound journey times is - once again - nowhere to be seen.
There's even a 45 minute claim! It's said to be the average peak journey time from Hartcliffe to the city centre on today's 'showcase' bus, and that (at least for the minority living close to the BRT route), the journey time would be shortened. You'd hope that smart ticketting would by then have cut journey times on all the buses, but that's not mentioned either.
However, all this is not driven by the need to establish whether South Bristol will benefit from a road through it; it's driven by a timetable that requires a bid for 'Programme Entry' in March, and the formal agreement of two Cabinets before that. And that may not happen if the Transport Executives ask too many questions on Thursday.
The S. Bristol Green Party's 'statement'to the meeting does list sixteen questions that need clear positive answers before this scheme goes any further. If we're going to spend 50 million quid (all public money, and a sizeable chunk of it our own) lets show that it's money very well spent. Remember the alternatives we'll be missing out on.
Sunday, 31 January 2010
Mo Mowlam
Maybe I'll watch this evening's Channel 4 biopic about Mo
later.
For a long while we lived in Mo's Redcar constituency. Even had we not been active politically, we would have got to know and like her, because my in-laws were lifetime Labour Party loyalists, and - though they came late to Redcar and were never really part of the political scene there - Mo had a lot of time for them personally, and often visited, sometimes with her Mum in tow.
We first met Mo, though, on one of Greenpeace's annual 'Whale Walks' - a fundraising ramble that took us (with Mo quite inappropriately dressed because she was going on to some party committee meeting) slipping and sliding up the steep flanks of Eston Nab to the magnificent viewpoint at the top, with its vista of Tees Bay and the vast industrial complexes on its shores, countered by the view south to Rosebery Topping and the North Yorkshire Moors.
Later, we'd meet Mo 'on business' from time to time about local campaign issues, and she'd always be ready to give considered advice about how best to take things forward, while still shrewd enough not to make too many commitments herself!
She lived in an unassuming terrace house at the steelworks end of the seafront - it was probably visible in the wartime Dunquerque scenes in Atonement. That's where we first saw routinely armed police in Redcar, thanks to her status as Northern Ireland Minister. Their protection was withdrawn not long after she was removed from that job, although she was still clearly a terrorist target, and it was generally thought that Tony Blair was behind the move. After all, at Conference her ovation had been bigger than his ovation.
The seafront house was also where we went to one of Mo's parties, mostly with local Labour Party members; one of them was quite shocked to see us there and whispered a warning to Mo that she had Green Party people in the house! Party politics, eh?
With Mo, what you saw was what you got. Her style was fresh, unstuffy, informal, good-humoured. When my father in law, by then widowed, was diagnosed with terminal cancer and confined to bed, Mo would still call in, unsolicited, from time to time to spend half an hour with him. A spontaneous personal call by a Cabinet Minister (and a really nice one at that, which must narrow the field a bit). He loved it!
On balance I don't think I'll watch the biopic - Julie Walters notwithstanding.
later.
For a long while we lived in Mo's Redcar constituency. Even had we not been active politically, we would have got to know and like her, because my in-laws were lifetime Labour Party loyalists, and - though they came late to Redcar and were never really part of the political scene there - Mo had a lot of time for them personally, and often visited, sometimes with her Mum in tow.
We first met Mo, though, on one of Greenpeace's annual 'Whale Walks' - a fundraising ramble that took us (with Mo quite inappropriately dressed because she was going on to some party committee meeting) slipping and sliding up the steep flanks of Eston Nab to the magnificent viewpoint at the top, with its vista of Tees Bay and the vast industrial complexes on its shores, countered by the view south to Rosebery Topping and the North Yorkshire Moors.
Later, we'd meet Mo 'on business' from time to time about local campaign issues, and she'd always be ready to give considered advice about how best to take things forward, while still shrewd enough not to make too many commitments herself!
She lived in an unassuming terrace house at the steelworks end of the seafront - it was probably visible in the wartime Dunquerque scenes in Atonement. That's where we first saw routinely armed police in Redcar, thanks to her status as Northern Ireland Minister. Their protection was withdrawn not long after she was removed from that job, although she was still clearly a terrorist target, and it was generally thought that Tony Blair was behind the move. After all, at Conference her ovation had been bigger than his ovation.
The seafront house was also where we went to one of Mo's parties, mostly with local Labour Party members; one of them was quite shocked to see us there and whispered a warning to Mo that she had Green Party people in the house! Party politics, eh?
With Mo, what you saw was what you got. Her style was fresh, unstuffy, informal, good-humoured. When my father in law, by then widowed, was diagnosed with terminal cancer and confined to bed, Mo would still call in, unsolicited, from time to time to spend half an hour with him. A spontaneous personal call by a Cabinet Minister (and a really nice one at that, which must narrow the field a bit). He loved it!
On balance I don't think I'll watch the biopic - Julie Walters notwithstanding.
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