What to do about Bankers?

In my day job, I have worked regularly in the City for many years. As an IT specialist, I'm just the hired help but its enabled me to see first hand how the many diverse organisations that make up our financial sector operate. And of course there are good ones and not so. Many companies I work with are supporting fast growing businesses and creating real jobs and opportunities. Others, however, are trading and speculating between themselves, adding no social value, whilst generating huge profits and bonus pools.

Whilst the bankers and financiers have enjoyed huge personal rewards in recent years, our communities are now paying the price in lost jobs, shattered savings and service cuts.

There is now no justification for huge bonuses for individuals, built up on the back of government funded liquidity intended to protect out financial system from meltdown. Especially when its many of the same organisations and individuals whose high-risk behaviours have been responsible for getting us into this mess.

Dealing with this is very difficult. Knee jerking into punitive taxes and caps on personal or corporate earnings - popular though that may be - risks throwing out the baby with the bathwater. What we need is an intelligent approach which drives long term, structural change in the financial service industry, its behaviours and its contribution to our economic health.

I am hopeful that the baleful influence of the City on Labour thinking has finally been broken. The governments comments in the last few days on the importance of building up manufacturing & industry is welcome and long overdue.

A litmus test for me will be how Alistair Darling brings a Labour solution to this over the next few days.

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What a parcel of rogues in our nation....

Spending St Andrew’s day launching a white paper on an independence referendum shows just how out of touch the SNP have become. Instead of working to get us out of recession, create jobs for young people and get more teachers into our schools the SNP plan to spend millions on a referendum that we already know the answer to. Scotland deserves better. The coming election will be about jobs and the economy. The SNP have no answers and seem to be pinning all their hopes on the Tories winning power.

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Windfarm Walk 2

An interesting and enjoyable day on Monday, being shown round Lochindorb and the Dava by local campaigners against the wind farms being proposed for the area. When you stand on the highpoint of the B9007 across the moor, or on the shores of the loch, you are surrounded by one of the most unspoilt landscapes I have seen for a while. The visual impact of so many wind turbines right across the hillscape - not to mention the access roads that will need to be built - will be huge.

If we are serious about tackling climate change we need to increase our use of renewable energy sources. Wind farms have a big role to play - or so the current political consensus argues - and I can certainly testify that the Dava is windy. Or at least it was on Monday!

Which goes to the heart of the argument made by the local campaigners I met. They argue that the intermittent nature of wind-power generation will actually increase the reliance on non-renewable sources (coal and oil) by requiring such baseload capacity to be available for when the wind isn't blowing enough (or blowing too hard) to generate power. The more wind-dependant renewable capacity you build, the more backup capacity you need in order to stop the lights going out. To make their case, I was presented with a copy of Dr John Etherington's recent book , "The Wind Farm Scam". Its heavy going and packed with a lot of power engineering science (I knew my physics degree was going to come in handy one day). If the arguments in the book are right, then we need to think very carefully about what we are doing with wind farms.

But are they? And even if they are, what are the alternatives?

This is a complex issue with no easy answers. I'd be very interested to hear views on the subject.

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Wind Farm Walk

I'll be heading to Lochindorb and the Dava on Monday, to meet local people campaigning against the plans for wind farms in the area and to walk round the loch and some of the surrounding hills. I want to see for myself where such developments are being proposed and what the impact on the area will be.

I’m committed to strong and radical action to tackle climate change. I am also of the view that land based wind generation – including large and small scale Wind Farms - has an important role to play in the renewable energy mix. Inevitably, that will mean difficult decisions need to be made. But, we need to get the balance right and ensure we don’t compromise our unique mountain landscapes for only short-term gain.

I'll post again on this topic after my visit on Monday. Meantime, I'd welcome comments with views both for and against such developments.

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Keep Cool at Christmas

Spent an interesting couple of hours yesterday with Isobal MacInnes, the Usdaw rep at the Coop in Inverness, helping to leaflet shoppers about Usdaw’s “Keep your cool at Christmas “ campaign. The event was organised as part of Usdaw’s Freedom from Fear Week.

Usdaw’s most recent survey shows that two thirds of shop staff have been abused in the last year and nearly 10% have suffered physical assault. A major cause is angry customers and reports of ‘trolley rage’ incidents are on the increase. The shop staff that I met told me that Christmas is the time when they suffer most anger and abuse. Retail shop workers are in the front line of dealing with issues such as under-age drinking and the resulting verbal abuse can leave staff upset and depressed.

Shopworkers need much more support from their management as well as better understanding of these issues from the wider public.

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How Not to Reform the Banking System

Interesting to hear this morning that Mervyn King (Bank of England) has jumped on the Nick Clegg (LibDem) bandwagon to separate retail and investment banking. Or maybe it’s the other way round….

To be fair, this is an idea that a few months ago I though had some merit. It’s the “masters of the universe” at the big investment banks – or so the theory goes – that took the dodgy risks, for huge personal rewards, that caused the financial crisis. Separate them from the retail banking sector and our savings and mortgages should be safe. This is, after all, what the US did back in the 1930s. And in the UK, the big hybrid banks like Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays only emerged after Thatcher’s financial de-regulation in the 1980s – the so called “big bang”.

When you really dig into what happened, however, you learn that it was sales-culture driven lending and the invention of ever more exotic financial products and transactions between banks that were at the heart of the problem, not organisational structures.

Northern Rock was a retail-only bank. It went bust entirely by itself as a result of a bonus driven sales culture. And the two big institutions that collapsed at the peak of the crisis – Lehmans and Merrill Lynch - were stand-alone Investment Banks. RBS needed bailed out, but it was bad management and a skewed culture of risk/reward that caused the problem, not its integrated retail and investment banking structure. As for Goldman Sachs……

Trying to re-structure the banking sector now will be like trying to put the genie back in the bottle. And to attempt such a solution in the UK, with what are global companies, would be doomed to failure. What we do need is strong regulation, agreed globally, that is firmly applied.
And we need to think seriously about the old idea of taxing inter-bank transactions, to dampen down self-serving trading between institutions, which generate no external value.

Mervyn King is being very vocal now, but I think its much more to do with making friends with David Cameron than good sense. What did he have to say over the last few years whilst this situation was developing? Not a lot. So I’m not inclined to listen now. Not to him, nor to Nick Clegg and his LibDem colleagues on the bandwagon..

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After the Conferences, a Question

After all the high political rhetoric of the party conference season, its back to the real work of local politics. Yesterday we delivered a new leaflet into Dalneigh and today we will be doing the same in Kingussie.

After all the conference speeches, I have just one question for Danny Alexander and Jim Ferguson. Both of your party leaders have promised to make big cuts in public spending if they get into power ("savage cuts" in the case of Nick Clegg and the LibDems). But, if its the bankers, financiers and some of the other top earners in this country who created this crisis, why is it now public sector workers who are being asked to pay for it?

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Gordon Brown Speech

I listened with some emotion to Gordon Brown's speech today. In his own way - and with the scene set so powerfully by Peter Mandelson yesterday - I think he has delivered a defining political moment, in the same way as Kinnock did with his attack on Miltant back in the 80s.

Until you hear it listed out, we risk forgetting what we have achieved since 1997. And at long last there was some vision of what more we can deliver. To pick out a few things that really matter to me, clamping down on the dangerous behaviours of investment bankers, electoral reform and a focus on citizen safety. Asking the most well off in our society to pay a bit more in tax is the right thing to do. So is our approach to maintaining investment in public services and manufacturing, training for our young people, and climate change.

The difference between us and the Tories is getting clearer and clearer by the day. It really is time to ask them questions about their priorities. Exactly how does giving £200k back to the 3000 wealthiest people in the country create a fairer society?

I loved the line about "change has consequences". Electing a Tory government will take us back to the despairing days of the 1980s when - for most people - life was about living with public service cuts, unemployment and dead end jobs whilst the self-selecting few prospered. And at last week's LibDem conference we finally got to see what their alternative offered - "savage cuts" - going further than even the Tories so far.

Jack Straw got it absolutely right in his fightback comment to Labour's critics on Radio 5 yesterday: "..... be careful what you wish for."

I'll not be leaving it to wishful thinking. My team will be out campaigning in Merkinch at the weekend. Maybe see you there.

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INBS Labour Party determined to Win

Much media talk over the weekend about the lack of determination to win in the Labour Party. Well anyone who doubts that we are ready and willing for the "fight of our lives" at next year's election should have been on Inverness High Street on Saturday afternoon when a team of enthusisatic Labour activists handed out hundreds of leaflets highlighting Danny Alexander and the LibDem's plans for "savage cuts".

Its been a Labour government that intervened to help people through the recession. Not just because it was the right thing to do but because it is in our instincts to do so. The Conservatives took the decision to do nothing - to let the recession take its course. And today they would use the financial crisis as an excuse to cut support for jobs and families, because that is in their instinct too. Seems it is a LibDem instinct as well!

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LibDems plan Savage Cuts in Public Expenditure

We are used to finding it hard to pin down LibDem policy on most issues. Now, on public expenditure, we finally know exactly where they stand. In Nick Clegg’s own words “"I have said there will need to be cuts, cuts that are savage and bold.” Even the Tories have not gone this far (yet).

The Highland economy is already facing a tough public expenditure regime - the Council is looking to trim its budget by £60m over the next 3 years - as we start to pay the price of the SNP's political programme. The impact of further "savage" cuts will be severe.

Danny Alexander is right at the heart of such plans. As Nick Clegg’s Chief of Staff, he has responsibility for drafting the LibDem manifesto for the election. In Danny's own words (Inverness Courier, 30th June) "spending cuts will hit the poor hardest". For years, the LibDems have been lining up to demand new services and programmes and criticising Labour when we have had to make difficult decision on spending priorities. Now we know exactly what they are planning to do if they get into power - or into coalition with the Tories - "savage" cuts!

Danny Alexander is carrying Cleggs’ knife in the Highlands. We must get organised to stop him.

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Child Protection

This article in today's Guardian by Polly Toynbee is well worth reading. In all the media furore about political correctness, it captures for me exactly why Ed Balls is right to push through this legislation. Parents must be able to be confident that the people they DON'T know who are in contact with their kids on behalf of schools and clubs have passed a simple check. It won't cost volunteers anything and it simplifies the current system by putting all the checks in one place. On this issue, John Humphreys and others on Radio 4/5 should stop attacking politicians and start giving them some credit.

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1010

Inspired today to sign up for the Guardian's 10:10 campaign. BIg picture political campaigns to save the planet risk making us feel good about the headline targets whilst assuming it will all just happen through what the government does. Committing to reduce my households carbon footprint by 10% by the end of 2010 makes it very personal. Now we need to work out how to make it happen.......

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On Megrahi

I’ve no doubt that coming to a decision about the best way forward on the Al-Megrahi case must have been a hugely difficult decision for Kenny MacAskill. Its one of those situations where there is no clearly “right” answer and required a weighing up of conflicting legal, political and humanitarian issues.

The SNP, however, has achieved the worst of all outcomes by allowing its political ideology to play a key role in the process.

My personal view is that, on balance, it was right – in humanitarian terms - to move Megrahi into a situation where he could best spend what is left of his life closer to his family. This, however, could have been achieved by transferring Megrahi back to a prison in Libya. The UK government had spent considerable time working out the terms of just such a process. Megrahi would have continued to serve out his sentence, but this solution would have strengthened the UK’s relationship and influence with Libya and would also have earned the UK credit with many Arab states and organisations. Over time, such an outcome would have many benefits for us all, in both economic and security terms.

Crucially, since he was still serving a jail sentence, Megrahi could continue to pursue his appeal.
But agreeing to work with the UK government, in the best interest of us all, did not fit with the SNP’s political strategy, which requires conflict with London to be engineered at every opportunity, so as to build the case for independence. Salmond effectively boxed himself and MacAskill into a corner last year, when he was publicly critical of the Prisoner Transfer Agreement and how it had been negotiated.

By releasing Megrahi on compassionate grounds, MacAskill and the SNP Government have achieved the worst of all outcomes. Megrahi is welcomed home as a hero, damaging UK and US relationships with an important Arab power. Scotland’s status in the world has been diminished. And we will never get to hear the new evidence which might have shed some light on the real story behind the Lockerbie disaster.

We should remember that the next time the SNP tell us they have Scotland’s best interests at heart.

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Help the Highland Tiger

Enjoyed Thursday afternoon at the Grantown Show.

As well as meeting many local people just enjoying a fine time in the sun, it was interesting to talk to some of the community groups on their stands. I was most impressed by the volunteers of the Badenoch & Strathspey Community Transport Company, who provide a brilliant service making sure that all sorts of people can get around the community when they need to but also just to socialise.

And you couldn't miss the marvellous images used by http://www.highlandtiger,com/ to promote their work protecting wild cats.

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Scrappage Scheme Success

I must admit I was sceptical about the Car Scrappage Scheme when it was launched earlier this year. With its focus on trading in old vehicles for new cars, I was not sure it would work.

So I was delighted to read today that Peter Mandelson's Industry Department has announced that more than 150,000 people have taken advantage of the scheme. As a result, car sales have grown by 13.5% since last year. Even more significantly, the CO2 emmissions associated with new cars sold are down 25% from the old vehicles traded in.

Seems the scheme is working for consumers, the car trade and the environment.

Now that's something we can all be proud of.

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Raigmore Campaign

I had mixed feeling about starting to campaign in August, with so many activists and voters on holiday, but this weekend's experience made it worthwhile. Only a small team, but we put out 300 leaflets round the Raigmore Estate on Friday afternoon and followed it up with some door knocking on the Saturday morning.

Talking to people on their doorsteps on Saturday was encouraging. Labour voters were still Labour voters and a good few were pretty dismissive of Danny Alexander, who they think is "all talk". There was a lot of support for Gordon Brown, who many seemed to feel was getting an unjustified pillorying from the media, whilst he was just trying to do the right thing.

Maybe we are doing more right than we think?

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Tories Looking Forward to Cuts

Reading the Guardian piece about Shadow Treasury Chief Secretary Phillip Hammond yesterday left me cold and angry. Hammond seemed to be almost enjoying the prospect of the savage cuts in public spending he is planning should the Tories gain power in next year's election. Lots of macho talk about taking "early action" and "establishing credibility" with the City and global markets. All about needing to keep the financiers happy - the same ones who got us into this current mess - rather than understanding the impact of such cuts on jobs and services for the vast majority of people in this country.

I was in Grantown on Saturday, meeting folk at the Figgat Fair. The three small care homes there are prime examples of what may be under threat if Hammond and his ilk get their way.

Hammond may fully expect to be the nation's hate figure, but he will clearly have a big smile on his face as he wields the spending axe with undisguised enjoyment.

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Digital Highlands

Last month, the Government published Digital Britain, a comprehensive strategy for the development of digital communications and services across the UK to meet the needs of individuals, business and government in the information age.

Communities in the Highlands in particular will benefit from the Universal Service Commitment, which will ensure we all have access to high quality broadband by 2012. Digital Britain goes further, with ambitious plans to deliver Next Generation Broadband to all of our communities. This is not just about giving us all ever faster access to uTube. Small businesses can thrive in the rural economy when they have high-quality communication links whilst we can all benefit from access to services and information across such digital networks.

Labour's priorities between now and the General Election are threefold: cleaning up politics, taking Britain out of recession and into recovery and modernising our public services and infrastructure.

I welcome Lord Carter's report as a major contribution to third of these goals.

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Nairn, Brown and the Royal Mail

We took our campaign to Nairn on Saturday. An hour handing out leaflets outside the Town House and then delivering the rest door to door in Fishertown. Of all our "meet the voter" activities, so far, this was by far the most difficult. Maybe it was just the aftermath of an election day, but there did seem to be a lot more people who wanted to put us in the "all you politicians are ****" category. The expenses scandal was the issue rather than Labour itself. And we did meet a some locals - including one former party member - who stopped for a good long talk. Despite the abuse, this did feel like a real community with a potentially strong Labour support. If we can motivate them to come out and vote.

I wanted the photo of me next to the post box, to use in my coming campaign to keep the Royal Mail public. However, I was enthused today to read that the government may indeed finally be listening and will decide to delay the Bill (even if its on the ground of stock market values, a delay is a delay). I said as much to some Coop Party members last night; Gordon Brown deserves our support to lead us through till the spring, when I believe the economy will be much better. Our voters may be prepared to come out and support us then, but he needs to help motivate party workers by kicking policies like this into the long grass. ID Cards next?

Cameron, the Tories and the Telegraph know the economy is going to be better by spring next year as well and I am sure this is why the Telegraph's expenses campaign was timed to de-stabilise us now, to try and panic us into an election now rather than in 6-12 months time. I have no time for those Labour cabinet members who put their own interests before the party and our people. Strong hearts and minds have seen us through this. Things CAN only get better.

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Dear Gordon.........

This isn't a great time to be a Labour PPC (Prospective Parliamentary Candidate). At best, most of our friends and colleagues think we are mad. And many others think much worse of us. But we all know what is motivating us to stand, so we do feel a bit like a particular "band of brothers" (and sisters) right now, but a very determined band. Many of us have been talking by phone and email today about how best to show our support for Gordon Brown in these difficult time. Along with many other PPCs, I have tonight signed and sent this letter.

Dear Gordon

As Labour's parliamentary candidates for the next General Election, we wanted to make clear our view on the current political events. Over the last 12 years in Government, and before, you have made an enormous contribution to this country and the Labour Party and this is very widely acknowledged. However what we also recognise that in the current economic crisis, you have been the only party leader with a real plan for how we can help people through these difficult times.

In particular, your work with President Obama and others to bring together the world’s leaders to address collectively the global economic crisis has ensured that Britain – and indeed the world – is better placed to emerge quickly from the current situation. Our constituents need to know that in contrast to the do-nothing Tories, our Labour Government will continue to take the steps necessary to protect our country’s interests.

To this end we are asking you to restate your commitment to continue as our Prime Minister and to remain focused on what really matters to the people of Scotland.

Now is not the time for rocking the boat, now is the time for a steady hand at the wheel of the ship. The actions of a handful of rebels cannot be allowed to derail the economic recovery that you have led. We look forward to working with you in the months ahead as we take our case to the country whenever the General Election is called.

With best wishes

So tomorrow, we will be out on the streets of Nairn. No hiding.

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Sunshine in Strathspey

The sun came out for us in Aviemore on Saturday. In weather like this, campaigning is almost a pleasure. There were a lot of visitors - who all got a Euro Election leaflet - but a good many local folk who stopped to talk. Needless to say, most just wanted to vent their anger and frustration over MPs and how they have been abusing the expenses system, but at least they weren't taking it out directly on the party volunteers like us.

A surprising number of people did actually want to talk about politics. Some raised very local issues - Tescos really need to get their car park policy sorted - but others talked about the economy and even the Euro (why haven't we joined it yet)!

We seemed to be the only political party out and talking to people that morning. Maybe even the Liberals are hiding, or maybe they just don't see the need. I got the impression that local people are not too used to their political representatives being seen out and about like this, and were genuinely interested. Hopefully, some people will remember that come election time.

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Politics Still Matters

Going door to door over the weekend, canvassing for Labour candidates in the Euro Elections, I've lost count of how many times people have -mostly - smiled sympathetically and just asked "why are you still doing this"?

They mostly mean, of course, why are volunteer, unpaid party foot soldiers like me - and my many party colleagues who were out on Saturday - still prepared to face up and take the flack on behalf of our elected politicians in the midst of the expenses furore.

The answer is that despite the appalling behaviour of some individual politicians I still believe that electing labour party representatives into office locally, at Holyrood, Westminster and Strasbourg really matters.

In Europe it matters because its only the socialist group who are working to create jobs, protect working people, enforce better regulation of financial services and deal with climate change.

Here in the Highlands it matters because Labour is doing everything it can to save jobs, keep businesses afloat and get Scotland back on track. Its a Labour government that has rescued Scotland’s banks – not to help failed bankers, but to save jobs, mortgages, homes and savings. Its Labour who has increased people’s spending power by giving people a little extra in their pockets to support the economy; lower mortgage payments, increased child benefits and raised pension credits. Its Labour who is helping small businesses with the Loan Guarantee Scheme and making sure that HM Revenue & Customs is just a wee bit more helpful when the tax bills are due.

In Inverness it matters. Last Friday's Courier exposed the shocking social inequalities in the heart of the City. As usual, its those with the least who pay the price when our current economic model fails. Those are the people who should expect Labour to stand up for them, not make it worse.

We need to grow our way out of this recession, not cut our way out of it.

That's why I'll be proud to be out on the street in Aviemore this weekend, standing up for Labour values for all our communities.

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My Pledge on Expenses

The Westminster expenses scandal raises a cloud of suspicion around all those who seek to represent their political parties.

As a measure of my intention to try and restore an element of trust between voters and political representatives, as a Prospective Parliamentary Candidate I would like to put on record the following five pledges which will govern my conduct if I am elected to Parliament.

1. As a parliamentary candidate I will subscribe to the highest standards of integrity, transparency, accountability and financial economy


2. I seek elected office not for personal gain but to serve the public and our democracy, which I consider an honour and a privilege


3. I will publish my expenses online within a month of submitting them and publicise them annually in full to my constituents


4. I will hold regular meetings with my community and will regularly report back to my constituency party


5. I will apply the principle of best value to all decisions I make which involve the use of public money to cover my duties, including for travel and accommodation.

A great many of our current Members of Parliament already embody these principles in their day-to-day conduct and their example should be recognised. We cannot return to a system where only those who are already independently wealthy can put themselves forward for election to Parliament, so necessary reforms to the system of MPs’ expenses and allowances should reflect the need for those representing constituencies outside Greater London - especially from areas like the Highlands - to claim for appropriate accommodation and travel expenses. In the absence, however, of a decision on the final form of the new system, these pledges will act as my guide if I have the honour of being elected to the House of Commons.

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Liberal Tax Cuts don't Add Up

I listened to Danny Alexander on Radio 4's Question Time last Friday and had to admit that we both seem to share some pretty similar political values. Having read his regular column in the Courier last week, however, I find myself concerned.

In his comment on Labour's budget, his main argument was that we should be reducing income tax for low and middle income households in order to offset the worst effects of the recession. This echoed the Lib Dem proposal during this year's Scottish Parliament Budget discussions to cut income tax by 2p.

What he totally fails to say, however, is where the inevitable cuts in government spending that would result will need to be in order to fund such tax cuts.

Labour has made a deliberate choice to invest in jobs and services as the way of driving ourselves out of the recession. Just as President Roosevelt did with the New Deal in the US in the 1930s. It worked then and I believe it will work for us now. You can't deliver such investment - least of all during a during a recession - and make broad tax cuts (Labour increased marginal tax rates on those earning more than £150k).

Are the Liberals just saying what they think people want to hear (who does not want a tax cut) rather than being serious about investing our way out of this crisis? Or are they really planning for cuts in services?

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Cuts in the City

Working in London today. In the City. Allister Heath - who I don't know from Adam - is the editor of City AM, a widely read morning free-sheet. In a strident editorial, he wrote about what he regards as the coming political "revolution".

On Labour's prospects "... there is now almost no chance ... of anything other than a Tory Government in a year's time". And on what that will mean "Until a few week's ago, it seemed as if the Tories would turn out to be a soft touch on tax and spend. No longer...... All large projects will be scrutinised, almost all public spending commitments renegotiated........ Its time to prepare for the new order."

There are many good people and businesses in the City - I work for some of them - who are still investing in companies that are creating wealth and jobs. But the devastating spending and service cuts that Heath predicts is what many of those who should be taking responsibility for the economic mess we are in are now looking forward to. Cuts for the rest of us whilst they enjoy the benefits of the "new order".

Even in this most difficult of times, this is why we need to fight and fight for every Labour vote to protect jobs and services for all of the people in this country.

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MPs Expenses in the Real World

What sort of political world are we now living in when tonight's BBC 10pm news is led by 15 minutes of reporting of MP's expenses and only then by news about the potentially devastating loss of steelworkers' jobs on Teeside at Corus and the deaths of 4 of our soldiers in Afghanistan?

There is no point in trying to blame the media for this. We all know how they work. Quite simply, some Westminster MPs - and I hope it extends across all parties - have allowed their wanton and thoughtless use of an out of date expenses system to categorise all politicians as "in it for themselves". We need to change the system, but the damage has been done.

I am active in politics because I want to make a difference. I am a Labour Party member because I want to shape a world in which the vast majority of ordinary working people can enjoy prosperous, safe and satisfying lives based on Labour values of social justice and equality of opportunity. I have put myself forward to be an MP so I can have the opportunity to represent these ideals. To make sure that defending jobs in Teeside - and wherever else they are under threat - is how we get our headlines, not defending our personal lifestyles.

I know that the same values motivated all of my Labour parliamentary colleagues when they were elected. I despair at how the fee and expenses system in Westminster is now obscuring this. Tonight, in the midst of this recession, we should be talking about saving jobs in Teeside, or why we are in Afghanistan, not the personal spending of ministers.

The independent review by the Standards Commission is desperately needed. I hope it is radical. We need to get back to real politics.

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Climbing and Politics in Torridon

Staying in Kinlochewe with a bunch of old friends for a few days climbing in the Torridon Hills. Great to be away from the news bulletins for a bit - our lodgings don't have a TV. But the changes - for the good - in this area are plain to see all round. Road upgrades have opened the area up for safe journeys for both visitors and locals. Schools seem to be thriving - some of my pals are just back from a day at Gairloch and commented on the new high school there - and mobile broadband in the village means a few of our party can do some essential business whilst we are here. Best of all, I passed a small development of new affordable houses today - being built by Albyn -which no doubt will provide some decent homes at a fair rent for the local community. All good investments, which are making a difference. Investment that needs to be continued, not cut.

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A Real Labour Budget

After listening to all the detail of the speech itself, it took a while for the real significance of Alistair Darling's budget to sink in. This is a real Labour budget, that at last puts some very red-tinged water between us and the Tories.

A Labour budget which shows we are determined to invest our way out of recession, not deepen it with cuts.

We are putting government money into the green economy, to stimulate investment in renewables, in re-cycling and the emerging high-technology industries that will create thousands of jobs. Many of these will be in the Highlands which already has a large number of such early stage businesses.

We are making sure our young people have training so that they can move into jobs when the economy picks up again. We are making sure that pensioners on lower incomes are protected from the worst effects of the recession. Small businesses, which make of the bulk of the economy, are getting real help to manage their cash flow, which in turn protects jobs.

The Tory answer to the recession - dramatic cuts in government spending - is exactly the policy which deepened and lengthened the great recession of the 1930s.

Sometimes you can tell you have got something right by the noise and clamour of your opposition. David Cameron's bluster today in response to Darling's speech, and the howls of anguish from right wing media about the 50% tax band tell me everything I need to know about whose side we are on. The ordinary people.

On the 10 o'clock news tonight, there was a piece about unemployment in a small town in South Wales. As always, its not the financiers and noisy professional classes who lose out most in this kind of recession. Its the same working people who have always lost out. That's the people whose side we are on. That's the people this budget is really for.

A real Labour budget. At last.

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Broadband in the Highlands

I was very pleased to read Peter Peacock MSP's press release today which continues to argue Highland Labour's case for comprehensive broadband service provision in the Islands and right across our region, not just in urban areas.

Local Post Office services face cut backs and privatisation. Print media circulation continues to decline and the press seem ever more interested in political scandle and tittle tale than reporting serious news. Local shops are closing in the face of overwhelming competition from superstores.

Faced with all of this, we all need assured access to high quality internet services so we can keep in touch with friends, access a wide range of news and political views and support local businesses who sell great products on line. Broadband access is a necessity in assuring strong sustainable communities across the region. The regulator needs to be firm with BT and other providers to make sure they recognise their essential role in this.

I wish Peter well in making his case with OfCom.

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Inverness West;the final push

Out campaigning again on Saturday in Kinmylies with our candidate Andrew Mackintosh and his team. A great turnout of party workers and supporters, MSPs and Councillors, despite all the bad stuff in the media about smears and expenses. Getting out and knocking on doors to show people the party still cares about ordinary people still matters. What matters most to people in the real world is jobs, schools and sorting local problems.

The LibDems and SNP are putting out the message that the election is a straight fight between them. I think that is political arrogance, from two parties who are great at making promises but don't deliver. Local voters are raising issues like the TLR, anti-social behaviour and traffic where they are fed up with words and want action.

The Labour vote is solid, and I think we might surprise a few of the pundits.

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Smeargate, McBride and the New Media

Reading the absolute political poison about “Smeargate” in the London Evening Standard tonight (I’m down here on business) I’m wondering about the timing of launching my own political blog.
Maybe all of us aspiring progressive politicians should give up on new media and get back to press releases and stump speeches?

But two things make me think. First of all, what Damian McBride and his colleagues have done is utterly appalling. Not only is it immoral in its own right, but its devastated the genuinely good news stories about Labour’s G20 achievements. I’ve no doubt the timing has been manipulated by the anti-Labour press, but what on earth made McBride & Co even consider this kind of story-lining was acceptable. They need to get out in the real world. And whilst I am frustrated by the way the Tory political PR machine has milked the opportunity, its only what Labour would have done in the reverse situation.

Secondly, I don’t subscribe to the view that Gordon Brown somehow sanctioned or encouraged this. But I do think it shows how little our current political leaders understand the power of the new media. And because they don’t understand it, they focus elsewhere and leave space for the McBrides and Drapers to operate unchecked. So instead of the building on the power that blogs and social websites have to reach out and build support for progressive politics, we end up with the self-created hatefest we are currently enduring.

So I’m not giving up. New media is great way to build new political relationships and ideas, new ways of listening, sharing and promoting ideas. Just be yourself and don’t say things on the web that you wouldn’t be prepared to say on the street!

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Inverness West Hots Up

And not just the weather!

Out door knocking with Andrew Mackintosh on Dalneigh on Friday and with Andrew and Dave Stewart MSP in Scorguie on Saturday. We are getting a very good response, with a solid set of Labour promises. And its not just the voters. We ran into an SNP campaign team who also confirmed that Labour is "doing well".

There is a good feel on the doorstep, despite all the negative stuff coming from London. Most people seem more concerned about jobs, traffic and schools. Bring on the 23rd!

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