It's Cat versus Bear !

Never underestimate a cat.....

Hat-tip : Andrew Sullivan

West Ham Olympic

I love the suggestion of West Ham United moving to the Olympic Stadium and renaming themselves West Ham Olympic

Just think :

* The club doctor would be Doctor WHO
* Opposing fans could never chant "Who are ya?" again. Instead Irons fans could sing "We are WHO"
* The Doctor Who theme tune would be a great piece of music for the players to run out to...

Anyway, how did Marseille get the name "Olympique Marseille" when the Olympics has never been in the south of France?

What's Going On Here?

I'm really puzzled by this article on the Southend Echo website:

A CONSERVATIVE councillor says he is running as an independent in another ward this year as a “practice run”.

Jason Luty, who is currently a Conservative councillor for Eastwood Park ward, will be standing in the May elections as an independent candidate in Westborough.

He says this is a “dry run” in preparation to challenging independent group leader, Martin Terry, whose term as an independent councillor in the Westborough ward comes to an end in 2011.

Mr Luty expects Tory Mel Day to win May’s elections because of national support for the Conservatives, but will use this experience as a practice run....

Full article here

A Bitter Day for my Home Town

It's a bitter day for Rayleigh, with the announcement that all 600 or so jobs at Eon will be lost.

Cadbury's employees - be warned.

A Couple Of Questions....

Does your local council's website have a link to the council leader's blog on it's home page?

Which council websites do you know of that do have a link to their leader's blog on the council home page?

A "Ghost" Story To Start The New Year

This is a true story about a former Essex MP - Major Sir Frederick Carne Rasch.

Rasch seemed to have had a pretty good life. He went to Eton and then Trinity College Cambridge, and did a lot of rowing there (that’s rowing boats , not rowing in arguments). He spent ten years in the Dragoon Guards, became a director of a couple of breweries, and then went into parliament as a Conservative, representing Essex South-East from 1886 until 1900, and then Chelmsford until 1908.

A magazine article on 1896 described him as “an Essex man and wholesome, bluff, genial fellow of strong opinions; who calls himself a Democratic Tory.” The very first question he asked in the House of Commons was about cavalry saddles, and you can imagine him in one of the Commons bars having a cigar and a few whiskies with his friends and talking about horses, rowing and country pursuits.

Rasch clearly had a social conscience, for example , speaking up several times in the House of Commons for poor farm labourers in Canewdon. But he definitely wasn’t a progressive- he was very much against giving the children of agricultural workers much of an education : “I know very well I am not an enthusiast, a crank, or a fanatic on the subject of education in the agricultural districts. To speak plainly, I detest it so far as I am concerned. I am here simply as an agricultural Member, principally to keep the rates down, and particularly the rates for education.”

So all in all he was a very down-to-earth chap. Not the kind of person you’d connect with any kind of paranormal events. And yet.....

It was the spring of 1905. The MP Sir Gilbert Parker described what happened as follows:

"I wished to take part in the debate in progress, but missed being called. As I swung round to resume my seat I was attracted first by seeing Sir Carne Rasch out of his place, and then by the position he occupied. I knew that he had been very ill, and in a cheery way nodded towards him and said, `Hope you are better.'
"But he made no sign and uttered no reply. This struck me as odd. My friend's position was his and yet not his. His face was remarkably pallid. His expression was steely. It was a altogether a stony presentment -- grim, almost resentful.
"I thought for a moment. Then I turned again toward Sir Carne Rasch, and he had disappeared. That puzzled me, and I at once went in search of him. I expected, in fact, to overtake him in the lobby. But Rasch was not there. No one had seen him. I tried both the Whips and the doorkeeper, equally without avail. No one had seen Sir Carne Rasch.
"I went round the House, inquiring in all the corridors and to the same end -- Sir Carne Rasch had not been seen. Going again to the lobby, I heard that Sir Henry Meysey-Thompson, who was at the lobby post office, had also been inquiring for the major, but without result.
"I joined Sir Henry, and we exchanged views."

Sir Gilbert was interested in psychic phenomena and wondered if Rasch had died and appeared as a ghost! Rasch was actually at home, ill with influenza, but he was neither dead nor dying. He seemed have been amused by the whole affair and couldn’t resist having a friendly dig at the Liberals:

"I was rather ill at the time, and had to keep my bed, and why I should have gone to the House of Commons that night I don't know. However, the Express of Friday says that I did. I am worth a good many dead ones yet, I hope. At any rate, I mean to go on a little longer.
"I feel, however, that I ought to apologize to the Liberal Party for not having died when I suppose I ought. Had I done so it would have saved them a good deal of trouble. If I have another chance perhaps I will endeavor to oblige them."

Rather unexpectedly, there was a response from the Liberals that confirmed this ghostly sighting. A letter from Colonel Sir Arthur Hayter, published in the Daily News said:

"Sir, On my way home to Southhill Park today I noticed in The Daily News that Sir Carne Rasch had been seen in the House of Commons by Sir Gilbert Parker when he was reported to be lying ill at home, and that further evidence in confirmation was required.
"I beg to say that I not only saw Sir Carne Rasch myself sitting below the gangway (not in his usual seat), but that I called the attention of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman to whom I was talking on the Front Opposition Bench, saying that I wondered why all the papers inserted notices of Sir Carne Rasch's illness, while he was sitting opposite apparently quite well. Sir Henry replied that he hoped his illness was not catching. -- Yours, etc.”

Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman became Prime Minister the next year, so should certainly trusted as a witness....

The full story abou the incident in the Commons can be found here.

The End Of Time

Thank you Doctor, a great final episode.

Support Your Local Sheriff

This video is dedicated to all local government officers trying to satisfy councillors' and residents' demands with inadequate resources!
In this film, James Garner plays a new sheriff who is provided with a brand new jail - the only things is, the bars haven't arrived yet. So he has to manage by using a little bit of red paint and his strong powers of suggestion....

Essex and IBM

I don't normally link to Conservativehome. But there's an important article on there tonight about Lord Hanningfield's plans for Essex County Council. The writer clearly thinks it's a great idea:

IBM have won the huge £5.4 billion, eight year, contract from Essex County Council for a mass privatisation of their services. This follows a report in March that IBM were competing for the contract with TI Systems. It promises to leave Essex residents very well placed to withstand the inevitable coming squeeze on Town Hall budgets.

But the comments from readers on there are generally very 'anti'. It seems that a lot of Conservatives don't think this kind of mass privatisation will work out best. Here's some typical responses:

Is IBM going to be used like a quango, hiding real responsibility away from voter accountability even further? What happens when Essex come to renegotiate and they no longer have the organisation to do anything other than agree to IBM's renewal terms (a problem often encountered by those outsourcing in industry - usually after the manager who negotiated the outsourcing has left)

Another bunch of politicians proving they haven't got the guts or the foresight to make the hard decisions themselves. Instead they hand it over to another fat obese global monster.
The only piece of good news here is that Essex are saving some money short-term. The bad news, and there is plenty of it, is that like most other IT outsourcing ventures, the service quality but not scope will fall significantly, jobs will be lost (with the taxpayer no doubt footing the bill - what are the redundancy and early retirement packages like in Essex?), medium term prices will go up (everything will become an extra cost) so long term it will become even more expensive than keeping it in-house, data security (and it is Essex people's data remember) will go out of the window and IBM no doubt using their usual methods will have got another government body's scrotum firmly in their hands.

This is the text book Thatcher/ Major mistake that opened the door to the extreme waste of resources in Government on IT over the last 20 years.

Short term gain - long term misery. Will they never learn! The thing is once you have outsourced there is virtually no chance of going back in house - the knowledge drain is far too great.

PS And I'm no leftie! Just someone who has worked in the IT game long enough to know a bit about it.
Britain tomorrow? - god help us!

Essex Village Life In the Grim Old Days- Water By The Bucket, Misappropriated Funds, And Poverty.

I'm grateful to Jonathan Calder for pointing us in direction of a website created by an outfit called Millbanksystems. It is basically an online register of what anyone has said in parliament in the last 200 years.

This may seem dull, but if you search for certain words- for example the name of your village or town- you can obtain some pretty illuminating information about what things were like in the good old days bad old days.

For example, I searched and found each of the 21 times the Essex village of "Canewdon" has been mentioned in parliament between 1803 and 2005. Why would an MP want to mention Canewdon? Not for very positive reasons. It's easy to build up a picture of just how grim life used to be. For example from 1924:

20 February 1924 vol 169 c1765W 1765W

§ Mr. HOFFMAN

asked the Minister of Health if he is aware that the villagers of Canewdon, Essex, have to pay per bucket for water; and if he will make representations to the Rochford Rural District Council to secure adequate facilities being provided?

§ Mr. WHEATLEY

My attention has been drawn to this matter, but I will have inquiries made.

there was something irregular going on in 1897:

CANEWDON CHARITIES, ESSEX.
HC Deb 03 August 1897 vol 52 cc239-40 239

MR. J. CARVELL WILLIAMS (Notts, Mansfield)

I beg to ask the hon. Member for Thirsk, as Charity Commissioner, whether it has been reported to the Charity Commissioners that the Trustees of the Canewdon, Essex, Charities, have for many years annually voted out of the charity funds a sum of money to the vicar of the parish for a treat to the children of the day schools, and that only part of that sum has been expended for that purpose, the rest being spent on hymn books and prayer books for the Church Sunday schools; whether such an appropriation of the charity funds is legal; and what action have the Charity Commissioners taken in the matter?

§ MR. HANBURY

My hon. Friend has asked me to say that the Charity Commissioners understand that the Trustees of this charity have intrusted the vicar every year with the expenditure of a sum of £5 part of the funds in their hands applicable for the benefit of the poor of the parish. It is alleged that this sum or part of it has been expended in the manner stated. The action of the Trustees in this respect is irregular. A new scheme for the regulation of this charity is in draft and will shortly be established. That scheme contains a clause expressly prohibiting the practice in question.

and agricultural workers faced poverty:

1889

MAJOR RASCH (Essex, S.E.)

.... the point I desire to raise is of considerable interest to agricultural labourers in my constituency, and it affords a typical instance of the diversion of a fund. towards objects in which this class have no interest. ... the claim is that as there is a certain fund left for the benefit of agricultural labourers, they have a right that a certain portion of the money should be devoted to reducing the expenses connected with allotment, and they applied through me to the Charity Commissioners with that object; but the Commissioners said they could do nothing in the matter, and met me with a non possumus.



Money which used to be spent upon doles, coals, bread, &c., for the poor is now spent in payment of salaries, the purchase of books, and for other purposes in which the labourers have not the faintest interest. Under a scheme sanctioned by the Court of Chancery, the residue of the fund is to be spent upon the agricultural labourers; but I suppose I shall be reminded that, owing to the decline in the value of land in Essex, there is no residue, and also that the money is spent under an Act sanctioned by Parliament in 1852, and with which the Commissioners have nothing to do. But I venture to think we sit here to rescind and abrogate such obsolete schemes as have been passed almost entirely in the interests of the rich, and certainly to the prejudice of my poorer constituents.

Here's the same MP for SE Essex, Major Rasch again in 1893:

MAJOR RASCH (Essex, S.E.)

I beg to ask the Charity Commissioner whether he is aware that J. Whitwell, labourer, 75 years old, had notice to quit a cottage the property of the Canewdon Charities, and was subsequently fined for refusing to give up possession; and if the property of those Charities could be dispensed, as intended by the donors, for the relief of the deserving poor, and not devoted to other and totally different purposes?

Incidentally Major Rasch was certainly no left-winger - in fact Major Sir Frederick Carne Rasch was Tory. I hope to write about him again closer to Christmas.

Quote Of the Day

Catherine Bennett in the Guardian:

For much of its history the length of the average union, before it was ended by the death of a partner, was the same as it is now, before being terminated by divorce: 11 years.

Oh, No.

I was shocked to see in the Guardian that Robert Holdstock, the author of Mythago Wood and quite a few other fantasy novels, has died at the age of 61, from an E Coli infection.....



This blogger puts Mythago Wood in his top ten list of fantasy books

....

.....A marvellously atmospheric work, it captures somehow the feel of the English countryside and its woodlands and fields, which can be ordinary and familiar, damp and muddy, yet at the same time feel ancient, mysterious and secretive. .

For me, it's a book I read maybe 20 years ago, but the images still linger in the mind. I hope his work is remembered 200 years from now....

Quote Of the Day

On homeopathy:

9.38am: Robert Wilson says it's an old business and popular in France.

Phil Willis: "So is prostitution."

Thanks, Everyone

Down in Rochford District we form the opposition but there's only five of us, sometimes it can be a little lonely, particularly when you're the only Lib Dem on a committee!

However one of the advantages of being in the Lib Dems, as opposed to being,say, independents , is that we can get advice and help from other experienced Liberal Democrats elsewhere (and although we are in a party we don’t have anyone whipping us into line either, unlike the ‘other lot’).

As an example, our group wanted some advice on what policies work best on certain parking issues. So we sent out an email today to other Lib Dems in Essex. We got our first (really useful) reply from Colchester after just 9 minutes, another, detailed , response from Chelmsford after 24 minutes, one from Basildon after 38 minutes and then one from Colchester Lib Dem MP Bob Russell after 54 minutes …. and the replies are still coming in.

We’re really glad for all this support ( and particularly impressed by Bob Russell)

Thanks, everyone…

"If A Man Were Walking Down Broadway Wearing This Product, Would People Notice?"

My favourite You-Tube treasure-trove at the moment is a collection of recordings of the American TV programme "What's My Line " from the 1950s. Some feature people who are simply celebrities, others feature 'ordinary' people in unusual occupations.

This edition of "What;s My Line" was made 50 years ago last week and is reviewed here. (yes, nowadays 50-year-old TV gets in-depth reviews on the net!)

The guest here is a conventional looking chap who makes apparel for some very special people....

After watching this what I wanted to know was how he started off doing this in 1934?

So I found him in Wikipedia
Russell Colley began in 1934 making a pressurused suit for a pilot on his wife's sewing machine. He got due recognition for his work when the Mercury astronauts flew in his suits.

In the programme someone calls Colley 'a manly man' - however he had an artistic streak; according to Wikipedia he originally wanted to design women's clothing and also painted water colours and made jewellery....

Colley had a 'good innings', dying in 1996, aged about 96.