On Wednesday Ed Miliband talked about the "omnishambles" the Tory-led Government has presided over during the last month – and then later that afternoon we discovered that Home Secretary Theresa May doesn't even know what day it is.

In a stunning display of incompetence, it turned out that the deportation of Abu Qatada to Jordan was being delayed because his lawyers argued that Theresa May had got the date wrong, and Qatada still had a right to appeal.

This mess isn’t the first example of the Tory-led Government’s incompetence. We’ve already seen:

* The shambolic provocation of an unnecessary fuel crisis, with motorists advised to keep petrol in jerry cans;
* An NHS reorganisation which is costing billions and creating new levels of bureaucracy while nurses are cut and waiting times go up;
* A 20% cut to the police budget which the Tories thought wouldn’t affect the frontline, but which is causing the loss of 16,000 police officers;
* A call for charities to build the Big Society undermined by a “Charity Tax” which could cut donations to charities by hundreds of millions of pounds;
* And a millionaires’ Budget which is still falling apart a month after it was published.

It turns out that David Cameron's problem isn't just that he’s out of touch - he isn't even very good at his job.

Over the last month, George Osborne's Budget – a Budget which makes millions pay more so that millionaires can pay less – has unravelled. But this week, the Tories and their Liberal Democrat partners blocked Labour's attempts to stop the Budget's worst measures. They voted for:

* Cutting the 50p top rate of tax, giving a £40,000 tax cut to 14,000 millionaires;
* A "Granny Tax" which will leave 4.4 million pensioners worse off;
* A "Pasty Tax" which increases the cost of hot pies, pasties and sausage rolls;
* And even tax rises on caravans and church repairs.

By backing these measures the Tories have shown why so many people are saying that they are out of touch. And the Lib Dems have shown why they can never again pose as a progressive party. Only Labour is standing up for the pensioners and working families who have been hardest hit by the Tory-led Government.

 There are lies dammed lies and then ConDem Government mangling of figures.

The claim

“If you are looking at what we are doing with the personal allowance we are actually raising it in this tax year, so 24 million taxpayers will benefit to the tune of £6.50 per week”

Prime Minister David Cameron, 5 April 2012

The background

Families with children across the country woke up to the news that from tomorrow they’ll be an average of £511 worse off a year.

Brandishing research by The Institute for Fiscal Studies, Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls said the government’s changes to tax, benefits and tax credits was a “bombshell” for families.

The dawn of the new tax year tomorrow has since been duly hailed as Black Friday by some, yet the Conservatives have hit back arguing that Mr Balls was “ignoring” the millions of households that will be better off.

Stepping into the fray this afternoon, the Prime Minister said he did “not accept the figures” from the IFS.

He added: “If you are looking at what we are doing with the personal allowance we are actually raising it in this tax year, so 24 million taxpayers will benefit to the tune of £6.50 per week.”

With thanks to C4 FactCheck

Cameron and Clegg are out of touch on the NHS

  David Cameron said the NHS was safe under the Tories, but he and his out of touch Government are taking it backwards.

Background

David Cameron is wasting billions on a damaging NHS reorganisation – opposed by patients, nurses and doctors - that will do nothing for patient care and which he promised wouldn’t happen.

There are already 4,000 fewer nurses since the General Election with the number set to fall by 6,000 by the end of this Parliament. More people have waited longer for treatment, longer for tests and longer in A&E.

Instead of wasting billions on a damaging and unnecessary reorganisation Labour would save this money and protect 6,000 nurses jobs. We would put patients first, protect the frontline and support the right kind of reforms needed to address the long-term challenges of the NHS.

  Pensioners pay for tax cut for the Millionaires in the Cabinet.

David Cameron and George Osborne used to say “we’re all in this together”.  Not anymore. This was a Budget that asked millions to pay more so millionaires could pay less.

Key facts

David Cameron and George Osborne prioritised a tax cut for the richest 1 per cent over help for struggling families. 14,000 millionaires are set to get tax cut of £40,000 each year.

A family with children earning just £20,000 loses £253 from this April – on top of VAT hit costing on average £450 per year.

This Budget also includes a hidden raid on pensioners. David Cameron and George Osborne’s ‘granny tax’ means nearly four and a half million pensioners lose an average of £83 a year next April.  And people turning 65 next year will lose up to £323.

The ordinary people of this country have had enough of the ConDems why do we need to wait to 2015 to get rid of them?

Osborne's lies to the country

What our illustrious Chancellor is proposing today is not what it seems. There is a small loan guaranteed scheme in place that doesn't work because the banks will not lend even when the have the loan guaranteed. Now the proposal is for banks to bundle up small loans to busineses and sell the risk to private investors.

How many private investors are there who will purchase anything the banks will bundle up? Look what happened when they bought them the last time! Remember the American banks selling the junk loans? It's history about to repeat, as usual the Tories come up with more failed policies in an attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of the public.

English Riots

In the months and years to come will we look back on this month of August and wonder if this was when the rot set in. In those few days when young people in cities all across the UK turned feral and came out to loot, steal, riot, kill. Was that the month when the normally restrained and concencious English society finally started to crumble.

No, because despite the over reporting, the hype, the wall to wall coverage in the media, and online, nothing much has changed. For 99.9% of people in this country nothing happened, their streets where not destroyed, their shops where not looted their young people did not throw stones at the police, or try to run them over in stolen cars. 

A few people in a few cities where affected, but in the usual British way, we can't cope, people seem to think that civil society is in melt down. The Government are talking about giving the police the right to impose curfews with out reference to the public, they are forcing the courts to impose draconian sentences on first time offenders, and I suspect they would like to hang a few looters from lamp posts to show the rest of us this Govt is not to be messed with.

What this hysterical reaction does is allow the powers that be to quickly enact powers of oppression the next time there is a small civil disturbance, and we will all go along with it saying oh yes remember the August riots, we can't let that happen again.

Bring on the curfews, bring on the ID cards, take known trouble makers off the streets. Arrest political disenters, ban all protests. We may say ah well he was a trouble maker he deserved to be arrested, she wrote to the papers protesting, so she deserved to be arrested, they organised a demonstation so they deserved to be arrested. 

Just remember in a society that allows its Govt to impose draconian laws they will eventually come for us too.

Tahrir Square, Cairo

Friday 1st July.


Tahrir Square, Cairo has become the symbol of the Arab spring, the centre of the protests that lead to the revolution in Egypt in January. Normally no more than a traffic roundabout, bounded on one side by the Nile, a dual carriageway and  to it's north by the Egyptian Museum. The Square is normally home to thousands of tourists on their way to view the embalmed remains of ancient Egyptians,Tahrir Square has now become for many in the West and for countless numbers of Arabs the heart of the revolution against oppressive governments.


The approach to the Square is busy with the usual Egyptian street stalls so common any were in this country where people gather. The air is thick with smoke from braziers roasting sweetcorn, shouts from newspaper sellers, and all around are young boys with mountains of prickly pears for sale, the discarded yellow skins black with flies. The edges of the pavement are lined with the poorest traders of all, usually women clasping sickly looking babies to their black galebea coverings, offering cheap paper hankies for sale, their hands stuck out in that world wide beggars sign, an open palm.


On my last visit to the Square two years ago the buildings around were in Cairo terms relatively prosperous with international travel companies inhabiting them. Now they are all empty and boarded up, and across the Square the burned out remains of a Government building. The only two open businesses are selling fried chicken or broiled hamburgers, both are doing a roaring trade supplying the thousands of people gathered on the square listening intently to the speakers.


Also noticeable by their absence are the huge bill boards that used to surround the Square and Egyptian Museum of the person who used to be regarded as the Father of the Country, Hosni Mubarak, his once omnipresent representation now consigned to the bonfire of history. 


As I make my way through the crowd towards the collection of rickety trestle tables, piled one on top of another and covered by colourful fabric topped with a crowd of people surrounding a man bellowing into a microphone. I notice in the crowd a number of women in Egyptian public society this is a somewhat unusual as large crowds for women normally mean the danger of sexual molestation, and in addition while washing is an important ritual to most Egyptian men the use of deodorant is not. Most Women would never allow themselves to get so close to a strange man let alone thousands of them is this a mark of a change in society? Talking to Egyptian friends the view seems to be in this matriarchal country the women have been organising and it seems they have been a leading force behind the protests across the Middle East.


A Woman is now speaking to the gathered masses. She's telling the story of her son. He was one of the first protesters in January, arrested by the special police, his Father was told to come and collect his sons body two days after his arrest, apparently a healthy 23 year old had had a heart attack and died in custody. When his family prepared the body for burial they discovered that his arms and legs where broken and his ribs had been smashed, one of the ribs had punctuated his heart. As she told her story the crowd became more animated and angry, I heard many people shouting that her story was nothing unusual that the same thing had happened on Tuesday night, when the crowd rioted and the army came to subdue them. 

The people of Egypt are angry and frustrated at the slowness of the reforms, they want elections as soon as possible and they want their living conditions to change. I don't see how this can happen without a revolution within the upper levels of Egyptian society, the same people who let Mubarak run the country for his and their benefit, are still holding the reins of power sheltered by the Army the Americans and European Governments. The vast majority of Egyptians still live on the borderline of poverty and don't have the luxury of political protest. There is a feeling from ordinary people I have spoken to that If major reforms don't start to happen soon the upcoming Ramadan could turn out to be very bloody for Egypt and the rest of the Middle East.

Comments to Ecclesall Forum

I was asked to comment on topics supplied by Ecclesall Forum, here are my responses.

Planning and Development and Neighbourhood Plans,

I believe that people should be given every opportunity to participate in any consultation at all levels of planning and development that effects their environment.

I think that the views of local people should be given priority when decisions are to be made in planning decisions that will affect their quality of life. I would also like to see local businesses given a greater say when developments on the high street by larger businesses will directly affect their livelihood.

 I think that that the best way to represent people views is via their elected local representatives, who can take account of the views of all the people in the area and take into account the plans for the whole City.

Roads and Traffic - main and residential streets,
Public Transport

The current plans for Ecclesall Road fail to take into account the large numbers of people in Ecclesall who use public transport. I would like to see a review of the main roads in our area with a consultation on how to ease the congestion at the peak times of the day.

I feel that parts of Ecclesall are very badly served by the current bus services, especially Greystones Road. I am working with local residents in an effort to encourage the local bus company to reconsider the frequency of buses on this route.

Living on Blair Athol Road, I am particularly aware of the problems of parking and speeding on our residential streets. I would like to ask local people for their views on introducing a residents parking scheme that also allows short term parking for shoppers, on the streets closest to the main roads, and a residents only parking on those further away.

Shops and Supermarkets

I have run several small retail businesses, and I currently have a number of clients who work in the retail trade. I have a great concern about the condition of our shopping streets that have suffered years of neglect.

Banner Cross is currently a thriving and popular shopping area. It has in common with other areas in Ecclesall an excellent mix of small retailers predominantly owner run. I have a concern that the current planning rules will allow the larger supermarkets to infiltrate this market and destroy the unique character of our shopping streets.

I would like to see a change in planning legislation that would allow the local council to prevent the large retailers gaining a foothold where consultations with local retailers and residents have shown to be against the proposed development.

Children and schools

Our children deserve to have the opportunity to be given the best schools and education of any City in the UK.  Under the previous Labour government money was invested in Schools in Ecclesall, thanks to that investment we now have some of the most modern Schools in Sheffield.

I would urge all schools to remain within local democratic control and part of the local accountability structure, whilst recognising and respecting the views of parents and local communities. Labour would encourage local schools considering Academy status to sign up to the ‘Sheffield Contract’ that retains land and premises in the ownership of the Council and develops facilities for community use. It protects the pay and conditions of service of staff, and agrees to have community representatives as part of the Governing Body. It also delivers any city wide services in consultation with and on behalf of the Council.

Community Assemblies and Community Participation

I understand that the Community Assemblies are regarded by some people as a way of bringing democracy to more people and making Councillors more accountable to the electorate. I do attend the meetings and what I see is not democracy in action but a façade of democracy where all the decisions have been made by the Councillors and the Officers in a private meeting; the results of this meeting are then announced in public. Labours policy is that we will review the working of these Assemblies with a view to increasing community participation, and ensuring that the whole community is fairly represented.

Lies Dammed Lies and Lib Dem Promises

The LibDems in Sheffield betrayed their voters in Ecclesall last year, they made promises to you at the General Election and then turned their backs on the electorate and abandoned  their policies once they got into power, don’t let them do it again.

In Ecclesall Labour is the only party who can defeat them, so don’t waste your vote.

Send a message to Nick Clegg and the Sheffield Liberal Democrats that you feel betrayed, lied to and let down by their coalition with a violently right wing Conservative Party.

Liberal Democrats in Sheffield stand shoulder to shoulder with the Tory led government. When many other LibDem councils in the country voted to condemn government policy the Sheffield group refused to.

The support that Sheffield Liberal Democrat council lends to the Tory dominated government means:

 £220M of cuts for Sheffield

 Over 1000 job losses

Reduced opening hours for libraries, galleries and museums

Shelved schemes to deliver better roads, houses and schools

 Vote for a Labour Council in Sheffield which will

 Stand up for Sheffield

Be honest with Sheffield and will not make promises that cannot be kept

Protect frontline services

Not raise the level of 2011/12 Council Tax

Labour is the only party that can beat the Liberal Democrats in Ecclesall

Vote Labour on May 5th

Neale

Gibson-Abo-Anber