Gordon’s Golden Compass!
Current mood: inspired
Category: News and Politics

Back in London after the local elections and a Bank Holiday weekend.

No elections in our area so I popped down to Immingham to help our candidate there who beats the sitting Lib Dem councillor quite easily but alas finds himself 200 behind the Tories!

Friday starts with all sorts of doom and gloom stories about our poor results but my mood lifts after a morning at the new Tesco Distribution Centre near Goole as I meet lots of local people now in decent jobs with decent pay.

I tour the site with the Tory Leader of the Council, Cllr Steve Parnaby. We've known each other years having both served on Humberside County Council and get on very well much to people's surprise. As always he is a source of useful information and it was a very productive morning.

Surgeries at Brigg, Crowle and Epworth were well attended with the usual variety of cases but I'm home in time to take Jake to cricket in Alkborough and Lydia for a bike ride to Horkstow Bridge!

On Sunday I head to Leeds to do the BBCs Politics Show with Tory MP, Robert Goodwill and Lib Dem, Phil Willis. It's all about the local elections and whilst we start with Labour's poor showing we move onto the failure of the Tories to make any significant progress in our area. Indeed they lost seats in Sheffield and Leeds.

But it was good fun and I was taken aback near the end of the interview when Phil Willis suddenly goes on about what a splendid MP I am - all live on air!

In the evening I go to Barnetby to meet the Royal Engineers Association - a retired servicemen's group who I helped get £6500 from the lottery. A lovely evening and I was impressed by all they do.

Decide Monday is to be a family day. This starts with a forlorn hope that I might get breakfast in bed! But the sun shines and we decide to have a BBQ (first of the year!). The Morleys come round and we have a lovely time just relaxing and enjoying the weather.

We then all settle down to watch The Golden Compass a great family film, with talking animals! It's all about a magic compass that can answer anything and ensures you can deal with whatever is thrown at you. Sounds like Alistair Campbell to me!

16:33 - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Farmers Markets - Champions, Inspiration and More Saints!
Current mood: busy
Category: News and Politics

Trying to find time for the blog is an issue at the moment - anyway the weekend began with me addressing the Goole Crime Prevention Panel on Thursday evening. Friday I went to the new Goole Neuro-Rehabilitation Centre at the hospital for the medal presentation to Christopher Ashton who was injured in Iraq. It was an uplifting occasion.

Saturday I was at Brigg Farmers Market just shopping but as ever it became a mini-surgery, especially at Grandad's Shed where I went for my coffee and toasted tea cake! Bumped into one of Brigg's town councillors who asked why I didn't just buy a house in Brigg as she thought I always seemed to be there!

In the afternoon I went to see Winterton Rangers demolish Maltby 6-1 and get the trophy for winning the league. Great scenes lots of bubbly - what a transformation over these last few years - well done to Dave Crowder and everyone else.

In the evening there was the Scunthorpe Choral Society at the New Life Church heated to a level that rather reminded you of the other venue associated with Judgement Day! Some of the singers had pre-warned me that one piece was a bit odd and there is much smirking and smiles as the penny drops and I work out which one they meant.

Sunday morning up early to go to the very first Goole Farmers Market which was incredibly well attended and had a great array of stalls. I hope this is the first of many and I come away with bags full of shopping and pockets full of casework!

Then to Brigg for the scouts St George's Day parade - it has not been missed that I called for a bank holiday to mark this in parliament on Thursday and there's lots of support for the idea.

Monday am to North Lincolnshire Council for a meeting I have organised with Brigg Town Council then out with Mark Kirk and Len Foster (Leader and Deputy of the Council) to look at a couple of issues we're working on!

Finally train to London - it's all good stuff!

06:37 - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Brigg, Bow Ties, Busy & Beavers!
Current mood: fascinated
Category: News and Politics

Been a busy weekend. Thursday I attended a joint meeting with Brigg Town Council to meet the Ambulance Service to discuss their scheme which has introduced Fast Response Vehicles to attend calls in advance of an ambulance. I agree with the Town Council that this decision with no local consultation has left people worried and Ambulance management do their best to reassure us they are giving us a better service.

We ask about their comment to the North Lincs Council Scrutiny Committee that these changes were caused by budget cuts. The manager who said this admitted he had made a mistake at the meeting and in fact their funding has gone up (by 13.4% in North Lincs which the local PCT had already told me!). Apparently they are to write to the council to correct the record!

The weekend brought busy surgeries in Goole, Crowle & Epworth - I was shadowed by a civil servant for part of these and she was amazed by the nature of the cases people came to surgery with.

Friday night was the Winterton Civic Dinner so it was DJs and bow ties - the Mayor, Cllr Alan Smith had decided on a women in public life theme so all the speakers and toasts were given by women and it was a grand night out - photos on the website at www.iancawsey.co.uk

Sunday had a bit of a walkaround looking at various issues with some of the areas parish councillors and then to Goole for the St George's Day Scouts Parade. Packed with beavers, cubs, scouts, guides, leaders and loads of mums and dads who lined the streets as we led the parade to the Trinity Church.

Frank Ella gave a brilliant service - even getting me to lead a group of kids with percussion instruments around the church as we all sang, "When the Saints Go Marching In"!

Back home to cook dinner and enjoy a night in with the family. London today - it promises to be an interesting week.........

16:15 - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Back Home!
Current mood: cheerful
Category: News and Politics

First post for a few days - thanks to all of you who contacted me to say there was a problem with the last posting - don't know what the problem was - hopefully it's all ok now!

Anyway parliament is in recess till next week and it coincides with local school holidays so I've been away with the kids. We had a great time.

Back home the Fire Authority postponed decisions on fire cuts despite the vote by the Tories in the East Riding to support them. But it is not a victory yet and many are suspicious that a 3 month delay merely takes this beyond the local elections in May in part of the Humberside area!

But even away I was on this case - getting most local MPs to agree to sign a letter calling for these cuts to be reconsidered - I hope this made a difference - certainly the kids gave me it in the neck for spending time on that when they think it should have been on them - and they do deserve it!

Anyway straight back in the saddle on Monday - it's 4.30am when we get home but at lunchtime I'm at the Children in Care event in North Lincolnshire - an uplifting way to spend my birthday! Thanks to those of you who sent messages!

Tuesday spent the morning with Singleton Birch (a local company) then lunch with the Brigg Probus Club and then to Hull for a meeting with the Chief Constable.

Jake and his mates are at home "looking after my birthday present" - a Playstation 3!

In London today then back tomorrow for meetings with Brigg Town Council, the NHS, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, local business leaders in Goole and that's just Thursday!

It's great to be back!

14:18 - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Laughter and Tears!
Current mood: disappointed
Category: News and Politics

Well it was quite a weekend - I had a really busy Friday with surgeries in Brigg and in Old Goole and then addressed a local party meeting in Crowle. But the weekend promised much!

So I set off for London with my youngest Lydia as Grimsby are playing the MK Dons in the Johnstone Paint Trophy Final at Wembley on Sunday. My eldest Hannah and Elliot’s daughter Katie are already there to get some serious clubbing in!

We go to Trafalgar Square for the 5pm meet up of Grimsby Fans - we all surround Nelson’s Column and sing to anyone who would listen - mainly bemused Japanese tourists!

I get tickets for Lydia and myself to watch Spamalot which she absolutely loved but it’s straight to bed as the clocks go forward an hour and we’ve a busy Sunday!

So I get the girls their breakfast and leave them to make a more leisurely journey to the match as I go to Wembley via Kings Cross so I can leave the bags in Left Luggage. I’m quietly smug about thinking of this but when I get there just about every other fan has thought of doing the same and I have to queue for 45 minutes to get the bag safely locked away.

Tube to Wembley - lots of pre match optimism and I get there in time for something to eat and then sit with Austin Mitchell in glorious sunshine. Sadly the MK Dons are too strong and whilst we could have snatched it - they were the better team on the day and won 2-0.

Packed train home - lots of "what ifs" as carriages full of Grimsby fans talk about what might have been. Still Lydia had a great weekend and as a sign of the way the weekend went she took off her Grimsby top and put on her Spamalot T-Shirt. That’s show business!

There’s always next season!

11:36 - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Friendly with the Froggies!
Current mood: tired
Category: News and Politics

I hope loyal readers had a good Easter break - it went too quickly, before long we were back in Westminster for what was to be a French week.

The President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy addressed parliament in the Royal Gallery - with its splendid murals of the Battles of Waterloo and Trafalgar! It reminded me of when I worked for Lord Williams when he was Leader in the Lords. A Spanish parliamentary delegation visited and Gareth had a photo taken with them, getting them to stand with a picture of the Spanish Armarda behind them! Schoolboy grins all round at the joke they never knew!

But it was all Carla mania this week as the first lady of France wooed everyone. President Sarkozy gave a speech so glowing about Britain and all we have done for France that I found it hard to think it would play well for him back home!

He was right though and to prove the point England helped France win at football only hours later! The Capello revolution has still to begin.

Thursday I have a 5am start as I head to Gatwick for an early flight to Geneva for a Select Committee visit to CERN, the European scientific research centre made famous in Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons.

It is a fascinating visit, here is where the internet was invented and the MRI scanner amongst many other things. Now they are building the World’s largest particle accelerator to try to replicate what happened when there was the Big Bang! We get one of the last views of it before it is sealed and begins operation. The accelerator is a 36 inch pipe which is in a 27km circuit and propels particles at such a speed they complete the 27kms, 11,000 times every second! Apparently Lewis Hamilton is interested in trying the technology!

Meet some of the British Staff (there are over 600 here) and they love the work and the support they get from the UK. Flight back to London, then the Gatwick Express to Victoria and then the tube to King’s Cross arrives just minutes before the 9:30pm train north - wishing I could have an accelerator I dash up the escalator just making the train as the doors close.

Now heading home - after a long day - it’s another busy one tomorrow but it’s Wembley on Sunday!!

14:54 - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Oh What A Night!
Current mood: imaginative
Category: News and Politics

I’m at home for Easter and enjoying some time with the family. Met David Tennant this week, better known as Dr Who! He came to the Labour Party Gala Dinner and introduced Gordon Brown. He said he was a longstanding Labour supporter but could never be a politician as he was too well dressed!

Spoke in the debates on Humberside Fire Service Reorganisation and on the restructuring of the post office network - you can see this speech by going to my website at www.iancawsey.co.uk

One of our local parish council chairs likes my speech so much he joins the Labour Party! I didn’t do it as a recruitment exercise but happy to welcome him!

The Government had a motion agreeing to put £1.7 billion into the Post Office between now and 2011. It is estimated that 7,000 branches would close without this. The Tories who wanted a suspension of any closures then voted against the funding motion. Don’t ask me I can’t work them out either!

Anyway highlight of the week was meeting Frankie Valli who was in London for the opening of the new musical about the life of Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons - Jersey Boys. He knows Greg Knight the Tory MP who plays drums in our MP4 band and came into the Commons to meet us!

Oh What a Night - he Walked Like a Man - ordered a Sherry - Greased his hair - held a Rag Doll - said Big Girls Dont Cry - and would have left earlier but said - Let’s Hang On!

That’s enough of his song references but we could be his new band - Frankie Valli and the MP4 Seasons! I’m summer!

07:09 - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Alarmed!
Current mood: artistic
Category: News and Politics

Quite enjoyed my weekend. Started on Thursday with the Brigg Mayor’s Charity Dinner at the legendary Harry Kar’s restaurant. As usual I am the guest auctioneer and we have a laugh as I undertake a not very serious auction but we raised nearly £2000 for local hospices!

Friday I go to meet the new Head at Vermuyden School and then the local Road Haulage Association. When the Chair asks for questions it goes quiet till one says well the Chancellor didn’t put fuel duty up. I say that’s only because he knew I had this meeting two days after the budget!

Friday night I start cooking for a Labour Party French Night dinner I’ve agreed to do on Sat. I enjoyed the cooking but as I go to bed our Carbon Monoxide alarm goes off and it’s decided that the gasman needs to be called out. So wake everyone up as we sit with the doors and windows open. At 2am we are given the all clear (apparently it was the alarm!).

Saturday finish the cooking and to the Old School Hall where we have a room full of hungry people. The food seems to go well and we have a fun French Quiz as well and when we count up a profit of £1000 so well worth doing.  By the end the late night the day before and all the cooking has left me falling to sleep - however, I am reassured to learn there was no sudden surge in NHS Direct calls as a result of my food!

Up on Sunday to go to Epworth to start and then run the Sport Relief mile with Lydia - I am egged on my local newspaper photographer, David Haber who urges me to slow down as they didn’t want a by-election!

Sunday dinner was leftover garlic soup, coq au vin and tarte tatin - the children were over the moon!

Back to London today after visiting Swinefleet School and then meeting a local residents group in  Brigg.  Busy week ahead!

06:10 - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

New Kids On The Block
Current mood: silly
Category: News and Politics

Budget Day. Since 1997 we’ve been used to it being Gordon Brown and every year we’ve had an update on his fiscal child, Prudence. We’ve never seen her but I imagine her in a Laura Ashley dress and hat, running through a corn field as the sun shines behind her.

We’ve heard so much about her and all that Gordon does in her name. I think we all missed her today.

So now it’s Alistair Darling and in his first budget we heard about his triplets, Turbulence, Stability and Resilience.

Turbulence I imagine is on the verge of an ASBO and needs to be brought under control as soon as possible. Stability is a rock, always there when needed and Resilience is the leader of them all, the one who fights in the playground if anyone impunes the Darling name!

Alistair spoke lovingly of them all and pensioners and poorer families all benefitted in his tribute to them.

The reply to the budget came from David Cameron, he introduced us to his imaginary friends - Poppycock and Claptrap. All relieved that there was no new tax on silver spoons!

16:27 - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Don’t mention the war!
Current mood: sleepy
Category: News and Politics

Flew to Berlin this week with the Select Committee to take evidence to two investigations we are undertaking. One on renewable energy technologies and another on biosecurity at laboratories.

At City Airport the plane is delayed - Joanna Lumley is there with a film crew - and we arrive late but are escorted quickly to the British Embassy - a striking iconic building opened in 2000. The Germans have much more renewable energy than we do - I've never seen so many wind turbines and solar panels. Though once the UK planning system is explained they begin understand why we lag behind!

On Tuesday we drive 3 hours to the Baltic Sea to visit the main German Animal Health Laboratory - where all manner of nasty diseases are kept and worked on. It's on an island which was the decision back in 1910 as they wanted to ensure nothing spread! In the distance you could see the holiday resorts on the Baltic. Someone asked if tourists ever sailed over to see what they did. "No", we were told - "they are all too scared about what we are up to"!

One remarkable fact was that the boat to the island was replaced by a cable car by the Nazis in 1942 - you would have thought they had other priorities by that time in the war! Now it is linked by a bridge.

3 hours driveback to Berlin in the snow. Wednesday we are homeward bound except there is a transport strike in Germany and our plane is cancelled. The Embassy get us another flight two hours later which is then delayed by another hour!

We arrive at Heathrow to be met by a car to whisk us back to Westminster, arriving just in time as the votes come within minutes of us getting through the door!

I've missed all the excitement of the week which seems to have been mainly about the Lib Dems imploding again. A new leader seeing a quarter of his party ignore him is not a good start. Surely they won't change again? A cartoon in one of the papers has Nick Clegg holding a placard that says "A Leader is not just for Christmas!"

But it was all very calm by the time I got there and eerily quiet on Thursday - on the train home now - I've got a really busy weekend all over the place so I should take advantage of a night off today!

Oh - Grimsby are through to the Johnstone Paint Cup Final at Wembley............!

10:15 - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Fighting Talk!
Current mood: jedi
Category: News and Politics

It's an inevitable part of political life that you get criticism - indeed it can be a very healthy thing if it is constructive.

So recently in a scene like a 70s spy movie I met a chap from Estonia who said I had to do what he said on votes on the EU or he and his pals would run a nasty and personal campaign against me.

Obviously I declined his kind offer and so I am told there are derogatory post cards with at least a nice picture of me being delivered to homes in the constituency. Not by the Estonian People's Front but by the local Tory Party - goodness knows what the link is!

One of my local newspaper editors rings my office as she got one at home, she thinks it is a Tory leaflet (as the daft buggers put one of their own with it) and she was incandescent with what she thought was the ultimate gutter politics.

Other callers say they same. A parent of one of my children's friends (who is a huge Cameronite Tory) says it is a disgrace and if someone put out a leaflet like that about him he'd punch their lights out, in a way that suggested he would do it if I asked! Again he thought it was from the local Tories.

And so it goes on. Ironically the idea is that the postcards are sent on to me - and the number coming back has now finally just stretched into double figures! We've had more complaints about the Tories than cards from the public and some of them are their supporters!

Still I am sure there will always be a warm welcome in Estonia for the Tories who seem prepared to do whatever they ask of them!

I'll probably get a poisoned umbrella stuck in my leg for refusing to!

13:13 - 2 Comments - 1 Kudos - Add Comment

From Pirbright to Sandie Shaws..
Current mood: determined
Category: News and Politics

This parliamentary week has gone in a flash not least because we've been busy on the Innovation, Universities & Skills Select Committee with 2 half day meetings and an all day visit.

The visit was to Pirbright where the Government animal health laboratory and the private Meriel animal vaccine site are side by side. This is where many believe the last Foot & Mouth epidemic started and we are investigating biosecurity. It seemed very odd to stand next to a vat which I am reliably told contained 6,000 litres of live foot & mouth virus (which is deactivated to produce a vaccine). Decide to check I'm not down to visit any farms this weekend!

Also this week I help launch Pete Wishart's private members bill to extend the copyright for musicians and singers. If you write a song or a book the copyright is your lifetime plus 70 years, for musicians it is 50 years and we hear heartbreaking stories of musicians losing their income in their twilight years. It's about equity in the law and I am a sponsor of the Bill.

The launch was attended by Sandie Shaw (who remembers her?) and she didn't turn up bare footed - if you don't understand then you're too young!

Bad point of the week - the Post Office confirmed the closure of the Wrawby Post Office - not unexpected as it's been up for sale for 2 years but still disappointing, though I was grateful for the huge support I got from the villagers as we tried to keep it open.

Good point was MP4 coming third in the All Party Music Group Quiz Night - 1 pt behind those in second place who had a music journalist on their team and just a few behind the winners who were Gordon Brown's No 10 staff!

I told them I expect this success to be replicated with the Government...........

09:58 - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Business and Pleasure
Current mood: blissful
Category: News and Politics

It's been a busy few days both with work and with play! Last week we had emergency legislation for Northern Rock and that led to late nights, including Thursday which delayed my travel home till Friday.

But on Wednesday I got to go to the Brits Awards (MP4 were invited as guests of the BPI, we didn't get the lifetime musical achievement award which went to some whippersnapper called McCartney).

We set off from Westminster having decided that the tube to Earls Court was the best option. Classic moment in the station as Greg our Tory member and all round splendid chap, is stuck at the barriers as he doesn't know how to operate them, nor does he have change for a ticket. I know my place so immediately act as his servant and get him safely on the train - where he asks if there is a drinks trolley - he was joking - I think!

But it's a good night and the four of us plus my eldest, Hannah have a great time.

Friday sees me at the John Leggott 6th Form College Students Union Ball to raise funds for the local hospice.  They auction various lots and I offer a tour of parliament with tea on the terrace and it raises £400, easily the highest amount. The students are so chuffed they buy me a bottle of wine (but I was driving!).

Saturday starts with a busy Goole surgery but I keep the rest of the day free so I can watch Wales v Italy rugby, then Newcastle v Man U footie, then France v England rugby. Why isn't tv scheduled like this more often!

Monday starts with a visit to a local school and now I'm on the train to London. It promises to be another interesting week!

05:02 - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

What a load of Tosh!
Current mood: peeved
Category: News and Politics

Bad start to the week! Did you see the news that Toshiba are pulling out of the High Definition DVD market leaving it all to Sony with their Blu Ray version. Yes you've guessed - I've got a Toshiba HD DVD soon to be as much use a betamax video player - still the kids are happy they think it improves their chances of getting a Playstation 3 (which plays Blu Ray!).

Anyway the big news in Westminster is the decision to nationalise Northern Rock which seems to be the view of everyone apart from the Tories who want to place it in administration which would cost the taxpayer a literal fortune with no chance of getting much of it back!

In essence they think nationalisation is a word that conjures up memories of the worst of the 60s & 70s. But I think it's all so long ago and so different to this that there is no real reasonance about that.

Actually what the Tories don't seem to have twigged onto is that the word people are much more suspicious of is privatisation - blaming it for higher water, electricity & gas prices, a more disjointed rail service and an excuse to charge more and offer less. Whether this is fair or not is another question but I recall one newspaper columnist saying the most significant achievement of Railtrack was them getting public opinion wanting the return of British Rail!

Perhaps the real battle will be when the decision has to be taken to privatise Northern Rock - who knows?

15:19 - 3 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Fishy Valentine & Arrivederci!
Current mood: gallant
Category: News and Politics

..> ..>

Another hectic week to look back on meetings on local regeneration, with an internal drainage board, with the local NHS, opening of a new study centre plus surgeries, home visits and helping give out the awards at the annual Nth Lincs Health & Safety Group dinner! Of course I also had to deal with all the additional mail given we had Valentine's Day and getting Jacob ready to go on his school ski trip to Italy! On Valentine's Day I took Linda to Grimsby Fish Docks to get some fresh fish and then to the Pea Bung the legendary chippy at Freeman Street Market - no wonder we've been married so long! On Saturday we took Jake to catch his coach to Italy - a 22 hour drive! He and his mates all board with kit bags full of enough food to feed an army and an array of PSPs and games that should keep Sony in profit till the next millennium. I'm given the task of texting football score updates all afternoon. The girls are more tearful saying goodbye to their parents - the boys all board refusing to give kisses and hugs (they're all 14/15). You have to admire the teachers who are giving up half term to take them and worry about the Italians who don't yet know what's about to hit them - no doubt it will lead to an early surrrender! Saturday evening saw Katie come to stay (Elliot's daughter) so with Jake away I'm in a house full of women - I do the cooking and just agree with everything - I know when I'm outnumbered! Back to Westminster tomorrow - it'll be nice to have some male company again!

00:02 - 1 Comments - 1 Kudos - Add Comment