Tory Bank Shares Madness

I was frankly astounded by Tory Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne’s, recent scheme for selling the Government’s stake in the Banks. Shares in state-owned banks would be offered to voters at a discount as part of a Tory scheme, George Osborne has announced.

Excuse me, but we taxpayers have already paid our hard-earned money once to bail out these banks, why on earth should we put yet more money the banker’s way?

This Tory proposal to sell these bank shares at a discount beggars belief-we taxpayers want every possible penny of the money back we had to stump up to repair the damage caused by the reckless bonus driven excesses of the bankers.

If George Osborne and his Tory chums lived in the real world he would know the ordinary hard-working British public are, with good reason, very wary of the Stock Market.  I’ve spoken to many Shrewsbury people who owned shares in High Street banks and never dreamt they would become worthless, yet this is exactly what happened to investors in Bradford & Bingley and Northern Rock.

As a result the discount required to tempt small investors back into this sector is going to have to be very, very, large. So as a result of this Tory bright idea, we stand to get only a fraction back of the vast sums we poured into propping up the banks.  And as the mouldy cherry on top of this Tory financial cake, it will be a safe bet that the only people making money will be  some of the same financial ‘experts’ responsible for the banking crisis in the first place.

If this is the best the Tories can come up with by way of economic policy, is it any surprise their poll ratings are slipping?

Public Conveniences – Are they Fit for Purpose?

Being born and bred in Shrewsbury I know and speak to many local residents every day, and one of the most regular topics to come up is the state of Shrewsbury’s public conveniences. A good range of well presented and maintained public toilets is a key part of any enjoyable visit to our town centre. Sadly the position is not all it should be.

Regularly I am told the standard of equipment and presentation is below what our residents and visitors have a right to expect.  The image of Shrewsbury they portray to visitors is one of not caring  whether they have a comfortable and  relaxed visit at all.  It is vital for the economic health of Shrewsbury that we make the most of the opportunities and income well planned tourism offers.
The current provision of public toilets in Shrewsbury is just not doing that.

What a massive shame it is that our Tory led Borough and County Councils instead chose to waste some £750,000 on the Darwin “celebrations” and the hugely costly Quantum Leap slinky sculpture.

Investing wisely in our basic facilities in my view would have been the sensible course, and would be far more likely to bring the repeat visits the Darwin fiasco has so conspicuously failed to produce.

Shrewsbury Town – A Team to be Proud Of

The news about Portsmouth FC going into administration has saddened all true football supporters. To crash from FA Cup winners to this state in a few short years is awful for their fans. With Crystal Palace also suffering the same fate it shows the financial rot in football is reaching higher up the leagues than ever before.

All this should make us even more proud of the achievements of the board, staff, players and fans of Shrewsbury Town FC. Under the leadership of Roland Wycherley and his team, Shrewsbury has one of the most financially sound clubs in the land. To build a fine new stadium, and be able to consistently challenge for promotion with two visits to Wembley at the same time is a great record. To able to do that while other clubs with far bigger fan bases fall into financial turmoil shows the scope of what Roland and his team have achieved.

STFC are well placed for the final run in to this season, and I’m sure they will do us all the greatest credit as they push towards the goal of automatic promotion.

FOX HUNTING-THE UGLY PICTURE

I was very disturbed to see the article in the Shropshire Star of 16 February, about the incident concerning the South Shropshire Hunt at Cruckton, near Shrewsbury.

The hounds, whilst supposed to be on a drag hunt, came onto private property and ripped apart a fox in the back garden of a local resident. Otis Ferry, joint huntmaster, said they had temporarily lost control of the hounds. The lady owner of the land had previously repeatedly warned the hunt not to enter her private land. This incident must have been extremely distressing for that lady, whose horses and pet cat were understandably terrified.

This unpleasant incident illustrates only too well the real practical problems hunting creates for us in Shropshire. This lady had every right, as all residents of country areas have, to quietly enjoy their property without such horrible acts as this being carried out on their land against their express wishes.

But it is not an isolated incident. A few years back the hunt got into the gardens of several houses in Condover village and caused chaos. A local resident recently found the A41-a main Shropshire Trunk Road blocked by the hunt at Tern Hill with all the resulting danger to other road users.

My question is, if a group of other outdoor pastime enthusiasts such as anglers, or rugby players, turned up in a private garden and killed a wild animal, the outcry would rightly be massive. So why are the hunting lobby allowed to do this infringing private property rights with apparent impunity?

The Police have said no laws were broken at Cruckton, and the incident just amounted to “Trespass”. I doubt the unfortunate lady landowner thought that.

Our MP Daniel Kawczynski went on record on Radio Shropshire to categorically state he would support a vote to reverse Labour’s ban on hunting with dogs.

I would ask him does he still support the pro-hunting lobby when they show such disregard for private property rights? Does he not agree that people who have worked hard to buy country property and land, and who do not wish the hunt to come across it, should have the total right to have that wish fully respected?

If the hunt were engaged in a drag hunt, why didn’t they plan a route well away from this lady’s land?

You cannot count on a Tory

I wake to the news of the Conservative party’s latest blunder BBC News – Tories criticised over teenage pregnancy figure error

In a nutshell, the Tories have published a 20 page report, which contains a statistic for teenage pregnancy in the 10 most deprived areas of Britain. The figure is based on Government statistics showing 54 pregnancies per 1000 people.

This is expressed as a per-centage : 54%

To those of us lucky enough to have had a state education and did not study Mathematics at Eton, it is clear that this figure should be 5.4%

A mere error with a decimal point says a Conservative spokesman

“It makes no difference at all to the conclusions of a wide-ranging report which shows that Labour have consistently let down the poorest in Britain.”

Well it really should Mr Cameron !

As it stands the publication makes a claim that there has been an 800% rise in teenage pregnancies in those areas; when in fact – according to the figures on which they have based their maths, and presumably accept, there has been a fall of 10%.

It really should make a huge difference. “A mere error with a decimal point” is not the kind of attitude we should expect from a party that is trying to convince us that their election to government would be in the best interests of our economy.

This story will play out both in the media online and off so I’m not going to spend time dissecting this elementary mistake.

It does remind me though of the Tories’ propensity for shooting themselves in the foot whenever they get the opportunity to make political headway. Long may it last.

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