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?
Erdington and Shrewsbury MPs under-fire for non-attendance
by jontandy on February 14, 2010
in Election, General, Labour Party, Parliamentary
Apr 9 2009 by Edward Chadwick, Birmingham Post
Two Midland MPs have been named as among the worst elected representatives in the country who have failed to show up for large numbers of Commons committees.
Sion Simon, the Labour MP for Erdington, managed to get to just 29.7 per cent of meetings of the treasury committee.
Although he became the Government’s Further Education Minister in October, figures released by Parliament show he attended only 11 of 37 meetings in the 12 months to November 2008.
Shrewsbury’s Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski is listed as present at just 12.5 per cent of the justice committee and 31.3 per cent of the international development committee.
He has claimed the figures are wrong.
At least 60 of 220 members on the most powerful committees examining public spending and services have missed at least half of all meetings in the last year.
The figure has sparked concern among select committee chairmen that MPs are shirking responsibilities and failing to properly hold government to account.
Phil Willis, chairman of the Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee, said: “I think it is the job of members to attend.”
Commons committees are cross-party groups responsible for scrutinising public expenditure and policies. They are made up of mainly back-bench MPs.
Mr Simon said: ‘‘It is a ridiculous non-story. It’s like saying every MP should be in the Chamber for every debate. Select committees do not work like that. They are just one of a range of tools MPs can use. There is no reason whatsoever to priorities select committee meetings above the other work of an MP.
“I pick my meetings and was an active and effective member of the committee. I work for the people of Erdington and the Labour Government; not the Treasury Select Committee.’’
Mr Kawczynski did not respond to calls to his office but told The Times the figure for his attendance at the international development committee was wrong and that he had not attended the justice committee because the two clashed.
Meanwhile, Birmingham MP Gisela Stuart defended foreign trips by Commons committee members to sunny climes which have cost taxpayers £1.3 million in the last year alone.
Committee members have jetted off to California, Bali, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands on overseas “fact-finding” trips.
One MP went on 11 foreign visits last year. The Taxpayer’s Alliance has said the amount of money lavished on foreign trips seemed “excessive and frivolous”.
Edgbaston MP Mrs Stuart’s foreign affairs committee spent £231,023 last year on foreign trips, including the Caribbean holiday island of Bermuda.
But the back-bench Labour MP said her visit to the Falkland Islands as part of the committee’s work last May was modest and involved little luxury.
“We flew most of the way by military plane and stayed in fairly basic bed and breakfast accommodation,” she said. “It was far from lavish or excessive.
“The trip to Bermuda led to the suspension of the government in the Turks and Caicos Islands because of corruption.
“These trips cost a lot of money but if you were to ask me whether the trips provided good value, then the answer would be yes.”
Other trips included a £48,000 junket to South Africa by the justice committee to look at the role of the prison officer abroad.
Matthew Elliott, of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “Every parliamentary trip should be scrutinised to see if it is really worthwhile.”
Broken Britain – A Genuine Picture?
by jontandy on February 8, 2010
in Community, County Council, Election, General, Parliamentary
Sometimes when reading the letters pages of the local press, one can be given a rather depressing and nihilistic view of the world. Often, the same narrow band of correspondents are pushing an intolerant view of life, choosing to focus upon that which divides society rather than what brings us together.
Other times, those with a particular axe to grind will seek to make political capital out of isolated national tragedies far from Shrewsbury. A recent instance is David Cameron’s ‘Broken Britain’ claims following the child violence case in South Yorkshire.
Personally I prefer to concentrate on the facts, and recognise that not all was well in the good old days. For example the number of violent deaths among children in England and Wales fell by almost 40% in the past 30 years, or nearly 50% when taking into account growth in the child population, according to the recent report by Bournemouth University.
Improvements in social care systems, along with a greater focus on child poverty, had helped lower the death rate. Thirty years ago England and Wales were the third or fourth highest child killers in the western world, but we’re now fourth lowest.
These national tragedies are terrible and one violent death of a child is too many but this research clearly proves the way to protect children’s lives is to invest in our social care systems, fight child poverty and support those families who need it.
To consider cutting initiatives such as Labour’s Sure Start scheme, which provides health, education, parenting and employment services to pre-school children and parents, is in my opinion, bordering on the cruel.
I hope our Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski will confirm that he will back our four Shrewsbury Sure Start centres in Monkmoor, Crowmoor, Harlescott and Meole Brace, and not permit any cuts in their funding laid out nationally by his own party.
MP Silent on Local Tory Turmoil
by jontandy on January 31, 2010
in Borough Council, General, Local Council
The very public spat between ousted former Tory Borough Council leader Peter Nutting and current Tory Shropshire Council leader Keith Barrow throws up several significant questions. Cllr Nutting has been ruthlessly stripped of his Deputy Leadership and sacked from all his other main committee posts on the unitary new authority. Yet only recently our Tory MP praised Cllr Nutting in the fullest possible terms.
In a Parliamentary debate on Local Government in March 2007 MP Daniel Kawczynski said of the Borough Council “It has an excellent chief executive and a formidable council leader, Peter Nutting.” Yet less than 3 years later Cllr Nutting has been ejected from power by his own Party, and Robin Hooper seems long gone.
As a Councillor on all of the Borough, County and Unitary Councils I always respected Peter Nutting as a hard working local representative. But I had deep differences with him over policy, particularly the spending spree the Tories indulged in with the sale proceeds of the Borough council houses. A recurring problem I found was getting information to scrutinise these spending decisions. The regular exclusion of the public under the exempt item rules, such as happened with the secret sale of the Barker Street car park, is just one example.
Sadly this is still going on. I have found great difficulty in getting details out of the Tory led Shropshire Council, to try and get to the bottom of of the huge Quantum Leap spending total. Yet both Peter Nutting and Keith Barrow are now publicly claiming they want more open and democratic local government. They can start by holding a full investigation into the huge sums spent on the Darwin celebrations, and why local residents seem to have got so little in return.
And what of our Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski, what has he got to say about this local Tory turmoil? When it comes to his own Party, he seems to go very, very, quiet.
