12.7.09
Update on Thames Water...
At the last GC meeting of my Constituency Labour Party, I asked Joan Ruddock to make sure that the government was not going to change the law and would continue to stop water companies from disconnecting water supplies for non-payers. She seemed sure this was not going to happen.
Telegraph Hill
On Friday night I was selected in Telegraph Hill along with Joan Millbank and Dan Whittle. It will be a hard campaign, but one worth the effort as it is a winnable ward. The branch is brilliant and has an excellent, active membership with a great campaigns officer - Laura Seabright. Interestingly, there seems to be a bit of a Sheffield mafia going on...I'll explain in later posts.
So here is to the hard work and to successfully winning Telegraph Hill!
So here is to the hard work and to successfully winning Telegraph Hill!
25.6.09
Thames Water are a complete disgrace...
Reoord profits, increased bills reaching 17% over inflation, over 5 years and now the greedy barbarians want to lobby the government to change the law allowing them to cut the water supply to people who cannot pay their bills.
What is wrong with this society? What is the regulator OFWAT doing? Are they being wined and dined by Thames Water, owned by the Austrlian bank Macquarie?
Thames Water's profts were up almost 4% on last year's £590m, while many ordinary people are struggling. Indeed they have the cheek to say after decades of under-investment, we have to pay for a £5.5bn investment programme to construct two "super-sewers" to rid the Thames of 32m tonnes of raw waste a year. It is the decades of under-investment by the privatised utilities owned by people so remote from the communities they serve and so obsessed by profit and greed, that as a society we should no longer tolerate it.
I do not understand how people like David Owens, the Chief Executive of Thames Water, can sleep at night...
What is wrong with this society? What is the regulator OFWAT doing? Are they being wined and dined by Thames Water, owned by the Austrlian bank Macquarie?
Thames Water's profts were up almost 4% on last year's £590m, while many ordinary people are struggling. Indeed they have the cheek to say after decades of under-investment, we have to pay for a £5.5bn investment programme to construct two "super-sewers" to rid the Thames of 32m tonnes of raw waste a year. It is the decades of under-investment by the privatised utilities owned by people so remote from the communities they serve and so obsessed by profit and greed, that as a society we should no longer tolerate it.
I do not understand how people like David Owens, the Chief Executive of Thames Water, can sleep at night...
4.6.09
Letter to Joan Ruddock MP - Fuel Poverty Bill
Joan,
Please allow the Fuel Poverty Bill to pass its Second Reading on Friday 12th June
We have talked many times about fuel poverty and I know you are bound by collective responsibility with your ministerial colleagues to support the government. I also know that you believe passionately in helping the poor and as you said on Saturday, you would not do anything to put more people in fuel poverty. However, there are times when the government machine may be too remote from the everyday reality of people’s lives and I believe this is one of them.
The recent public meeting on the Fuel Poverty Bill in Brockley was attended by many voters and without your input there were politicians of other parties trying to make political gain out of a very serious issue. I have to say I was very impressed by Ron Bailey, the chair of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition and what he had to say, although I had heard so many conflicting views about the Fuel Poverty Bill. The meeting also had some other very good speakers: Mervyn Kohler - Age Concern & Help the Aged Special Advisor; Dave Timms - Friends of the Earth Senior Parliamentary Campaigner and Ruth Bond - National Federation of Women's Institutes Chair of Public Affairs.
As far as I understand the Fuel Poverty Bill, it would:
- Require a national energy efficiency programme ensuring that homes of people in fuel poverty are properly insulated;
- Protect households from failing back into fuel poverty as a result of possible future fuel price rises;
- Create tens of thousands of “green” jobs and provide a major boost to the economy;
- Reduce household fuel bills by up to 70%;
- Cut emissions of carbon dioxide from homes to reduce climate change;
- Cut costs to the health service due to the reduction in cold and damp related illnesses.
When someone dies because they cannot heat their home in the Winter, it becomes a national disgrace. In 2009, this should not be happening and this Bill goes partly along the way to achieve the ultimate goal of abolishing fuel poverty for good. We cannot wait and allow more people to suffer the unacceptable position of choosing to eat or heat their homes.
I, as you know, would want the government to go further, not least of would be to re-instate price regulation and controls similar to France. However, this Bill is a start. We cannot allow politicians who want to hi-jack this serious issue to make party-political points against you or the Labour Party; I remember what it was like under a Conservative government.
Please allow this Bill to pass through to its second reading and work together with the people involved to reduce the numbers falling into fuel poverty. By-all means reject the party political games but do not reject the principles behind the Bill.
Regards,
Paul Bell
Please allow the Fuel Poverty Bill to pass its Second Reading on Friday 12th June
We have talked many times about fuel poverty and I know you are bound by collective responsibility with your ministerial colleagues to support the government. I also know that you believe passionately in helping the poor and as you said on Saturday, you would not do anything to put more people in fuel poverty. However, there are times when the government machine may be too remote from the everyday reality of people’s lives and I believe this is one of them.
The recent public meeting on the Fuel Poverty Bill in Brockley was attended by many voters and without your input there were politicians of other parties trying to make political gain out of a very serious issue. I have to say I was very impressed by Ron Bailey, the chair of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition and what he had to say, although I had heard so many conflicting views about the Fuel Poverty Bill. The meeting also had some other very good speakers: Mervyn Kohler - Age Concern & Help the Aged Special Advisor; Dave Timms - Friends of the Earth Senior Parliamentary Campaigner and Ruth Bond - National Federation of Women's Institutes Chair of Public Affairs.
As far as I understand the Fuel Poverty Bill, it would:
- Require a national energy efficiency programme ensuring that homes of people in fuel poverty are properly insulated;
- Protect households from failing back into fuel poverty as a result of possible future fuel price rises;
- Create tens of thousands of “green” jobs and provide a major boost to the economy;
- Reduce household fuel bills by up to 70%;
- Cut emissions of carbon dioxide from homes to reduce climate change;
- Cut costs to the health service due to the reduction in cold and damp related illnesses.
When someone dies because they cannot heat their home in the Winter, it becomes a national disgrace. In 2009, this should not be happening and this Bill goes partly along the way to achieve the ultimate goal of abolishing fuel poverty for good. We cannot wait and allow more people to suffer the unacceptable position of choosing to eat or heat their homes.
I, as you know, would want the government to go further, not least of would be to re-instate price regulation and controls similar to France. However, this Bill is a start. We cannot allow politicians who want to hi-jack this serious issue to make party-political points against you or the Labour Party; I remember what it was like under a Conservative government.
Please allow this Bill to pass through to its second reading and work together with the people involved to reduce the numbers falling into fuel poverty. By-all means reject the party political games but do not reject the principles behind the Bill.
Regards,
Paul Bell
1.6.09
Petition - Free Political Prisoners in Burma
Please sign the petition to demand that the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon use all the power of the UN to free political prisoners in Burma. It may seem like a signature cannot combat a gun, but the power of dictatorships can often be smashed by the actions of moral protest.
Sign the petition here: http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/fbppn.htm
To: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
"Until all of our political prisoners are free, none of us can say that Burma is now truly on the road towards democratic change." Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, 1991 Nobel Peace Prize Winner, held under house arrest for 13 of the last 19 years.
The military government - the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) – must immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Khun Tun Oo and Min Ko Naing.
The release of all political prisoners is the first and most important step towards freedom and democracy in Burma. We, the undersigned, call upon UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to make it his personal priority to secure the release of all of Burma's political prisoners by the SPDC.
Sign the petition here: http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/fbppn.htm
To: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
"Until all of our political prisoners are free, none of us can say that Burma is now truly on the road towards democratic change." Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, 1991 Nobel Peace Prize Winner, held under house arrest for 13 of the last 19 years.
The military government - the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) – must immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Khun Tun Oo and Min Ko Naing.
The release of all political prisoners is the first and most important step towards freedom and democracy in Burma. We, the undersigned, call upon UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to make it his personal priority to secure the release of all of Burma's political prisoners by the SPDC.
30.5.09
Crofton Park Public Meeting - Anti-Fuel Poverty Campaign
Absence and party political games were clearly hiding in a serious issue and one that I have been battling against since I became aware of pre-payment meters and their consequences. You see my parents had a stark choice, to feed themselves or to feed the premium priced pre-payment meter.
On Thursday 28th, I attended and spoke pleading that regulation and price controls along with a windfall tax, are all needed along with insulation of our entire housing stock, starting with the poorest households; in order to tell the greedy energy companies that they are no longer allowed to rip us off for our energy and to push more and more people into fuel poverty.
I have to say I was very impressed by Ron Bailey, the chair of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition and what he had to say, although I had heard so many conflicting views about the Fuel Poverty Bill. The meeting also had some other very good speakers: Mervyn Kohler - Age Concern & Help the Aged Special Advisor; Dave Timms - Friends of the Earth Senior Parliamentary Campaigner and Ruth Bond - National Federation of Women's Institutes Chair of Public Affairs.
Also present were the politicians. Firstly, (and in no particular order), Gemma Townsend, Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Lewisham Deptford; Cllr Chris Maines, Lib Dem Group Leader Lewisham Council and Cllr Darren Johnson AM, Green parliamentary candidate for Lewisham Deptford. Joan Ruddock did not attend and I am disinclined to say anymore on her absence.
So what was achieved? Well there were disparate views and the inevitable Labour Party bashing. But what would the Fuel Poverty Bill do, if made law:
- Require a national energy efficiency programme ensuring that homes of people in fuel poverty are properly insulated;
- Protect households from failing back into fuel poverty as a result of possible future fuel price rises;
- Create tens of thousands of “green” jobs and provide a major boost to the economy;
- Reduce household fuel bills by up to 70%;
- Cut emissions of carbon dioxide from homes to reduce climate change;
- Cut costs to the health service due to the reduction in cold and damp related illnesses.
It is essential and I support it, but we also need to punish the greed and regulate prices to stop the daylight robbery by the privatised electricity companies – nearly all of which are foreign owned. So my Fuel Poverty Bill would contain:
- Windfall Tax on the energy companies to fund the insulation objectives of the bill;
- Price regulation telling the companies what they could charge – there would be no more double digit rises;
- Abolition of pre-payment meters, so everyone pays the same no matter what way they pay their bills;
- Insulation and renewal energy.
Finally, I was appalled by the blatant party political games that Darren Johnson and Chris Maines engaged in. They did not do themselves any favours as this issue is more important than party politics. It was quite refreshing that Gemma Townsend presented a different case.
When someone dies because they cannot heat their home in the Winter, it becomes a national disgrace. In 2009, this should not be happening and this bill goes partly along the way to achieve the ultimate goal of abolishing fuel poverty for good. We cannot wait and allow more people to suffer the unacceptable position of choosing to eat or heat their homes. Lets all work together regardless of party political membership.
On Thursday 28th, I attended and spoke pleading that regulation and price controls along with a windfall tax, are all needed along with insulation of our entire housing stock, starting with the poorest households; in order to tell the greedy energy companies that they are no longer allowed to rip us off for our energy and to push more and more people into fuel poverty.
I have to say I was very impressed by Ron Bailey, the chair of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition and what he had to say, although I had heard so many conflicting views about the Fuel Poverty Bill. The meeting also had some other very good speakers: Mervyn Kohler - Age Concern & Help the Aged Special Advisor; Dave Timms - Friends of the Earth Senior Parliamentary Campaigner and Ruth Bond - National Federation of Women's Institutes Chair of Public Affairs.
Also present were the politicians. Firstly, (and in no particular order), Gemma Townsend, Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Lewisham Deptford; Cllr Chris Maines, Lib Dem Group Leader Lewisham Council and Cllr Darren Johnson AM, Green parliamentary candidate for Lewisham Deptford. Joan Ruddock did not attend and I am disinclined to say anymore on her absence.
So what was achieved? Well there were disparate views and the inevitable Labour Party bashing. But what would the Fuel Poverty Bill do, if made law:
- Require a national energy efficiency programme ensuring that homes of people in fuel poverty are properly insulated;
- Protect households from failing back into fuel poverty as a result of possible future fuel price rises;
- Create tens of thousands of “green” jobs and provide a major boost to the economy;
- Reduce household fuel bills by up to 70%;
- Cut emissions of carbon dioxide from homes to reduce climate change;
- Cut costs to the health service due to the reduction in cold and damp related illnesses.
It is essential and I support it, but we also need to punish the greed and regulate prices to stop the daylight robbery by the privatised electricity companies – nearly all of which are foreign owned. So my Fuel Poverty Bill would contain:
- Windfall Tax on the energy companies to fund the insulation objectives of the bill;
- Price regulation telling the companies what they could charge – there would be no more double digit rises;
- Abolition of pre-payment meters, so everyone pays the same no matter what way they pay their bills;
- Insulation and renewal energy.
Finally, I was appalled by the blatant party political games that Darren Johnson and Chris Maines engaged in. They did not do themselves any favours as this issue is more important than party politics. It was quite refreshing that Gemma Townsend presented a different case.
When someone dies because they cannot heat their home in the Winter, it becomes a national disgrace. In 2009, this should not be happening and this bill goes partly along the way to achieve the ultimate goal of abolishing fuel poverty for good. We cannot wait and allow more people to suffer the unacceptable position of choosing to eat or heat their homes. Lets all work together regardless of party political membership.
14.5.09
Expenses, excuses and greed...
Expenses, excuses and greed. Having watched and listened to the media reports of the MPs expenses scandal for a few days now, I'm now resigned to condemning those MPs who have claimed anything and everything that as a taxpayer I find unacceptable. A few months ago, the Observer ran a story about an 85 year old lady called Winifred Nunn, who had used her life savings to start to pay for her husband's funeral. To help pay the rest, she had put in a request for funds from the DSS Social Fund funeral grant scheme and had been waiting and waiting. Days turned into weeks and weeks are now becoming months, but she has not received a penny. Meanwhile MPs and government ministers where claiming for anything and everything using the excuse of "it is in the rules".
A few weeks ago, Evelyn McCarroll, 58 of Gravesend was fighting for her life and with her local PCT, West Kent Primary Care Trust to overturn a ruling that they would not pay for £1700 per month cancer drug which her doctor stated would prolong her life. As a result her family had to fund the crippling cost of £1700 a month drug Tarceva.
Tonight I sat and watched as Chris Huhne MP justified claiming for a trouser press. To be fair to him, he needs it for his job to look smart, after-all we all claim from our company expenses or the DSS for a trouser press to look smart at work and in the interview room, don't we?
It is truly a scandal on an unprecedented scale. Sixty-four years after Victory in Europe was declared, politicians should be fighting not for every penny they can squeeze out of the taxpayer, but against the fascists who will inevitably gain votes from the main parties who have failed us all so badly.
Am I angry, absolutely. Every week people get diagnosed with cancer and have to face life changing pressures along with bleak financial futures. Everyday people wake-up not on a John Lewis mattress covered in £500 bedding, but on the cold and often wet pavement, as they have no home, let alone a second or third home. And everyday someone, somewhere has to choose between eating or paying their utility bills, unable to claim a £400 per month food allowance or second home utility bills.
This scandal has gone too far to be simply fixed with gestures, far too late in the day. The public want blood; I want remorse and a system where MPs found fiddling or flipping, claiming excessively or engaged in fraud are subject to the same penalties the poor and rich alike in society face.
If there is a shred of decency and integrity left in Parliament, then resignations should follow. Otherwise, deselections must be used to set an example that MPs and members of the House of Lords are not above the law or worth more than the people who vote for them.
Finally, as Luton has demonstrated, there are MPs who are not feeding from the trough or catching the gravy train. The media should also alert the public to the names of these parliamentarians, so as voters we can make informed judgements when we cast our vote in the ballot box.
A few weeks ago, Evelyn McCarroll, 58 of Gravesend was fighting for her life and with her local PCT, West Kent Primary Care Trust to overturn a ruling that they would not pay for £1700 per month cancer drug which her doctor stated would prolong her life. As a result her family had to fund the crippling cost of £1700 a month drug Tarceva.
Tonight I sat and watched as Chris Huhne MP justified claiming for a trouser press. To be fair to him, he needs it for his job to look smart, after-all we all claim from our company expenses or the DSS for a trouser press to look smart at work and in the interview room, don't we?
It is truly a scandal on an unprecedented scale. Sixty-four years after Victory in Europe was declared, politicians should be fighting not for every penny they can squeeze out of the taxpayer, but against the fascists who will inevitably gain votes from the main parties who have failed us all so badly.
Am I angry, absolutely. Every week people get diagnosed with cancer and have to face life changing pressures along with bleak financial futures. Everyday people wake-up not on a John Lewis mattress covered in £500 bedding, but on the cold and often wet pavement, as they have no home, let alone a second or third home. And everyday someone, somewhere has to choose between eating or paying their utility bills, unable to claim a £400 per month food allowance or second home utility bills.
This scandal has gone too far to be simply fixed with gestures, far too late in the day. The public want blood; I want remorse and a system where MPs found fiddling or flipping, claiming excessively or engaged in fraud are subject to the same penalties the poor and rich alike in society face.
If there is a shred of decency and integrity left in Parliament, then resignations should follow. Otherwise, deselections must be used to set an example that MPs and members of the House of Lords are not above the law or worth more than the people who vote for them.
Finally, as Luton has demonstrated, there are MPs who are not feeding from the trough or catching the gravy train. The media should also alert the public to the names of these parliamentarians, so as voters we can make informed judgements when we cast our vote in the ballot box.
30.3.09
Haunted by debt and poverty even in grief...
While surfing through the internet tonight, I came across an article by James Elliott from the Observer. The article talks about the rising cost of funerals and how many funeral directors are raising prices by 11% and demanding payment upfront.
Eighty-five-year-old Winifred Nunn, who lives in Mile End, east London, had to delay her husband's cremation for a month after his death in January because she could not afford to pay for his funeral. "The undertaker wanted a payment in advance, but I didn't have enough," she says. "The hospital was telling me to hurry up because I couldn't leave my husband in their mortuary. I couldn't believe this was happening and felt like I was going mad."
Eventually, after a resident warden from the estate where she lives intervened, the funeral director agreed to accept her life savings of £600 as a downpayment on the £2,400 funeral. Most funeral directors now ask for a deposit of up to £1,000 to cover crematorium charges, doctors' certificates and other third-party fees before a funeral can take place.
Nunn is waiting for the outcome of an application to the government's Social Fund funeral grant scheme for help in paying back the outstanding £1,800, but the most she can expect will be around £1,160. "I don't how I'm going to pay the rest. I try not to think about it," she says.
What kind of society do we now live in? I am sickened and very sad.
Eighty-five-year-old Winifred Nunn, who lives in Mile End, east London, had to delay her husband's cremation for a month after his death in January because she could not afford to pay for his funeral. "The undertaker wanted a payment in advance, but I didn't have enough," she says. "The hospital was telling me to hurry up because I couldn't leave my husband in their mortuary. I couldn't believe this was happening and felt like I was going mad."
Eventually, after a resident warden from the estate where she lives intervened, the funeral director agreed to accept her life savings of £600 as a downpayment on the £2,400 funeral. Most funeral directors now ask for a deposit of up to £1,000 to cover crematorium charges, doctors' certificates and other third-party fees before a funeral can take place.
Nunn is waiting for the outcome of an application to the government's Social Fund funeral grant scheme for help in paying back the outstanding £1,800, but the most she can expect will be around £1,160. "I don't how I'm going to pay the rest. I try not to think about it," she says.
What kind of society do we now live in? I am sickened and very sad.
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