http://www.somertonandfromelibdems.org.uk/articlearchive.php Recent Press Articles from Somerton and Frome Liberal Democrats en-GB Somerton and Frome Liberal Democrats http://www.somertonandfromelibdems.org.uk/ Prater Raines Ltd http://www.praterraines.co.uk/ (c) 2008 Somerton and Frome Liberal Democrats 2008-08-21T19:01+01:00 United Kingdom http://www.somertonandfromelibdems.org.uk/articles/000063/a_potpourri_of_topics.html Well, I just about got through the two weeks of my village tour without it raining on me, or at least not too vigorously. One hundred and five villages visited, and the heavens opened to tumultuous effect only as I stood by the village notice-board outside the church in Witham Friary, the one hundred and fifth. And as Witham Friary is where I actually live, it didn't really matter that much. 2008-08-08T00:00+01:00 http://www.somertonandfromelibdems.org.uk/articles/000062/rural_rides.html Rural rides again. Every year I do a tour around all the villages in my constituency where I don't do one of my nine monthly advice surgeries. I reckon there are about one hundred and twenty altogether, and I try to visit at least a hundred each year over a two week period. Over recent years I've usually done the tour in September, but this year I thought I'd try to go round in July, as soon as Parliament rose for the summer recess, and so far it seems to have been working quite well. 2008-07-31T00:00+01:00 http://www.somertonandfromelibdems.org.uk/articles/000061/thanks_barry.html Just over seventeen years ago, I was County Councillor for Frome North, and along with the College Governors we had an important job to do, to select a successor to John Fisher as Head of Frome College. The candidate we chose was the young and charismatic head of Stanchester School, Barry Bates. He seemed then an outstanding candidate for the job. He was. 2008-07-31T00:00+01:00 http://www.somertonandfromelibdems.org.uk/articles/000059/unsatisfactory.html On Tuesday we had a major row about SATS tests, which this year have descended into farce as a result of the contract to mark the tests going to an American company, ETS. Either ETS hugely under-estimated the task of marking the exam papers of a whole cohort of eleven and fourteen year olds, or else it has been monumentally incompetent. Possibly both. 2008-07-24T00:00+01:00 http://www.somertonandfromelibdems.org.uk/articles/000060/sats__the_whole_process_has_been_unsatisfactory.html Parliament broke up on Tuesday for the long - over-long in my view - summer recess, but there was time for just one more major row before we left, this time on the subject of the Key Stage 2 Standard Assessment Tests, or SATS as they are known, which this year have descended into farce as a result of the contract to mark the tests having been given to an American company, ETS. It would appear that either ETS hugely under-estimated the task of marking the exam papers of a whole cohort of eleven and fourteen year olds, or else it has been monumentally incompetent. Possibly both. 2008-07-24T00:00+01:00 http://www.somertonandfromelibdems.org.uk/articles/000058/jobsworth_is_alive_and_well_in_frome.html What on earth is going on with disabled parking in Frome? That parents should be refused access to disabled parking spaces when picking up their children from school simply beggars belief. I'm not surprised there was a demonstration on Friday to protest. 2008-07-18T00:00+01:00 http://www.somertonandfromelibdems.org.uk/articles/000057/legislate_in_haste__repent_at_leisure.html A few years back we went through a stage when you couldn't open a national newspaper without being confronted with a grizzly picture of some poor soul, normally a very sweet looking child, who had been savagely mauled by their family pet. It seemed as though there was an inexorable rise in the incidence of dangerous dogs, as though the canine world was finally taking its revenge for years of rolling over for doggy biscuits. A national furore ensued, something had to be done, and eventually ministers capitulated and passed a new law, the Dangerous Dogs Act. The bill passed through parliament with all-party support. It was, by common consent, one of the most poorly drafted, most useless pieces of legislation to have been passed. Curiously, the newspapers got bored with reporting stories about feral dogs, and so we moved on. 2008-07-18T00:00+01:00 http://www.somertonandfromelibdems.org.uk/articles/000056/another_daft_idea_from_the_government.html Let's stick up for the taxman. Or at least the local version. Nobody, if they're honest, or perhaps even more so if they're not, is very keen on their dealings with the Inland Revenue, or her Majesty's Revenue & Customs as we must now learn to call them. But as many small businessmen and women will attest, it's an awful lot easier to deal properly with one's tax affairs if you can contact someone locally, perhaps see them face to face, and talk through any problems you may have. That was one of the great advantages of having local tax offices. So of course the government now want to close them. 2008-07-10T00:00+01:00 http://www.somertonandfromelibdems.org.uk/articles/000055/what_a_frustrating_week.html I am feeling extremely let down this week, for a variety of reasons. 2008-07-10T00:00+01:00 http://www.somertonandfromelibdems.org.uk/articles/000054/fromes_a_special_place.html We had a bit of a do last week. It was my wife's fiftieth birthday (you'd never guess it), and we decided to celebrate, along with a friend who'd reached the same milestone, by throwing a party. Those with teenage children will know that the American high school tradition of the prom is now well embedded in the social life of the tertiary college student, but because our generation missed out, we thought it would be good to hold a "Fabulous at Fifty" Prom. And we held it at the Cheese & Grain. 2008-06-27T00:00+01:00 http://www.somertonandfromelibdems.org.uk/articles/000053/wow_what_a_week_in_politics.html Visiting America on holiday a couple of years ago I came across an official looking plaque on the wall of a building. "On this spot in 1877," it proclaimed in solid brass, "nothing happened". I later found that they were selling the plaques in a nearby novelty store. Many weeks in politics are pretty much like that. Nothing of any consequence happens, and we just go through the motions, literally in the case of parliamentary debate. Then, every now and again, you have a week where everything seems to happen. Last week was one of those. 2008-06-20T00:00+01:00 http://www.somertonandfromelibdems.org.uk/articles/000052/david_davis_deserves_congratulations_for_his_stand.html So the government won the vote on forty two days pre-charge detention by nine votes; co-incidentally nine Democratic Unionist MPs reversed their previous position and voted with the government after, it is rumoured, securing massive extra investment for their constituencies. I can only say that it saddens me if a government that can't win a vote on the arguments buys its way out of trouble. 2008-06-20T00:00+01:00 http://www.somertonandfromelibdems.org.uk/articles/000051/empty_buildings_are_a_problem.html Events at the Mendip Lodge Hotel over recent weeks have underlined how important it is to make sure we don't have buildings empty and deteriorating around the town. Not only is it a risk in itself, from fire whether deliberate or otherwise, or simply from intruders getting up to no good, but an empty building becoming derelict can very quickly become an eyesore which does nothing for the town. 2008-06-05T00:01+01:00 http://www.somertonandfromelibdems.org.uk/articles/000050/tory_rumours_and_post_office_consultations__both_a_sham.html I've now had three journalists ring me up over the last week or so asking me if it is true that I intend to step down at the next election. One even suggested that he had heard that I was about to go to the House of Lords, and I was probably being fitted for my ermine right now! When I asked who had been telling them this obvious untruth, one admitted that he had heard it from local Conservatives. Curiously enough, exactly the same thing happened about four years ago, at the same time before the last general election. 2008-06-05T00:01+01:00 http://www.somertonandfromelibdems.org.uk/articles/000047/butler_and_tanner_closure_is_a_blow_to_the_town.html The news over the weekend that Butler and Tanner is to close is very bad news for Frome. The firm is long-established and much-respected in the town, and many of the workforce have been with the company for many years. Now, abruptly, almost three hundred are to lose their jobs. 2008-05-01T00:00+01:00