I had the pleasure of attending the West Forest Sinfonia concert at Reading University Great Hall yesterday. Philip Ellis the Conductor gave an excellent talk telling us about the harmonic brilliance of Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky and Stravinksy who all fi… read more
I voted against HS2 when the decision in principle was made by Parliament. I did so because the business case for it was very weak. The forecasts of likely passenger numbers and revenues looked far too high. The negative impact on revenues and travell… read more
When I was asked at a meeting to support a 7.5% increase in Council Tax for the Fire Authority I said I needed to see the financial case and to see their budget. They did not have this available at the meeting but promised to send it to me. They did n… read more
I will soon be submitting some thoughts to the government on possible constitutional reform. The last Parliament submitted our constitution to a battering, as an alliance of MPs from all the Opposition parties aided by a few Conservatives who subseque… read more
The EU tells us they are going to stimulate faster growth in the Euro area through commitment to faster decarbonisation. They have announced a “Green deal” with access to just Euro 7.5bn of transition funds to subsidise the losing areas that face clos… read more