Go to sleep with my dulcet tones....

I'll be on Radio 5 Live for three hours on Tuesday night from 10pm till 1am. 909 or 693 MW, on digital radio and online. It's a mixture of political chat and light hearted sport and celebrity gossip. Join me!

Catching up

It's been a busy few days. On Friday I took Rosalie Monbiot, the County Council Cabinet Member for Education to four primary/infants schools. We went to Suffield park, North Walsham, Worstead and Horning - all very different but also impressive. North Walsham has just come out of special measures so it was good to see the enthusiasm among the teachers and kids. In the evening I went to see someone to talk about pensions before attending a Conservative Policy Forum meeting in Cromer on how to encourage people to save. On Saturday I spent the day in Fakenham and Briston with a great group of people delivering our surveys and knocking on people's doors. Again, a great reaction. I drove to Kent on Saturday night to attend my partner's parents' golden wedding anniversary. Today I had to go to London to a book fair and to talk about a new book idea I have. There, that's caught up!

LibDems need to get a grip

Here's a press release I issued today in the continuing North Norfolk wheelie bin shambles...

The North Norfolk Wheelie Bin saga has yet again descended in to farce after the Council admitted to North Norfolk Conservative Candidate Iain Dale that it is discouraging residents from recycling garden waste.

After a complaint from a local Cromer resident Iain Dale wrote to the Council to seek clarification on the Council’s policy. He accused the Council of doubling the price of garden waste refuse sacks to £1.50 a bag pending the introduction of the garden waste wheelie bins in March 2005 – 6 months later than originally promised.

In a letter to Iain Dale, Nick Baker, Head of Enviromental Health wrote: “You are quite correct to say that the service will not be available for some time. The reason why the price [of the garden refuse sacks] was increased was to ensure we did not receive large amounts of trade waste in the sacks for garden waste and the garden waste sacks were increased to the same price as trade waste. I ACCEPT THE CRITICISM THAT IN THE SHORT TERM WE HAVE TO A CERTAIN EXTENT DISCOURAGED PEOPLE TO USE THE GARDEN WASTE SERVICE… We will not be reducing the price of the sacks as the Council has made a policy decision on this and we know full well that there would be an enormous amount of trade waste issues arising from such a reduction.”

Iain says: “If the LibDems on the Council are serious about recycling and meeting the government imposed targets, why are they putting a barrier in the way of local people who want to recycle garden waste? They are fleecing local residents by doubling the charge of the garden refuse sacks. I am calling on them to cut the price back to where it was before they admitted they wouldn’t be able to introduce the garden waste scheme on time. The time to put the price of the sacks up is when the Garden Waste bins are ready to be delivered and NOT before.

“It is becoming clear that the introduction of the whole wheelie bin scheme has been a disaster. It has lacked proper planning and local people are completely fed up with it. Council officers have been highhanded and insensitive to the feelings of local people and it’s about time the ruling LibDem group got to grips with the mounting chaos that this scheme has brought.

Cromer resident Mr Maurice Snelson of Compit Hills, who originally brought the issue to Iain Dale’s attention says: “I am furious that I am paying Council tax for my rubbish to be collected and yet the Council want to rob me of another £1.50 per bag for garden waste. I want it to be recycled but people in this area cannot afford this ridiculous price. I hope the Council will listen to what Iain Dale is saying.”

Back to School

Tomorrow I am visiting four - yes four - primary schools with the Norfolk County Council Cabinet Member for Education, Rosalie Monbiot.

All Change

The Boundary Commission announced its findings today on the future shape ofthe Norfolk Parliamentary constituencies. Because of the population growth we get an extra seat. North Norfolk now has 83,000 voters, whereas it should have around 68,000. As a consequence, after the election we lose a slice off the western end which means that the Fakenham and Walsingham areas become part of one of the new seats. I have to say I rather regret that in many ways, but in the end something had to give. I doubt whether there will many champagne corks popping in Norman Lamb's office tonight as the LibDems wanted the other end of the constituency to go.

Managing a Crisis

Went to lunch in Burnham Market. Superb journey. Roof down. Sun blazing. What a day. Spent this evening catching up on yet more correspondence and watching an interactive crisis management programme on BBC2. It concerned a plague outbreak in Liverpool. They had people pretending to be Ministers deciding on how to react. On screen you could make decisions on how to handle the crisis. Glad to say I got 4 out 5 right. So the good people of North Norfolk can sleep easy in their beds tonight!

Having a quiet evening in...

What a wonderful day. It's days like this I feel I am the luckiest candidate in the Conservative Party. There's no better place to be in the country than North Norfolk when the sun's out, the birds are singing and combines are in the fields. Had a slight change of plan and spent the morning in the Erpingham area and the afternoon in Tunstead and Weybourne. I've always liked Weybourne, and not just because John Major lives there. Having a quiet evening in watching England v Austria and catching up on emails. 1-0 at half time. Not a very good game. Tomorrow off to lunch in Burnham Market with Keith & Pepi Simpson and others.

From Erpingham to Exit

Tomorrow morning I'm out and about around Erpingham, Aldborough and Alby and will then spend the afternoon on the doorknocker in North Walsham. It's been a great week weather-wise, and it's not often I could have said that in recent times. It's also been quite a good week for George W Bush. Having watched a lot of the Republican Convention on the BBC Parliament Channel I have to say some of it left me slightly queasy. I thought Guiliani and Schwarzenegger were good, but Elizabeth Dole was terrible - and to think, I supported her for the Presidency once! Her constant religious moralising really grated. I think it's very dangerous when politicians start acting as if they were quasi-priests. Equally, I don't particularly like it when sermons become political speeches. I remember sitting through a sermon once debating whether to walk out of the church. In the end I decided not to but of course afterwards wished I had. Not quite sure how I got from Erpingham to a religious walkout, but that's the beauty of blogging!

You Know You're a Conservative When...

I spent yesterday night watching some of the Republican Convention in New York. I can't say it inspired me very much. I am fascinated by American politics but it seems to me that any speaker only had to say "I love America" and they were guaranteed a standing ovation. Not a sign of any real policy anywhere. Now I never thought I'd say this, but it was only when Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke that the event came to life. It was still quite schmalzy, but there was one passage which I thought was excellent. Just delete the word Republican and insert Conservative...

My fellow immigrants, my fellow Americans how do you know if you are a Republican? I'll tell you how. If you believe that government should be accountable to the people, not the people to the government...then you are a Republican! If you believe a person should be treated as an individual, not as a member of an interest group... then you are a Republican! If you believe your family knows how to spend your money better than the government does... then you are a Republican! If you believe our educational system should be held accountable for the progress of our children ... then you are a Republican! If you believe this country, not the United Nations, is the best hope of democracy in the world then you are a Republican! And, ladies and gentlemen ...if you believe we must be fierce and relentless and terminate terrorism ... then you are a Republican!

If you want to read Arnie's entire speech CLICK HERE

Harvest, Holkham & Holt

Whay a typical dingy bank holiday weekend. I'm off to see my parents near Saffron Walden today to help my Dad with the harvest. Weather permitting of course. I'm looking forward to getting behind the wheel of the combine for the first time this year. This weekend in Norfolk has been a bit of washout. I never did get to Holkham but we took the dog to a beach near Mundesley instead. Gio had never seen the sea before and didn't quite know what to make of it. Not sure he liked it, especially when he didn't get out of the way of a wave! Politics has taken a back seat over the last few days. The only thing I have done is attend a Holt Conservative coffee morning and catch up on some overdue correspondence, much of which concerns the dreaded wheelie bins. The Council really are acting in such a high handed manner over the introduction of these bins. Some of the language in letters to residents has to be seen to be believed. One or two of the Council officials ought to bear in mind that it is the residents who are their employers.

Damp Days

Spent a damp morning in Felmingham. I'm supposed to he on holiday this weekend but it seems a candidate never entirely escapes! I'm going over to Holkham this afternoon to take my Jack Russell Gio for a walk along the beach. I suppose the odd ray of sunshine is a bit too much to hope for!

Letter in the EDP

My letter about phone masts was in the EDP today. They had a surprisingly good editorial on Tuesday about David Davis's attack on the compensation culture and Human Rights Act. Indeed, they were effusive in their praise until they said we should have gone further and said we should withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights. But still they added for good measure that we were being opportunistic. Is there no satisfying some people?! It must be nice being a newspaper leader writer. They can say what they like without any fear of ever being held accountable for what they say. They should try politics sometime...

Those naughty LibDems

Nick Cohen, a left of centre columnist for the Observer, has an interesting column in today's Observer about the use of racist tactics in by-elections. In July I sparked off an interesting debate with a regular reader of this Blog about a LibDem leaflet in Leicester South which in Asian areas called the candidate Parmjit Singh Gill and in predominantly white areas left out the Singh. I described this as overtly racist and was amused to see the tortuous defence mounted on behalf this LibDem tactic. Nick Cohen goes one step further. Here's a quote from his article...

The Liberal Democrats often provoke their opponents into going over the top. They pose as saints while fighting campaigns which are as dirty as anything Labour or the Tories can manage - often dirtier. They shift their shape depending on which constituency they're contesting. Are they right or left? Pro-privatisation or anti? For the overthrow of Saddam Hussein if the weapons inspectors had been given more time, or against? Answers to these questions have more to do with geography than ideology. For the duration of a campaign, the Liberal Democrats are whatever a contested constituency wants them to be. Thus in Hodge Hill, a Lib Dem leaflet sent to predominantly Muslim wards featured a picture of Charles Kennedy surrounded by Asians. The same leaflet was pushed through the doors of predominantly white wards, but only after a quick bout of ethnic cleansing at the printers had removed all trace of the brown faces.

For more LibDem campaign tactics visit LibDemWatch.

On the Radio

I'll be on the radio for three hours Friday night from 10pm to 1pm on the Brian Hayes Show on 5 Live. 909 & 693 AM or on digital radio. It's a god mix of politics, sport and humour. Just my thing! If you tune in let me know what you think.

Holt Youth Centre

I've just come back from the opening of a new Youth Centre in Holt. What an uplifting evening - a real display of a community coming together to achieve something real. Well done to everyone involved. It's cost more than £150,000 and all raised locally. Needless to say there was nothing from the lottery. If this wasn't deserving of a lottery grant then God knows what is.

Buck up EDP

I banged off a letter to the EDP about their ridiculous editorial yesterday. I honestly despair of them sometimes. Why is it that they sneer at anything a political party proposes, calling it "opportunistic" or horror of horrors "populist". Far be it from a politician to propose something popular which also happens to be right. They were slagging off our new proposals to give local people and councils proper powers over the siting of mobile phone masts. Funny that the EDP itself has campaigned for this. It's at times like this that I really do think the media are just as much to blame for our political malaise as politicians. They forster a culture of cynicism. The end. Well almost. Here's the letter...

Your editorial today (18 August) displays what is wrong with journalism today. You sneer at new Conservative policies on phone masts and transport as "populist" and "opportunistic vote-seeking". I assume this means you think we've hit on policies which might be popular with voters. What a mistake for a political party to make! We believe that local decisions are best taken by local people and their representatives so the slogan (You decide where they go) on Phone Masts is not misleading at all. Local councillors will be given greater powers to decide the siting of phone masts. I thought this was something the EDP had been campaigning for. Strange. You properly record the fact that West Suffolk MP Richard Spring has been leading the campaign against phone masts in rural areas so for us to take this up as an issue can hardly be called opportunistic.

Cromer on Steve Wright!

Steve Wright on Radio 2 has Cromer Pier as his webcam of the day. CLICK HERE!

Cromer Gridlock

I sent out a press release last night on traffic problems in Cromer. I did interviews about it on North Norfolk Radio & Radio Norfolk today...

Conservative Parliamentary Candidate Iain Dale has called for urgent action to be taken over Cromer's growing roads paralysis.

Iain says: "Gridlock affects everyone - local residents, holidaymakers, local businesses, buses and taxis alike. But it is threatening to ruin local livelihoods, especially among local taxi drivers. A normal journey of 3-4 minutes from Safeways to the Doctors Surgery on Overstrand Road is taking on average 23 minutes. One day last week it took a particular taxi driver 42 minutes to cover that journey. The last thing we want is for anyone to steer clear of Cromer because of traffic jams."

Iain describes the traffic jams in the town as "environmental madness". He says: "More that £2.5 million has been spent on the regeneration of Cromer yet the result of the changes in traffic management has been stationary cars spewing out tons of pollutants. We need to get Cromer moving again. One of the main problems is the pedestrian crossing outside Woolworths, which clearly needs to be reset."

Iain is urging anyone with ideas to solve the gridlock in Cromer to contact him. "I will be discussing this issue with my district and county council colleagues to see what can be done."

Violence, Blunkett & Cherie

Made a speech to Stalham Conservatives on our crime initiatives at lunchtime today. Violet crime has gone up 88% in North Norfolk since 1999 - a frightening figure. I've also just sent out a press release on traffic gridlock in Cromer. People are getting very frustrated indeed. I'll add the press releases to the website in the next 24 hours.

So David Blunkett is having an affair with a married woman. Isn't it odd that the BBC hasn't mentioned it on any of their news bulletins? I suspect it might have been different if it had been a Conservative politician. And why on earth isn't there a national outcry against Cherie Blair's £30,000 a time speeches in America. Just imagine the media frenzy if Denis Thatcher or Norma Major had done it. She ought to be ashamed of herself. Still, I suppose she'll be writing the speeches while she is sunning herself at Berlusconi's palace in Italy. What a national embarrassment she is becoming.

Violent Crime up 88% in North Norfolk

I've just issued this press release...

Iain Dale, Conservative Candidate for North Norfolk this weekend supported new Conservative proposals to tackle soaring levels of alcohol-related violence and yob behaviour in village and town centres across North Norfolk. Analysis of Home Office crime statistics has revealed that the number of offences of ‘violence against the person’ across North Norfolk have soared by a massive 88% per cent since 1999, up from 545 to 1022 a year – with alcohol a key cause. Iain Dale explained in a speech on Sunday to Stalham Conservatives: “I am all in favour of people having a good time out. But in Sheringham, Cromer and Fakenham, like in towns and cities across Britain today, we are creating not a café culture, but a yob culture. The right to have a drink brings with it a responsibility – the responsibility not to ruin everyone else’s evening. I have lost count of the times that hard working, law abiding couples have told me they’d rather stay in now than run the gauntlet of the binge drinkers who have taken over their town and feel intimidated by the growing levels of yob behaviour.” Under the new policies proposed by Conservatives local councils will have greater discretion over licensing hours, rather than having to follow Whitehall diktats. This will mean local residents will have a greater say. There should be stronger powers to control late licences to prevent ‘disorder hotspots’ where they are too many bars or pubs in a vicinity. Councils should have the ability to prohibit ‘all you can drink’ promotions, where young people are encourage to binge drink on free drinks after paying a one-off entrance fee. Iain Dale continued: “Binge drinking and under-age drinking has a direct link to soaring levels of violent crime – no wonder that violent attacks across North Norfolk have soared by 88% per cent since 1999. This is not just due to statistical manipulation – the face of North Norfolk has changed. It is time to reclaim our streets and make them safer for everyone at night.”