Adrian's Fortnightly Herald Express Article Archive

Adrian's Herald Express Article for Friday 4^th April 2008

Adrian's Herald Express Article for Friday 7^th March  2008

Torbay has managed to get five venues listed in the London 2012 pre-games training camp guide.

This is a remarkable achievement, not least because Torbay is hardly endowed with the best sporting facilities in the region, and the Torbay bid was the only one not fronted and supported by the local authority. 

Uniquely Torbay’s was a private sector led offer that impressed the London Organising Committee of the Games (LOGOC) resulting in Torbay having more venues than any other area  in the region of a similar size.

I was able to celebrate with Paralympics swimming gold medallist Giles Long and LOGOG officials when the successful areas were announced in London this week.  From their perspective the most impressive part of the Torbay application was the coming together of the sporting associations and businesses.

It is the icing on the cake of all the benefits that may accrue to Torbay from the games.  While I hope we will host competitors, and it is not just national Olympic teams, or individual event athletes that might choose to train in Torbay, but the Paralympics participants as well, it is the partnership that so impressed LOGOC that could be the real legacy of the 2012 games.

It is a remarkable claim that despite the most generous central government grant in the history of Torbay - a whopping 8.6 per cent increase - the Mayor has imposed one of the highest council tax rises in the region.

Council tax rises tend to hit the pockets of the poorest hardest partly because the help that is available doesn’t get to reach them.

According to Government figures, as many as three million families living in poverty are missing out on an average payment of £700 to help pay for rocketing council tax bills.  Such a number nationally is the equivalent of 6,700 families in Torbay.

Despite the average council tax bill having almost doubled since Labour came to power, six out of ten families living in poverty are still paying the full rate of council tax by not claiming Council Tax Benefit (CTB).

This is one of the reasons why the council tax should be scrapped and replaced with a charge based on a person’s ability to pay, thus avoiding the need for complex means-tested benefits like CTB.

Last year average council tax rose 4.3 per cent, which was above both inflation at 2.1 per cent and earnings at 3.8 per cent.  This year the Mayor has again set a budget at double the rate of inflation, despite this year receiving an increase in income at over four times that rate. 

This increase in external grant has seen Torbay move from getting £57 per head below, to receiving £15 above, the average unitary authority. 

With a population of around 135,000 that’s a significant increase in income.  It should be enough, some argue, to give everyone in Torbay a council tax rebate.  However, that is not going to happen, the budget has been set and the council tax we are gong to have to pay has been calculated.

If this year’s bill is going to cause you hardship you should contact your local authority.  In Torbay the Council's Benefit Section is located in the Town Hall, Torquay, but the Connections offices in Paignton and Brixham are also able to offer benefits advice and assistance. 

If your income is low, there is a strong chance you may be entitled to some help, and I would strongly urge you make contact and claim what is your right.  

It was a long time coming, just like some of their trains, but the Government has now issued a remedial notice against First Great Western for breaching its franchise agreement.

First Great Western services have been a disgrace not only in recent months, but since privatisation, and the Government is right to take action.

The company can in fact think itself fortunate that it has not had its franchise removed entirely, particularly as it has now admitted to misreporting figures.

The remedial plan which has been agreed with the Government represents a final warning for the company and any breach of this will qualify as a default and the contract will be terminated.

I welcome the passenger benefits included in this package, including the 500,000 extra cheap off-peak tickets, and the provision of better passenger information.

But the company must now deliver on these promised improvements. They have a last chance to get it right.

To deny Parliament the chance to debate and vote on our proposal to allow the public to have a real say on Britain’s membership of the European Union is an outrage.

To allow a vote on a restrictive Treaty referendum but deny one on the real issue of our membership of the EU is absurd.

It is like allowing the British public to choose their mode of travel without asking whether they actually want to continue on the journey at all.

Both Labour and the Conservatives have colluded to keep this entire debate focused away from the fundamental issue of whether we want to be in or out of Europe.

It really is time for the Westminster establishment to stop being so cowardly over Europe and have an open debate with the country.

And perhaps it is also time to reform how decisions are taken over what elected representatives can vote on to end the suspicion that there is a cosy two largest party stitch-up that keeps difficult decisions off the agenda that might expose their internal divisions.

Adrian's Herald Express Article for Friday 22^nd February 2008

I'm hoping lots of constituents will be travelling to London on 27 February for the ‘I Want a Referendum campaign’ mass lobby of Parliament.

I’ve told the organisers to let me know in advance how many are coming from Torbay so that I can arrange to meet them and offer some tea and refreshment in the House of Commons where we can discuss the important matter of how to resolve concerns about our membership of the European Union.

I’m in favour of the UK holding a referendum on the EU and allowing the people to decide our future rather than leaving it up to politicians.  That was my position at the last election, and it remains my position today.

My consistency was endorsed by those who took part in a poll on my website where I asked if we should have a vote on our membership of the EU, the Treaty of Lisbon, or neither.  The results were:  EU membership 55.6%, Treaty 29.6%, Neither 14.8%.

The constitution that was proposed before the last election would have superseded all previous EU treaties.  A referendum in those circumstances would have tested whether we wished to remain a member of the EU because its dismissal would have been a rejection of the rule book under which the EU operates.  A no vote would have been a vote to leave the EU. 

The Lisbon Treaty does not supersede all previous treaties, but amends them.  The fundamental rules remain in place.  A no vote would simply be an instruction to our Government to renegotiate the treaty without knowing which bits they needed to raise with the 26 other Member States of the EU.

There are parts of the treaty I disagree with, such as the inclusion of sport within the competence of the EU, and parts that I believe are very much in our best interests, such as the opt-out clauses.  In a Parliamentary democracy we debate the detail of the treaty clause by clause and seek to inform Government about those parts, if any, we wish them to renegotiate on our behalf. 

We use referenda to decide principles with a simple yes or no answer, not details that can be misinterpreted by all sides of the debate.

This is common sense for if we had a referendum on the treaty and the public voted yes, how could we amend any parts of it that might be in our nation's interest to change.  If on the other hand we voted no, which bits of the treaty would we be asking the Government to renegotiate?   If the answer to that is all of it, then clearly the only honest referendum would be one that tested our membership of the European Union - a simple yes or no on whether we should retain our membership.

We are now at a point in our relationship with the EU where no one under the age of 50 in our country has had their say in such a poll.  I think they should and I know a majority of my constituents agree.

A Freedom of Information request has led to the publication of the Government’s first draft of the weapons dossier that ‘spun’ the case for an invasion of Iraq. 

Perhaps now we can have a full enquiry into the events that led up to this most catastrophic foreign policy decision since Suez.   

The Government cannot continue to deny the major role that spin doctors played in creating this dossier.  A press official should never have been drafting a document that ended up being used as the justification for going to war.

In the absence of a clear distinction between those that offer impartial intelligence advice and the Government’s spin machine, it could happen again.  That is why we need a full inquiry, and thanks to this weeks revelations the Government’s case for resisting one is now weaker than ever.

The Competition Commission has reported that there is not enough competition between different supermarket chains.

This unelected body used to be the monopolies and mergers commission about which wags asked why there was only one?

Anyway, this report is completely supermarket-centric. All it does is worry about competition between different supermarkets completely missing the issues that most concern people.

 Instead, the Competition Commission should focus on ensuring fair practice between supermarkets, farmers and smaller shops.  That requires the creation of a strong supermarket regulator to guarantee fair trade and fair prices for farmers, ensuring that these big companies can’t use their power to exploit small producers.

It would also help if our planning and tax laws were reformed to create a more level playing field between in town traders and out of town developments. 

This could place the usually family owned small businesses in our towns onto a fair competitive footing with the corporations operating out of town.

Official figures published last week show a record number of people asked to go bankrupt in 2007.   These statistics are clear evidence that more and more people are finding it impossible to keep up with repayments on their growing debts.

For many people it seems that voluntarily filing for bankruptcy is the only way to shed debts they simply cannot pay.

As the credit crunch further impacts on the cost of borrowing, the Chancellor needs to

wake up to the very real possibility of mass bankruptcy and repossession across the country.

While we are nowhere near the levels of debt to income we saw a decade ago, the memory of repossessions and broken families is still fresh in my memory.

I hope we can persuade the Government to act now to find ways to help people in severe financial difficulties so that an economic slowdown doesn’t turn into a

crash.  

Adrian's Herald Express Article for Friday 8th February 2008

My next door neighbours have been in the national news over the past couple of weeks.  Derek Conway MP occupies the office next to mine at Westminster, well occupied as it is now empty while he serves his suspension for being unable to show what work his son had done for him.

Meanwhile my constituency next door neighbour Anthony Steen has fielded similar questions for an arrangement with one of his children.

What these and all the other cases demonstrate, whether they are within the rules, or outside them, is that the time has come for MPs of all parties to meet the high standards of transparency that people expect of them.

Firstly, we should accept, immediately and without question, the proposal made by the Senior Salaries Review Body that MPs expenses should be subject to spot checks by an independent auditor.

Secondly, all MPs, not just front benchers as Mr Cameron proposes, should publish details of the people who work in their offices just as I have done every year since I was first elected.

Thirdly, the limit for expenses claims without a receipt should be reduced from £250 to £50.

And MPs should not be allowed to make a capital gain at the taxpayers’ expense by using their accommodation allowance to meet the cost of an interest only mortgage.  The exposure of the husband and wife MPs, Nicholas and Ann Winterton on this point is only the tip of the iceberg.  They have acted within the rules, but to anyone viewing affairs from the outside the rules stink and must be changed.

Unless all parties take action the public perception of politicians will continue to worsen. It is time for Westminster to accept that it needs to move out of the 19th Century and into the 21st.

The big issue at the end of the day is whether someone whose salary is wholly or partly met by the taxpayer is actually performing the tasks for which money has been claimed.

The tragedy, as always, is that everyone is judged by the person with the poorest rather than the highest standards.  And that corrodes confidence in our democratic system that as far as corruption is concerned, is among the best, not the worst, in the world.

We seem to have won the battle to prevent the closure of the Northcott Theatre, I’m confident we shall win the fight to stop the latest planned cuts to our fire services in Torbay, but I fear we may have lost Dartington College of Arts to Cornwall.

Considering the amount of taxpayers money that will be used to facilitate the move of this college to Falmouth, over £15 million, one has to ask why we continue to put up with unelected bodies that we cannot hold to account for their actions.

As for the Vice-Principal’s rather nasty public attack last week on the very decent, caring and hard-working Mayor of Totnes, Cllr David Horsburgh , a professional educator himself, one wonders how the governors of the college have for so long  tolerated someone with such a low opinion of South Devon and the people in it.  

It is a frightening consequence of globalisation that thousands of unaccompanied children claim asylum every year in the UK.  

Many of them are the victims of trafficking, yet our system still fails to deal with them humanely.

Shockingly, 10 trafficked children disappear from local authority care every month. This shows we are failing in our duty of care, since many disappear back into the hands of their traffickers.

Local authorities need more specialist help and support. The idea that children should be dispersed to the regions is good in theory.  However, it is also important that they have access to the specialist support, especially legal advice, which is mainly available in London and the South East.”

There are no national figures collated to show how many asylum children might be resident in homes in South Devon, and until one goes missing their cases rarely come to light.

With so many homes in our area that take in children placed by social services departments from London and elsewhere, the chances are high that some will be asylum seekers fleeing all kinds of horrors no child should ever have to face.  

I hope we are able to offer them the love and sanctuary their young lives have so far failed to enjoy.

The Kingskerswell by-pass, or the road to prosperity as I call it, has a price tag of £130 million.  However, if construction costs rise to £150 million, as the Kingskerswell Alliance have calculated on the back of an envelope, it will still be cheaper than their alternative suggestions.

The costs of the project are mostly going to be met by central government with the two local authorities – Devon and Torbay – contributing five per cent each.

So if the people of Kingskerswell, and the rest of Devon, want to spend more than £7.5 million on alternative traffic measures it will have to go on their council tax bill.

And you could spend ten times that amount on flyovers, new junctions, improvements to the ‘rat run’ routes, new rail infrastructure and prioritised flows, and still not stem the projected increase in traffic over the next 25 years.  

Oh, and because all of these measures would take place in Devon, Torbay wouldn’t have to contribute a penny, the full costs would fall on the taxpayers of Kingskerswell and the rest of Devon.

So if the good folk of Devon want their council tax to rise even further than is necessary then they should join the Kingskerswell Alliance and their campaign to by-pass prosperity.  

Adrian’s Herald Express Article for Friday 25th January 2008

The Department for Work and Pensions has announced that it intends to close up to 19 Jobcentre Plus Offices across the South West. 

This is another pointless reorganisation that won’t produce a single new job and in all probability won’t save the taxpayer a penny.  It will simply detract from the difficult work job centre plus does in very challenging labour market conditions.

These closures are completely at odds with the Government’s pledge to help vulnerable people back into work. Clearly, many people will be unable to afford to travel miles to their nearest Jobcentre.

We already know this from the closure of Paignton Job Centre and the false promises that transport costs would be met for people who needed to travel from Paignton to Castle Circus in order to fulfil their side of the job seekers contract.

Having in the dim and distant past spent time on the dole in Torbay - during the Thatcher recession in the early 80s - I know exactly what the system is like and successive Government’s rebrandings from employment exchange to job centre to Jobcentre Plus, fools no one on either side of the counter.

Creating sustainable local economies offering employment across a range of industries ought to be every Government’s primary economic target in order to maintain and strengthen strong communities that have control over their own destinies..

Proper training, support and mentoring is what the job seeker needs together with a relaxation of the tight rules and regulations that dictate the hours and type of work people can do before their welfare assistance tapers away, or they suffer financial penalty.  Eradicating this benefit trap would do more to help people into work locally than the present threat of taking their benefits away.

In short the closure threat is basically another centralising measure announced with little or no consultation with the communities affected

The Government should leave local Jobcentre Plus offices in place where with proper reforms they could play a more successful role in getting people off benefits and back into work.

Now cue a tax-payer funded job centre manager writing to the paper defending the Labour Government’s policy and explaining why fewer job centres means a pay rise for managers, whoops sorry, means better services for job seekers.

We all know that since privatisation our water bills have been the highest in the country.  It has been less remarked upon that other utility charges, notably electricity and gas, have also been more expensive in the far south west since privatisation.  This is due to the full economic costs of distribution falling on the customers furthest from the points of production.

Over the years this has led to a growing gap between prices and incomes leading to the South West coming bottom of the list for affordability and top of the fuel poverty table.

Last week the energy company regulator, Ofgem, called for the extra profits energy companies will make because of the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to be spent on reducing fuel poverty, a move that could have a major beneficial impact on low income households in Devon and Cornwall.

Energy companies can make windfall profits because the price of electricity rises to reflect the price of permits to emit carbon dioxide in the European Union's emissions trading scheme.  However, the energy generators are given most of those permits for free.

Ofgem estimates that the cost of permits accounts for about 17 per cent of the wholesale price of electricity.  They have also calculated that over phase two of the scheme, from 2008-12, the gains to generators are set to be £9bn.  The proposal to feed some of this back to those who can least afford to pay their energy bills makes economic sense and should be heeded by the Government.

In the UK twenty five thousand people die each winter from the cold, something Ofgen have taken into consideration when making their recommendations and another reason why the Government should act upon them.

As if that were not enough reason, British Gas announced last week that they intend to increase prices by 15 per cent increasing the pressure on low income households and pushing them further into fuel poverty.

There really isn’t much time to lose before these increases in energy bills will start to hit local households hard.

I carry an organ donor card having chosen to opt into the system of organ donation.  It is my body and my choice.

It is estimated that around a thousand lives a year could be saved by Government proposals for the removal of organs from patients without their consent.

Unless people opt out of the donor register or family members object, hospitals could be allowed to take their organs.

The potential for saving lives through a system of presumed consent has to be weighed against the principle of individual rights to decide whether to opt in to the donor system.

The experiences of other countries with such a system present a very powerful case for introducing it here. However, it is vital that we ensure that the ability to opt out is a genuine one, and my fear is that that cannot be guaranteed. 

The organs that can be procured include: the heart, intestines, kidneys, lungs, liver, and pancreas. These are procured from a brain dead donor or a donor where the family has given consent for donation after cardiac death, known as DCD.  This is where the donor has not progressed to brain dead

On balance I think it is the job of the State to promote organ donation, not to take the lead over peoples’ choices and presume consent where a mistake could never be rectified

Adrian’s Herald Express Article for Friday 28th December 2007

An invite to a champagne reception to celebrate the reopening of the Northcott Theatre after a £2.1 million revamp dropped through my letter box the other day.  The Northcott recently received a £100,000 contribution from the Arts Council towards its refurbishment that will maintain its position as the county’s top venue for theatre production.

Then I learnt that the Arts Council was withdrawing its £547,000 annual grant to the Theatre which will force it to close its doors for good.  

I don’t know if it is actually possible to assess the value of culture to people.  Many have tried and they often end up looking at the contribution of cultural activities to the economy.  Although these are significant where the Northcott is concerned, this misses the point that culture is of itself intrinsically valuable to people’s sense of well-being that cannot be quantified in pounds and pence.

The value of the Northcott Theatre to the cultural life of the county is way beyond the amount of economic activity it generates within the Devon economy.

Even if you have never sat in its auditorium the Northcott’s presence and activity as one the nation’s leading cultural performance venues will have impacted on your life and impression of the part of the world we live in.  It will equally have helped shape other peoples’ views of Devon and what it has to offer the prospective incomer, investor, or visitor.

Alongside the potential loss of Dartington College of Arts from the county we are in danger of becoming a cultural desert.  In my view this is largely down to the fact that the organizations taking the decisions on funding in these instances are unelected quangos that remain unanswerable to the people their decisions affect.  

Until we can bring the Regional Development Agency and the Arts Council alongside the 100 or so other bodies that spend taxpayers money and take decision that impact on our area under some form of democratic control, we will never control our own destiny either economically or culturally.

In the meantime we have to campaign for the London based Arts Council to change its mind.

It has been revealed that nearly £10 billion was lost by British gamblers this year.  This represents a rise of 50 per cent in nine years and the biggest jump since the 1960s.

The losses began to increase at the turn of the century with the emergence of on-line gambling and they rose further in 2001 when the then chancellor Gordon Brown abolishing betting duty.  But the biggest contributor to gambling losses has been the new type of slot machine offering video roulette in betting shops.  

These machines were made legal by the 2005 Gambling Act and they will dominate the new casinos the Government will consider approving in areas that request them.

According to the Gambling Commission, the body set up to regulate the gambling industry, one in nine who played these machines were classified as addictive or problem gamblers.

Because gambling is often used to escape from the reality of everyday life the most vulnerable are often those who can least afford to lose.  The addict spends a lot of time preoccupied with hiding their addiction from friends and family.

Unlike drug addiction or alcoholism there are no physical symptoms and according to some the impact on relationships is even more corrosive and damaging than for other forms of addiction.

The British Medical Association is very concerned at what they describe as an explosion in gambling addiction and point out how it is a low priority for the NHS, behind drugs and alcohol.

The costs of gambling addiction are difficult to quantify but they impact on everyone and place major demands on the council tax payer across a range of services with  housing, education and social services all having to come to the rescue of shattered lives.

The impact of these machines on the lives of families is only just beginning to be felt, and it extends beyond those who are pumping money into the slots.  

As previously mentioned in this column, traditional seaside arcade owners are feeling the impact and where new casinos are planned face even greater threats to their existence.  

Unlike the betting shops, or the new casinos, our traditional seaside arcades are often family owned local businesses with low stake machines whose appeal is fun and entertainment rather than the chance to get rich quick.  

Being mostly locally owned they spend their profits in the town and our economy can ill afford to lose them to organisations that have little commitment beyond what they can take away from the area.

The Government accepted that the 2005 Act would increase the numbers of people with a gambling addiction and so they set up Gamcare, an independent organisation.  They offer a 7 day a week helpline from 8am to midnight on 0845 6000133 for anyone experiencing problems as a result of gambling.

New Year, new leader, and hopefully this one will last a bit longer than the last.  We need to learn that leaders are not just for Christmas although I shed few tears when the previous one vacated the position.  

Our new man is a winner of championships as both a player and a coach, and Fabio Capello will now step up to lead a national team and help guide England to qualify for the 2010 World Cup!

A belated happy Christmas to all readers and may I wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.

www.adriansanders.org

Adrian’s Herald Express Article for Friday 14th December 2007

You don’t need a degree in economics to understand that when there is a shortage of cash circulating in a local economy shops close.

The landlords, often financial institutions, can sit out short-term recessions without adjusting their rents to suit local market conditions.  After a while this drives out the locally owned small businesses and retail units close or are let short-term to charity shops.  Then the national chains go down market – Somerfield being replaced by Wilkinson’s in the Haldon Centre is the most recent local example, and all the while there is nothing the local authority can do about it. 

Well there is something.  The elected Mayor has the power to grant discretionary support to businesses that apply for it, but even allowing for this year’s record breaking 8.6 per cent grant increase, he might not be willing to help many if his priorities lie elsewhere.

This is always a challenge for a small authority in an area located away from the main centres of economic activity, and why looking after locally owned businesses should be priority number one for all who care about generating local prosperity. 

It’s why back in the mid 1980s a group of people foresaw the need for a different vision for the bay than accept all external investment as if were automatically good.

Older readers may remember the controversy that surrounded the redevelopment of Fleet Street and the demolition of Swan Street in 1986.    

The Save Torquay Old Town (STOT) campaigners wanted to protect the Victorian façade of Fleet Street and turn the lanes that ran behind into a version of Brighton’s popular specialist shopping area.

The beauty of the STOT scheme was that it was conceived locally, gained the attraction of one of the region’s leading architects, would have supported largely locally owned small businesses, and would have offered something other than a scaled down version of the shopping experience available in Plymouth and Exeter.

Sadly the Council could not be persuaded that with time and support STOT could have come up with a financial package at least as good as that being dangled by the property developers who went on to create Fleet Walk. 

A quarter of century later the Lanes in Brighton are booming.  Old streets full of character and jam packed with mostly locally owned shops, cafes and restaurants that despite high car park charges attract in the foot-fall from across Sussex and beyond.

The circumstances that surrounded the decision to demolish Fleet Street and the lanes have many parallels today.  A cash strapped local authority with a crumbling asset base, a local economy dependent on a once dominant industry that earns less money for the area than in the past, and an over confidence in external investors to turn things around for the benefit of local people.   

My point is not to reopen a twenty five year old battle I and others lost, but to wake up today’s council to show a little more confidence in locally driven efforts to improve our area, whether it is a small community group like the Friends of the Monastery trying to protect a community asset, or local traders who want to have a greater say in how their town centre is run.

What has been lacking for longer that a quarter of a century has been an automatic preference in favour of locally driven ideas for regeneration rather than schemes that rely on city institutions that have no allegiance to our local economy other than what they can cream off it. 

As Presidential Clinton said when asked what the issue was? “It’s the economy stupid”.  Get that right and you put more money in everyone’s’ pocket.  Then, and perhaps only then, can you start to think about charging local people for parking their cars on the street and the sea front.

In the meantime this year’s grant settlement gives the Mayor a breathing space after years of mostly poor settlements that have left their mark on our asset base.  Using the energy and skills of local people and businesses who want to contribute to Torbay’s success must be preferable to selling off our silver to outside shareholders looking for a quick profit.

Since the 1968 Gambling Act that licensed off course bookmaking and tightly regulated casinos, the UK has enjoyed one of the lowest rates of problem gambling in the world.  But this has now come under threat, as traditional softer gaming venues are finding it impossible to compete for customers as a result of the new Gambling Act.

Since the full implementation of this Act on 1 September 2007 there has been a significant distortion in the market for adult gaming caused by the way in which the Act has changed the relative attractiveness of the machines that can be offered at different types of venue. 

This is having a devastating impact on the economic viability of seaside arcades.    Traditional seaside arcades are losing out to the nationally owned betting chains as punters swap fun small stake machines for serious slot machine games now found in every book-makers.

Unless action is taken to remedy this, the legislation could have the consequence of increasing problem gambling as well as destroying long standing local businesses.

I have raised this in correspondence with the relevant Minister and have personally spoken to him to warn of the impact this Act is having on family owned businesses in Torbay even before they face the threat of a second casino with its lax rules on membership, type and number of slot machines

Adrian’s Herald Express Article for Friday 30th November 2007

A Parliamentary answer this week revealed that there has been a dramatic increase in the smuggling of guns and drugs at a time when the number of Customs officers involved in anti-smuggling work in the South West dropped from 154 in 2003 to 120 this year.

Despite warnings to the Government, the cutbacks in Customs cover across the West Country may have had an impact on these figures.

I was among those who warned four years ago that changes to the customs operations in our part of the world could have a detrimental impact on border security.  The changes transferred 100 Customs officers in the South West to mobile teams covering ports and airports in the South East,

The aim was to meet the growing challenge of illegal activity where it was increasing the fastest.  The problem was that instead of increasing resources to meet this challenge the Government swapped resources around.

Now it transpires that there has been no assessment of whether this policy, called the Law Enforcement Business Plan, has worked.  The Minister, Angela Eagle MP, admitted: “No assessment has been made of the impact of the plan on seizures of controlled drugs or illegal firearms."

The cynic in me would conclude that the reason the Government hasn’t assessed this is because they know the answer won’t be to their liking. 

The union which represents Customs officers is demanding additional Customs officers in Devon and Cornwall.  I am happy to add my voice to their calls.

 There has been a fair amount of news coverage about MPs and sleaze over the past few weeks.  Whenever an allegation is made, whether it is founded in fact or not, all politicians pay a price.

This latest instance is very serious and concerns donations of more than £650,000 to the Labour Party that are going to have to be handed back because they had not been “lawfully declared”.

I have often remarked that MPs are judged by the worst performing among their number, rather than the best, so we all stand to suffer a public backlash as a consequence of mistakes made, in this instance, by Labour party officials.

However, it is worth keeping a sense of proportion about this without in anyway condoning the wrong doing.  Before the rules that have just been broken were introduced, dishonest and corrupt practices could have been taking place every day of the week.  It’s just until we introduced these rules, we never got to know about them.

The choice is whether we want to know about these things or whether we would rather it was all kept under the carpet as it used to be.  My vote is for openness and transparency every time.

I don’t know who should be England’s next manager, although I was very certain that Steve McClaren should not have been the last.  I never understood Mr McClaren’s appointment other than perhaps the Football Association felt pressurised into appointing someone who was English following the Sven Goran Erikkson era.

The danger now is that England will suffer from a lack of competitive practice while other nations take one another on at the European Championship next year.

My answer would be to bring back the home internationals, the annual soccer competition between Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England.  As none of the home nations have qualified for the European Football Championship next year why not hold our own little challenge and give all our squads a run out and an opportunity to improve for the next competition.

Internationally respected journalist, Seymour Hersh, writing in the New Yorker last month, reported on the US's plan for Iran: 

He wrote about a series of public statements in recent months by President Bush and members of his Administration whom he claimed are redefined the war in Iraq, to an increasing degree, as a strategic battle between the United States and Iran.

The President’s position appears to be that if many of America’s problems in Iraq are the responsibility of Tehran, then the solution to them is to confront the Iranians, and this idea has taken firm hold in the Administration.

Meanwhile, in a Times report published online at the end of last month, and largely unnoticed by the rest of the world, it is claimed that British Special Forces have crossed into Iran several times in recent months as part of a secret border war against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Al-Quds special forces.

The report claims that defence sources have confirmed there have been at least half a dozen intense fire fights between the SAS and arms smugglers, a mixture of Iranians and Shi’ite militiamen.

The unreported fighting straddles the border between Iran and Iraq and has also involved the Iranian military firing mortars into Iraq.

I am not, and never have been, a conspiracy theorist, but I am really concerned at the similarities between these events and those that led up to the invasion of Iraq.

My theory is that the recent criticism of the Government by senior military figures highlighting the very real lack of equipment, proper facilities and after care for British troops was a coded warning to the Prime Minister that we can just about manage to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, but don’t think about adding Iran to that commitment.