View from Westminster, 21st December

A Christmas Fairytale

Are you sitting comfortably? Good, then I'll begin. There was once a jealous Chancellor who wanted to be King. For ten years he toiled to no avail but then one day the King could no longer be bothered and went away and the Chancellor's dreams came true and he was crowned King. But there were those who doubted his authority first from the labourers and then the public school kids. And from a green bench in a forest clearing, Anne McIntosh, who is also know as the Tory MP for the Vale of York, challenged a young Princess standing guard for the King (whilst he was away saving the planet) known as Harriett, the Leader of the House, and to her Anne asked, "Does the Leader of the House have a favourite fairy tale? Could it be the Emperor's new clothes? Is she the little robber girl, or is she really the Princess?" And the people asked, 'what kind of question is this?'. Unusually Harriett was prepared: she said, "We could all learn a lesson from fairy tales which we need to avoid" - waving at the two boys from Eton - "the brothers Grimm!" The labourers laughed so much that the Speaker had to intervene, pleading that good humour is one thing, disorder another. This brings me to the end of this rather odd exchange in the Commons on Wednesday when Harriett Harman was standing in for the Prime Minister and was questioned by Anne McIntosh!

Climate Change

With crisp clear skies and an icy bite to the air, it may be all too easy to say 'bah humbug' to the climate change protesters. The weather may feel more traditional, more reminiscent of when I was a child and less likely to be getting warmer but these are illusions. It is not how hot one summer is or how cold a winter, but the average of many summers and many winters across the planet and they all point to one thing, a small change in the average temperature. But in small changes crops die and animals migrate, deserts are formed and desert islands disappear beneath the waves.

A small number of scientists believe this is a natural process, the majority that that the changes are man made. I am not a scientist, I am a politician so I cannot say categorically who is right or who is wrong. I have a view, but in these circumstances my view (it is man made) does not matter for facing such contradictory views, we have to take a precautionary position. And even if we are wrong, good will come from it because whether or not burning oil is warming the planet, there is only so much of it and it is a precious source we need to use wisely.

Copenhagen

Across the North Sea in wintery Denmark, the world's leaders met to agree how we could avoid global warming. What was hoped for from the conference failed to materialise. Different leaders viewed the outcome in their own way, the ever optimistic Obama saw it as a 'breakthrough', dour Brown 'as a first step' forward and commentators like Andrew Marr called it a failure. All three are right and wrong depending upon your point of view. Personally I am disappointed but still hopeful. Brown led the charge in the West for payments to the Third World and that now is promised. We have set a ceiling of a 2% rise, the least we could do. 1.5% would have been better. We have moved away from 'verification' of outcome in individual states to 'transparency' that may have helped bring nations like China on board. But it all just remains an aspiration and I am very sceptical about the world leaders making the necessary changes on a 'voluntary' basis. In Mexico next year this must be addressed.

Casework

The last couple of weeks have been very busy with casework and I have seen more people in the last couple of months than I did in the same period last year. There are always some cases that cannot be sorted but the resolution of many does make the work fulfilling for my staff and myself. In the last couple of weeks we have helped Mr WC and his family get re-housed before Christmas. A number of my constituents have Parkinsons Disease and we have been pressing for specialist nurses; I am told they are now to be provided by NHS Devon.

Tax Credits are good in principle but fraught with problems. Largely I spend time trying to help sort out overpayments but this week we had a different success story: a payment of £2766 to Mr JS from the Tax Office. And one final happy note is the decision of Devon County Council to mark out a disabled parking bay for a constituent after a letter from my office.

There are many other success stories. I cannot promise to resolve every issue but I will always try. If you need help please call my office or attend one of my surgeries detailed below. My office is closed between Christmas and New Year but messages will be cleared from the office answering machine.