Happy New Year

Thursday: I'd like to wish everyone - whoever they are, wherever they live, and however they vote - a happy new year.

Happy Christmas

Friday: a brief post during a visit to the in-laws to say happy Xmas to everyone. It's good to get a rest before the hard work begins next year of keeping a Labour government in power.

Speaking to Acomb residents

Sunday: out and about in Acomb speaking to local residents. The weather was fine and sunny, albeit a bit brisk - perfect weather for canvassing.

Speaking to local residents in Hexham

Sunday: out speaking to local residents living on and around St. Matthews Road

Christmas tidings from St Theresa's R.C. Church

There comes a time in the life of every man, politician or not, when he has to admit that a Santa outfit fits with considerably greater comfort than it really ought to. Thus it was that I was the parents' unanimous choice to don Santa's garbs and dole out the presents at St Theresa's Roman Catholic Church, Heaton, Newcastle on Saturday afternoon. Thankfully my eldest daughter didn't cotton on, and proudly told me afterwards that 'Santa' had given her a present.

Heat is on - Hexham Courant reveals Tory candidate's plan to be part-time MP

Published on Friday, 11th December 2009

Visiting Woodhorn Mining Museum, near Ashington

Any way you look at it, there's no getting round the fact that mining has been integral to the identity of the North East for centuries, even now when virtually all the mines have long since ceased production.

As someone with 3 miners among his direct blood relatives (1 grandfather, 2 great-grandfathers), I have always felt a close personal connection to the mining industry even though, like most men of my generation, the closest I have come to a mine is a visit to a museum. A few years back we visited the Nenthead Mines Heritage Centre, close to where I was born, and this past weekend we visited the Woodhorn Museum, dedicated to the history of mining in and around Ashington.

My wife, who has an MA from Newcastle University in Museum Studies and therefore knows a thing or two about these things, was really impressed -the physical structure of the museum is itself a statement, and the history is well thought-out and provides a real insight into what life was like for tens of thousands of North East families. There's no attempt at a neutral viewpoint - it is unquestionably written from the miners' point of view.

What made a number of visitors stop and stare was watching archive TV footage, on an old TV set, of the 1983/84 miners strike. It made me wonder what would happen to the North East if the Conservatives win next year's general election - can we expect similar large-scale public protests if there are huge cutbacks in public expenditure in the North East? Chris Grayling, the Tory shadow home secretary, has already warned that the North East is too dependent on public expenditure, so it is predictable that given the chance, the Tories will target this part of the world again for major cutbacks.

Speaking out on global warming and climate change

Published in today's Journal:

Speaking to voters in Hexham

Sunday: out speaking to residents in Hexham around Priestlands Close.

Tory candidate wants to be part-time MP

Saturday: debate at Queen Elizabeth High School among the four declared Parliamentary candidates for Hexham - Labour (yours truly), LibDem, Conservative and Independent (we shall have to see whether UKIP and the BNP also field candidates).

I thoroughly enjoyed it - the first time I have met the other candidates, all of whom seem nice enough blokes (yes, an entirely male field). And after a number of evasive answers, I finally had my suspicion confirmed: if elected, the Tory candidate would be a part-time MP and do private work on the side. For me, that is an absolute no-no. We shall have to see what Hexham's voters think about that.

School governors meeting

Wednesday: a school governors meeting at Longbenton Community College, where we discussed the Fischer Family Trust data and set targets for the upcoming year.

Tory tax avoider

It must be embarrassing for David Cameron to have to admit that the Tory parliamentary candidate for Richmond, millionaire Zac Goldsmith, is a “non-dom” who does not pay UK taxes like the rest of us.

Goldsmith is regularly presented to the media as the ‘face’ of the new Conservative Party (anyone remember the slogan “Think Green, vote Blue”?). However, in order to maintain his “non-dom” status, Goldsmith must surely be spending a large amount of his time outside the UK. Unless he swims the Channel to leave these shores, presumably he uses such modern conveniences as airplanes.

So let’s get this right – a Tory multi-millionaire is lecturing us about changing our lifestyles to cut down on carbon emissions, then regularly flying into and out of the country simply so he can keep his tax bill down? I detect more than a smidgeon of hypocrisy here.

Global warming / climate change

Set out below is the text of a letter I sent The Journal yesterday about global warming and climate change:

"Readers of The Journal’s letters page could be forgiven for getting the misleading impression that there is still a serious ongoing debate in the scientific community about the fact of global warming and climate change. It’s vitally important for your readers to know that there is now overwhelming concensus in the scientific community worldwide about the following three facts.

First, global warming and climate change is real and is happening now. It’s no coincidence that at least 8 of the hottest years for global temperature have been since 1998, and at least 14 of the hottest years for global temperature have been since 1990.

Second, human activity is playing a fundamental role in driving global warming and climate change. Since the Industrial Revolution in Europe in the nineteenth century, the Western world has engaged in activities which have released huge quantities of carbon into the earth’s atmosphere. Those activities have now spread worldwide. For a long time, ignorance of the consequences of industrialisation was understandable and perhaps even forgivable. No longer.

Third, if global warming and climate change is not brought to a sharp halt, the consequences and risks to life on this planet are potentially grave.

Let me be clear – everyone has the right to express their opinions in The Journal about global warming regardless of their scientific background (or lack thereof – me included). But make no mistake– there is no serious scientific debate about the three facts cited above.

In the same way that a false debate rumbled on for decades about the health risks of smoking when the scientific evidence on that issue was unambiguous, one-sided and settled years earlier, we must not allow a false debate to be perpetuated about global warming, climate change and the urgent necessity of taking effective measures to tackle both when the scientific evidence on those issues is now equally robust."