My slogan - 'Better the Devil you know?'

Recent revelations and reports of resignations will have embarrassed the top brass of the South East Cambridgeshire Conservative Association. The embarrassment is deserved. In any other organisation the top brass would have resigned en masse. It isn't too late, even now. 

My interest in the matter is that I want an able and broadly representative person to represent me and this great constituency in the House of Commons. Moreover, I want an MP who is sympathetic to the views of most people in both town and country who abhor, as I do, the so-called 'sports' of fox hunting, hare coursing, etc.

As to the first point, I was told by a person who was present at the 'open primary' selection meeting that the selected candidate would be 'in the Cabinet in no time at all.' I responded to this person by saying, 'Yes, but, will she relate to South East Cambridgeshire?' To my astonishment, the person said, 'Probably not.'

As to the second point, I wrote (by recorded delivery on the 7th of December last) asking the then selected candidate to let me know how she intended to vote should a possible repeal of the Hunting Act 2004 (which banned fox hunting, hare coursing, etc.) come before the Commons. The reply, in e-mail form, took until the 6th of January to reach me. It disappointed in that I saw it as being typically London-lawyerly. It said that she 'would canvass opinion' and that she 'at that stage [a possible repeal] would very much look forward to hearing your [my] views in detail.' I replied immediately indicating disappointment and stating that a possible repeal had been the subject of lively and widespread debate and discussion throughout the country ever since the Act's passing. I thought that she should have an opinion one way or another and I was pressing her as hard as I dared at that stage. I pointed out that I had stood (as an independent) against the then Mr James Paice at the 2010 election. I said that I had lost big time but that I had made a point, a point which I was prepared to make again. I have received nothing more from the candidate.

I make now some more comments:

The idea of having an 'open primary' was and is commendable. A successful one was held at Totnes in Devon. No fewer than 16,947 people are said to have taken part. I understand that something over 100 people did so in South East Cambridgeshire. That was pretty pathetic: the thing ought to have been advertised more widely.

As a mistake in counting the ballot papers at the 'open primary' appears to have been made, it would have been sensible and right to have re-run the whole process. It isn't too late, even now.

I spoke to Mr Peter Cresswell, the Association chairman, regarding the lack of a prompt response from the candidate to my letter of the 7th of December. At that time, which was before the now infamous 'second meeting,' Mr Cresswell took great pains to tell me about his own integrity. I didn't doubt it then, but I do now.

I have seen some of the letter from Mr Brian Ashton, the Association president, supposedly sent to Association members before the infamous 'second meeting.' Mr Ashton referred to 'unsubstantiatable suggestions.' I had not come across the first word before and neither has my spellchecker. Mr Ashton often uses long words where short ones would be better.

I am amazed that the now-knighted Sir James Paice played any part in the now infamous 'second meeting.' It is not the job of a retiring MP to promote a particular successor. Sir James is soon to be part of the past: he ought to have known his place.

Heidi Allen has been the most obvious loser in this messed-up process. Other losers have been the eminently electable and suitable local people who were peremptorily passed over at an early stage. It appears that Conservative Central Office had an agenda - an agenda that was pursued with typical Central Office ruthlessness.

I said that I was prepared to make a point again. If I make that point again it will be as an independent again. I am reasonably well-known throughout South East Cambridgeshire but I don't suppose that I am liked by everybody.

My election slogan is therefore likely to be, 'Better the Devil you know.'

Our new home at Soham is now named Sunnymead: it seems appropriate to us

Our new home at Soham is now named Sunnymead.

That name has strong resonances for Sue and for me.

It was the name of the Day family’s seaside bungalow at Hunstanton which, dramatically, was washed away in the awful East Coast floods of January, 1953.

More importantly, it was the name of Sue’s family home at Newmarket when I commenced courting her in 1961.

She married me from there in 1962.

Sad to relate, Sunnymead at Newmarket no longer exists.

We decided recently to revive the name: it seems appropriate to us.

We miss Chapel Farm enormously but we love Sunnymead and the town of Soham and are very happy with the outcome of our move.
 

'Little Chapel in The Fen' - 'Full of love' (it was said)

Yesterday there was held the 127th annual Harvest Service at 'The Little Chapel in The Fen,' which is at the end of our Fen garden at River Bank, near Upware.

We had a 'full house' again and, without exception, all said that they had enjoyed themselves. One lady went so far (and she had come so far, too) as to say that she wouldn't miss the Service for anything because she always feels that the Chapel is 'full of love.' It was certainly full of people and I guess that our lady friend had noticed that we all love the Fens, that we all love the farming of the Fens, that we all love getting together, and that we all love giving thanks for a bountiful harvest, the bounty of which may be seen in my first picture, that of the Chapel and the display of produce which was given eventually to benefit the Burwell Day Centre (and delivered today).

The service was conducted by Mrs Helen Randall, of Upware, and she impressed with her very appropriate words and with her sincerity. Helen presently heads up 'Care Network Cambridgeshire,' a splendid voluntary organisation, and the offering (£225.00) was given for its support. Here is a link to it -

http://www.cambridgeshire.net/organisation/care-network-cambridgeshire/13078.aspx

Helen came with her husband, Steve, and both appear in the not-very-good picture below. The excuse of the photographer is that the light wasn't right. The sun was hot after the service, too.

Our regular organist is Mrs Shirley Randall, of Waterbeach, but Shirley has just had a hip replacement and wasn't able to perform. A very welcome stand-in (or sit-in) was Mr Brian Mizon, of Cambridge. Here is Brian preparing to tune up. He played beautifully.                                                                            

The old-fashioned hymns (from the Sankey & Moody books) were:

'Come, ye thankful people, come'

'We plough the fields and scatter'

'Bringing in the sheaves'

'Tell me the old, old story'

'Jesus bids us shine'

'When the roll is called up yonder'

The congregation sang with great gusto. The whole Service was recorded by Mr John Drewry, of Little Thetford. CDs or tapes are available on application.

A retiring collection was taken for the Chapel's upkeep. 'The Little Chapel in The Fen' has had a good year in that the interior has been re-decorated. All the work was organised by Mr Kim Sheldrick, of Swaffham Prior, and most of it was done by Mr Paul Brown, of Fordham. We are very grateful to both of them.

We need now to renovate the windows and it will be a fiddly and expensive job. No less than £301.00 appeared in the collection bucket towards this next project. The Trustees are very grateful for this superb start.

My last picture is of the car park. That and our yard were full as never before.

Peter Brookes (of The Times) on 'Travellers' - Superb!

Great news: Boundary Commission says Newmarket is to be in a new (old) Cambridgeshire constituency

Great news has arrived on my screen today, courtesy of the BBC.

Following the government's decision to reduce the number of MPs and parliamentary seats (from 650 to 600) in the House of Commons, the Boundary Commission has published its proposals for re-distributing seats to take account of the need now to have MPs representing more constituents on average than heretofore.

The result appears to be a much bigger upheaval than some expected. In my area (presently South East Cambridgeshire), the BBC says as follows:

"It is proposed that Newmarket merges into an Ely constituency, together with the whole of the district of East Cambridgeshire, which almost entirely encircles the town. The commission said the decision was reached because "Newmarket has strong communication links with Ely and the rest of the proposed constituency.""

Provided the Beeb has it right, I regard this as great news, for it is a fact that Newmarket (presently partly in Suffolk) is surrounded by Cambridgeshire. The parts of Cambridgeshire that surround Newmarket are in East Cambridgeshire District Council's area. It all makes sense and, believe it or not, there was an old 'Newmarket Division' of Cambridgeshire. MPs elected for the division were Sir George Newnes, Bart., who won first in 1885; Colonel Harry McCalmont, who won first in 1895; Sir Charles Rose, who won a bye-election in 1903; Mr George Henry Verrall, who won in January, 1910; Sir Charles Rose, who won again in December, 1910; and Mr John Denison-Pender (later Lord Pender), who won a bye-election in 1913. The seat was done away with in 1918.

Mr Verrall, who lived at Sussex Lodge, Fordham Road, Newmarket, was the last Newmarket MP to live in Newmarket. He appears to have been most diligent in his politicking and I have a cutting, dated the 16th of February, 1907, from the Newmarket Journal, describing one of his visits to my home village:

"Swaffham Prior.

Conservative Dinner. - The annual dinner of the Conservative Club was held at the Cock Hotel on February 6th, when between 60 and 70 members and guests were present. The President, Mr H.A. Kent, occupied the chair, and was supported by the Rev. L. Fisher, Mr Leonard Ambrose, and Mr C. Woollard. After the loyal toasts, letters from the following gentlemen regretting absence were read: Messrs. C.P. Allix, M. Tosetti, A.P. Garnett, G. Manley, and the Rev. W.A. St. John Dearsley. An address of considerable length was given by Mr G.H. Verrall, and spirited addresses were also given by the Rev. Mr Cheshire (Witcham), Messrs. J.A. Wootten (Cambridge), C.C. Ambrose, and F. Palmby. Songs were sung by the Rev. L. Fisher, Messrs. Wootten, Bonham, J. Galley, R. Galley, Way (Exning), and others. Mr J.E. Collin presided at the piano. A very enjoyable evening concluded with a vote of thanks to the speakers, singers, &c. Mr and Mrs Milgate provided an excellent dinner."

Sadly, Mr Verrall died on the 16th of September, 1911.

Here is a picture of old Newmarket showing the Jubilee Clock (erected to mark Queen Victoria's golden jubilee in 1887) and the throng of traffic in the High Street and on the Bury Road.

Libya could easily tip over the edge - (Today's Times)

The Times is now a subscription-only newspaper. Therefore links to pieces in it won't work unless one is a subscriber. However, I have been able to copy a first-class article by Deborah Haynes, who is the paper's Defence Editor.

The situation in Libya is deeply worrying (I wish that the Libyans had been left alone to sort out their problems, but out gung-ho government couldn't resist having a go at Gaddafi).

It has seemed to me all along that we know nothing of those who desire to replace the Colonel. It seems to me now that Deborah Haynes has similar concerns.

Here is the article, which is headed -

Beware. Libya could easily tip over the edge

"The mixture of distrust and disorder on the streets could yet prove to be explosive

Anyone who believes that with the fall of Colonel Gaddafi Libya will smoothly transform itself into a peaceful, progressive democracy is naive or delusional.

The rebels offer hugely persuasive assurances that the country can unite behind their cause and work together to recover from 42 years of one-man rule. They also dismiss concerns that the hunted dictator’s supporters pose any form of destabilising influence, saying that their number is too small.

However, a lot of the ingredients are in place for a new insurgency.

I would love to be proved wrong after a revolution that involved truly inspiring individuals: doctors, teachers, lawyers and engineers willing to die for their freedom. But with Gaddafi still on the loose, his followers still willing to fight and a desire for revenge still fresh within the opposition, the chaos that grips Tripoli has the potential to breed further violence rather than to mark a low point from which the new Libya will rise.

The absence of the sectarian divide that fed the Iraq insurgency, pitting the Shia majority against the Sunni minority, with help from Sunni al-Qaeda and Shia Iran, is confidently cited as the reason why Libya without Gaddafi will not go the same way as Iraq without Saddam Hussein.

But religion is not the only cause for tension. In the post-Gaddafi world there will always be underlying friction between the “pros” or “fifth column” — the militants who remain loyal to the colonel — and those who rebelled.

The emerging evidence of revenge killings on both sides should come as no surprise. This was a bloody civil war with Western assistance. People were fighting for their survival, and it will not be as easy as the rebel leaders would like to switch off such emotions, given the huge number of weapons in ordinary people’s hands and the exposure to extreme violence that most have experienced.

With Tripoli under the control of the National Transitional Council (NTC), now is the time for a brutal period of war to give way to one of restored order and reconciliation, even with Gaddafi still at large.

The restoration of water, electricity and fuel in the capital will help to build confidence in the new leadership, particularly among the people of western Libya who remained longest under the control of the old regime and are the least-well represented around the NTC table. Also, regular policemen must quickly return to Tripoli’s streets, hospitals must be restocked and even rubbish collections resumed — the stinking piles of garbage on roadsides add to a sense of lawlessness.

So far the rebel leaders have had a relatively easy ride each time their fighters have taken control of an area — Benghazi, Misrata, the Western Mountains — because the overwhelming majority of the population supported them.

But Tripoli is different, with a significant number of residents loyal to Gaddafi and hostile to the NTC. The more frank rebel estimates put the number of loyalists at 20 per cent, while regime supporters claim that it is far higher.

A wave of suicide attacks by loyalists or retaliatory killings by rebels could ignite even worse violence, preventing people from focusing on restoring public services and law and order.

There is also an external dimension. Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda’s new leader, has called for Libya to become a new front line for global jihad, while countries that would prefer to see the Nato-backed uprising fail will be looking for ways to exploit the power vacuum, as happened in Iraq.

The only way to counter this is through strong leadership, competent international support and by making sure that the disparate groups of rebels continue their allegiance to the NTC.

More must be done to defuse suspicion between rebels and Gaddafi supporters — not easy while he remains at liberty. The names of many loyalists are on rebel lists, so they will be detained for questioning if identified. The NTC says that only those with blood on their hands will face justice. Anyone else will simply be disarmed and allowed to go free. This sounds sensible and fair — but with emotions running so high there is little to prevent people seeking revenge for any suffering endured under Gaddafi.

An interesting insight into this was offered by a man I met who had spent two months in Abu Salim prison after the failed uprising in Zawiya, west of Tripoli, early in the revolution. He was beaten, had the nails on his big toes pulled out and was urinated on.

The man, well-educated, well spoken and moderate, knew exactly who tortured him. Asked what he would do if he saw them again, his response was simple: “I will kill them.”

Libya has a chance to emerge from four decades of dictatorship as a fair, democratic society but will require forgiveness, courage and resolve to prevent further strife."

Have our farmers increase our home food production

The government has accepted another e-petition from me. This one is about food and farming and is addressed to DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), where Mr James Paice, M.P. is the relevant farming minister. My e-petition reads as follows:

"Farmers Guardian says that the UK is importing 51% of the food that is consumed here. To be dependent on overseas sources for more than half of our food needs is shocking. We have a population of nearly sixty-two millions and we haven't a hope in hell of feeding them without massive food imports which may not always be available. We expect all sorts of food - as well as those lovely filling station flowers - to be available all-year-round. Much comes from Africa, and by air. Many African countries cannot feed their own peoples. While Africans starve, we demand our mange tout. Do our people have no shame? Let's have our farmers increase our home food production."

Please sign the food and farming e-petition here -

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/12149

The picture above is of my friend and farming neighbour, Mr David Watts, standing in a fine field of Agria potatoes here in Swaffham Prior Fen.

Will he be labelled 'Governor Rick from Hicksville'?

I watched part of Governor Perry’s speech on CNN.

It must be difficult for all aspiring politicians in America who have to try to balance the desire to seem folksy with the appearance of being clued up.

If I were so honoured as to be addressing any sort of gathering in the marvellously civilised Southern city of Charleston, I would be only too conscious of, say, the old-fashioned oratory of South Carolina’s own Senator John C. Calhoun, and I would also want to be word-perfect and prepared.

If I were aspiring to be a candidate for the Presidency, I would not only want to be word-perfect and prepared, but I would also be trying to ensure that the desire to be folksy was carefully balanced with the appearance of being clued up.

Mr Perry appeared neither to be word-perfect and prepared nor particularly clued up. He was folksy alright, but his folksiness seemed to drag somewhat and he appeared at times to be a little lost.

He must improve his act.

If he cannot improve his act, he will go down as no successor to John C. Calhoun; he will instead be labelled 'Governor Rick from Hicksville.'

This stupid government needs to do another U-turn

I hate to spread bad news about my country but the riots and the looting that have gone on in London during the last three nights are just too awful to ignore.

What I have said on-line (to The Times and to the Daily Telegraph) is the following:

"This stupid government needs to do another U-turn. Instead of cutting police numbers the police numbers must to be doubled. We need proper protection at all times. Think riots and looting now: think Olympics 2012."

Here is a link to the latest Daily Telegraph reportage of the events -

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8687177/London-riots-live.html

"His family has been informed." Well, that's OK, then

From The Daily Telegraph (Saturday, 6th August, 2011):

A Royal Marine was killed in Afghanistan yesterday after his patrol was attacked by insurgents, the Ministry of Defence has said.

The serviceman, from 42 Commando Royal Marines, was killed by a grenade thrown into a check point in the Nad-e Ali district of Helmand Province.

The marine's patrol initially fought off an attack from the insurgents.

The patrol then returned to its check point and was preparing to redeploy when insurgents attacked again.

A grenade landed in the check point which wounded the serviceman. He was taken to the military hospital in Camp Bastion but died later, the Ministry of Defence said.

His family has been informed.

Task Force Helmand spokesman, Major Rolf Kurth, said: "The Royal Marine was part of a foot patrol deployed to reassure local residents, and deter and disrupt insurgent activity, when they came under small arms attack."

"With the help of mortars and close air support, they broke contact with the insurgents and returned to their check point. They then came under further attack, and the Royal Marine was mortally wounded by a grenade that landed inside the check point."

"He died later in Camp Bastion Role 3 Hospital. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends in their time of grief."

The total number of British service personnel who have died since operations began in Afghanistan in 2001 is now 378.

Latest news on the BBC (12 noon, 6th August): U.S. helicopter crashes in Afghanistan with the loss of 38 lives. Our sympathy goes out to the families and friends of all of those who have died.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-14430735

Golden handshakes - nice 'work,' if you can get it!

If my readers are willing to run the risk of an apoplexy ('a state of extreme rage or excitement'), I suggest that they follow this link to a piece in today's Daily Telegraph -

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8673729/Civil-servants-golden-handshakes-cost-taxpayer-1bn.html

It will all seem astonishing, especially to anyone who knows any of these expensive individuals. No wonder the country's finances are in poor shape.

A serious bit of economic bother for George Osborne

The latest serious bit of economic bother for George Osborne is variously put down to an over-warm April, the royal wedding and the Japanese tsunami.

Is it possible that some of our problems stem from Mr Osborne's own obstinacy?

Anyway, Peter Brookes, of The Times, has produced yet another great cartoon, this one portraying Bullingdon Boy George 'pole-vaulting' the pretty minimal 0.2% growth bar. Well done, that Chancellor.

The County Council and the National Trust - They've done it again - We've all been 'done' - Again and again

The following letter has been sent off to local media:

"Dear Editor(s),

The County Council and the National Trust have done it again: they have done another farmland deal in private to the disbenefit of Cambridgeshire's public purse and to the benefit of the National Trust.

The details of the latest deal done in private have emerged in the last few days. The council has sold 24.23 acres of good quality farmland near Reach for £115,000. The price represents £4,746.18 per acre. The National Trust was the buyer. No farmer buyer got a look-in. This latest deal done in private follows another deal done in private and completed in 2008, when a whole farm of over 100 acres - Hurdle Hall, also near Reach - was sold to the National Trust for £300,000, substantially less than my estimate of its true value.

I believe that the latest deal done in private, like the earlier one, is a scandal. I say this because I have good reason to believe that the 24.23 acres are worth at least £7,000 per acre as food-growing farmland. By selling 24.23 acres of farmland at £4,746.18 per acre instead of £7,000 per acre, the County Council has effectively 'given' the National Trust the sum of £54,610 - possibly more.

When I was Chairman of the County Council's Finance Committee in the 1970s, I pleaded the poverty line on behalf of the County Council. I believed in the line that I took at that time. Others have pleaded the same line since. I now take the line that, if the County Council can afford to 'give' the National Trust £54,610, the Council's oft-pleaded poverty line is misleading and not to be believed.

Something must be done. If County Council farmland is to be sold, it must be sold more openly. This scandal must not be repeated.

Yours sincerely,

Geoffrey Woollard."

“At £1,000 per taxpayer, most of whom will see no benefit, HS2 is a massive redistribution of wealth to the rich people who will travel by the train” (The Times)

Amidst all of the excitement stemming from 'hacking,' the Murdochs and Mr Cameron's increasing discomfiture, people are missing other arguably more important matters.

Today's Times (a Murdoch-owned newspaper) publishes a piece on the so-called HS2 and, as The Times is a subscription newspaper not available to all, I have copied part of the piece which vindicates every word which I have said on the subject of HS2 before the 2010 election, during the 2010 election, and after the 2010 election.

Here we go:

"High-speed rail line ‘is next Millennium Dome’

Robert Lea Industrial Editor

A 225mph rail line from London to Birmingham and the North will be a £34 billion waste of money and the proposals are based on an “economic fairy story”, the Institute of Economic Affairs has concluded.

The free market think-tank’s report attacks the economic arguments of the proposed line, known as High Speed 2 or HS2, promoted by Philip Hammond, the Transport Secretary.

The report, which has the backing of Conservative backbench MPs, describes HS2 as a white elephant in the making based on “weird” travel assumptions and with a cavalier approach to costings.

It is proposed that the line, due to be running by 2025, will cut through unspoilt parts of Warwickshire, Northamptonshire and the Chilterns and terminate on newly built tracks at London Euston. The debate has hitherto been marked by accusations of Nimbyism against vociferous local opposition. However, in its report High Speed 2: the next government project disaster? the institute argues that it is a vanity project, on a par with the Millennium Dome, whose economic case is flawed.

Richard Wellings, co-author of the report, said that HS2 will cost £34 billion, not taking into account extra billions needed at Euston to cope with the dispersal of thousands of additional passengers. “At £1,000 per taxpayer, most of whom will see no benefit, HS2 is a massive redistribution of wealth to the rich people who will travel by the train,” Dr Wellings said.

“The cavalier approach to costings has not taken into account the cost implications of running into Euston, which would need the construction of a new Tube line or diverting Crossrail [the new east-west London train line under construction] to cope.”

Dr Wellings said that the Department for Transport was guilty of “weird assumptions” about the economic benefits of HS2 that exaggerated the benefits in time savings of a high-speed line. He said that the line would need to be vastly subsidised to charge fares that would attract enough passengers. “If this were a commercial project it would be hugely loss-making,” he said."

Pretty damning, isn't it? 

Write to your MP about it if you feel as I do.

Sir Paul Stephenson resigns - keep calm and carry on!

A mosque in the City of Ely? - No, thanks very much!

There have been reports in the Cambridge News - about a protest march by the English Defence League in Cambridge and a counter-march by Unite Against Fascism - and in the Ely newspapers - about the possibility of muslims building a mosque in the Cathedral City of Ely.

What I say is this:

"Cambridge has a mosque. Cambridge is believed by many now to be a 'multi-cultural' city. I do not believe that Ely - a significant centre of Christianity and Englishness for many centuries - is in the same league. Therefore, I have reservations as to the desirability of a mosque in Ely.

I am not at all keen on such as the English Defence League. To whom else can I turn?"

The view above is of Ely Cathedral with parts of the surrounding City as seen from the Stuntney direction. Some of our splendid black Fen farm land is in the foreground.

Newmarket, Suffolk - and some costly Chinese balls

Sue and I live near Newmarket. Sue was born in Newmarket. We were married at All Saints' Church, Newmarket, nearly fifty years ago.

Above are the infamous Newmarket balls. They came from China and they cost a mint. They were intended to enhance and to improve the old Newmarket Jubilee Clock Tower traffic roundabout. Many people believe that they are an expensive eyesore, out of keeping with their surroundings. They are sited within the area of Newmarket controlled by Suffolk County Council, based in Ipswich, and Forest Heath District Council, based in Mildenhall. Some people - including me - say that the whole Town of Newmarket (where there is a Town Council which only looks after part - the Suffolk part - of the Town) would be better served by its being within the County of Cambridgeshire, the County town of which is nearby Cambridge, and the District of East Cambridgeshire.

East Cambridgeshire District Councillor, Mr Tom Kerby (pictured right), who lives in Newmarket, has raised again the vexed issue of the situation of Newmarket, split as it is between Cambridgeshire and Suffolk Counties and their respective County Councils and East Cambridgeshire and Forest Heath District Councils.

Mr Kerby raised the issue in the Newmarket Journal, our much-loved local newspaper.

I wrote to the Newmarket Journal and have had published today the following:

"Full marks to Cllr. Tom Kerby for his welcome opinions on the welfare of Newmarket.

I have lived near Newmarket, but in Cambridgeshire, all of my life. I have always looked to Newmarket for what I need. Indeed, I looked to Newmarket for a wife and married Sue (née Day), daughter of Fred and Peggy, at the former Cambridgeshire Church of All Saints nearly fifty years ago. In those days, the town was both busy and attractive. Sadly, it is less so now.

I believe that most of Newmarket and all of Exning have suffered from being so distant from their principal bases of local government - Mildenhall and Ipswich - and I believe that they would both benefit from closer connections with Cambridgeshire.

There is another factor, too. The villages that surround Newmarket are mostly in Cambridgeshire. The villagers in those villages have to turn to Ely for some services. How much better things were when there was a Newmarket Rural District Council and a Newmarket Urban District Council, both working from and in Newmarket.

It is high time for the odd historical quirk of the County boundary to be ironed out. There will be resistance from certain elements in Suffolk, as there was from the self-interested then MP Sir Eldon Griffiths in earlier days.

I wish Tom Kerby well. Many of us have worked on similar lines for many decades."

I am confident that this will run and run - and so it should until sense prevails.

Peter Brookes on the end of the News of the World

Latest news - poisonous hemlock seen in Burwell Fen

I was alerted that hemlock, a poisonous plant, is particularly prevalent in Burwell Fen this year. So I went to have a look.

The National Trust controls much of Burwell Fen in further pursuance of its so-called 'Wicken Vision.' I went as far down Newnham Drove as I dared go. The sight (pictured above) was shocking. Not only was there a lot of hemlock but there was also the usual National Trust jungle of other weeds, too.

This is all on and near land that has grown good crops in the past. Whilst I have supported the original Wicken Fen Nature Reserve, there must be doubts about its being extended as far as the A14 and Cambridge. Thousands more acres of fine food-growing Fen peat land are set to become an unkempt jungle of weeds and waste.

Quite frankly, I'd prefer to see less hemlock and more beetroot, carrots, leeks, potatoes, sugar beet and wheat, all crops that grow well and look good in our Fens.

And I'd also prefer to see less ragwort around, too. Here is another of my pictures, this of ragwort flourishing on National Trust land near Reach. Ragwort is a toxic plant. Fortunately, the cattle in the background haven't yet touched the ragwort in the foreground.






Some of the old Fen 'boys' who cared for the Fen farms in earlier days would have a fit if they could see this and some of the younger Fen 'boys' who care for the fine Fen farms nowadays are having collective fits.
 

We're going to win this one sooner than some think, though. The ghosts of the old Fen 'boys' will rejoice and the hearts and minds of the younger Fen 'boys' will give thanks that they lived to see the day.

 

I have commented on the Farmers Guardian website (where the headline was 'UK importing 51pc of food consumed') as follows:

 

"To be in a position where we are dependent on overseas sources for half of our food needs is shocking. Equally shocking is the loss of arable Fen land to the jungle of water and weeds that is being effected by the National Trust at Wicken in South East Cambridgeshire, Mr Paice's constituency. We must be mad to permit it." 

I have a new hero. His name is Mark Pritchard, M.P.

I have a new hero.

His name is Mark Pritchard.

He is the Conservative MP for The Wrekin.

Mr Pritchard moved this afternoon in the House of Commons a resolution in favour of a ban on wild animals in circuses.

Against all expectations and despite the anticipated opposition of the government whips - opposition which did not materialize - Mr Pritchard's resolution was passed.

Well done, that man!

Here is a link - with a video of Mr Pritchard speaking about his being bribed and bullied - to the BBC's on-line coverage of the story.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13884165

Here are illustrations of what Mr Pritchard sought to ban.

And here (copied from the Financial Times website), most astonishingly of all, are Mr Pritchard's words as he opened the debate in the House:

"It has been in interesting last few days.

If I offered to amend my motion or drop my motion or not call a vote on this motion… I was offered reward, an incentive.

It was a pretty trivial job, as most of the ones I have had – until at least probably 30 minutes from now – are.

But I was offered incentive and reward on Monday, then it was ratcheted up to last night when I was threatened.

I had a call from the prime minister’s office directly, and I was told unless I withdraw this motion, that the prime minister himself said that he would look upon it very dimly indeed.

Well I have a message for the whips and for the prime minister of our country, and I didn’t pick a fight with the prime minister of our country, but I have a message: I may just be a little council house lad from a very poor background, but that background gives me a backbone, it gives me a thick skin and I am not going to be kowtowed by the whips on an issue that I feel passionately about."

Some questions are already being asked. I look forward to hearing or reading the answers.

I say again, 'Well done, that man!'