Mark Foster

Vote - and teach ‘em a lesson!

Mark Foster — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:32:16 +0000

Labour came to power in 1997 saying that it would re-engage with the electorate and enthuse people to vote. Predictions were made at the time that the Conservatives would be out of power for a generation. The Labour party has done the opposite, by putting-off millions of people from democracy they ensured their re-election in 2005, by professionalising politics they have made people even more cynical about campaigners motives. I work very hard for the Liberal Democrats in Littlehampton, I have no desire to achieve elected office for myself, I am quite happy working in a glasshouse but I want the Liberal Democrats to speak-up for Littlehampton as I believe that the Conservatives take people for granted.

The public have to realise that not voting makes it easier for the establishment to do what they wish as it means that they have to convince fewer people to switch their vote.

I’ve made it!

Mark Foster — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 23:09:42 +0000

I have made it onto Google street view!

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=50.814179,-0.546055&spn=0,359.766197&t=h&z=13&layer=c&cbll=50.814125,-0.545838&panoid=hnAbGnwSdA4Jseylt6wZJQ&cbp=12,202.49,,0,5

I am delivering leaflets down North Ham Road, Littlehampton in last years county election!

Mark Foster — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 15:12:17 +0000

Royal Mint gets ready for Euro?

Mark Foster — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 10:57:12 +0000

I have noticed that the Royal Mint have used images of Euro coins on their website. They’re probably stock photo’s but I wonder what the fruitcakes in UKIP think about it

http://www.royalmint.com/store/catalogue/Collectable/Collectable.aspx

Look at the hand holding the coins, and the image appears to be reversed but they’re definatetly Euro’s!

Mansion Tax

Mark Foster — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 08:04:39 +0000

Mark Foster — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 11:09:28 +0000

Visit Lib Dem Act

Blair fails in EU President bid.

Mark Foster — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:04:15 +0000

Tony Blair has failed in his bid to lead the European Union, and I for one am delighted. I congratulate Herman Van Rompuy in his new role, pesonally I supported the Prime Minister of Luxembourg (who is not a Liberal) for the post. Tony Blair spent the last five years of his premiership lining himself up for the post, eventually converting to be a Roman Catholic to make himself palatable to the European centre-right. Tony Blair needs to be investigated for his role in the deaths of thousands of innocent Iraqi’s, while Gordy signed the cheques.

Stop Blair

Mark Foster — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:07:44 +0000

Broken society? - Yea right!

Mark Foster — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:25:15 +0000

Thousands of people commemorated the sacrifices made by men and women in services throughout the country. Old, young, rich, poor, white and black all bowed their heads in respect for those who died. What I saw over the weekend was not the sign of David Cameron’s broken society but a respectful nation, brought together in obvious grief for the latest round of military deaths overseas.

Britain thrives DESPITE it’s broken and archaic political system, but it is time for a change, not just of political party but Britain needs to change it’s political culture and electoral system. There are many good people out there who could bring so much to their communities, but hold back because they don’t want to be ‘tarred with the same brush’ as some of the self-serving and politically corrupt who currently occupy the seats in Westminster.

It’s quite clear to me that society IS NOT BROKEN, but politics is.

European Union - IN or OUT?

Mark Foster — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:20:50 +0000

Well, now that the Lisbon Treaty has been signed and the Tories have dropped their ‘promise’ for a referendum, I want to remind everyone of the long-standing Lib Dem pledge for a IN OR OUT referendum on the European Union.

Only people who were of voting age in 1975 have had a chance to vote on this important issue and I believe it’s time for another one.

The Conservatives of course, are suffering from amnesia on this issue as they took us into the Common Market in 1973. The Maastrict treaty, founding the European Union was signed in 1992 without so much as a glance in the direction of public opinion. The Lisbon treaty just tidies-up the decision making process in the EU, and in itself should not require a referendum, but it is time for an IN or OUT as I for one am fed-up with the griping from the sidelines, we should get stuck-in or try going it alone and see where that takes us.

The ID scheme has NOT been shelved, cancelled, or even significantly changed says NO2ID

Mark Foster — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:19:48 +0000

Once more government spin has triumphed and much of the media has got it wrong. The new Home Secretary Alan Johnson has not made any significant changes to the scheme. Compulsion by stealth is still the order of the day, just as it always was. Someone joining the ID scheme ‘voluntarily’

will still be placing control of their identity in the hands of the IPS for life.

The Home Office line remains the same. No compulsion (as the Home Office defines it) was going to be applied until almost everyone had ‘volunteered’ and then it was only a matter of rounding up a minority of resisters and marginalised people.

The Home Office’s idea of “voluntary” is not the same as yours and mine.

Since 2004 the scheme was (and it still is) to proceed by “designating”

one-by-one under the Identity Cards Act 2006 other documents issued by official bodies — in the first place passports.

Once a document has been designated, you won’t be able to apply for one without also applying to be entered, for life, on the national identity register. If you don’t agree to be registered it won’t be that you are refused (say) a passport; you’d have voluntarily decided not to apply.

There’s no compulsion to have a passport. It is useful for travelling.

But you aren’t compelled to travel.

Or (say) to drive. Or to work as a security guard. Or with children. Or in healthcare. To get parole from prison. To practice as a lawyer. …

Any official licence, registration certificate or permit can be designated, and — in the home office’s skewed logic — handing control of your identity to the Home Office’s Identity and Passport Service will still be entirely voluntary.

That they were due for a confrontation with the airside worker’s unions over designating new passes at Manchester and City Airports is an illustration of just how voluntary “voluntary” really is. But the fact they have now ducked that fight for political convenience suggests saying no does work - if you say it loudly enough.

—

It is still not too late for MPs to derail the scheme by repudiating the regulations due to be debated next week and detailed in the last newsletter. Only one of those statutory instruments has been dropped. If you have not done so already, please contact your MP:

http://www.writetothem.com

(NO2ID’s lobbying guide, written for us by the former assistant of a very distinguished retired minister, is brusque but absolutely to the

point: http://www.no2id.net/downloads/print/NO2ID-HowtoLobby.pdf )Peers will also have a vote on this; so if you happen to know one (or be one), then it would be a good idea to alert friends in the Lords now that the matter is soon to come up.

What just happened?

+ A brief history of the government’s definition of voluntary +

Back in March 2006 as the then ID cards bill ping-ponged between the House of Commons and the House of Lords the issue of the voluntary nature of the ID scheme was a major bone of contention. Labour’s manifesto said they would introduce a voluntary scheme but when it emerged that passport applicants would also be forced to go on to the ID database the Lords objected to this “creeping compulsion” and introduced an amendment to remove the connection to the passport. However MPs (by a majority of just 33) re-introduced de facto compulsion. During the Commons debate Nick Clegg MP pointed out that: “The Oxford English Dictionary gives the following definition of voluntary - ‘done, given, or acting of one’s own free will’”, adding that the debate was not just about “one of the most expensive, illiberal follies in recent times, it is also about our specific disagreement on the meaning of that one word”. When the bill finally received Royal Assent and became the ID Cards Act it was reported that the Lords had accepted an offer from the Home Office that anyone applying for a new biometric passport before January 2010 could opt out of having an ID card. The government’s skewed logic is that nobody is required by the state to apply for a passport, therefore forcing people who apply for a voluntary document to go onto the ID database is not compulsion, it’s just complying with regulations required to obtain the voluntary document. Such semantic gymnastics can be found in George Orwell’s fictional language Newspeak. Perhaps “compulantary” sums it up nicely.

+ BBC makes outlandish claim of ID card applications +

In a week of media dis-information the BBC reported on their website that “Some 3,500 UK citizens have already applied for the cards”. This statement simply cannot be true as the regulations that specify the content and manner of application have not yet been approved by parliament. The BBC may be referring to a web page on the UK Identity and Passport service (UKIPS) that allows visitors to “register your interest in identity cards and the National Identity Service”. They don’t mention how many forms were filled out by Mickey Mouse or Mr NO2IDcards and filling out a web form for more information is clearly not the same as “applying”. The Home Office clearly agrees, as the registration page warns: “Registering for information on the National Identity Service does not provide evidence that the Identity and Passport Service has verified or confirmed the identity details provided by the registrant as being accurate or reliable. This information should not be taken as proof of identity in any way”. Even if the figure of 3,500 were anywhere near to the number of people who “want” to be locked into the ID scheme for life, the figure is dwarfed by the number of people who have completed NO2ID’s newsletter signup and registered their opposition to the scheme.

+ Government names next ID scheme victims +

This week the Home Office announced that airside workers at Manchester and London City airports will not be required to register on the ID scheme as a condition of work, though they will “be encouraged to obtain an identity card”. In response the British Airline Pilots’ Association

(BALPA) said: “we have never seen the national ID card as an improvement to security and we are glad that the new Home Secretary has listened to BALPA”. But as the Home Office backed off airside workers (supported by angry unions) they announced their next ID scheme targets - stating that “the Government also intends to focus attention on young people, for whom they [ID cards] will act as a proof of age, helping prove an individual’s right to enter premises or buy goods” and also they will “be looking at options which could allow pensioners aged 75 and over to receive an identity card free of charge”. They also announced an expansion of the trial in Greater Manchester where residents “will be able to apply for an Identity card before the end of this year” to “residents in locations across the North West will be entitled to apply from early next year”.

Read the Identity and Passport service press release at http://www.ips.gov.uk/cps/rde/xchg/ips_live/hs.xsl/1158.htm

+ LSE releases Interception Modernisation briefing +

The London School of Economics (LSE) has released a ‘Briefing on the Interception Modernisation Programme’. The briefing aims to provide “some depth of understanding of the nature of the Home Office’s latest proposals on communications surveillance”. The briefing is related to the Communications Data consultation that closes on 20th July (see What’s Next section). The document warns: “The range of tools available to law enforcement to track and link activity and database content is now vast and growing all the time” and points out that: “What is being proposed under this [sic] modernisation powers is that every communication transaction, and all forms of future transactions, is now ’suspicious’, worthy of later consideration by the police”.

Gordon has survived!

Mark Foster — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 10:49:43 +0000

Against all the (BBC) odds, Gordon has survived Labour’s slaugher at the polls. To be honest, the economic situation is so bad that I don’t think anyone (apart from the King of economics, Vince Cable) could do any better, so a general election would be pointless. The longer Gordon continues, the more Labour will self destruct. I for one won’t mourn the passing of Newlabour because as a Liberal the past twelve years have been awful for civil liberties and freedom of speech.

Littehampton BNP crash and burn

Mark Foster — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 17:28:48 +0000

The first elections that the BNP have contested in Littlehampton have been an awful result for the BNP. I am pleased that their message of hate and predjudice has been rejected, although UKIP came in third across the town with their ignorant and jingoistic stance. The BNP should have done better, given the national situation but among the people of Littlehampton there are many retired people who were children during the war, who saw the horrors of Nazism and, although will never be ‘liberal’ will always be repulsed by a party who rejects Britsh values of fair-play and internationalism. Long serving Labour county councillor George O’Neill has lost his seat on the county council to the Tories, Ian Buckland came in a good second, losing by 68 votes.

Stop Clause 152!!

Mark Foster — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 09:42:57 +0000

Clause 152 of the Coroners and Justice Bill [1] - currently being debated by Parliament - would allow any Minister by order to take any information gathered for one purpose from anywhere, and use it for any other purpose.

An ‘Information Sharing Order’, as defined in Clause 152, would permit your information to be trafficked and abused, not only all across government and the public sector - it would also reach into the private sector. And it would even allow transfer of information across international borders.

Your information, your family’s information, arbitrarily used without your consent or even knowledge. The very reverse of ‘Data Protection’.

If you care about fundamental rights and freedoms, privacy and confidentiality, the time to act is NOW.

Please write to your MP - you can do this at http://www.WriteToThem.com

- and tell him or her that you REFUSE CONSENT to having your information shared under any ‘Information Sharing Order’, and ask him or her to vote to have Clause 152 removed entirely from the Coroners and Justice Bill.

(Refusing your consent is the absolutely critical bit - we know that some MPs have already had over 100 constituents telling them this, which is the way we can all apply pressure.)

Please write to your MP now - AND TELL OTHERS. Friends, family, colleagues, workmates. Spread the word. A ‘Stop Clause 152!’ facebook group has also been set up to help publicise the issue:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=54487688497

I’ve had enough!

Mark Foster — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 23:01:44 +0000

I’ve had enough.

Restriction of our fundamental rights and freedoms has gone too far. ID cards, more CCTV cameras per head than any country in the world, a database of children’s fingerprints, a government that wants to conceal its own record on the disastrous war in

Iraq - it’s the stuff of fiction.We need to put a stop to this. The Liberal Democrats are proposing the Freedom Bill: freedom.libdems.org.uk.Here’s a selection of the measures incorporated in the first draft:

• Scrap ID cards for everyone.
• Restore the right to protest in Parliament Square.
• Scrap the ContactPoint database of all children in Britain.
• Remove innocent people from the DNA database.
• Reduce the maximum period of pre-charge detention to 14 days.

Rebuild our hospital!

Mark Foster — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:26:54 +0000

River ward councillor Ian Buckland by the Littlehampton hospital site.

Liberal Democrats in Littlehampton have redoubled our campaign for the rebuilding of the Littlehampton Hospital, for which we organised the all-party protest in September 2007. Ian Buckland is the Liberal Democrat councillor for River ward, where the hospital site is located. River has some of the lowest life expentancies in the south of England.

‘Local Roads are a disgrace’ say Lib Dems

Mark Foster — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:37:25 +0000

Cllr. Ian Buckland pictured with one of the giant potholes in Littlehampton.

Littlehampton’s Liberal Democrats are fighting for imrovements in local infrastructure while Littlehampton’s roads are falling apart and the number of potholes around the area has reached worrying proportions. The Tory-controlled county council appears to have forgotton Littlehampton when it comes to road improvements and the building of cycle lanes.

River ward councillor Ian Buckland said;- “If the tyres on my car were as bad as Littlehampton’s roads I would be prosecuted, so why does the Tory council think it’s OK to leave our roads in this state?” He continued “I have been fighting for better, safer roads as well as safe cycle lanes for families to use in our town, why is it that the cycle lane from Clymping stops at the river, forcing cyclists onto a dangerous roundabout. We have much to be proud of in this town, such as a good community spirit and excellent local businesses, but our Chichester-based county council has let us down.”

Christmas Fair at Wick Hall

Mark Foster — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 11:09:23 +0000

The Liberal Democrats will be holding a Christmas Fair at Wick Hall, Littlehampton on the 6th December 2008 at 2pm.

There will be cakes, Books, Bric-a-Brac, christmas decorations, a raffle and MORE! Admisssion is FREE and Tea and Coffee will be available. DONATIONS OF GOODS ARE WELCOME.

It wil also be an opportunity for residents to enquire about the Liberal Democrats as a party.

President Obama and President Scott

Mark Foster — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 23:51:31 +0000

I’ll start with the biggy, the election of a new President in the

US. After eight years of Dubya, anybody is blessed relief, anybody except that strange Alaskan woman, who believes that the earth is a few thousand years old. ‘Faith’ it’s called, a bit like Bliars faith in the existence of Iraqi WMD’s. Back to Barack. I like him, and I hope that he does what he says he will, I admit that a tear ran-down my cheek when I watched him live on Sky News (Yes BBC News 24, you pixellated too much on Wednesday!!) but I couldn’t help the parallels with 1997 and the whole Newlabour thing, only to be let down badly!!!

The Liberal Democrats have a new President Ros Scott who I voted for and wish luck in her new post. Got to go to bed now, I’m going to the War Memorial tomorrow to pay my respects to all those who fell so I could vote.

It’s getting cold

Mark Foster — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 18:41:05 +0000

It’s starting to get very, very cold now. That means that us Liberal Democrat campaigners will be out delivering leaflets and knocking on doors. The cold, coupled with the looming recession means that we all need to be well wrapped-up, indoors and out!! I do worry about all those older members of our community who seem to feel the cold more. I’m starting to get my CV together now, and after more than fourteen years with the same employer it is rather daunting, if I am made redundant I will be finished before Christmas, still someone with my work ethic and loyalty should be, SHOULD BE snapped-up!!

The American election is on Tuesday. If Obama is elected, it will represent the biggest leap forwards that the USA has made in 200 years.

Recession!

Mark Foster — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 16:01:26 +0000

I haven’t posted for ages. I have been so very busy at work where I am a statutory consultee for redundancy. It is all doom and gloom at the moment, the nights are drawing-in and people are wondering whether they will lose their jobs in the new year. It looks like I will lose my job (a job that I like!!) but don’t worry, the professional politicians are still there, ready to draw generous pensions when we vote them out while supping cocktails on a beach far-far away from the country they wrecked! The High Street in Littlehampton is starting to empty-out now, even worse than the ghost town it nearly became in the last recession. It really is the end of Gordon Browns ‘end to boom and bust’. I have every confidence that the British people will rebuild our economy because at heart we are a hardworking nation with a commendable work ethic.

Make it happen.

Mark Foster — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:10:56 +0000

I watched Cleggy’s speech on the telly and agreed with virtually everything he said but was disgusted at Nick Robinson’s cynical assessment of it. Cleggy is NO Cameron clone, as Nick Robinson was suggesting. YES, Cleggy is very smooth, slick, attractive and well-spoken but he is a man with a deep political conviction.I am NO leader worshipper, as any real Liberal (like myself) is deeply suspicious of power in the hands of any single individual but I truly believe that Cleggy has the vision to make the Liberal Democrats the replacement opposition to future Conservative governments from now on, as New Labour has lost its creator, support, vision and above all, its reason for existence.

I was horrified to hear of the near-fatal stabbing at Somerfields, Anchor Springs, Littlehampton on Tuesday. I’m glad that the perpetrator is not from Littlehampton though, as that would give the town’s detractors something else to point at this great town of ours. My thoughts go-out to the girl lying in hospital and her family.

Littlehampton Hospital - Government responds

Mark Foster — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 08:00:24 +0000

The government has now responded to the petition to rebuild the Littlehampton Hospital, which was only demolished with a guarantee that a new facility would be built. Littlehampton hospital was built on land donated to the town by the Duke of Norfolk and built with money given by the people of the town. I believe that morally, the hospital belonged to us as townsfolk and that the NHS has a duty to build a new Hospital. The Governments response;-

Decisions about local NHS services are now taken at a local level. It is the responsibility of Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), in partnership with Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs) and other local stakeholders, to plan, develop and improve services for local people. NHS South East Coast, the regional SHA, advises that West Sussex PCT is developing its business case in relation to the planned new NHS facility in Littlehampton. The SHA is working with the PCT to take the scheme forward appropriately. More information can be obtained from the SHA, whose contact details are available on its website at www.southeastcoast.nhs.uk.

The Littlehampton Liberal Democrats have created a website for our campaign on local NHS services at www.littlehampton4nhs.org.uk

LA Pebbles on the beach

Mark Foster — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:47:29 +0000

Don’t forget about the free charity music festival that is to be held on Littlehampton seafront on the 23rd August 2008. There will be 18 local bands on two stages. This kind of initiative needs to be supported by the whole community, for free tickets and info, visit www.lapebbles.co.uk

Littlehampton Branch meeting a success

Mark Foster — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:35:32 +0000

We held our first Littlehampton Branch meeting in twelve years last Wednesday (23rd July), and I was impressed by the enthusiasm of the Liberal Democrat councillors in Littlehampton as well as our activists towards solving local issues. There is a real sense of community action, and if you want to join us…..come aboard!

North Littlehampton Community Planning Weekend

Mark Foster — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:26:14 +0000

If any of you are able to attend any of the North Littlehampton Community Planning weekend tomorrow and Saturday, I would recommend it. It will be held at the Wickbourne Centre tomorrow between 2pm and 7pm and Saturday between 11am and 4pm and you can drop-in at your leisure. This really is Littlehampton’s chance to have a say on issues that it is possible to change. This town has had a poor deal for decades now, with poorly planned housing estates with no amenities or jobs for Littlehampton residents and this is our chance to have a good deal for the town. Please come along and have your say.

Littlehampton Residents Survey

Mark Foster — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 11:27:45 +0000

There have been so many responses to our ‘Littlehampton Residents Survey’ that we are actually overwhelmed with work, so if anyone reading this wants to help us, please GET IN TOUCH! Also, if you returned a survey thank you, but we’ll take a while getting in touch.

Empty houses

Mark Foster — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 08:32:24 +0000

Delivering FOCUS in Ham ward today, I’ve noticed how many empty properties there are. It’s quite shocking and reminds me of when I was delivering in the North Beaumont in 1993-5, and every-other house had been repossessed. I think the upcoming recession is going to be deeper than even I imagined it was going to be, which is sad and going to cause a lot of pain.

Gordy didn’t thing that the ‘boom’ was a boom, he thought it was his ‘stability’ and that he’d beaten the natural economic cycle, well we’re all going to pay for Gordy’s ego now.

Polls, Davis and Lisbon

Mark Foster — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 10:12:56 +0000

It’s interesting to see the latest polls http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/guide/ we’re up a bit on when the 10pence tax thing was going on, which is weird!!

David Davis – I have never had much time for him before and I disagree with most of what he says but I have to admire the bloke for giving-up an almost certain job in the next Conservative government to fight for what he (and many other good people) believe passionately in, good luck to him!

European Treaty – I am a pro-european but the Irish have rejected it, so in my opinion, the Lisbon treaty should be abandoned and we should struggle on as we have done for the past four years, but further expansion of the EU should be out of the question now.

Make Bliar pay

Mark Foster — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 10:31:00 +0000

Things just seem to be getting worse and worse for poor old Gordy, I bet he wished he’d called a general election back in October! I’ve never seen a national leader go so quickly from ‘hero to zero’. Of course, poll ratings are not his only problem, the Labour party is near to insolvency and the senior officers of the party could be personally liable.

I have a solution to their problems make Tony Blair pay off the debt! after all, it seems that he’s the only person in the country to have personally benefited from Newlabour and he’s not short of a bob or two, while the rest of us work 60 hours a week just to pay our electricity bills. I know if I was a member of the Labour party, I would feel quite bitter about Bliar walking-off and leaving it all like that!

Poor old Gordy

Mark Foster — Sun, 25 May 2008 06:50:54 +0000

Poor old Gordy. He’s waited twenty years to get where he’s at and it’s all gone wrong! Gordy thinks that he can run the country like a 1930’s Tory toff; behind the scenes and out of the glare of the public and cameras. Times have changed Gordy! If you want advice from a southern working-class liberal, STAY IN OFFICE and hopefully you’ll destroy the Labour party before you destroy Britain!

It looks like Britain is about to go from New Labour to Blue Labour. Cameron has been shaped in the Bliar mould, vacuous with smiles and Britain it seems, laps it up. You reap what you sew like you did with Bliar!

Arundle Road

Mark Foster — Tue, 20 May 2008 20:30:19 +0000

I noticed today that the street sign outside the old Wick T Farm depot spells Arundel Road, ‘Arundle’ I wonder if anyone else has noticed that?

Thanks Brookfield!

Mark Foster — Wed, 14 May 2008 21:35:28 +0000

According to the ‘Tribune’ (9^th May 2008), the Labour party is near to bankruptcy. Where are all those champagne socialists now? Those people who gladly and loudly sung “Things can only get better” on that Friday morning in 1997. Newlabour used to stand for complete CONTROL, Bliar tried to create a big-brother database state that invaded every aspect of citizens lives, it’s lucky that it wasn’t a complete success!

It’s the annual Littlehampton town council meeting (Mayor-making) tomorrow, which I will attend as a member of the public (thank the people of Brookfield ward for giving Irene 4 more votes than me!!).

Things can only get better

Mark Foster — Thu, 01 May 2008 22:10:08 +0000

Today is the 11^th Anniversary of the Newlabour

‘revolution’ It’s now very ironic to read the 1997 manifesto. The annotations are my comments.

“Our long-term objective is a lower starting rate of income tax of ten pence in the pound. Reducing the high marginal rates at the bottom end of the earning scale - often 70 or 80 per cent - is not only fair but desirable to encourage employment.” And it’s just been abolished!

“We will reject the boom and bust policies which caused the collapse of the housing market.”Well, we’ve had the boom…..now for the bust!

“Public services and transport services in rural areas must not be allowed to deteriorate. The Conservatives have tried to privatise the Post Office. We opposed that, in favour of a public Post Office providing a comprehensive service.”A Post Office providing a comprehensive service….eh?

“Our system of government is centralised, inefficient and bureaucratic.”You said it! “We are committed to a referendum on the voting system for the House of Commons.”Really?

Labour has lost - I think.

Mark Foster — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 15:57:53 +0000

We’ve got no elections on Thursday in Littlehampton but there are in London and some other places and Gordy has helped destroy Labour’s representation even more than Bliar did last year. The 10pence tax thing has given the election away, soon there will be no one left in the Labour party.

Interestingly, I have just played about with the Telegraph swingometer, and it helps proves how unfair the British electoral system is, I swung it to a LibDem victory and got a hung parliament.

A LibDem popular vote of 50% gives 286 seats. Conservative pop vote of 32% gives 236 seats.

Labour popular vote of 18% gives 99 seats.

The others with 10% get 29 seats. The Conservatives won a parliamentary majority with 39% of the pop vote and Labour won with 33% of pop vote.Give it a go http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?menuId=6770&menuItemId=10310&view=DISPLAYCONTENT&grid=A1&targetRule=1

The see-saw see-saws!

Mark Foster — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 22:32:56 +0000

When I heard that the government were thinking about using the minimum wage to deal with the abolition of the 10pence tax rate, I nearly choked on my cheese omelette!

This government have absolutely no idea of empirical economics and the effect that their policies have on hardworking people. To ensure that all people on the minimum wage would no longer lose out from the 10p rate, the minimum wage would have to be increased for all people to £18,500 per year - or £9.49 per hour! That would leave thousands of people without jobs and hasten the death of British manufacturing.

I have been involved in politics for fifteen years or so but I have never been so motivated to remove the government from office. The problem is though, that the British people will jump to the other end of the electoral see-saw and vote for the Tories and in fifteen years or so we’ll be back in the same situation again.

Tribute to Gwyneth Dunwoody

Mark Foster — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 21:49:33 +0000

Only the good die young they say, John Peel and Robin Cook are testament to that but Gwyneth Dunwoody was what parliament and representatives should be about, holding the establishment to account and not being a part of it. I am genuinely saddened by her death, I think Britain is the worst for her passing and we need people like her with grit now more than ever in the throwaway and superficial politics of modern Britain. I make one guarantee; that the people of Crewe and Nantwich will never have an MP in the future (whatever their party) who will stand-up as tirelessly as Gwyneth has done over the past 34 years.

Its the economy Gordon!

Mark Foster — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 11:48:38 +0000

The Bank of England made a quarter of a point interest rate cut on Thursday, but I think it’s a bit like the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dyke. The economy needs a correction after 13 years of boom. The question is; what has the government done to try and soften the landing for those likely to be worst hit? I remember delivering leaflets in the north beaumont in 1994/5 and seeing so many houses with the repossession notice on the window. I fear this could happen again.

Things can’t get any worse - CAN THEY?

Mark Foster — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:01:50 +0000

My LibDem colleagues and I went walkabout in Littlehampton town centre on Saturday. People are really, really angry about this government. I have never seen the public this angry before, I mean people were fed-up with the Tories in 1994/5 but this is real fury. I can’t see Gordy coming back from this now, especially with the credit crunch that will turn into a recession. We met a couple of people on Saturday who wanted to join the party, so that’s good!

Sorry from Gordy if you’re Welsh

Mark Foster — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 21:28:32 +0000

Well, I’ve seen the new designs for the British coinage and apart from the fact that Wales loses representation on our coins and the value isn’t written in figures for foreigners, I’m quite impressed BUT I thought it was government policy to join the Euro when the economic conditions were right. Well either that policy has been abandoned, we’ve just wasted a fortune on designing coins to be used for just a few years or Gordy doesn’t think we’re going to have the right economic conditions for the foreseeable future.

I fear for Zimbabwe, I think even if a new president takes office the country is now so poor that the familiar culture of corruption and low-level civil war that we’ve seen all over Africa will befall Zimbabwe.

What are the chances of that eh?

Mark Foster — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 09:48:00 +0000

I was completely amazed to read that Liberal Democrat MP Matthew Taylor (who was adopted) has traced his birth parents, and it turns out that his grandfather was the Liberal MP and chief whip in the 1930’s, Sir Percy Harris (who lost his seat in the 1945 general election). What are the chances of that eh?

We are too thick to understand

Mark Foster — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 23:11:40 +0000

Well where do I start? Firstly, the Littlehampton Gazette has three letters from Liberal Democrat councillors in it!

Today we have the first Arun District Council by-election since the local elections last year. The Labour party haven’t even put up a candidate. I think the current “first past the post” electoral system had its day in about 1920. Of course it must be remembered that multi-member wards are nothing new in local government so it’s time for STV to start in local government as it has in Scotland and Northern Ireland. I always remember a Tory politician in the mid-90’s say that asking the public to vote by ranking preferences was “far too confusing and complicated” Well if it’s good enough for the Irish and Scots it’s good enough for us, or are we too thick? I urge all readers to visit the following sites;- http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/deskbound/

www.mvcwestsussex.org.ukhttp://

www.electoral-reform.org.uk/

Left or Right?

Mark Foster — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 11:36:35 +0000

People quite often ask me whether I’m left or right wing, as a Liberal I find the question quite perplexing.I don’t think that modern politics is as easy as that! If I lived in the USA I would be regarded as a loony-lefty and if I lived in

France I would be considered an economic right-winger. We live in a globalised world now; the old certainties such as national sovereignty are no longer true.

In the future it may be more important who you work for rather than the colour of your passport, however I still believe that local geographical communities will continue to be important especially for those left behind by globalisation. Of course national politicians in this country from the two main parties don’t seem to be facing the realities of globalisation, or certainly the real effects of it, but I think we need to wake-up from our post-empire slumber and get real!

Ramblings!

Mark Foster — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 22:03:05 +0000

I have just returned from a night at a friend’s house in Chandlers Ford in Hampshire, it was good to get away for a night!

I watched the programme on TV about Enoch Powell, it was very interesting. I strongly believe that there is a tiny, tiny minority of people in this country who are really racist, but I do think there is a significant minority who are ‘cultural chauvinist’. The problem with Enoch’s speech is rather than being prophetic, it could have become self-fulfilling. Darling is preparing for his first budget as chancellor at the moment, as I understand it, the people who will really suffer will be lower-paid workers with no children.

I went to a belated mothers-day meal with my family today, it was in Lancing and it only took about 25 minutes to drive there. The main course was good!!

Land of make believe.

Mark Foster — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 11:53:54 +0000

Gordy has called on Labour to build a “Britain of or dreams” – well after nearly eleven years in power, New Labour have created the stuff of Orwellian nightmares, a surveillance society where the government wants to control everything that individuals, communities and companies do where the government seems to want to know everything about everyone but at the same time keep it’s own incompetence and mismanagement as secret as possible.

Gordy is really clutching at straws now, like John Major in 1993/4. Of course I hope I’m wrong, that the government can create a land of dreams, but to many people in this country, their dreams lie elsewhere in the world.

Tories and Labour unite to deny Britain a vote!

Mark Foster — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 21:21:38 +0000

The House of Commons Speaker today refused to allow a vote on a Liberal Democrat amendment calling for an in-or-out referendum on the EU. The Liberal Democrat MP’s walked out of Parliament in protest. I can’t help thinking this is a cosy establishment conspiracy. Both Labour and the Conservatives have got too much to lose by giving Britons a say on this issue. I strongly believe that we’re better off in the European Union but I want to argue the case with my fellow citizens, and hopefully succeed!

Labour’s ‘fair rates’

Mark Foster — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:53:47 +0000

Despite a £3 million enquiry lasting four years the Government has quietly dropped plans to replace council tax with a fairer local tax system. The report concluded that council tax was not fit for purpose and had some fairly modest proposals to tackle some of the unfairness. But it now seems even this was too much for ministers.

I remember the poll tax fury, the Labour party at that time were proposing ‘fair rates’ to replace the poll tax, well there’s nothing fair about the way that council tax has increased since 1997!!!

People are angry, they are angry at being conned by New Labour and they are angry at paying ever-increasing sums into government black-holes. The public in this country have paid £3M to find a better way of paying for local services and the government have ignored the findings.This is a government that has complete contempt for the ordinary hard-working souls of this country, I’ve lost count of how many people I meet who want leave for Cyprus, Australia, Canada, Malta or Spain!!

Even my mum (who’s fairly non-political) has said “Labour have wrecked this country haven’t they?”

And the winner is - Littlehampton!

Mark Foster — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 21:07:11 +0000

It looks like the Arun Community Hospital may be built in 2009. This time last year it looked like a distant, distant possibility and at last years local elections many residents, and even some of our own activists didn’t believe that it could happen.

I believe it happened because all three major parties in Littlehampton stuck together on this issue. We organised the march, the Tories joined us and the Labour party organised the petition, it was the town against the bureaucrats and the town has won.

Go away Bliar!

Mark Foster — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 22:28:48 +0000

I think the Archbishop of Canterbury has completely lost his marbles! He’s suggesting that Sharia law is unavoidable in the future because some citizens don’t relate to the British legal system. Dr. Williams has always come across as quite a sensible bloke, but I think he’s spent too much time near burning candles or something!! Everyone knows that the only people exempt from the law in this country are foreign diplomats, the Government and Mrs. Elizabeth Windsor.

Jeremy Vine spoke about Bliar being the first President of Europe on Radio 2 today. I have said it once but I’ll say it again, what a start for the post - having a failed and hated ex-prime minister of the UK at it’s head! Bliar should just go and live on an island somewhere, (or maybe colonise Mars?) and never return to Europe or our TV screens, he was a disgrace to Britain and I’m fed-up with him haunting us like a bad smell. GO AWAY BLIAR!!

Rule Britannia!

Mark Foster — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:24:33 +0000

Jeremy Vine on Radio 2 did a piece about Britannia being removed from 50 pence coins today. What is wrong with Britannia?

Why oh why does this government insist on removing British national symbols from everything? Why are the new passports so bland? Why have the pound coins got bridges on them instead of leeks for Wales for example?

I am definitely no raving nationalist! But we shouldn’t be ashamed of our heritage, Britain has a proud history of tolerance and freedom. In these days of globalism we need strong symbols of British-ness. The Euro coins across Europe from Finland to Portugal, Malta to Luxembourg have proud symbols of their national heritage on the ‘head’ side.

I say we keep Britannia, like France has Marian, Germany has the eagle and Ireland has the harp. The problem is Mr. Brown the there will be a backlash to all this political correctness rubbish and it won’t be moderate liberal internationalists like me who will do it but ignorant right-wing nasty white supremacists