Back from holiday

Originally posted @ 11:31 pm, Tue 1st Dec 2009

Back from holiday and straightaway off to Westminster to meet Ministers on Monday morning. But already, I'd noticed a change in the political mood.

People are beginning to wonder why the rich need extra help at this difficult time. The Tories are saddled with commitments for tax breaks for the rich which mainly help a few thousand people in the constituency of Kensington & Chelsea, which includes Notting Hill where Cameron lives.

Cameron was also kind of "apologising" for claims concerning a Muslim group made in last week's Prime Minister's Questions which weren't true. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8387063.stm

Alarmist claims are common in the right-wing tabloids. I often have to deal with stories on the doorstep that prove to be a nonsense. A typical example was the Bolivian who'd been granted permission to stay in the country cos he owned a cat. People were angry about that. But the story wasn't true.

You have to search the internet to find the real story - http://tabloid-watch.blogspot.com/2009/10/eamonn-holmes-cant-think-for-himself.html - but by then I guess it's too late. The Bolivian had been in a steady relationship with an English woman for 4 years and if the Home Office had only followed its own guidelines, the case would not have even got to appeal.

But these stories do upset people. I'd bought the latest Private Eye on my return and on page 4, a cartoon shows a patient seeking help from his G.P. The G.P.'s verdict - "Blood pressure a bit high. Cut down on the Daily Mail and increase your broadsheet intake."