Is he a BNP councillor or an independent

It's very seldom that the political allegiance of a parish councillor becomes the subject of a media story but this has happened at the village of Kingswear just across the river from Dartmouth in south Devon. Peter Pirnie, who is a member of the far-right British National Party, has been co-opted on to the parish council along with two other people who are not members of the BNP.

What is causing consternation seems to be that one moment Mr Pirnie is stating that he is an independent and then suggesting he is a councillor for the BNP; certainly the BNP website had been boasting that they now have a second councillor in the south west, but that item appeared to have been removed when I looked just now.

Two major points to consider here I feel. Firstly it is a nonsense to suggest that a BNP member has been elected as he has clearly been co-opted, in other words it was the council itself who agreed that he could join them. Secondly I get annoyed when party politics get in the way of the lower levels of local government. There might just possibly be reason for a county councillor to stand on a party ticket, little if any reason why party politics should feature in the affairs of district councils whilst at parish level there is zero reason for councillors to display a political label. When they are objecting to the position of a street light or trying to get extra equipment for a children's play area then you have to ask why on earth political considerations would ever come into their deliberations.

I don't really know Mr Pirnie's motivations. Perhaps he has just wanted to generate publicity for the BNP, better if he had never mentioned his party I think.

More on level crossing accident

Time for some self criticism Brian! I like to get my facts right and expect that what others write should also be factually correct. Yesterday I let myself down by a misleading bit of commentary on the systems used on some level crossings. At the crossing near Chapel on the Par to Newquay line where this most recent accident occurred there are in fact no barriers just the flashing lights warning drivers not to cross. I should have remembered this as the lack of barriers has been the subject of much debate in the past. According to the Western Morning News this particular crossing has seen three such accidents in the last 4 years - an unenviable record. And this crossing is not unique because there have been similar mishaps on some of the other crossings on this line.

Obviously a full investigation is being carried out; a possibly significant fact is that the injured driver wasn't local, he came from Merseyside we are told.

Katie walks and then gets her marching orders

Katie Hopkins from Exeter - are there any more surprises for us? Katie you may recall was the contender in the TV programme 'The Apprentice' who after being told by Sir Alan Sugar she was in the final two decided to walk from the show. Interestingly Sugar has subsequently said that if she hadn't taken that action he would have changed his mind and fired her! Now we learn that she has lost her job as a global brand consultant with the Met Office; they have a 12 month probationary period system and she has failed to complete it.

I have been following this series of 'The Apprentice' and never warmed to her whereas her arch rival Kristina was someone I could empathise with. Katie was thoroughly nasty in relation to the others and had every reason to be disliked. Now I appreciate that in the Alan Sugar type of business you are not there to be Mr or Ms Nice but Katie seemed to be there purely as an ego trip. In the followup programme 'The Apprentice - You're fired' she was absolutely torn apart by a businesswoman on the panel of three. She just had to sit there and take the devastating criticism.

Normally I don't watch reality TV of any kind but I get the feeling we all love to have a person to hate - a bit like booing and hissing in a pantomine. Well Katie filled the slot admirably.

Another collision on the Newquay branch

I can recall various instances of car/train collisions on the Par to Newquay railway line in mid Cornwall. The latest of these occurred this morning on a level crossing at Chapel which is close to the Newquay end of the line. Although the car driver was injured and his car severely damaged there were no reports of anyone on the train being hurt.

Off the top of my head I can't recall whether previous accidents occurred at this crossing or maybe they have happened at the various level crossings on this length of track. It is difficult to understand why such level crossing accidents should occur. On our Tamar Valley Line we do have ungated crossings where the train driver is obliged to stop and sound his horn but I think the Newquay branch has barriers and flashing lights - I really ought to know this. So if there was no failure in the system it might be an instance of jumping the lights and weaving round the barriers. If that proves to be the case then the car driver needs to be prosecuted.

Olympics logo

As thousands of bloggers have been commenting on the new logo for the 2012 London Olympics I suppose I'd better throw in my twopenneth... Other than saying it doesn't do anything for me I would make two points - firstly I will own up and admit that I didn't recognise the figures 2012 were contained in the logo until told and I understand that more than a few others were also bemused. The second point is the sheer unbelievable cost in coming up with it, £400,000 I'm led to believe. Of course there are two ways of looking at this latter point; if you look at the cost as a one off spread over 5 years then in financial terms it starts to look more reasonable. But I tend to look at as the physical cost of coming up with the idea, doing some market research and then fleshing things out and it just seems crazy to cost this money. No doubt it's more complicated than appears on the surface and they also had to produce a video but for someone in the sticks down here it's what I call 'funny money' or 'telephone numbers money'.

Someone who also didn't like it put up an online petition criticising the logo and got over 48,000 to sign it within two days! Controversial indeed but all this publicity is definitely putting the 2012 Olympics on the map. However I still wish France had won it!

The democratic deficit (1)

This is the first of an occasional series of comments I want to make about what I perceive to be failures in our democratic system. One major problem of being a government minister or even the prime minister is that you are still an MP representing a constituency. We are led to believe that holding a ministerial post or being an MP are each full time jobs if performed properly. Now MPs have to respond to lots of concerns raised by their constituents many of which are not party political but still requiring some investigation and a reply. Fortunately my MP is not in the government so that on the very rare occasion I have written to him a prompt reply was forthcoming.

So if I lived in the Sedgefield constituency how long would it be to get Tony Blair to respond to a problem. Even if he has a good team of helpers I can't see him getting too involved with the minutiae of day to day queries and problems up there. Presently of course he is saying (at our expense thank you) one of the longest goodbyes in history. The question I would pose is this: should the Prime Minister and members of his cabinet and possibly other government ministers be drawn outside of the normally elected MPs. No I don't quite know how this could be done in practise but it seems to me that we could well benefit from using the talents of people who really understand how to run things as ministers. Just a little food for thought!

Problems with fallen stock

Fallen stock are those farm animals that die for whatever reason on a farm. Former practice was to dig a pit on ones farm away from a watercourse and bury the beast there but the BSE crisis caused a change in policy regarding this procedure. Under EU rules that came into effect some 18 months ago carcasses have to be rendered or incinerated. With the almost total eradication of BSE it might be thought that we could revert to the old far cheaper method but no.

There is an anomaly here: should the animal concerned be a horse, dog or cat then the ruling doesn't apply. And it seems that if you had an odd field with your property and kept a pet cow then probably again you would be outside the scheme. So it's all a bit of bureaucratic nonsense really.

When the EU edict came in the government paid a subsidy of about a third of the cost of disposal. Not unexpectedly that level of subsidy was not going to be maintained and it has now significantly lower at 10%! Some EU states reputedly pay all the farmers costs in removing fallen stock. Yet again British farmers are disadvantaged when compared with some of our neighbours.

Calendula sown

A friend has recently sown some calendula seeds (English Marigold) and she has kindly passed on the remainder of the packet she didn't use. Like her I'm very fond of these flowers and prefer them to the other types of marigold which I believe are more susceptible to slug attack. In the past I've bought already established plants so am crossing fingers that I will be successful. They are 'Orange King'; not only do I like orange flowers but with golden rod and evening primrose everywhere I have plenty of yellow flowers. And this year I also have yellow loosestrife kindly donated by another near neighbour.

The woodland across the valley has already lost its fresh green look and taken on the dark green mantle of summer. I always want to slow the clock down in May - it would be nice to have that delicious new green of the trees for just a little longer and of course the bluebells flowering. We are so lucky with our bluebells in the westcountry because they appear not just in the traditional woodland setting but in hedgebanks, on the moors and on the coast. So far as the last named habitat is concerned a particularly good location is along the north approach to Start Point in south Devon. Although the UK is I understand the best country in Europe for the bluebell there is concern that it might eventually be replaced by its more vigorous cousin the Spanish bluebell. These are the ones often seen in people's gardens but can't be compared surely with our native ones. Then there is the potential effect of climate change on their distribution I suppose. A worrying future for the bluebell.

No extra runway space at Exeter or Plymouth

In the same week that has seen the start of the enquiry into providing a second runway at Stanstead north east of London it is good to read that the managements at both Exeter and Plymouth airports have declared that they are not seeking extra runway space. Well hooray for that at least. Exeter International Airport have now got new owners of course and I'm pleased that they have made this statement that they do not need another runway even with the rapid growth of numbers flying from there. Plymouth had thoughts of relocating its airport but I'm glad that idea hasn't resurfaced. The owners say they don't plan to lengthen the runway which idea had also been mooted.

I accept that in terms of the British economy civil aviation has been a great success and that government is keen to further expand airports. But I would say "enough is enough". From an environmental point of view surely we have sufficient planes flying around and that there has to be a top limit to the amount of flying permitted. As usual our politicians set a poor example: we had David Cameron making a private flight from Oxford to Hereford and we had Tony Blair flying up to Sedgefield in the north east to make his resignation speech. So, as ever, do as I say not do as I do.

Councils and "pay as you throw"

Of late the media have been full of stories and comment on the question of paying additional charges for waste disposal to landfill - the so called "pay as you throw". It is understandable that this has become a major issue because this is a very obvious way we interact with our local authorities and the whole question of council tax is something that generates a lot of opinion. What is interesting is that councils in Devon and Cornwall are unenthusiastic about these "pay as you throw" charges and that for Teignbridge at least there is a move to abandon the fortnightly landfill rubbish collection and revert back to the old weekly cycle.

Now I understand that some countries in Europe have successfully implemented "pay as you throw" and driven up their recycling rates so shouldn't we therefore do the same here. The answer from this passionate environmentalist is an emphatic "No!". Let me say why -

• Firstly we are very different to the environmentally best European countries, witness our appallingly bad record on litter dropping and fly tipping. "Pay as you throw" would lead to an increase in these anti social activities unfortunately. Furthermore if you dislike your neighbour you will be tempted to sneak some of your rubbish into his bin. In the real world some of this will inevitably happen.
• Where I live in the Caradon District area we don't use wheelie bins, our rubbish goes out in black bin bags or, in my case, an old fashioned dustbin. Many other places do use wheelie bins of course and here the technology is available to weigh the contents. For those councils not going down the wheelie bin route I understand that one solution to "pay as you throw" is for the council themselves to issue special bags at some cost to the consumer and the disposal operatives to take these only. Thus you would have the wheelie bin councils charging by weight but the refuse sack enthusiasts having a charging regime based around volume. In other words no consistency. And although landfill tax is I think dependant on weight (tonnes) it is the volume available for landfill that more concerns councils. It might be argued that there is a consistent relationship between weight and volume so far as rubbish is concerned but my point is that I foresee difficulties in establishing fairness between different councils.
• On the subject of fairness consider two neighbouring households; the first one has just one person who produces one bin full of rubbish per week. Next door the family of six produce two bins worth of rubbish and so get charged twice as much even though if you do the arithmetic they are producing only a third as much rubbish per person. So effectively they are being penalised for being a large family. Is this fair? I think not.
• Self catering holiday accommodation is popular in Devon and Cornwall. If "pay as you throw" came in the accommodation provider would have to pick up the tab regardless of the amount of rubbish left by the guests. Would that be reasonable?
• There are significant numbers of people living in blocks of flats with communal facilities. How can you distinguish between the rubbish left by the various residents? And what about those people always on the move from one residence to another? By the time the bill arrives they have moved on.
• The existing process of sending out council bills is relatively straightforward in the sense that ones payments are consistent over a year. With "pay as you throw" the amount to be paid could vary enormously causing a nightmare both for the council and for those trying to budget their outgoings.
• How often would homeowners be billed? Monthly? Quarterly? Annually? So what about the family who move house midway between payment dates? I can see all sorts of problems arising.
• From the bureaucracy point of view it is self evidently going to be an expensive process with these extra costs falling on the homeowners. And the extra paper required for the bills isn't environmentally friendly is it!

From these points, which are not necessarily exhaustive, it can be seen that "pay as you throw" might be superficially attractive but has too many things against it in this country. It is a big subject - I could talk about the excess packaging that is produced, the fact that different councils do not all recycle the same things thus introducing another variable, the list goes on. But I think I've written enough for now. Suffice to say that our policy makers are very good at making policy suggestions without thinking through the possible ramifications. I'm getting used to that.

Early start for blackbirds

I have commented before about the pleasure one can get from listening from birdsong and some species start singing before dawn. One such is the blackbird. Sometimes I awake early, today being an example and a blackbird started its melody at 4.26! This is nothing unusual at this time of year but it seems as if the song is a little gentler, not quite so penetrating as before.


Now I've always understood that birds tend to sing in spring when they are establishing territories and attracting mates. But I guess that the whole question of why they do it is more complex. Do some birds also sing for pleasure? Not for the first time I am amazed at the sheer variety of sounds different bird species produce from what one would imagine are physically similar voice boxes.

Still on the subject of our feathered friends I had the pleasure of seeing not just one but four kingfishers flying one after the other down by our river bank the other day. What a moment that was!

Superb concert at Calstock

This half term week has seen the Calstock Festival take place and one of the items was a concert in a former chapel in the village on Sunday evening. It was based around a theme of "Underneath the Arches" as this year the village celebrates the centenary of the building of its famous railway viaduct which in fact is not many yards away from the chapel.

The start of the evening felt very gloomy, more akin to November than May, so we felt the need to be cheered up! I have written before about Calstock Rubber Band and they were joined on this occasion by the Calstock Singers. The rubber band play a lot of very lively music but four of them calling themselves "Under the Fingers" also play in a much quieter vein. They are Rosie (Recorders and vocals), Pauline (Cello and vocals), Liz (Guitar) and Jenny (Harp). In addition to the music we had some poetry readings delivered by Harry Chambers from Peterloo Poets. The old chapel it should be said is the home for 'Peterloo Poets' and has a wonderfully big clear east window that looks beyond the Tamar to the fields on the Devon bank. It was good to see numerous house martins swooping around outside this window as we waited for the event to start.

Peterloo Poets have an informative website here and by clicking on 'About Peterloo Poets' one can see a picture of the chapel from the river.

Including the interval the whole programme was nearly three hours long, terrific value for our £4 per person concessionary payment. How the participants remained so calm and relaxed throughout amazed us - it was a truly professional performance.

I must also mention Richard Hendin the Master of Ceremonies who I didn't know but who could kept proceedings moving at the right pace with plenty of easy humour. The balance between music song and words could hardly have been bettered. All in all a truly memorable evening.

Gipsy Moth IV returns to Plymouth

It is 40 years since Sir Francis Chichester sailed into Plymouth Sound in Gipsy Moth IV to a hero's welcome as he became the first person to complete a solo circumnavigation around the world. The anniversary of that momentous occasion last Monday saw her return to Plymouth after her second circumnavigation this time with a full crew aboard.

Although I haven't been really following her progress I was pleased to note that some young people had availed themselves of the opportunity to share the adventure: what an unforgettable experience that must have been!

There is a detailed website for Gipsy Moth IV here which appears to answer just about any question you could ask. I noticed that she is due in her new home at Cowes on the Isle of Wight this Sunday. The website states that she "will be a regular sight in the Solent, as she will continue to take young people on unique sailing experiences and take members of the public and corporate guests afloat." It's brilliant to know that such an historic vessel is in good hands with an assured future.

As a footnote it is worth recalling that Chichester had been a pioneering aviator and that in 1958, nine years before he completed his circumnavigation, he was diagnosed with cancer and given 6 months to live! This country is extraordinary in the way it produces these individuals with a great sense of adventure; Sir Ranulph Fiennes is another in the same mould.

Devon are county champions

I'll start off by saying that I don't play rugby, never have done so and never watch it (that's quite an admission to make living in Cornwall!). However I am always pleased to record any success by sportsmen (or women for that matter) that represent my two counties.

So it's well done to the Devon County rugger side who beat Lancashire at Twickenham on Monday for the county championship. I understand that Devon were very good value for their win.

Barnstaple downstream bridge opened

In an earlier post I had reported on the good progress made on some vital road schemes in Devon and Cornwall. Of these one has been completed and opened in the past week (Barnstaple's western bypass and downstream bridge) whilst shortly before that a substantial part of the A30 diversion in mid Cornwall around the north of Goss Moor came into operation.

The traffic jams in Barnstaple had been notorious for years: it is I suppose the major hub for roads in North Devon. Constant slow moving traffic really blights many of our old towns so I imagine the bypass is a great relief to the locals. And hopefully it might give Ilfracombe a bit of a boost by encouraging investors into that easily forgotten town now that travelling there will be less fraught. There has been a constantly updated website devoted to the construction of the bridge - good use of the internet methinks.

Regarding Goss Moor the section of new road opened avoids the low bridge carrying the Newquay branch line so no more news items of lorries getting jammed under it with all the ensuing problems. (Did HGV drivers ever get prosecuted for driving without due care and attention? They certainly should have as the low bridge is well signed). There is more work to do at the ends of this project so that it won't be fully open till later in the summer but at least the greater part of the contract is now complete.

Napoli work at Portland

'The Western Morning News' newspaper is quite good at producing what I call 'behind the scenes' reports. By that I mean accounts of things that can be related to major news stories but is perhaps not the hard news itself, something more akin to magazine journalism. A week ago they did an article on the clean-up operations on the Napoli containers taken to Portland. Anyone reading this blog can see I have been fairly immersed in the MSC Napoli story and I am interested in events happening off the main stage so to speak.

In the WMN article there is a detailed description of how, in particular, those containers that became contaminated are dealt with. These containers are apparently washed down in a contained area, the resulting mix of water and oil going into a separator. The water can then be reused but the oil is sent by tanker to Falmouth for processing, so at least we get some work for Cornwall out of it!

Waste from the containers is dispatched to six different centres across the UK, depending on exactly the material is. Undamaged containers can of course be reused but the rest are cut up for scrap.

Robin Middleton, the man from the Ministry, who has coordinated the whole salvage operation from the start, is quoted as saying of the Portland operation "This is the best and biggest example of this happening in the world. To have created the area and got it up to environmental standards on what was an overgrown football pitch is just unbelievable". In the very earliest days of the Napoli beaching and salvage story I saw Mr Middleton being interviewed on TV and was immediately impressed by his quiet but confident authority.

I was pleased to read the article as it has helped me get a more rounded picture of the Napoli saga.

Last container lifted from MSC Napoli

It was just under four months ago that the MSC Napoli was unceremoniously beached off Branscombe in East Devon. The last of the 2300 plus containers on board has now been removed from the ship, the salvage company I'm sure being well pleased with the speed of the operation overall. The weather during the operation has been for the most part fairly benign with few gales so this has obviously helped.

As I see it there are three major considerations left to be dealt with. Firstly what to do with the wreck: I'm no expert on such matters but I'm sure it's exercising a few minds! Secondly, how far does the insurance money go in paying for the huge costs involved in the incident and its aftermath? It would be nice to think that Devon council tax payers won't have to contribute but that I imagine is wishful thinking! Lastly there is the public enquiry promised by Devon County Council who are quietly going about collecting evidence for this enquiry which hopefully will start this year. What seems very, very important to me is that some really good naval surveyors give the Napoli a very thorough look over to see in particular what the previous repairs were like after she had her first altercation in Indonesia.

I'm particularly pleased that the county council are prepared to do this as central government have said they won't. Reminds me of the 2001 foot and mouth crisis in which it was again left to Devon CC to do the public enquiry bit when the government wouldn't.

Ten Tors trek abandoned

Nice and sunny now maybe but there was a lot of rain earlier and in view of the weather forecast the army decided to abandon this year's 'Ten Tors' challenge last night.

This must have been incredibly disappointing for the 2400 yougsters participating in this two day Dartmoor challenge. It seems that it was the potential problems crossing the very swollen rivers that caused the army to make their decision. This is the lottery of the British weather isn't it. We are now having a wet May after one of the driest Aprils on record.

Furore over proposed bridge at Boscastle

Following the flood in August 2004 that devastated much of Boscastle and Crackington Haven on the North Cornish coast the conclusion was reached that the little bridge in the harbour area at Boscastle would have to be replaced. This is because the existing structure is not big enough to cope with this sort of weather event, something with a larger opening is required. There were thoughts of replacing the existing bridge with a similarly styled one in stone but it was considered that the new one would be too dominant (I agree). The alternative suggested is a lighter looking steel structure which I think from the pictures I've seen would be an elegant addition.

However the majority of locals don't seem to agree with this viewpoint! I think that there are a few occasions when you can't hang on to the past by building something which pretends to come from another era. A modern bridge here would act as a reminder of the rebuilding after the flood. On this subject one only has to look at the rebuilding of the little shop with the very wavy roof line in the harbour area (a former pig house I believe!). This may be good for the tourists but is make believe really - for instance building regs mean it is noticeably higher than before; it may have used much of the old materials but it is not the same building and I believe it is wrong to pretend it is. In other words I wouldn't have rebuilt it. Harsh words I know but I believe in honesty in the built environment.

Why is Nick Robinson so politically correct?

I frequently read some of the political blogs one of which is that of Nick Robinson on the BBC's excellent news website. I say excellent primarily because of the wide ranging subject matter with easy to use links. On 10th May Nick made an entry unsurprisingly about Tony Blair's resignation speech that day. In it he said of Blair "he could have simply sent a letter to the chair of Labour's National Executive asking them to choose a new leader." Mr Robinson, what is wrong with the word 'chairman', whether a man or woman. At a meeting one would address that person as 'Mister Chairman' or 'Madam Chairman' not 'Chair'. The use of the word chair in the blog is pathetic, ridiculous and unnecessary. Must we have all this tedious political correctness? You might be satisfying a few with your choice of words but I can assure you that you have dropped in my estimation and I'm sure I'm not alone. So BBC and journalists get a life and don't be so daft.

Reaquaintance with Exmoor

Yesterday I returned home from a very pleasant few days holiday on Exmoor. The plan was to spend up to a week with my brothers and sister in law in self catering accommodation but, following one of the driest Aprils on record, the weather has decided to turn wet: it is in fact pouring down as I type this! Having said that we made good use of the first part of the week and felt that the effort had been very worthwhile.

Our accommodation was just up the road from Tarr Steps in a small complex belonging to Liscombe Farm. For the price paid the place was very acceptable, one of the bonuses being that there was a very good supply of crockery and cutlery so that we didn't have to wash up after every single meal! Normally one can go direct to Dulverton (about 5 miles I think) to get ones victuals but when we were there that route was closed for repairs so that we had to make a substantial diversion north through Winsford to get to Dulverton.

As children we had three holidays on Exmoor the locality being a firm favourite of my parents. So there was quite a bit of nostalgia. We managed to get a couple of decent length walks during the course of our curtailed stay - the first was following the Barle upstream toward Withypool then ascending eastward onto the top of Winsford Hill to return over moorland and fields. The following day was primarily car based taking in Dunster, Selworthy and Allerford with some gentle strolls at each. Having returned to base via the road just below and to the east of Dunkery Beacon the following day saw us all ascend to the top of the said hill (1705' elevation and the highest spot on the moor). Three of us made the long gradual descent to nearly sea level at Bossington with the other 2 meeting us there with the car. The final complete day closed in weather wise but in the morning we did manage to visit the nearby Wimbleball Lake, a fair sized reservoir which I believe is shared by South West Water and Wessex Water.

It was excellent to hear cuckoos calling and to see a couple of deer that were reasonably close apart from others in the distance. And a good time for bluebells of course. Some meadow saxifrage in the Barle Valley was a good find too because this is apparently rare in Somerset.

Exmoor paths have been well waymarked for many years with unobtrusive wooden finger posts and the whole area is particularly suitable for those wanting to do some good hikes but without much risk of losing their way. And as for variety of scenery this is English landscape par excellence. All in all a very happy return to this piece of countryside.

May the First - lots of important happenings

Well here we are, it's the First of May and special because it's the start of my favourite month of the year. That's not because my birthday is tomorrow (I try to forget birthdays!) but because we have lots of daylight now with the days still getting longer, the temperature is usually just about right and the countryside coming into its best and lushest. However today is significant for a number of other reasons.

First up it's Obby Oss day in Padstow. Sadly time hasn't allowed me to go there today but I have been before and the atmosphere is absolutely electric. I understand that the Countryfile team from the BBC will be there and there will be a chance to see some of the celebrations on the programme next Sunday. It's possible to get some feel of this annual event from videos on YouTube, just key in Padstow. Also on YouTube you can see and hear Steeleye Span with the lovely Maddy Prior singing Padstow's Mayday song.

Today also sees the start of an initially six month scheme in the Devon village of Modbury deep in the South Hams. This is all about living without plastic bags and was the brainchild of local resident Rebecca Hosking who witnessed horrific scenes of marine wildlife dying from plastic bag ingestion whilst filming in Hawaii for the BBC. All 43 traders in Modbury are involved in the scheme: they will provide a range of carrier bags made of biodegradable and compostable cornstarch. It will also be possible for residents to purchase bags for life in 2 different sizes, these being supplied by Cornish firm 'bags2keep'. I think Modbury has the sort of community spirit to make this work and I shall watch developments with interest.

It was 10 years ago today that Tony Blair became Prime Minister. That day I'm sure was a heady one for many and it seemed that we might be embarking on a better course but how perceptions have changed. It would be difficult to think of another British government that has been so immersed in sleaze, dishonesty and downright incompetence as the present one. Certainly Blair is past his sell by date and will not be going out in a blaze of glory.

Back to Cornwall now. At the Eden Project they are holding a business summit on Climate Change. In today's Western Morning News there is a 16 page supplement about this event. I won't comment now as I haven't yet had a chance to read it but I do feel that Devon and Cornwall could be trailblazers in dealing with climate change.