Greening Southsea was a well advertised meeting and was attended by around 200 people showing that climate change is at the top of the agenda in Southsea. Not surprising as Portsmouth will be deeply affected by the rise in sea levels. I think the sea has to rise around 3 metres for my house to be under water and that is one of the last areas to be affected looking at the Environmental Agency’s website.

Greening Southsea is about how each individual can make small but significant changes to the environment and has already been rolled out around Hampshire and other areas so it is great that Heather Todd has taken the challenge to drive it forward in Southsea. Terina Plowright has been instrumental in starting this up around the country and will be speaking to the Conservative Party conference next week.

At the meeting we had to decide on the top 8 challenges which varied from loft insulation; changing light bulbs to low energy ones; turning off standby and other similar achievable targets. One of the biggest contribution to our carbon footprint is the loss of heat from houses. Apparently it will cost around £150-200 to have the loft insulated but it has to be done professionally to avoid fire risks, freezing of pipes and ineffectiveness.

When people have achieved the targets they put a card in the window to show that they have contributed to making Southsea more environmentally friendly. This is a fantastic way of raising awareness and reducing our carbon football relatively easily. You can find out more at www.greening-campaign.co.uk and I look forward to helping the team to get this project going.

Love Albert Road Day

Around 80,000 people attended Love Albert Road Day  and it was absolutely packed. I pushed my way through the throngs in the afternoon and listened to the many bands on the way. Many people had obviously been enjoying the pubs and there were queues at all the foodstalls. Bangkok Spice sold over 1000 dishes at their stall. The atmosphere was great but I gather there were not enough loos and I hope that next year there will be portaloos. Well done to the organisers and all those who had to clear up the huge amount of mess at the end of the day.

This morning I visited the Portsmouth Family Welfare Association at the Carnegie Library in Fratton Road. The PFWA had contacted me as they are running out of money and they were furious, rightly so, at MP’s expenses when they are so short. This is an organisation which has been running for 106 years and gives people, who have absolutely nowhere else to go, clothes, shoes, basic household items and, in some cases, food. However this valuable service which looks after our most disadvantaged families may have to close before Christmas if no money can be found.

There are only two part time workers managing a storeroom full of clothes and shoes organised into sizes. They also have crockery, saucepans, sheets etc to give to people who have been given a flat but have no money to furnish it. This year so far they have helped 65 new families and another 92 families who have come back for further assistance, often referred by social workers or agencies like Sure Start.

Sadly it is very difficult to raise money and filling in forms for grants is a full time job as every charity knows and many are not allocated all the money they have asked for. It is organisations like Portsmouth Family Welfare Association which are providing a vital service at very little cost to the taxpayer and we must find ways of ensuring their survival especially during hard times.

If you can volunteer your time or would like to help financially, please contact them at Carnegie Library, Fratton Road, Portsmouth PO1 5EZ or telephone 023 9281 1407 for further information. I know they need help with Christmas parcels and I am looking forward to getting involved.

The Conservative Party is the home of Liberal Democracy

Eric Pickles MP, Friday, September 18 2009

I am here today to give a simple message to Liberal Democrat voters – come on home to the Conservative Party.

Whether you are a Liberal Democrat who, in the past, voted Conservative or someone who has never dreamed of voting Conservative before, there is a welcome waiting for you in our party.

Liberal democracy has always formed an important part of the Conservative family. From the Factory Acts to 42 days detention, the Conservative Party will always be the home of progressive liberal democracy in British politics.

It is time for people to come home to the Conservative Party.

I believe, as many others do, that the Labour Party has failed our country.

I believe there is growing consensus about the kind of change our country needs – a consensus that unites Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

Our country is having a tough old time at the moment. We’re faced with not just a mountain of debt, but a Mount Everest of debt. We are facing enormous social problems, failing public services, and a terrible loss of faith in our political system.

That is why the next election is the most important in a generation.

We are a country that needs leadership – strong leadership that will bring fresh ideas, and hope to people’s lives. It’s been evident this week that the Labour Government is preoccupied with its short-term survival – rather than taking the long-term decisions that the country needs. We meet today, just a few short months away, from an opportunity to begin the task of rebuilding our broken economy and mending our broken society.

So if you are a Liberal Democrat voter, you have a very clear choice.

You could vote Liberal Democrat again – and vote for a party whose leader admitted yesterday that he is chasing the Labour Party’s votes and shifting further away from the liberal centre-ground.

That’s one option.

Or, you could do something radical – something progressive.

You could vote for real change.

VOTE FOR CHANGE

You could vote for a party that shares so many of your values. A party that can form a new government, a fresh government, a strong government.

If you want a government that will put power in the hands of people, if you want a government that will scrap ID cards, the surveillance state and guard our freedoms, and if you want a government that will bring prudence and honesty back to the Treasury, then there is a party for you – it is the Conservative Party.

My message today is simple: the Conservative Party is the only party that can bring the change that Britain needs. I believe in my bones that an election of a Cameron government will strike a great blow for the values of liberal democracy.

I know, if you are a Liberal Democrat voter, this might be uncharted territory for you.

You might be really torn over what to do when you get into that polling booth – I understand that.

But I am asking you to vote Conservative, not necessarily to be a Conservative.

I’m asking for you to put your trust in David Cameron and our party to deliver on those things that we all want to see.

Those things form a common ground that unites us – a progressive consensus if you like – on which we can stand together and bring change.

THE CHANGE WE WILL BRING

We have already shown that when our shared values and common goals are at stake, we’ll work with people of any political allegiance to do the right thing.

When we saw injustice over the Gurkhas not being allowed to settle in Britain, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats worked together to do the right thing. When the Government came out with illiberal, authoritarian measures like 42 day detention and ID cards, we opposed them every step of the way. When there was an opportunity to decentralise and pass power downwards, we worked with all parties to develop the Sustainable Communities Act.

And on the environment, never before in Britain has there been a leader as determined as David Cameron to put climate change right at the top of everyone’s political agenda.

So when the Government pushed for the third runway at Heathrow, we pushed against it together. And when the Government gave way to our pressure for a Climate Change Bill, we worked to strengthen it yet further.

But whilst we have worked with liberal-minded folk in the past, and we’ve shown the Conservative Party is the home of liberal democracy we need your support to take the next logical step. We need your support if we are going to fix our broken society, decentralise power even more, and provide effective aid for those in need.

Together, we can bring change to those trapped in poverty.

After over a decade of failed social policy, can there really be any doubt that in recent years it has been ideas from the centre-right, especially with the work done by the Centre for Social Justice under the direction of Iain Duncan Smith, they have set the agenda on tackling poverty and increasing a sense of social responsibility.

Together, we can take more power from the political elite, and give it back to men and women on the street. We are committed to giving people more opportunity and power over their lives and moving to a new post-bureaucratic age of devolution from Whitehall to local communities.

And – last but by no means least – together, we can help those in poverty around the world.

On Wednesday, David was asked by a journalist how he could justify his commitment to spending more money on international development at a time of recession.

What did he say?

He did not take the easy way out.

He said yes, times are tough and as a country we’ve got to get through a horrible deficit.

He said, “We are a generous, outward looking country that wants to see people in the poorest parts of the world have a better life”.

SOCIAL ACTION

But this commitment to people around the world isn’t just shown by our words, it’s also shown by our actions too. Over the last few years hundreds of Conservative MPs, candidates and activists have spent their own money and their own spare time using their skills to help people in Rwanda.

And, although this is the biggest social action project we have done, it is by no means the only one.

Did you know that up and down the country there are now over 150 Conservative-led social action projects? These projects have become an important part of what we do and who we are as a party.

I was in Blackpool recently and I saw for myself how much good our party conference social action project had done – and is still doing.

Social action empowers our citizens to join in the kind of society we want to see. It links to our deep belief that by acting together – not waiting for the state to act on our behalf – we can tackle the challenges that we all face.

PEOPLE TURNING TO US

Friends, that’s the kind of politics we need right now. And it’s the kind of politics that is attracting people to join the Conservative Party.

As Chairman, I am proud that so many people are recognising that the Conservative Party is a home for the values they hold dear.

Recent elections make it very clear that all kinds of people in all corners of our great country are pausing, thinking about their options, and deciding to vote Conservative. But it’s not just Liberal Democrat voters who are choosing the Conservatives – many of their activists are too.

Under David’s leadership we’ve seen a steady stream of Liberal Democrats from all levels of the party deciding that the Conservative Party is the best vehicle. In fact, one of the very first things David did when he became leader was give a speech urging our Liberal Democrat friends to join us.

I am glad to say that many of them have responded to that call. At least fifty councillors have joined us since David became leader. Added to that are nine former parliamentary candidates, and Saj Karim in the European Parliament.

And I am delighted to announce today that Councillor James Keeley, until recently he was the Liberal Democrat candidate up in Skipton & Ripon and has decided to join the Conservative Party.

As James has said and I quote: “We have to wake, wise up, and work together in order to make things better for us all. I’ve come to the conclusion that the only way forward is David Cameron and the Conservative Party.”

James that is absolutely right and I am delighted to welcome you and your talent to the Conservative family. James and many of our other new friends have come down to be with us today – so do talk to them afterwards.

I know, joining or even voting, for a party for the first time, can seem like a big decision, of course it can. But if you do speak to our new chums – why don’t you ask them if they’ve ever regretted joining us?

I bet you they’ll say NO, because I’m confident that they’ll be proud to say that they belong to a party that will bring real change to our country.

CONCLUSION

So friends, let me leave you with this thought. If you are a Liberal Democrat voter, ask yourself one important question.

Which party in government will deliver on those liberal ideas that are so important to you?

If like me, you believe that rather than being an agent for change in Britain, the Liberal Democrat party has sadly become a road block to progress, I would ask you to join our new alliance.

I’m not asking you to become a card carrying member of the Conservative Party overnight.

Instead, I urge you to vote for something exciting and progressive.

To help form a progressive alliance built upon our shared values of: personal freedom, a commitment to the environment, and a desire to protect the most vulnerable at home and in the rest of our world.

So join the people in the room today and thousands across the country who have chosen to help the Conservative Party protect our civil liberties and our hard won freedoms.

And, by voting Conservative, be part of putting liberal democracy back to the very centre of government in Britain.

58 plastic bottle tops found on Southsea Beach. That is one of the exciting statistics gleaned from the group whom I was following and documenting what we found on the beach between the Pyramids and Southsea Pier. 9 members of the Conservative Team joined 13 other people to help clean the beach for Beachwatch organised by the Marine Conservative Society nationally and by Councillor Luke Stubbs, city councillor for Eastney and Craneswater, locally.

I always thought the beach was very clean when I walk along it but it isn’t until you start to look for rubbish that you notice the amount of detritus hiding amongst the pebbles. Each of us were given bags and plastic gloves along with special picking up tools and I was given the job of documenting all the stuff that my group picked up. The most numerous item was cigarette butts but they were really too many to count around the Pier and Promenade and after around 150 we decided to move nearer the sea and started picking up plastic bottle tops, lolly pop sticks, sweet papers and all the usual things you would find on a tourist beach.

More dangerous was the amount of glass pieces and metal we found as they were hidden among the pebbles and would certainly cut bare feet or animals. We also found pieces of rope and fishing tackle – all of which can cause damage to wildlife. We only found one plastic bag so perhaps we are more careful with what we do with them in Portsmouth as this is the excuse that supermarkets give for charging us for plastic bags – why they don’t start producing paper ones anyway.

I was really pleased to be part of this project and know that Cllr Stubbs does have other beach cleaning sessions – contact him Cllr.Luke.Stubbs@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

It was a gorgeous day and I hope more people will turn out next year.

10.15am. This time 8 years ago I was coming out of a French class at my local community college in Norwalk, Connecticut, USA, when I popped into the library to get a book only to find the radio on full blast with news about two planes crashes into the World Trade Centre. We were all told to go home immediately and college would be closed until further notice. We had no television at home so I went down to the beach where we could see Manhattan and saw that the magical skyline had changed for ever. A thick black smoke was trailing into the clear blue sky – over the next week it lingered over Long Island.

A voicemail from my husband who worked in Midtown meant that he was alright although we were unable to contact each other for the rest of the day and it was impossible to contact our families in England to assure them that he was OK but fortunately the internet was still working. Like most British people who have survived attacks by the IRA, he was stoical and sat there in the office getting on with work and wondering whether his colleagues and friends in the World Trade Centre had managed to escape. I got a call from the school to see if there was anyone at home to see the kids off the school bus – the amazing statistic in Westport was that not a single child in the state school system lost a parent. One friend only learnt that her husband had survived at 1pm, he had walked down from the 60’th floor.

The attitude of the American following the attack ranged from ‘let’s nuke the lot of them’ to ‘why does everyone in the world hate us’. I pointed out to my class at the community college that Americans had been funding terrorism in Britain for years – you can imagine how popular that was – and 9/11 was certainly the demise of the IRA when American funders woke up to the fact that terrorism is the same around the world. There is always the quip that Americans go to war to learn their geography and it is very apparent from comments and from my kids’ American schooling that geography does not appear high on the curriculum. In fact, Britain also does not feature apart from being the nasty foe in the War of Independence – so much for a special relationship which certainly does not exist outside a few platitudes in Washington.

During the following weeks, heroic stories came out and not so heroic ones, one fire engine was found beneath the rubble laden with looted goods, but it was the faces and obituaries which were published in the New York Times of all those who had perished that has really stuck in my mind. I tried to read every one and it was heartbreaking as were all the pictures and requests for information put on boards around Manhattan as relatives desperately hoped that their loved ones were still alive. I went down to Ground Zero about 4 weeks after 9/11 and the acrid smell and ash still floated around with shops still left unopened and doorways full of black soot. The economy was badly hit and those who lost their jobs also lost health care too. There were frequent funerals of fire fighters at St Patrick’s Cathedral and on the train we sat next to spruced up fire fighters on their way to yet another funeral.

9/11 has changed the world, our only superpower has used the attack as a mandate to go into countries on pre-emptive strike against terrorism and sadly Blair followed as Bush’s ‘poodle’ as the New York Times called him. We have to look closely at our strategic policy and realise that we are just not that important to America but we do still have close links with the Commonwealth and Europe and perhaps should be putting more emphasis on those ties than American ones.

At both the Green Fair and Multicultural Festival I was handed a leaflet from the Portsmouth Stop the War Coalition inviting me to a rally to bring the troops home now. If this had been about Iraq I would be there because I was strongly against the war in Iraq. However, our presence in Afghanistan is a little greyer. Leaving aside the original intention which was to stop the terrorist training camps, there is also the issue of drugs. Afghanistan supplies 90% of the world’s opium, one of the raw ingredients in heroin, and drug abuse is one of reasons for family breakdown, poor parenting, anti-social behaviour and crime in this country. We have only got to look at the Doncaster boys whose mother was unable to look after the family because of drug abuse. It is just as dangerous if not more so than terrorism as it affects so many more people.

So I think our troops are doing a tremendous job in Afghanistan and their contribution there is worthwhile for our society. However, they are not properly equipped, they are not given the correct political direction in what they are supposed to be doing there or enough tools to build up the infrastructure which is so badly needed. I do believe that if the United States had not diverted the troops, money and energy into Iraq, we would have been able to sort out the mess in Afghanistan much sooner without enabling the terrorists to regroup. Failed states in our globalised world are a big threat and while I am not advocating a neo-Con approach that only liberal democracy is the right way, governments of failed states do need help and encouragement to find the best way of making their people safe from tyranny and poverty.

I am putting this up for discussion on my facebook page and would be interested in receiving your comments.

If you are interested in attending the Naming the Dead event by the Portsmouth Stop the War Coalition, it is at the Guildhall Square on Saturday 12 September 12pm

This annual event is a great opportunity for different cultures to get together and find out sources of information as well as entertainment. It was good to see so many people that I know and catch up with gossip. Having been bought up in the Middle East and Asia, I am very interested in making sure that people coming to this country are well integrated without losing sight of their identity. I have been trying to get some informal conversation classes for ladies who want to improve their English by talking to local residents so this was a good opportunity to network and make sure that I am not duplicating someone else’s project. Portsmouth is full of different projects all doing a fantastic job so it is important to make sure that I am not stepping on other’s toes. It seems that there are no other projects like this so if you are interested in coming to chat to people from other communities, please let me know. I am particularly interested in young mothers as many of the immigrants are in that category.

The fact that the Green Fair was so well attended by stall holders and visitors shows how strongly people feel about environmental issues in Portsmouth. I am really pleased that we have put it at the top of our political agenda and I hope that both environmental and social justice issues underline all our policies, they are both at the top of my agenda. The Copenhagen Climate Talks are coming up shortly and there are several public meetings coming up round the country to co-ordinate an approach. I am not sure about their demands to cut speed to 55mph or to scrap the roads program – to me the really sensible argument is to encourage investment in developing green cars as no one really wants to reverse the freedom that the car gives. Perhaps the demand for a million Green Jobs by end 2010 could include scientists working on this.

We do need a cheaper and more efficient train service too but high speed trains have to be full and run on renewable energy if they really want to be considered green. If you want to find out more about the Campaign against Climate Change you can find it at www.campaigncc.org. I did have my photo taken with a poverty sign which is going to be beamed up on a wall along with thousands of others!

Another stall I spent some time was the Pompey Cycle Forum. As a keen cyclist and someone who thinks that Portsmouth should be the cycle city of Britain (it is flat and compact) I am fully behind this group who do much to lobby the City Council about making the city more cycle friendly. We won’t get people on their bikes until we have safe cycle lanes and continuous links around the city. When I went cycling in France last year, we were able to cycle around Cherbourg easily with clearly marked trails. Cycling to and from the ferry in Portsmouth especially around the ferry port was not so easy. The most controversial issue at the moment is cycling along the sea front, at the moment parked cars make it very dangerous and the group and myself have been lobbying for a safe cycle route along the sea front which would encourage more cyclist from all over the area.

Lastly a big plug for a public meeting on Greening Southsea at the Kings Theatre, Albert Road on 29th September at 7.30pm.

Interesting that the Government has rejected the Mckinsey report on the NHS, I would like to know how much it cost? Management consultants are not cheap and have the Government rejected every part of the report so at least the taxpayer can take some comfort in the fact their money has not been completely wasted (not that this government seems to think about these things)?

Many people working for the NHS state that there is a lot of waste so why don’t we give them responsibility for sorting it out and they can create their own incentives when they have achieved it. I watched the series of programmes about Sir Gerry Robinson sorting out a hospital in Yorkshire in 2007 and it was clear that management had to get down on the shop floor and listen to how the staff would improve their hospital – they had plenty of ideas which seemed to work. I am one of the NHS’s biggest fans (you can see an earlier blog on why), we need a national health service which is free at the point of access, but the delivery has to be more efficient and that can only come from the people who work in it being allowed to make the service one that they are proud of without interference from a remote government.