John Hemming's Web Log

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The government are now saying that the "adoption target" ceased in 2006. For year 1/4/5-31/3/6 there was BV163 which was adoptions from care. This remained in year 6-7 and 7-8, but was redefined to include special guardianships. It is misleading to say that the target ended when it was redefined.

The link is to Greg Mulholland's comments in Hansard as to the nature of a Labour Minister. That was an interesting, effective and novel way of getting headlines. I tried once to use the word egregious in a parliamentary petition, but was told is was too intemperate. Labour MPs are trying to be sanctimonious about this at the moment. There is a good point that debate should be about debate rather than insults, but some Labour MPs should look for more important issues to spend time on.

Calne TC, Lickhill LD Glenis Ansell 278 (35.1; +9.3), Con 256 (32.4; -7.7), UKIP 150 (19.0; -14.0), BNP 84 (10.6; +10.6), Green 23 (2.9; +2.9). Majority 22. Turnout 25%. LD gain from UKIP. Kennet DC, Upavon Con 218 (45.8; -14.5), UKIP 106 (22.3; -0.8), LD Fiona Hornby 87 (18.3; +1.7), Lab 38 (8.0; +8.0), Green 27 (5.7; +5.7). Majority 112. Turnout 31.4%. Con hold. Last fought 2007. North Lanarkshire UA, Kilsyth Lab 1855 (63.4; -0.9), SNP 891 (30.4; +2.6), Green 66 (2.3; +2.3), Con 50 (1.7; -3.2), SSP 48 (1.6; -1.4), LD Stuart Douglas 17 (0.6; +0.6). Majority 964. Turnout 32.1%. Lab hold. Last fought 2007.

This case is an important case because it relates to someone being excluded from the legal process.

The government are making this quite a lot harder for people on lower incomes. When you are on incapacity benefit or JSA then paying an extra £1 for a Free Range Chicken is not easy. I have got the answer as to what proportion of Incapacity Benefit appeals succeed (about a third). More importantly the government discourages appeals by cutting JSA for anyone that appeals. I do not think at 20% cut in JSA is warranted.

The link is to the government's response on Bingo taxation where they basically refuse to say anything either to justify their position or that they will change it or even explain why they got there.

When markets move lots of money is lost or made through the use of deriviatives. It does not surprise me that a number of large banks don't have a proper real time control on their derivatives situation. Technically this is actually more difficult than most banks are capable of. I would be interested in finding out a bit more about Soc Gen's losses, but it strikes me that they simply don't have automatic reconciliation. That allows people to conceal losses by putting false entries into the system. Automatic reconcilation has been available for many years, but still a lot of financial organisations don't have this sort of system. Soc Gen sounds like one of them.

Basingstoke and Deane DC, Baughurst LD Michael John Bound 428 (53.8; +20.3), Con 368 (46.2; -20.3). Majority 60. Turnout 40.6%. LD gain from Con. Last fought 2004. Gainsborough TC, Gainsborough East LD Roger Plastow elected unopposed. LD gain from Ind. Sandwell MBC, Newton Lab 844 (36.9; +2.6), LD Kay Allcock 809 (35.4; -6.9), Con 587 (25.7; +2.3), Green 45 (2.0; +2.0). Majority 35. Turnout 25.9%. Lab gain from LD. Last fought 2007.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2003/jun/12/medicineandhealth.lifeandhealth1 Professor Risdon, who works at Great Ormond Street hospital and is Britain's foremost paediatric pathologist, had examined Mia's body two years ago and concluded that the rib fractures were "extremely unlikely" to be the result of resuscitation. At the time, he had never come across broken ribs in infants caused by attempted life-saving. Then, two weeks after the trial started, he wrote to the judge saying he had found evidence of rib fractures caused by resuscitation in three children he had examined in the previous month alone. http://www.thisisthurrock.co.uk/display.var.1981915.0.expert_tells_court_aimee_was_shaken_to_death.php Professor Risdon said Aimee had suffered damage to her lumber cord, which was also consistent with her being shaken. He said he did not think the three fractured ribs, bruising and bleeding to the abdominal wall, were caused when doctors at Basildon Hospital fough...

I support a referendum on the Reform Treaty. As a consequence of this I will not be supporting the government position on the Second Reading of the relevant Bill tonight. I have not, however, come to final conclusions as to the merits of the treaty itself. Hence I will not be opposing the government. When a vote arises which has legal force in calling for a referendum on the treaty (not today) I will vote for that.

The link is to a story in the Sunday Telegraph about the probable scrapping of targets for adoption from 1st April 2008. That does not, however, mean that suddenly everything will be OK. It is a step forwards, however. From the article: The number of newborn babies removed from their parents has almost doubled from 540 in 1995 to 1,400 in 2005/6. Yet the policy has failed to reduce the number of infants murdered, which rose in the same period from 17 to 24. Although the number of babies adopted has risen, the numbers for older children -the ones the policy was meant to help - have gone down.

The link relates to the plan for the government to sell its loan to Northern Rock whilst continuing to guarantee repayment. This is actually much worse a position than they are currently in. At the moment they have some control over the situation. They lose all control over the situation, but continue to take on the risk. The figures today may look better, but the liability remains with the government.

Droitwich Spa TC, Chawson Lab 213 (37.6), LD Janet Clarke 182 (32.2), Con 171 (30.2). Majority 31. Turnout 32.3%. Lab hold. Totnes TC, Town LD Tyrone Harewood elected unopposed on 11-1-08. LD gain from Ind.

Kate Hilpern has been working on the linked article for some time. I think she has done a good job with it. The difficulty is that there are situation in which the state should intervene as well as situations where it shouldn't. The difficulty is that without access to the whole set of cases we cannot be certain where the balance lies.

The link is to a story about how the government are moving towards publishing anonymised judgments. This is a step forwards that I have been pressing for for some time. It is important that we can discuss publicly the merits of state intervention in particular cases. We do not need to know publicly who the people involved are. We do, however, need to have some idea of the basis of the case. This should also include, however, access to the detailed reports being used. Too many judgments simply refer to reports that are frankly rubbish. Some progress, however, is being made. There do, however, have to be exhaustive productions of anonymised judgments and the full logical reasoning needs to be open to challenge. This is where the system falls down badly.

It is important for people to know who any substantial funders of politicians are. Such declarations of interest should be public. However, there has to be a sensible approach to techical issues. George Osborne declared his funding to the Electoral Commission, but not the parliamentary commissioner for standards. I don't see this as anything other than a technical breach. Peter Hain, however, failed to declare his funding sources to anyone. At the same time an attempt to conceal the sources was made. It is this attempt to conceal the sources of funding that causes me most concern. The reason for declaring funding sources is to identify whether or not politicians are offering "cash for questions" type deals. If we don't know who the paymaster is then we don't know which tunes to look out for. There has, however, to be a sensible and coherent approach to declarations. I need to declare things to Birmingham City Council, The Electoral Commission, The Liberal D...

The link is to this exchange in Hansard: John Hemming (Birmingham, Yardley) (LD): The Government seem to have rejected the idea of the feed-in tariff for the UK, but in Germany it has massively increased the amount of renewables. Will the Government at least stop lobbying within the EU to stop feed-in tariffs? Mr. Hutton: The renewables obligation is a genuine market mechanism and that is why it has been successful. It has overseen a rapid increase in renewable energy in the UK and we should stick with what works. The feed-in tariff in Germany has undoubtedly incentivised microgeneration in particular, but a significant extra cost has been borne by consumers as a result. The feed in tariff in Germany has been the main driver for their increse in renewables. This is in essence our government admitting that they are lobbying within the EU against the feed in tariff - something I had been told

North West Leicestershire DC, Ibstock and Heather Lab 699 (30.9; -3.1), BNP 637 (28.2; +28.2), Con 515 (22.8; -12.6), LD David Wyatt 411 (18.2; +7.4), [UKIP (0.0; -19.8)]. Majority 62. Turnout 40.4%. Lab hold. Last fought 2007. Thatcham TC Thatcham Central (West Berkshire) LD Stephanie Steevenson 762 LD Jason Leake 748 (59.7), Con 515/494 (40.3). Majorities 247/233. Turnout 28%. LD hold x2. Thatcham TC, Thatcham North LD Annie Sparkes 625 (54.3), Con 527 (45.7). Majority 98. Turnout 27.5%. LD gain from Con. An Independent was elected unopposed in South ward of Kings Langley PC, an Ind gain from Con.

I have been given the following figures which I have no reason to disbelieve, but have not personally substantiated. They do ask a question even if the answer is nothing to be concerned about. --Total Democratic Votes: 286,139 - Machine vs Hand (RonRox.com) 09 Jan 2008 Hillary Clinton, Diebold Accuvote optical scan: 39.618% Clinton, Hand Counted Paper Ballots: 34.908% Barack Obama, Diebold Accuvote optical scan: 36.309% Obama, Hand Counted Paper Ballots: 38.617% Machine vs Hand: Clinton: 4.709% (13,475 votes) Obama: -2.308% (-6,604 votes) 2008 New Hampshire Republican Primary Results http://ronrox.com/paulstats.php?party=REPUBLICANS --Total Republican Votes: 236,378 Machine vs Hand (RonRox.com) 09 Jan 2008 Mitt Romney, Diebold Accuvote optical scan: 33.075% Romney, Hand Counted Paper Ballots: 25.483% Ron Paul, Diebold Accuvote optical scan: 7.109% Paul, Hand Counted Paper Ballots: 9.221% Machine vs Hand: Romney: 7.592% (17,946 votes) Paul: -2.112% (-4,991 votes)