Since the first leader’s debate was broadcast last week, I have heard a great many people suggest that perhaps a hung parliament would be good for Britain. These people point to the fact that the parties will need to cooperate to pass policy and that consensus politics will replace the adversarial politics to which we have all become accustomed.

I strongly believe that such ideas are wrong and though most likely born out of a desire for a better type of politics, they would leave Britain’s financial recovery in great jeopardy and its democracy in tatters. Although it is true that a hung parliament on May the 7th will require the parties to build consensus to move forward, it is also true that the policy pledges made before the election will be watered down or abandoned. Back room deals and horse trading will become the new political currency and the wishes of the electorate will be relegated to second place.

Not only will a hung parliament cause a democratic deficit of epic proportions, it will cause the financial markets to seriously question whether Britain is able to tackle the massive debts that have been run up under the current government. Should we lose our triple A credit rating the resulting increase in interest payments on the country’s debts will be crippling. Unless we ensure  that the next government has a clear majority in parliament allowing it to implement its manifesto commitments, we risk falling back into recension and economic instability.

So how can you ensure that the  next government sets about reforming our political system, improving our front line services and acts to bring the deficit under control? It will not be to vote for Gordon Brown who as Chancellor and now Prime Minister has presided over years of gross financial mismanagement. Nor will it be a vote for Nick Clegg which only make the prospect of another 5 long years of Labour more likely. No, to get the country moving again it needs a Prime Minister with energy, leadership and values. It needs David Cameron and a working Conservative majority which can only be achieved with your support.

So my message to you is quite clear; if you are fed up with the direction in which Britain is going then you can turn things around.

Vote for change: Vote Conservative on May 6th.

Homepage

It was with dismay that I read the Royal United Services Institute’s projections that our trained military personnel could be reduced by 35,000 by 2016. The RUSI points to rapidly increasing troop and equipment costs as the reason behind the potential scaling back of our military strength. Whilst many may see this is necessary taking into account the financial climate in which we find ourselves, I am strongly of the belief that defence is an area that cannot simply be squeezed in order to balance the books. It is my experience that once something is scaled back in the name of ‘efficiency savings’, it is rarely reversible.

So how will the government react to RUSI’s assessment that we are facing a 20% reduction in trained military personnel? Not I fear with the same foreboding that I and many leading military experts have.  Labour will see these cuts as a necessary evil in order to sustain our current commitments in the short term. Whilst I agree that ensuring that our forces in Afghanistan and other areas of active deployment are adequately equipped, I would suggest that such an approach is dangerously short sighted.

Should these cuts be implemented they will represent just one example in a long list of failures in military planning. In 2004 the government took the reckless decision to cut the helicopter budget by £1.4bn.  This was at a time when the gravity of our commitments in Afghanistan and Iraq were becoming  apparent. We are now faced with a grave situation  in which military personnel have lost their lives as a direct result of the lack of available helicopters. It examples like this that demonstrate that Labour has no   concern for Britain’s long term strategic capabilities or the well being its fighting men and women.

The Conservatives have pledged to conduct a fresh strategic defence review should they win the next election, the last one having been completed in 1998.  I sincerely hope that such a review would recognise that cutting the defence budget, whilst perhaps fiscally prudent, is risking Britain’s security   and prosperity in an increasingly destabilised world. Furthermore we should no longer aim to ensure that our servicemen and  women are ‘adequately   equipped’, but rather instead strive to see that they are equipped with the best equipment possible. I believe that such a goal is the least that we owe those we place in harms way.

Return to homePage

I was delighted to read in the latest edition of GQ magazine that Ian Hislop has entered the list of Britain’s 100 most influential people.  Even more delightful is the fact that he has been placed ahead of the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband.

This is testament indeed to the mighty influence wielded by Hislop through the satire laced Private Eye magazine, as well as his superb recent performance on BBC’s   question time.  Or it could be testament to Miliband’s meteorite crash back to earth along with the rest of the now disgraced New Labour project.

Either way I am glad to see him on the list and I hope that he will continue to savage politicians of all persuasions when they stray from the moral high road.

Return to homepage

As a strong advocate of localism and regional decision making, I was delighted to hear Caroline Spelman’s party conference speech in which she made a firm pledge to restore power to local communities up and down the land. Since being elected as a local Councillor in 2008, I have been staggered by the degree to which the bureaucratic arm of central government has acted to frustrate and stagnate progress on local issues. Labour’s obsession with top-down control and target driven results has been at the expense of the wishes of local people.  The rise of non-elected quangos has further diluted the power of elected representatives and therefore the people they represent.

That is why the Conservative Party has pledged to break the stifling grip of central government and in its place allow local communities to flourish. Under the plans ward councilors like me will have greater control over the setting of the council’s budget and more power to see that the manifesto pledges we have campaigned on can be implemented. We will be able to respond to the concerns of residents without having to cut through red tape and jump through the hoops set down by a multitude of government directives. By cutting through the bureaucracy imposed by central government we can breath new life into local government, making it more accessible and accountable to local people and not Labour politicians in Whitehall.

I am confident that the proposals laid out by the Conservative Party for improving local government are going to make a dramatic difference to the way in which I can help local people in my ward. It is for this reason that I hope that next year the years of Labour mismanagement and incompetency will be swept away by a newly elected Conservative government; a government that will place people first.

Full details of Caroline’s speech can be found here.

Return to Homepage

As any of you who live within a ten mile radius of Royal Holloway will know, it is Fresher’s Week. New students from across the country and indeed the globe are arriving to begin their university courses  and will no doubt be feeling a little overwhelmed to say the least. To help them get off to a fantastic start there is a whole host of activities to sign up for and get stuck straight in to. One of them which I think is set to be really interesting and ‘must do’ for any budding journalist is the Founder Expose.

The Founder Newspaper is an independent publication set up at Royal Holloway in 2006. Since then it has gone from strength to strength and I would strongly recommend new and returning students to get involved. Details can be found at the Founder Expose.

I hope that many a keen journalist will sign up and hopefully those of a political mind will stir up a bit of debate. Perhaps one might begin with: ‘The meaning of Labour, Discuss” - there is always room for (very) short stories.

Enjoy,

Chris

Living as I do in Egham I have become rather accustomed to spending a large amount of my life sitting in front of level crossings. As a sensible adult I understand the logic behind such a system as it allows one to avoid being hit by a train. However as any resident of Egham will tell you, we spend most of the time staring at a totally clear crossing. Sometimes 5 minutes will elapse and still we will not have been rewarded with a glimpse of a train. Furthermore when the train does finally go past and everyone gladly releases their handbrake, the barriers stay down for what seems like another fortnight.

Imagine my dismay therefore at reading the proposed next phase of Airtrack. Although the planned new train service is impressive and undoubtedly beneficial to the transport network as a whole, to Egham it is a nightmare. The new down times at Egham’s level crossings would be as follows:

Egham Station: Closed for 34 minutes every hour
Pooley Green: Closed for 39 minutes per hour
Thorpe Road: Closed for 33 minutes per hour

As you will no doubt gather from the above timings the disruption this will cause to the daily lives of residents of Egham and the surrounding area is significant. The current level crossing down times are almost intolerable and any increase is totally unacceptable. Therefore I am pleased to say that the residents of Egham have taken it upon themselves to fight the planned developments and demand the construction of either a tunnel or bridge to alleviate the traffic Chaos that would otherwise be caused.

If you would like to add your voice to the cry for action then please visit the link below. There you will find details of how to write to the Secretary of State as well as other ways to make your opposition heard. A great deal of work has already been done but it is crucial that you get involved now in order for there to be a chance of success.

Hopefully together we can secure a fairer deal for Egham and the many people who will be adversely affected by Airtrack.

Please visit http://www.egham-airtrack.co.uk/ to add you support.

Tomorrow the 94th Berkshire Yeomanry Signal Squadron will be granted Freedom of Entry to the Borough of Runnymede. The honour is being bestowed upon the unit in order to recognise their distinguished service in various theatres as well as their long association with the town of Chertsey. It is set to be a wonderful event and will begin at 11:00am on Saturday the 25th July.

The Squadron, accompanied by the Band of Royal Engineers, will march from Drill Hall Lane Chertsey to the War Memorial by St. Peter’s Church. Here they will listen to an address by the Mayor of Runnymede Paul Tuley, after which they will march on to Abbey Field. Here the band will play for around 15 minutes.

94 Signal Squadron will then be transported to Addlestone where they will march through the town arriving at the Civic Centre for 12:30pm. At this point the Mayor will present the scroll commemorating the granting of the honour after which Brigadier Verey will respond on behalf of the Squadron. The presentation will be watched by a number of distinguished guests including Mr Charles Fowler, Deputy Lieutenant and Freeman of the Borough and Mr Philip Hammond, MP for Runnymede and Weybridge.  

The weather is set to be good and it should turn out to be a very enjoyable morning. Residents are invited to line the route of the march in both towns and it would be great to see as many people as possible out supporting our service men and women.

Further information can be found on the Runnymede Borough Council website.

I was staggered last night by James Purnell’s performance on Newsnight. This was his first interview on the program since his resignation from the cabinet moments after the polls had closed on June the 4th. It appears that the former work and pensions secretary had not expected a barrage of questions on his decision toresign or his comments on the Premiership of Gordon Brown. It seems that he had instead hoped to drone on about the future of the ‘new left’ and how he thought everyone was bubbling with ideas. Sadly for Mr Purnell this is not what Kirsty Wark wanted to discuss.

After the fourth or fifth question on his resignation Purnell became rather annoyed and protested that he was under the impression that he would only have to answer two questions on his resignation. Unfortunately his  attempt to subtly steer the discussion onto less interesting matters did not dent Miss Wark’s resolve. She pointed out, quite rightly I believe, that a cabinet minister’s decision to resign and publicly criticise the Prime Minister is something one should be held accountable for.

After a number of pathetic attempts to dodge the question he admitted he regretted what he had done and once again started to ramble on about the future of the Labour Party. At this Stage Miss Walk released her secret weapon; Roy Hattersley. Mr Hattersleyis the reddest of the old Labour dinosaurs and made it quite clear that he blamed New Labour and the Blair Years for every woe the country now contended with. Although he did not heap all of this at Mr Purnell’s door, he made it clear that he disapproved of his actions and his ideology – or apparent lack of it.  

Mr Purnell said at one stage that he wished to be made to look “an absolute idiot” by a Labour victory. I fear however that for the time being he he will just have to settle for looking like an idiot. He can add the absolute after they lose the next election.

You can find the full interview here

Runnymede Borough Council has launched Making a Difference, which announces its vision for the borough. Having consulted residents the council has  proposed 12 key priorities which will form a large part of the corporate plan for next 10-15 years.  The 12 priorities are:

• Maintaining clean and safe streets
• Increasing access to health and social support facilities
• Supporting vulnerable people
• Promoting sports and leisure facilities
• Supporting communities
• Increasing access to decent housing
• Identifying and implementing solutions to traffic congestion
• Supporting and promoting existing local businesses
• Revitalising town and village centres
• Safeguarding and increasing job prospects
• Protecting the natural environment
• Promoting the sustainable use of resources

As an elected representative of the borough I will strive to abide by and indeed further the objectives set out above. They will help the council to ensure that we are best serving our residents as well as reaffirming our goal to enhance the quality of life for all in Runnymede.

More information on Making a Difference can be found here.

Well I made it. I actually completed the 2009 Run for Moore without the assistance of medical personnel or a stretcher. I set out for Blackheath Common in London early yesterday morning armed with a Snickers and a Lucozade Sport. I met up with my team mates at Egham station and after donning our red t-shirts we boarded the train which would spirit us to our objective.

We arrived at Blackheath just after midday to be greeted by the sight of hundreds of women on the last leg of their 10k, yes 10k, run which they had begun earlier that morning. This was both brilliant and terrible. Brilliant because they had run a long way and raised a lot of money for a very good cause. Terrible because I knew I had to run half that distance and I knew I could barely walk it.

Never mind I thought. I wolfed down the snickers with lashings of Lucozade Sport and we made our way to the warm up area. Here we proceeded to jump up and down like idiots, bash into one another and then notice that due to the fact we looked so ridiculous, we were being broadcast onto the big screen at the front – dignity stripping stuff.

After that we gathered around the main stage and heard from Stephanie Moore.  It was an emotional address and we all tried to man up without crying. 16,000 people die of bowel cancer in the UK every year and just hearing a few of their stories was enough to fire us all up ready for the run. The facts surrounding Bowel Cancer are truly staggering and the chance of beating it if found early is 8 in 10. Further details about the disease and the fund can be found here: Bobby Moore Fund

So with the warm up complete we made our way to the start line. After a small delay caused by stragglers from the women’s 10k run that morning, the last thing they wanted was 1500 crazed men let lose behind them, we were off. From this point onwards things become a bit of a blur. I remember passing the 1k mark and wanting to weep as I though we must have done at least 2 and half. I remember the 3k point and being verbally and physically harassed into running again after a momentary lapse. I also remember the 4 and half k point where I actually considered throwing myself into an open first aid tent and demanding I be taken to A&E. The bit I remember most though is that last 100 metres, surrounded by cheering supporters. Suddenly the pain in my legs, the breathless and the utter despair lifted and I had a last surge of energy which carried me across the line. We had done it 32 minutes and no ambulances had been involved!   

Two days later and I have recovered sufficiently to type again.  Between us we raised over £200 and I hope that you might consider donating just a little bit more to help the fight against bowel cancer. I was proud to take part and would like to thank my team mates; Stephen Bieniek, Jan Parfitt and Mario Creatura. If you would like to support the Bobby Moore Fund please click my fundraising link below.

http://www.runformooresponsorme.org/chrischapman

I think next time we will try 5.5k!