It's in the genes...

A nice little piece from the BBC website about political views being partly a result of people's attitudes to threat and fear. They showed people unpleasant pictures and shocked them, while measuring their involuntary responses like sweating and so forth. They found that people who responded most were also more likely to hold right-wing views. It was hypothesised that they felt the strongest urges to protect their group.

I wonder if we could get a similar thing going for political persuasion in the UK?

• You could maybe start off by showing images of people making decisions for themselves without government intervention or interference, interspersed by CND posters from the 1980s. Those with the most violent reactions would obviously be Labour supporters.
• Then you could show pictures of people from different backgrounds supporting each other and engaging in community activities (rather than endless shopping), followed by an immigration officer on a tea break to identify the very anxious Conservative leaning folk.
• It would be easy to find the Greens - just show them a well-referenced science textbook and measure the anger and sweat pouring off them!

I will leave it to my semi-regular readers like James, Sean and Charlie to suggest the Lib Dem test... 8-)

A nice surprise!

I had a nice surprise at Lib Dem conference this week when I discovered that this blog had been shortlisted for an award for "Best New Liberal Democrat Blog 2008".

Sadly, it didn't win, but it was very nice that someone (I don't know who!) took the time to nominate me and that the judges (including some long established bloggers) popped me on the shortlist. In fact, I don't yet know who did win - I'll post a link when I find out.

When I started this blog back in May of this year, I wasn't sure if I'd keep it going or if anyone would read it. I've had many people, both residents and other politicians, come to me and say that they enjoy reading it and find it useful, so I guess now I'll stick with it for a while longer!

UPDATE : The winner of both the new blog and blog of the year awards was Alix Mortimer's People's Republic of Mortimer blog. A slightly different style to mine... 8-)

Porritt slams mass-burn

In a Q&A session at Lib Dem conference, chief independent government adviser on the environment and chair of the Sustainable Development Commission, Jonathan Porritt, slammed mass-burn incineration, saying that it "had no place in a waste management strategy".

The session also talked about the Labour Government bullying councils into accepting inappropriate and polluting waste disposal arrangements through the use of the PFI scheme. It was noted that PFI was years behind environmental technology, effectively precluding the use of newer approaches like pyrolysis. It is exactly what I and my Lib Dem colleagues have been saying!

I will post a little more of Porritt's comments when I have a transcript. He was a Blair appointee originally, but he could barely contain his contempt for the lack of progress made by Labour on climate change and other environmental issues.

Feed-in Tariffs

In a session now at Lib Dem Conference about renewable energy. Steve Webb MP is talking about the failure of the Labour Government to adopt feed-in tariffs.

Feed-in tariffs are the payments back to householders who generate excess electricity through microgeneration like solar power. They have been instrumental to increasing renewable energy in places like Germany. Within the EU, Britain only produces more renewable energy than Luxembourg and Malta.

The House of Lords, on the back of campaigning by the Lib Dems and others, keeps putting feed-in tariffs into the Energy Bill. Labour in the Commons keeps taking them out! Good grief!

I am trying to get to ask a question about the balance between heritage and sustainability - my old chestnut!

Integrated Transport Authorities

I'm currently away at Lib Dem conference and I have been meaning to blog each day, but have had difficulty with my phone. So this is my first post!

At the moment, I'm sitting in a session on Integrated Transport Authorities. Hearing about Merseyside and what's been achieved, I am increasingly convinced that this is excellent opportunity for Bristol and the hinterland.

There is cross-party support within Bristol, which is great. However, there is less enthusiasm in the authorities surrounding Bristol, across all political shades. We need to find ways of persuading our neighbours of the advantages and what integrated transport could mean for them.

Exploding the incinerator!

The Full Council meeting on the 9th September will be debating the proposed mass-burn incinerator which is destined for Avonmouth to serve the former Avon area (except that Bath have already said where to stick it!).

The plans come from the Tory-dominated West Of England Partnership, but are backed whole-heartedly by Bristol's Labour administration. The Lib Dems are opposing the plans, along with pretty much all of the local environmental organisations who have formed the BAMBI partnership - Bristol Against Mass-Burn Incineration.

The issue has come to Full Council after the Tories had an eleventh hour U-turn and decided to back the Lib Dem 'call in' of the decision. (For those not steeped in Council jargon, any major decision can be 'called in' by the other parties and it then has to be looked at again in public). This was welcome, but slightly baffling as the incinerator has the backing of the Tories in the surrounding authorities and until recently the Bristol Tories were the biggest enthusiasts. Maybe they're getting hot feet... 8-)

A recent press article talks about how the incinerator built in Kent is going exactly the way we think the Bristol one would do. Interestingly, Kent County Council is Tory-controlled and they are now referring to their decision to build a mass-burn incinerator as "stupid in hindsight" and losing them £1m a year in recyclable materials which are having to be burnt. Why can't Bristol Labour see that it is "stupid" now!?

Needless to say, I will be voting AGAINST the incinerator next week. It's a huge potential environmental disaster waiting to happen. It would create toxic ash, reduce incentives for waste minimisation, pervert the recycling system and put more lorries on the road pumping out pollution. See the BAMBI website for information about the alternatives, including pyrolysis which is being used now in various places in the world, with the next generation of plants being developed HERE IN BRISTOL!