http://www.chesterfieldlibdems.org.uk/articlearchive.php Recent Press Articles from Paul Holmes MP and Chesterfield Liberal Democrats en-GB Paul Holmes MP and Chesterfield Liberal Democrats http://www.chesterfieldlibdems.org.uk/ Prater Raines Ltd http://www.praterraines.co.uk/ (c) 2008 Paul Holmes MP and Chesterfield Liberal Democrats 2008-10-11T02:23+01:00 United Kingdom http://www.chesterfieldlibdems.org.uk/articles/000017/learning_from_the_past.html Last Saturday I attended the Old Whittington Gala, a vibrant and well attended annual event which is a credit to its local organisers. Napoleonic soldiers paraded outside the Revolution House, a superb brass brand played, children climbed in and out of the police van and the wide variety of stalls did a roaring trade. A newcomer this year was the RAAW stall (Residents Against Asbestos Waste), a local group who are doing an outstanding job of campaigning against the application to put an asbestos waste transfer site smack in the middle of a densely populated urban area. 2008-07-04T12:00+01:00 http://www.chesterfieldlibdems.org.uk/articles/000015/the_national_mood.html The way in which a national mood spreads across the whole of the UK is fascinating to observe. In 1995 a wave of revulsion against harsh Thatcherite policies and Tory sleaze swept the country. The Conservatives were first thrown out of thousands of Council seats around 1995 and then out of national office in 1997. 2007-04-20T00:00+01:00 http://www.chesterfieldlibdems.org.uk/articles/000013/we_live_in_strange_times.html A few weeks ago Parliament voted to privatise key parts of the probation service and Labour MP's sitting opposite me cheered because they had narrowly forced this controversial measure through. More recently still Conservative and New Labour MP's - including all but Dennis Skinner here in Derbyshire - combined to ensure that Britain took a premature decision to renew the UK's nuclear deterrent for another 40 years. 2007-04-06T00:00+01:00 http://www.chesterfieldlibdems.org.uk/articles/000014/and_now_for_the_real_budget.html I have now sat through six Gordon Brown Budgets and the pattern is the same every time. Gordon mumbles through a complex list of technical detail - burying the bad news in boredom. Then he pulls a 'rabbit' or two out of the hat, the press say what a wonderful budget it is and then a week or two later when the details have been analysed they start - too late - to point out the various stealth taxes. 2007-03-25T00:00+00:00 http://www.chesterfieldlibdems.org.uk/articles/000016/why_i_voted_for_a_referendum_on_the_treaty_of_lisbon.html Last November at the end of the Queens Speech, and again on the 4th March, I voted for a Referendum to be held on the simple 'In or Out of the EU' question. 2007-03-11T00:00+00:00 http://www.chesterfieldlibdems.org.uk/articles/000012/business_and_pleasure.html Sometimes an MP's job combines business with pleasure. Recently, on 2nd February, I attended the launch of the CAMRA Festival at the Winding Wheel - first on the Friday afternoon for the 'official' opening and then in the evening for pleasure. 2007-02-10T00:00+00:00 http://www.chesterfieldlibdems.org.uk/articles/000011/a_gloomy_new_years_message.html Tony Blair's New Years message to other countries seems to be very clear. "Do as we say but not as we do" and "any suggestion of corruption is unacceptable and will be vigorously investigated - unless it involves a medieval style monarchy who are 'mates' of ours." 2007-01-01T00:00+00:00 http://www.chesterfieldlibdems.org.uk/articles/000010/the_new_term_at_st_stephens.html Regrettably many MP's still talk like public school boys of the new term as if they were coming back to boarding school whenever Parliament begins a new session. Wednesday 15th of November saw the State Opening of Parliament and the Queens Speech (written of course by the Prime Minister), telling us what the Government plans to do for the next year. This is a 'top secret' document until read out by the Monarch- the details of which you could read in that mornings papers because Government spin doctors had been hard at work with journalists the night before! 2006-11-20T00:00+00:00 http://www.chesterfieldlibdems.org.uk/articles/000009/chesterfield_canal_threatened_by_government_incompetence.html On Saturday 18th November, as last year, I attended the launch event of this year's Santa Special on Chesterfield Canal at Tapton Lock. Great fun for children who in the run up to Christmas can meet Santa while having a canal boat trip. But also a good fund raiser for the fantastic team of volunteers who have given up so much of their time to reopen the canal. 2006-11-20T00:00+00:00 http://www.chesterfieldlibdems.org.uk/articles/000008/vote_brown_get_blair.html "Should he stay or should he go" is the dominant topic of conversation recently. One recent opinion poll has revealed that Blair is now even less popular than Thatcher was just before her downfall - and incidentally that Liberal Democrat Leader Ming Campbell is twice as popular as David Cameron. 2006-11-01T00:00+00:00 http://www.chesterfieldlibdems.org.uk/articles/000007/death_of_the_post_office.html Over 6,000 Post Offices, including one in every three in Chesterfield and Staveley, have already been closed down - mostly by the policies of Brown and Blair. Now the future of the remaining 14,000 is in grave danger. 2006-10-23T00:00+01:00 http://www.chesterfieldlibdems.org.uk/articles/000004/labours_pension_disgrace.html Local people are familiar with the disgraceful story of how the Labour Government has dealt with those who have lost their Occupational Pensions between 1997 and 5th April 2005. Those for example who worked at Chesterfield Cylinders, Dema Glass and Coalite, who along with at least 60,000 others around the UK saw their savings for retirement 'stolen' away. 2006-10-01T00:00+01:00 http://www.chesterfieldlibdems.org.uk/articles/000003/nuclear_power_no_thanks.html With the majority of Britain's nuclear power stations due to close in the next 20 years, the debate about our nuclear future is heating up once again. Arguments deployed by the nuclear lobby are, however, very easily cooled. 2006-10-01T00:00+01:00 http://www.chesterfieldlibdems.org.uk/articles/000002/launch_pad_conference.html This autumn conference could be the last before the next General Election. If Tony Blair finally goes, voluntarily or otherwise, then his successor is likely to 'cut and run' in an attempt to cash in on any honeymoon factor before political reality reasserts itself. Especially if that successor is Gordon Brown. 2006-09-15T00:00+01:00 http://www.chesterfieldlibdems.org.uk/articles/000001/labours_nhs_cuts_start_to_bite.html The final scale of Labour's NHS cuts, this year, is starting to become clear. Across the country over 20,000 jobs are being lost, including doctors, nurses, midwives and radiographers. 2006-08-25T00:00+01:00