kevindavis

On the move to a new start

2006-06-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

After nearly two years of blogging with blogger I have decided to move on to a new platform.

In future you can find me at www.kevindavis.org.uk or www.kevindavis.wordpress.com

Many more things I will be able to do and I look forward to seeing you all there.

This site will remain for a while as a signpost for those not on RSS and who lag behind.

Surbiton pub gains award

2006-06-27T04:44:00.000-07:00

This local pub has gained an award. It appears dropping the name "Rat and Parrott" might have helped. Should the people who drink there be worried that the profits at the St. Mark's Tavern have surged by 700%?

The Publican - number one for licensed trade news, and Proud of Pubs - Award for Spirited publican

a UK bIll of Rights

2006-06-26T09:12:00.000-07:00

It has become apparent that the Human Rights Act that the Labour Government signed us up to has become something of a joke. I am no legal expert but even if the HRA was working in the way it was designed then it is still a mess. It is a mess because its implementation has allowed the type of stupid cases that originate from Europe on a regular basis.

It has become the fear of the HRA that is the worse aspect.There was the recent case of the roof top protester who "had" to be given Kentucky Fried Chicken because not to feed him was against the Human Rights Act - there are many more examples. We are now afraid not to feed the chap because he might sue someone.

So why should Britian not have its own Bill of Rights? Germany have one so why not us?

But there is another issue. The HRA enshrines in UK law the right of Judges to argue that parliament, in setting a law, has acted in contravention of the HRA and therefore the law should be changed. I accept that Parliament frequently makes a pig's ear of framing new laws but the idea that a democratically elected institution is not able to make law unless the judiciary decides is absurd.

Before the HRA the system operated that EU Judges could decide whether new law was in contravention of the Convention on Human Rights and the Minister in London could decide what he was going to do about it. It seemed to work quite well and during the period between 1975 and 1996 only 316 cases were considered and in 16 of them a change was made. In the 18 months after the UK implemented the Human Rights Act some 431 cases were considered and in 316 of them the outcpme was affected.

At least a UK BIll of Rights would allow us the opportunity to clearly define what are the rights and responsibilites of UK citizens.

BBC NEWS | Politics | Tories want a UK Bill of Rights

Vote for a new Tory logo

2006-06-21T11:30:00.000-07:00

Over at Conservativehome they are asking you to vote for what you think is the best new logo for the Conservative party. The result gets announced tomorrow at 9am.

What a mess they have made of Memorial Square

2006-06-21T04:57:00.000-07:00

Memorial Square in Kingston needed money spent on it. They have been spending over £500,000 upgrading the pavings but the contractor has made a total pigs ear of it. It was due to be finished in early 2006. Boards then went up saying it would be finished by the end of April 2006. They missed that target and then went away for the May Merrie. They are back now trying to finish it. But even when it is finished the standard of the work is rubbish. Badly filled in holes, uneven pavings - I just hope the Council is doing something about this appalling state of affairs.

Rubbish collections

2006-06-19T04:36:00.000-07:00

This is a road in Berrylands just after the collection of rubbish last Friday. This is not the first time that this has happened. It is probably not the fault of the bin collectors but more likely a result of the urban fox. Still, I would have thought that the bin collection contract would have the bin men tidy up this type of problem - obviously not?

Daily Mirror slams Kingston road humps

2006-06-18T10:32:00.000-07:00

This story in Friday's Daily Mirror concerns a cyclist who had to get the bearings replaced on his expensive off road bike because of the road humps in Kingston. I drive a SMART car and am forever grounding on the damn things - who nows how much damage they are doing? I do not agree with some of these 4X4 cars but it is about the only thing you can guarantee not to get damaged by Kingston's traffic calming.

I really believe that the Council should now be consulting residents on the removal of road humps whenever they resurface a road (which I admit is not that often).

Kingston Theatre set back

2006-05-22T07:10:00.000-07:00

Sources tell me (interestingly they are Lib Dem) that the Rose Theatre deal with Nadhmi Auchi is on the skids.

This is not much of a secret as it appears that Sir Peter Hall was very despondent during a recent Reader's Festival event. It looks like the eighteen months of negotiation have floundered and certainly my past involvement showed me that more and more demands were being made and we were getting a worse and worse deal.

I also gather that the Friends' had a somewhat depressing meeting last week when it was clear that the deal was not going well.

As many will know I am a supporter of there being a Kingston Theatre but have always been against the idea that Council Tax should be used to hand over "our" building to an international company. I have nothing but respect for Mr. Auchi in this process as he is after all a businessman and he always made it clear that what he was doing was a business deal and not pure philanthropy.

However, the Council handing over control of the taxpayers asset to General Meditteranean Holdings was wrong. If this has fallen through and the theatre is set to flounder then my last recollection is that the Council we will be writing off £2m of loans it made to the Trust, hardly a good way to start a new administration.

So what now? This project faces an uphill struggle because we have managed to waste an entire year chasing this property deal. The Lib Dems seem to have few choices. Choice one is that they stump up the extra £3-4m required. I really cannot see that happening but who knows with this party; they supported the previous deal.

Alternatively they can bring in another theatre operator but given this messy situation who is going to want to take it on? Any new operator is going to be worried by the bad publicity that this collapsed deal is going to bring. Equally we are now at their mercy as we have developed few alternatives.

The real problem is that the terms of the deal with St. George (the developer of Charter Quay) means that the building can only be a theatre and cannot be turned into anything else. I presume we can get around this by asking St. George but I imagine this comes with a price tag.

If everything fails then we will have an empty building sitting opposite the Guildhall to remind everyone what happens when politicians make brave decisions and then do not put in the leadership and work to make it happen. It appears that the days of dinners for Mr. Auchi at the House of Commons, hosted by our MP's, were over as soon as the Lib Dem administration decided to go ahead and little has been done by politicians since then to bring this deal off.

It is a total mess and such a shame for the Borough as a theatre has been a dream for many of us for such a long time.

Interesting that this broke just after the election?

Lib Dems plan £2,000 road tax

2006-05-19T12:57:00.000-07:00

I am sure there have been papers galore written on this subject but I find it curious that there is a natural assumption that higher tax will lead to less usage. Surely we would be better encouraging the motor manufacturer to produce greener fuel effcicient cars so that people have an option to have cheaper motoring that is fuel efficient rather than clobbering the motorist and not really encourganing them to change anything.

I accept that under this scheme fuel efficient cars will pay less road tax but actually we should be giving them a choice to also have a cheaper car that uses less energy. I drive a Smart car (although I admit I had to to move on from the two seater version). The real incentive for me was not that the road fund was only £60 but that the car did 70 miles to the gallon and had a very low insurance rate (£150 fully comprehensive) because it was made of recyclable plastic. Even if you had taxed it £2,000 road fund it would have still been a cheaper option than other cars to run. I accept that the Lib Dem proposal is not to do this but I merely use it as an example.

Is this not one area where we should be challenging the supply side and not taxing demand?

Kingston number 6 in Top 10 Chav Towns

2005-06-27T11:35:00.000-07:00

I was sent this link by a former Kingston resident.

I admit I was not entirely sure what a chav was until I read the message board. Having done so I must admit to being somewhat depressed about the views that some people have of Kingston. Is this the Counter Culture that some of my esteemed colleagues in the party in Westminster believe we should be courting?

Is this a true picture of Kingston? You tell me?

If it is - why has it become like this?