From Sandringham to Sandringham

Am currently sitting in an internet cafe in Melbourne having been here for three days. Have been to the cricket twice and am staying in a super hostel, Urban Central. It's been lovely to catch up with old mates (some who I haven't seen in four years) what's strange is how easy it is to get along with everyone even though it's been so long. The MCG was beautiful and although the cricket wasn't riveting, to see Duminy was fantastic. I thought he'd fall at 90 but he kept on going past 150 which is astounding for his 2nd test. Christmas was super lovely though I'm starting to get a little homesick. Which I never thought would happen...

Anyways, today I'm off to stay with Tina in Sandringham of all places, so from Sandringham (UK) to Sandringham (Oz) I travel the world!

Much love,

Flo xx

Happy Christmas!

Have been in Australia since Saturday and have been having a fab time. Sang carols on my first night, sailed on the next day and have seen fireworks as we came into the harbour from manly.



Love to you all and have a super Christmas!



Flo x x

Christmas Recess - A bit of a change around here

So... Due to the end of the Parliamentary Christmas term and a recess which is unusually long this year and a small amount of money coming my way, I'm flying to Australia tonight.

I'll be off for three weeks so instead of the usual (if a little rare) political and London commentary I will be blogging about my big Christmas trip.

I'm taking my camera so I'll try and upload photos and blog most days. I'll also have my crackberry on me so you can continue (!) to email me on flora@florula.com

PBR: The front pages say it all really

I was just reading my google reader and this image came up under Conservative Home and I believe it says it all really. It's Labour's scorched earth policy in action.

Hat Tip: Conservative Home

Islington CFers in the News

Last night Vicki Chamberlin (our Deputy Chairman and leaflet drop organiser), Michael Bull and Connor Coleman from our CF hit the major termini of London with other CFers to publicise Labour's tax Bombshell. Here's a pic of Michael (L) and Connor (R):

"However Gordon Brown wraps it up it's still a tax bombshell"

Great work guys!!!

Thanks to Jonathan Isaby and Conservative home for reporting this campaign

Pirate Facebook

^

Oh, I am a massive loser, but how fun is pirate facebook

Ross, Brand and Sachs...

This blog from London Spin came up on my Google Reader and it annoyed me, and then caused me to think what is it about the call to sack Jonathan Ross that annoys me?

Having listened to discussions on the issue on the Today programme most mornings and it's been a hot topic at work I believe I'm fairly balanced on the issue:

• Most (if not almost all of the complaints) were made by people who didn't and wouldn't normally listen to Russell Brand's show which was from 9pm-11pm on Saturdays which is after the watershed
• The nature of the telephone call was unacceptable and a perfect example of a terribly unsophisticated prank call - the presenters showed very poor judgement
• Jonathan Ross is very well paid and by being on suspension continues to receive his (reportedly) £16000 pd pre-tax which in my mind is obscene, he should waive his pay while on suspension
• The exceutives have joint culpability as the show was pre-recorded two days before and then santioned by them to go on air
• This has the whiff of a witch hunt and is being used as a tool for the right-wing press (and I say this as a Tory) to attack the "left-wing" biased media, the licence fee and ultimately devalues what I value as a tremendous organisation
• Russell Brand did the right thing in resigning, I may not enjoy his work personally but I know a great many who do
• Jonathan Ross will be sorely missed from the BBC while on suspension
• The hulking response by the BBC and theire unwillingness to allow spokesmen on the issue (a fact pointed out on the BBC Today programme) is simply not good enough in the age of rapid media

So do I think sacking Jonathan Ross is the answer?

No, this would be a knee jerk reaction. He is hugely popular if massively overpaid and both his television and radio shows are excellent. He may have shown an error of judgement but after the apology it is time to move on. Did you listen/watch either show before? If not, don't worry, if yes, vote with your dial or remote.

---gate

Is anyone else getting irritated with the suffix -gate? I personally am getting tired by this lazy journalistic cliche being attached to any sort of hooha or scandal that is lighting up the news.

Currently or recently finished we have (and these are off the top of my head):-
Yacht/Depraska-gate [Mandy, Osborne & Rothschild]
Sachsgate [Brand, Ross and Manuel]
Troopergate [Sarah Palin investigation]

Of course there have been many more and this wikipedia page is testament to this fact. It is convenient and useful when defining a scandal in shorthand or for headlines but isn't it unoriginal?

I believe there is a sort of beauty in the naming of the Westland Affair, which brings to mind an elegant black and white film, or the Suez Crisis. With all of these -gates it devalues the memorability of the scandal, like a made for TV movie, each a bad sequel to what was once a seminal picture.

Grow a Mo for Mo-vember

A Lighter Side to US2008

I saw these come up on Donal Blaney's blog (his is certainly one I read on the grounds that you should read everything, especially if you don't agree, so that you can hone your argument) and had a great twenty minutes of laughter. I cna't imagine Cammers or GB ever doing this, the writing is excellent and they poke fun at each other and their own characterisations in the media. If you have the time do give them a watch as they're laugh out loud funny.

(now I hope I've managed to upload them properly!)

Meet North East London CSI candidates

(L-R) Myself, Andrew Charamboulos, Simon Nayor and Elizabeth

Richard Bunting, Neil Lindsay, Antonia Cox & Martin Koder

Elizabeth and Adrian Berrill-Cox

So on the last night of conference we went for a drink and met up with the CSI candidates, they're a relaly great bunch and I think it will be very hard to choose but it does make you feel very popular.

Here's how it works:

Islington, although it is one association, covers two constituencies and is part of the wider North-London Area. The City Seats Initiative was trialled at the 2005 election in Sheffield and Liverpool and has been extended and we part of one of the regions.

As it goes we have a fluid list of approximatly 15 candidates chosen by the candidates department at CCHQ and people can be added and taken away at all times. The CSI candidates will campaign/canvas en masse until the selection early next year according to an approved schedule, co-ordinated across the area.

Early next year we will hold a traditional selection in our Association but it might be a little like the US primaries with each association accross the area wanting to get first selection! Once each constituency has a candidate they will then focus on their consituency alone but once a week they will have a special session in each constituency in turn when all the candidates from across the area will go and help.

This is particularly useful in constituencies where the association is either very small or very inactive or both or even non-existent.

We of course, as you can tell, are quite busy but in my opinion it will be great to build up a relationship with these CSIers who are amazing High fliers and as Islington South & Finsbury could swing any way it could mean we get some excellent canvassing data.

So the piccies from the first formal meet up!

Cabinet Changes 2

Here are the full junior ministerial changes http://budurl.com/8uey
Lord Bassam is Chief Whip! Apparantly he is very popular and a hard worker, read into that what you will...

And in other big news on the reshuffle, Lord Adonis has been moved to Transport, and area which he cares nothing about and Lord Bach is doing both a Whips role and Ministerial post, he's going to be very busy.

Cabinet Changes

Baroness Ashton is off and apparantly she is very happy about it, and we have two new Peers!

Click on the title of this post for Sky News' list of the changes but I am fairly excited about this. All I want to know is what does Stephen Carter know about Brown to be given such a meaningless position and a peerage and who will be the new Chief Whip in the Lords?

Fundraiser

Islington Conservative Future also got a mention...

Fundraiser Night

The fundraiser evening put on by the Islington Young Conservatives raised £1400.

The event was held in the Surya Club in King s Cross, the world s first eco-friendly nightclub! It was attended by over a hundred people and Mike Hickes and Beef spoke passionately about Prospex, and Greg Baker MP (Shadow Minister for Climate Change) also spoke. As well as raising money for us there was a lot of interest in volunteering and we are reaping the benefits of this already.

Our thanks to Elizabeth Eldridge for organising the event and Andrew Charalambous for the use of the club.


Following that meeting with Andrew Charalambous, Mike also featured and spoke about Prospex on Greek radio s Green Hour, the show hosted by Andrew.


Fundraising events are a great way for us to get some funding as well as to be able to gain support and volunteers and to open new doors for us. If you are able to organise an event on our behalf we would love to hear from you.

But I ought to add, thanks to Vikki and Flora because we are a team.

Volunteer

This date was announced in the Prospex Newsletter...

We are holding a volunteers evening on the 28th October 7.30 9.30pm at Prospex.
This is a chance for you to come and find out about how you can get involved, meet some of our existing volunteers, and get a sense of the bigger picture of which volunteers are a part. It will be a relaxed, informative and (we hope!) enjoyable evening. If you are thinking of coming, please drop a line to james@prospex.org as it will help us with our planning but, if you don t know your availability, please don t worry about just turning up.

CF 10 years Party

Last night Elizabeth and I joined everybody to celebrate 10 years of CF, it was a massive party and the wine was flowing...

Will blog about this later as have to dash back into the ICC,

The conference hall

As you can see it's really busy here and there is lots to do!

Just arrived in Birmingham

Arrived not long ago, here is a pic of our city centre apartment. A great way to save money and smart too! Only problem is the kettle doesn't work, off to fix that soon then to the icc to collect my pass.



Say what you like about fingerprint but I had problems with my verification as I have only recently moved house. I was contacted by a kind and very helpful policeman who had to wait for me to return from France and the get my council tax signed over to my new address (it was previously in my landlord's name). He must have only received it last Tuesday and yet I was sent a text to my mobile on friday informing me my pass could be collected here. Barring the probable queues I have had a very positive experience with fingerprint and the police. Though from the horror stories I have heard I maybe the only one...

update: no queue to get my pass... straight in!

The New Conservative Website

http://budurl.com/6yuy

I've just been on to the new Tory website timed to launch the Conference and I love it! "Plan for a change" is a great slogan in my opinion as it shows optimism but not complacency. The graphics are amazing (I particularly like the loading tree graphic) and the content has been simplified so it's very easy to navigate. I'm also annoyed we missed the video shoot for "why I am a Conservative" as it looks really good but the Association Executive is more important...!

Check it out if you get the chance

Updated

Have made a few changes to the blog, keep an eye on the twitter feeds I read and some of the articles that we have found interesting on the net...

A Unfortunate Photocall

oh dear, oh dear. Should the Labour party really be considering dumping Brown for Miliband?

hat tip: Daniel Finkelstein in the Times

Sunday's London Freewheel

Alright I did it, I finally did it. I mounted my little brother's bike and went on Sunday's London Freewheel. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, birds would have chorused and bees hummed merrily, if we had not been in London.

Flora, a seasoned cyclist, came along to demonstrate how to pedal, use handlebars as steering mechanisms and how to master the art of raising one limb from the handlebars to signal without losing balance and ending up dead in some grey and dismal gutter. It was fun. It was genuine old fashioned fun. The kind of fun you used to have when you strayed into quasi-consciousness just after reading an Enid Blyton book on an English summer holiday and for a few endless moments could have summed up you socio-political outlook on the theory of jam.

We cycled along a few streets that were still full of cars which I had previously believed homicidal metal vehicles. The cars took notice when you indicated. Never having learned to drive I felt a part of the bustling activity of the roads. Then we free wheeled onto the car free roads along the river and had a wonderful time viewing the City's architecture.

The success of the excursion can be summed up by the fact that I am sitting here at my desk in St James's Park on Monday with a slightly sore behind and a bike upstairs ridden from Islington this morning. Most importantly, I have an extra 2 in my pocket to be spent on a classy lunch, I haven't been cattle herded into work on the tube and been asked to pay for the privilege.

Frightening but independent, hard work but exhilarating, risk of certain death but worth not having to pay for the tube or extortionate gym membership all in all, recommended.

I <3 the West Wing

Click the title to go to an Aaron Sorkin imagined conversation between President Bartlet and Obama

Hat tip: Julia Manning at CentreRight

A weekend in the Shires

This weekend I headed off to Cirencester and the Newbury show for my good friend Tabi's birthday. Friday night was brilliant fun as we went to a lovely pub near Kemble called the Tunnel and then headed off to a night spot in Cirencester called "the Rock". This may be known to those of you who know anyone from the local area or who as attended the Royal Agricultural College! Great catching up with my best friends from school.

Awaking terribly early in my books for a Saturday (half 9) we headed off to Jess's house in Oxfordshire and then on to the Newbury Show. The event which is more formally known as the Royal County of Bershire Show, had more than 500 business stall showing, a record number of pigs (136) and an Australian cow shown for the first time! We only managed to cover about a quarter and didn't find the Tory stand in that sweep but we did stroke a few pigs ears and see the champion cows and sheep showing in the main ring.

After another super evening in the country I headed back around lunch time to join Elizabeth on the London Freewheel and then our regular pub quiz in Islington.

A Packed Weekend!

From Conservative Future

Today at 12:06pm

Dear all,This weekend has a range of campaign and action days you can get involved with, all over the country, for that one final push before Conference:

BOLTON
fb event: http://www.new.facebook.com/event.php?eid=36631294147
Bolton North East is currently our 94th target seat, and is must-win for the North-West. This is the second of our regular CF campaign days here - the first was massivley sucessful, with CF managing to deliver to the whole of the most marginal council ward in the consituency. Hopefully we can better that this time.As always, dinner and drinks will be provided after the campaign.For more details, please phone Adele Douglas on 07843250915.The location is TBC, but we will be starting at 1pm.
DISHLEY & HATHERN, LEICESTERSHIRE
fb event: http://www.new.facebook.com/event.php?eid=26007089747
Come and join us campaigning in Dishley and Hathern in Charnwood, Leicestershire ahead of a by election triggered by the resignation of the Labour councillor.This is an important winnable district council seat in the marginal constituency of Loughborough.Contact Stephen Hodgson: 07933450500 or sjhodgson@gmail.com
HARROW, MIDDLESEX
fb event: http://www.new.facebook.com/event.php?eid=17000014213
We are having an action day on 20th September in Harrow West. Please join us if you can. Lunch will be organised.As a target seat we really need your help.Please turn up at 10 Village Way, Pinner - very near Rayners Lane tube station (map link - http://www.multimap.com/maps/?qs=10+Village+Way+pinner&countryCode=GB )You will be allocated a canvassing route. If you don't want to canvass, you can do the board or deliver if you prefer.Lifts will be provided to those that need it.Contact Rachel Joyce on 07790757306 or rachel.joyce@hotmail.co.uk
READING, BERKSHIRE
We aim to cover as much of Reading East as possible. We will be delivering Rob's report to homes all across Reading East, with plenty of breaks at the Pub!Contact: Nick Allen, 01183759785 or nicholasallen1@hotmail.co.uk
RICHMOND PARK, SURREY
fb group: http://www.new.facebook.com/inbox/#/event.php?eid=18452304228
Social Action Day The Richmond Park National Social Action day starts at 1.30 pm, Saturday September 20th, and we will be accompanied by the press, our PPC; Zac Goldsmith and an MP.There has been a slight change to plan and we are running the Richmond and Guildford days independently: there is NO MINIBUS from Guildford, please come directly to Richmond, if you want to join in.Contact Anastasia on 07719 797 344or Ben Mallet on 07747703602.
GUILDFORD
Campaign Day 10.30am at Guildford StationTrains from Waterloo at:9.30am, 9.33am, 9.45am, 10.00amAs there has been a slight change to plan and we are running the Richmond and Guildford days independently: there is NO MINIBUS from Guildford, if you want to join in Richmond there is no transport provided.RSVP to aswann@surrey.cfbranch.com or07824817733Thank you to everyone who has arranged these days and thanks in advance to all those who join in!

Best,

Michael

National Chairman, Conservative Future

Cabinet Support

A great article on the Spectator's blog, "the Coffee House" about cabinet support for Jonah Brown

http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2085426/cabinet-support.thtml

Help National CF

Please take the time out to fill in this survey for the NME on CF Working Life

http://executive.cfbranch.com/?p=286

Welcome to the Blog

I hope you enjoy my future posts and return to find out more