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...