Osbourne Dipping Toe in Unemployment Ocean

David Cameron has said that with 2.5 million people unemployed in this country that we are facing a "jobs crisis". So what is the big scheme to deal with this?

Well George Osbourne has announced a plan to cut the employers National Insurance contributions for the first 10 employees of a start up company. The net effect? Well even Osbourne says this will only create 60,000 new jobs in the first period of a Conservative government.

So the net effect that this plan is going to have on 2,500,000 unemployed is reduce it to 2,440,000. Wow! That looks impressive. How many jobs without such a tax break will be lost in the same period? Even in good years 60,000 jobs are lost through natural evolution of businesses, in good years these tend to be picked up elsewhere.

David Cameron said yesterday:

"This is such an important week for us. This time we have a real chance of making a difference … Sixty million hopes resting on our shoulders. We must not let Britain down.

"Let this be the week we talk to the country about our plans, our vision."

Well so far in the job market 0.01% of that sixty million have had their hopes realised. We await with baited breathe the next big small idea.

Of course it is not the first tinkering the Tories have announced regarding National Insurance at the weekend they announced the rich people's top up scheme to ensure free medical care.

And Now....

.....for Something Completely Different.

Yes a whole 2 weeks and 2 days after the world first saw me it saw a young upstart called Monty Python. Here are some of my memorable Python Moments a little off the from the usual ones.

First a match of International Philosphy Germany v Greece.



This one is incredibly cheesey.



And in conclusion the World's funniest joke which first aired 40 years ago today.

Longannet Not Receiving CCS Development Funding....Yet

At the end of last week the EU were distributing £160m of funding to a number of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) facilities around Europe. One of the potential bidders for the funding was Longannet power station in Fife. This is one of the first coal power power stations to install the technology to reduce the amount of CO2 it uses while providing power.

One UK plant was amongst the successful bidders Hatfield in Yorkshire, which was one of the few pre-combustion projects in the running. But supporters of Longannet are not that disheartened as a pioneer in the field they are hopeful of future funding from a second trance of EU support coming next year to take the process further.

One such supported was Lib Dem MEP George Lyon whose Facebook update late last week read:

"Still waiting for CSS funding news for Scotland. So far Compostilla has won the Spanish bid and Vattenfall has the German CSS project."

I asked George what his view was now that the final news of the successful bids was out. He said:

"I launched my European election campaign at Longannet power station confident in the facilities available and the ambition to put Scotland at the forefront of carbon capture and storage technology. This decision has not changed my view and I remain confident that Longannet has a vital role to play in the development of CCS technology.

"Despite what the SNP claim, Scotland's oil wells are drying up. Through CCS technology we can look to the future and begin to fill them up again, this time with harmful gases. Developing nations like India and China are fuelling the growth of their economies with coal. I want Scotland to be in a position to take advantage of these emerging markets.

"Longannet's bid was a good one, and they have already taken steps towards introducing CCS technology. When the next round of funding comes round Longannet will be in a strong position and I will continue to work with Willie Rennie MP to see this pioneering technology in Fife."

Other supporters of the work going on at Longannet include Richard Dixon, director of WWF, whose organisation recently said it through the Scottish plant was the best option in the UK competition for funding. He said:

"It is disappointing Longannet has not been chosen this time around. We sincerely hope it will get some form of support to properly test this technology soon, whether it is from Europe or as a winner of the UK government's own CCS competition.

"The world urgently needs technology that will reduce our climate emissions and Scotland is well placed to take a global lead in this important field.

"The power sector is responsible for more than a third of Scotland's emissions, most of it from burning coal. CCS is a potentially important technology which could help reduce emissions around the world."

Here's to the future and further research in this way of cutting emissions at Longannet and other locations, especially in China who are building so many coal fired power stations we need them to utilize CCS on a large scale.

Mary Honeyball, are you aware of what reform is or aren't you?

Maybe Mary Honeyball MEP wants a nice cosy soundbite, like wot Gordon gave her in Brighton last week, when she wrote for LabourList 'Nick, are you committed to reform or aren't you?'. Too busy to read all 92 pages of Nick's pamphlet the Liberal Moment.

Maybe she was too busy trying to get elected to hear Nick Clegg calling for deep and serious reform before the summer recess. A far deeper reform than her dear leader was willing to offer in the speech that apparently was changing key themes up to 1:30 on the morning it was made.

Maybe, most worryingly, she doesn't know that reform is, this history of her own party to fail to deliver, or maybe like so many in the Labour Party she just doesn't get it.

To save you time Mary all you need to read to see that Nick is pages 45-49 of the Liberal Moment. Or maybe look at what the Lib Dems did in Scotland delivering on electoral reform into the programme of Government after only 4 years as a minor partner to a larger party. When after 12 years of a large majority Labor has failed to meet its 1997 pledges to bring about a fully elected House of Lords or the promise of electoral reform.

Nick outlines what true reform is, in those few short pages. He points out that the only more centralised Government system is Europe is in a place with fewer people than the Borough of Croydon, and that being Malta. Yet 16 years ago the great Labour hope, no not Blair but John Smith said:

"I want to see a fundamental shift in the balance of power between the citizen and te state - a shift away from an overpowering state to a citizens' democracy where the people have rights and powers and where they are served by accountable and responsive government."

So much for the road not taken. Nick does admit that Labour did start on some of the reforms that Robin Cook and Bob Maclennan sought to push forward, but before them Roy Jenkins. But they have failed on the big things and some of the delivery. Labour have refused to cap donations. Refuse to listen to their own members but bow to the union paymasters.

Jenkins wanted power dispersed from an overbearing executive and given back to Parliament, yet Labour have just closed in, trying to control the Internet, the media and the voters from a war room in Whitehall. He lists the lack of transparency and scrutiny that led to the expenses scandal being so blown up, as nobody had any idea what some of their MPs were up to, and then when they did Parliament over did it with the redacting.

But Mary one of the final paragraphs answers your question fully. Nick writes:

"Finally, but fundamentally, we need to give people a proper say in who governs the country with fair votes. No government should be able to secure total power with the support of just one out of five people. Political reform might seem obscure sometimes, but it underpins real change. As I have outlined, it is our very system of election that confines the scope of our governments to create a fairer, freer society that Liberal Democrats have always championed."

So why then Mary asks are we bowing to the Conservatives, did you miss it Mary. Nick wants to be Prime Minister. We already have Labour on the run. We are looking to target the Conservatives and we'll put up a stronger fight that Labour are doing at present. Recent opinion polls after our conference showed clear inroads into the Conservative support, with a little bit more chipped off a faltering Labour Party.

We're taking the fight to both of you, a message of real change and real reform that neither of the other parties have delivered despite having the votes to.

Wikio MacBlogopsphere Rankings October

Things are really heating up in the October Wikio Political Blog Rankings with the Scottish Blogs especially in the midfield SNP Tactical Voting has climbed 6 places to enter the top 40 for the first time at 40, hot on his heels is Caron's Musings climbing 20 to 41, Subrosa has climbed but just one spot to 42, and fighting to keep up is me at 47 up 5. Is it possible that the other three of us could join Jeff in the top 40 next month?

With Tom Harris at 6 and the Cute Greek Baby at 16 that is 6 of the top 50 from Scotland a credible 12% so the Scots are punching above their weight. The full list of the Scottish Blogs in the top 100 is below, last month's ran in brackets.

Lower Down James of the Two Doctors storms into the top 100 at 82 overtaking some of last months new entries. However, Amused Cynicism has dropped out of the hot 100.

1. Tom Harris MP And another Thing... 6 (6)

2. Mr Eugenides 16 (15)

3. SNP Tactical Voting 40 (46)

4. Caron's Musings 41 (61)

5. Subrosa 42 (43)

6. Stephen's Linlithgow Journal 47 (52)
7. Ranting Rab 81 (115)

8. Two Doctors 82 (102)

9. Yapping Yousuf 83 (96)

10. Malc in the Burgh 91 (100)

Of course there is also Alex Massie's Spectator Blog at number 45, have we been ignoring him, does he count as being Scottish? Opinions please?

Update: Malc pointed out Ranting Rab another new entry I'd overlooked in going down the list looking for familiar names.

(I'll add all the links later when I have time)

Your Monthly Salmond Bite of the Debate Question

As regular as clockwork at the start of each month (see August and September) Alex Salmond seems to raise his head in the great West Lothian Question of Prime Ministerial televised debates.

The latest take is that Alex Salmond is threatening to sue if he is not included in the debates in the run up to the election. They are also threatening to block any debate that does not include the First Minister. John Swinney has said:

"It deprives the voters in Scotland of hearing the breadth of political choice that quite clearly exists here in Scotland about the input of Scotland into the UK General Election."

I have in my previous posts above already discussed compromises, so I will not repeat them here. The action that Salmond is threatening is also denying the British people who live in Scotland the chance to hear the men who will be those that decide the shape of the next United Kingdom Government. The three men that the broadcasters have invited are those key men. Even if Salmond's army where to get a clean sweep across Scotland he would only have 59 MPs not one of them being Alex Salmond.

The people in Scotland are lucky to have a vote that can count towards the opinion
shakers in Westminster. Having just had my 40th birthday if I hadn't moved elsewhere I would have had 22 years of my adult life where I could never have voted for a party that held sway in the corridors in London (apart from when the UUP held up the slim Major majority). Yet in Northern Ireland we still get to see political discussion from the UK leaders through Question Time and the like, although there is a once monthly opt out for a local QT.

If Salmond had wanted to be at the big boys table he should have brought forward the one key promise he seems intent on keeping since the 2007. If he'd already had his referendum and had his desirous result this would all be a moot point. As it is what he should be doing is sitting down with broadcasters to come up with a compromise. I mean to take his point on board should the English Democrats have a place on the debate that is broadcast to Scotland, or the Cornish Nationalists. Surely supporters of such parties are being denied the full breadth of political choice? How about those that do vote Official Monster Raving Looney?

There are holes in his argument and he needs to be sensible and discuss these rather than bully or cajole.

Vactican Buck Passing In Extremis

The latest comment from the Vatican on the Church's child sex abuse scandal is attempting to shift blame to the gay community at large rather than at the priesthood (hattip to Daniel Edward Pitt @myinfamy). It states that it is caused by gay men preying on teenage boys not paedophiles.

Ignore for a start that paedophilia is the sexual attraction to children and therefore is gender non-specific. That is just a spin that the Church appears to be trying to say somehow that being sexually attracted to an opposite sex child is somewhat less debauched.

Now there may well be 80-90% of the paedophile instances in the Catholic Church are against boys, but those that automatically by definition place the blame on the gay community. The fact is do all the girls that have been abused by priests admit to it. Is the fact that they may have been deflowered by the church maybe something that they don't want to report. Is Thorn Birds merely a make believe or is that going on too? After all we know that there are occasions of priests fathering children with their house keepers. So is it maybe all down to the willingness and availability of personnel, housekeepers or alter boys?

The fact that the Catholic Church indoctrinates their priest that they are to be celibate and abstain from sex from women folk could well led to a deep outpouring of sexual pent up anger. Also does the restriction of the right to marriage also attract a certain type of person to the priesthood? Is it possible that the churches latest statement throws up a whole chicken or the egg kind of situation that they are not prepared to address.

Now I'm not denying that there have been instances of child abuse in other churches, I know there have been cases. Nor am I denying that some of those weren't carried out by men against boys. But they have admitted that 1.5 to 5% of priest have been abused in underage sexual abuse, this isn't accounting for affairs of an adult nature. The question does arise if the vow of celibacy a causal effect of all this?

Trying to shift the attention to gay men also doesn't negate the effect that those men were ordained and took Holy Orders in the Church. They were under its jurisdiction and supervision. We know that on occasion they were not dismissed but merely moved over elsewhere with the same responsibility, accessibility and opportunity. Trying to dust it under the carpet and attempt to shift the focus doesn't negate the Churches responsibility for the issue.