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20 Most Recent Press Articles
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Written by Colin Breed on Fri 26th Mar 2010
Unfortunately because of the usual press deadlines I am not able to comment upon the last Budget of the Government with the knowledge of what it contains. I shall therefore have to make some assumptions on what we might expect, based upon the pronouncements in recent weeks.
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Written by Colin Breed on Tue 16th Mar 2010
An American President once famously said before an election "it's the economy stupid" and had the slogan printed in large letters for his study and his campaign headquarters. Quite simply it was reminding everyone that whilst there are always myriad policy issues to consider when choosing a political party or candidate at an election, most people still decide on their choice based on what it will mean for their pocket or the family budget. The received wisdom is that no-one ever won an election promising five years of hard graft, of increasing taxes and reductions in public services.
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Written by Colin Breed on Tue 2nd Mar 2010
The future funding, organisation and management of the NHS will not only be a potentially controversial area of debate leading up to the General Election but will have to be a strong priority for the next Government whoever wins. Our national debate on healthcare, however, is as nothing to what is taking place in the United States.
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Written by Colin Breed on Tue 23rd Feb 2010
Recent newspaper reports have highlighted increasing tensions over the Falkland Islands, some 28 years after the United Kingdom last went to war to protect our interests there. The latest diplomatic scuffle centres on oil prospecting, and the growing amount of evidence suggesting plentiful oil reserves off the shores in every direction. There could be as much as 3.5 billion barrels and nine trillion cubic metres of gas around the Falklands, worth a quarter of a trillion dollars. It is not too difficult to see why cash-strapped Argentina is still interested in the last bastions of empire.
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Written by Colin Breed on Tue 16th Feb 2010
This week the Treasury Select Committee has been carrying forward its work looking into the banking and financial sector and it is becoming increasingly clear that real cooperation and coordination of regulation both in Europe and the USA is going to be vital if multi-national banks with considerable cross border operations are to be effectively supervised. Of course, the work of the Committee will have to cease when the General Election is called and as it is unlikely we shall have completed all the investigations the successor Committee will have to take up the baton and do the last lap. However, this could be against a very different UK Government.
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Written by Colin Breed on Tue 9th Feb 2010
The devastation of Haiti following the earthquake has rightly mobilised international aid on a massive scale even more than can be effectively handled logistically. Haiti was already an impoverished country and the natural disaster only made things a whole lot worse.
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Written by Colin Breed and published in Lowdown Article on Fri 5th Feb 2010
The Democrats unexpected loss of the Senate seat in Massachusetts probably encouraged President Obama to announce more far reaching proposals in dealing with the aftermath of the financial crisis. Whilst it was international received wisdom that no one country could go it alone in introducing new regulatory and supervisory systems because of the risk of a "race to the bottom", with banks relocating to the least demanding location of regulation, he was prepared to apparently act unilaterally.
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Written by Colin Breed and published in Lowdown Article on Tue 26th Jan 2010
Earlier this month Parliament discussed the Second Reading of the Children, Schools and Families Bill, another hotch-potch of clauses and legislation that serves little purpose other than to add more weight to the statute book.
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Written by Colin Breed and published in Lowdown Article on Tue 19th Jan 2010
The Government's desire to push through as many Second Readings of Bills, knowing that they have little or no chance of being completed in Parliament before it is dissolved for the election, continues to amaze me. The latest is yet another Crime and Security Bill, in fact, the 60th criminal justice Bill since 1997. One might have thought they would have gotten it right by now, particularly as these Bills have introduced no less that 3600 criminal offences! One of the measures in this Bill even amends the Policing and Crime Act 2009, just 13 days after that Bill was given Royal Assent.
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Written by Colin Breed and published in Lowdown Article on Wed 13th Jan 2010
Last week the Health Select Committee produced another valuable contribution to Parliament in its report on alcohol and its effect on public health. Among a number of recommendations the one which gained most media interest was that which referred to the sale of alcohol based on a minimum price per unit. Apart from the relaxation of licensing laws it is the price of alcoholic drinks which has contributed most to the significant rise in drinking, particularly amongst young people. Two litres of cider in a plastic bottle can now be bought for around £1.20, the equivalent of 34p a pint. A minimum price would render such sales illegal. A figure of 40p for a 10ml unit of alcohol would increase this bottle's cost to £3.36 and save an estimated 1100 lives per year.
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Written by Colin Breed and published in House Magazine on Wed 6th Jan 2010
The Financial Services Bill seeks to address weaknesses in the regulatory system that were exposed during the recent banking crisis. It is obvious that parts were inadequate, uncoordinated and in some cases inappropriate to the challenges of an expanding Financial Services sector. When the Financial Services Authority (FSA) was established ten years ago the Government set up a tripartite arrangement with the Treasury, Bank of England and the FSA charged with responsibility for overseeing financial stability under a Memorandum of Understanding. Concerns were raised at the time that this arrangement was too weak and ill defined. In particular, it did not identify "who" was in charge (it now appears that all were responsible) and in practice it failed to meet the requirements necessary to identify emerging problems or take any meaningful decisions. This was a crucial finding of several reports most notably that of the Treasury Select Committee following the demise of Northern Rock.
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Written by Colin Breed and published in Lowdown Article on Tue 5th Jan 2010
I suppose it was inevitable that the start of the New Year and the return of Parliament after the Christmas recess would signal the commencement of what is likely to be a long drawn out election campaign. Whether or not it adds to the general sense of hostility to politics within the country, or conversely encourages more people to exercise their democratic right at the General Election, we will have to wait and see.
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Written by Colin Breed on Sat 19th Dec 2009
With so much activity in the political world the Chilcot Inquiry into the events leading up to the war in Iraq has been rather sidelined with only minimal coverage on television and in the press. Last Sunday in a religious programme Tony Blair was interviewed and made the startling confession that even had he known that Saddam Hussein did not possess Weapons of Mass Destruction he would still have thought it right to remove him and that Iraq and the Middle East region is better off without him. Whilst I am sure we would agree with the latter, the fact that he would have ordered our armed forces into Iraq, and worry about finding some justification later, is quite astonishing.
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Written by Colin Breed and published in Lowdown Article on Fri 18th Dec 2009
As usual during the run up to Christmas I have been visiting the Royal Mail sorting offices in the constituency. They seem as busy as ever but with considerably heavier bags of parcels due to the rise of internet shopping. I expect this trend to continue so we should be looking at ways of coping with new demands. Clearly, the size of letter boxes is causing some problems. Perhaps it is time for builders and architects to start designing secure boxes for the delivery of large items along the same lines as those created many years ago to enable external reading of meters.
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Written by Colin Breed on Mon 7th Dec 2009
The Climate Change conference in Copenhagen has of course dominated the political agenda and the Prime Minister is attempting once again to burnish his international credentials by trying to urge greater commitments from developed countries so as to provide more realistic contributions from poorer countries. First indications look far more promising than most people had hoped but it is very early in the process and it would be wise to avoid final outcomes. It seems clear that the world has been living beyond its sustainable resources for decades and it is time to recognise that this simply cannot continue.
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Written by Colin Breed on Mon 30th Nov 2009
Parliament debates the Queens Speech for a week taking in different subjects each day with voting held back until Thursday. In the end there were fifteen pieces of legislation including two draft bills and three bills carried over from the last session. Much has been written about what was not in the Gracious Speech, mainly MPs expenses and the draft Immigration Bill, which was published on the 12th November but not given a mention.
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Written by Colin Breed on Mon 30th Nov 2009
For very many years I have supported the concept of self regulation. This is the notion that businesses, individuals, professions and public bodies or associations should be subject at least to the minimum necessary formal regulation or legislation. This could be achieved through self discipline, professional bodies or trade associations, the relevant codes of conduct, rules of operation or just the reputation in market conditions, and that these would be sufficient to ensure proper standards and complaints procedures were enforced, so that costs were minimised but the objectives achieved.
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Written by Colin Breed on Fri 20th Nov 2009
The last session of this Parliament commenced this week with the Queens Speech. When I first entered Parliament the contents of the speech were a closely guarded secret whilst today the Government selectively leaks potential news stories to its friends in the press, so much was already known. Being so late in the year and only a couple of weeks in advance of the Pre-Budget Report, both will have the distinct whiff of a pre-election manifesto. It is expected that Parliament will actually sit for just 70 days before the likely date of the General Election and it is doubtful, therefore, if much legislation will proceed through both Houses and on to the Statute Book.
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Written by Colin Breed on Thu 12th Nov 2009
Last Sunday I attended two Remembrance Day services and on Armistice Day stood by the Cenotaph in Whitehall near my office. The number attending was the largest I have seen for many years. What did you think about during the two minutes of silence? I have not lost a close relative to conflict but this week a family member died suddenly and without any warning. She was a young mother of three very young children. The overwhelming sense of loss, grief and bewilderment grips mind, body and soul.
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Written by Colin Breed on Tue 3rd Nov 2009
The spat between the Home Secretary and the Chair of the Advisory Committee on the Misuse of Drugs highlights some fundamental problems at the heart of Government. Essentially, the current Government and to a lesser extent the previous Conservative administration have sought ways of separating themselves from difficult decisions.
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