FAIT A COMPLIS FOR OXFORD UNIVERSITY REFORMS?

‘There are many arguments for the new proposals but one is that the Charities Act 2006, which passed into law on 9 November, brings Oxford and Cambridge - and the individual colleges - for the first time into the scope of charity regulators. A letter read out during the Congregation’s first debate on the White Paper showed that the Higher Education Funding Council strongly favours, though it will not immediately enforce, a majority of independents among a charity’s trustees’

SOURCE: FROM THE MASTER: LORD BUTLER OF BROCKWELL: - ‘UNIV NEWSLETTER’ ISSUE 25 MICHAELMAS 2006 – Page 1.

TURKEY IN OR OUT?

Politicians are again in the firing line again opinion polls inside Europe and Turkey are reporting declining support for the very idea that Ankara should join the European Union (EU) by 2015. In fact opponents on both sides of the Aegean Sea utilise many of the same arguments in their case against Turkey joining as Europe’s first predominately Moslem Middle Eastern state.

On the European side there are distinct advantages in Ankara joining the EU, despite many European’s valid concerns and worries. But EU politicians should follow the advice of Italian political strategist Niccolo Machiavelli ‘take advantage out of a disadvantage.’ If the EU fails to implement the reforms required and make the necessary compromises in its negotiations over the role of the Turkish military and Cyprus, then the prospects of Turkey joining look increasingly doubtful. To read more http://www.oxfordprospect.co.uk/Turkey.htm

Rachael Evans

Rachael Evans
Mr. Norman Evans has asked me to inform you that his wife Rachael died suddenly at home on her 87th birthday (29 September 2006), which she had just celebrated

To read the messages posted by her friends and Labour Party colleagues in Oxfordshire see http://www.oxfordprospect.co.uk/RachaelEvans.htm

Labour's NEC:Time for change?

LABOUR MEMBERS SHOW LITTLE INTEREST IN NEC POLL

Less than twenty percent of Labour Party members, even bothered to return their ballot papers for election of constituency representatives in this year’s Labour Party National Executive Council poll, on a slate dominated by soft literati left activists of the party.

The question that is now being asked is it time for the NEC to be abolished since a majority of members regard it as an irrelevant, time serving relic, which no longer represents the views of the majority of the membership, at this time.

Clearly, when four fifths of the party membership did even trouble to participate in this poll, then this election is meaningless. These results demonstrate that those elected represent a small but organised unrepresentative group, able to punch above their weight, but not truly representative of the party as a whole.

http://oxfordprospect.blogspot.com/Nicholas NewmanEditor http://groups.msn.com/HEADINGTONFORUM/yourwebpage4.msnw http://www.oxfordprospect.co.uk/http://www.oxfordprospect.co.uk/HEADINGTON%20FORUM%20OXFORD%20NEWS.htm

EU Accounts -Problems of Probity

EU BUDGET

Complaints in the media about the EU Accounts are hypocritical. The reasons why there is not greater probity on this issue or real political concern are as follows:
1. Any solution would have to increase the powers of the European Commission and Parliament to investigate and fine member states government’s public finances. I doubt our Chancellor would not permit an intrusion, nor would member states government be prepared to surrender such power to Brussels.
2. There is no European wide common standard of public finance accountancy; each state has its own traditions and standards. So it makes the job of the European Court of Auditors a very difficult one.
3. As the EU has grown the opportunities for human error and yes fraud have grown.
4. Member states implement over 90% of the EU budget on behalf of Brussels. Each with its own tradition of accountancy means it is not always fraud that is to blame for tracing funds.
5. Implementing EU policy is often very difficult, take the CAP, policy makers have to administer an agricultural policy that has to deal with widely different farming regimes from the giant agribusinesses of East Anglia to Artic rain deer herders and Spanish olive groves.
6. There is the problem of differing administrative cultures and languages, which can make it hard to achieve things.
7. The present system allows for politicians the flexibility to divert funds to pet public projects which a strict interpretation of the rules would not allow.
8. In public finance, accountancy traditions are not always the same as for business, if you read the background to the stories over the years, what you learn is much of the missing EU budget funds can not be accounted for to the criteria that the European Court of Auditors works to. Which can mean they know where much of it is, but do not have the quality of evidence required.
Just to put things in proportion the British Department of Work and Pensions has not had its books signed off for the last thirteen years. Also using a business comparison, an accountant signing off the books of a firm does not mean all is right with the firm, as investors found to their cost with ENRON.

If you really want this matter tackled then the following things have to be achieved:
1. The European Parliament has to have a powerful Parliamentary Accounts Committee that works with the European Court of Auditors with full powers to investigate and fine member governments.
2. A common European Standard of Public Finance Accountancy has to be introduced.
3. The European Commission has to take full control of implementing its £67.2 billion budget.
4. The systems for implementation of the budget have to be simplified.

I should think many a euro-sceptics and pro-european politicians are working together, for the above mentioned reasons, to prevent such reforms in improving the probity of EU accounts from ever being implemented.

SUBFSC

OPINION PIECE

LET IT ENDURE FOR EVER

What a pleasure it is to see a student elegantly dressed. It makes a change from the dirty torn t-shirt and stonewashed ragged jeans. Oxford was, this month, in danger of losing the tradition that students be dressed in a dark suit, black shoes, a white bow tie, and plain white shirt and collar, with a cap and gown, known as subfusc. Subfusc is an ancient form of attire, worn by students at every formal university occasion including Examinations and Encaenia.In Oxford it has been a common sight to see students dressed in subfusc, dashing to exams on a bicycle, looking vaguely like penguins from a distance. It has always given me a chuckle and a sense of pride about living in Oxford.Unfortunately, this proud tradition was under threat from Oxford University Student’s Union (OUSU).Its President, Emma Norris launched a campaign to make the wearing of subfusc voluntary at university formal occasions by students. But the campaigners made a mistake, which successful revolutionaries never make - they consulted the electorate.The student body held a referendum on this issue via the internet; the second time they had used such a system, but only those with student usernames could take part. Of the 4,000 who were polled, over 80% voted in favour of keeping the status quo!Consequently, to her surprise, Emma Norris had to announce that, by the students’ vote, that subfusc would continue to be compulsory. So we will still see the joyful site of students celebrating the end of exams dressed in subfusc, popping balloons and champagne. Esto perpetua.

Waste of Parliament's time

Jacob Sanders's attack on Andrew Smith for not signing Early Day Motions (EDMs) is somewhat over the top (Oxford Mail, August 22).

EDMs are outdated and as Mr Smith has said earlier, they serve no purpose whatsover. Mr Sanders goes further by making the spurious claim that EDMs are "one of the most important means available to backbench MPs to represent their constituents in Parliament".

It may have escaped attention of Mr Sanders and his cohorts in the Green Party that the most important means available to all MPs, not just those in the backbenches, is the right to vote on the floor on the House of Commons where real and effective change can and will be realised. I believe Mr Smith's voting record is more than acceptable.

There are currently 727 open EDMs and I do not see how having my local MP spending weeks reading these specific documents is demonstrative of him representing the constituents of Oxford East, especially when no real change is ever going to be effected for doing so.

Posted on behalf of MICK McANDREWS, Burchester Avenue, Barton, Oxford

Businesses are homeless too!

BUILDING housing on brownfield sites is all very well, but where are all the businesses going to live?

Mr Prescott boasts of meeting his target for building 60 per cent of new homes on brownfield sites. But in truth he has managed it only by displacing commercial development — for which there is no corresponding target — on to virgin sites.

The Government’s targets on ‘sustainable’ housing developments aren’t just a scam but a positive threat to the environment. While new homes are being built at what . . . would have been considered slum densities, there seems nothing to stop wasteful land use by commercial development.

Some of the great Oxford Street department stores are seven or eight storeys high, and highly efficient with space; yet these kinds of shops are increasingly being replaced with the likes of PC World: vast, single-storey tin sheds surrounded by acres of parking.”

Fuel Lobby’s protests - do they protest perhaps too much?

Fuel Lobby’s protests - do they protest perhaps too much?

There is something about the Fuel Lobby’s planned protests that makes it hard to extend our full sympathy. For one thing, the tactics employed by the fuel protesters are borrowed from the bolshie trade unionists of the 1970s, and will bring great inconvenience to the public and to business. For another, it is by no means clear why farmers and hauliers should feel especially aggrieved by Gordon Brown’s fuel tax regime. Most of the fuel used by farmers is red diesel, a concoction specially devised for them which is taxed at just six pence per litre. Hauliers do not enjoy a similar concession, but such is the damage wreaked on the roads and the nearby buildings by 44-ton lorries that it is doubtful whether their taxes cover the full cost to the public purse of their activities.

Moreover, there is something to be said for fuel taxes as an efficient way of raising revenue.

Re- launch of Oxford Fabian Society

Re- launch of Oxford Fabian Society

To all members of the Fabian Society in Oxford and Oxfordshire:

Meetings of the Fabian Society have been in abeyance for some years and our opportunity to discuss matters of wider political and social issues led by invited speakers, has not been possible, particularly in the absence of the University Fabian Society.
In discussions with the Dartmouth Street Headquarters of the Fabian Society, it was suggested that I explore the possibility of re-launching the Oxford and Oxfordshire Fabian Society. Accordingly the purpose of this message is to ascertain the degree of interest amongst Fabian Society (and possibly other interested) members in such a re-launch.
The points for consideration and views (based on past experience in the Oxford Fabian Society include:
a) Meetings to be held three times each year – in term time perhaps?

b) To invite a distinguished speaker to be met by only 5/6 members (as happened in the past) is both futile and insulting. One proposal would be to circulate members 1 to 2 months in advance and arrange any meeting based only on a firm commitment of attendance by at least 20 (?) members.

c) Venues – Oxford, Headington, Thame to incorporate the requirements of both the City and County members of the Fabian Society?

d) Some sort of small subscription might be necessary, preferably not involving a tedious bureaucratic collection system.

e) Communication with members would be by email and news would be posted on a dedicated page of Oxfordprospect.co.uk at http://www.oxfordprospect.co.uk/Fabian%20Society.htm I have also provided a Blog site at http://oxfordprospect.blogspot.com/ to enable members to discuss the issues that matter to them.

I would be grateful if you would let me know (by email) your views on this proposal and its attendant details to ascertain whether I should proceed further.

Yours fraternally

Nicholas A. Newman

Chair Greater Headington Labour Party

Editor: Oxfordprospect.co.uk & Headington Forum

Email: editor@oxfordprospect.co.uk

Cook's agent beats 40 rivals to represent party at by-election

Date is set for Cook by-election The first steps are to be taken towards holding a by-election in the seat left vacant by the death of Robin Cook.
Labour has been forced to tread constitutional by-ways because the Westminster parliament is in recess.
The contest will be signalled in the London Gazette on Friday and the writ will formally be moved next week.
Voters in the Livingston constituency, where the former foreign secretary had a majority of 13,000, will go to the polls on 29 September.
Labour is hoping for a bounce from its annual conference in Brighton that week.
The party will be represented by Mr Cook's former election agent, Jim Devine.
But the Nationalists are relying on disquiet over Iraq, as well as local Livingston controversies, to give them a boost.
Angela Constance will contest the seat for the SNP, while the Liberal Democrats have chosen Charles Dundas as their candidate and Steven Nimmo will fight for the SSP.
Mr Cook died last month after falling ill while hillwalking in the Scottish Highlands.
He resigned from Tony Blair's Cabinet in 2003 over the Iraq crisis.

Desperate champagne socialist George Galloway grabs for gourmet creditials

Gorgeous George should show his gourmet credentials again

George Galloway’s eye for an opportunity is uncanny. The strike at the Heathrow caterer Gate Gourmet is the latest bandwagon onto which members of his Respect party have piled to extract publicity.

The move has provoked anger from Piara Khabra, the local MP, who complains the dispute is being “hijacked” by elements of the hard left. “They are trying to push ideological arguments that are just not possible,” says Khabra, who represents many pickets. “They just want to exploit the situation.”

A spokesman for Respect confirmed that members had taken it upon themselves as individuals to show solidarity with the workers, who were sacked by the airline subcontractor earlier this month. It comes a week after it emerged that the spokesman for the family of the Brazilian man shot dead by police at Stockwell Underground station was none other than a member of Galloway’s Commons staff.

The Respect MP, an avowed champagne socialist, has a penchant for good food. Perhaps a fine gesture would be to give each striker a box of Quality Street chocolates — his present to Saddam Hussein.

Henley Labour Party

STOP BEING TOLERANT OF INTOLERANCE!

It is difficult not to agree with Mathew Parris when he argued recently in finding women wearing the veil, denying girls education and other tribal practices as female circumcision, forced and arranged marriages from abroad as offensive to western women. Such behaviour flouts western social conventions and should not be seen in the west. To read more http://www.oxfordprospect.co.uk/Multiculturalism.htm
More blogs about stop being tolerant of intolerance.

Has anyone heard of the Conservative Rural Action Group?

Has anyone heard of Conservative Rural Action Group? - 17 August
It’s a funny old world, claims by CRAG (Conservative Rural Action Group) that their campaigning efforts made a difference in last May’s elections, are to say the least a bit disingenuous. CRAG’s website boasts about its rural campaigning efforts having a ‘very visible effect’ on farmland and at point to point meetings. In particular it claims it played a vital role in securing such traditionally Tory London seats as Corydon, Putney and Hammersmith and Fulham. Erm – aren’t these all urban seats? This might explain why no one I know spotted these people during the elections in rural Oxfordshire.

Any hope of Labour returning to the Left died with Robin Cook

Any hope of Labour returning to the Left died with Robin

Tony Blair's advisers often quote the feminist writer Gloria Steinem's aphorism that today everything political is personal. There are few politicians, however, who prove that the personal can also be the political. Robin Cook was one who did.
As the ablest and most articulate spokesman for the Labour Left, he symbolised the path not followed by his party. Through his resignation from the Government over the war in Iraq, he became an emblem of Old Labour's frustration with Mr Blair. His death is therefore not just a personal tragedy for his family, it is also a political event. It is now less likely than ever that Labour will return to its traditional socialist roots.
There was nothing New Labour about Mr Cook. With his ginger beard, his love of horse racing and his liking for a dram (or 10) of whisky, he was the opposite of a clean-cut, mineral water-sipping Blairite clone. He preferred lamb rogan josh to rabbit polenta, trade unionists to businessmen, the Scottish Highlands to Tuscany. During the recent general election campaign, he came back to help the party as part of a strategy called Operation Hairy Lefty. It was a label that could have been invented for him.
A brilliant parliamentarian, Mr Cook, like the Prime Minister, wanted a "new style of politics" - but his version involved reforming the House of Lords and introducing proportional representation, rather than installing a sofa in the study of Number 10. As foreign secretary, his "ethical foreign policy" meant clamping down on arms sales, not toppling Saddam Hussein.
Instead of touting a pager, he had an old-fashioned red telephone installed on his desk with a hotline to his counterpart in the United States - he used to joke that the first time it rang, the caller tried to order a takeaway pizza. When all around him were throwing out government-owned watercolours in favour of Cool Britannia modern paintings, he replaced a picture of a maharaja with a giant gilded mirror. His vanity and prickly manner meant that he was unable to erect a political big tent.
On policy, he was frequently at odds with Mr Blair, preferring differentiation to triangulation. Even before Labour had won power in 1997, he said, privately, that the party's manifesto was fine - just so long as it was never actually implemented. He opposed ID cards, university top-up fees and the introduction of market forces into the public services. He would almost certainly have led the charge against the Prime Minister's recent anti-terrorist proposals. In a recent speech to the Left-wing pressure group Compass, he argued that Labour would only win the next election if it abandoned its fascination with "political cross-dressing" and rediscovered a "radical values base".
Mr Cook was the only credible figurehead of the Left - in recent years, he deployed the forensic debating skills once used against the Conservatives during the arms to Iraq debate against his own party. There is no one else who can take over this role - Frank Dobson has the beard but lacks the intellect, Clare Short shares his views on Iraq, but fails the subtlety test. Mr Cook's death will therefore alter the balance of power in the Labour Party at a time when its future is up for grabs with the impending departure of Mr Blair. There are implications not just for the Prime Minister but also for his likely successor, Gordon Brown.
Recently, Mr Cook abandoned his decade-long rivalry with the Chancellor and started campaigning for his fellow Scot to assume the Labour leadership at the earliest opportunity. He did so because, like many other MPs and activists, he believed that Mr Brown shared his views that the party needed to put clear, red water between it and the Conservatives. There is, in fact, little evidence that this is the case.
Although the Chancellor has in the past flaunted his True Labour credentials, in an attempt to differentiate himself from the New Labour Mr Blair, he has, since this year's election, come to the conclusion that electoral success comes from retaining the centre ground. At a recent internal briefing, Labour's pollster Greg Cook produced an analysis showing that if the party regained two per cent of its vote from the Liberal Democrats but lost two per cent to the Conservatives, then it would lose power. Mr Brown has been struck by the need to keep the middle classes, won over to Labour by Mr Blair, on side should he become leader.
I think it extremely unlikely that Mr Brown would, as prime minister, have given Mr Cook the Cabinet job he wanted - that of Chancellor. Had he brought him back into the government at all, it would have been in a relatively junior position where his Left-wing instincts could have been contained.
There is also little chance that Mr Brown would have chosen Mr Cook as his deputy - he is more likely to try to balance his own dour Scottish tax-and-spend reputation with a southern, centre-ground running mate. As the Chancellor himself said during the election campaign, he is New Labour and he will to a great extent be the continuity candidate to succeed Mr Blair. Mr Cook - like many others on his wing of the Labour Party - would have been deeply disappointed by a Brown premiership.
And yet, had he lived, he would, as one of Mr Brown's original supporters, inevitably have had a hold over him, not only because of his own reputation but also because of the strand of opinion he represents. His influence would have been greater over Mr Brown than it ever was over Mr Blair because their political background and instincts are more similar.
It would have been more difficult for Mr Brown to bat away criticisms from one of his most high-profile allies than it was for Mr Blair to shrug off complaints from a man who had resigned from his Cabinet. That will not now be. It will be far easier for Mr Brown, like Mr Blair, to ignore the Left because its best exponent has gone.
"There are few politicians who are irreplaceable," Lord Kinnock said yesterday. "Robin Cook was irreplaceable." It is said that all political careers end in failure. Certainly, Robin Cook's views have been defeated in government. However, as an opposition politician - whether to the Conservatives or to his own party - he was a success.

The Question of PR

I think there are three issues here, the question of people not voting, the types of PR and the size and design of constituencies.You could argue that increasing rates of non participation in elections demonstrates the success of politics in this country in solving many of the issues that concern people today. In fact the low turnout at the last election is an indication that people are very satisfied with the Tony Blair.If the political elite was truly concerned at low turnout rates, the answer is easy to resolve, copy the Australian system of compulsory voting, where if none of the parties is fancied by the voter, there is a box to tick saying ‘none of the above’.

As for PR, the question is which system to adopt, the French system of election appeals to me, where there is a run off between the top two candidates in a second election if the leading candidate in the first election does not win 51% of the total vote.I would be totally against the Israeli system which means very small minority parties can push through policies against the will of the majority of voters. As for New Zealand, there is much dissatisfaction about the system and reforms are being planned to the system, even a return to a modified form of first past the post is now being considered by political parties in New Zealand.

Looking at constituencies, the South East Region Constituency for our Representatives in the European Parliament is considered a big mistake by many. In my interview with Peter Skinner MEP see http://www.oxfordprospect.co.uk/Peter%20Skinner%20MEP.htm he finds it very hard to cover such a large constituency. His patch of 8.1 million people covering 83 Westminster Constituencies makes our MEPs seem remote from us.In the case of MEP I think the Region should be divided into 3 or 4 European Constituencies, in order to make things easier for both MEPs and voters.

As for Westminster MPs, I think the constituencies are too small, take Oxfordshire, we have 6 Seats representing us in the County. At the last General Election this resulted in 1 Labour, 1 LibDem and 4 Tory, even though only 34% of voters, voted Tory. If we had a single Oxfordshire multimember constituency, the Conservatives would have 2 seats, Labour 2 and Lib Dem 2. Which would mean afair distribution of seats.

Editor Oxfordprospect.co.uk & Webmaster Henleylabourparty.co.uk

We must build more houses

We must build more homes
Attempts by a Conservative-dominated South East England Regional Assembly (Seera) to stop a democratically-elected Government plan to tackle the housing crisis is disgraceful (Oxford Mail, July 15).
While such a decision to limit house building in the area might please such selfish minority interest groups as the CPRE (Campaign for the Preservation of Real Estate Values), they will not be thanked by the two million people seeking homes in the region over the next decade.
As a result of this politically motivated decision, essential services like the National Health Service, schools and the Post Office will find it harder to find enough staff.
Nor will employees welcome the assembly's decision, as their quality of life will be threatened as they are forced to spend increasing amounts of time away from their families, stuck in traffic jams on the way to work.
This bad decision by the assembly is just another example of just how out of touch the Conservative Party is with the electorate.
Fortunately, this vote by the assembly is not binding on John Prescott's plans for the South East, and the region will get the new housing it so desperately needs.
NICHOLAS NEWMAN
Editor, www.Oxfordprospect.co.uk

The challenge facing us all

The challenge facing us all
Congratulations to the hundreds of Oxford people, young and old, who have backed the Make Poverty History campaign.
And well done to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown for taking the issues of poverty and climate change head on.
Our world has never been richer, but every week 200,000 children under five die of preventable diseases.
Our planet is getting warmer because of greenhouse gases, but George Bush pretends it is not happening. Climate change will hit the poorest people, especially in Africa, hardest of all.
We desperately need action now, not just on debt and aid but on fairer trade and tackling Aids.
We need substantial cuts in greenhouse gases and much more investment in renewable energy.
Poverty and global warming, like slavery and apartheid, can be made history.
It is up to Blair and Bush. And it is also up to us. What Oxford people do and say makes a difference.
That is why all parties on Oxford City Council have campaigned on these issues. Giving money, buying fair trade coffee, using public transport and insulating our homes all helps.
The Oxford residents I talk to want action on climate and poverty.
If the Group of Eight national leaders in Gleneagles are not listening, they too will very quickly become history. John Tanner (Councillor), Portfolio holder for Øthe environment, Oxford City Council

Parents are to blame for yob culture

Parents blamed for rise in yob culture

The majority of the public blame poor parenting for the significant rise in anti-social behaviour, according to a new survey.
85 per cent of respondents to a YouGov poll for Friday's Telegraph said parents are one of the two main factors responsible for the lack of respect people now show fellow citizens and those in authority.
89 per cent of people believe yob culture is on the rise, with 65 per cent feeling it has "increased a lot".
The survey also found that more than 90 per cent believe that people today show less respect for one another and for those in authority than they did in the past.
While that may be unsurprising, ministers and MPs may be more interested in some of the other findings of the poll.
The break up of marriages was blamed by 25 per cent. 22 per cent blamed the Blair government, teachers and councils and charities.
Only 14 per cent of the public believed that the government "can do a great deal" about anti-social behaviour, even though ministers have made the topic a key priority for their third term in power.
However, 39 per cent felt that "it can do a certain amount" although 30 per cent thought "it can't do very much," and 12 per cent suggested that "it can't really do anything".
Blair's flagship anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) policy has not been very successful, according to 36 per cent of respondents, and "not at all successful" according to 12 per cent.
While nearly a quarter (23 per cent) felt it had been "fairly successful", two thirds (67 per cent) said that, as far as they knew, no one in their area had been subject to an ASBO.
But only 18 per cent of people said they had been significantly affected by anti-social behaviour in the past two weeks.
21 per cent said they had been subject to "hardly any" anti-social behaviour, 17 per cent said "not much," and 41 per cent said "only the occasional incident".
Just 16 per cent said wearing a hood or baseball cap constituted serious anti-social behaviour.