Just what will Corbyn nationalise?

Corbyn's call in his Leader's speech at the Labour conference for the nationalisation of utilities raises all sorts of questions about how, if at all, this is going to be financed but also begs the question of which utilities would be brought into public ownership. The simplistic claim that life will be so wonderful if companies providing public services were nationalised is not something I support. And nationalisation itself will be hugely complicated. It is not simply a case of returning to state ownership a privatised monopoly. The old monolithic giants have been broken up and their markets opened up to competitors. When Corbyn talks of renationalising, for example, the electricity industry, there are now a multitude of generators and retailers.

When he talks of public control returning to the postal delivery business, the Royal Mail now operates in a competitive market, especially in the area of sorting letters. Does a "socialist" Labour government nationalise the competitors as well, companies that have never been in the public sector previously? If renationalisation is carries out for ideological reasons, which seems to be the case with Corbyn, there seems little point in nationalising one player in the market while letting the others operate in competition. It would seem therefore that a Corbyn government would have to nationalise all the operators in the industry.

In the electricity generating sector, therefore, what happens with small generators such as small scale wind farms or, in the case of Gateshead, the Council's electricity generating plant which was set up to supply, at a profit, electricity and hot water to residents and businesses? And what happens to all those with solar panels on domestic roofs pumping green electricity into the National Grid?

And then there is the question of how all this is paid for. The 2017 Labour manifesto was unclear on this. Corbyn is unclear on it. If public ownership is not sufficiently financed, there is a danger of compulsory nationalisation with insufficient or even no compensation. Given that many companies providing public and utility services are foreign owned, no compensation could lead to retaliation by foreign governments and it would certainly mean a dramatic run on the pound. And as businesses would fear nationalisation, there would be little incentive for either domestic or foreign investment in them.

I've also heard Labour attack the concept of customers' bills being pushed higher to pay for profits to shareholders while these businesses are in the private sector. Don't forget that the biggest shareholders will be pension funds, and the profits pay for the pensions of millions of people, including those in the public sector. Labour suggest that public ownership of, for example, the water companies, will allow bills to come down as the element that is profit is abolished. This may be appealing but it also means that there is no profit to reinvest in the business. The only source of investment (the water industry drinks needs vast amounts of capital) would be the government as the water company, as a publicly owned body, would no longer be able to raise funds on the private capital markets or through share issues.

Labour's current policy of nationalisation may have been a workable response in the early 1980s to the privatisations but the world has moved on massively since then. The problem however is that Labour have not moved on at all.

Whickham Library Volunteers' Meeting

I had a meeting tonight of the Whickham Library volunteers. The library closed as a council facility earlier this year but then reopened as a voluntary library in July. I am one of the trustees but I am also helping with communications. Tonight I outlined my proposals for an email newsletter for library users to help promote the library and its activities. The proposals were accepted and I will be starting work on putting together the first newsletter soon.

Speaking about Corbyn on BBC Radio Newcastle

I was interviewed by BBC Radio Newcastle yesterday about Jeremy Corbyn. It was broadcast this morning. The article is 19 min 30 sec into the programme, after the feature on speedos and tight lycra!

Only a small part of the interview was used but generally, my points were that Corbyn can't win from the left and needs to capture the centre ground; while he had a record increase in the number of votes, this translated into only a small increase in seats (30) because he was stacking up vast majorities in already strong Labour constituencies while getting a much lower share in areas such as the South East and his views on issues such as Europe are not supported by many of his new, younger supporters who could begin to drift away.

You can listen to the interview on this link.

A glimpse of Trump's "beautiful" trade deal

Anyone from the Brexit side who had put their faith in a free trade deal with the USA must now be re-examining their position following the decision by Trump's government to bring in a massive tariff on Bombardier aircraft exports. Trump is a protectionist. When he talks of a "beautiful" trade deal with the UK following Brexit, he means it will be "beautiful" for the USA. After all, his campaign protectionist slogan is "Make America great again", not "Make America and Britain" great again. And what about the "special relationship" and Theresa May's hand-in-hand love-in with Trump? A fat lot of use that turned out to be.

The EU and US economies are vast. While the Brexiteers view Britain's position through Victorian glasses in which they see Britain as a gigantic, imperial power able to get its way simply by lifting a finger, the reality is that Britain is a medium power relative to the rest of the world and if we are not part of something bigger and stronger, we are going to be buffeted and knocked about. The Bombardier decision is just a glimpse of lots more to come outside the EU.

The Brexit nettle sting

I paid a visit to the Northumberland Cheese Company today and had a tour around the premises. It was a fascinating experience, especially as I am a cheese-producer myself, though on a tiny scale compared to this company (I have only one milking goat!) What rapidly became obvious however was how much this food manufacturer relied on easy trade with the EU, and especially with Holland, to produce their award winning cheeses. Most of the equipment came from Holland, as did the dried nettles which are used in one of their biggest selling cheeses. They are unable to source the nettles of the required quality in the UK. A hard Brexit could be more than hard cheese for similar small businesses that need to access the Single Market to buy the equipment they need, little or none of which is produced in the UK.

Looks like another victory for the mad, mad world of the Brexit extremists.

Email to Gateshead Lib Dem members

The latest email to Gateshead Lib Dem members was sent out this evening. Issues covered include conference, the forthcoming local elections, the North East regional conference in November, the local party AGM and North East for Europe. You can read the email on this link.

Lighting Up Whickham Meeting

I had a meeting tonight of Lighting Up Whickham, the group of volunteers who raise money for the village's Christmas tree and lights. We have three events coming up which were agreed by the meeting tonight:

• Saturday 11th November, Race Night at the Glebe Sports Ground
• Tuesday 28th November, switching on of the Christmas lights
• Saturday 9th December, Christmas fair in St Mary's Green.

All the events will raise funds for future Christmas lights. And finally, I received a request to bring along my goat Pinkie to the event on 28th November, suitably decorated with tinsel. I'm actively considering it!

Conference management that would have made Blair proud

If you thought Labour under Corbyn would give people a vote on the terms of the Brexit deal, think again! Not only have Labour rejected a signing-off referendum to accept the deal or remain in the EU, they won't even allow a vote at their party conference for their own members on Brexit. The Labour leadership, using what is effectively a Momentum bloc vote, have prevented a vote from taking place. Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson were masters of conference and party management. The tools may have been different back then - pagers to instruct MPs and members on what to do and think whereas the Corbynistas employ email to crush democracy - but the outcome was always the same: a stage managed conference that eliminated any embarrassing votes for the leadership.

Jeremy Corbyn - the new Tony Blair.

Now that May and Corbyn share the same policy on Brexit, what next?

It was a move in the right direction when Labour recently shifted their position from complete confusion on Brexit to one in which they support an undefined transition period during which the UK would continued to be in the Single Market. Once the transition was over, Labour policy was to continue with their demands for a hard Brexit. It wasn't much of a move forward, but it was at least a shuffle in the right direction. Then along came Theresa May who knocked up a few air miles to whiz off to Florence to give a speech which announced that the UK would in effect remain in the Single Market for a two year "implementation" period. So now that Labour and the Conservatives are, yet again, hand in hand on the key issue of the day, where next for those who think the UK's national interest is going to be hugely damaged by cutting ourselves off from Europe?

It's time for the sensible wing of the Labour Party to make a stand. They have clearly had a modest success recently by being able to make a small change in the Labour Brexit approach but they need to press harder. It is interesting to note that some MPs and council leaders have backed calls today for Labour to support a policy of staying permanently in the Single Market, something on which the Lib Dems fought the last election. We need to work with like minded people in the Labour party on this issue, just as we have to work with like minded Conservatives.

The response of Corbyn however was both disappointing and expected. Let's face it, he's a Leaver, he always has been and he has not changed his spots now. He views the EU as a capitalist conspiracy against the proletariat which stands in the way of his grand plans to nationalise everything. Corbyn is, of course, wrong. Failing banks were nationalised under the last Labour government. The claim that the EU is forcing privatisation is farcical. The Corbynistas claim for example that the EU would stop them nationalising rail. Such an inaccurate claim is already undermined by previous Labour propaganda which pointed out that many of the companies bidding to run rail services in the UK were nationalised rail operators in other EU countries. Furthermore, the EU did not stand in the way of nationalising the East Coast rail service when National Express handed back the franchise. Labour should at least make their attacks consistent.

The reality is however that Labour are led by a Leaver and getting him to shift from this position will be very difficult. Corbyn has the chance to make a real difference. All he will end up doing is to prop up a Hard Brexit Conservative government.

Bottling up my irritation

I arrived at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead this afternoon to visit my friend Richard. He had asked me to get him a copy of the Daily Mirror so I called into the Amigo shop on level 2 of the hospital (in the super-swanky extension built by the Coalition) and bought the required publication. At the till I was offered an unmissable opportunity to buy a bottle of water at a greatly reduced price, thus "saving" me lots of money. Spending money on a completely unnecessary item does not strike me as a way to "save" money. Moving on from the adaptation of our language so that it means the opposite of what is said, why on earth would I want to buy water in a bottle when we can get top quality water for nowt from a tap?

Furthermore, bottled water comes with an obscene cost to the environment. Huge resources are put into the single-use plastic bottles and vast amounts of fuel are used to move, unnecessarily, this enormous tonnage of water around the country (and often around the globe). Then, large resources are used to collect the waste bottles and dispose of them, though lots of them escape into the environment causing untold damage to ecological systems, all so that people can drink something from a bottle that is already freely available from a tap (or if you are on a meter very cheaply available).

No wonder the health of planet Earth is in such a poor state.

Pinkie a success at Chase Park re-opening

Whickham's Chase Park was officially re-opened today after its £1 million refurbishment, paid for by the Heritage Lottery Find and the Big Lottery Fund. I brought along Pinkie, one of my goats, who is always a hit with people of all ages. She certainly was today. I think she must have been in more photos than anything else in the park today.

I came away from the event today with lots of casework and visits lined up to meet a couple of local organisations.

Chase Park reopening this weekend

Major renovation work on Whickham's historic Chase Park has now been completed. To celebrate the £1 million refurbishment, Friends of Chase Park are holding a re-opening event on Saturday, 23rd September, from 11am to 3pm.

The Mayor of Gateshead, Cllr Pauline Dillon, will lead the re-opening ceremony. There will be lot of entertainment, activities and a fair.

Everyone is welcome to join in the celebrations.



The renovation of the Park was the result of the Friends of Chase Park's campaign to restore it to its former glory. A partnership of the Friends and Gateshead Council saw a successful bid for £1 million made to the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Big Lottery Fund. The work was carried out during 2017 and includes:

•​Restoration of the listed windmill, entrance gates, paths and ornamental garden

•​Replanting of flower beds and trees

•​Remodelling and enhancement of the toddler play area

•​Resurfacing of the tennis courts and new table tennis installed 

•​New junior play area and skateboard park

•​Outdoor gym/trim trail 

•​Development of community garden 

•​New benches, signs and interpretations of heritage points of interest.

I'll be there with a couple of my goats (Pinkie and Coal) to promote my self-sufficiency project and to sell preserves.

Hooray - home at last!

After leaving Bournemouth yesterday, I headed to London where I stayed overnight. This morning I struggled through the rush hour crowds (I am so pleased I gave up the rat race 8 years ago) to get to Kings Cross and caught a train back to the North East. I couldn't return home immediately. On leaving Newcastle Central Station, I got a taxi to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital to visit my friend Richard whose condition deteriorated last week. I remained there until 7pm. I'm back home now! Hooray! And it's not long to go before my first council meeting. It's tomorrow, so I'm straight back into activities.

Photos from Vince's speech

In years gone by, I used to take photos for use by the party of conference. That normally meant being part of the photographers' scrum in front of the leader during the speech. I couldn't resist the temptation so I joined the scrum again. Here are a handful of the photos from Vince's arrival and then his speech.

The best lunch at conference

The British Association for Shooting and Conservation normally, in my humble opinion, put on the best lunch at conference, and this year was no different. My reason for attending, should you choose to believe me, is that I have an interest in shooting. I don't take part in the activity myself, but in my world of self-sufficiency, I trade with people who do go shooting and fishing. They provide me with game which I pay for with jars of preserves, eggs etc.



So it seemed perfectly reasonable that I should attend the BASC meeting.And of course the good food was appreciated!

Another What's-the-point-of-Brexit moment

I see Theresa May is off to Canada for talks on, among other issues, post-Brexit trade. The Canada-EU trade deal (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement - CETA), 7 years in the making, comes into effect shortly. According to the BBC, May wants to use CETA as the model for a UK/Canada trade deal.

But wasn't Brexit meant to give us the freedom to arrange bigger, better trade deals? Instead, we have May announcing that one of the benefits from which we are walking away is to be copied and applied to Britain. Nothing bigger, nothing better, just the same, except for the added costs of negotiating something we already have. So what is the point of that?

Lib Dem mugs - new and recyled!

Get them while they are still in stock! Lib Dem Image are selling an extended range of Lib Dem mugs thanks to Theresa May's decision to call a snap election. With 4 more MPs than this time last year, it now costs 50% more to have a full set of Lib Dem MP mugs! In a move that will please the environmental movement, mugs of former MPs from before the 2015 general election can now be recycled - mugs of Ed Davey, Vince Cable and Jo Swinson have made a reappearance after 2 years of storage in the Lib Dem Image stock room.

So buy while stocks last and take your mug home - the tea there will be a heck of a lot cheaper than what's on sale at the conference centre!

Foodie photo op for Vince

The Bournemouth Food Bank has a stand at the Lib Dem conference and people can bring donations of food. So yesterday, Vince Cable, at the start of the leader's tour of the exhibition area, handed over 2 shopping bags of groceries. It struck me that the contents of those two bags would have been cheaper than a round of teas, coffees and sandwiches at the Bournemouth Conference Centre tea room where prices are eye-wateringly steep.

Anyway, well done to Vince for his donation and it reminds me that when I get back to Gateshead, I need to sort out a session with a group that helps supply food to low income households. The plan is to use allotment and garden surpluses that would otherwise go into the waste system. More on this on another day.

Labradors for Lib Dems meet Vince Cable

Glad to see Vince Cable was the guest at the Labradors for Lib Dems meeting today. I hope they didn't give him a rough time when he took himself for a walk around the exhibition area. It was a stroke of luck that I got this photo. I had to paws to take it. etc

I think that's enough........

Admiring my handiwork

Vince Cable did his obligatory leader's tour of the exhibition area this afternoon. What an ideal opportunity to get a pic of Vince admiring a copy of Parliamentary Campaigner! (Editor is.....ahem....a certain Jonathan Wallace who produces it for the Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidates Association.)