Vote Norwich!

Both in the local elections....

...And for the Monopoly game too - The more people vote for Norwich, the more it climbs up the ladder. Lets make it Mayfair!

Random thoughts

When you start a blog you have the somewhat noble intention of posting every day - in fact why not two or three times a day. That quickly slips down when you realise that you have to think about what you put up and think of some new angle on it. So apologies if anyone out there visits the blog and are disspointed by the lack of posts recently.

Two main thoughts

- One, Iain Dale commented on his blog about the march of English organisations in London to herald the death of England. I don't think the doomsayers about the decline of Britain have the right solution - the answer isn't to construct a English parliament but to argue and win the arguement about Britishness. Maltheus strongly believes in Britain and despite the rhetoric from the SNP and the like we are a nation, united by common history and culture that works better together.

- Two, Maltheus established this blog because he has never been engaged with politicians and never given the chance to discuss his policies with candidates. Furthermore, Maltheus strongly believes that candidates and their supporters must try to reach out to voters as much as possible - leaflets, website, youtube, whatever. The campaigning is drawing to an end and i am sure the candidates look forward to a well earned rest.

To date Maltheus's house has recieved only one leaflet - From Morphew. Despite Maltheus's distrust for Labour, he might just vote for them as they are the only ones to contact him. As Maltheus drove to the Sportspark tonight he passed Cllr Read on the campaign trail. Out of Maltheus's friends, only Greens have knocked on their doors. Maybe the reason why they are so popular is because they are such good local campaigners?

Maltheus wishes to wish all candidates the best of luck. If you're brave enough to put your name on the ballot box then you deserve congratulations!

For Harry, England, St George and the Basra admin tent

Should Prince Harry serve on the front line if he gets posted to Afghanistan or Iraq is the question posed by most of the newspapers today. Maltheus's views is that he should probably not be allowed to go if he is likely to become an increased risk for the rest of the soldiers in his regiment (Which is pretty likely to be honest)

However, a friend in the military says that he should go and shoud serve the same as everyone else. It's his job and he might as well leave the army if he doesn't serve as any other officer or squaddie would do in this situation.

Also, even though he's one of 'our boys' Matheus tends to think its all pretty irrelevant when hundreds and thousands of Iraqis are dying every day/week/month!

Tory Question?

Q. Have the Conservatives really changed when their Norwich Manifesto states they intend to offer a 10% rebate on Council to every council tax payer? And offering greater investment? Doesn't this sound like every past Conservative manifesto?

A. Your views....?

Uncontested and undemocratic

Maltheus reads in the EDP about the rise in uncontested seats in the local elections. Theres a number of alarming figures about the lack of contested seats but the most must be 'while just 24 of the district's 127 parish wards have got enough candidates to warrant an election' in North Norfolk.

Why is this? In Maltheus's first post he got criticised by the ominous named 'Unthankroad' who said that part of the reason there was a lack of candidates was because of critical observers of some other tripe. But do we play a part? Or is that grassroots are dying in large parts of the country and that people don't connect with political parties any more but more single issues or NGO's?

I doubt many would argue that this current state is undemocratic but what is the solution? Admittedly you could run as a independent if you wished but thats not too appealing to people unless there is a strong local issue. Or is it that people don't realise the type of power some councillors can have to change their local area? Do they think they are politically impotent and subservent to the higher echelons of politicians? I wouldn't mind your thoughts....

Wheres Charles?

Guido has created a interactive map on his blog where he follows Gordon Brown and his travels. Maltheus wishes he could do one about his local MP, Charles Clarke but doesn't know what the hell he is upto nowadays. All Maltheus hears of Clarke is his intention to try and kamikase pilot himself into the Labour Party. All this plotting is all well and good but Maltheus wouldn't mind it if Clarke actually bothered to do things in his constituentcy rather than trying to provoke his peers into a GB revolt.

When Maltheus screens the local papers there is no mention of Clarke apart from his supprt from the beard liberation front or a group of equal nonsense. He has no website, has no mention in the local papers and only gets covered in the nationals when he nobbles out a speech or two on the empty labour party future. Iain Gibson by comparrison is constantly in the news, declaring his support or anger at local intiatives and local results. It's not all about what you have in the news but it helps to have something in the papers to ensure that people think you door more than plot in your Portcullis tower...

£150,000 for lobbying?

According to the Evening News, Norwich City Council has employed political lobbyists for a sweet sum of £150,00 to lobby MP's for the unitary status. The Conservative spokesman, Anthony Little has criticised the move accusing the council leaders of making it hard enough to get new signs and menial costs released and then £150,000 is splurged on this. Malthues is in complete agreement with this for once.

£150,000 could do so much for this city. It could sort out dirty parks, make a real investment in local services or give more support to those in the poorest wards. It seems crazy that the council is paying this sum! I don't expect my council to waste my council tax on this idiocy. If someone can justify this sum then i will be very suprised! When the supporters of the unitary bid moan around council funding for their projects then I damn well know what my reply will be!