Tag Archives: Government

Donkeys pretending to be Lions

Posted on December 19, 2013 by ianchisnall

On the day the Queen held a Christmas lunch for her extended family and MPs received an advertisement from Fortnum & Mason for a range of Christmas Hampers, you and I could have gone online to witness the obscenity of our Parliament pretending to debate … Continue reading →

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Jam and Westminster?

Posted on December 8, 2013 by ianchisnall

According to recent reports, the Womens Institute has 212,000 members, 18,000 of whom have joined this year. This means they have more members than the largest British Political Party and their growth in membership outstrips the growth in any of … Continue reading →

Posted in Charities, Parliament and Democracy | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Taxman Cometh?

Posted on December 4, 2013 by ianchisnall

Margaret Hodge MP has proposed that under a future Labour Government, charities could be regulated by the Taxman, not the charity commission as they are at present – she is showing how once again our MPs don’t understand the charitable sector, nor … Continue reading →

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I would do more but …..

Posted on November 27, 2013 by ianchisnall

At the beginning of November I wrote about the challenge of persuading people to recycle and reuse their surplus goods and waste materials, when the Government has appointed a Minister whose social background is so different to the people he is attempting … Continue reading →

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4 weeks and counting

Posted on November 15, 2013 by ianchisnall

Two weeks ago the Government and the House of Lords struck a deal to delay the ‘Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill 2013-14’ in order to allow Ministers to “consult widely all of the interested parties, members of … Continue reading →

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5 weeks is a very long time in politics

Posted on November 7, 2013 by ianchisnall

The Gagging Bill is to be delayed for 5 weeks so that Ministers can “consult widely all of the interested parties, members of this House and the many others outside”. This is very good news, the “Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and … Continue reading →

Posted in Charities, Lobbying Bill, Parliament and Democracy | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Not that open after all

Posted on November 3, 2013 by ianchisnall

On Thursday David Cameron attended a conference held in London which was intended to promote the use of open data by Governments and private business. One of the aims of the summit was to ‘open up government data to boost entrepreneurship, economic … Continue reading →

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Procurement rules for the many

Posted on November 2, 2013 by ianchisnall

Procurement rules rarely feature in the most exciting things to discuss in any social gathering, but they can have a profound impact on the ability of people to earn a living and provide a service in their own area. One of the … Continue reading →

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Consultation deniers

Posted on October 27, 2013 by ianchisnall

The timing of the Newsnight interview with Russell Brand and this piece of analysis by Mark Easton of the BBC could not be more inconvenient for the Government and for Parliament as a whole. While Russell was explaining his desire for a … Continue reading →

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SERCO and G4S – too big to be excluded?

Posted on October 26, 2013 by ianchisnall

Yesterdays breaking news that Chris Hyman, UK CEO of SERCO is to step down comes on the heels of the previous days announcement that Richard Morris is to leave G4S. Both men are leaving in response to  the corruption in the organisations … Continue reading →

Posted in Community Safety, Parliament and Democracy, Policing | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments