Launceston Community Network

Last night was the first meeting of the new Launceston Community Network Panel. Although it also wasn't.

You see, the community network panels have been put on hold by the Council Cabinet while they review the localism settlement. The agreement to localism was a central plank in the move to unitary status and so any hiatus is bad news. Like most local areas, we decided to go ahead with a meeting anyway.

The three Lib Dem Launceston councillors were joined by representatives of some of the parish councils, Launceston Town Council, the Chamber of Commerce, Launceston Forum, the health service and police (apologies if I have missed anyone). Unfortunately, Independent Councillor Neil Burden is recovering from illness and could not be there (get well soon Neil) and Conservative Councillor Phil Parsons did not attend.

It was useful as a first meeting and we will continue to have meetings both to share information and to discuss themes which are of interest. At the next meeting we will hear from the Police and from the Health Service about local services. Meetings are open to the public and anyone is welcome to come along.

There is, of course, a world of difference between discussion forums and decision making powers and I am asking the Cabinet review to make sure that the Launceston Panel can make decisions over spending that reach further than the small community chest and local highways budgets (assuming they reappear in the next financial year). Full local devolution is not going to happen and it would be wrong for the Panel to start employing staff and becoming a mini-district. But we should be able to affect the delivery of services locally and concentrate on the issues that matter most to local people.

Is the National Trust growing fat off Cornwall Council's desire to save lives?

I've just got back from a meeting of the Environment Scrutiny Committee at County Hall. One item on the agenda was a discussion about the new Maritime Division of the Council.

Residents around the county will know that the RNLI has been providing lifeguard services at many beaches in Cornwall. They are a fabulous organisation and this is a great service. The total cost is around £3 million a year and Cornwall Council pays about £1 million of this. The National Trust pays nothing.

So why should they contribute?

Simple - many of the beaches in Cornwall are owned by the National Trust. Only about 24 of the 57 beaches in the County are Council owned. The rest are a combination of town and parish council, National Trust or private ownership.

The RNLI service is, quite rightly, provided on the basis of need - how many visitors there are and whether they go into the sea.

But it doesn't stop there.

In many cases, the National Trust owns the car parks next to the beaches and charges visitors to park there. They are making huge amounts of money but paying nothing for the safety of beach users.

And there's more.

For many beaches, Cornwall Council also provides toilet cleaning and dog bin services. That's more money that you and I are paying for a valuable service when the beach owner pays nothing.

I am not arguing for the withdrawal of our services. To do so would cut visitor enjoyment and, in the case of the RNLI lifeguarding, could put lives in danger. If we withdrew then I suspect the NT would simply put up a sign saying that there is no lifeguarding at that particular beach.

But surely it is fair that if the National Trust (or any other organisation) owns a beach and makes money from it then they should be contributing fairly to the costs.

Brown and the electoral reform referendum pledge

How else can you view Gordon Brown's pledge to hold a referendum on voting reform than as a pretty naked attempt to woo the Lib Dems and Lib Dem minded voters?

For sure, there are a lot of Labour supporters who also favour electoral reform, but I would argue that they aren't the people this bit of the speech was aiming at.

Brown's theme was 'change you can believe in' and this is change - so you must believe in it!

But the pledge will fall short in two respects. Whilst there are some in the Lib Dems who favour AV - including Lembit and Simon Hughes - the official party policy is for real change and so any post election negotiations would throw this out straightaway. You can bet that the grassroots of the Party (and conference) will see to that.

Brown will be buying far less support with this than he thinks. AV is not proportional (indeed, often it is less so than FPTP) but watch out for Labour figures 'mistakenly' claiming it is to hoodwink voters. Watch out also for Labour claiming this is a new pledge - as David Blunkett just did on BBC 5 Live.

Back in 1997, Labour pledged in their manifesto to hold a referendum on changing the voting system - and then broke that pledge.

And that is the second reason why this will backfire on Brown. When the idea was first floated, Brown was hinting in terms of a referendum on General Election polling day. Now the timetable has slipped. Whilst there are good and bad reasons for two votes on the same day, the one thing it would do was actually show his commitment. This pledge - a 'promise' of a referendum at some point after the election - will lead Lib Dems simply to say 'you promised us that before and broke your word, so why should we trust you now?'

Toying with Miriam's bra strap (or why Jo Swinson is wrong)

Conference started with the debate on Real Women and, in particular, on a policy proposal to force the details of any airbrushing of photos of adults to be listed with the photo.

Conference ended with a perfect example of why this policy is rubbish.

As Nick Clegg and his wife Miriam left the auditorium there was the usual mad scrum of photographers wanting photos of the couple. Unfortunately, Miriam's bra strap slipped. It happens and no one really cares but it looks slightly embarrassing for Miriam. Most press photographers would not make a big deal of it. They would quickly airbrush out the strap as cropping would take out one of the key players in the photo. The other alternative is simply not to use those photos.

If Jo's policy was in force, you would either not have the image, you would use a version which would embarrass Miriam or you would have to list the airbrushing on the photo and this would cause similar embarrassment.

So Jo - what's it to be?

Nick's Speech

Nick Clegg has just finished making his speech to conference. Others will comments on the words (and I might later) but here are some photos:

Julia and Vince falling out?

Stephen Tall has blogged over at the Voice about the row between activists and the leadership and the rows over the Mansion Tax and tuition fees have certainly dominated the press reporting of our week in Bournemouth - aided and abetted by a letter to the Guardian and comments by frontbenchers including Julia Goldsworthy.

So yesterday's Q&A session on the economy was interesting to watch for the body language between Julia and Vince Cable who was sitting next to her.

The Don Foster Ukelele Orchestra feat. Billy Bragg

Last night the traditional end of conference Glee Club had a rival.

In one room you had Paddy doing the same joke as he has done for the past ten years (because the audience demanded it) and Tim Farron mocking the Speaker in song in front of an audience of several hundred.

Next door, there was a special fringe run by the Arts Alliance with a packed audience of 50 (it was a much smaller room). The Arts Alliance uses the arts to help prisoners to avoid reoffending and the performers included singers, rappers, a theatre group and headliner Billy Bragg.

Billy was as brilliant as ever - but I don't think he's ever had anyone in his audience knitting before.

Don Foster, as Party Culture Spokesperson, came along to say a few words and he had brought his ukelele. He announced that he would be playing the Jonny Cash classic Walk the Line in honour of the occasion. Unfortunately he didn't have a music stand (so Simon Hughes stood in) and he didn't know the tune (so Billy had to come and help out).

It was not a stellar performance I'm afraid. Somehow I just don't think that the ukelele is suited to the Man in Black. It was so bad that Bragg called time on the performance halfway through.