Liberty. Why do they never..... Think It Through?

 

 T.S Eliot, in ‘Choruses from the Rock’ laments on behalf of our creator: 

“I have given you the power of choice, and you only alternate

 between futile speculation, and unconsidered action”. 

 

When I was at university studying philosophy, despite the enjoyment of the intellectual rigour of endlessly dissecting words such as ‘liberty’ and ‘freedom’, I got frustrated that all this dedication to dissection never seemed to result in anything practical. 

Endless analysis resulting in paralysis. Futile speculation. There must be a better way, I thought. 

 

When I got into politics, I became equally frustrated that politicians seemed happy to bandy about these same words (words that ivory-tower-residents had spent lifetimes picking to ever-reducing pieces) with absolutely no consideration for what they might actually mean at all. 

Careless word-flinging resulting in some really stupid policies. Unconsidered action. There must be a better way, I thought. 

Between these two extremes of compulsive analysis and careless proclamation there must be – whisper it – a middle way? 

 

The perils of failing to unpack what we mean by such popularised words as ‘Freedom’ can be illustrated in our agonised debates over the ‘freedom’ of the press. 

 

Unless we step back and consider what we want our press to be free ‘from’, and whether when we say freedom, we mean equally freedom ‘from’ and freedom ‘to...’, we end up in the pickle we find ourselves in today. 

 

When a politician goes on about ‘a free press’, the accepted meaning is ‘free from State control’. But if we unpack what it is about state control of the press that we really object to, it is the control of a powerful, unaccountable, monopoly. 

 

Once we realise that this is what we really mean by ‘free’, it becomes obvious that a state is not the only powerful, unaccountable monopoly. 

 

Enormous private-sector empires such as Rupert Murdoch’s hold that position too. Perhaps they hold it even more than a state, since although they are not technically a ‘monopoly’, their size means it is impossible for many others to compete, and international finance has made their reach not just national, like a state, but trans-national. We clearly (and naturally) see the interests of the owners of our media expressed through their outlets. 

 

But bizarrely we still labour under the absurdly anachronistic notion that these are in some way more of a ‘free’ press, because they are driven by an unaccountable quasi-monopoly with an agenda which happens to be a private entity, rather than a state entity. 

 

Why? Because we have not bothered to unpack what we think ‘freedom’ means when we say, ‘A Free Press’. 

 

If we have not accurately established our premise, we cannot be surprised when our conclusions are all over the place; riddled in inconsistencies which we then hysterically try to tackle at the point of the symptom, not at the root cause ( a failure to think through what we actually mean by ‘free’.) 

 

If we go a step further, it actually becomes hard to see what a really ‘free’ press would really look like. Whoever was running it, however noble their intentions, would inevitably be running it from some kind of motive. The motive may be saintly, but it is still a motive, and the fact it is a good motive driving that particular press does not make it any more ‘free’. It just makes it ‘good’.  We should not confuse ‘free’ with our personal notion of ‘good’. That will end up in tangles as well. 

 

The conclusion we have to reach is that we need to consciously agree, for practical purposes, what we mean by ‘free’:

We may decide that for practical purposes we say all press is ‘free’, or we may decide that none of it is – even insurgent small websites. We will probably decide that ‘some’ of it is. Since we instinctively worry about the ‘freedom’ of a press outlet driven by a huge, unaccountable monopoly, we may well look for size and influence limits on owners in what we call ‘free’. 

 

But whatever we decide is less important than the fact we have worked out what we actually mean, and that our society’s building blocks are concepts we have actually thought-through, rather than a shifting-sand approximation of an abstract noun that carries convenient emotional connotations. 

Beyond the Blue Bird (see below)

I am considering re-starting my blog posts. Why? I suppose it is a desire to be known. Not known as being identifiable by a large number of people, but for those small number who do know me, or read this, better known. What I think. How I feel about things.

 

That is bizarre when you think about it. Where does this instinct come from? What I feel and think is of little interest to others. They are more interested in what they feel and think. And I do not suffer the delusion that what I feel and think matters in some wider way. What people think seldom matters. What they do about it does. But you don’t do things through a blog post. 

 

And it is not an instinct all share. One person very close to me likes not to be known. For him, he feels it gives others power over him to know him and about him. A bit like letting other people know your hand in poker. Another friend too said something subtly different, but along a similar line: that having secrets made him feel empowered. 

 

I am the opposite. I feel I have power when there is nothing left for people to find out. No one has anything over me. Whatever anyone levels at me I can say, yes. Here it is. Next? I don’t feel like my life is analogous to a game of poker. Whatever I have to win or lose is not something that other people can give or take away. It is in my gift alone. 

 

Maybe that instinct to be known led me into politics in the first place. I would have said that it was a desire to change things for the better. But there are many ways to do that without asking 80,000 people ‘do you love me?’ every five years. There is something in me, and in all politicians, that makes us seek an audience – to what we do, and who we are.

 

(It is a form of vanity. Not bad in itself – that attribute, like all attributes - can be used for either good or bad. The important thing is self-awareness of what your attributes are. This makes it more likely you will be able to direct them to what you think you want to become. Self-awareness of course, is an attribute in itself… and, like humility, if one is sufficiently lacking in it, one can think oneself very rich in it…) 

 

When I was a politician, I felt that if people were going to vote for me, they deserved to know as much about me, what I thought – and more crucially, how I thought, as possible. But politics was frustrating because its nature prevented openness. Saying honestly what you thought and who you are usually resulted in such distortions that at the end of it all, a more dishonest picture of ‘you’ was portrayed than if you just kept silent. 

I admit it. Freedom did feel good... 

But I am not a politician any more. On that day when I was to finally go to bed with either victory or liberty, I remember realising that the prospect of liberty made my heart beat faster and made me feel more alive than the prospect of victory. Which was a good thing, because that is what I got. After my liberation from service was announced, I was asked by the local BBC political correspondent what I thought about ‘everything’. I recall the delicious surge of joy when I realised that what I said didn’t really matter anymore. And as I remember, I said as much. 

 

But as I started to etch out my new life, I began to realise that liberty is not just constrained by a job. Loyalties, consequences, perceptions, all of these curtail saying what you really think; doing what, in absence of consequences, you’d really like to do. And of course, when I thought 

about it, they do on a daily basis. I cannot in practice tell my meeting acquaintance that the thing they are telling me about is of no interest to me whatsoever, if I want to maintain work and friendships. We are always constrained in acting by the consequences of our actions. It is a word much bandied-about, but it is hard to imagine what real liberty looks like.

 

But that is probably a blog for another time. 

Twitter ate my blog!

Am I the only one who has found that the rise and rise of twitter (and to an extent) facebook has eaten their blog? Despite the best of my intentions, I have ended up posting minute by minute stuff on Facebook and Twitter. Does this say something about our ever diminishing attention-spans as a society? Or just about me not being very good at managing the blogger app on my iphone...?   Who knows.  But be warned - this blog may not be updated as much as it should be. A big blue bird came and ate it up.

Lamplighters progress!

In politics you get very used to promises and pledges; there's always a lot of talk and if something goes wrong, the emergency response is often to have yet another meeting or 'write a report '. It always reminds me of a certain scene in The Life of Brian ( fans will know which one I mean). Recently the national papers exposed not just my thighs in a picture of me in my old work outfit of a red swimming cozzy, but the fact I used to work on Cornish beaches as a surf life guard. In that line of work, talk cannot replace Action. So it is especially good to see actual physical action happening in re-opening the Lamplighters Pub. In a welcome break from paperwork, Cllr Wayne Harvey and I rolled up our sleeves and got busy in renovating the pub. Still a long way to go, but great to see Kathie and Dominic Gundry-White actually getting something done and bringing our pub back to life! 

Goodnight Irene! Stadium Victory!

Celebration - but we couldn't be sure for another 13 days...

After a hearty celebration two weeks ago, when it was announced that the Judicial Review brought by TrasHorfield had been dismissed, we found it wasn't the end of the story.

Our petition, www.bristolsnottrash.bristolpetitions.com attracted over 13,000 signatures of support for the Memorial Ground being sold for a Sainsburys, housing, community facility, parking and memorial park, in order to enable to building of a new Stadium for Rovers in South Gloucestershire.

The reasons why the petition was so popular were clear: This was not just about Bristol Rovers fans, in fact, I received some very kind words and support from arch-rivals, Bristol City - they know what it's like to have a major and exciting infrastructure project that will benefit the whole city stopped by a minority group, skating on the edge of legislation to impose their view.

It was also supported by people who wanted to see Bristol give out a loud signal that this is a city open for business, a place worth investing in, and not a backward backwater where any good and exciting idea or investment is met with a muttered 'not in our backyard'.

It was supported by people who want to see major music acts come to our city, who want to see major sporting events - like our own Lee Haskins defend his title to a huge home crowd...

...and it was supported by many who want a transport revolution in our gridlocked city of fumes, knowing that the Rovers Stadium would play a huge part in boosting the business case we need to win, to get a full Henbury Loop Line. 

Contrary to what you might think, many traders on Gloucester Road also supported it - they are not competitors of a supermarket, and the extra footfall and parking space was something they saw as a positive.

After the decision was announced, Trash then appealed, the appeal was dismissed by the judge, and thankfully, Trash did not take this decision further to the High Court. That is a relief. To do so would have been painful and very costly for all involved - and those who are always winners in these situations, and who tend to defend and like judicial reviews - the lawyers - would have been the only ones certain to gain.

No, we had already spent enough public money on this, and so it was with joy and relief that decency and common sense - having been approved by the democratic planning process, then by the judicial process, finally prevailed.

It's impossible to name everyone who was so brilliant in getting Rovers the home they have wanted for over 30 years - but David Thomas is a hero, Angela Betts, Nigel Currie, our Councillor Claire Hiscott, George Maggs, Nick Higgs who was superb and unwavering,  the 13,000 who supported our petition... 

And personally, a very warm thank you to all those who posted such lovely, and supportive messages for the campaign, both on the Rovers fan-page and on twitter. It really made the world of difference and really helped keep morale up. Thank you.

So, A huge thank you and well done to all those who campaigned so hard, and to those thousands who signed the petition. This is your victory  #UTG 

 

Badock's Woods pupils fight back against vandalism

Pupils of Badocks Wood School reclaiming their play area from vandalism - with some great art-work

It is a tragedy for everyone who has worked so hard to get superb new play equipment ( I confess, I still get a bit excited about a really good children's playground) to see it vandalised and burned down, as the local community and councillors in Southmead saw in Doncaster Road Park.

They playground had been beautifully designed, alongside the children, to provide facilities that could even tempt an MP to give them ago. So it was with anger and sorrow that the community found it burned and vandalised.

But Southmead is not a community to be defeated! Together, Councillors, community workers and Badock's Wood School have rallied round to send out a message that the community, the normally silent majority do have a voice, and are energetically encouraging people to be proud of where we live, and to reclaim our community for the majority.

There was some fine art-work from the children, and a lot of anger and sorrow that had been turned into a positive force for change, and for good. Well done everyone , and thank you on behalf of all of us for your efforts. That's how change happens! 

Shire Baptist Church makes old wine in new wineskins a win(e)ner ! (sorry..)

Beautifully spacious and light main church

Usually, there is much furore when it comes to modernising a church. I've seen some rows in my time... But the superb, and seven-year-long rennovation of Shire Baptist church, ( not so much a 'rennovation' as an entire re-vitalising re-birth) was an unremitting success story. The church opened its doors to locals on Saturday and we celebrated an extraordinary achievement.

This is actually a CAKE!

 The whole church had be redesigned, and refurbished from its slightly dark, low-roofed, claustraphobic former life (which was set out beautifully in displays of wall photos).

But perhaps the most amazing thing was that the whole renovation had been done by pensioners! Designed, built, - I spoke to one lady who told me how she had been 15ft up on scaffolding wielding a roller ( and not the type you put in your hair!)

The church was magnificent testament to generations all joining together to keep the spirit of Shire Baptist church alive and kicking into a new era in a beautiful new building - airy, light, comfortable.... and I have NEVER seen such lovely ladies loos....   Ladies, you've got to give them a try! (and I'm told the Gents are pretty swanky as well, chaps...)

New Life at Shire Baptist Church

Beautiful Bristol North West

If that's not an invitation to a pint, I don't know what is...

It's easy to forget what a beautiful constituency Bristol North West is. Inbetween running about trying to 'get stuff done', I sometimes pop my head up from my blackberry to take it all in. Then I regret not taking more time to do this more often. Here's a couple of snaps taken as spring fights through winter's grip, which make my stomach go funny ( in a good way) to be the MP for this amazing place: The Victoria Pub, Chock Lane, Westbury on Trym, and a... well, no prize whatsoever, for whoever can guess where this idyllic churchyard scene is taken... 

An absolutely beautiful Bristol NW scene... but where is it?!

Danger Danger, High ... er, honesty levels

At some point, someone has to say what everyone else is thinking.
During an unprovoked outbreak of telling it like it is, I'm afraid I did just that... what it's actually like being an MP.

But the whole point is, however odd the House of Commons and our Parliamentary system may be, being an MP does give you the opportunity to actually change things. Not everything, but some things.

"If you find a job you love, you never have to work again" someone once said. I love my job, there's so much more to change, and so I am pretty determined still to be doing it come June 2015!

Bristol North West - My Reality Library! (There's no magic wand...)

Funny what grabs attention. An interview I did with a former Labour MP, Chris Mullin, prompted me to write an article for Conservative Home on why it IS important for MPs to get stuck into local campaigns and local activities.

The talented editor of the Conservative Home site called it "The Importance of Being a Fairy Godmother." The title then prompted an hilarious, if slightly spooky Bristol Post mock up of me, with my face planted on a fairy with 6ft long legs, sitting on a chilly looking piece of bark.

I wasn't going to argue, especially since I would very much like 6ft long legs and a nice pair of wings, but the reason why constituency work, and getting involved in getting stuff done with and for the local community is so important is precisely because it can't be done by waving a magic wand. 

If it could, it might be nice , but you wouldn't learn anything - and although it's tough, and tiring and frequently stomach-clenchingly frustrating doing it 'the long way' ( no wand),  its all that which makes you understand how policy and politics really work in reality, once it leaves that magic bubble of Westminster, where so often people really do think words are the same as actions, and a speech in the House of Commons is the same as a magic wand...

Lamplighters Victory at last!

Celebrating Lamplighters with Champers!

Oh, there were doubters. "It won't happen" people said as we persistently, and possibly rather obsessively campaigned to get the wonderful "Lamplighters Pub" re-opened once again.

It's been a saga.

Back in 2009, it was shut under Enterprise Inns ( one of the big pub companies who are notoriously bad landlords, tie their tenants to buying their beer at hugely inflated prices, charge above market rent and generally seem to see their role as a property manager to pay off their debts, rather than a pub company.)

Hearts sank. It is seldom a pub that shuts ever has a pint poured again.I set up a petition - www.savethelamplighterspub.bristolpetitions.com to try to show a potential buyer that this place was a little gold-mine. ( After a bit of investment)

Then hope arose as Churchill Properties bought the pub and claimed they were adamant it should stay as a pub. But residents had heard that kind of stuff before and took some convincing. However, as a beacon of light ( no pun intended) Churchill Properties were every bit as good as their word - and set about looking for someone to run it as a pub.

Meanwhile, our dear old Lamplighters was being decimated by weather and vandals, and was becoming a far cry from the beautiful historical building we all knew, and turning into a sad disheveled relic. It was soon apparent that the only way it would be a viable venture was if some of its extensive pub garden was granted planning permission for some houses to fund its significant renovation.

That was the next battle. I remember at the 11th hour, just a day or so before the deadline, working with Planning at the Council to try to get it all sorted. And at the 11th hour it was.

But still no buyers...  and now it was 2013.  Four long years had passed.

So if Mohamed couldn't go to the mountain, as the saying goes, the mountain would come to Mohamed. ( In a sort of way) and we decided to see if we could run the pub as a community. I put together a survey for residents to try and find supporters, skills and everything we might need to set about turning it into a community pub. The prospect was somewhat daunting, but it felt like we had no choice, if we weren't to give up.

Then came the shining knights on their metaphorical stallions: Dominic Gundry-White and his wife Kathie. Dominic is business partner with the amazing Norman Routledge, who is currently transforming our beautiful Kings Weston House. They stepped in to buy the pub to turn it into their home, and a successful food-serving family pub.

The only thing to do was to open a bottle of bubbly to celebrate! But there's still a lot of work. If you want to get involved, get in touch with me, and I'll pass your name on to the owners. They will need all the help they can get.

A bottle of bubbly outside a new venture is one thing, we'll all really be celebrating when its a pint from behind the bar of our newly resurrected, much loved Lamplighters Pub. Beacon pub of Bristol. Cheers!

Intermission

Er, slight gap in blogging over the festive period and that horrid damp start to January.... ahem. Talk amongst yourselves...

Christmas Starts Here! Brailsfords light up Brentry

Fireworks go up, as the lights come on

 It's become more traditional than opening your advent calendar; Every year Lee and Paul, the now notorious Brailsford Brothers, light up Christmas for Brentry and Beyond.

Two years ago, they starred in a Channel 4 documentary on Britain's greatest Christmas Lights, and you can read about them this year in our very own Bristol Post.

every year, the Brailsford Bro's add more and more lights!

Very proud. My first Christmas Present. I'm going to wear it in the House of Commons. Shhh...

 I always tell the story of how I  came across Lee in his garage, fiddling around with wires and large snowmen one boiling hot September afternoon, some years ago now, already preparing for Christmas. 

Now the Brailsford Brothers hope to smash the £20,000 mark in raising money for Wallace and Gromit's Grand Appeal.

Gromit's had a big year, this year. But still found time to support @brailsfordxmas

Each year, the spectacle gets bigger and better -this year it was almost hard to get to see the house for the crowds, and as the count-down went off, the fireworks went up. Amazing!  We are also now lucky to have some really brilliant local talent performing to get us all in the festive mood.

This year was a bit special for me- as Lee and Paul gave me my first Christmas present - my very own Brailsford Lights hoodie which I will wear with pride! I've been dared to wear it in the Chamber at the House of Commons. So shhh... watch this space... and don't tell the Speaker...


If you missed the lights - turn-on, don't worry! You can enjoy the festivities again on Christmas Eve, and the lights are on every day until January 3rd between 5-10pm.

You can also donate online at www.brailsfordlights.co.uk 

Or by texting rixy88 and £1, £5 or £10 to 70070.

Boxing Clever for Mental Health and Life Chances With Living Legends

In the presence of Legends! Bristol's Chris Sanigar and Frank Bruno

 It is very seldom you get to meet two boxing legends within two days.
I remember watching the Bruno vs. Tyson fight, and I remember, still with devastation and dread, the Michael Watson fight, that changed the way boxing safety was policed for ever.

Since then, both these living legends have soldiered on through very tough times. Frank's mental health issues were made very public, and doctors said that Michael Watson would never walk or talk again.

But both men are not only walking and talking, they are taking up the fight to help others through the sport they love. Frank Bruno is supporting Empire Boxing Club's new scheme, helping people with mental health, through boxing, in conjunction with the mental health services. I went to a session and saw how uniquely effective boxing can be. 

The amazing Michael Watson: 2nd row, third from the left

Michael Watson was in Parliament to launch "Fight for Change" - a Lambeth based charity, helping young people find a career and a future for themselves through boxing. As professional fighter, Jevon Young said,  "Boxing saved my life. I probably wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for boxing".

The All Party Group on Boxing , of which I am chair, is working on a report to shine light on all these remarkable schemes. I have never, ever seen anything tackle those toughest social challenges like boxing. We waste so much money on interventions to the 'hard to reach' which don't work. For so many, only boxing has the reach, and for so many, it's definitely the right hook.

Find out more:  www.fight4change.org.uk/‎

Or about Empire Boxing Club  HERE

Happy Halloween from The Giant Goram!

Happy Halloween and thank you to Dawn, Kim and all at The Giant Goram Pub, Lawrence Weston, for making me so wickedly welcome!

Bristol deserves better than this TRASH - we deserve a stadium

www.bristolsnottrash.bristolpetitions.com 

For too long, Bristol has been held back either by Council House inadequacy, or squabbles between local authorities, or else by minority groups holding up or stopping major projects that the city badly needs.  The saga over Bristol City's new stadium is a case in point.

Now, a potentially very exciting plan to house Bristol Rovers in a brand new stadium, with a large conference facility, good travel access, in conjunction with UWE, which has  knock-on effect to enable more affordable housing to be built, is being held up by another minority group.

The unfortunately named 'TRASH' group have set themselves up as a company to lodge a judicial review against the decision, which would see a Sainsburys, and other facilities built on the Memorial Ground. This project funds the brand new stadium in South Glos.

The frustration is that this not only flies in the face of the will of the City, and what is good for the region, but TRASH are fanning fears amongst local traders about what the new development will actually mean.

I am as great a supporter as any of local independent traders, and I am concerned about how TRASH are spinning their case.

No where do TRASH mention that the supermarket development will bring:

• 400 extra car-parking spaces to the area, for people to use as they go to local independent shops
  
• A 'Memorial Park' and green-space to celebrate the famous Memorial Gates
  
• A community centre for community use and activity
  
• Affordable housing which is so badly needed for the area
  
• The potential for local businesses to have free advertising space, targeting anyone using the Sainsbury's. 

No, they present it as an Armageddon, using snippets of reports, not the entirety, to make a misleading and partisan point. 

In areas like Shirehampton, local traders are crying out for a major supermarket to bring people to the area, which will increase their trade. Other supermarkets have not killed Gloucester Road Traders, and it is those other supmermarkets which stand so much to lose from a new Sainsburys. Let alone the fact that the vast majority of shops at the northern end of Gloucester Road are services like cafes, solicitors etc which are not in competition with a supermarket and would benefit from higher footfall. The TRASH campaign also mysteriously ignores the fact that the limiting factor for more people using Gloucester Road for shopping is, yes,  the appalling lack of parking. 400 extra spaces will only help this.

But most galling of all, is that this misleading minority campaign is costing the tax-payer dear, for the delay that they are imposing, as well as Bristol Rovers, and that yet again, and that an exciting future for Bristol is being strangled by a minority group.

On Saturday, I went to the Rovers game at home against  Chesterfield to let people know about the petition to give voice against what TRASH are doing.  If you are frustrated that Bristol is yet again being held ransom, and that it's you and me paying for it,
sign:

www.bristolsnottrash.bristolpetitions.com 

Pretty Nostalgic at Kings Weston House

Jane Austen dancing. Expected to see a BBC camera crew somewhere.

Norman Routledge and his team have done so much to resurrect our Kings Weston House - it was very good to see it put to such good use in a display of designer, 'Pretty Nostalgic' 's work, and other arts, crafts and cultural stalls.

Pretty Nostalgic were very instrumental in the decorating of Kings Weston House, advising and providing some of the beautiful wall-paper and other features seen in the house.

It was a fantastic day, with crowds of visitors and an array of artistic, sustainable living stalls and activities available. For Christmas purchases, look no further than Pretty Nostalgic, and for a fine day out, no further than our own Kings Weston House!

What better wedding venue than Kings Weston House?!

It's Class War on our trains! Standard vs First ...

Last week, I travelled some distance across the country, costing me a grand total of £82 ( no, none of that was paid by you, the tax-payer!) to give a speech.  (Many people actually get paid for giving speeches. I've obviously got something badly wrong.)  Anyway, I paid quite a hefty fare for my train journey only to find, joy of joys,  that standard class was absolutely chokka. People were slotting themselves into luggage-rack gaps, had filled the buffet car and some had taken up camp in the carriage corridors themselves. Happy days.

It was then I had a brainwave. Surely the little table, just past the Class-Barrier of the buffet-car, on which free copies of The Times are often arrayed for First Class customers wouldn't be actually First Class?

I squeezed down the train, past the buffet, to confirm my suspicions. The carpet didn't actually begin until after the little table-bit at the end of the carriage. What's more, I reasoned, one pays for a First Class seat, surely? Throwing caution (and images of 'MP travels in First Class with Standard-Class Ticket' headlines) to the winds, I perched myself on said little table, tucked my feet in, and muttered to myself about how much I'd just paid for this dubious comfort.

Grrrrr. Very annoying. Especially when you've been sitting in a packed Standard Class luggage rack.

What made things more galling is that the First Class carriages were virtually empty. More muttering. After some considerable amount of time squished up on a small table, this is why I have quite a bit of sympathy for calls to re-think the Standard:First Class ratio on trains.

You can read a bit more about it here:

Help Rebuild Lawrence Weston Football Club's Clubhouse!

Only red-tape is  stopping this lot rebuilding their club-house...

"They get burnt down, but they get up again..."  But they are getting very fed up with it. And with good cause. Their club's been burnt down twice in nine years.

Each time they've had to rebuild it, but this time, it turns out the Council under-insured the property and they can't get the club-house they need rebuilt.

Another sting in the tail is that because they used their initiative and put up a temporary club, (portacabins) which has now been there for several years, the Council is under less pressure to cut through the red tape to rebuild their club for them. 

And if that wasn't enough, the final sting is that there is more than enough expertise, willingness and resource for the club members to rebuild their club themselves, at a fraction of the cost it would take through all the council-methods.  It's red-tape madness at its worst. True, some council officers have been doing their best to help - but that's been some years now and to be honest, it's just madness that they haven't been able to build their club house. 

This is a superb club, which is about so much more than just football - it is a hub of the community, full of great people, bringing everyone together.  Please sign our petition  to , er, focus minds, in the Council for sorting this disgrace out.  This year, it's the club's 20th Anniversary. Read more about it in The Post  What better way to celebrate 20 years than have the Council cut through it's lunatic red-tape, and help this club get their club-house rebuilt.

Never let it be said that the club is not hugely hospitable! Even to MPs.

Team outing - the Return to Raj Pavillions

If Masood (far left) likes a curry, it's definitely good...

I blogged many moons back about the glory of the curries at Raj Pavillions in Horfield ( just down from the Inn on the Green ) - and guess what, nothing's changed. So for a bit of a staff outing, we all went to the Raj Pavillions, where I regailed my long-suffering team with tales of how good the food was.

Masood is a bit of curry connoisseur, and is often known to bring in his own tempting culinary concoctions into the office where we all drool and regret the Tesco sandwiches we've brought in. To be honest, I was a bit worried about brining Masood out for a curry. His was a high standard to live up to...

But sure enough, the team at Raj Pavillions laid on a spread which amazed us all. It's what a real curry ought to be. Hot, yes. Chillis, yes. Good with beer - Yes. But also packed with layers and layers of delicate, beautiful spices and flavour.  Once again, thanks.

Do you know of a great curry place or restaurant I should visit? Let me know! Leave a comment here...