Why I'm voting Conservative

I am not a loyal voter, I don't have a single party who I always voted for.

I voted for Labour in 97 and still believe this was the right thing to do. There was no alternative at the time; Major's government was weak.

I believe Blair's record is a good one, he did a lot of good (including the Iraq war) - I blogged a couple of years ago about his record when he resigned listing why I thought his legacy was a good one.

However, Blair and Brown did have a distinct advantage. The strong financial policies put in place by Brown's predecessor Ken Clarke meant the economy was about to boom - that would have happened anyway. It meant that tax revenues were increasing so the government could afford to put massive investment in health, schools and create a massively bloated civil service. They rode the good times; they didn't create them.

Brown's poor management of the economy meant that even in boom times they started to struggle, so he had  to steal money out of public service pension funds. He was a weak chancellor, never forget that. How anyone who works in the public sector can support him astounds me.

After becoming disillusioned with Labour, and with the Conservatives still not able to mount an effective opposition (Remember Iain Duncan Smith? Didn't think so) I shifted to the Liberal Democrats for a while.

I think this was more out of ideological human rights reasons than anything else, they were leading the way in equality rights and that appealed to me at the time.

So now, here we are in 2010 in the middle of an economic crisis. This crisis is not yet over, not by a long shot, so we need a government who is best placed to deal with the immediate pressing issues of public finance, and lead a sustained recovery.

Having studied in great depth all the manifestos, having been fortunate enough to speak with and hear from some major players from the worlds of politics and business I have firmly decided that only one party has the policies, appetite and priorities to lead us through this. David Cameron's Conservative Party.

Now, don't get me wrong, they are not perfect. The lowering of top rate inheritance tax is an odd move for starters but they have one major, fundamental thing right. The way to lead an effective recovery and deal with the public debt is not to increase taxation and increase public spending. That doesn't work any more.

The recovery will be led by the businesses of this country, not the government. The government's role is to help those businesses grow, thrive, prosper - not to hinder them with higher corporation tax, higher National Insurance and increased regulation.

This country's businesses will lead us out of this crisis, but only with the support of a government who understand this.

Oddly, the one person I have been most impressed with recently isn't a Tory, it's Lord Mandelson . He seems to really understand the role of business in this country, and he seems to understand that it's business who will get us out of this.

I even get the impression he is not 100% behind the NI rise, but has to tow the party line.

Seeing someone speak in the flesh is far more insightful than any TV or newspaper interview.

Labour want to increase taxation to maintain public spending levels and to chip away at the hideous national debt. This will not work. Starve business of money and they go (close, or move abroad) or they stay still with no growth. Businesses need finance to grow and expand, they need certainty of what is around the corner, they need security.

You cannot plan expansion and growth effectively without knowing what new tax is around the corner to hammer your profits.

I believe the Conservatives understand this which is why they plan to lower corporation tax and scrap the ludicrously timed NI rise.

Now, on to the Liberal Democrats - we are all aware that Nick Clegg gained a lot of support after the 1st debate. He slipped away in the 2nd and was virtually a spectator in the 3rd - he had nothing to say apart from again reminding us that his constituency is in Sheffield, and insisting on making a point of using audience members names.

Liberal Democrat financial policies would drive businesses away. Increase capital gains tax to income tax levels? Ridiculous proposal. A bad, bad idea. It would reduce the overall tax revenue as more people would decide to locate overseas to avoid it.

As for their policies on immigration and Europe - don't get me started. We should never, never adopt the Euro. We'd be in a much much worse position now if we had of done.

So, that's some of my reasons. There is no getting away from the parts of the Conservative Party I do not approve of (Daily Mail readers) but overall for me they are the only party capable, willing and able to lead this country to a sustained and effective recovery.

IoD Annual Convention 2010 - The Politics

Yesterday I attended the IoD Annual Convention for the first time.

What a great day, stunning venue and fantastic line-up of speakers.

Due to great timing the 3 main parties were keen to have their voice at the conference so we were treating to 3 of the leading members of each.

Here's my own very quick summary of how they did;

Vince Cable (Lib Dems)

Seems a nice guy, I couldn't help but get the impression that he was out of his depth and knew it. He really said nothing that inspired me.

His plan to raise capital gains tax to the level of income tax is poorly considered and would lead to more people locating overseas, thus reducing the overall tax revenue.

He did promise to be tough and not "pull any punches" over decisions that need to be made. Well, yes, I'd expect that from any chancellor.

George Osborne (Conservatives)

Very polished performance, seemed at ease and comfortable in the surroundings.

I liked his stance on the source of job creation - the state can no longer do this, the private sector needs to take over.

Lord Mandelson (Labour)

Another polished performance, he's a very good speaker indeed. Liked a lot of what he said, but his insistance that the NI rise is necessary to reduce debt is a bad argument.

Debt should be reduced by reducing public spending, not increasing tax.

In terms of delivery Mandelson was the most impressive. In terms of content, Osborne.

2nd General Election Live TV Debate

Well, last night was the 2nd of the live televised debates.

What did it tell us?

Gordon Brown can force a smile every now and again and get aggressive every now and again.

David Cameron is an accomplished speaker; I do like him.

Nick Clegg is also an accomplished speaker, he does bang on about the same things though (Yawn, Trident) and he did manage to remind us again his constituency is in Sheffield - however his closing statement was quite powerful.

However, isn't British politics supposed to be about party policies not individual personalities?

I can see these debates have a place in Presidential elections, but we do not have a presidential system in this country (thankfully)

It also confirmed that Adam Boulton is now established as the new David Frost of British TV. Lightweight and ineffectual - and his personal attack on Clegg was out of line for such an event.

General Election 2010 - Televised Debates

Well, we are now half way through the election campaign. Much has been made of the 1st ever UK Live televised debate. Concensus of opinion is that Nick Clegg performed very well.

This has been reflected in the opinion polls which has seen an large upsurge in support for the Liberal Democrats.

Unfortunately, for them, this will not transfer to seats in Parliament due to the UK's voting system.

I do find it rather worrying that people can be so influenced by a staged TV event rather than by actually reading party manifestos.

I bet that most people will never actually read the manifestos, so their view on who to vote for will be based largely upon who their choice of newspaper tells them to and their view of the circus that is the TV debates.

I encourage everyone to download the manifestos and make up your own mind on which party's policies are most aligned with your own views. Do not rely on media (any media) and TV debates to give you an informed opinion on the difference between them.

Diet 2010

Well again I'd forgotten all about this blog, don't know why I just re-discovered it.

Looking at the old posts, I tried to lose weight back in 2007, and was hovering around the 18st mark.

Happy to say my attempt this year has been much more successful.

I started on a diet and gym program on February 15th, weighing in at a whopping 17st 10 (suprised to see that was slightly less than the 2007 start actually)

As of today (April 21st) I am down to 15st 1.

My target is 12st 10 - I'm just over half-way there.

I'm really enjoying the gym - sure it gets a bit tedious at times but the results make it well worth going.

I'm currently finding the time and motivation to go 5-6 times a week, how long I'll be able to keep that up for is anybody's guess.