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How should we tackle dementia?
Debates
Expenses
Hi all -
First, many thanks to everyone who respond to my request for help in the
coming election - I'm not sure what I expected, but nothing like the
nearly 100 offers that I've received. I'm very touched and it will help
make my campaign much more effective. (We still have scope for more if
you'd like to join the effort!)
1. How should we tackle dementia?
Mainly, this time, I wanted to offer you a link to what I think is in some
ways the most useful speech I've made in Parliament since I was first
elected - it's about public policy for dementia services, and although it
was prompted by the controversy over Bramwell you'll find it's almost
entirely non-partisan. I've been getting constructive comments from
colleagues on both sides ever since - you'll see that the Chamber is
nearly empty, but as usual a lot of MPs were watching on the monitors from
their offices while they worked (the best way to get through
correspondence while keeping up with what's being said).
A word of warning: it's *nothing* like the cut and thrust of PMQs! It's
long, it's delivered without rhetorical flourishes and there aren't many
jokes. There are various interventions from MPs of other parties, and
they're non-partisan too.
If you're not interested in dementia, you'll be bored. If you are, though,
it's a serious analysis. It's the other side of Parliament that you never
see, because the media thinks you only want the snarls and jeers. But it's
this sort of debate, more than PMQs, that actually moves the policy agenda
forward. I hope you'll find it interesting. Click on "Watch" after the
link below to see it. (If you don't have time to watch it or you're not
able to use sound on your computer, you can skim the text on the same
page.)
http://tinyurl. com/y8llr3o
2. Upcoming debates
I'm speaking at the Beeston and District Civic Society on this Friday
February 12 at 730, in Beeston Library (Foster Avenue): see
http://beestoncivic society.org. uk/
On Saturday February 13 I'll be taking part in
the discussion on the tree clearances at Toton Sidings (4pm at the
Greenwood Centre).
On Saturday February 27 I'm on an all-party panel debate organised
by Amnesty at St Barnabas Hall, Derbu Road - probably 730 as well, but
I've not had details yet.
3. Expenses
In case you've not looked it up, the Legg Report which finds that more
than half of MPs should make repayments simply says of me, "Dr Palmer has
no issues". In fairness, many of the repayments required of other MPs are
for very small sums (in one case 30 pence!) and these are clearly
accounting errors, like the apparently duplicate software claim which I
discovered and reported myself. The number of outrageous claims is a lot
less.
I'd like to add that I personally think that MPs accused of deliberate
false accounting should be liable to court trial like anyone else. The MPs
and the peer concerned have a right to raise any arguments that they wish,
and I won't express any opinion on the cases, but I think a fair trial in
which all the evidence is heard is the only satisfactory outcome.
However, a measure of humility by all the party leaders who presided over
abuses in their own ranks (and in some cases themselves have used the
"second home" allowance to finance a very large country house) would be
better than any attempt to score off each other. To give relative credit
where it's due, the least bad record has been the LibDems. The average
repayment per MP is:
Conservatives £2330.68
Labour £1279.13
Liberal Democrats £681.67
Others (SNP, Plaid etc.) £940.88
Unpleasant and lengthy though the process has been, now that we've seen
over £1 million of repayments, numerous resignations and a number of
prosecutions (with possibly more to come), I hope that people will accept
that the issue was tackled seriously once the full horrors came to light.
Best wishes
Nick
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