Dan in Warwickshire

Project Umubano Cricket coaching in Rwanda

2011-08-05T06:11:00.000-07:00

I have just returned from a week coaching cricket in Rwanda as part of Project Umubano, the Social Action project organised by the Conservative party. Project Umubano involves over 100 people who work in a variety of projects including teaching English, helping in the development of small businesses, Community projects, building schools and a Parliamentary project in the Senate. I was part of the sport project, which included two groups, on coaching cricket and another coaching football.

We coached cricket to hundreds of youngsters who have never seen the game before and using Kwik cricket sets very kindly donated by Asda, we quickly had games of non stop cricket up and running.

We also coached members of the Rwandan national cricket team. They have virtually no facilities, no access to coaches and no cricket pitch capable of hosting an international cricket match. But despite this they managed to win the ICC Africa division 3 world cup qualifier.

Coaching cricket in Rwanda is naturally very different from anything I have experienced back home, but despite the cronic lack of access to facilities, educational, medical or sporting, and the lack of access to drinking water for children out playing cricket in the middle of the day under a tropical sun, there was no lack of enthusiasm for cricket, or for having fun. The game is growing there and despite the horrendous recent history of the country, the country as a whole is slowly moving forward. It is haunted by its history, and is constrained by its geography, being situated at the heart of Africa, many, many hundreds of miles away from the sea and the trade routes they open up. But I returned from Rwanda with a sense of hope and a heightened awareness of just what international development and international aid is all about.

Now the government want ID cards for Sheep!!

2008-11-25T05:50:00.000-08:00

I recently visited took my fellow MEP candidates to a sheep farm near Rugby and the Rugby farmers market to see for myself what the potential impact new EU rules on electronic tagging of sheep (EID)could have on our local farmers.

It was an interesting experience and although I arrived firm in the knowledge that EID was a bad idea, I left utterly convinced that we had to put a stop to it.

The EU has decreed that all new born sheep must have an electronic tag from the 1st January 2010. The tags cost around £1.50 each in addition to the cost of an electronic reader. This is plainly ridiculous when some sheep are only worth £2.

The argument for it is that it will make it easier to trace the movement of sheep, but we already have an effective batch movement system in place that works perfectly well and doesn't cost an arm and a leg to install. The UK has 30 million sheep, which move from field to field far more frequently than anywhere else in Europe. We also have some pretty wet and windy weather which is not conducive to electronic systems. I think it will be fairly difficult trying to read an electronic tag half way up a mountain in a storm.

Still for some strange reason the UK signed up to this, not just once but twice!!! Even the European Commission has said that nothing can stop it coming in. We will continue the fight but it's not looking good at the moment!

Special Olympics

2008-09-22T05:35:00.000-07:00

I have just taken part in a football tournament to raise the profile of the Special Olympics and the work they do to develop sporting opportunities for people with learning difficulties.

The Special Olympics do a great job all around the world and I am a big fan. So it was a great honour to take to the pitch alongside other MEPs, including my boss Neil Parish and Chris Heaton Harris, the Chairman of the European Parliament Sports Intergroup.

Also in attendance were some of the Anderlecht first team players and the Anderlecht manager. I am not sure I did enough to convince him of my talents but the event itself turned out to be a great success!!!

We also had the honour of having the global Special Olympics Ambassador at the event and he presented the medals to everyone at the end of the day. Unfortunately our team officially finished third, but the result was really the most irrelevant part of the whole day!

2008-09-15T04:26:00.000-07:00

I recently visited an Abattoir in Hereforshire. RE Williams and sons in Weobley was the first stop on a tour round the region that Conservative MEP candidates are doing in order to see exactly how the food chain works - from farm to fork!

Abattoirs are much maligned institutions and I must admit that I along with probably most people, do not really know what goes in inside them and just how affected they can be by EU and government legislation.

So we went to visit them and got a taste of just the problems that it small abattoirs are facing. They are affected not only by increasing fuel costs and the toughening economic situation but also by the reams and reams of EU legislation which gets passed down from Brussels. Every year or so this legislation changes and all the time small businesses have to keep up with the changes, some of which are incredibly technical and can easily come into force without any proper explanation to those who actually have to adhere to it.

We saw vividly how this could affect an abattoir and next I will be off to a farm and a farmers market in Rugby to see how the Electronic Identification of sheep is going to affect our sheep farmers.

Croatia 1 England 4

2008-09-15T04:10:00.000-07:00

Who could ever doubt Fabio Capello! We all knew he was just tinkering with the team short of unleashing the real England on an unsuspecting Croatia.

Of course all along I thought that England would be fine in Croatia - there was never any doubt that we were going to win easily, after all the only reason we lost to Croatia last time round was because our manager wasn't very good!

Mmm, OK maybe not. But in truth the new England team looked nothing like any England team I have ever seen. Decent passing, composure on the ball, Wayne Rooney pulling the attacking strings and pace on the wings with Theo Walcott and Joe Cole.

We still looked a bit dodgy in defence and David James still doesn't fill me with confidence when he comes for the ball, although his shot stopping is still as good as ever, not though it was needed the other night.

So things are finally looking up for the national team, although Ukraine and Belarus will still prove to be tough tests. I am confident that with this team and this manager, we can get through to South Africa in 2010.

The only disapointing thing about this match was the fact that it wasn't shown on terrestrial TV. There should have been at least some highlights on either BBC or ITV. To deny the millions of people who don't have access to Setanta sports even a highlights package is a real shame. This must be looked at before England's remaining away games, all of which currently will not be seen on terrestrial TV.

Roof falls in on the Strasbourg Parliament

2008-09-05T06:19:00.000-07:00

Last month the roof literally fell in on the Parliament in Strasbourg and as a result for the first time the normal monthly session has been held in Brussels!

This is great news for all of us who have been complaining for years about the crazy travelling circus that sees MEPs and their staff undertake a monthly 500 mile round trip between Brussels and the pictoresque Alsacien city nestled next to the German border.

These monthly trips emit roughly the same amount of CO2 emissions as all the patio heaters in the EU, yet clearly oblivious of the irony, MEPs recently voted to ban patio heaters because they were too damaging to the environment.

It looks likely that the next session will also be in Brussels as the Strasbourg parliament will take several weeks to repair. The momentum is now well and truly in favour of ending the Strasbourg sessions altogether and holding all of them in Brussels.

Unfortunately the French government is still digging its heals in and is refusing to negotiate an end to the Strasbourg sessions. There are potential options, such as turning the Parliament into a university, but what ever happens, it is clear that the French will have to be offered something in return for giving up their right to host the Parliament. Until they do give in, the biggest and most obvious example of European mismanagement and waste, the monthly trek of MEPs to Strasbourg, will remain a symbol of everything that is wrong with the EU.

Beijing Olympics and Tibet

2008-04-05T15:40:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, the Olympic flame will go through London and by all accounts, there will be one mother of a demonstration against it because of the human rights abuses happening in Tibet. There are still calls for athletes to boycott the games and I saw one TV interview where a British athlete was given a really hard time for not considering boycotting the games.

Now, what is happening in Tibet is a disgrace and we must put as much pressure as we can on the Chinese government to change their policy and attitude towards Tibet, however, I believe it is wholly unfair to make athletes make the ultimate sacrifice in order to ease our own moral guilt about the situation.

There has not been a call to boycott the Shanghai Grand Prix this year, the English women's football team were not crucified when they played the World Cup in China last year, anyone of us can book a flight to Beijing, Shanghai or Hong Kong and spend our holidays in China and many of our companies are doing roaring trade with the country, so why are we making our Olympic athletes feel guilty about going to China?

I also feel that an Olympic boycott would be absolutely the wrong thing to do if we want to see a change in the situation in Tibet. The whole reason why we know so much about what is going on there is because the Olympics are coming to China. If this wasn't the case, we would be none the wiser. If we impose a boycott, China will be able to close itself off from the rest of the world and we will condemn the people of Tibet to many more years of Chinese domination.

On the other hand, if we send all our athletes, and all our journalists, not only will we get more than a glimpse of the situation in China, but the Chinese will be more exposed to the views and attitudes of the Western world. They will also be under more pressure to comply to the accepted norms of the international system. China wanted to host the Olympics because she wanted to show the world that she was a modern, mature and legitimate nation. The government will take any criticism that threatens to undermine this image very seriously and this may give the Tibetans room for manouver.

The Common Agricultural Policy 2008 Reform

2008-03-14T03:15:00.000-07:00

The CAP is currently going through its Mid Term Review, or Health Check, after the 2003 reforms.

The CAP is hugely complicated, however it basically boils down to two sections -

Pillar 1 - Direct payments to farmers through the Single Farm Payment - This pays farmers an annual subsidy based partly on the historical claims made on that farm and partly on the size of the farm. This payment is no longer directly linked to production so farmers are free to grow as much or as little as they choose and that they can sell on the open market.

Pillar 2 - Rural Development funding - This funding aims to support rural areas to develop and diversify and various schemes are available for farmers to sign up to. The Environmental part of Pillar 2 is the most important however there are also funding schemes for marketing of agricultural products, farm adaption and forestry, among others.

In 2003 the major reform of the CAP decoupled Pillar 1 payments from production and started moving more money directly into Pillar 2. In 2008 the European parliament is now looking at how that reform went and how further reform can be achieved.

Needless to say, there is not much appetite for reform within the EU and many countries are actively trying to block any attempt to reform it. Despite this, we will be battling hard to get some further reform.

The main features of this years reform are :-

- Gradual phasing out of export refunds and subsidies

- Increase of milk quota (probably about 2%) ahead of the ending of the quota system in 2015

- Increased modulation (movement of funds from Pillar 1 to Pillar 2) probably 2% per year up to 2012.

- Possible capping of payments to large farms(The European Commission has just proposed increased modulation rates on farms which receive over £75,000 per year in single Farm Payment.)

- Ending of the Energy Crop Scheme

- Simplification of Cross Compliance Regulations

I will continue to post about how the negotiations are going on the reform over the coming months. The Commission produces its legislative proposal in May and the Parliament will then debate the issue over the summer and autumn. However, any views or comments on this that could provoke a debate on this are very much welcomed!!!!

The Budget

2008-03-14T02:56:00.000-07:00

I watched in disbelief as Alastair Darling lectured us all as to how great the economy is and how great a job Labour has done making everyone rich and happy!!! He seemed completely unaware of the fact that virtually everything is getting far more expensive. Energy bills have gone through the roof in the last year, petrol is reaching ridiculous prices, food seems to be following suit and to cap it all off council taxes are going up yet again! He then clobbered virtually everyone by raising taxes on petrol, cars, alcohol and tobacco.

The government really does seem to be out of touch with the realities of every day life, telling fantasy stories about how well prepared the economy is to deal with a global slowdown. In reality, we are not in good shape and the next year is going to be very difficult. Surely then, in these circumstances it is time to free people from the straitjacket of increased taxation, trim the ever growing size of state bureaucracy and put the money raised into education and health.

BBC Debut

2008-03-04T14:50:00.000-08:00

I had my first taste of TV this week as I appeared on the BBC Record Europe programme to discuss the current controversy over MEP's expenses and a potential assistant's statute.
It was a nerve racking experience and I really didn't know what to expect. However it was interesting to see Chris Davies and Herbert Bosch arguing even before the programme started!!

The interview can be seen on the link below :-

http://search.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/search/results.pl?tab=av&q=record+Europe&edition=d&scope=all then choose the programme on the 04/03/2008

EU Constitution - His opinion of your opinion!!!!

2008-02-26T00:26:00.000-08:00

In Strasbourg last week the European Parliament voted through the Lisbon Reform Treaty. Conservative MEPs and staff took the opportunity to stage a peaceful demonstration against the lack of democracy shown by both Gordon Brown, in not allowing us to have a referendum despite promising it in 2005 and by the European Parliament for effectively silencing any criticism of the Treaty in the run up to the vote.

Our demonstration certainly had more decorum than the UKIP attempt, which saw their staffers dressed up in chicken costumes being chased round the Parliament by scores of angry security men. This was undoubtedly funny, but devalued the message we were trying to get across. This Treaty is no laughing matter - it gives away British veto rights in over 60 areas, it places our UN Security Council seat under threat, it enshrines a foreign policy role for the EU, it introduces a Charter of Fundamental Rights which could take us back to the industrial action of the 80's, it is self amending, it allows courts in one EU country to enforce a criminal conviction from another, it gives the EU competence over sport and for the first time, free and undistorted competition is no longer a goal of the EU.

It represents a major shift in sovereignty towards Brussels and it is imperative that the British people are given a say in this process. Sadly Gordon Brown doesn't appear to respect the will of the people!!

Kenilworth Castle - West Midlands Travelogue

2008-02-25T14:30:00.000-08:00

I recently visited Kenilworth Castle with my girlfriend Silke. As she had never been to the West Midlands I thought my home town was the best place to start. It also got me thinking and I thought I would publish a short travelogue about some of the best tourist attractions that we have in the West Midlands.

So we started at Kenilworth Castle which is a medieval masterpiece. Much of the castle was deliberately destroyed after the civil war. Although this was a tragedy it does give Kenilworth a notable advantage over nearby Warwick Castle, which is almost perfectly preserved. The surviving ruins are eerie, mystical and romantic. The fact that they are ruins actually makes it easier to imagine what life was like there 500 years ago. It doesn't feel sterile, on the contrary you can also imagine medieval soldiers getting ready for battle and the scene when Elizabeth 1st came to visit.

Its definitely worth visiting for an afternoon. Just one bit of advice though, if someone starts walking around ringing a bell, in town crier fashion at about 4pm, please don't do what we did and go " Ah how quaint is that". Instead, leave the castle immediately!! We didn't and ended up getting locked in!!!

Save our Post Offices

2008-02-21T12:22:00.000-08:00

Last Friday I joined the demonstration and signed the petition against the proposed closure of Fieldgate Post Office in Kenilworth. The post office is under threat after it emerged that it was on a list of over 30 branches which were facing the axe, even though it is running at a profit!! Other post offices on the list include branches in Nuneaton, Bedworth, Coventry and Rugby.

Post offices are integral parts of the communities in rural areas and small towns. Fieldgate post office not only serves a large part of the north of Kenilworth but also the neighbouring village of Burton Green. If the post office closed, people would have to travel into the centre of Kenilworth to reach their nearest post office. As many of its customers are elderly and travel on foot, this will cause considerable inconvenience for many people.

Post offices offer so much more to a community than merely the services they provide. The Fieldgate post office has been described as the artery of the area and this is true of many rural post offices. At a time when rural bus services are being cut, it is crazy to make people travel even further to get to their nearest post office.

Local MP Jeremy Wright (pictured with me above) is leading the campaign to save the post office and judging by the large number of people who came out to demonstrate, we have every chance of stopping its closure.

The EU and Sport

2008-02-19T10:17:00.000-08:00

It was always only ever going to be a matter of time, but the EU looks like it is finally going to get its hands on sport. If the constitution (oh sorry, Lisbon treaty) goes through, then it will give the EU power over sports policy in the EU. EU policy has already caused real problems for sport. The Bosman ruling badly affected football and the Kolpak rule means that our county cricket sides can pack their sides full of South African Test players without them officially being overseas players.

The real worry is that the EU will try to apply all single market legislation to sport, despite the fact that most EU policy makers have little or no knowledge of sport whatsoever. The end result of this is that we could have cross border football leagues, meaning that Derby County could in theory play their football in the Swedish League and Manchester United could choose to up sticks and play in Madrid.

The European parliament is currently discussing the Commission "White Paper" on sport and this is worrying stuff, particularly for football fans. TV rights is the biggest issue and the success of our Premiership has been largely based on the ability of the Premier League to collectively sell the rights and then to distribute them based on merit. So the higher placed clubs receive more money than those lower down, however all receive substantial sums. Other countries have other systems, in Spain each individual club negotiates its own rights and this benefits the big clubs but significantly handicaps the small clubs, who are unable to command large fees for their rights. In Germany the rights are collectively sold and then equally divided between all clubs in the league. The Germans moan that because of this their big clubs can't match the spending power of the bigger English clubs and this is why they have not had any recent success in the Champions League or UEFA cup.

In short, things are going to change and not for the better! This is one of the hidden parts of the Constitution (oh sorry again - Treaty) and it does not augur well for sport!!!!

Bear Bile Farming in China

2008-02-11T14:08:00.000-08:00

For the last two years I have been involved in the Animals Asia campaign to stop bear bile farming in China. This is a vile practice which involves the capture of moon bears which are then put into tiny cages, only just bigger than their bodies where they remain, unable to move, for the rest of their lives. A metal cathetar is then inserted into their stomach and the bile is extracted. The bile is then used in Chinese herbal medicines.

The Chinese government say that bear bile is only extracted because there are no synthetic alternatives. However Animals Asia have identified over 50 alternatives that can be used in the medicines.

I travelled to China in 2006 to visit a sanctuary that Animals Asia has set up, where they house bears rescued from bear farms around China. We also lobbied the Chinese government, although to date, the government appear unwilling to ban the practice.

It is well worth checking out the Animals Asia website for more information on :- http://www.animalsasia.org/

The Olympic Games in Beijing

2008-02-10T05:20:00.000-08:00

This years Olympics are, as expected, stirring up a huge amount of controversy! There are calls from many quarters for a boycott in protest at China's human rights record and in the last few days it has been announced that the contracts that British Olympians must sign forbids them from making political demonstrations or propoganda.

I must admit that I think that this all misses the point. My Masters degree disertation looked at why Asian countries wanted to host the Olympic Games citing the examples of Tokyo, Japan in 1964 and Seoul, South Korea in 1988. In both cases, as is the case with Beijing and China, the host country used the Olympics to show the world that it was prepared to return as a legitimate actor in international community after years of isolation. Japan used the 64 games to put the war behind them, as did South Korea with the 88 games. I believe that China is doing the same thing with this years games. I believe that they wanted the games to show the rest of the world how much like the rest of the world they are. The Olympics are a Western cultural festival and the fact that China has so clearly embraced the Olympic movement suggests to me that they very dearly want to be accepted by the Western world. I do not therefore think that boycotts or concentrating on politically bashing the Chinese regime is the best way to go forward. There are atrocious human rights abuses going on every day in China and the Olympics will highlight these. However, by wanting to host the games, the Chinese government has already showed a willingness to open itself up to the rest of the world. The best way to end the human rights abuses in China is to have a democratic government and I believe that the Olympics may be the first step into shaming China into moving towards democracy. After all, South Korea became democratic shortly after the 1988 Seoul Olympics and those games have been credited as being one of the main reasons for the move to democracy.

The European Union

2008-02-10T05:06:00.000-08:00

When I first went to work in Brussels, I struggled to understand why we were even in Europe at all.

However, in my two years there I have learnt, after having worked closely with our Conservative MEPs, that we need to have a forceful team to make certain that we fight for British interests in Europe. We have plenty of friends who share our view of a Europe of friendly nation states, working together closely on economic and trade issues but that reject the notion of ever closer union.

It is for this reason that I strongly support David Cameron's view that we must create a new group in the European Parliament that can force through reform of the EU. For far too long, the EU has been controlled by left wing federalists who have sought to undermine the sovereignty of member states. I believe that the tide is turning and with the accession of 12 new countries, many ex Communist states, our vision of a free trading economic Europe is more popular in Brussels than ever. We must capitalise on this opportunity to turn Europe away from political integration in order to focus on economic competitieveness in a globalised market.