clucasmedia's blog

LATEST NEWSLETTER

The political agenda continues to be dominated by Coronavirus and the Government’s mishandling of the pandemic: the failing test & trace system, the lack of support for so many self-employed people, and the scandalous PPE procurement process to name just a few.  I spoke about some of these issues when I was a guest on the BBC’s Politics Live programme

Moving from lockdown to Covid restriction tiers 

MP OF THE YEAR AWARD

The Patchwork Foundation do amazing work promoting, encouraging and supporting the active participation of young people from under-represented, disadvantaged and minority communities in democracy and civil society. 

Their MP of the Year awards celebrate and recognise those MPs that uphold the values of the Foundation, to champion disadvantaged groups.  The awards are adjudicated on by an independent panel who choose a winner from the public nominees. 

HOUSE OF COMMONS VOTE ON COVID RESTRICTIONS

Many of you have written to me about the vote tonight on the Government’s new Covid restrictions, some asking me to vote for them, some against. 

Having listened carefully to the evidence, it’s clear that if we allow the virus to spread unchecked, infections would increase exponentially, and we risk the NHS becoming overwhelmed.  Coronavirus remains a serious threat to public health, and that’s why I accept the need for continued restrictions. 

LATEST NEWSLETTER

Government’s 10-point plan for climate action 

We have been hearing for weeks that the Prime Minister would be making a major speech on the environment.  In the end, the “major speech” turned into a press release, sent out late at night – and that’s about all it was worth. There were some welcome initiatives, like bringing forward the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, but it completely failed to address the scale of the climate emergency, and there was next to nothing on the nature and biodiversity crisis. 

LATEST NEWSLETTER

Second coronavirus lockdown

The second lockdown has forced the Government to revise its plans to end the furlough scheme at the end of October, and I am glad it has now been extended to the end of March.  But the lack of support for so many of the self-employed is a stain on the Government’s response, and completely undercuts ministers’ claim to be “putting their arms around” everyone.

COVERT HUMAN INTELLIGENCE SOURCES BILL

The Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Bill sounds sinister and it is. 

The authorisations it contains would amount to an express power for agencies like MI5, the police and other public authorities to permit their agents and informants to commit criminal offences. 

We have already seen the kind of thing this leads to: undercover police officers starting relationships with political activists and even having children with them, when their intention is to spy. 

WHAT'S WRONG WITH NHS TEST & TRACE

The failings of the NHS Test and Trace service are more than just worrying, they are plain dangerous.

The latest admission, that nearly 16,000 positive COVID tests were not recorded properly between  September 25th and October 2nd, has not only distorted test data to make it harder to monitor the spread of COVID in our communities, it's also delayed vital contact tracing. This means that many thousands of people who have had close contact with people now confirmed to have COVID will not have been self-isolating, so spreading the virus further. 

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - clucasmedia's blog