Mike's Diary

Nottingham City & Leicestershire County to merge

Mike Grant — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 20:10:49 +0000

Nottingham city council and Leicestershire county council have announced this evening that they’re combining their human resources and payroll in a bid to cut costs, and save both of the councils money. Whilst this is a great move forwards for both councils, which will both need to serve money under the funding levels from the Coalition government. There is a question that remains.

Why is it that Leicestershire County council and Leicester City council haven’t merged these resources together, they could have both enjoyed the savings, staff could have been moved out of the falling down City council building, and the commute would be acceptable to the County council offices.

I do hope this isn’t party politics playing against what would be the greater good for both of the councils.

Conservative County Councillor suspended

Mike Grant — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 16:30:29 +0000

A member of the Conservative group sitting on Leicestershire County Council has been suspended for three months, after behaving in an “aggressive and rude” way to a council employee.

Cllr. Geraint Jones, has also been ordered to attend a training session on his behaviour and write a formal letter of apology, or face an extra month of suspension!

Could Nigel Farage return this week?

Mike Grant — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 11:07:12 +0000

The UKIP party conference starts this week, in a nice resort in Torquay. I must admit though, the pictures on their low-budget website make it look like a bit of a dive.

However, despite my probable snobbery, there will be something good leaving that building tomorrow, a new party leader for UKIP. The bookies have currently got Nigel Farage as the favourite to win, despite him not yet even announcing his intention to run in the contest.

I’m Labour and 111 was my idea!

Mike Grant — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:26:51 +0000

It would appear that all the Lefties criticising the fact that 111 is being set up, and not because of NHS direct being binned, that they didn’t read their own manifesto very well. I know most of you probably struggle to read long texts, but please try in future.

A new national 111 telephone number will make non-emergency services far easier for people to access

Page 35 of your own manifesto!

Political Betting, money or opinions?

Mike Grant — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 12:47:46 +0000

I’ve recently taken up betting on political events using a great website called Smarkets. Not only is it a nice and easy way to win some money, but it’s a great way to gauge what way certain events are going.

Bear in mind that the only reason people bet is so that they can make money, which means they’re going to logically bet on the option that is most likely, at a time when they’re most likely to win as much as possible. The website currently has the option to bet various aspects of the Labour leadership contest, as well as who they’ll pick to be the candidate for London Mayor.

I currently have bets running on the Labour mayor candidate (backing Ken Livingstone), the Australian election (backing the coalition) and on who will be made the next leader of UKIP (Backing Nigel Farage, despite him not even confirming that he’ll stand).

The face behind the Tory

Mike Grant — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:00:46 +0000

I lied, this is actually the face and body behind the Tory. To any of you that know me, you’d know that I’m not your average person, nor do I look one. Some people are even surprised that I could be a Tory because I don’t conform to the stereotype. One of my lovely fellow party members even suggested I start a website called TattooedTory. This is me, the man behind the blog and twitter account.

Rediscovering My Own Political Ideology

Mike Grant — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:30:13 +0000

Recently I’ve started to question my own political alignment, not whether I’m a tory or any other party, but how aligned I feel within my own party. There are things I disagree with, things I agree with. But I’ve always just put my political beliefs down to being a Tory whenever I’ve been asked.

My views breakdown like this:

The need for a free market, and reducing the red tape to let business spent more time working.
The state should only be there as a safety net, not as the ladder upwards.
Strongly in favour of the death penalty, the penalty should be for murder, rape and paedophilia.
Advocate of loosening the regulation around cannabis with a move towards legalising it.
I am strongly against the EU, I believe that reverting back to simple trade treaties would benefit us more.

I’ve also attached my political compass, showing a slightly liberal right winger. Apparently I’m still as tory as I thought I was.

Has the BNP got one foot in the grave?

Mike Grant — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:00:21 +0000

So after months of speculation, it has been confirmed that the party is “technically broke” after claims from their former legal advisor. About time is all I can say. This is a party that has some crazy ideas and has generally picked up their vote in areas where the other parties have flagged and allowed them to get a foot in the door. They even struggled to justify their own policies in the general election1

The fact that Nick Griffin is begging for £150k to support themselves in a lawsuit against the Equality and Human rights commission is nothing short of embarrasing for the man. Lets hope that this is the final straw in the BNP and they quietly leave the political stage once and for all. Just leaving the question, who will fill the void that has been left by them? Will the EDL decide that they suddenly want to replace the gap? Or will there be a more extreme BNP on the horizon?

Sky news

Must read Leicester politics blogs!

Mike Grant — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 16:58:51 +0000

I spend a great deal of time reading various news sources as well as several blogs, i read them anywhere. On my iPhone before I go sleep, and when I first wake up in bed, on my lunch break at work or when I get home from work. Almost like a first for knowledge. Time to give some recognition out to the local blogs that I check on everyday!

David MacLean – Political correspondant for the Leicester mercury, always great to get some inside gossip on before it hits the newspaper.
Ross Grant – The leader of the opposition conservative group within the council, always well thought out blogs.
Simon Whelband – A great tory campaigning, very detailed posts on issues he cares for.
Vijay Riyat – Unfortunately he’s mistaken in his political beliefs, but still interesting to see how he sees things.

Where have I been?

Mike Grant — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 14:00:27 +0000

Hopefully some of you might have noticed that I’ve been fairly quiet as of late, mainly on twitter and especially on this blog. The simple answer to where I’ve been lately, is the job that I landed.

I’m now an IT Technician at my old college, a state employee and enjoying it. Definitely not the easy job that most people seem to think it is, hectic is what I’d call it. Lack of lunch, lots of unpaid overtime, just to keep things ticking over smoothly and give the students the best access possible to IT as possible on a limited budget. Am I enjoying it? Most definitely, it’s a satisfying job that keeps me extremely busy and tires me out, I’ve meant my girlfriend whilst working there, I’ve made some great friends and I’ve discovered a lot about myself, and taught myself a lot whilst working there.