Prime Minister announces new Co-operative Bill

Today I co-ordinated the launch of a new Co-operative Bill with The Prime Ministers office on behalf of Co-operatives UK. Co-operatives UK is the trade association for co-operative enterprises and has warmly welcomed the announcement. In a speech at the Hub in Westminster the Prime Minister said that they are to refer the legislation governing co-operatives and mutuals to the Law Commission.The announcement means that the 17 separate pieces of legislation governing the sector, much of which dates back to 1965 and has been developed piecemeal, will now be consolidated into one Act. You can see the relevant section from the speech here.

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Cap worn by Titanic lookout goes up for sale

Artefacts from the Titanic, the reign of George III and the Second World War will go on sale at a militaria and antique fair I have jointly organised at Stratford Armouries on Sunday 15 January. As a prelude to the sale we invited the media along today to see a cap belonging to Frederick Fleet, the lookout on the ill fated vessel. Fleet didnt have his pair of binoculars on watch with him and consequently failed to see the iceberg until it was too late. He survived the disaster but committed suicide in 1965, always haunted by the tragedy. 2012 is the 100^th anniversary of the sinking and we therefore anticipate a lot of interest in the cap which is valued at a cool £50,000.  Unfortunately it doesn’t belong to me but Conrad Chin-See (pictured), the other organiser of the show. The story made the front page of the Stratford Herald and the Stratford Observer. Expect it also to be picked up by the national press.

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Top 10 environmental villains of 2011

In the run up to the New Year I’ll be listing the top 10 environmental villains of 2011 in reverse order.

10. Donald Trump. Who? American billionaire business magnate, property tycoon, on off candidate for President of the United States and proud owner of one of the world’s most talked about bouffant hairstyles. Why? His ruthless efforts to build a golf course on the Menie Estate in Alex Salmond’s Aberdeenshire constituency in the face of opposition from conservation bodies, residents and the council showed how easy it is to destroy a Site of Special Scientific Interest when you can dazzle politicians with controversial promises of jobs. The struggle became the subject of a film in September called You’ve Been Trumped.


9. Tesco. Who? Biggest supermarket in the UK. Why? Despite the recession the supermarket giant which this year notched up profits of £2.55b or £4,800 a minute announced with its rivals in December the biggest store opening programme in its history. If all the plans are approved the UK’s supermarket chains’ trading space will increase by almost 50% to about 1,200 hectares or the equivalent of 500 football pitches. Environmentalists and Tescopoly, the campaign group, believe the result will be “Tesco Towns” in which competition on the high street and many more thousands of small businesses are driven out of existence.
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Need free child care while Christmas shopping?

My daughter Georgias latest craze is her harmonica. We were out Christmas shopping yesterday when we bumped into a nice Romanian man busking with an accordion (unfortunately he didnt speak any English). So here they are duetting. Everyone was happy. He got a lot more money in his hat. Georgia found a musical soul mate. And I got free child care while I finished off the shopping.