Late nights and early mornings, roll on Wednesday I hear my body cry!! Went in for the "Building a Britain of lasting prosperity and fairness". I was not impressed by John Hutton MP Energy Minister. The star of the debate was Tony Woodley of Unite talking about tackling fuel poverty and the missed opportunities the government had had to win back some of its core vote.
Alistair Darling was OK, the Chancellor set out to explain the nature of the financial turmoil here and abroad and spoke of a twin shock to the global economy which has hit every country in the world and "has left families concerned about their jobs, their houses, and how they are going to meet their household bills". The Chancellor said "it's causing real difficulties for families - which is why I am so determined to make sure inflation does not become entrenched here in our economy.""It’s clear we have to put in place measures to stop problems being repeated. It is clearer than ever that markets can’t do this on their own. Nor can individual Governments. In the past it was sufficient to ensure effective domestic regulation. That’s not enough today. And we need to strengthen global supervision. We believe there is a role for government."
Highlight of my conference so far(apart from meeting Robbo) was the fringe meeting Standing at the Cultural Crossroads: Is the digital environment supporting or subverting the rights of creative individuals?
The panelists were Andy Burnham MP, Jazzie B, Mal Peet, Emily Bell and Fergal Sharkey. It was focused on the argument of crative people not getting money for their work as most things are now downloaded(illegaly) from the internet. The arguments for and against were all valid. For me it's the old Salford saying "out for nout". If people can hack into the Pentagon computers, they will always break into encryptions and file share. What needs to happen is that downloads need to be a lot cheaper.
David Milliband(the young pretender) gave a very good speech on Britain in the World. Overheard in a lift though saying he didn't want this to be his Hesiltine moment. Sad to say you can feel it outside the main hall that the party is at odds with itself and the factions are appearing.
Attended a meeting looking transport strategy for the city region. It was great to see Roger Jones there. He looked really well.
The TIF bid was touched upon obviously, but the biggest debate was attacking how bad the bus service in the area was. I actually felt sorry for the First bus rep as she got all the stick. Graham Stringer MP was his usual rebelious self.
Managed to take some time out and catch up with John Merry to discuss some Salford issues and just have a quiet drink before John went to speak at a Media City reception. The speech he gave promoting Salford and the vision for Salford was outstanding. All the Salford delegation agreed.
