Nick Hollinghurst

More than 100 of the biggest hitters in British business have signed the Government’s Business Compact and are committed to opening their doors to people from all walks of life, ending the ‘who you know, not what you know’ culture.

The businesses – employing over two million people in Britain with a turnover of more than £500 billion – have signed up to the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s Business Compact on social mobility. This is an unprecedented partnership between business and government to spread opportunities across our society and, crucially, to create culture change in other companies.

Signatories to the Compact include

• nearly 20 major finance firms including Barclays, HSBC and Santander
• more than 10 high street retailers including Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Marks & Spencer, and Morrisons
• 11 well-known consumer brand manufacturers including Coca Cola, P&G and Nestle
• 10 major law firms including Allen & Overy and CMS Cameron McKenna
• eight high profile energy firms including BP, Shell and E.ON.

Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, said:
“This is an important step towards a society where it’s what you know, not who you know, that counts. Working with the Coalition, the biggest companies in British business are helping lead the way to a fairer, more open society.
“By opening their doors to young people from all walks of life, this marks the start of a culture shift among major employers, driven by the belief that ability and drive should trump connections and privilege.

“I’d like to thank the companies and organisations who have already signed up to the Business Compact. Today’s success makes me even more ambitious. This great news is just the beginning – I will be doing everything I can to bring even more businesses on board.”
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Latest information is that Herts County Council continue to tough it out, insisting that there is nothing wrong with the signs or the road markings for the scheme designed for them by Hertfordshire Highways. Meanwhile the number of aggrieved motorists who have appealed to the Traffic Penalties Tribunal has now reached 429. Grounds for appeal include: obstructed view of the prohibition signs, incorrect positioning of the prohibition signs, absence of road marking until 12/09/2011 and incorrect wording of the Traffic Regulation Order. A hearing by the Tribunal is scheduled for next week.

Well, I was up at the crack of dawn and down again to the Moor End Lane Bus Lane for an interview with BBC Three Counties Radio.The amazing thing is that Herts Highways has actually done something – though nothing to clarify the signs, just something to cover their own backs. The signs saying that there will be camera enforcement (of something) in Moor End Road (where? There’s only one sign) from July 25th (meaning July 25th 2011) have had the words “from July 25th” covered up. That, I suppose, is because we’re now in a new year and some people might think the scheme starts in the July coming and isn’t operational yet.

So those people who got penalties from 1st January to a few days ago (whenever the signs were changed) should have their penalties cancelled. Not just them, either. All those people who got tickets up to 12th September 2011 should have their penalties cancelled too – because it took Herts Highways from 25th July to 12th September to mark the bus lane road surface (which they did with green paint – just to be different). The picture shows the surface to 12/09/2011.

To recap, penalties should be cancelled because
1. on approaching from the Leighton Buzzard Road the prohibition sign is obscured by a lamp  post
2. on approaching from Waterhouse Street the prohibition sign is fixed to a post half way round a roundabout, making it visible from a distance but not when the driver gets closer and is actually negotiating the roundabout
3. on approaching from Waterhouse Street there is a second prohibition sign but this is obscured by a post fitted with several finger signs pointing to pedestrian routes
4. on approaching from Waterhouse Street the prohibition sign on the roundabout is fixed parallel to edge of the road (and so is edge on to an oncoming vehicle at that point and cannot be seen by the driver) and not at right angles to the edge of the road
5. on approaching from Waterhouse Street there is no prohibition sign facing the traffic at the start of the bus lane
6. on approaching down Waterhouse Street motorists pass an old yellow sign which has been up for about 4 years and which reads “Bus Link now Operational”, displaying a silhouette of a bus and an arrow pointing to the LEFT (the bus lane is to the RIGHT after going around the roundabout)
7. Moor End Road might be expected to have road name signs at either end to indicate where it is, but there is only one sign fixed to the side of a bridge half way down the road on one side only
8. The large yellow advance warning sign in the Leighton Buzzard Road for vehicles approaching from the north is in the centre of the road by the traffic lights to the right of the traffic flow, whereas vehicles going into Moor End Road will be in the left hand filter lane and will be watching the filter light – and so will miss the advance warning sign
9. The large diagramatic signs situated on either side of the bus lane are too complicated to be read from a moving car and confuse motorists by displaying two versions of vehicle prohibition (1. the “flying motorbike sign” 2. the red disc with the white bar more easily recognized as ‘No Entry’).

I pointed out all these problems to council officers, the local county councillor and the Executive Member for Highways and supporting photographs were sent by e-mail in the middle of August.

I believe (a) this chaotic signage should be  put right, (b) that all penalties should be refunded and (c) that Hertfordshire County Council should recover its costs from the design partner in Hertfordshire Highways. About a million pounds should cover it.

Yesterday evening (Saturday) the audience at St Peter and Paul’s Church in Tring were delighted by a thrilling concert by the Hertfordshire Chamber Orchestra held in aid of Iain Rennie Grove House Hospice Care. Conducted by their Leader, violinist Paul Barritt, the orchestra first played Beethoven’s overture, Coriolan. A stirring piece, tightly delivered in response to some energetic direction by Mr Barritt whose firmly set jaw and stern mien throughout well matched the underlying subject matter.

Second came a most pleasing short Sinfonietta by the English composer Lennox Berkeley which exhibited the characteristics of the English recent modern classical style combined with a clear French influence deriving from his studies in Paris.  Some lively chords in the allegro section seemed reminiscent of Petrouschka – and this might well have been as a result of his knowing Stravinsky during this time. Poulenc is also said to have been an influence on him but the more lyrical sections of the lento and the intense and, at times,  tender conversations between the violin and orchestra are evidence of Berkeley’s originality. The final piece before the interval was of a quite different type. The Rêverie et Caprice by Berlioz represented a masterful salvage of themes and sections from an earlier abandoned work from the original version of his opera Benevenuto Cellini.

The second half of the concert opened with the short Romance in G major for Violin and Orchestra, almost hymn-like in its character despite its title. Finally, the audience was treated to Beethoven’s Symphony no 8 in F major – played with balance, clarity and precision from the vigour of the first movement through to the urgency of the spirited last.

An enjoyable evening in a good cause.

Possible Jobs for a Politics Graduate
Not yet employed at age 21. Little skilled work experience.
Graduate Trainee at a County Council. Schemes usually open until July. 2 – 3 year contract. Salary around £23,000 p.a.
Trainee Accountant in local Government.  The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) match graduates (who do not need an accountancy degree) to vacancies, though the authority does the recruiting. Salary of a£17,000 t0 £20,000 plus CIPFA training costs to qualification.
Social Work Assistant on a Graduate Scheme. The Barnet scheme opens in May. Salary from £26,500 to £28,500 p.a. Two years work gaining experience then supported to gain an MA in Social Wok with fees paid.
Town Planner. One-year Royal Town and Country Planning Institute-accreditied MA on a government bursary paying all fees and £6,000. Must undertake to work in UK public sector for minimum of 2-years after graduating. Starting salary about £ 16,000 to 28,000 p.a. leading to £29,000 to £45,000 for a Principal Planner and as much as £80,000 p.a. as Head of Department. Similar possibilities in private sector practices in UK and beyond for experienced planners.

For comparison: the UK median household income is £31,000

Freight haulier GB Railfreight (GBRf), part of Europorte, has customised rail wagons to transport biomass in dry condition to Britain’s coal fired power stations.

Just before Christmas it showcased its newly modified biomass wagons to interested power station operators. The first 23 wagons will be used to service a multi-million pound contract with Drax Power Ltd.  Graham Backhouse, commercial manager at Drax, said: “Our commitment to reducing the carbon footprint of our electricity generation through the use of sustainable biomass extends to the transportation of this renewable fuel source. With a focus on moving biomass by rail we are able to make a meaningful saving in emissions of CO2.”
 
“In partnership with GBRf, WH Davis, VTG and Lloyds Register, we have developed these bespoke wagons to ensure that biomass of the right quality is delivered straight to our storage and processing facilities at the power station. We are now gearing up to generate renewable power from biomass on a significant scale.”
 
The wagons will be used to haul renewable biomass from Tyne Port to Drax Power Station near Selby, North Yorkshire, making GBRf the first freight haulier to move biomass regularly over the rail network.

Following July’s turmoil surrounding the News International phone hacking scandal, the actions of senior policemen and Rupert Murdoch’s bid (now abandoned) for the rest of BSkyB, Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has called for reforms to control media excess.

Nick Clegg called for tighter rules to prevent near-monopoly media ownership developing again in the future. He is also seeking reforms to control media misconduct and improve compensation and payment to people wronged by the press or TV. In particular he called for stricter application of the “fit and proper person test” to allow an individual or a company to control a significant section of UK media. Nick Clegg also said that a “healthy diversity” was needed as well as greater accountability from bodies like the Press Complaints Commission. He charged the PCC as being “run by the media, for the media” and, referring to its Code of Practice Committee, he asked, “Guess who’s on that? Only editors of newspapers, chaired by the editor of the Daily Mail“. Nine times out of 10 the PCC sides with the newspaper against the complainant.

Nick Clegg was supported in what he said by Ed Miliband. Also in July, David Cameron called for the PCC’s replacement by a new and “independent” body. In November, Jeremy Hunt, the Minister for Culture and Media, was still saying that the PCC was “likely to be replaced”.

But judging by its website the PCC is still there. Jeremy Hunt carries the responsibility for all this. Why has so little happened? Are Cameron and Hunt under pressure from their media friends not push through the reforms? We hope this is not the case.

EU Fisheries Commissioner, the Greek Maria Damanaki, has proposed radical reform to the old, wasteful EU fishing quota regulations. In “mixed fisheries” such as we have around European shores fishermen often catch the “wrong fish” and this can put them “over quota” with one or more species. The “wrong fish” cannot be landed and so are thrown back, dead or dying, into the sea.

The waste is obvious and with Europe’s fish stocks down to just 10% of 1946 levels (a high spot after the 2nd World War) Europe is faced with many fisheries passing the point of no return and collapsing – like the Canadian cod fishery, once the most productive in the world.

Maria Damanaki aims to ensure all European fish stocks are sustainable by 2015 – difficult since many are already severely over-fished. Quotas – and hence “fish discarding” – are to go and long-term manatgement plans for fish stocks are to be agreed between member states. This will mean a reduction in fishing vessels in the near future, but with the hope that if a post-2015 increase in stocks results, then some could later be brought back into service.

Liberal Democrat Chris Davies, an MEP for the Noth West Region praised these moves. ” Maria Damanaki has fearlessly faced down those who resist change and is pushing ahead with these reforms that may be the saving of our seas, of our fishing industries and of our coastal communities.”

At the moment, 50% of the whitefish catch and 70% of the flatfish catch is discarded and wasted – thrown back overboard dead and dying.

Maria Damanaki believes a consensus for the reforms is slowly forming across Europe. Unfortunately many of UK’s Tory MPs want “repatriation” of fishery protection and for the UK to go-it-alone in a new free-for-all. Under the present circumstances that is likely to embroil the UK in a new fish war – on 26 fronts!

Maria Damanaki is campaigning to save sharks and the bluefin tuna. She maintains a blog in English at http://blogs.ec.europa.eu/damanaki

The “wingeing bankers” as Vince Cable called them recently are at it again. Sir John Vickers’  Independent Commission on Banking is looking at ways to protect the high street banks – where you and I have our deposits – from the risky activities of investment banking operations.

The banking industry want any such changes delayed to 2019, after the European rules requiring banks to hold higher levels of capital (called Basel III) come into force. Basel III calls for 7% capital cushions but Sir John actually want the higher rate of 10% to protect high street banking.

“But, Sir,” winge the banks, “these rules will hit the economy!”. Not as badly as their incompetence-led banking crisis that started in 2008 has hit our savings, our property prices, government borrowing, financial liquidity, stock market asset values and our pensions, it won’t!