Well it’s been over a month since I received a cease and desist order from lawyers representing politico.com. The order in essence informed me that the name of this blog infringes the trademark held by Capital News Company for their publication.

Now Dow Lohnes, counsel for the publishers of the Politico newspaper and politico.com, have filed a complaint at the World Intellectual Property Organisation Arbitration and Mediation Center:

continue reading

We’re looking for contributors to write for Tory Politico on ether a regular and one-off basis. So if you have something to say about politics, send in your article or article pitch to us.

If your interested simply email editor@tory-politico.com, but before you hit the ‘Send’ button you should read the bellow guidelines. This will help ensure that you know what we expect of our contributors and increase your chances of getting your post accepted.

continue reading

If any evidence was needed to highlight Labour’s lackluster approach to reforming the House of Commons, then look no further than a Written Ministerial Statement made by Harriet Harman earlier today.

In her statement she admitted that the government will prevent important reforms being made to the House of Commons before the general election. continue reading

Earlier this week I received a letter from a law firm, at first I thought Kerry McCarthy may have finally followed through on her threat to sue me for calling her a disgraceful MP. But no it was in fact from Dow Lohnes, a Washington DC firm acting as counsel for Capital News Company.

Who, I hear you say, is the Capital News and what do they want with a British political blog.

Well they’re the publisher of the Politico newspaper and associated website, and it appears that they don’t like the fact that this site is called Tory Politico

As one would expect from a bunch of lawyers the letter rambles on somewhat, so I have included the most important bits bellow.

In what amounts to a cease and desist order, they say by incorporating the widely used word “politico” into the name of this blog, and its domain name, I will cause confusion for those seeking the Washington wonks trade paper.

So what do they want, well it pretty obvious really. They want me to stop using the word “politico” in the name of the blog and its domain, a change of logo oh and for me to transfer the domain name over to them.

For the record I have no intentions of ether changing the name of this blog or transferring the domain name to Capital News, though I do not know how long I will be able to hold out with the wolves at the door.

Though undoubtedly serious, I find it hilarious that this very expensive law firm try and backup their claims that a large proportion of sites traffic comes from the US by using Alexa.

For those who don’t know, statistics from Alexa have long been discredited and bear no resemblance to reality.

While I can understand why they are saying only 57% of visitors are from the UK this is a wholly false claim. According to Google Analytics, which has been tracking traffic since the site launched, 85% of readers are from the UK with only 5% coming from within the United States.

I have given the lawyer who sent me the letter my response and await with bated breath to hear what they have to say.

I am anticipating escalation on their part as I am refusing to comply with demands 1 and 3, so in the next couple of days I will be considering my option, this could involve launching a “Save Tory Politico” campaign and a fundraising operation to fund a defence.

Watch out Soho Politico.

Stay tuned for further developments.

If elected, The Conservatives are promising to deliver super-fast 100mb broadband by 2017, challenging both BT and BBC in the process.

The party said it is confident that the UK can become the first major European country to have internet speeds of up to 100 megabits per second by 2017.

The Conservatives have said they intend to break up what they described as British Telecom’s monopoly on providing internet connections, if they win this year’s General Election.

Private investors from companies such as Carphone Warehouse and Sky would be given permission to use BT cables to provide the service.

And if the market did not deliver, then a Tory government would extend the 3.5 per cent levy on the BBC license fee, currently being used for digital switchover, to pay for broadband expansion.

The Tories say they will end BT’s “local loop monopoly” and allow other operators to move in with their own ducts and fibre cables, an approach that has proved successful in countries such as Singapore and South Korea.

The party believes that using “market-based solutions” and allowing private investors to pay for better cabling would encourage competition.

It’s an approach that approach that has already proved successful in countries such as Singapore and South Korea.

Reacting to the announcement, Labour accused the Tories of “playing catch-up” adding that the proposal to tax the BBC would benefit Rupert Murdoch’s BskyB and Carphone Warehouse.

Meanwhile, Don Foster, the Liberal Democrat culture, media and sport spokesman, questioned how the party would fund the policy. “Anyone can promise the earth – what matters is how you pay for it. All independent research shows that the market simply cannot provide high speed broadband in all parts of the country in the short term without investment.”

A spokesman for BT added: “The UK boasts one of the most competitive broadband markets in the world with BT having a 25 per cent market share.

“Ninety nine per cent of homes can access copper broadband, prices are low and close to 20 million homes are already enjoying services.”

Meanwhile, part of the BBC licence fee could be used to drive the broadband project.

Shadow chancellor George Osborne added that if the market failed to deliver, then 3.5% of the licence fee could be diverted to pay for broadband expansion.

The sum, estimated at between 750m and £1bn on the basis of 25m TV licences, is currently being used to pay for the digital switchover.

“I think the best way to deliver this is by breaking up the British Telecom monopoly at the moment, which holds back companies such as Carphone Warehouse or Virgin,” Osborne told the Guardian.

“If we find the market can’t do that, then use the BBC licence fee, the digital switch over money in the BBC licence fee, to get Broadband out to the rest of the country.”

Harriet Harman has today returned to Labour’s class war tactic, announcing the introduction of an “inequality bible.”

Making the announcement in a speech ahead of the publication of a government-commissioned report that puts the inequality question at the forefront of Labour’s general election campaign, the Labour deputy leader and minister for women and equality said: “Persistent inequality of socioeconomic status – of class -overarches the discrimination or disadvantage that can come from your gender, race or disability.

The question of equality is not just rooted in our traditional values and linked with our past, it’s essential for the future. The public want an equal society, one where there is not a yawning and growing gap between the bottom and the top.”

The 420-page report, chaired by professor John Hills, will say that despite 12 years in office, the Government has failed to root out inequality and that more needs to be done to combat discrimination in the UK.

Following the failed coup to unseat Gordon Brown two weeks ago the prime minister was forced to rein in those in his Cabinet advocating fighting the election campaign along class lines, but it is still expected to play a part in Labour’ strategy.

Responding to Harriet Harman’s speech Shadow Minister for Women, Theresa May said:

“Less than a week after Gordon Brown claimed that his party are not embarking on a class war, Harriet Harman has come out and done exactly that.

“The truth is that under Labour social mobility has stalled and the gap between the rich and poor has grown to a record high. We cannot go on like this. Labour’s failure has been a result of their one-dimensional approach. Unlike Labour we will deal with the causes of poverty and inequality including educational failure, family breakdown and worklessness.”

Labour’s Failures.

Record Inequality. Inequality is now at a record high according to The Gini Coefficient – a commonly used internationally recognized measure of income inequality – it is now above the level that Labour inherited in 1997 and at the highest level since 1961.

Social Mobility Stalled. Despite Gordon Brown’s rhetoric, his policies have failed to improve social mobility. According to the Government’s very own report, Cabinet Office, Getting on, getting ahead, “Although social mobility did not fall between 1970 and 2000, policy did not succeed in increasing it”. Independent research by the highly respected Sutton Trust has found that Britain has one of the lowest levels of social mobility in the developed world.

Almost 1 million more in severe poverty. The Institute for Fiscal Studies found that the number of people living in severe poverty has risen by 900,000 since 1997.

Poorest Getting Poorer. According to the Department of Work and Pensions own report, Households Below Average Income 2007/08, the income of the poorest 10 percent of households has been falling for the past four years and is now £9 a week lower in real terms than in 2002. Over the same period the richest 10 percent of households have seen their incomes grow in real terms by £94 a week. The income of the poorest 10 per cent of households is the same now in real terms as it was in 1999.

Talent Wasted. The research director of the Sutton Trust, Dr Lee Elliot-Major, said: “Our findings suggest that social mobility could and should be higher in this country. There is too much waste of talent”.

Pensioner Poverty Higher than in 1997. There are 2.5 million pensioners living in poverty (defined as living in a household with an income below 60 per cent of median income, before housing costs), 100,000 more than in 1996-97.

Two weeks after launching launching the first chapter of the Conservative manifesto, David Cameron has today turn his attention to to education as he unveiled the latest draft chapter.

He promises a “brazenly elitist” approach to recruitment teachers in a bid to make the profession a “noble profession”. Flanked by Michael Gove the party leader will outline a “comprehensive programme of reform to elevate the status of teaching in our country”.

“They are brazenly elitist – making sure only the top graduates can apply. They have turned it into the career path if you’ve got a good degree … We should be equally bold here. So we will end the current system where people with third-class degrees can get taxpayers’ money to enter postgraduate teacher training.

“With our plans, if you want to become a teacher – and get funding for it – you need a 2:2 or higher. And we will also make sure we get some of the best graduates into teaching by offering to pay off their student loan. As long as you’ve got a first or 2:1 in maths or a rigorous science subject from a good university, you can apply.”

David Cameron says that Britain should be “equally bold” as our international counterparts and will propose the following measures:

* Only those with a 2:2 degree or higher will get funding for postgraduate teacher training;

* Anyone with a first or 2:1 in maths or a rigorous science degree who wants to teach can apply to have their student loan paid off;

* Anyone seeking to teach in primary schools should have at least a B in English and Maths at GCSE – not a C as at present;

* The establishment of Teach Now, a one-stop-shop for professional people who want to transfer into teaching, which would fast-track them into schools.

Speaking at a London school, Mr Cameron said that teachers pay should be a “reflection of how well they’ve done and how hard they’ve worked”.

He said: “We need much greater flexibility than currently exists – flexibility over rewarding the best and yes, getting rid of the worst. So we will free schools to pay good teachers more. With our plans, head teachers will have the power to use their budgets to pay bonuses to the best teachers.

And because the evidence shows that schools that have the greatest impact in poorer areas are the ones that extend their hours into evenings and weekends, we will also give them the flexibility to reward teachers for longer hours”.

Highlighting his willingness to give teachers more powers so they can regain the authority they need to maintain discipline, he said he would strip way ‘Official Guidance’ that have “robbed” teachers of thair ability to maintain order in the classroom.

“It’s time we tilted the scales back into the favour of teachers. That’s what we will do. We’re going to say to our teachers, if you want to search for and confiscate any item you think is dangerous or disruptive- you can. If you want to remove violent children from the classroom – you can.

“And if you want protection from false allegations of abuse that wreck lives and wreck careers – we’ll make sure you have it,” he said.

Accountability and transparency are also key to the Conservatives planned education reforms so that “so parents can hold teachers to account.”

“We will let every parent know how much their school receives to spend on their child’s education,” Mr Cameron said.

We will combine this information with details on the academic performance of local schools and of other schools with similar intakes and levels of funding. We will give parents the accurate information they want to challenge under-performance and the freedom they need take their children elsewhere if they’re not happy, ” he added.

The draft education chapter of the Conservative manifesto has now been published and can be downloaded here.

Full Name: Adeela Shafi

Age: 36

From: Bristol

PPC for: Bristol East

Sitting MP: Kerry McCarthy

Majority: 7379

Swing Required: 8.25 %

Adeela, a University of the West of England psychology lecturer, was selected in January as the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Bristol East and has high hopes of overturning a projected Labour majority of over 7,000 to secure victory for the party.

Her broad appeal lies in the fact that she is a local and more significantly, she is the only Muslim woman currently representing the Conservatives at the next General Election.

Whether this is enough to woo the area’s Muslim community, who are traditional Labour party voters, remains to be seen – but it is a challenge that Shafi maintains is worth facing.

“I know that there are many Pakistani Muslims who say ‘we’ve always voted Labour so let’s leave it at that’,” said Shafi, “but I hope that because I’m a Conservative party representative people will listen to me because our core beliefs are not shared by the Labour party.”

The 36 year-old parliamentary candidate cites two reasons for embarking on a late career in politics. The first is to actively overturn the negative stereotypes of Muslims at home and abroad and the 2005 Kashmir earthquake.

Following the earthquake, which claimed the lives of hundreds of the country’s civilians, Shafi and her husband, Ijaz, were instrumental in raising £117,000 in just 12 days for relief goods to go directly to the victims. Subsequently, she organised fine art auctions in Pakistan to raise funds for another £160,000 to rebuild a school destroyed in the earthquake. She later received a commendation from the Pakistani government for her contribution to the relief and rehabilitation work in the aftermath of the quake.

“Doing work for the earthquake victims in Kashmir made me realise that you can make a difference and that is one of the reasons that I decided to become a politician.”

If elected, Shafi hopes to improve state-funded education in Bristol and abolish the use of mendacious statistics that are used to cover up the failings of some UK schools.

“It has become clichéd because politicians always talk about education but it is important. We almost forget because everybody says it. I’m at that stage where I’m choosing a secondary school for my daughter and so I understand how difficult it is for parents.

It’s not about targets or grading. Schools should be trying to produce all rounded individuals who come out with a good work ethic, responsibility for themselves and manners. It sounds old fashioned but kids today could benefit from them.”

Born in Southmead Hospital to Pakistani parents, Shafi has lived and worked in Bristol all her life. Having attended the local schools and college, she went on to study Psychology at Bristol University.

After graduation she lectured at Soundwell College, four years after sitting her A-levels there. When she is not campaigning on behalf of the party, the young mother splits her time between lecturing at the University and looking after her four children.

Her success in Bristol is a breakthrough and a vindication of David Cameron’s attempts to modernise the party. However, while Shafi welcomes the greater diversity in the party she falls short of supporting his efforts to use manufactured lists to ensure it.

“Being selected is a testimony to the fact that the party wants to change and they need to change to truly represent Britain as much as they can. At the same time, I’m not in favour of these all women shortlists and all black shortlists because I believe that anyone who is really competent is going to get in what ever.”