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Investment Moulds

Investment Moulds
Investment Moulds
Product Code : IM-33
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Striving ahead of the conventional standards, we manufacture and supply a wide range of Investment Moulds. Checked on various parameters, these are widely used by firearms manufacturers to fabricate firearm receivers, triggers, hammers. Dimensionally accurate and highly durable, these are highly appreciated in the market. Designed by repeating a series of steps coating, stuccoing and hardening until a desired thickness is achieved, these are easy to use. Clients can avail these Investment Moulds from us in varied standards specifications.

  • Excellent surface finish
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Birthdays the Beginning Review: Biology in a Box

Posted by | PC, PlayStation 4, Reviews | No Comments

Available On: PC, PS4

Sim games tend to either focus on realistic physics and sciences, such as Kerbal Space Program, or a more casual approach, such as Spore.

Birthdays the Beginning is a life sim and god game that successfully straddles the line between the two philosophies. It uses the real-world applications of geology, temperature, and ecosystems to craft a diorama of life. Everything is wrapped within a cute veneer of youthful colors, relaxing music, and playful designs to create an intuitive entry into learning about life’s delicate balance.
Read More

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Monday, November 10, 2008

Theater of Cruelty

I had this nice long post prepared, about how Japanese entertainment is essentially based on the idea that entertainers aren't really people--that they are slaves to their producers and are forced to do pretty much anything the TV stations want (Look up Nasubi sometime...).
I had points and different examples and reflections on what my wife calls the "celebrity tax".

I don't need it anymore.

Because I saw this:

Those are 1 and 2 year old children, racing with backpacks loaded with 2 kilos (4.4 pounds) of mochi.
People think this is funny, and they think it is cute...

I reckon they're just getting the kids ready to be a geinojin.

What a country...
**Update** Here's another link, that says pretty much everything I wanted to say.

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Thursday, January 16, 2014

Hey Bert! Hey Bert! Hey Bert!

I have no idea what Bert and Ernie have to do with office equipment but I need a working set straight away, if only to torture my wife with my "Mr Tudball from the Carol Burnett show" impersonation.

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Friday, October 02, 2015

Pod Stallions Episode 35: Kolchak the Night Stalker

It's October and that means you get two podcasts, both devoted to scary subjects.

Episode 35 is dedicated to that TV sensation of the 1970s, the amazing phenom that was Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Jason and Brian discuss the TV Movies, the subsequent series and all the amazing influence this show had. We also debate who would make a great Kolchak now.

Download the Show Here

Listen here

Plenty more content on the PodStallions Facebook page!

Danny Cruz said...

I think Matthew McConaughey might make a good Rockford. Also, on that note, It was very cool that Jason mentioned what is probably my favorite moment in the whole series...Rockford ever so casually going into the men's room, sidestepping a karate kick and cold cocking a guy with a roll of quarters. So badass!

El Vox said...

It seems with a built-in fan audience Kolchak would be something someone would want to try and bring back. Perhaps the X-Files fills that role along with some other things, but would be better than some of the TV series I've seen of late. Enjoyed the podcast.

Sam G said...

I gotta say...Sam Rockwell as Kolchak is genius. Someone make this happen.

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Plain American Language

I cut a sliver/of WC William's finger
and placed it inside/my philosophy...

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Is There a Ghost? -- dunno if i like this it's a little angsty, huh?

I could sleep for days at a time.
The dead have nothing on me --
my hair would curl, and so would the dreams.
Once I dreamt of being pushed,
twice, off different platforms
and in another, battled the gator
that ate my grandmother. I woke up
feeling strange but gratified.

When I lived alone, I'd dance,
lots of times without music,
in my room. Why not dance,

I thought. I would cook eggs
and black beans and they would
dance in their rooms as well.

The dead must be haunting my hair.
I wake up with more each day,
wavier now, acting wild & unruly.
Mornings breakfast is practically useless --
there is no fast to break.
Now, December begins the cold,
while November stayed nice.
Is there a ghost in my house?

Smog -- an attempt at a poem in Spanish

Cuando llueve cae la clara de huevo.
A veces me toca mirar hacia la cordillera
y se ve brillante aunque
cafe y verde no brillan. Estoy convencido
que la idea de una montana
tapada con hielo o nieve
ya es historia, que, cuando se ve
ese estrecho de panzas gorditas
no hay cerros ni viejas errupciones terrestres
sino luz brillando con el color de tierra.
El proximo dia vuelve tapandose como una hoja seca
y deja su luz como la mariposa de sueno.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Facebook Status Sonnet -- a poem of facebook statuses ripped apart & thrown together again..

Risk-ed out, searching for sleep.
Dreading somewhere near
Canada and the Atlantic.
So close, so delayed. Seattle, DC.
Proceed, smiling. What doesn’t
Disappear, wants it to happen.
Awake, turned, it’s not a tumor.
Speckled daughters left as leopards,
Respectable again: clarity, foresight.
It is love like maple syrup.
Wishing the remains were longer.

Vodka soda soaking in today’s spring;
Strolling through summer fields,
Loving. I want to be a maniac. It is love.

I assume we can handle thunder
even when lightning
smacks us with blue
every monsoon season. Sometimes
the driest times are in rain.
Warm rain in August.
It brings you back briefly
to the drought my father
kept reminding me about.
Before it begins
it's warm August in rain,
humidity you can swim in.
Days like that, our desire
stays inside like a tired adolescent.
Turn toward the inside.
What's under the bed beside August.
If it could rain inside my room
I would always let it.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

After Miles of Scorched Trees, I've Had Enough

I think we all wear beards.
Honeysuckle and bees
bees and honey that drips
like a red curtain. Beards
made of hair and dead whales
like the ones you see on tv sometimes.
Sometimes beards get sick
and throw up white ugliness.
We wear them pretty,
lovely like some trees.
They itch like burnt earth.

A few nights ago Malorie and I
were in a class, a raving professor
and his existential thoughts
on snowflake and snowmen cut-outs.
I fall asleep on public transportation.
Lasting things on my tongue:
dryness, a woman, a floor, grain,
footsteps, hands holding, maybe a metal bar.
Sara and I biked in the rain.
Hers was dry, mine soaked and set
leaning in an alley with soft light.
She twisted off. Like how she really did
when we biked in Bariloche.
That was no rainfall. If anything, wind.
If anything blue. A tree. A bump
in the road like a swell in a carpet.
We took no short cuts. In a dream
I woke up from another dream
and went out to search for a friend.
When we reached the top of that hill
the world felt cleaner.

Perfume is my Only Hope

I’ve made the mistake again
rubbing my eyes with
traces of chili pepper juice

still left on my fingers.

Think pepper spray
or tear gas, lacrimogena,
lacrimae. Swallowing
a gallon of perfume into my nose
slowly clears up the sting,
lingering to creep & itch.

I wish chilies weren’t so delicious.
My own fault for having eyes,
my own fault for succumbing
to urges I should ignore,
blackening the senses
panicking, wanting more than anything
what helps.

Night (needs a new title...)

Sometimes I laugh
    and I like it.

Get me another beer
    will you?

Thursday, April 3, 2008

"Iam Ver Egelides Refert Tepores (Now Spring Brings Warmths)" After Anne Carson

Soledad, Warmth

In the cold, aren't we waiting
for a larger season
of no brown paper bags
to breathe into, no falls?
What unlocks
but flowers. Louder, lovelier.
Now we plant our backs into the ground.
Now we watch what leaves.
Keep coming back to it.
Back the same way go a new way.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

At the Park

At the park, I sat on a large
colorful lizard, pinks, blues,
small fish as eyes,
beside the playground's
other sculpture toys & jungle gym.

There sat a kid, large
in the eyes, tight blue
jeans, fumbling, looking drunk. I
watched. He sat, made a sculpture his ground
while the smaller kids kept to the gym.

I started to think up something --
probably profound -- about
stupid drunken kids
when he suddenly got up
and rushed (as well as he could)

fumbling toward my lizard.
Something must've told him
(maybe my silence apart from the kids)
that I was looking. I stood up,
practically fled. Serves me right, anyway.


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Ashera Cat — Hybrid Cat Controversy, Cost, And Photos

The Ashera cat was a type of hybrid cat marketed by the controversial company Lifestyle Pets. The hybrid cat breed was allegedly a cross between the African serval, the Asian leopard cat, and a domestic housecat. The truth though — discovered with the aid of DNA testing — was that the “Ashera” cats were simply […]

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Sunday, 30 December 2012

Studio sale images

 Some samples of work on display and for sale at my open studio sale on 17th - 20th January at Higherford Mill, Gisburn Road, Barrowford, BB9 8PL.

All welcome there maybe cake.

Thursday, 27 December 2012

Studio Sale

So after the excesses of Christmas are over I am hoping you all had a fabulous time with family and loved ones.

My thoughts turn to the year ahead and what work needs to be done.

I am trying to get organized before the schools work starts there is a couple of really fabulous projects coming up and I want to start work on some new ideas within my own work too.

So with that in mind I am having a

Studio Sale
Thursday - Sunday Jan 17th - 20th 2013

There are works in my studio that may not have seen the light of day for a very long time. Like my piece from the Onetree Exhibition

Or my drawing work that went to Mecklingberg for an exhibition with fellow artists from Blackburn a few years ago. The dipped porcelain ceramics that accompanied them were sold in the exhibition in Germany.

So I will try and document the works to be sold here and also let you know how it goes.

The reason is space. I need to clear space for new work that may not be of the same vein so watch this space.

Sunday, 23 December 2012

last show before Christmas

So its nearly here and I am doing a quick show Saturday and Sunday if you are looking for that elusive present at the Platform Gallery in Clitheroe.

Not sure about the Salmon pink buts its growing on me!

I am showing with some other fabulous artists namely Priscilla Jones and Dan Bridge and a photography called Jon Mitton who turns them into 3D pictures.

Priscilla Jones

Daniel Bridge

Jon Mitton

All it remains for me to say is have a lovely Christmas
and see you in the New Year.

ps I am having a studio sale of works in January 18th-21st more to follow....

Friday, 7 December 2012

Glam Rock Christmas at Higherford Mill

Mill lot dressed to impress!

The Heskeths!

Monteeee with his sparkly collar too

After the parties over! A bit tired now.

Sunday, 25 November 2012

 So I have final got my page live on NotontheHighStreet!

I have had the page a while as I took it on just before being diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis which knocked me for six to be honest. The worst affected joints being the fingers and wrists and lately the elbows. Hmmm what was I to do as I could not spend my days rolling out porcelain to 2 mm thin slabs without being in excruciating pain, work was not looking good.

So I undertook a residency at Cumbria in the ceramic department on the AA2A scheme which is how this blog started as I had to document the processes learnt. With a lot of help from Steve Ogden and Gwen Bainbridge (Dylans Mum as shes known here) I learnt about slip casting techniques and decals for my drawings.

I now have a range of works that I have designed and created in plaster on a lathe by me and create in parian slip with my drawings as the decoration. They can be found and bought from here:

So that is where I am today. I have a small range of works which I can create in my studio all designed and made by me with a disease that can catch me out at any time but I am doing it and coping so far.

The disease is not stable but being treated with injections of disease modifiers and quite a lot of pain killers and anti inflam drugs. It can let me climb a mountain one day and the next keep me bed ridden with no rhyme or reason.

But we are getting there. I still have a couple of galleries thankfully and have been invited to create work for a couple of exhibition next year so things are looking good for the future.
Crossing fingers Arthur behaves itself!

Thursday, 8 November 2012

photography of new and old work

 It's taken me 4 days but I think I have mastered the camera and light cube thingy! Just uploaded images now need to put them on website which so needs revamping but maybe tomorrows job!

Tuesday, 23 October 2012

new work - Birch trees

Well I have debuted the new work, 'Birch Trees' at the Northern Potters West Exhibition at PR1 in UCLANs Victoria building in Preston.

Birches are a bit of an obsession I love them for their drooping branches, white paper park, beautiful yellows in the autumn and purple haze in the winter. They give so much joy in all seasons.
I am making more in the kiln as we speak it's the first time I think I have used my potters stamp as I normally sign the bottom but as they are soo thin it was a bit harder.

 Other exhibits I liked were.....

Dan Bridge

Geoff Wilcox

David Horsfall

Eryl Fryer

It's on for the next few weeks and all works are for sale too
so go and have a look.

There are a few pieces I missed but it is a good show.

Pet portrait commissions

So I have launched a pet portrait strand to the business with the first few coming through Facebook and Instagram. Here's the late...


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Plutora Brings DevOps to the Enterprise

Plutora Blog

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VPs to Release Managers: “Do We Have a Plan?”

This post could have also been titled “Questions Release Managers should be Prepared to Answer.”  Imagine you report to a VP who is asking you questions about how prepared you are for releases and how you are addressing a set of emerging issues. Everyone who has participated in release management understands that software change is risk and you’ll never be...

The post VPs to Release Managers: “Do We Have a Plan?” appeared first on Plutora Inc.

Read the original blog entry...

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Plutora provides Enterprise Release and Test Environment Management SaaS solutions aligning process, technology, and information to solve release orchestration challenges for the enterprise.

Plutora’s SaaS solution enables organizations to model release management and test environment management activities as a bridge between agile project teams and an enterprise’s ITSM initiatives. Using Plutora, you can orchestrate parallel releases from several independent DevOps groups all while giving your executives as well as change management specialists insight into overall risk.

Supporting the largest releases for the largest organizations throughout North America, EMEA, and Asia Pacific, Plutora provides proof that large companies can adopt DevOps while managing the risks that come with wider adoption of self-service and agile software development in the enterprise. Aligning process, technology, and information to solve increasingly complex release orchestration challenges, this Gartner “Cool Vendor in IT DevOps” upgrades the enterprise release management from spreadsheets, meetings, and email to an integrated dashboard giving release managers insight and control over large software releases.


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Monday, May 21, 2012

Weekly Roundup, May 15-21, 2012

by BlueberryT

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Patrick shows the example of Frankfurt, where OWS-inspired protests have occurred in a peaceful manner.  This is in sharp contrast to the shocking and illegal police brutality that has occurred in numerous American cities over the past 6-8 months, as shown in this video.  The post also highlights concerns that Occupy’s efforts to remain peaceful may be thwarted by other groups that build on Occupy’s work but may not share their commitment to non-violent protest, thus potentially tarnishing Occupy’s reputation.  Here is a report on the protests by "Blockupy" in Frankfurt this week (after Patrick's post); here is the NYT on the subject.

Friday, May 18, 2012

Nick Hanauer is a billionaire entrepreneuer and investor.  He gave a talk at the TED conference on why the wealthy should pay higher taxes.  In it, he called out the much-repeated lie that the wealthy are the “job creators.”  Instead, he shows that it is middle class demand that is the driver of the economy, including job creation.  The graphs are particularly excellent, showing how reducing taxes on the wealthiest is associated with rising unemployment – exactly the opposite of the “trickle down/wealthy are job creators” false dogma.  Equally interesting to the talk itself is the fact that the TED conference didn’t want to release the video, claiming that the talk was too partisan and “unconvincing.”  (Perhaps they can’t read or interpret graphs?)  Interestingly, the fact that the conference didn’t release the video of his remarks became the bigger story, with coverage (pro and con) by numerous MSM outlets.  Hopefully, this will have the effect of even more people seeing his talk than would have if they had released it in the first place.  Nice job highlighting this, Patrick.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Patrick had an incredibly productive week blogging – this post highlights two documentaries by Jamie Johnson, heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune.  Jamie’s first film is “Born Rich,” highlighting the lives of heirs and heiresses of über-wealth.  Personally, I couldn’t relate to them all that much – I guess that was the point!  One of the messages is that inheriting a lot of money can really f*ck people up, and that they live in a bubble unlike anything most of us can really fathom.  It ends with Johnson’s own comment, which seems to reflect the paths of those in the group who are most balanced:  “It’s my job to build a meaningful life apart from all this privilege I’ve inherited…”  The second film, “The One Percent,” delves into income inequality issues that the OWS movement has publicized.  The film was made 5-6 years ago, and displays not only Johnson’s prescience but also excellent documentary skills, including a wide range of interviews with a fascinating array of people.  Definitely a MUST SEE film.  Johnson wraps the film up with a great comment by a taxi driver (who has just learned of Johnson’s family):  “You might think I’m an idiot…My family is one of the richest families in the world, but not with money; with love, kindness, tolerance and patience, qualities that are worth more than money…and you can’t buy that.  They taught me how to love people for who they are, not what I want them to be.  They taught me how to get along with people.  They taught me how to treat people the way I want to be treated…”

Some Comments and Links:

JCos:  If you are alright with people being gay, but oppose gay marriage, and you think people should abstain until they're married, when are gay people supposed to have sex?  It's just so confusing!

AKRNC:  Mitt Romney scares the shit out of me, the thought of him becoming President is such a threat to the way we currently live.  He will be devastating for our economy, taking us back to the Bush era policies, not to mention what it does to us on a social level.  His policies are demeaning to women, to children, to the disabled and the poor, yet he either doesn't know or doesn't give a damn.  His behavior indicates more of the latter, unfortunately.  He's definitely of the "I've got mine, don't give a damn if you get yours or not" style of politics.  When I heard he and his wife claiming that it was their turn to be in the White House, it wasn't that he felt that he worked hard for years, worked for the people, and in turn felt like he could do more for those same people by being President.  It was the, "I've campaigned for several years now and damn it, I've spent more than enough money so I should be President" type of attitude that came across.  He believes he's entitled to whatever he wants simply because of his background and bank account.  It's evident in his past so-called "pranks" in high school, his belittling of others through some of the most ridiculously self-absorbed comments to ever come out of a candidates mouth and that's saying a lot when you think of all the stupidity we've heard over the years.  He lies without a second thought and when called on it, he doubles down on the same.  I think that President Obama most certainly deserves a second term as he's made what can be considered excellent progress in some areas with half of Congress refusing to work with him.  Imagine if we truly had a bipartisan Congress and where we would be if they had worked together as they are supposed to do, to reach common goals, to compromise when necessary and to put aside their ill feelings towards one another and work for the people who elected them...

Laprofesora952:   [Bristol’s] thoughtless comment is offensive to those families who have DS kids with severe medical and/or behavioral problems. DS kids do not all have the same level of abilities and it is insensitive of her to suggest so. Some of these kids have complex issues. She makes it sound like Trig is a toy, a cute little plaything instead of a person with unique strengths and weaknesses. But god forbid a Paylin would try to educate him or herself about anything like DS. It's so much easier to spout nonsense that suits her agenda.

Yknott:  I just finished getting caught up with all my go-to political blogs, watched Rachel, and peeked at some RWNJ blogs. Omg.  The Republicans are completely nutz!  They have gone off the rails.  I also got one of those awful emails from one of my conservative relatives stating that Obama doesn't respect our flag and wants to change our national anthem to "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing".  Seriously!  I. need. a. drink.

diz:  Is there no end to the insanity?   If I didn't know a couple of these types personally I'd never believe that a person could be so gullible and ill-informed in this century.

Brilliant from Caligirl:   I have a new word for the GOP oil machine: #Petrosexuals

Older_Wiser:  I've never seen such evil in politics since the 1930s.  And we had a World War over that.

Lillibird pointed out this on bullying and I found this about bullying on Twitter: must read (all the way to the end).

Older_Wiser linked to this fromcrooksandliars on ALEC
and she pointed out this photo:

LizH and KAO pointed out this image.

And then there’s this great Doonesbury on the “job creators” myth.

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DNC: Romney out of touch
February 29th, 2012
05:00 AM ET
6 years ago

DNC: Romney out of touch

(CNN) - A day after Mitt Romney pulled out victories in Michigan and Arizona, the Democratic National Committee is out with a new video slamming him as out-of-touch.

The two-minute, web-only video is a compilation of Romney’s campaign gaffes and news personalities asking, in the words of CNN’s Soledad O’Brien, “whether he has trouble connecting with voters.”

- Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker

Its release suggests Democrats once again see Romney as the likely opponent in the general election.

Among the gaffes include the former Massachusetts governor telling a Michigan audience his wife “drives a couple of Cadillacs,” remarking that some of his friends are NASCAR team owners, saying “corporations are people, my friend”, arguing that “banks are scared to death” in this economy, admitting “I’ve worried I was going to get a pink slip,” and telling CNN’s Soledad O’Brien “I’m not concerned about the very poor” among others.

A note accompanying the video argues that these lines show Romney’s “true colors.” DNC Press Secretary Melanie Roussell writes these comments “are windows into the soul of a man running for President who cannot relate to the lives of average Americans. His out of touch positions and pandering to the right wing are causing him to pay dearly among independent, moderate and blue-collar voters who Romney cannot afford to lose in the general election.”

Democrats point to a recent Politico/George Washington University battleground poll that shows 33% of independents have a positive view of Romney, 51% negative.

CNN/ORC polling shows Romney’s favorability among independents has fallen from 40% in January to 31% February 13th, while his unfavorability among independents during the same period has risen from 44% in January to 53% currently.

Republicans argue some of this erosion is the inevitable result of such a negative and relentless primary campaign, but admit concern that it's taking a toll. A senior Republican strategist who requested anonymity criticizing Romney told CNN that he believes the primary process is getting messy and diminishing Romney's appeal and Romney is showing himself to be less effective than many Republicans might have hoped. However, this Republican insisted Romney is still the best candidate in the field. This strategist believes Romney will likely secure the nomination and will have opportunities to polish himself up and give the president a real challenge.

It would seem Democrats are preparing for that likelihood. In the DNC memo Roussell writes, "Mitt Romney wants to cut taxes for his NASCAR team-owning friends" and "while some may laugh at his 'gaffes,' we would argue that these moments show who Mitt Romney really is."

Also see:

Romney's special guest: Kid Rock

Romney hits Santorum robo calls as 'new low' in campaign

Gingrich zeroes in on Santorum in the South

Santorum robo call to Democrats: Send a message to Romney

Filed under: 2012 • Arizona • Democrats • DNC • Michigan
soundoff (4 Responses)
  1. DoneBroke

    Whatever Romney say they will paint it as out of touch. I don't understand how him stating his wife driving Cadillacs as out of touch. To me out of touch is driving a Ferrari. A 2007 and 2010 Cadillac is hardly anything to brag about. Besides, he was stating it as how he loved Detroit products, not bragging about owning the car. It's good to see that he supports Detroit cars, unlike Santorum who drives a German made Audi. My understanding is he worked with poor people in his church for many years, so I doubt he doesn't understand the poor. I would rather have someone focus on getting people employed than someone who thinks we shouldn't encourage kids to further their education. I don't know why people keep on labeling him a flip-flop. Haven't these people not ever change their mind on anything? Or is it that Romney's been labeled that and others just join in without finding out for themselves? Santorum has been flopping lately, and his views are way to the right to win the election. Why are people going against Romney for Obamacare when all the candidates say they will try to repeal it? I think it's an advantage myself. What's Obama going to say- I got this from you? He could say no, it was designed for the people of Massachussets of whom I represented as Governor, and now that I represent the entire United States of America as President I hear loud and clear that it doesn't work and will repeal it ... I can understand people are not happy talking about money in this economy, but he wil make it better if given the chance.

    February 29, 2012 05:49 am at 5:49 am |
  2. Name

    This man will never win if he keeps thinking like a true man stuck with-in his own orbit. Do you know why???? Answer that for me.

    February 29, 2012 06:45 am at 6:45 am |
  3. Jules

    All 4 of the remaining GOP candidates are out of touch with mainstream America.

    February 29, 2012 07:16 am at 7:16 am |
  4. S. B. Stein E.B. NJ

    Of course he is out of touch. He is like George H. W. Bush who was surprised at the scanner at a supermarket. Romney unaware of things going on around him and how people who are not in his group of friends (other rich people) are really doing. That makes it hard for him to know what is going on and how to help.

    February 29, 2012 07:25 am at 7:25 am |


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Tuesday, 25 August 2009

NHS v US Healthcare

So it seems that Michael Jackson's private physician would prescribe anything he wanted, so long as he paid the exorbitant fees - reported to be $100,000 per month. Can't really see that happening on the NHS. Probably something to do with medical ethics:
"I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism." (from The Hippocratic Oath)
If Michael Jackson had believed in an ethically-based healthcare system uninfluenced by money at the point of delivery, he would still be alive today.

Thursday, 20 August 2009

Education spending

We really need to move the argument on government expenditure forward. Take education - specifically secondary education.

Using Dept for Children Schools and Families own statistics, £21,441m was spent on secondary education in 2007/8. This represents total expenditure of around £5360 per pupil. What we need to be asking is how much per pupil is actually spent in schools - at the sharp end of the business – on the resources that really matt

er: teacher salaries, books, stationary, computers, projectors, smartboards etc. This is the expenditure that really delivers education to the pupil. This is the important stuff. The expenditure we need to be protecting and ring-fencing, with an ambition to increase in real terms such expenditure over time.

I don’t know what exactly this figure comes to. If anyone knows where this kind of information can be seen, I would love to know. But I have a big hunch that the figure will come out at around £3500 per pupil – more than a third lower than the educational spending that is raised through taxation and allocated to secondary education. And it is the difference between these figures representing organisational running costs, publicity, centrally controlled initiatives and top down bureaucracy - whatever you want to call it - that needs to be examined in the cost cutting agenda.

If you want the electorate’s support, by all means guarantee this lower figure being spent on actually educating their children in schools. Pay such money in three tranches – at the beginning of each term – directly to the school. Make head teachers responsible for spending this money in running their schools efficiently and effectively. Judge them on outcomes and results. Not targets and processes.

Friday, 14 August 2009

Wonderful piece in this week’s Spectator from Matthew Parris talking about the death of his father.

When my own father died a few months ago, I asked my daughter to read this letter at his funeral. It was written by the Christian martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer to his family, before his execution by the Nazi’s in April 1945.

Nothing can fill the gap when we are separated from those we love and it would be wrong to try to find anything. That may sound very hard at first but at the same time a great consolation, since leaving the gap unfilled preserves the bond between us. It is nonsense to say that time, friends or indeed God Himself fills the gap. He does not fill it but keeps it empty so that our communion, each with the other, may be kept alive.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

My family has enthusiastically supported and used the NHS all our lives. We do not share Daniel Hannan’s views of the service, nor his advocacy for individual health accounts. Clinical need - not wealth - should be the determinant of healthcare. But however well intentioned, the NHS also has a darker side.

My grandmother - once a nurse in a TB hospital in Portsmouth during the 1930’s – died after a long and full life. Apart from the usual aches and pains of growing old, she had rarely been ill before suffering a stroke at the age of 97. I still remember that terrible moment when I first saw her as the GP - attempting to gauge some form of cognitive ability - asked her how many fingers he was showing, as if she were a three year old child. But mostly I remember the look on her face. A face that I had grown up with and loved, a face that had shared so many precious moments, now staring at me without recognition - vacant and distorted - as if someone had drained all emotion and warmth from her cheeks.

Rushed to Hospital, I was amazed at the quality of the care she received. St Peter’s, Chertsey, is a bright new hospital designed intelligently into a series of 10 – 12 bed wards off comfortably sofa’d corridors which soothed both patients and visitors. The ward bristled with specialist stroke equipment around each bed and bustled with serious, green-scrubbed clinical staff. This was modern medicine at its most impressive; spotless, high-tech and concentrated.

The stroke turned out to be minor and within two days she was able to get out of bed. That evening I had my last lucid conversation with her as she sat on a chair beside her bed talking comfortably about returning home.

Two days later, we heard she had been transferred to a general ward at Ashford Hospital - within the same NHS trust – and visited with relaxed expectations. I have never seen such a transformation. Listlessly fidgeting in and out of consciousness, she had been dressed in a tight-fitting, all-in romper suit because she was continually pushing back her bedclothes. High-sides had been attached to the bed in an effort to stop her desperately trying to get out. This was a seriously ill woman. When I visited the next day, she had been moved to a side room on her own. The ward sister explained that all visitors would have to wear gowns, gloves and masks. She had MRSA.

She lasted two more days. I knew she would. She died at a quarter past midnight on the morning of my birthday. I had spent two hours that evening sitting beside her, masked and gloved, unable to even kiss her. And just for the record, MRSA was not listed on her death certificate.

Friday, 7 August 2009

The speedometer cable on my bike broke two days ago.

Unable to know my speed, traffic cameras became unquantifiable and terrifying dangers. Red lights – where bikes routinely speed away before dozy car drivers have even cranked into first gear – became a pointless exercise in bravado. The world of driving to the speed limit completely disappeared. No longer could I know if I was even within the law. How strangely dependent we are in the comfort of rules.

And yet, what a feeling of liberation. Without the aspiration of speed and quite unable to compete, I became totally dependent upon my fellow travellers. The only gauge available was a measure of trust. Trust that they would act within the law. Every journey felt like a lumbering caravan travelling through the desert as we wound our way along lane, high street and dual carriageway – with cars continually peeling off to their destination, whilst others joining in an ever meandering ebb and flow of ordered chaos. No longer was pole position wanted. We had become a community. An inter-dependent whole, held together purely by human trust.

Even so, as each speed camera approached, my doubts emerged. I searched the faces of my fellow travellers looking for honesty and goodness. It’s a strange feeling. There are no moral chins, honest eyebrows or truthful noses – just the subtly-glimpsed mannerisms that might betray a lurking gambler’s streak or the just slightly too casual cornering of a Chardonnay mum.

I have to tell you now that my fellow travellers all passed the test. Sure, outsiders weaved their separate ways around and between us. But we continued, everyone an upright and decent member of our community. Each in their own cocooned little world, yet all travelling as one.

I tried rather unconvincingly to explain this to a mechanic called Miro at a local garage. He smiled awkwardly. “No worries – you’ll be straight back on pole today”.


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Friday, 28 February 2014

Is Cameron delusional..

Good morning. She came, she saw, she conquered. The German chancellor impressed Westminster, even as she delivered - in English - the bad news: those hoping for a promise of major EU reforms were to be disappointed. 'Nein nein nein' is the Mirror's headline, 'Merkel dampens Dave's EU dream'is the Mail's. The pictures combine flirty shots of Dave and Angela with monoglot Brit politicians relying on headphones to understand her. Quentin Letts heard the "murmuring, purring pleasure of Westminster's massed Europhiles". I was particularly taken by the extracts from the German coverage in the Times, not least the unnamed source who told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung "Cameron's policy can be summed up in three words, says an observer, 'Kissing Merkel's Ass'." Downing Street has not lost its optimism, however, and yesterday was texting people like me with extracts form her speech - "it's doable", "where there's a will there's a way", "one can find solutions".
It's fair to say that Mrs Merkel was more accommodating than the briefing had suggested. She accepts the need for a new treaty and changes. She specifically said free movement could be looked at, to deal with benefit tourism. But as the dire/normal (strike out as your outlook dictates) immigration numbers showed yesterday, benefit tourism is not the issue: our fellow European citizens are making use of their right under EU law (to which we are party) to travel to the UK to find work. And you can bet your leiderhosen that not just Mrs Merkel, but none of the other EU member states, will countenance a watering down of that principle.
What happens now? Should Mr Cameron adjust his sights to manage expectations on his own side? Or should he bet large, demand loads and hope for the best after 2015? We should keep reminding ourselves that any renegotiation, and subsequent referendum, will only happen if Dave is returned with a majority. It could be said that everything he says now, every pose he adopts, has the general election in mind. Tough talk, he hopes, will bolster him against Ukip and those on his own side who will never be satisfied with whatever deal he strikes. I wonder if one day we will look back at today as a great example of delusion built on optimism. The delusion is that the EU will give Mr Cameron a deal that remotely satisfies his backbench fans; the optimism is that the Tories will win next year and put him in a position to negotiate. Still, we can't fault Mr Cameron for trying. He pulled out all the stops yesterday short of, well, you know, and it seems to be delivering results. This is a long slog and it would be wrong to make bets on the outcome now.

The fallout to yesterday's immigration statistics - showing a 58,000 net rise in net migration to 212,000 - plays out in today's papers. Dave's target to get net migration down towards "tens of thousands" has never seemed further off - but that's a "good thing", Vince Cable provocatively says on the front page of the Mail. The Business Secretary, in words designed to antagonise Dave, says that "those figures are good news because the reason net immigration is going up is because fewer British people are emigrating and surely that’s a good thing – people are getting jobs here." While none of the headlines are good for the PM - "200,000 more flood into UK", says The Sun - the Guardian focuses on the Home Secretary: "May's target in tatters after surprise jump in migration to Britain from EU". It even warns that "If the upward trend continues she may leave office with a higher net migration figure than the 244,000 estimated when she became home secretary in 2010." That would be great news for Ukip - but terrible for the Home Secretary's chances of cultivating enough support in the party to be a viable contender to replace Dave as leader.
YouGov poll in The Times today suggests mixed feelings for the suggestion that David Cameron would prefer a minority government to another coalition deal. Tory voters narrowly prefer a minority government to a second coalition deal - but 87% of Tories would prefer another coalition to the prospect of Ed Miliband becoming PM. And the electorate seems sick of coalition: only 17% say either a Lib-Lab or Con-Lib coalition would be their preferred choice after the next election.
The Northern Ireland Assembly is today recalled for an emergency meeting on the handling of on-the-run Republican suspects, though Peter Robinson has said that he welcomes the inquiry into the secret letters and has withdrawn his threat to resign as First Minister. In The Times, Jonathan Powell writes that "John Downey’s release has nothing to do with an amnesty or a secret deal and everything to do with a cock-up" and says that "it was no secret" that the Labour Government had dealt with paramilitary suspects as parts of negotiations with Sinn Féin. Speaking on Today, Theresa Villiers said that "Everyone who's received a letter should be well aware that they do not confer immunity from prosecution."  WHAT DOES HARMAN DO NEXT?
There's trouble simmering for Labour this morning. The Sun's front page - "Labour chiefs: It's OK to have sex with 10-year-olds" - is devoted to exposing that Patricia Hewitt and Jack Dromey were members of an NCCL committee advocating transforming under-age sex laws. Miss Hewitt has apologised, saying that the NCCL was "naive and wrong" to affiliate with the Paedophile Information Exchange and sayd that "I take responsibility for the mistakes we made." The question now is: does Harriet Harman do the same?
McCLUSKEY'S WARNING TO LABOURFurther trouble for Labour comes with Len McCluskey warning that "there are some people internally in the Labour party that are beginning to panic" because of Unite's decision to consider a £1.5m cut in its annual affiliation fees. Labour's special conference will meet tomorrow to agree reforms in the party's relationship with the unions, with insiders adamant that this will be a far more significant reform than Clause 4.
It's Ukip Spring Conference time (they're off to Torquay), but Nigel Farage isn't trying to dampen expectations: he describes the European and local elections in May as "the moment we have been waiting for" and will be "the biggest political shock in modern British history". As I've noted before, Mr Farage risks creating a rod for his own back. If Ukip fail to come top then, no matter how many votes they get, it will be regarded as a failure. In the Guardian, Mr Farage says that "We're whistling in the wind if we think we can implement a Eurosceptic agenda from within the European parliament." Meanwhile Anna Soubry claims that she "wobbled" the Ukip leader when she took him on in Question Time a few months ago - and admits that "In my patch if people vote UKIP, I ain’t coming back here because they will let the Labour guy in."
The Osborne-IDS row continues. Allies of Mr Duncan Smith describe reports of Mr Osborne "declaring victory" in the skirmish over child poverty as "pretty criminal". They add that the battle "was about personalities rather than policies." If Mr Cameron wins a second term, is there any way that Mr Osborne and Mr Duncan Smith could work together for another five years?BURNHAM WANTS LABOUR TO REGAIN ITS NORTHEN SOUL
In an interview with Total Politics, Andy Burnham calls on Labour to regain its Northern Soul: "There is a sense to a lot of people that the kind of ‘London set’ slightly pushes people with Northern voices out a little bit. That’s probably always been the way, but it’s still a bit of a shame. If you look at the House of Lords, oh God, it’s so London-dominated, it’s unbelievable. I think it’s quite frightening to be honest. It’s still quite rare isn’t it to hear Northern accents on frontbenches?" Mr Burnham is trying to paint himself as the true representative of Labour's working-class history - and, perhaps, reminding his party of the pitfalls of parachuting spads into safe seats that they have no connection with.

The Morning Briefing is edited by Tim WigmoreFollow Tim on Twitter
Latest YouGov poll: Con 34%, Lab 39%, Ukip 11%; Lib Dems 12%
This # will never take off:
@GregMulholland1: A proper #frost this morning! Gloves & hats required!
In the TelegraphFraser Nelson - Free schools will stumble – the test is how well they recover
Jeremy Warner - Our economy’s getting bigger, but not better
Isabel Hardman - Labour and Ed Miliband disagree about party prospects
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Simon Jenkins - Politics, not law, has become the master of British justice
40th anniversary of snap General Election that ousted Edward Heath

Foreign Secretary William Hague hosting UK-China strategic dialogue meeting.

Green Party conference. St George's Hall, St George's Place, L1 1JJ

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announcement on dementia care.

Ukip spring conference, Torquay. Nigel Farage speaks at 12pm.

Backbenchers don't believe Cameron..

Good morning. Or should I say guten Morgen. Angela Merkel comes to London today to urge Britain to remain in the EU, to reinforce the relationship between the two countries, and to face questions about "naughty nephew" Dave and his dream of a major renegotiation of the EU's framework. Francois Hollande was asked an awkward question about his sex life; Mrs Merkel may well be asked a tricky one about Mr Cameron and his European tastes. She brings something else too: experience of coalition. The PM was asked about it at PMQs yesterday by Richard Bacon, who suggested he should consider a German 'grand coalition' with Labour to shaft the Lib Dems. Mr Cameron voiced his admiration for Mrs Merkel and in particular her ability to win elections, but concluded: "The idea of a grand coalition is a bit too much for me".
At which point you could see in the Chamber various Tory MPs nodding agreement. My report of a few days ago that the PM is considering public pledge to rule out a coalition whatever the outcome of the next election has set the cat among the pigeons. Danny Finkelstein and Matthew d'Ancona yesterday said in terms that the Tories would be mad to limit their options.The FT has done a leader on the theme today - "ruling out a coalition would be irresponsible of any party". It points out in particular to Mr Cameron that "as the head of the coalition trashing multi-party rule is tantamount to trashing everything he has done in office". Nick Clegg yesterday dismissed the Tory move as a symptom of tribal politics.
What's worth pointing out is the reaction on the Tory benches. From the conversations I've had, the idea of ruling out a coalition has been met largely with disbelief or contempt. It's the contempt bit that I find interesting. On the right, the reaction has been to laugh out loud. "He's delusional," one MP tells me, "if he thanks we will taken in by this". The view seems to be that offering a no-coalition pledge would do nothing to win extra votes. The most telling reaction I've encountered has been among those MPs who just don't believe him. They say that Mr Cameron may well make the offer, but on the morning after the election he will be guided by the numbers, and if necessary will do a deal. It's this that is most damaging to Mr Cameron: many of his MPs will not accept his word. They are in the position of Gordon Brown, when he told Tony Blair: "There is nothing that you could say to me now that I would ever believe".
So when he meets Mrs Merkel, Mr Cameron might well ask her the secrets of her success, and in particular how she has come to be in power for so long. The biggest gift she can make him is her tips on the art of the deal. Which would include not revealing one's negotiating position too early, keeping red ones in reserve, and never saying never.

Iain Duncan Smith is speaking to the House today about the Government's child poverty strategy - but he won't be able to mention a new formal definition of child poverty. George Osborne has got his way in blocking IDS's plans, the latest stage in the ongoing feud between the two. But they come together to co-author an op-ed in the Guardian, writing that "To see why Labour's measure of poverty – defined as 60% of median income – is so discredited consider these perverse outcomes. Measured child poverty fell because the Great Recession reduced median incomes, but in the real world nobody's life was improved by that. Equally, raising the state pension results in higher measured child poverty. That doesn't make any sense." Few will be fooled by the spirit of co-operation - tensions from Mr Osborne saying "You see Iain giving presentations, and realise he's just not clever enough", as reported in Matthew d'Ancona's book on the Coalition, remain.
A rise in the minimum wage is happening - but it falls well short of the £7 rate that had been briefed. The Low Pay Commission recommends that the minimum wage be raised from £6.31 to £6.50 on October 1, which is the first above-inflation increase in five years (a 3% rise compared with forecast inflation of 2.3%) in five years. It's the sort of positive story that both Coalition partners will try to claim the credit for. Still, the question remains: is a 19p increase really enough to steal Labour's thunder on living standards?

This is a critical development in the independence debate: Standard Life has become the first major business to warn that it could leave an independent Scotland. Its annual report, published today, outlines contingency plans to relocate operations to England, "in order to ensure continuity and to protect the interests of our stakeholders" as the chairman, Gerry Grimstone, puts it. It constitutes another blow to the economic credibility of the independence campaign. Alex Salmond may think he can win by appealing to voters' hearts - but voters won't put nationalist romance before their jobs. But the significance extends beyond Scotland: if businesses speaking out against independence proves a successful tactic, it is one that will be at the heart of the campaign to stay in the EU if there is any referendum. As a shadow Cabinet minister puts it: "the chief executives of Ford, Honda and Nissan will decide whether Britain remains in the EU."
Theresa Villiers is holding talks with Peter Robinson over Mr Robinson's threat to resign as Northern Ireland first minister after the collapse of the case against the suspected Hyde Park bomber John Downey. Mr Robinson is demanding a judicial inquiry into secret letters given to 187 Irish republican paramilitary suspects. On the Today programme, former first minister David Trimble said that "we need to find out how this process came into existence and operated" and warned: "You can't have a situation where Sinn Fein and the government get together to undermine the Good Friday Agreement."    RBS PREPARE £500 MILLION BONUSES
The Today programme has been giving decent airtime to complaints (recorded in the FT) about RBS preparing to award £500 million in bonuses while recording an annual loss of £8 billion. Although a decrease on last year's £679 million is highly probable, Labour still spies an opportunity to cause some awkwardness for the Government, with shadow financial secretary to the Treasury Cathy Jamieson saying that "Taxpayers will be staggered if huge bonuses continue to be paid out at a time when significant losses are being made."
"I believe man-made climate change is one of the greatest threats this country and the world faces." Those words from David Cameron in PMQs yesterday would not have pleased all his Conservative Cabinet colleagues, as I note in my blog, and are a rare recent example of Mr Cameron taking an unequivocal position that is at odds with the view of many on his benches. But what happens, I wonder, when a Cabinet figure - Owen Paterson or Michael Gove, perhaps - comes out and says climate change isn't all it's cracked up to be?
The former Labour Cabinet minister Patricia Hewitt is facing questions over alleged links with the Paedophile Information Exchange after it emerged that the National Council for Civil Liberties campaign group that she used to be general secretary of were prepared to offer legal advice to adults who wanted to have sex with 14 years olds.The Morning Briefing is edited by Tim WigmoreFollow Tim on Twitter
Latest YouGov poll: Con 34%, Lab 40%, Ukip 11%; Lib Dems 10%
Once more unto the breach:
@jreedmp: Ah, my old foe, the Caledonian Sleeper...we meet again.
In the TelegraphPeter Oborne - We can get rid of Assad or fight al-Qaeda – not both
Benedict Brogan - David Cameron believes man-made climate change is the greatest threat we face. Does it matter if his colleagues don't?
James Kirkup - Angela Merkel in London: Once again, our future rests on German leadership
Telegraph View - Merkel’s visit is a chance to explain our EU vision
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Iain Duncan Smith and George Osborne - The Conservatives' child poverty plan tackles poverty at source
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Iain Duncan Smith to announce new Government child poverty strategy in written statement. House of Commons.

Sutton Trust report on school catchment areas.

9am Call Clegg on LBC 97.3 radio.

10am Nick Clegg speech on the Government's support for young people. Southfields Academy, 333 Merton Road, London.

11am Energy minister Michael Fallon speaks to Institution of Civil Engineers nuclear power conference. One Great George Street, London.

**12pm German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits London. Approximate timings: Address to both Houses of Parliament in the Royal Gallery of the Palace of Westminster at 1200. Arrival at 10 Downing Street at 1310 for working lunch. Press conference at 10 Downing Street 1435, audience with Queen at Buckingham Palace 1600.**

6.10pm The BFI celebrates the 30th anniversary of Spitting Image

Wednesday, 26 February 2014

Merkel bears few gifts for Cameron..

Good morning. We've been given a first draft of what Angela Merkel will say when she pitches up tomorrow for her red carpet and tea session. The Guardian - "Merkel ready to offer Cameron limited EU opt-outs" - has the detail. And there's not much of it. It certainly doesn't look remotely enough to appease the EU-phobes on Mr Cameron's backbenches, although you might well say that nothing short of withdrawal would put a smile on their faces.
The German chancellor has a few goodies to offer Dave. She accepts the idea of a new or revised treaty - she calls it "targeted" treaty change - and suggests it could include a new clause to protect Britain and other non-euro states against being outvoted on single market issues by those in the euro-zone; she's considering limited opt-outs, specifically for the NHS on the Working Time Directive (this is arguably the most interesting bit); and also less intrusive application of EU regulations (this on the other hand sounds particularly woolly).
Bloomberg - "Merkel said to call for stronger EU in disappointment to Cameron" - is also gloomy about the prospects for Dave. "The expectations of the British press are clearly too high," it quotes her spokesman Steffen Seibert as saying. It adds the detail that she had planned to deliver her address to both Houses of Parliament in English, but now will do most of it in German. Meanwhile, the FT's leader - "Merkel comes to Little England" - is predictably pink in outlook. Pointing out Britain's absence from the Ukraine crisis, it concludes: "Ms Merkel will get the red carpet from a British government with narrowing diplomatic ambitions and an increasingly introverted approach to Europe. This is a Britain slowly moving to the sidelines of world affairs."
What is plain is that major change, and repatriation of powers, is not on the German agenda. For the moment at least. The argument boils down to this: Downing Street and some Tories believe that political reality will drive Germany, and others, to accept greater change as a price for keeping Britain in the EU. Most other people, particularly those steeped in the murk of European politics, say that it is delusional to think so, that it is Mr Cameron who is weak and who cannot command sufficient support across the Channel to achieve anything bar the most cosmetic of changes. Some Tories of course think that is his secret aim, that he wants just enough to be able to parade it as a change worth voting for in a referendum. On the eve of Ms Merkel's visit it looks like No10 will have a hard job to make what she will say look like anything that Tory MPs are clamouring for..

The Times ratchets up the pressure on Peter Bone. It reports - again, on the front page - that funds raised from the sale of his mother-in-law's house were paid into the bank account of Mr Bone’s daughter, before being moved to accounts controlled by the Conservative MP, and are now the subject of a criminal investigation. The Times alleges that Mr Bone was heavily indebted and owed nearly £200,000 on a series of credit cards - had he been declared bankrupt, he would have been forced to resign as an MP. Mr Bone has a majority of 11,000 in Wellingborough.
Harriet Harman escapes the front page of the Mail (she has to make do with page five) but the pressure on her remains after she expressed "regret" over the links of a paedophile group with the National Council for Civil Liberties.The Mail uses its leader to attack the "many like her on the Left who believe there is no public interest in knowing that Opposition frontbenchers were once prepared to tolerate these predatory paedophiles." In the Guardian, Zoe Williams says that the deputy Labour leader "was right not to apologise: to do so would have been to give credence to this story, which is no more than a tenuous smear campaign. It's not news; it's not even new." Meanwhile Roy Greenslade warns against getting into a scrap with the Mail, though his claim that "about 40% of its readers vote Labour" will come as a surprise to many. In 2010, only 16% of Mail readers supported Labour.

David Skelton takes to the Guardian to warn Conservatives against any deal with Ukip, and the notion that the path to a majority for Dave is as simple as adding Tory and Ukip votes together - 48% of Ukippers say that they would never back the Tories. New Ipsos-Mori figures also show that 46% of semi and unskilled manual workers and 40% of skilled working class voters would never vote for the party. And the Conservatives will have to do rather better than the new Sir John Major apprenticeship programme to change that. The Times embarrassingly reveals that one of the new apprentices is the son of a Tory candidate, and another is already an intern for a Tory MP.
That didn't take long. If one of the desired effects of Dave publicly considering ruling out a coalition with the Lib Dems was getting Labour to consider doing the same, then CCHQ will be heartened by Len McCluskey's comments that "if they are the biggest party then my view is Ed should have the courage of his convictions and govern on a minority government." The Conservatives will welcome anything that turns the election into a starker Dave v Ed contest. In The Times, Daniel Finkelstein says that it would be foolish to close off one route to government, and that the decision could tie the Tories up in knots: "Does David Cameron promise that he will insist on an EU referendum if he remains Prime Minister? And will this promise hold even if the Conservatives are not in power alone?" Dan Hodges offers the two coalition partners a similar warning. "If they spend the next 14 months highlighting the differences and divisions that have existed between them – or even go as far as some of Mr Cameron’s allies clearly want, and dismiss a future coalition outright – then there is only one logical conclusion the voters can draw. That the grand coalition experiment has been a failure. And if they conclude that, then the sole beneficiary will be Ed Miliband."TOP TORY DONOR HAS HAD ENOUGH
There's some very bad news for the Tories hidden away in Sebastian Shakespeare's Mail diary: hedge fund owner Sir Michael Hintze, who has loaned the party, £2.5 million, reportedly wants his money back. A source explains that Sir Michael "is deeply upset with the party’s promotion of gay marriage; it grates with his Catholicism. And as a tax-cutting free marketeer, he’d hoped to see a more radical economic agenda."TESSA JOWELL: MPS AREN'T SPECIAL
The national treasure that is Tessa Jowell gave the latest Speaker's Lecture last night on Parliament and the Press. She had lots to say and I've highlighted the key bits on my blog. The stand out line is her reminder to MPs that they shouldn't think they are entitled to special treatment. She also declares herself a big fan of "the economist Daniel Knowles", which just goes to show how far the Morning Briefing can take you.
Ed Balls will be chuffed at an endorsement from an unlikely source this morning. Peter Mandelson has praised his old foe as having the "economic brain power, financial discipline and global outlook" that Britain needs and tries to turn the relentless jeering at Mr Balls from the Tory benches into an asset: the Shadow Chancellor "is under attack from the Bullingdon boys at the top of the Tory party because he has the strength of intellect to challenge them." A fundraising speech also contained some friendly advice to Mr Balls: "Keep the lasagne flowing, keep up the marathons and the piano recitals." The intervention is a reminder of the success of Ed Miliband in avoiding the Labour Civil Wars that have characterised their previous electoral defeats.
The Sun spies victory in its "Ditch handouts to rich" campaign, with George Osborne's new welfare spending cap set to include means-testing the winter fuel allowance, free bus passes and TV licences. Politically this closes off one of the very few areas in which Labour has promised additional spending cuts (even if all sides know that the sums are puny). But how much will it save?The Morning Briefing is edited by Tim WigmoreFollow Tim on Twitter
Latest YouGov poll: Con 33%, Lab 39%, Ukip 11%; Lib Dems 10%
Tom Watson warns of fickle friends:
@tom_watson: Peter Mandelson backs Ed Balls: Well, he does today and only in the Guardian.
In the TelegraphDan Hodges - Everyone is fed up with Clegg, but ruling out a coalition is mad
Con Coughlin - Be wary of Putin – not frightened of him
Iain Martin - Attention Tory HQ: John Major was PM a long time ago
Telegraph View - Insensitive and arrogant
Best of the rest
Daily Mail leader - Can't the Left ever make a mistake?
Daniel Finkelstein - Cameron would be mad to rule out coalition
Zoe Williams - PIE, the NCCL and Harriet Harman: why she was right not to apologise
David Skelton - A Tory pact with Ukip would bring disaster
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond attending meeting of Nato Defence Ministers in Brussels.

Foreign Secretary William Hague on visit to USA.

9.30am Schools Minister David Laws giving evidence to the Commons education select committee.

10.45am Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg monthly press conference. Dover House (Scotland Office), 66 Whitehall.

11am Taxpayers' Alliance launch campaign to scrap the Alcohol Duty Escalator. Blue Boar, 45 Tothill Street.

12pm Prime Minister's Questions.

From 2pm the murderers of soldier Lee Rigby will be sentenced. The Old Bailey

2.30pm Commons Scottish Affairs Committee to hear evidence on Scottish independence.

3pm Expert witnesses give evidence to Commons Environment Committee on winter floods.

7.30pm Minister for Cities Greg Clark speech on Conservatism and Cities to Bright Blue think tank. Meeting Room C, 1 Parliament Street

Cameron to reject 2015 Coalition..

Good morning. "They'll roll him if he tries." So said one of Mr Cameron's closest political advisers when I asked about the prospect for another coalition recently. My interlocutor meant Tory MPs, specifically those who are permanently on the look-out for an opportunity to do in the Prime Minister. Number 10 knows it has to prepare for the possibility that the Tories will end up as the largest party at the next election, but short of a majority. The assumption has long been that in that case Mr Cameron would seek a new arrangement with Nick Clegg. But his MPs have other ideas. They have secured an understanding that this time it would be put to a vote of the parliamentary party, a vote the PM would be likely to win. The worry in No 10 is that the irreconcilables would use the aftermath of another inconclusive election - another Mr Cameron failed to win - as a reason to come for his head. Which is why, as I set out in my column this morning, the Tory leader is considering a manifesto pledge to rule out a coalition altogether. He would tell voters beforehand that he would not do a deal to stay in power; he would instead seek to lead a minority administration, and accept the likelihood of another general election within months.
The argument that Mr Cameron is making is that voters want single-party government and will respond to being given a clear choice at the polls. In reply some might say that the voters could well take badly to having their options foreclosed on them, or that Mr Cameron would be foolish to limit his room for manoeuvre before the election. The art of politics is about keeping options open, etc… But he is motivated too by the appeal of a pledge that will delight many of his MPs and, he hopes, head off any danger to his position. The risk then is that he looks weak, forced into a position by necessity, not by choice. You will have spotted that there are a lot of ifs lined up here. Current odds say Mr Cameron needn't bother and that Labour will form the next government. What's telling here, for my money, is the clear message from Mr Cameron's circle that whatever others may say, he has had enough of the Lib Dems and of coalition, and doesn't want another one. It speaks volumes about the state of his relations with many of his parliamentary colleagues that quite a few won't believe him.

The realisation that Angela won't give Dave what he wants (see my blog yesterday) is decidely awkward for the PM. He has pinned all his hopes for EU reform onto support from Ms Merkel; if she doesn't play ball, Dave will have nowhere to hide. Rachel Sylvester says that the German Chancellor can't give the PM what he needs - and that Dave hasn't done enough to build bridges in the past. "According to one diplomat, she has still not forgotten that Britain 'sided with America' when it came to intelligence-gathering that involved the hacking of her own phone. Nor has she entirely forgiven the Tory leader for leaving the EPP, the centre-right grouping in the European Parliament."Janan Ganesh is similarly gloomy about how much Ms Merkel could help Dave, saying "The real error is to overrate her capacity to deliver change, even if she wanted it." In a fascinating piece, Paul Goodman examines the complex politics of European Parliament alliances and explains why closer links between Conservatives and Germany's anti-euro party the Alternative für Deutschland could be in the offing in the European Parliament - even though riling Angela Merkel would be one result.
SIR JOHN BATTLES TORY TOFF IMAGEA few weeks ago, I called for Sir John Major to intervene in the battle over Scotland's future. That hasn't happened just yet, but Sir John will appear with Grant Shapps today to launch a new Conservative apprenticeship scheme named in his honour and laud "a political party which would help give me a step up in life, rather than a hand out: the Conservative Party." The Tories are aware of how important Sir John could be in their battle against their "toff" image. In my blog, I examine Dave's difficulty escaping his school. MeanwhileTim Wigmore explains why Tory Old Etonian MPs - who numbered 73 in 1963 but only 19 today - are a dying breed.
Harriet Harman used her Newsnight appearance yesterday to accuse the Daily Mail of running a "politically-motivated smear campaign" against her. But the Mail isn't stopping questioning the Miss Harman, Jack Dromey and Patricia Hewitt's alleged links to a paedophile group, using its front page to exclaim "But Still They Won't Say Sorry".
Peter Bone gets it in the neck from The Times, who say that Mr Bone is under police investigation over an alleged £100,000 benefits fraud linked to his mother-in-law’s finances. Mr Bone has taken to Twitter to begin his defence, saying: "The Times allegation: We have done nothing wrong. The claims made are without foundation. A full statement will be issued in due course."
MAIL WARNS AGAINST UKRAINE BLANK CHEQUEThe Mail lays into George Osborne's offer of "a chequebook to help the people of Ukraine rebuild their country", quoting a warning from Bill Cash that the potential cost to British taxpayers was "so horrendous as to be completely unacceptable". First the floods and now Ukraine - Tory comments about cheques really aren't playing out very well at the moment. Mac's cartoon is particularly coruscating today. William Hague is in Washington today to discuss Ukraine with John Kerry.

There was more bad news for Alex Salmond yesterday. Paul Krugman, the economist loved by many Lefties, mocked the plans for Scottish independence, saying that "the Bank of England would be under no obligation to act as lender of last resort to Scottish banks". The FT uses its front page to quote Alistair Darling's claim that the "sterlingisation" of Scotland would put the country in the same category as Panama.
Labour will announce today that the party will stage a family-friendly workplace summit with employers: the issue has risen up the party's agenda after an IPPR report that suggested that getting mothers back to work could give the economy a potential £1.5 billion a year boost. The promise of action could also help further strengthen the party's grip over the female vote. But lets hope there isn't a mention of "One Nation" at the announcement: Stella Creasy has said that "If you ever met people from Walthamstow you wouldn't tell them anything like that because they'd quite quickly put you in your place." Chris Leslie is also speaking at 10am about Labour's zero-based spending review. Will there be an acknowledgement of the tough choices that lie ahead?The Morning Briefing is edited by Tim WigmoreFollow Tim on Twitter
Latest YouGov poll: Con 33%, Lab 38%, Ukip 13%; Lib Dems 10%
Stella doesn't let CCHQ's Twitter operation rile her:
@stellacreasy: @CCHQPress aw *pinches random tory intern press officer cheek* you do keep trying don't you...such a shame it makes you look needy....BEST COMMENTIn the TelegraphBenedict Brogan - David Cameron’s election gamble could electrify British politics
Robert Colvile - Will we be able to resist the robots’ advances?
Tim Wigmore - Why Old Etonian Tories are a dying breed
Telegraph View - Ukraine needs help to rebuild its economy
Best of the rest
Rachel Sylvester - Mrs Merkel can’t give Cameron what he needs
Paul Goodman - Cameron must not dampen this Eurosceptic momentum
Janan Ganesh - Cameron overestimates Merkel’s vim for EU reform
WASHINGTON DC: Foreign Secretary William Hague visit to USA. Mr Hague will meet Secretary of State John Kerry to discuss Ukraine.
1000 LONDON: Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Chris Leslie speech on Labour's zero-based review of spending. Social Market Foundation, 11 Tufton Street
1030 LONDON: Commons Culture Committee takes evidence on future of the BBC. Witnesses: RadioCentre, Bauer Radio and Global Radio; KM Group, The Newspaper Society and Society of Editors Thatcher Room, Portcullis House
1430 LONDON: Health minister Dan Poulter at Health select committee on database. Room 15, House of Commons
1530 LONDON: Damian Green at Home Affairs committee on progress of Police and Crime Commissioners. Witnesses include Ann Barnes, Kent Police and Crime Commissioner, Kent Chief Constable Alan Pughsley and Policing minister Damian Green. The Thatcher Room, Portcullis House
1530 LONDON: Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin and SW England council leaders appear before House of Commons Transport Committee on the flooding. Wilson Room, Portcullis House

Monday, 24 February 2014

What would Angela do..

Good morning. WWAD? It's the question all of us at Westminster, and the Tories in particular, will grapple with this week. The German chancellor comes to London on Thursday for a formal visit that will include tea with the Queen and an address to the joint Houses of Parliament. Angela Merkel is arguably the most important player in Britain's future relationship with the European Union, if David Cameron remains prime minister in 2015. Germany's economic and political power means it will decide what, if anything, Mr Cameron gets from the renegotiation he wants to launch. In fact, Ms Merkel will decide whether there is a renegotiation at all. Working out quite what the German leader will allow is therefore of great interest in London. What will Angela do?
Look at the papers today and you get two distinct possibilities. The first is the view from No10, which for some time has claimed to detect across the Channel a desire to give Britain it's every wish. The argument goes that she is a centre-right reformer, that Germany is fed up with the inefficiencies of the EU that require it to subsidise its feckless southern members, and that Ms Merkel will do anything - anything - to keep Britain in the EU as a counter-weight for reform against the French. The threat of a referendum, they say, and the suggestion that Britain could walk, will encourage Germany to make sure Mr Cameron gets most of what he wants. The Mail's p2 treatment embodies this charming optimism: "Merkel to back PM's bid for new EU deal". The intro develops the idea: "Merkel will this week give the green light to David Cameron's attempt to renegotiate Britain's relationship with Brussels". The government has pumped out this view, against, it must be said, much of the available evidence. Indeed, some might say it's wishful thinking that's dictated by politics. Having cooked up the referendum idea, Mr Cameron has to make it sound compelling and worthwhile against many of his backbenchers who think he is whistling in the dark. It is in his interests to talk up its possibilities, to drown out those who say that in the end he will settle for a few cosmetic changes and a vote in favour of Britain's continuing EU membership.
Consider for example the FT's treatment of the same story. Of course, its perspective is much more euro-elitist, but it headlines it "Merkel urges Britain to remain in the EU", and says that she is "unlikely to make significant concessions". The Germans say she will urge Mr Cameron to show his hand now, which funnily enough is what many of his colleagues want him to do. It is likely that he will have to, if only to buy himself more room with the irreconcilables on his benches. But the minute he does he will invite Ms Merkel to say what she will accept. And he will have to say what he is holding out for.
Don't underestimate either, while we are at it, the possibility that Britain will annoy more allies than it wins. The Mail has a buried line in which a No 10 source says: "She wants Britain in. She doesn't want to be stuck in an embrace of economic death with Francois Hollande." Mr Cameron has chosen 2017 as the date for a referendum, which will be in the middle of the French and German election cycles. If Mr Cameron is still PM (likely in my view but not certain) he will need as much support from other EU partners as he can get to secure the changes he wants. And they have long memories. Mr Cameron is pinning his hopes this week on the support of Ms Merkel. But support for what? Less than he hopes, I fear.

The Cabinet's on the road today, and meets in Aberdeen; deliciously, Alex Salmond and the Scottish Cabinet will meet only a few miles away. The PM has shifted his attention in the independence debate to North Sea oil - with the Wood Review released at 9.30 this morning, Mr Cameron today unveils plans that could boost North Sea oil by £200 billion over the next 20 years; but he simultaneously warns that the future of North Sea oil could be jeopardised if Scotland votes for independence because central government resources are needed to realise the drilling's potential. Ed Davey makes a similar point in a Telegraph article, saying that the UK has a "very attractive fiscal regime for oil and gas" but warning that a smaller country may struggle to provide the UK's "stability, certainty and levels of support". No one could accuse the Government of not taking the threat of Alex Salmond seriously enough - but is it all still a bit too negative? Still, an Aberdeen Press and Journal poll suggests the tactics might be working: it gives the No campaign a 65-17 lead, although that sounds too big to be plausible.
OSBORNE OFFERS UKRAINE A CHEQUE BOOKThe Government is clearly sensitive to criticism that it has not been active enough so far in the Ukraine. George Osborne yesterday made the case for the UK playing a leading role in the next phase of events, saying that "we should be there with a cheque book to help the people of Ukraine rebuild their country". Baroness Ashton will visit Kiev today.
There's an interesting snippet in the FT: "There are six people writing the manifesto and five of them went to Eton; the other went to St Paul’s," the Conservative MP Pauline Latham says. The story is significant for two reasons. First, it shows that criticism of Dave for favouring those with similar backgrounds to him remains as trenchant as ever; there is an undercurrant of feeling in the Tory Party that being fast tracked is a route only open to those who share the PM's old school tie. And second, the implication of public criticism is that this is damaging the Conservative Party electorally. Robert Halfon uses the pages of The Sun today to call for the Tories to change their name to "the Workers' Party".
Some unwelcome news on the Ukip front for the Conservatives: it's emerged that Sir Tim Rice, a former Tory donor, donated £7,500 to Ukip last year. The party's treasurer Sir Stuart Wheeler says he was "very friendly" and "We might try him again." The Mail solemnly warns that "Mr Cameron must treat this defection as a significant straw in the wind and start right now in making a supreme effort to reconnect with his party’s sorely neglected grass roots." Lord Heseltine has a novel take on Ukip, likening them to the CND and warning that the Tories should aggressively distance themselves from Ukip - and even brand the party the UK Isolationist Party. One problem is how would this play with the Tory irreconcilables, who see no future in the EU?
IDS CHANGING CHILD POVERTY MEASUREIain Duncan Smith is pushing ahead with attempts to change the definition of child poverty to a more sophisticated set of yardsticks. The difficulty is how to do this without being accused of fixing the figures (as it stands, the Government is way off its aim of eradicating child poverty by 2020), one reason why George Osborne is opposed. But, with David Laws said to be on side, IDS may have won this skirmish with the Chancellor.
National Insurance could be retired after 103 years. Well, sort of. Ben Gummer will propose that NI be renamed "earnings tax" in a Commons Bill on Tuesday, with the Chancellor open to the idea. Ultimately the hope is that NI be merged with income tax in a step towards simplifying Britain's tax code.
The Labour MP Simon Danczuk (who has attracted attention for his attacks on Owen Jones in the past) has popped up with a devastating critique of Ed Miliband's strategy. Mr Danczuk describes Labour's cost-of-living offensive as "at the end of its sell-by date"; calls the One Nation slogan "over-used and hackneyed"; and says the Shadow Cabinet is "one-dimensional" with comparison to Tony Blair's. It's another reminder that backbench discontent isn't only a feature of the Conservative Party.
The Mirror lays it into Richard Benyon ("Britain's richest MP") today, with a double-page spread attacking Mr Benyon for "raking in £625,000 a year from his hard-up tenants’ housing benefit" which he has criticised. It also names and shames four other Tories - Sir Richard Drax, Lord Iliffe, Earl Cadogan and Lord Cavendish - who earn over £100,000 a year in housing benefit. All fuel to those who already dislike the Conservatives, but it's not going to convince too many floating voters.The Morning Briefing is edited by Tim WigmoreFollow Tim on Twitter
Latest YouGov poll: Con 32%, Lab 39%, Ukip 12%; Lib Dems 8%
This Norwich City fan isn't impressed:@edballsmp: The #MOTD2 analysis of Norwich win over Spurs was shockingly poor and misinformed. Sorry, but Danny Mills can't have seen the game.. #ncfc
BEST COMMENTIn the TelegraphBoris Johnson - We’re not the bad boys of Europe – just ask our ski instructors
Allan Massie - Only Britain can make the North Sea pay
Charles Crawford - Ukraine, Putin and the new face of Europe
Telegraph View - Ukraine needs help to rebuild its economy
Best of the rest
Robert Halfon - We Tories should be the Workers’ Party
Sarah Wollaston - Plans to relax building regulations in our national parks will spell disaster
Chris Deerin - Scotland is a nation going easy on itself and, the truth is, we all know it
Today: Cabinet to meet in Aberdeen
0930: Publication of Wood Review report on North Sea oil.
1345 LONDON: Newly elected MP Mike Kane arrives at House of Commons.
1515 LONDON: Public Accounts Committee on Ministry of Defence Equipment Plan and Major Projects. Witnesses include MoD permanent secretary Jon Thompson and Air Marshal Sir Stephen Hillier, Deputy Chief of Defence Staff. Room 15, House of Commons
1710 LONDON: Transport Minister Robert Goodwill appears before House of Commons Transport Committee on roads

Friday, 21 February 2014

Clegg v Farage on EU..

Good morning. When Nigel Farage appears at 9am on LBC Radio this morning, we will find out whether Mr Farage will agree to a live debate on Britain's membership of the EU with Nick Clegg. Mr Clegg yesterday challenged the Ukip leader to the debate: "I hope he would take up my challenge to debate, once and for all, publicly: should we be in the European Union, which I believe means that we have more people in work than would otherwise be the case, we keep ourselves safer because we can go after cross-border crime and terrorism, it means we can look after the environment in the way that we can't on our own?"
The manoeuvre is the latest example of Mr Clegg unashamedly labelling the Lib Dems "the party of in" at the European elections. On one level, it is easy to see the risk in a Eurosceptic country. But perhaps there is method to the madness: the calculation is that, while Europhiles are a minority, at the moment they don't have anyone to represent their voice. And ardent Eurosceptics, after all, were hardly likely to be attracted to the Lib Dems anyway. It's also about defining the Lib Dems: in the electorate's eyes, they are a blank space ripe for smearing, so anything that detracts from that will be welcomed. In seeking a tête-à-tête with Mr Farage, Mr Clegg is seeking to present himself as brave and courageous, leaving David Cameron and Ed Miliband on the sidelines looking scared. Mr Farage's response will be intriguing. Ducking the challenge would not look good, but Mr Farage has far more to lose from debating Mr Clegg than the Lib Dem leader. In itself, that is a mark of the state of flux that British politics is in.

The President of the Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, says a deal has been reached with the opposition to end the country's crisis; early reports suggest that the deal includes a coalition government, constitutional change and early presidential elections. The front pages focus on the horrors: yesterday was the "bloodiest day" in the conflict, as we describe it, with at least 29 people dying. It's well worth reading David Blair's harrowing report from the front line:  "After the security forces had gone to such lengths to terrorise and break their enemies, the end result was that the protesters were still the masters of the Maidan. They regained every inch of ground lost on Wednesday, which was previously the bloodiest day of the battle." For the Coalition, the challenge is how to respond to what reeks of a Vladimir Putin putsch; the words of our leader - "Justice and human rights are universal principles, not ones that stop at the borders of Russia’s sphere of influence" - ring true. David Cameron called Mr Putin yesterday evening to discuss "the terrible situation", but has the Prime Minister left too much of the heavy lifting to other countries?
The handling of the floods comes in for a new bout of criticism today, with 17 bodies, including the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the Institution of Environmental Sciences weighing in with a letter to The Telegraph calling for a complete rethink of the planning system to avoid a repeat of the flooding crisis. Ed Balls adds to the criticism in an article for The Telegraph, writing that "Rather than the short-termist salami-slicing of budgets we have seen, we need instead to make long-term decisions now that can save money in the future", though such an intervention carries the risk of Labour looking like they're trying to make political gains out of people's misery. Is any of the mud sticking to the Government? The ITV News / Comres poll showing that 63 per cent of the public think that the Government has emerged from the floods with a worse reputation for crisis management (only 7 per cent say it has got a better one) rather suggests so. The initial thinking that the floods had been a good crisis for Dave may need revisiting.   HAMMOND HAMMERED
Yesterday evening's Question Time was awkward for Philip Hammond: the Defence Secretary called Labour's Liz Kendall "Rachel" (thinking she was Rachel Reeves) not once but twice.That'll give more ammunition for Ed to lay into Dave's "women problem" but Mr Hammond's share price in the Government remains very high.
MORE CHEERLEADERS, PLEASEHelen Grant's interview with us is causing a stir. "There are some wonderful sports which you can do and perform to a very high level and I think those participating look absolutely radiant and very feminine such as ballet, gymnastics, cheerleading and even roller-skating," Miss Grant said, comments that have been seized upon by feminists. A pragmatic response to a real problem (the 1.8 million "gender gap" in sports participation rates) - or a clumsy and unhelpful intervention? Either way it's a story that will run for a few days.
BLEARS STANDS DOWNHazel Blears, the former Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, is standing down as MP for Salford and Eccles after 18 years in the House at the next election, and says that she retires with a "heavy heart" to look after her mother. Mrs Blears has a majority of 5,725.
THE RETURN OF VOTE BLUE, GO GREEN?It's worth noting The Times story that picks up on George Osborne's support for fracking on environmental grounds: "Let’s see more development of fracking in the UK and the US, as that will help reduce carbon emissions." Could fracking yet be a case when "going for growth" and that old message - "Vote Blue to Go Green" - happily coincide?
Latest YouGov poll: Con 34%, Lab 39%, Ukip 12%; Lib Dems 9%
Rachel Reeves doesn't miss an open goal:
@RachelReevesMP: Am I on #bbcqt this evening? Apparently Philip Hammond thinks I am. Or maybe it was @leicesterliz...BEST COMMENTIn the TelegraphDan Hodges - For all their protests, Red Ed and his party are turning yellow
Ed Balls - Ministers need to make long-term decisions on flooding
Isabel Hardman - A tricky balance between Church and state
Telegraph View - Silence over Ukraine is no longer an option
Best of the rest
Philip Stephens - Europe needs to stop hiding under the covers
Steve Richards - It's no wonder David Cameron has alienated the church
Simon Heffer - Will the Church ever learn there is nothing moral about welfare dependency?
THE AGENDASYDNEY, AUSTRALIA: Chancellor George Osborne and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney attending G20 Finance and Central Bankers meeting.
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE: David Cameron to meet Dutch PM Mark Rutte. Chequers
0930 LONDON: Public sector borrowing figures for January are published by the Office for National Statistics.
0955 LONDON: Bedroom tax ruling. Court of Appeal judges announce their decision in an action by five disabled tenants who have asked the court to declare the Government's so-called "bedroom tax" regulations unlawful. The Royal Courts of Justice


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Texturing for Team Fortress 2: A Short Guide

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Looking through the entries in this contest, I've noticed that some people are having a difficult time achieving the general look of TF2 textures when it comes to the texturing stage for their entries. Considering that TF2 has a very specific visual style and a number of key elements that go into the visuals, I thought I'd put together a little guide to help people if they're struggling to get their textures looking like something that belongs in the game.

To get an idea of what goes into making an object look like it fits into TF2, let's take a look at some elements that all objects in the game share from a texturing standpoint.

Base Colors

Each object in the game has one or more base colors in its texture. These base colors serve as a starting point to differentiate materials from one another. For example, the scout's scatter gun has two basic colors; gray and brown. These colors serve to show the player that one part of the gun is wood and one part is metal. Everybody understands that wood is brown and metal is usually gray, so that's where our understanding of what the scatter gun is made of comes from.
This power generator has just a few base colors: Orange and two grays

Base colors on objects are the solid colors applied to the objects in the game before any real texturing takes place. Once the base colors are taken care of, the texturing process can begin in earnest.

Brush Strokes

The textures in TF2 are painted with large, sweeping brush strokes to give the impression of detail without deliberately spelling it out. These strokes are applied over the base colors to give texture and interest while still retaining the general original hue. The brush strokes are accomplished by using large, squarish brushes at high opacity. This results in large blocks of solid color which reinforce the original base colors.
Brush strokes on the bottom of a medkit

These large brush strokes are used not just to add blocks of slightly altered colors for interest, but also for painting wear and tear into textures. Wear, such as scratches on metal, is hinted at with blocks of solid color instead of the usual method of tiny scratchy marks you might see in more realistic texturing.

Ambient Occlusion or Painted Lighting

Most, if not all, objects in TF2 have ambient occlusion or some form of soft lighting baked into the textures. This serves to ground the modeled details on the objects by simulating ambient light. This is the same as any other game with baked ambient occlusion. However, ambient occlusion in TF2 also serves to add another layer of texture and grain to the hand-painted texture maps.
These boards are pretty much a solid color, but they're easily differentiated because of the ambient occlusion baked into their texture

Since this is a competition to create weapons and other related objects for the game, it's very important to understand how metal is represented.

Base Colors

As with any object in TF2, weapons may have a number of base colors. Since most of the weapons in the game are guns or some variant thereof, it should be obvious that most of their base colors are grays or golds. Here's a palette of some of the colors used on various metal weapons and items in the game:

Do you notice anything unusual about it? If it seems like few of those colors are actually straight gray, you're correct. They all have some tint to them, warm or cool. The people who paint the textures at Valve understand that gray is a boring color, so what they do is make it seem more interesting by giving metal a tint of some sort. All those weapons in the game you thought were gray are actually brown or purple or maroon!

Base Color Variation

Each weapon in the game has a number of base color variations in the metal areas. There are lighter and darker areas to help break up what could be a very monotone object. These lighter and darker areas tend to alternate with one another so that the colors can contrast with each other. A screw head might be lighter or darker than the metal surface around it, for example.

These light and dark variations might be obvious, such as in the palette used for the syringe gun, or subtle as in the palette used for the medigun.
The Medigun's metal palette

The Syringe Gun's metal palette

Wear and Tear and Edge Highlighting

To emphasize the form of the guns and show that they're not brand new, Valve paints highlights onto sharp edges on their metal objects and also puts some wear and tear on the metal. While most of the edge highlights are just thin lines along edges, wear and tear is often shown with large patches of color painted with those same high-opacity brushes mentioned earlier.
Edge highlighting on the Syringe Gun's texture

Wear and tear on the Minigun's texture

Specular Highlights

Most metal textures you see on models in TF2 will be accompanied by a specular map. These spec maps are generally based on the diffuse texture with ambient occlusion included. Including ambient occlusion in the specular map helps to emphasize the shininess of the edges by making anything in crevices dull.
The Syringe Gun's diffuse map (left) and specular map (right)

This discussion has been closed.