Brian Mathew

EDF out of UK electricity

2010-07-30T00:00:00-00:00

Welcome News for all in North Somerset

This morning on the Today programme it was announced that EDF is pulling out of its UK electricity supply companies, it is thus I believe highly unlikely that they will continue with leading nuclear build in the UK. If I am right then there will be no new nuclear at Hinkley Point and thus no need for Pylons across North Somerset!

It also means that the UK will have to get serious over where its energy is going to come from in the future and this means following Lib Dem policies on 1) reducing wasteful use of energy (increasing insulation etc) 2) increasing alternative energy supplies especially sea systems such as Severn Energy (low head barrage or otherwise) and 3) working with Europe to invest in the MENA project (energy from the deserts) with massive solar arrays (Mirrors and water pipes) providing energy via a Europe wide super conducting grid.

We are most definitely living in interesting times

Best wishes

Brian

Dr. Brian Mathew
Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesman for North Somerset
www.brianmathew.org.uk
e-mail: brian@brianmathew.org.uk

Brian Mathew campaigning against the pylons in North Somerset

2010-07-01T15:20:00-00:00

£192.12 Raised for WaterAid

2010-07-01T15:14:00-00:00

Need for Team Work

2010-06-24T00:00:00-00:00

Reproduced from the Daily Telegraph 24th June 2010 the article below shows the need for team work over important issues and begs the question will it be the first mistake of many? let us hope not..

To my mind there is a need to have a new look at how Afghanistan is governed, central control has never worked in Afganistan and decentralisation matching the existing tribal boundaries might be the best way to win hearts and minds, stabilize the country and allow the return home of our brave troops. BM

Thank You for Your Support!

2010-06-17T00:00:00-00:00

To everyone who sponsored me on last weekend's bike ride Thank You!

We have beaten my target of £100 for WaterAid by a small margin and if anyone would like to retrospectively do their bit to help sponsor me and help the World's poor without access to safe water and sanitation then please click on the link below.

http://original.justgiving.com/brianmathew

Here are some photo's from the day......

The Start at the Bell with Sonia, Pete and myself

Half way round at the Red Lion in Avebury

And 44 miles later we're back!

Here is the report of the event : http://www.yattonkeynell.com/docs/wrong_way_round_report_June_2010.pdf

and here is the video!... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g6zBTW8re4

Help support Brian's fund raising cycle ride for WaterAid this weekend

2010-06-08T00:00:00-00:00

Dear All,

Its time to do a bit of something completely different, I am cycling for WaterAid this weekend on the 'Wrong Way Round' cycle ride, so if you would like to sponsor me please do and help me support my favorite charity next to the Portishead Lifeboat! Please click on the link below and give what you can by clicking on the link below:

http://original.justgiving.com/brianmathew

Best wishes

Brian

Dr. Brian Mathew
Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesman for North Somerset
www.brianmathew.org.uk
e-mail: brian@brianmathew.org.uk

Mathew on the Matthew

2010-05-23T00:00:00-00:00

I had the lucky chance to join the crew of the Matthew, the replica of John Cabots Ship, that in the early 16th Centuary sailed from Bristol to discover the North American Continent. The trip was to join in the first 'Lifeboat Day' to be held at Clevedon Pier in support the work of the Portishead Lifeboat, which we managed to raise £5,000 funding for earlier this year from the new Liberal Democrat Bristol City Council.

If a picture tells 1000 words, here is my story of the voyage on the Matthew in pictures.

Leaving the City of Bristol under Clifton Suspension Bridge and past the old paddle steamer warf.

Our Captin, the aptly named Rob Salvidge climbs the rigging to the crow's nest

Under sail!

Sunset over the Severn Estuary

Waking in Porlock Bay

Is this England? The sureal beauty of North Devon at dawn from the Matthew

The author, feeling like Reepicheep on the prow.... The Matthew is to play the part of the Dawn Treader for the promotion of the film of CS Lewis's Narnia Classic "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader", out later this year....

The shadow of the crows nest on the muddy waters of the Severn as we sailed north with the tide to Clevedon

Hoisting the Jolly Roger Arrrrrrrrrhaaaaaa

The crew dressed as Pirates for the show off Clevedon Pier

Errrr is this thing loaded?

Where are me matches?....

BOOOOOOM!

The Pirate dummy gets thrown from the crows nest

To be rescued by the Portishead Lifeboat under fire!

Got him!

And away....

Hi jinks with retired lifeboat the 'Mabel Alice' past the end of Clevedon Pier

A final blast to say farewell to Clevedon

Slipping away with the tide, what a wonderful ride.....

20,687 Thank You's!

2010-05-10T00:00:00-00:00

20,687 VOTES 20,687 THANK YOU'S!

It is the Monday after the Thursday that the Lib

Dems in North Somerset upped their vote by a

third, and this is to say to every one of you that

voted for me and us, a huge THANK YOU!

We did not win but we showed that winning is possible both in the local election next year and in the next general election, which could come in as little as six months. In terms of votes, we got for the Liberal Democrats the highest number of votes outside a winning constituency in the South West of England. The sixteenth highest Lib Dem constituency vote in the region including the 15 constituencies that elected a Lib Dem MP.

With luck we will have proportional representation next time. Now is the time to work with like minded people and go forward together. I am hoping for a 'Rainbow Coalition of the Centre Left', but it is up to Nick and the rest of the Party to decide what to do and I will support the decision when it is made. Rome was not built in a day, but last Thursday by beating the 20,000 vote barrier we showed that North Somerset can change and will change, if we work together for a better, fairer Britain and convince those that are naturally cautious to come with us!

For those of you that would like to get involved with events and activities that are happening from this week onwards please call our Chairperson Isabel Cummings on 01934 833928

Best wishes and enjoy the photographs.

Brian

Brian Mathew, Parliamentary Candidate, North Somerset Lib Dems, Tel:07771607983

The North Somerset Lib Dem Team at the Count at the Scotch Horn in Nailsea

(left to right: Cllr Andy Cole, Paul Thurston, Darren Wilkinson, Sue Mason, Ron Van der Holt, Wendy Griggs, Simon de lance Holms, Isabel Cummings, David Neale, Stewart Griggs, Daisy Bickley, Brian Mathew, Jan Longdon, Jonathan Edwards, Jean Lord, Chris Arnold, Linda Ledbrook, Bob Bowen with the Camera! (Photo by Floss)

Beat the Blues? its the Blues Brothers!

A rose between two thorns?

Fire up the err..... Volvo!

Stewart and Simon putting up election posters

And in Nailsea with Darren

Finally the Poster location that has to win the prize for the most beautiful spot, on the Claverham Road!

May Bank Holiday

2010-05-03T20:26:00-00:00

Out on the General Election Stump at the North Somerset Show, Nailsea Fun Fair and Lower Claverham village May Day Celebration

Ok so who won the prize? What a lovely cow...

Question from members of the public at the Nailsea Fun Fair

Meeting the UKIP Candidate

Save Our Surgeries March

2010-05-01T08:09:00-00:00

Save our Surgeries organised a march on Saturday from Wrington to the proposed new surgery site at Pudding Pie Lane, to show the distance which patients will have to travel if the plan gets approval. I was pleased to march with SOS and show how I believe local people need local services, and that real democracy means the state listening to the heart felt demands of local people that they keep their surgery in the place that they live!

Above: Brian Mathew with Peter Maitland prior to start of the SOS March

Marching out of Wrington "Save Our Surgeries!"

"Its a long way to Langford, its a long way to go!"

Brian Mathew speaking at the mid way point where the marchers continued on into Weston Constituency to the proposed site for the joint surgery.

Visit to Orchard Close sheltered housing for the over 60's

2010-05-01T00:00:00-00:00

In my visit to Orchard Close in Portishead on Thursday this week, I was able to hear directly the problems that the residents are facing. The first issue raised was the removal by the Conservative run North Somerset Council of the warden system, so that the housing unit no longer has residential care on hand, but has to share this with a number of other sheltered housing units, thus down grading the care that is available. We also discussed the problems of crossing the road at Cabstand, and again I call on North Somerset Council to get a move on and put in a zebra crossing. The Portishead railway was also raised, something that everyone wants but no one can understand whay it has not happened already!

(left to right: Mrs Mary Gilmartin, Mrs Vera Holloway, Brian Mathew, Mrs Mary Frances, Mrs Betty Hartwell, Mrs Maureen Devoy)

The North Somerset Lib Dem General Election Poster Challenge

2010-04-30T00:00:00-00:00

Many of us have been out putting up posters around North Somerset for the General Election Campaign. If you have a favorite one that you think should be on my blog, please send it to me at my e-mail address brian@brianmathew.org.uk

To start the ball rolling here is one from John Leband's brigantine in Portishead Marina!

Well done John, Now we just need some more bunting to spell out 'England Expects!'

Visit to a supported living service house for young adults with learning difficulties in Portishead

2010-04-27T09:08:35-00:00

Yesterday afternoon I had a delightful tea with Dean Thurgood, Tom Kane, Ben Gradwell and Anneke Evans, at the supported living service house for young adults with learning difficulties in Portishead. The points that were raised by group are very relevant to many people living in the Town and perhaps by putting them down here we may be able to get something done quickly.

The biggest issue was crossing the road at Cab Stand in Portishead. Why on earth has it taken the Council six months so far to do nothing about making the crossing safe for pedestrians? The so called shared space is fine for people in cars, but for pedestrians it can be a nightmare, especially if they are old, or young, or disabled or with small children. What is North Somerset Council playing at? It would have taken maybe a couple of hours at most to paint a zebra crossing over each of the junctions, but nothing has been done. So come on North Somerset Council, you said you would do this, pull your finger out and get on with it before someone gets seriously hurt or worse!

Left to Right, Tom Kane, Dean Thurgood, Ben Gradwell, Brian Mathew and Anneke Evans

Ben Gradwell said, and all agreed, that the Portishead railway was long overdue, and that it would make a great day out for people from Bristol and further afield visiting Portishead, as well as for commuters making their way to work. Tom Kane made the suggestion that the bus timetables are made easier to read, so 1^st Bus please take note.

Lastly some members of the group are performing in a ‘Night of Song and Dance’ at the Scotch Horn Leisure Centre in Nailsea on the 13^th and 14^th of May. The event is being organized by the Brandon Trust and starts at 7pm. The entry ticket costs £10 and includes a ploughman’s supper and tickets are available from the Scotch Horn. All proceeds are going to support the drama group, so if you would like to have a lively night out and support a very worthy local cause, come along and enjoy!

Just over a week to go!

2010-04-25T00:00:00-00:00

With a week and a half to go till the big day on Thursday May 6th I thought I would share some photographs from the campaign so far:

Teams of Lib Dem canvassers have been out on the streets in all the towns and many of the villages of North Somerset, delivering window posters and leaflets about our policies.

Sue Mason, Cllr Andy Cole, Brian Mathew, Daisy Bickley, Colin Howells and John S Clark canvassing Portishead.

Brian going through our policies with three North Somerset residents

Getting the poster boards ready for the campaign in Nailsea (from right Town Cllr Robin Bell, Charley and Darren Wilkinson, Cllr Andy Cole, and Town Cllr James Tonkin)

Adoption Meeting at Portishead Bowling Club

2010-04-09T00:00:00-00:00

It was great to be formally adopted by the North Somerset Lib Dems at a meeting at the Bowling Club in Portishead on Friday night.

Lord Cotter gave an excellent talk on how he had beaten an 8,000 Tory Majority in 1997 in Weston and is an inspiration for us here in our struggle against 80 years of Tory domination in North Somerset.

This really is a case of ‘Yes we can!’, but to do so we need people who have voted Labour in past elections, and those who have voted Green and those who have voted blue in the past, but are no longer sure what to do, to come on board and vote for real change with the Lib Dems.

Its a case of vote red or don't vote and you'll get the blues, so come on, lets beat the blues and Go for GOLD!

With Vince covering the economy we can offer Britain a free, fair and green way out of the recession, which will again put us as a country at the forefront of the World. New ‘green’ industries for the future, and a central progressive place in World affairs.

(above) From Left to right: Isabel Cummings, Lord Cotter and Brian Mathew (photo by Floss)

(below) The adoption meeting with Brian Mathew giving his speech (photo by Floss)

General Election Launched

2010-04-08T00:00:00-00:00

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidates and MPs from across Somerset, including North Somerset, were gathered together to join the press conference called by Paddy Ashdown our election supremo for the South West, to launch the Lib Dem Election Campaign here.

From left to right: Paddy Ashdown, Brian Mathew (North Somerset), Theo Butt-Philip (Bridgewater), David Laws (Yeovil), Tessa Munt (Wells), David Heath (Frome) & Jeremy Brown (Taunton)

Below photos of Brian meeting with Paddy before and after the conference

Portishead and Bristol Lifeboat Trust Benefit!

2010-03-22T00:00:00-00:00

Portishead and Bristol Lifeboat Trust are to benefit from a £5,000 a year annual grant from Bristol City Council. The Bristol Evening Post ran the story this evening saying:

"Volunteers from Portishead's independent lifeboat service are riding on the crest of a wave after being thrown a lifeline by Bristol City Council. The Portishead and Bristol Lifeboat Trust, which is based at Sugarloaf Bay, learned last week that its bid to the City Council for £5,000 to help towards the £40,000 needed each year to keep the boat on the water had been successful.

The Council has also agreed to continue to fund the trust, which is run entirely by volunteers, to the tune of £5,000 each year for the forseasble future. The trust had applied to the council for funding in the past, but was refused, despite the fact that it assists in many rescues in the Bristol area and River Avon.

North Somerset Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate Dr. Brian Mathew stepped in to support the trust's bid for cash after meeting volunteers and learning about their work. Dr. Mathew lobbied city councilors who agreed to allocate the funding on an annual basis. "

Cllr Alf Havvock (front right) Brian Mathew Lib Dem PPC for North Somerset meet up with Portishead lifeboat crew Chris Wade, Ian Lazenby and Dave Herbert.

Other photographs from the photoshoot on Sunday 21st of March with potential future Lifeboat recruit Ben Goldsmith taking the helm!

Photos by Florence Morris Photography

Pre-General Election Hustings at Gordano School

2010-02-24T00:00:00-00:00

Many thanks are due to the students and teachers of Gordano School in Portishead, where I was given the chance to debate and answer questions put by the students on Tuesday. The level of the questions asked, which ranged from Afghanistan to the economy and student debt, was very high and the future of these students is bright if they can keep up this level of questioning, enquiry and analysis. It looks like there could be some budding politicians as well!

I was at Gordano School along with Stephen Perry Hearn, the Labour candidate who has recently been appointed. Stephen is a great guy, but as I said on the day, there is a real chance at the coming General Election that the Tories can be defeated in North Somerset for the first time since the 1920’s. However for this to happen, the left of centre needs to unite. If the question then is, 'under which banner'? Then the answer has to be the Liberal Democrats, who have come second in five out of the last six General Elections in this constituency.

To use Benjamin Francolin’s analogy of the divided snake, “United we stand, divided we fall".

So Beat the Blues and Go for Gold with the Lib Dems!

Gordano School Students and Lib Dem PPC,

From left to right: Dominic Jefferies (Head Boy), Maisy Griffiths (Head Girl),

Brian Mathew, Callum Petty, Alex Reading

Celebrating 100 years of British Aviation

2010-02-22T00:00:00-00:00

Politics is not all about struggle, and I was pleased to be at the Airbus Brabazon Hanger at Filton on Friday to celebrate 100 years of British aviation history. Simon Cook the deputy Leader of the new Lib Dem Authority in Bristol, who bears a striking resemblance to Sir George White, the man who started it all, doned top hat and gave a stirring rendition of Sir George's speech, which was greeted with enough applause to almost raise the roof of the hanger!

Brian Mathew and Simon Cook in front of a Bristol Bulldog

I could not help thinking while listening to this speech, first delivered in 1910, where is the vision for Britain now? True Airbus is making greener machines than ever before, but the comapany no longer has a British stake, and there are other things that we as a country should be at the forefront of. We should be leading the world in green technology in generating energy from the tides, the waves and from the wind. We still have some of the greatest most inventive minds in the world, but with messed up patient laws our inventors are often ripped off by big business and forced abroad to turn their ideas into reality. Some may argue "thus was always the way" , but we can not aford this in the future, we have a great country and we must regain our confidence and lead the world again in finding engineering solutions for tomorrow's problems.

But enough tub thumping, Paul Harrod the Lib Dem PPC for Bristol North West and I had the chance to meet the good Ladies of Airbus who were raising funds for the Great Western Air Ambulance in the uniforms of Nurses from the First World War. Far too good a photo opportunity!

Threatened Surgeries - Latest

2010-02-20T00:00:00-00:00

Photograph from the Meeting Held at the Memorial Hall Wrington 12/02/2010 by Bob Bowen

The following speech was delivered to the North Somerset Health Overview & Scrutiny Panel on Thursday the 18^th of February, it outlines the current state of play and my own position on the issue of keeping the Wrington and Churchill Surgeries open for the people.

Ladies and gentlemen, I have been following the development of this issue since October last year, and in particular attended two public meetings called by Save Our Surgeries in Wrington last Friday and Saturday. I have found the consultation, far from inclusive, appropriate or proportionate for the community and service users. In brief, whatever happened to services following the needs of the patients?

To indicate this I would like to give you a round up of the points made during and after these two meetings:

Firstly it was acknowledged that the doctors in Wrington and Churchill have given an excellent service over the years and that the SOS campaign is about continuing this service.

The service that people need is, for the most part, for the elderly and for young mums and their children, and these services are best accessed separately in Wrington and Churchill.
The consultation process from the PCT has so far been flawed, because its whole premise has been narrowly focused, skewed towards the option of a single surgery. The option of maintaining the status quo, as presented in the document needs far greater examination.
Wrington has had a surgery for a very long time. In terms of living memory, a 98 year old villager, remembers her own house used as the surgery during the first World War. Possession is sometimes described as 9/10^ths of the law, and I would like you to think well on this. Many people moved to Wrington because it has a surgery, they and others in the village, are accustomed to this service and dependent on it, and to take it away from them, without taking into account their feelings and needs, is just plain wrong.
The proposed site at Pudding Pie Lane has a number of important drawbacks which are not considered in the review document. For example Wrington, has other services: a shop, a chemist, a dentist, an estate agent, a garage, two pubs and the village school. The Pudding Pie site has little near it apart from a school. Thus if people have to drive to reach a doctor, they may decide to register themselves at Yatton instead, where at least they can access and use other services at the same time. If people vote with their feet, the Pudding Pie site will become an expensive white elephant, and Wrington’s own services are likely to suffer or even close as a result.
There is also the problem of the heavy traffic, where Pudding Pie Lane joins the B3133, the lack of a pavement and the close proximity of the primary school, which will cause both the surgery and the school access problems at school opening and closing time, and the fact it’s a green field site, which will be lost for good if it is built on.
A further problem that has come to light concerns the proposed minibus service. Not only would this cost an estimated £25,000 a year to run, but it seems it would have no child seats and cannot carry wheel chairs. So the very people who would need the service most, could not be accommodated. If this is true it begs the question, if they can’t get this right, what else needs further detailed investigation and scrutiny?
Much of the problem of the consultation has been the lack of information passed to the people of Wrington and Churchill, with a culture of secrecy covering the whole process allowing occasional leaks. For example latest figures given at the SOS meeting, indicated that while the current notional rent paid by the PCT is £70,000 a year for the Wrington and Churchill Surgeries combined, the expected rent payable on a single surgery would be in the region of £170,000 a year. Since the PCT and the Tax payer will have to foot this bill, it is difficult to understand what the appeal of the new single surgery is. Local people don’t want it, and it would be considerably more expensive than the current arrangement. There is need for full transparency from the PCT over the details, including the actual level of costs involved, otherwise the people cannot be blamed for assuming the worst.

There was also some talk of the ‘Care Quality Commission’ requirement for better wheelchair access and privacy, and the suggestion that more space is needed to meet these new regulations than the Wrington Surgery currently offers.

The first point to make is that it seems that these regulations do not actually apply to existing buildings. However even if they do, or will do at some future date, there are still other possible solutions which would allow the people of Wrington and Churchill to keep their surgeries. In the case of Yatton and Congresbury for example, two surgeries are being maintained, with Yatton Surgery being extended vertically to provide extra space. At Wrington the extra space could be achieved by either building outwards, or upwards. Likewise Churchill surgery could be expanded – the Churchill Parish Council has said it is willing to extend the lease of the land on which the surgery is built, and it may be willing to lease more land for the extension of the surgery.

Another possible solution arose in informal discussions in which SOS members and two members of the PCT participated after the Friday meeting, this concerned Blagdon and went as follows:

Many people from Blagdon use the surgery at Wrington. Blagdon used to have a part time surgery of its own. The NHS says all villages should have good access to health care. So why not re-open a surgery in Blagdon on a full time basis in rented accommodation, and move one of the Wrington Doctors there? This would be considerably cheaper than building a new surgery and it would not only free up space in Wrington for the changes that are needed, but provide the people of Blagdon with a surgery that many in Blagdon could visit without getting into a car. For the other services the PCT wants to provide, the new cottage hospital in Clevedon can offer a home.
And for other private services, such as chiropody, which used to be provided under the NHS, these can be accessed as they currently are with home visits and regular sessions at existing facilities.

The PCT has got it wrong so far, because its so called ‘vision’ has not taken into account the vision of local people, who quite simply want a service that they can access, as they have done for at least the last one hundred years.

The PCT, if it continues on this course, is in danger of enforcing a model of care that the people don’t want. As was said several times by different people during the meeting, “doctors should come to the people, not people to the doctors”, the people are the purpose of the surgery not vice versa.

One local nurse and mother put it very clearly, when she said “If your village surgery is not sacred, what is?”

The Liberal Democrat position is that local people should be involved in making decisions over the running and planning of their health care facilities. The people of Wrington and Churchill are attempting to do this and I feel it my duty to help them in this process.

Thank you.

Dr. Brian Mathew,

Lib Dem PPC North Somerset.

Brian Mathew, addressing the SOS meeting in Wrington. Photo by Bob Bowen

Even the snow men are against the pylons!

2010-01-13T10:35:30-00:00

My letter to National Grid

2010-01-12T00:00:00-00:00

Dear National Grid,

I find your so called consultation a sham because it simply has not provided enough information on other options than Mega Pylons sited on a number of routes for the transmission of electricity from the proposed new Nuclear Power station Hinkley Point C. It has been a request for residents to chose between two least favoured options, as one person at one of the many public protest meetings described it as "a choice put to a vegitarian over whether to have chicken or beef".

Quite simply this is not a consultation but a sham and the process should be started again with all options including under ground or undersea, with or without use of super conducting cables fully costed and presented. The long term amenity costs to the general public living in the area should also be included, including the loss of value to house prices, the estimated losses to income generation from tourism in the area, the cost in terms of human health and reduced life expectancy, and the cost of having to look at theses unsightly pylons for the next 80 years.

Another issue that has not been taken into account by your consultation is the likely need for further additions to the grid in future years when a probable tidal barrage system is built. I believe that a buried super conducting powergrid cable would have the capacity to carry continual increases in current without the need for further lines to be buried. There would thus seem to be the need for a fully thought out strategic review of the UK national grid for the 21stC and beyond, I venture to suggest that if super conducting cables are to be a part of this, then the time to start this switchover is fast approaching, and where better to start than on the Hinkley Point C project?

Regards
Dr. Brian Mathew
Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for North Somerset

With Yatton Against Pylons

With Save Our Valley in Nailsea

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND AN ELECTION WINNING NEW YEAR!

2009-12-24T00:00:00-00:00

Candle lit vigil against climate change

2009-12-07T00:00:00-00:00

We are holding a vigil to stop climate change. This is part of a string of events happening across the UK and the World headed off by the WAVE demonstration which is being held in London on Saturday the 5th of December to encourage our leaders to take the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change seriously.

The plan is to assemble on the evening of Monday the 7th of December for an hour from 6pm to 7pm in the square in front of the Waitrose Supermarket Cafe in Portishead. Bring a candle and a friend.

At 7.30pm following the vigil I will be giving a talk on the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe at the Ship Inn, Portishead, all are welcome.

'Consultation' Who are you kidding National Grid?

2009-11-25T13:30:00-00:00

The National Grid's "Consultation" over the pylon issue for North Somerset,
is like some ghastly timeshare sales pitch. "Please tell us which option you
prefer and why?" Our dilemma: Corridor '1' (wrong location, ill-considered,
not value for money) or Corridor '2' (wrong location, ill-considered, not
value for money)? In the National Grid's exercise in sham democracy, there
isn't a 'none of the above' option and we need one.

This whole exercise is designed to split our community right down the
middle, setting one side against another. The time has come to stand
together as one.

Using 1950's technology for a 21st Century project is unacceptable. There
are other very real alternatives for example:

1) Using cables to go under the Severn

2) Putting the lines underground as they do with gas;

3) If super conducting cables were used, as they are now being in the USA
and parts of Europe, a three foot wide trench could be dug along the side of
the M5, and there would be energy savings to boot!

National Grid cite the costs of alternatives as being between 12 and 17
times more expensive. Other evidence from the USA would suggest the real
cost would be somewhere between 5 and 10 times more, and with new technology
options becoming cheaper every day, who is to say what the difference will
be in five to ten years time, when the new power line will actually be
needed (remember they have not started work on the new nuclear power
stations yet and the actual installation of the transmission line would take
less than 18 months).

But this issue is not just about short term money considerations, the
proposed powerlines are so high (46.5 metres) that they will need lights
running down the side to prevent aircraft from Bristol Airport flying into
them, and they will be up for so long (80 years life expectancy), that they
will blight the view both by day and night for generations to come.

The beauty of an underground superconductor cable system would be that it
would not only remain hidden, but the transmission of power from future
expansion of energy in the South West (from renewable resources such as the
Severn and new as yet to be built wind farms and tidal stream generators)
could with ease be accommodated in a super conducting cable. Super
conducting cables are also massively more efficient something that is of
great importance when we think of global warming and the need to conserve
and use energy wisely.

The proposed 1950's mega pylons will by comparison 'heat the air' and will
be suited to the needs of the expanded EDF nuclear power station at Hinkley
Point and nothing else.

There are also health concerns, the power carried by the proposed pylons
leaps from 132,000 volts carried in existing lines in the area to 400,000
volts. Worries over health are swept away as a statistical blip - earnest
reassurance is given by the National Grid 'electricity pylons won't cause
any harm to nearby residents or children in adjacent schoolrooms', and those
professional critics who report a higher incidence of cancer and leukaemia
near pylons are dismissed as unreliable nutters.

Infrastructure projects, if they are large enough to be taken out of the
local planning process, are certainly large enough to deserve serious
consideration of how best to minimize the damage to the local environment
and serious investment in solutions which are acceptable to local people.

National Grid's consultation should be a consultation. It should give us
all the information we need to make an informed decision. We need to be
able to choose: to know how long the routes are, and what the real costs
are if National Grid put the power lines underwater in the Bristol Channel,
on land alongside the M5 corridor, underground along National Grid's
favoured routes, or overland on those routes as they currently propose. We
all need to consider the options, but we're denied that chance. Ultimately,
we are going to pay for this; so will our children, and their children's
children.

This is not a consultation. It's an imposition. Think again, National Grid
and come back to us with some real alternatives.

Brian Mathew

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate

North Somerset

07771607983

Climate Change

2009-10-19T21:42:00-00:00

Last week I was invited to two climate change events, one entitled 'Operation Noah' at Southwark Cathedral with Rowan Williams the Arch Bishop of Canterbury and one in Bristol with OXFAM, Stop the Climate Chaos Coalition and Climate 350.org. The later a campaign to get CO2 down to 350 parts per million in the atmosphere, Currently we are just below 400ppm and rising fast (up from around 280 ppm in 1800)

The implications of Climate change are potentially terrifying if we don't get on and do something soon to reduce our own and global levels of CO2 production. While I was in Zimbabwe I took with me James Lovelock's latest and, by his own admission probably his last book, 'The vanishing face of Gaia, A Final Warning'. In this book Lovelock castigates the IPCC for basing its findings on concensus rather than science. With the scope of opinion ranging from climate change deniers on one side to James Lovelock on the other and the IPPC somewhere in the middle, it is deeply worrying to find the Met Office's own latest predictions are closer to Lovelock's than even the IPCC's.

At the Bristol event, I met Elvis Sukali one of OXFAM's team in Malawi who said “Climate change is having a huge effect on Malawi. Malawians rely on rain to grow food for the family and to earn money to pay for vital goods such as medicines and the foodstuffs they cannot grow. The rain is now so unpredictable that people’s livelihoods and lives are at risk.”

So the next question is what to do about it? There is a lot we can all do at home straight away by switching off lights when we don't need them on, keeping the heat down and generally conserving energy. But there is even more our Government could be doing and that's why OXFAM and the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition is organising a big rally called "The Wave" in London on the 5th of December. So come on and join the demo and make your voice heared loud and clear! I'll see you there...

See the flyer below:

Felton Village raises £350 for WaterAid

2009-09-27T00:00:00-00:00

I was kindly asked by the good folk at Felton Village Church to give a talk on the cholera situation in Zimbabwe at their annual Harvest Festival Service and Supper. The collection from the service and the sale of the harvest fruits netted £350 and the Church community decided to give the money to WaterAid, where it will be used to help communities gain access to safe water and sanitation facilities in the developing World. A Big Thank you to Felton!

Brian Mathew with Rev. Paul Stephens and his wife Lesley at the fund raising Harvest supper at Felton Village Hall, North Somerset

Save Our Surgeries!

2009-09-06T00:00:00-00:00

This should be a rallying cry to go up across the length and breadth of the UK, in a campaign to keep GP services local and stop the current government’s drive for centralised ‘polyclinics’ in whatever guise they may come. Wrington is facing a battle with the PCT to keep its surgery, and all who care about the need to keep services local should come out and applaud the people of Wrington in their effort to keep their surgery open.

Last week I attended a meeting of the Wrington Save Our Surgery (SOS) group, and I was appalled to hear of the shenanigans and apparent mis-information being used by the PCT to justify the closure of the surgery.

The Wrington Surgery (see below) is a modern building complete with solar water heating, it was built less than twenty years ago and it is clearly valued by the residents of Wrington, 580 of whom have signed a petition to keep the place open, with signs up in the local shops in the high street.

Local opinion seems to be that some of the current GPs, who are approaching retirement age, would like to cash in their stake, and that the PCT has a directive from Whitehall that ‘bigger is better’. Liam Fox M.P. seemed to start off by backing the good people of Wrington, then appeared to have changed his mind in favour of closing the surgery and now he's launched a survey. Well Dr. Fox, I think you will find the people have already spoken!

In the mean time the 'consultation' continues, so lets make sure the people's voice is really heard and the surgery is saved.

Centralising surgeries and making people travel further to get the doctor is an out of date idea even before it has been put into action. One thing is certain, fuel is going to get more expensive, and climate change really does mean that we should all be walking and using bicycles more, and using our cars less. I say support the people of Wrington to keep their surgery open! And then let’s have a proper re-think of how we improve what we have, rather than spending 3 million pounds of tax payer’s money (even if it is spread over ten years) on something that is not wanted and not needed.

Brian at Wrington Surgery

Signs up in a local shop window

The people of Wrington demonstrate to keep their surgery (http://www.soswringtonvale.org.uk/)

In a time of cholera

2009-08-03T00:00:00-00:00

Dr.Brian Mathew the Lib Dems’ Parliamentary Candidate for North Somerset returned from Zimbabwe at the weekend.

His project with UNICEF and Care International has managed to bring clean safe water to 70 communities in the dry south East of the Country. Brian said “we have managed to get over 100,000 hygiene kits out to families to help them collect and purify water and also oral rehydration solution packs to the clinics and village health workers in the area as we are expecting a second epidemic later in the year when the weather starts to warm up”.

“In one village called Mukore, the village pump had been out of action for around three years with as many as a thousand villagers walking a considerable distance to neighbouring villages or a river to obtain their water. The cholera epidemic hit Mukore particularly hard with 343 cases and 49 deaths. CARE with the pump minder team repaired the Mukore Borehole. It was a tough job and it took three days to fish the broken pipes out of the borehole and fit the new pump, but the people were so very happy when the work was done”.

Since the work was completed at the village, Victoria Manjengwa the local Environmental Health Technician has started four health education clubs in the villages around Mukure after being trained by CARE. As a result as many as 100 participants are attending each session and the messages are getting out about washing hands and drinking only safe water.

Brian is now back in North Somerset and looking forward to taking on the Tories at the next general election. On local issues he said "it seems amalgamation seems to be the name of the game with North Somerset Council, anything to save costs without a thought to the consequences, we need local services for local people, whether that’s for schools or for doctor’s surgeries, there does not seem to be much difference between the Tories at the Town Hall or the Government in Whitehall!"

If you want to support CARE International’s work their address is

CARE International UK
10-13 Rushworth Street
London
SE1 0RB
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)207 934 9334

Pictures from Zimbabwe

2009-06-06T00:00:00-00:00

Dear All,

They say 'a picture paints a thousand words', and from Simbarevanhu School in Bikita district, Zimbabwe some photographs showing where the CARE team with the local 'pump minders' and with funding from UNICEF, have just rehabilitated the school borehole pump.... too good not to send on to you all...

Best wishes Brian