‘The Commission has made clear to the trustees their legal and regulatory responsibilities and that the Charity’s current activities must cease immediately.’
– Charity Commission Regulatory Case Report: The Atlantic Bridge

Regular readers will be well aware of my one man campaign against the Atlantic Bridge, a charity established by defence secretary Dr Liam Fox to promote the ‘special relationship as exemplified by the Reagan-Thatcher partnership’ that includes on its advisory council William Hague, George Osborne, Michael Gove, Chris Grayling, and other senior Conservatives.

The Charity Commission published its report earlier today. The good news is that the Atlantic Bridge was found guilty of being party political. It also failed the public benefit test because its work was found to be insufficiently educational (promotes a pre-determined point-of-view) and its events are not sufficiently open to the public. Despite this it retains it charitable status. Its punishment is to be given twelve months to get its act together.

That’s a great outcome for Liam Fox who registered the Atlantic Bridge as a charity in 2003 and has made no attempt to hide its political affiliations. The Atlantic Bridge achieved charitable status by claiming to be an educational trust, but in place of education has sponsored predominantly private events at which senior Conservatives – including present cabinet ministers – and their US allies may bond behind closed doors.

Throughout this period, it has enjoyed tax exempt status and so its activities have been subsidised by the taxpayer.

These activities have included promoting a book by William Hague, subsidising a dinner for Tory MPs with a Fox News film reviewer in LA and sponsoring trips by Tory MPs to neo-Conservative think tanks in Washington DC.

The Charity Commission has now agreed to turn a blind eye to all of this, if the Atlantic Bridge agrees to comply with the law within the next 12 months. In no other arena would such a blatant disregard for the law go unpunished.
Posts on the Atlantic Bridge are collected here.

Originally released in 1951, you can’t help but notice that it is in glorious Technicolor, the heavily saturated colours reminding the viewer of a young lady who’s overdone the fake tan. The contrast must have been so much greater for the audience of the day, which was still used to seeing so much in black and white. That’s not to say that star of the show Ava Gardner isn’t looking wonderful (if a little out of focus); she is the the most wonderful femme fatale, for whom absolutely every man must fall.

The film is very much of a time before film acting had really taken off and depends heavily on its narrator. So we feel we are having a story read to us and are continually told what the characters are thinking and feeling rather than shown.

So its curiosity, but a curiosity worth spending a couple of hours with.

But what must particularly please Osborne is that he’s been able to push his ideological agenda, setting a course to shrink the size of state, claiming there are some functions the state can no longer perform.

The Tories have proved adept at exaggerating the country’s economic woes in order to achieve a level of reform of which Thatcher could only dream. The Institute for Fiscal Studies ran the numbers and found that the VAT rise is not unavoidable. But the Lib Dems appear to be in awe of their Conservative partners. Nick Clegg claimed the budget was progressive.

George Osborne is an ideologue and there is nothing wrong with that. Politicians should have a clear idea of the kind of society they’d want to create. They should have an ideal and have a route in mind.

But the Lib Dems have lost their way. They have become a party of pavement politicians, building a movement of oppositionists by pounding streets with ‘crumble sheets’ to find out what people don’t like and playing their whinges back to them. In this way any core beliefs have diluted to such an extent they have lost all their influence.

Thrust into power they are delighted and relieved to be allied to a Conservative Party brimming with ideas. But they need George to reassure them that he’s just a pragmatist who doesn’t really believe in anything too.

Nick Clegg’s original proposal for fixed term parliaments was a blatant gerrymander and I’ve outlined my fear that his proposals for the Alternative Vote are another gerrymander on Labour List.

The coalition government has so far cherry picked half-hearted constitutional reforms that serve its narrow interests without regard to any long-term consequences.

The revised proposal is a genuine reform. Setting the threshold for a dissolution vote at two-thirds, makes it very unlikely the prime minster of the day would be able to call an election to suit his or her own agenda, while the two-week time limit protects against a zombie parliament.

This also shows that if pressure is applied in the right way, the coalition government can be forced to democratise its proposals.

The Alternative Vote is not a system of proportional representation. It may create more Lib Dems, but Electoral Society projections show it won’t help smaller parties. And the Conservatives obviously like the idea of reducing the number of MPs in places they can’t win like Scotland, Wales and inner cities.

Yet the Take Back Parliament campaign, a coalition of groups that have supported constitutional reform for many years shows no sign of lobbying for a system of proportional representation. When I challenged Unlock Democracy’s Peter Facey, it was clear he hadn’t thought any of this through. They seem strangely content to sign up for a reforms specifically designed to benefit the coalition parties alone.

A great, once in lifetime opportunity to democratise our electoral system is about to missed.

Whatever you order, expect to start with a huge plate of coleslaw and some not very fresh bread. Everything seems to come with a huge slop of almost liquid mashed potato and a tiny portion of green beans that have been boiled to the point of disintegration (i.e. shit on a plate). To compensate for the poor quality, the portions are enormous. In this way it seems to sum-up America’s relationship with food: cook it very simply, serve it very large and price it very cheap.

All this is a great shame because, while the food is barely edible, the Original Pantry Cafe does have a great atmosphere. Perhaps if we’d tried breakfast rather dinner, we’d have been more easily satisfied.
Tag: USA2010. Written 20 June 2010.

And yet we’re all the more determined to visit Los Angeles again. It needs more than a just a few nights and the more you work at it, the more it rewards you.

A downtown boutique hotel, the O Hotel is a trendy little establishment of just 67 well appointed, if a little small, rooms. It’s all done very well, except that the hallways are a little bit Travelodge.

Preferring to explore, we don’t usually eat in the hotel, but Downtown is actually very quiet after about 10.30pm and the all night diners are crap. The O had a very well presented contemporary menu served in a bar that may be just a tad self-concious. Their take on bread and butter pudding is particularly worth a mention. Peanut butter and jam sandwiches have never taken off this side of the Atlantic, but having tried the combination some years ago, I am now occasionally struck down by a craving. And bread and butter pudding has always been the king of traditional English deserts. So O Hotel’s bread and butter pudding with peanut butter and blackberry jam served with banana ice cream was a must. It did not disappoint and it’s worth booking a stay here for this pudding alone.
Tag: USA2010. Written 20 June 2010.

Kelso grew rapidly in the early days of the railroad. Very long trains still pass through, but they no longer need to stop off to secure the assistance of helper engines to get them over the mountains. The end of mining nearby is another reason the town become redundant, although it wasn’t completely depopulated until the mid-1980s. All this is interesting enough, but Kelso is not particularly exciting in itself, especially compared with the ghost town of Bodie (more on this later).

The Mojave National Preserve is most interesting for its natural wonders of which the Kelso Dunes most appealed and are probably easiest to take in en route from Vegas to LA.

The views to be gained high up in this vast expanse of near perfect sand are glorious, but what was particularly special on the day we visited was that the Kelso Dunes were singing. The Dunes are only loosely held together by various grasses and the sands are easily moved by the wind to create an ever changing landscape. As wind and sand moves through the grass, various sounds are created which occasionally harmonise.

To hear the Kelso Dunes sing is supposed to bring good luck, but about an hour-and-a-half into our resumed journey to Los Angeles, we had a tyre blow out. Given the appalling state of California’s highways this was not that great a surprise and we had to limp the rest of the way on a speed limiting space saver  tyre.
Tag: USA2010. Written 20 June 2010.

Positioned behind Fashion Show Mall, just after a bend in Las Vegas Boulevard it offers the most perfect view of Paradise, Nevada from the Venetian south.

The Trump positions itself as a non-gaming sanctuary and so unlike other significant Las Vegas hotels is not a tourist attraction in itself. That is a plus because it is not just the scale of Las Vegas hotels that can make it hard to feel at home, but that you find yourself in a public place where your swimming pool, for example, is served by a bar populated mostly by non-residents. This certainly helped to ensure that the breakfast we had at the DJT restaurant was the best of the trip (and regular readers will know how much I love breakfast).

Naturally, our relatively modest mountain view suite was a fantastic place, with a substantial living area, (unused) kitchenette and a good size bathroom with twin sinks, spa tub etcetera. One is never short of a towel at the Trump. Towels of all sizes are piled high throughout the suites and in the fitness room every machine has its own towel, which did seem a tad excessive, but hey!

My deep tissue massage was great after our ten hour flight, but I felt the spa was let down just a touch by the vanity area. It’s nice to lay on free razors, deodorant, aftershave etcetera. But not cheap ineffective disposable razors, industrial size cans of Right Guard and down market aftershaves. These items were out of place and jarred with the experience.
Tag: USA2010. Written 16 June 2010.

The problem is that the story is predicable, with protagonist — ‘I told them I was from the jar head clan’ — on a journey with a very obvious conclusion and a cast of stereotypes. An hour in you suddenly become aware that there another two hours to go and nothing of significance has happened yet.

Some reviewers have been less than generous, but while it’s true there are no particularly great surprises, I felt it was well made and well paced. The film very much depends on Martijn Lakemeier’s Michiel and fortunately he makes for a convincing fourteen year-old slowly robbed of his naivety.

The problem with this film is that the underlying story was just too feeble, as was the character and back story development. This wasn’t entirely due to a lack of effort. There is clearly an intention to develop an overarching narrative to sustain several films, with more than a hint of other forces and conspiracies.

In the end though the temptation to go for spectacle above all else prevailed, resulting in an enjoyable but, on reflection, empty experience.

In the event that ‘all around are gripped with World Cup fever’ we should be asking the Lord for ‘the gift of sympathy’. Stuff that.

Surely the appeal of a tournament like the world cup is that it allows those who feel the need to let off a little steam, indulge their tribalistic side and behave is a quasi-racist way without doing any real harm. Who on earth wants to experience ‘common humanity and a growing attitude of generous sportsmanship to others’?

No. We want to win. And to win big. At any cost. And we want to humiliate our opponents. Having indulged that emotion, we can then return to being reasonable, considerate human beings.

‘We are not in Afghanistan for the sake of the education policy in a broken 13th-century country. We are there so the people of Britain and our global interests are not threatened.’
– Liam Fox, Defence Secretary

It’s no great surprise that Liam Fox has sought to present himself as ‘a guarantor for the Conservative Right’ in the new coalition.

He’ll delight many Tories with that pitch, given that the Lib Dems have somehow bagged the chairs of more than half the cabinet committees where ministers hammer out the detail of government policy. It can’t be long before every Lib Dem MP is a minister — good for them — and perhaps Cameron really is delighted to be able to neuter the Tory right. When the Conservatives swing back to the right, as they surely will, Fox will be hoping to lead the right against the Lib Cons and later lead the party.

Yet his comments on Afghanistan, in which he belittles nation building, show that he is a man of little vision. He is right that Britain cannot be the world’s policeman and it follows that we are even less able to run the world’s schools, but he fails to recognise that poverty and ignorance are radicalism’s greatest allies. Educated, wealthy peoples do not go looking for wars that will take them back to the thirteenth century (or whether it is Fox finds Afghanistan).

We can’t fix everywhere, but we need to do all we can with Afghanistan. Afghanistan really is home to a band of ultra-conservatives who think bringing down liberal democracy is a religious duty.

Reading Fox, one can’t help but remember that he is the founder of the Atlantic Bridge, a think tank originally established with the ‘simple aim of “Strengthening the Special Relationship” exemplified by the Reagan-Thatcher partnership of the 1980s’. So what would Thatcher do? Thatcher was no nation builder. She preferred to use the overseas aid budget to support the career of her arms dealer son, a man who may not enter the USA because he has been convicted of a terrorism related offence.

Fox’s belittling nation building in Afghanistan further confirms that he remains a simple Thatcherite. Those who believe that there is no such thing as society simply cannot see the need to build it up.

I know my travel company is obliged to look after me, but there’s always a chance they’ll try to do a Ryanair. With insurers assuming airlines will do the right thing, a little ash could be expensive.

So well done to Paddy Power and their Volcanic Ash holiday protection product. Insurance has always been a posh word for betting after all; we have to bet we’ll crash the car and hope we won’t win.

I’m going to bet a few quid that I can’t fly back from Las Vegas, which seems fitting, so should the worst happen I’ll at least have some spending money.

So go on, have a flutter on not making it home, it’s just another form of holiday insurance.
Update: I should have added that if you follow the links from this page (which Paddy Power have paid for) you’ll get a free £20 bet.

They point out that the Scottish Parliament requires a two-thirds majority. This is true. But it is also true that the Scottish Parliament has 28 days to select a First Minister or be dissolved. Moreover, the First Minister cannot succeed to office without securing a simple majority of Members of the Scottish Parliament; it would be possible for a simple, but determined, majority of MSPs to force a dissolution.

This flags up an important difference between the UK and Scottish parliaments. The Scottish Parliament appoints the First Minster, but the Prime Minster is appointed by the Queen.

If the current coalition were to fail, either because the Lib Dems pulled out or were sacked by David Cameron using powers reserved to him, the 55 per cent rule would protect the new minority Conservative government from dissolution. A simple majority of MPs could pass a vote of no confidence in that administration, but it is unclear what effect that would have.

The danger to our democracy is that the Queen would be forced to decide on Cameron’s successor and that this process would lead to a politicisation of the monarchy.

Amazingly, Peter Facey is unconcerned by the unintended consequence of rushing through poorly thought out legislation for fixed term parliaments without consultation. By text he writes; ‘Under convention the person she feels can command support in the House. This what nearly happened in Canada last year. I agree we need better rules, but you don’t get them by doing nothing.’

But bad legislation may not be better than nothing, especially when 55 percent would often be too low to stop the PM at the head of a majority government from dissolving parliament to suit party interest. That the Tories have 47 percent of the seats in parliament, just enough to block dissolution, is especially suspicious and makes this look like legislation designed with just this election result in mind.

By email Peter Facey says:

‘Stephen
We have already proposed prior to the election along with organisations like Democratic Audit that the PM should be elected by Parliament rather than use the Queens Speech as the way of confirming a government.
What you are pointing out is the difficulty of our unwritten constitution that depends on convention.
Peter’

This is a so what. The current proposal appears not to include a reduced role for the monarch and a PM elected by parliament. It is unlikely the Conservatives would support a move against the monarchy.

Removing incumbent Prime Ministers’ ability to call an election at a time to suit themselves is desirable, but we must be alert to the unintended consequences of such a move. A politicised monarchy is too high a price to pay. Given that neither our upper chamber nor head of state are elected, it appears we simply don’t have the democratic infrastructure to support fixed term parliaments.