Pope will receive hand delivered copy of RTT (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)
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Baroness Warsi agrees to deliver RTT's Pope visit edition to the man himself
1:00pm Friday 10th February 2012 in Richmond News By Christine Fleming
RTT reader: Baroness Warsi peruses last week's edition
The Pope looks set to receive his very own copy of the Richmond and Twickenham Times's (RTT) special edition "Popewatch" newspaper which documents his visit to Twickenham last year.
Baroness Warsi, who is headed to the Vatican next week, agreed to take the special delivery to the Pope after popping into the RTT office to chat to reporters on Thursday, February 9.
Baroness Warsi visited the borough to lend her support to Boris Johnson before this summer’s elections for London Mayor.
She said: "There’s so much happening in London this year that the face of London and who represents London is going to be so relevant and I think, and this is not just party politics, what Ken represents is not the face of London.
“This is not a personal thing but I think Ken represents the past and Boris represents the vibrancy, the excitement, the diversity, the fun and yet the steely determination to see things through.”
She also added that Mr Johnson's conflicts with the Government were “right and healthy”.
While on the stump in Richmond Baroness Warsi also talked about how impressed she was by the borough's newest MP Zac Goldsmith.
She said: "I think Zac is a great guy. I’ve known him for many, many years and he is one of the guys I would consider to be a great friend. We talk about lots of things other than politics.
“With Zac you will find across political parties he is seen as a thoroughly decent and committed politician.
“You see it in his constituency and also in Westminster."
She went on to add: “I see a huge future for him in politics but that’s going to be his decision.
“He’s a passionate politician who is deeply committed to policy areas.”
Comments(36)
ken elmes
says...
4:29pm Fri 10 Feb 12
jeremyhm
says...
9:43am Sat 11 Feb 12
metis
says...
11:05am Sat 11 Feb 12
The HS2 that no-one wants, yet is supported by all the main parties - Yes that is an EU idea under the TENT proposals. Camerons little jaunt to the Nordic countries & comes back spouting about female quotas in boardrooms - another EU directive in the pipeline.
Gareth Roberts
says...
2:48pm Sat 11 Feb 12
Whereas on the one occasion Baroness Warsi put herself before the electorate she not only lost (Dewsbury 2005) but she managed to actually reverse what was a national trend towards the Conservatives at that election and the Labour party increased their majority.
RiverLover
says...
2:58pm Sat 11 Feb 12
Gareth Roberts
says...
5:47pm Sat 11 Feb 12
I might, however, be minded to be warmer towards those Conservative Cabinet Members who have earned their place around the table by first earning a place in the House of Commons.
jeremyhm
says...
12:13pm Sun 12 Feb 12
No thank you.
Gareth Roberts
says...
1:32pm Sun 12 Feb 12
metis
says...
2:51pm Sun 12 Feb 12
Some of the above have far more power and influence over our daily lives than any of the boys and girls in the Cabinet. If you still believe we are a Soverign Nation with the rights of self-determination - you are seriously deluded. But then delusion has always been part of the programme.
alex twickenham
says...
4:23pm Mon 13 Feb 12
.
Which brings me to another of the chosen few, our very own Stephen Knight, someone who, judging by his CV has never done anything other than LibDem politics and is now leader of the LibDems on our Council. Stephen is No:2 on the LibDem list, it's an arcane method of ensuring that minor parties are guaranteed representation on the Greater London Assembly - no election traumas for him this time unlike 4 years ago when he was trounced by Tony Arbour, unlike his colleague Munira Wilson who has to fight for her seat. His votes come from his party cronies as Gareth so eloquently describes it.
Even though the Mayor holds real power, I wonder whether Gareth has a view on the fairness and democracy of that cosy arrangement?
Alex
Gareth Roberts
says...
6:36pm Mon 13 Feb 12
I seem to recall that we may have been into this one before regarding Tony's Trouncing - if I recall correctly he benefitted more from a Boris Bounce and a Ken Crumble than a surge of support for him personally. Don't forget that he saw a 2.4% drop in 2004 and had only saw his majority almost halved. We'll see how he fairs this year.
Now the list system. Well the list system ensures a degree of proportional representation in the Assembly chamber . It's not quite fair to say that those people who are on lists don't get a mandate as if people weren't putting their cross against the party names then they wouldn't get elected. And of course within each party then there is an election to ensure that the order of the list is decided.
Now if Nick Clegg took Stephen to one side and said 'Here you go old boy' then that would be entirely different but there was a fair and square internal election for the list and if the Lib Dems didn't get the votes at the election then we wouldn't get any list seats.
So not quite the same thing.
alex twickenham
says...
9:33pm Mon 13 Feb 12
As to Stephen Knight - believe what you will Gareth. From a personal point of view, I am extremely dissatisfied by the prospect of being represented by him on the GLA without having an opportunity to vote for or against his "election". I note that he is Treasurer of "Liberal Left" so perhaps this freebee GLA seat is payback for his party loyalty - who would know? Another of LL's senior members is Jenny Tonge who was briefly my MP. Not an experience I wish to repeat.
Sorry Gareth, nice try but it looks like jobs for the boys of whichever party to me. Your party, as the perennial runt in the playground appears to play dirtier than the others and is most willing to sacrifice principles for a sniff of power. It will probably cost you dear - you can huff and puff about psephological trends, Ken Crumble's and Boris Bounces as much as you like - the simple bottom line is that Knight lost - by a very large margin and would probably have done so again. Good for Munira Wilson - I hope she improves on his vote, she seems to be working hard for it.
Alex
PS: What about Brian Paddick? Perhaps Gareth could tell us why we should vote for him.
Gareth Roberts
says...
8:13am Tue 14 Feb 12
Now back to Baroness Warsi I read in today's press that not only is she going to the Vatican, she's heading the delegation. A delegation comprising not only of ministers but of Secretaries of State. Surely this is troubling on many levels - 1) she is unelected and only has her cabinet position through cronyism. 2) Her official position within the cabinet is Joint Chairman of The Conservative Party. Is that who we have representing us these days on our official visits?
jeremyhm
says...
10:19am Tue 14 Feb 12
Gareth Roberts
says...
11:19am Tue 14 Feb 12
jeremyhm
says...
11:29am Tue 14 Feb 12
Incidentally, I should add that I cancel that opinion as far as professional economists are concerned.
Gareth Roberts
says...
11:44am Tue 14 Feb 12
It was you who introduced the doctor and mechanic motif and the went on to say, and I quote "Why not - shock, horror - choose the best qualified person to help the Government operate, as they do in the USA for example, irrespective of whether they have been elected by popular vote?"
No putting words in mouth there - a straight quote entirely in context.
Gareth Roberts
says...
11:46am Tue 14 Feb 12
alex twickenham
says...
12:37pm Tue 14 Feb 12
"Huffing and Puffing if you like, Alex, but if you wish to attribute an upturn of nearlly 25,000 entirely down to the charm and charisma of Tony Arbour (an oxymoronic phrase if ever I wrote one) then you go ahead. You'll look pretty foolish but there you are."
.
I have never suggested that Tony Arbour's charm or charisma had anything to do with his electoral success but the implication is that I have and more fool me! Voila! Gareth simply can't help himself from trying to belittle those who oppose him - that's a serious weakness in a politician. Let's hope he remains confined to Hampton.
I'm also baffled why he is so obsessed with Baroness Warsi leading the delegation - is there some sort of coalition spat ongoing which we poor plebs are mercifully unaware of?
Alex
PS: The "interesting diversion into GLA Elections" which he refers to was about the freebee seat that Stephen Knight is about to slither onto - no wonder Gareth prefers not to dwell on that too much.
Gareth Roberts
says...
12:54pm Tue 14 Feb 12
No words in mouths there either!
However, rational people may well infer from your dismissal of the Boris Bounce and Ken Crumble as 'huffing and puffing' that you had an alternative explanation for Tony's sudden 'popularity'.
Or perhaps a contribution to the subject in hand?
alex twickenham
says...
1:30pm Tue 14 Feb 12
As to Tony Arbour's sudden popularity - I don't think it had anything to do with him but reflected local dissatisfaction with the LibDem party and their candidate who now knows he has no chance of being elected so chooses another easier way of getting a GLA seat.
After telling me how stupid I am, Gareth goes on to chide me for veering off subject thus: "Or perhaps a contribution to the subject in hand?"
I thought this was on subject but, needless to say, I didn't get a response: "I'm also baffled why he is so obsessed with Baroness Warsi leading the delegation - is there some sort of coalition spat ongoing which we poor plebs are mercifully unaware of?
Alex
jeremyhm
says...
5:48pm Tue 14 Feb 12
Gareth Roberts
says...
6:10pm Tue 14 Feb 12
alex twickenham
says...
7:03pm Tue 14 Feb 12
"I'm also baffled why he is so obsessed with Baroness Warsi leading the delegation - is there some sort of coalition spat ongoing which we poor plebs are mercifully unaware of?"
Let's not forget that Gareth Roberts is a LibDem Councillor and deserves our respect for putting his head above the parapet on these pages - whatever his motive.
The party dogma which he pumps out is relentless and tiresome but he occasionally makes some very good points - if only he could play down the former and up the latter he might do his party a lot more good.
Perhaps, like a good bottle of wine, he will mature with age and become a valuable asset.
Any chance of an answer to my question?
Alex
Gareth Roberts
says...
9:28pm Tue 14 Feb 12
jeremyhm
says...
8:59am Wed 15 Feb 12
Gareth Roberts
says...
10:38am Wed 15 Feb 12
That an unelected party hack (and that's exactly what she is - the worst sort who would argue Purple is is green if she was briefed to do so) should be leading this delegation when elected representatives are in attendance is, in my opinion, entirely wrong.
And what if she has a personal faith? One assumes she is not unique among the delegation in that respect.
RiverLover
says...
10:55am Wed 15 Feb 12
btw: Is this 'Papal' edition of the R&TT for all of us and if so when will it be available?
Gareth Roberts
says...
11:12am Wed 15 Feb 12
However I don't think its ok to so lightly dismiss the point as being 'the only gripe'
Yes it is bad enough that she is unelected but surely the fact that the only claim she has to a cabinet post is that she is the joint Chairman of The Conservative Party is cause for concern. That's a disquieting muddling of party politics and diplomacy as far as I'm concerned.
alex twickenham
says...
11:34am Wed 15 Feb 12
A couple of observations from me: 1. Gareth seems to have taken to using capital letters to emphasise his point - silly move, it only reminds us of Nigel Wise who was addicted to them. 2. Despite his protestations to the contrary, he does seem to have a bit of a beef with Baroness Warsi - I wonder how she upset him so much?
Alex.
PS: An interesting comment from Mark Steel in today's Independent - depending on your point of view.
Gareth Roberts
says...
12:06pm Wed 15 Feb 12
Upper Case? Well it isn't the most elegant way of communicating I'll grant you but we're rather limited by the format. No italics, no bold, no underlining.
And when did I say I don't have a beef with Baroness Warsi. I have an enormous beef with her enjoying a position of power and influence within the cabinet for no other reason than she's the party chairman. Plus I think she's a lousy politician but that's more of a professional critique than a personal one.
alex twickenham
says...
2:55pm Wed 15 Feb 12
I'm surprised that Gareth was so vitriolic and chose not to apologize to jeremyhm. Par for the course.
I'm not a "party hack" - although I am opposed to the local LibDems, so, I suppose, in their somewhat blinkered vision, I must be a Tory - I'm not, but as they keep telling me, I have no other choice! Sadly, they are absolutely right.
To other readers: Please engage with us on issues other than education which seems to have dominated the letter pages and forums for so long. Nothing wrong with that but, as always, an awful lot of the submissions come from pressure groups with vested interests.
Let's have some more comments from ordinary punters like you and me.
Alex
PS: It looks like Gareth and Baroness Warsi won't be swopping Xmas cards!
RiverLover
says...
4:11pm Wed 15 Feb 12
I tend to be suspicious of politicians indeed anybody who goes into politics claiming their motivation is to do some good. Politicians by and large suffer from some sort of delusion, they generally make things worse rather than better, and are usually guilty at some part of their career of gross hypocrisy.
Tories, Lib Dems, Labour ...difficult to separate their political beliefs and are more similar than different.
I would prefer a PR voting system, but the Lib Dems managed to well and truly scuttle that with their compromise AV vote. What the heck was that about!
metis
says...
7:49pm Wed 15 Feb 12
"Baroness Warsi insists that Christians ‘need to feel stronger in their religious identities, more confident in their beliefs’. This, she avers, ‘means individuals not diluting their faith...and nations not denying their religious heritage’.
Okay.
This is a Cabinet minister of a government which fully supports Labour’s war against Roman Catholic adoption agencies, and intends to go even further than Tony Blair went with civil partnerships in a quest to redefine marriage. If that isn’t diluting faith and denying heritage, it’s difficult to know what is. Marriage isn’t exclusively Christian, but its essential heterogeneity is certainly part of our religious heritage: the Established Church maintains that the venerable institution consists of one man and one woman for the procreation of children.
Do go and read the rest:
http://archbishop-cr
anmer.blogspot.com/2
012/02/what-kind-of-
idiot-does-baroness-
warsi.html
Eyeball
says...
8:48pm Wed 15 Feb 12
No wonder not many people bother to post relevant comments!!
Gareth Roberts says...
1:13pm Fri 10 Feb 12