Taking my Danger Dogs campaign to Parliament

A few days ago I met with the Minister responsible for reining-in Dangerous Dogs, Jonathan Shaw MP, to highlight the problem locally and talk him through some of the responses you've been sending in to me.

We talked about some of the possible solutions; the Minister agreed with me that the Conservatives' plan for a £500-per-pet Dog Tax is expensive and unfair; but lots of respondents to my survey have supported the far cheaper idea of microchipping.

Since I brought up the idea of microchipping in this campaign, Wandsworth's Tory council has announced it plans to compel all its tenants to microchip their dogs. The problem with this is that while council tenants with well-behaved, properly controlled dogs will be forced to pay up or face eviction, home-owners and private tenants with dangerous dogs will escape scot-free.

It is unfair, pernicious and stereotypical to pick on one pretty small part of the community while ignoring the vast majority. The Conservatives evidently prefer to be seen to be doing something instead of doing something EFFECTIVE. I think this problem needs a comprehensive answer - and that means tackling dangerous dogs whoever owns them.

The Minister and I will be meeting again once all the responses have been collated, so if you want to have your say direect to Government either write to me at 35 Felsham Road, London SW15 1AY or fill in my online Danger Dogs survey here.

Wasting less food

I think the Government was right last week to focus on the amount of food wasted in Britain.

But it's politicians, not the public who must take a lead in reducing food waste, because while most of us could probably buy more sensibly there are two big wasters that need national or international action to rectify.

The first is to scrap the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP): the biggest waster of food there is in Europe. Not only does the CAP encourage - actually demand - inefficient farming practices and scandalous food mountains but it is one of the biggest barriers against free and fair trade in the world. It actively prevents African farmers from competing with their EU counterparts by subsidising inefficient farming methods in the EU at the expense of far cheaper goods from developing nations.

The second initiative we need is to persuade the huge supermarket chains to end their "buy one get one free" deals and instead cut the item cost of goods, especially food staples. It's good that some supermarkets are already focussing more on discounting these key items but they can do far more.

It isn't, predominantly, the poorest households that waste food: they don't have that luxury and they also shop more carefully. But it is they who will benefit most from a switch to cheaper overall prices away from two-for-one deals, and the cheaper produce we would be able to buy were Europe to scrap the CAP.

The above is an extract of a longer article on my website. You can read the full article on tackling food waste here.

The Putney Pensioner
Launch of Stuart's new newsletter for local senior citizens Click here

Save Danebury Green
Why the Council shouldn't concrete open the Alton's open space Click here

NHS at 60 survey
Stuart asks about your experience of our local NHS on its 60th birthday Click here

Have your say on Putney Place
Plans for two 25 and 19 storey tower blocks submitted Click here

Putney Vale problems
Stuart acts on concerns raised by residents Click here

More Post Office nonsense
Latest excuses rubbished by Stuart Click here

Putney Bridge disintegrates
Our pictures force Council to resurface the bus lane Click here

Putney Heath stabbing
Stuart's real-time blog as the news broke Click here

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