Well – I had thought I was going to be on a panel – but found it was just me for the whole hour – which was great but a surprise. My fault for not making sure. Anyway – it was more of a paper review and less about the political issues of the year ahead or my predictions for 2010.

I chose an Andrew Gilligan article from the Sunday Telegraph where he has written a good piece on the business rate tax bombshell that will strike in April. I don’t know about your high street and local shops – but mine in Hornsey & Wood Green are fighting to stay afloat as it is. The doubling, for effectively for many shops this is what will happen, of their business rate is unfair and terrible timing.

I was in my local Highgate Butcher the other day and chatting to them – and Phyllis was telling me that they will face a hike of an extra £23,000 per year for the next five years. How on earth are businesses to magic an extra £500 per week of takings in this economic climate? And our shops are the heart of our local communities. This is just madness. Much better to ensure that businesses survive rather than spend money on benefits for all those who lose their jobs because shops or small businesses can’t pay these enormous hikes.

There was also Haringey’s record on employing illegal immigrants (according to the Mail on Sunday) the worst council at this. The point of the article was mainly that whereas private sector employers have been clamped down on and are prosecuted or fined if they hire illegal immigrants – state authorities are not being treated the same way – so double standards.

I also raised the issue of airport security – because I don’t know about you – but reading this morning’s papers I came to the conclusion that the authorities don’t really know what to do or what will be effective. The idea of banning people from going to the lavatory an hour before landing begets the question is it better to be blown up in mid-air – which would seem the logical alternative for a terrorist – or have I missed something. There were articles about the proposed new body scanners not being able to detect the sort of stuff that the Somalian bomber used. There was the Express managing to get on board with a similar syringe – undetected – and the usual calls for profiling. I think profiling may lead to a false sense of security as if only those that the authorities think are the ‘types’ to be potential terrorists are stopped – if I was a terrorist I would make sure whoever is carrying the bomb didn’t fit the stereotype. All in all – the knee jerk response was uninspiring.

One thing I didn’t get time for was one of the papers this morning it says something like ‘in an attempt to reposition his Party Cameron is going to target more NHS spending on areas of deprivation.’ That’s the truth – it’s about an attempt to be seen as not as anti public services it’s not about improving the health service – it’s about image. Leopard and spots are the words that spring to mind.