Blog 1st Sept

Weekly blog

• Incredible news that India has landed a spacecraft near the south pole of the moon. Wonderful news that our own local Goonhilly Earth Station (GES) played a pivotal role enabling it.

Cornwall may not itself have joined the space race. But GES and its 50 staff are playing a critical role on the communications and tracking of space craft, including now the Chandrayaan-3 Vikram lander. Very exciting. Congratulations.

I recollect with pride the 4-year campaign waged to secure GES on site following the withdrawal of BT. Given its success in the last 8 years, most people would find it hard to believe the hostility, obstacles, scepticism and opposition we faced. A task made even harder at the time because – I know it’s shocking to learn – political opponents would rather wreck the project than “allow Andrew George to have another success”. And one leading decision-maker at the time took me aside and sought to brow-beat with claims that the GES entrepreneurs were ”dreamers. It will never happen”, they assured me. That merely ensured I was all the more determined.

Well, I hope they’re all watching now. None have apologised, nor acknowledged their misjudgement. Heartfelt congratulations to Piran Tresize and Ian Jones (l-r in picture) and all at GES. I’m very proud of you.


• That Nadine Dorries took so long to resign as MP reflects badly on her. But her reasons were more shocking.

I could respect an MP who resigns on decent principle – for example, in protest at the rising queues at Foodbanks, or the appalling state of our NHS, at rising inequality, at the worsening housing emergency, because the Government is missing all of its climate and ecology targets etc.

But to resign because you haven’t been given a peerage under a corrupt system which should have been scrapped years ago, tells us where her priorities always were. That no Conservative MP thought to criticise her for that is as revealing at it is disappointing.

It’s time they all resigned and we had a General Election.


• I see local Conservative MPs are excusing the water companies when they pump sewage into our bathing waters.

Southwest water will continue to put rewards for top executives and shareholders above cleaning up their act because Conservative MPs have voted for it to continue.

Liberal Democrats would force water companies to become community benefit societies, more accountable to their communities, install a community champion to their Board, hit them with tough regulation and force them to clean up their act.

We simply cannot carry on like this.