Yes it's Saturday and it's Campaign day

Its been a good day campaigning. We were pleased to have as a special guest Vicky Ford MEP & son (Anthony).

Vicky is a great politician and I was really pleased she was elected - as Eastern Region Conservative MEP - to the European Parliament last year. She has been a good friend to Harlow Conservatives, and has come here to help on a number of occasions over the years. See HERE and HERE.

She isn't one of those politicians who once voted in, forget the party grassroots either. She has been back to Harlow a few times since being elected and was here when Iain Duncan Smith came to visit some community organisations in November.

The photo shows Vicky with some of us before we went out knocking on doors. It is worth reading her excellent blog too, which can be seen HERE.

P.S. I was also in Church Langley with Cllr. Tony Hall for a couple of hours handing out some leaflets. It was a good morale boost to have a number of people walking past wishing me luck for the election.

Bailey's Cream was invented in Harlow

We all know that Harlow is the birth-place of fibre optic communications. But not so many know that it is also the town, where the world-famous drink, Bailey's Irish Cream was made possible.

I learnt this unexpected piece of information, in a tour of the Diageo Research Unit in Bishops Stortford - I was there with neighbouring MP Mark Prisk, and some Conservative Parliamentary Candidates from the East of England. We had been invited to tour the premises and see at first hand, how Diageo does its research before it brings its products to market.

As well as being the makers of Guinness, the company also makes well known brands like Baileys and Smirnoff Vodka. What was fascinating to learn was that the Diageo premises were previously based in Harlow, at Vinters House in Riverside Way, (under the previous Guinness Brand). The Harlow Laboratory was the one which found the correct formula which ensured that Baileys would last a long time on the shelf - in essence ensuring that the whisky and cream did not 'go off' after a few days.

It was a fascinating visit, and I learnt how much scientific research goes in to producing products that people might enjoy. It was good to know that Vanda's favourite tipple was thanks to Harlow.

by Robert Halfon - www.roberthalfon.blogspot.com

Harlow's Postal Heroes

Who are the unsung heroes of the recent cold weather? To my mind it has to be Harlow's Postmen and Postwomen. In the recent freezing weather, our Postmen continued to deliver the mail almost every day, however cold it was. I remember seeing the Postman who dropped letters to my house, soaking wet - and cold - from the weather, yet was walking from door to door with a cheery smile.

Postmen have suffered a lot of stick in recent months, with the pre Christmas postal strike following the dispute with management. Yet too little recognition has been given to individual Postmen for their vital contribution to our community and for their determination to deliver our post, whatever the weather.

UFOs flying over Harlow?

I have 'Harlow' as a 'Google Alert' and it is very useful source of information - as I get an email whenever there is a news story about our town. But, often my inbox gets jammed up with email stories about Nicole Richie's Daughter 'Harlow' of the same name - or her brand 'House of Harlow'.

This evening, I received my most intriguing Google Alert yet. It concerns a UFO sighted over Harlow and placed on the UK UFO Sighting website (not a web address I had ever come across before).

According, to Church Langley resident 'Glen', on the 30th January 2010, he witnessed:

"3 yellow lights, one at a time, about 5 to 10 minutes in between sightings.I am a private pilot so know the navigation lights on aircraft, these had none.Watched them travel from Newhall, south over Church Langley, south over M11 direction.The first travelled steady then seemed to hover for a minute before proceeding, the others just travelled steady, then i lost sight.The night was a very clear night with very bright full moon. Hard to judge but I would estimate a speed of 50-70 mph."

(For more details click THIS WEBLINK).

Clicking on the Essex part of the website, it seems that there was a previous UFO sighting over Old Harlow on 9 January 2010, this time spotted by local resident 'Chris' and described in detail HERE.

Essex as a whole is also well represented with witnesses logging various UFO sightings all over the County.

Having never seen this website before, it is difficult to know what to make of it. Nevertheless it makes interesting reading!

I wonder if Labour and BAA get their way by concreting over our countryside with an extra runway, whether or not the amount of UFOs identified flying over Harlow will increase?

P.S. This story in the Star and Essex Observer is fascinating.

by Robert Halfon - www.roberthalfon.blogspot.com

How Labour sent the troops into Iraq without the correct military equipment

This from The Times today:

"Britain’s top military commander admitted today that soldiers in Iraq were left without life-saving body armour and even proper boots and clothing because Tony Blair delayed authorising the war plans.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup told the Iraq Inquiry the armed forces had been underfunded in the years leading up to the invasion which led to shortages of equipment.

The Ministry of Defence told Downing Street that the military needed six months to prepare for the war but the Prime Minister only gave four months notice, he said".

Whilst the war in Iraq split the country down the middle, especially with the controversy over '45 minutes' and the like, of one thing everyone is united: It was unforgivable to send our serving soldiers into battle, without the correct military equipment. How Tony Blair and Gordon Brown could have done this, is beyond comprehension.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, has told the Iraq inquiry that:

"Quite clearly not everybody who needed it in theatre got it when they needed it and had it [the orders] been two months earlier then those sort of issues, I think, could have been untangled.”

One of the first British casualties in Iraq, Sergeant Steven Roberts, was shot dead three days after being told to give up his body armour because of the shortage".

The tragedy is that many of our armed forces now fighting in Afghanistan, also without the proper equipment that is needed. It seems that this Labour Government learn nothing from their mistakes. Shameful.

by Robert Halfon - www.roberthalfon.blogspot.com