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Wednesday, April 28, 2004

Phoenix High School, Hammersmith

MPs had a back to school day last Friday and I went to Phoenix High in Shepherds Bush. Some years ago this school had major problems but it has been making excellent progress in recent years. It really is good to see the differences.

The Head, William Atkinson and his staff have done a fantastic job and the pupils were well behaved alert and asking very good questions – better then I could have asked at their age!

Monday, April 26, 2004

Prime Ministers questions and the press

Last Wednesday 21st April I put the following question to the Prime Minister. My aim was to draw attention to the double standards in the press. Very few newspapers will comment on criticism of the press which is why it is important to find other ways of telling people what is happening in our rather sensitive news media.

Mr. Clive Soley (Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bush) (Lab): In view of the continuing and crass invasion of privacy of David and Victoria Beckham, and in view of the judges' concerns about making privacy law on a case by case basis, are there not two rather simple options available to us? One is to make the Press Complaints Commission code of conduct enforceable in law, which would give a toothless body some teeth. The alternative is to enable the editors and owners of newspapers to come before bodies of people here, in the Palace of Westminster, which represents the people, to take questions about their private and public lives.

The Prime Minister: I think that what my hon. Friend suggests—perhaps I shall not continue. I say simply that I am sure that this debate will continue. I have no thoughts to offer on it myself, except that I hope that everyone understands that occasionally when people's privacy is invaded in this way, it causes great distress to people, and I do not always think that it is really in the public interest.

Sunday, April 25, 2004

Response to comments

As I pointed out in my Fabian document the US is not good at peace keeping. They lack the experience and the training. It does get raised with them and I have no hesitation in saying that the tactics at Fallujah do put them at risk of winning the war but losing the peace. I have said so in TV and radio broadcasts on the US networks as well.

Disbanding the Iraqi army was the biggest single mistake they made and that was against our advice but Peter cynical giggles either at typing errors (which of course I’m going to correct) or about the numbers of dead suggest you are more interested in point scoring then solving difficult problems.

If you think that the number of dead shows who is right and who is wrong then obviously Saddam Hussein is in the wrong and of course he has killed thousand in two weeks and he has been doing so for many years.

The blood on your hands argument is not something I take lightly but Peter don’t think you are innocent by ignoring what was happening when the UN had ordered him to stop the genocide and torture. That is why I give the analogy of the battered wife in the Fabian document. You are ignoring it and will go on doing so and so will the world unless we change.

I wish you could come and meet some of Saddam Hussein’s victims in my constituency. Everything you say suggest you don’t think him much more then a naughty fellow who ought to be allowed to sort his own problems out.

When the Serbs were starting their campaign against Muslims and Croatians in Bosnia I asked the Conservative Foreign Secretary to use force. Why? Again because I was getting Muslim woman with the most horrific injuries who after being raped innumerable times were told they would have “Good Serb babies”. I knew Milosevic wouldn’t be stopped by argument.

There are good arguments against intervention in Iraq, Kosovo and elsewhere but they should still be about how to get regime change not how to look the other way. We did that in Rwanda.

On Pakistan Dan, I agree that I have to spell out in more detail the way we can help a nation move towards a free and open society. I do however think there is a general point that where a state seems to be making an effort to move then we ought to help. India clearly believes Musharraf is trying to stop the terrorism and that was discussed at their recent meeting.

We also have to distinguish between state terror and cultural practices. I can condemn honour killings in Pakistan but I also had one in my constituency recently. It is easy to condemn but difficult to stop.

Two comments on the EU Andrew and Ingrid. I do think the economic benefits of being in the EU are greater then those of being out. The British have always been more ambivalent about Europe. Partly because being an island nation gives a sense of separateness. Partly because our links to the rest of the world, especially the English speaking world are so strong and partly because the older generation is inclined to think of Europe as the source of wars. I think the latter view is dying fast but it is still there hence the older generations greater hostility.

Finally to my horrified respondent who thinks I’m being discourteous to the Queen – I think she has a good sense of humour; that’s why I’m not in the Tower of London! It’s a good job Peter isn’t King or I might be!

Monday, April 19, 2004

Responses

Thanks for the tips on saving comments and responses. They do make an interesting historical record. I think I can follow the suggestion made by Daniel.

Peter and Dan are clearly very cynical about our influence on the US and also about US tactics.

If you look at my Fabian pamphlet you will see that I am also worried about US peacekeeping skills and their willingness to listen.

Many of the Iraqis I talk to are angry with US tactics but they are still glad to be rid of Saddam Hussein and they still believe a free and stable Iraq is possible. A number of them also remember how we did nothing for 12 years despite the UN resolutions saying the killing, torture and genocide should stop. They are more cynical and depressed about Palestine which is why we have to stay engaged.

The crassest mistake the US made was the decision, against British advice, to disband the Iraqi army. But Peter, does that mean you would like to see the US army controlling southern Iraq as well? And does it mean that no influence is better then some?

George Bush in his more recent statement said the road map was still in place. The problem is he doesn’t have a clear policy and hence the blunders. Again you have to ask whether you want any influence or none.

I don’t think Tony Blair has any intention of giving up on the peace process and as the other key European powers have no influence I would rather the Prime Minister stayed in there.

I also hope the ideas in my Fabian pamphlet do become part of the agenda for this century because if they don’t we will go on having these nightmares.

Jonathan asks me if we should combine the referendum on the EU constitution with a referendum on the Euro. I think that idea has some merit. Watch this space!

EU Referendum

I have been receiving a steady stream of letters for some months now asking for a referendum on the proposed European constitution. It looks like those correspondents have won!

I am not a great fan of referenda so I was not in favour. If Europe was taking the power to make decisions for the nation states on foreign policy, defence and taxation it would be a different matter. People also forget that the European Commission in Brussels can only take decisions on the basis of what the Council of Ministers have decided and an elected British Minister does attend those. They are regarded as important.

Those people who like to see government’s do U turns can claim a victory here. There is little doubt that political pressure from a number of directions played a major part. Both the main opposition parties were in favour and Labour faced the prospect of going into the June European elections arguing against the right of the people to have a vote on this. That is always a more difficult pitch to defend. I don’t regard the question of whether or not to have a referendum as a matter of principle so the change in policy doesn’t cause me too much concern.

What troubles me however is what happens if the referendum is lost. Can we really have 24 nations still trying to operate on the basis of a number of treaties drawn up over the last 50 or more years? And is this really the Tories attempt to get Britain out of the EU altogether? The Tories will certainly have to answer some tough questions about the economy if they are going to argue for Britain becoming partially or wholly disengaged.

I will argue that we should sign up to the constitution as I don’t see a significant loss of sovereignty. I am also doubtful about the Tory tactics as they did not give referendums on the much more important issues of the Single European Act (Which obliged Britain to accept the primacy of EU law in certain fields) not did they give one on the Maastricht Treaty which also ceded major powers.

As the details of the constitution are still not finally decided and parliament will have to debate and vote on the issue I think it is unlikely we will see a referendum before the autumn at the earliest.

When we do come to the referendum I hope there will be a major debate and a clear vote. Nothing would be worse then continuing uncertainty.

Friday, April 16, 2004

More responses

Yes Simon, it’s true. I did hand the crown to Tony Blair on Thursday’s Today programme! Without as much as a phone call to Buckingham Palace!

My mistake was to say heads of state rather then heads of government and I didn’t pick it up quick enough. I’m told there was a spate of email protests.

I wonder if I will be allowed to blog from the Tower of London!
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I am not aware of any suggestion that Labour Party workers can’t support Kerry and frankly it would be impossible to enforce such a ban even if anyone was silly enough to try. It is true that relations between the Democrats and Labour are not as close as they were during the Clinton/Blair years but that was more due to personalities and the similarity of our relative political positions then it is about deeper divisions.

It is also wrong to assume that because Tony Blair supported action in Iraq he therefore supports all that George Bush does or believes in. He doesn’t and a lot of this is about how you can influence the dominant power of our age.
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Finally, I have a dilemma. It has been suggested to me that I keep these entries and comments for future reference. Do I:

A. Print everything on this blog before firing it off into deep cyber space where in mystical times to come it will be used on a far distant galaxy as wall paper on a brighter then average aliens home?

B. Copy it to a CD or floppy (do they still exist?)

C. Keep paying my pennies to TypePad in the hope that they live forever and have a good archiving system.
If the answer is B, how do I do it?

Answers on a postcard please (electronic, of course!).

Tuesday, April 13, 2004

Response to transport and blogs

Thanks for the comments on blogging and transport.

Robin is willing to give advice. I certainly took some from various people when I started. You could try offering some to your own MP. Ask if they have thought about blogging.

Terry McCann wants to know if my successor, Andy Slaughter, will start one. I will ask him.

Pleased to hear from Java in the USA. I seem to get quite a few international visitors which I very much welcome. However as the British Parliament is based on close constituency links with relatively small electorates (about 70,000) an MP is inevitably driven to keep a close eye on local issues.

To Ingrid and Nigel I quite enjoy the Guardian although it drives me insane occasionally! But it is better then those papers that scream, “Beckham should be ashamed of himself “ in headlines a mile high while the editors and journalists are just as morally inconsistent as any other mortal. Editors don’t often get named when they get caught!

On transport Chris wonders why many locals don’t want the bus depot at Horn Lane. It’s mainly because there are a lot of houses close by but everyone wants buses and no one wants bus stations. That is the perennial problem of politics!

Yes Chris, I do cycle. In fact I am a bye-election waiting to happen! Fortunately I am sitting on a healthy majority so I can afford to take risks!

Finally I am delighted to have restored Tom’s faith in politics by reading Douglas Adams (Hitch hikers Guide to the Galaxy). Tom. Where do you think we politicians spend our spare time if not debating with fellow aliens in an inter galactic Parliament?

Sunday, April 04, 2004

Blogging MP's

I recently wrote an article, that I thought the Guardian would be interested in. Alas I was wrong.

The article was called Why MP's should get blogging. It is attached under my documents along with the Fabian pamphlet.

The Guardian felt it was too specialist. I think this is sad.

Am I right?