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Wednesday, June 30, 2004

NHS Trust

Anyone interested in becoming a non-executive director of a NHS Trust? There is a vacancy in Ealing (You have to be an Ealing resident or registered with a GP in Ealing).

Non-executive directors are paid £5426 pa for a minimum of two and a half days a month.

Further details are available from the Ealing Primary Care Trust.

If you don’t live in Ealing these positions often become available in other areas of the country. Check with your local Trust if you are interested. Get involved in the NHS – and get paid!

Smoking ban

We are likely to have a proposal in the next Labour manifesto to ban smoking in public places similar to the one introduced recently in Ireland.

I would be likely to vote for such a ban but would welcome any views on this question.

Sunday, June 27, 2004

Pensions

Last month I crossed another threshold in life. I tried not to cross it but alas I had no option. I officially became a pensioner!

I discovered that I can claim my pension or defer it. Do I grab the money and run? Or do I invest by putting off my claim and then drawing it in up to five years time with an extra 7.5%?

“Grab the money and run!” Shouts the demon on my shoulder. After years of giving advice to others I didn’t know what to do! So enter the internet and check the department of Work and Pensions web site.

Good news! A Bill is going through Parliament that will allow me to defer my pension for any length of time and then get it with an extra 10.4% or take a lump sum as well as the original pension. Can’t be bad. I mustn’t miss this vote!

Tell all those approaching pension age out there – and don’t forget to vote Labour. This message comes a bit late for the June elections! Sorry about that!

PS for Ingrid. You make a good case for the Sudan. I don’t find these decisions easy but I am persuaded by the no lobby at the moment.

Wednesday, June 16, 2004

Mary Seacole

Free multicultural Concert. On Sunday 27th June at the Commonwealth Institute (Kensington High Street) Thames Valley University is organising a concert to support the Mary Seacole Memorial Statue Appeal. The Mary Seacole Centre for Nursing Practice and the London College of Music and Media (singing newspapers!?) are behind the event.

Please come if you can and support the Appeal.

Responses

Dan. I suppose my feelings about Bob Killroy-Silk are best summed up in the old joke about the MP who was found dead with a big smile on his face after being struck by lightning. He mistook the lightning for a camera flash!

We all like publicity but….!

As for rejoining the Labour Party it always has to be your judgment about compromise. I can’t say much more then is currently on this blog about Iraq and tuition fees. PFI still causes concern for some but I have to say that without using this method of finance you would not have anywhere near the number of new schools and hospitals that we have built. That is why Gordon Brown is so committed to it.

I abandoned any belief that the public sector could automatically build and manage better then the private sector years ago when I was forced to look at the quality of building we had in council housing and public projects. In my constituency we are now replacing some of those poorly built schemes. PFI locks the management in so they can’t easily walk away when the faults come to light. It may cost more but if that means better quality for the people I represent then its OK by me.

Nice to have you back Ingrid. I have some sympathy with the proposal to over fly Sudan but if the current pressure on the Sudanese government works then it may not be necessary.

Peter Higgins. I assume you won’t like the idea of over flying Sudan. You presumably think any such action would be wicked. So we just let the killing go on and look the other way. Just like we did in Iraq for 12 years after we took the authority to stop it.

Everything you write makes me think you are so busy hating the US that you have lost sight of the problem about failing states.

Sunday, June 13, 2004

New Statesman New Media Award

Wow! I have just been short listed for the New Statesman New Media Award of 2004. I got really excited until I checked the site and found about 200 others have also been short-listed!

I am sure the competition is going to be hot so I am just humming quietly to myself hoping that no one will notice that I am in fact very pleased! You can visit the site on:

New Statesman New Media

Answers and responses

Thanks for the responses and questions. As the questions seem to have worked without overwhelming me I will continue the experiment but always with a priority to constituents.

Dan. The Party blocks in the EU do try and get a common position so the socialist group for example; meet to discuss areas of mutual concern. I don’t think any of them have a detailed policy making procedure and although my knowledge of them is limited I think it is mainly agreement on the lowest common denominator. (See: http://www.socialistgroup.org)

The UKIP is in my view an anti EU party that also offers a slightly less offensive anti immigration line then the BNP. So I think people who really want a much tougher line on immigration and asylum feel a bit more comfortable voting UKIP then BNP. Needless to add I don’t like them and I don’t like Kilroy or his ex- programme!

I will look at the Gigit Balistan issue but I don’t want to offer to get involved at this stage. India and Pakistan are talking and I can only repeat my view that Pakistan is moving to deal with problems they have previously ducked.

Peter H. Alas what can I say about Respect except that they got less votes then the BNP and far less then UKIP. I wish that wasn’t true but it is so I wouldn’t get too excited about take off!

Terry. The tram will not close the Uxbridge Road. The problem is in the bottleneck areas especially Acton. The proposal is to take either the traffic or the tram round a diversion in those areas but it is still very woolly and TfL really haven’t made the case yet or gone into sufficient detail.

Watch this space!

Saturday, June 12, 2004

Election results

Well the Labour Government certainly got a hammering at the local and London elections last week. At the time of writing the European elections have not been declared but I suspect we will do badly there although the Tories and Liberals may also lose out to the United Kingdom Independence Party.

Anger and frustration about Iraq is the main cause of our unpopularity although I would not like to underestimate some of the other issues. Clearly we have some listening and learning to do. The British public do not have the same loyalty to a political party they had when I started in politics. They are more inclined to shop around if they don’t like what they are getting.

People do give the Government credit for improvements in public services especially the NHS but it no longer works in politics to simply point to the achievements. Telling people that winter bed crises are a thing of the past in the NHS does win a supportive response but tends to be followed up with a question about what next. In other words, governments are still expected to have a sense of vision and are not allowed to live on past achievements.

If, as I anticipate, Iraq does stabilise and we are able to get the Palestine/Israel peace process moving again then I believe it will become a far less intense issue. Despite the disgrace of the behaviour of US troops in prison camps and the blunders in peacekeeping the key question on Iraq was always, would the long-term effect make the Middle East more stable and peaceful or make a bad situation even worse? The answer to that question will ultimately determine whether the decision to remove Saddam Hussein was right or wrong.

Although the cloud over the Labour Government doesn’t have much of a silver lining it is true that the other parties don’t seem wildly popular either. So in a sense the message to Labour is, get back to the domestic agenda and do more on the public services. The Government must respond to that message.

The final point is Europe. The British have a love hate relationship with Europe. They don’t want to separate but they don’t really want to be part of it either! Whatever the long-term future of the EU it is very important that we stay active members. The Tory Party and UKIP under estimate the problems of renegotiating our terms of membership.

I leave you with this thought on the EU. At present the EU negotiates as a single trade block with all the other nations of the world. If we try to negotiate separately these nations would negotiate with the EU first and would come to us next. The deal we would be offered would be essentially the one already agreed with the EU. We would have little or no say in the matter. That is just one reason why Britain has to stay fully involved in the EU.

Tuesday, June 08, 2004

Questions,answers and responses

Dan. I don’t think Labour is seen as the most right wing Party in the Socialist Group. It is true that there was strong opposition to Iraq but do remember they are taking their lead from us on issues like welfare to work and on international aid to name but two important areas.

If we loose seats we inevitably loose some influence. The British Labour movement is seen as very important in Europe and in the Socialist International and that was true even in the dark days of the 1980’s when we were in the wilderness!

I think there is a danger the far right will gain seats although I’m not sure they will become the third largest block. The problem is that citizens are still ambivalent about Europe and cynical about the Parliament. I think they see this as an opportunity for a protest vote.

London Plan.
Paul. The Labour Party does support the statement in the London Plan but do remember there is a qualification that land can be developed in exceptional circumstances (e.g., the Olympics). Normally there is an expectation that even with development serious efforts will be made to protect or enhance Metropolitan open land.

EU.
Stephen. Lack of accountability is a problem. Because the EU is not a nation state it is difficult to come up with a truly accountable system without turning it into a nation state. Accountability currently operates through the rather remote system of Ministers speaking and acting on behalf of the state that they represent. So it is a type of arms length accountability but Parliament has recently extended MP’s influence on the Commissions activities by questioning more of the decisions that come out of Brussels.

The accounts of the EU are not perfect but it is not the case that the sums don’t add up (I know you are not suggesting that). As you rightly point out the European Court of Auditors did qualify its opinion for the ninth year running. That qualification comes from a material level of errors in the underlying transactions that had a financial impact. I think it is a case of “Must make a greater effort”!

CAP.
The CAP is a major problem. Countries like Britain and Germany would go much further and quicker on getting rid of farm subsidies then countries with a large section of the work force in agriculture. Poland has close to 50% of their work force in farming and abolishing subsidies quickly would send their unemployment through the roof.

For the sake of the developing world and for food prices and taxes generally we do need reform but alas it will not come quickly for the reasons I have given

Pakistan.
I also got a question from another of my posts from Dan on Pakistan. I tried to make the point in my Fabian document that we have to judge each case on its merits. I suspect we will disagree on this but my view remains that Pakistan is making very serious efforts at reform and while they are I think we have to stay fully engaged. Linking arms sales to progress in reform and human rights may not be a perfect science but it is the best we have.

Thanks to everyone for this on going experiment.

Sunday, June 06, 2004

Any Questions?

Reading about the Hansard research (see below) made me think we ought to try an experiment in the remaining few days before the elections.

Can we try a question and answer session in cyber space?!

Does anyone have any questions on Labour’s policy on local, regional/London and European issues? If so please post them here.

Reagan's death

The headline news and detailed coverage in Britain of Reagan’s death puzzles me. Is it only Britain that gives it so much attention? Or is it happening in other European countries and elsewhere? I suspect it is this strange cultural link between Britain and the US but maybe I’m wrong and it is happening in other countries.

Hansard Research on Blogs

Following the meeting at the House of Commons on blogging the Hansard Society is pursuing research on the potential for blogging

They have asked me:

1.Do blogs allow for sufficient feedback from readers and do they truly engage the public in the political process in new and creative ways?

2. Can blogs make a genuine difference to the accountability and transparency of political structures, elected representatives, organisations and media groups?

3. Can blogging give a voice to previously marginal groups?

I shall be sending my response to Hansard but would be interested in any views posted to this site.

Responses

Peter I suspect we are beginning to bore those who do not feel as strongly as you and I do on Iraq and failed states but here are the short answers to your questions.

I did not anticipate that the US would insist on immediately disbanding the Iraqi army. I over estimated the readiness and ability of the US to do the necessary change to a peacekeeping role.

There are many things I have a deep interest in but don’t raise on the floor of the House. I have a long-standing interest in failing states and the need to reform the UN. We have plenty of opportunities to raise these issues with Ministers and in Party meetings. I also write and speak about them at various times. I regard failing states as the second biggest challenge to the world after the environment.

I said Iraqi’s were mainly opposed to the war but they wanted something done about Saddam Hussein. No one had a workable way of getting rid of him – hence my Fabian document because I think it is possible to come up with more sophisticated ways of dealing with people like him. Sadly I rather doubt the willingness of other Security Council members to take the actions necessary. But we have to start the policy argument somewhere and where better then a Party that claims to be internationalist and NOT nationalist.