Supporting John Savage & Marvin Rees for Election

Today is an important day for Bristol. Today will shape our great & vibrant city for the next four years & potentially decades to come. Today we vote to decide our Mayor & Police Commissioner.

Firstly in the broader city, the entirety of Avon & Somerset is voting on a Police Commissioner today. The idea of elected Police Commissioners isn’t an idea I supported and to be honest is an idea I’m still unenthusiastic about to say the least, because I’m extremely reluctant to see the important job of policing become so overtly politicized & essentially become a game of pandering instead of policing.

But regardless of public opinion seemingly being firmly against the idea of elected Police Commissioners we’re stuck with them till at least the next Parliament, where whomever is the next government may decide to repeal the bill & scrap elected Police Commissioners.

With that in mind we have a choice to make today on how we want our police forces to prioritise & whether or not we want them to privatize. Locally in Avon & Somerset we have four candidates, Dr. John Savage for Labour, an Independent in Sue Mountstevens & we also have Liberal Democrat and Conservative candidates.

I’m supporting Dr. John Savage based largely on his successful record of running large organisations with significant & often tight budgets for the last four decades – Budgeting is going to be one of the top priorities for A&S’ Police Commissioner with more and more cuts coming & frontline policing being increasingly stretched. John has been through the process of making tough budget decisions and I trust him to do the same in a fair & well thought-out way if he’s elected as our Police Commissioner.

But I’m also giving my second preference to the Independent Sue Mountstevens; Whilst I believe she has somewhat ironically over-politicized not being party-aligned Sue has an impressive & necessary set of priorities. She is also one of the few women standing nationally and is the only candidate to specifically mention the need to tackle the plague that is violence against women & girls. If John Savage doesn’t win I very much hope that Sue Mountstevens does.

There is a danger in these elections that public perception of the Conservatives as being the toughest party on crime will come into play, something that is only going to be increased by our Conservative Government’s lack of advertising & resources for these elections which has consequently not allowed people reasonable time to consider the issues & their vote in many cases.

We really need to look at how dangerous the Conservatives have been in Government on crime; despite the rhetoric they’ve made wide & deep cuts to Policing, over 15000 Police will be cut by 2015 and they’ve also encouraged the outsourcing of police work to unaccountable private companies like the debacle-ridden G4S. Recently we’ve also seen announced a disturbing step away from proportional judge-led justice into a more populist-led justice. I cannot emphasis strongly enough how wrong it is to put the power of executing justice in the hands of anyone apart from impartial proportional judges following the letter of the law as intended. This is not something I want to see replicated locally & I hope people take notice of Conservative actions over Conservative rhetoric.

The other election we have today is the more widely known Bristol Mayoralty Election. In this election the choice is clear: Marvin Rees with his bold vision for a Bristol that has a vital part to play in Britain for decades to come or his main opponent, who opposes the economically necessary expansion of Bristol Airport & Bristol’s football stadia. Marvin has also pledged to bid to bring the 2022 or 2026 Commonwealth Games to Bristol if he’s elected, something that would raise Bristol’s profile on the world stage as well as providing an economic boost for our city over the next decade.

But as well as Marvin wanting Bristol to be the very best city we can be he also wants Bristol to be about the people who live here as much as the city itself. He is the only credible candidate who has committed himself to making Bristol a Living Wage City, ensuring that Bristol will pay £7.45 an hour, the basic level of wage necessary for people not to require welfare subsidy to be able to live.

Marvin also recognizes the desperate need in this city & country for a coherent affordable childcare system, one that allows people who want to go back to work but can’t afford childcare presently to do so and to contribute to this city’s economy as well as improving their own finances. Single parents particularly are disproportionately hit by the rising cost of childcare, because being a single parent is the fullest of full-time jobs before you even consider employment; I know this because I was raised largely by a single parent, my father, who worked in mental health and was constantly having to take time off to facilitate me attending school or at times, my misbehavior as a young child at school.

Marvin will set up a central register for childcare in Bristol, ensuring standards are maintained to the very highest of levels so parents feel safe & reassured. He will also reach out across the private sector & encourage businesses & schools to offer a wider variety of childcare services with that competition driving down cost & raising closely monitored standards across the city, as well as Marvin’s decision to cap the cost providers of childcare that use the central register can charge families.

In another move to recognize & have respect for everyone in our city Marvin has also pledged to work with LGBT groups to tackle homophobia wherever it may arise, and to ensure that your sexuality is something that never puts you in danger or causes you to suffer discrimination or violence. He’s also pledged to appoint an LGBT Adviser for Bristol, someone to ensure that his administration works effectively & dedicatedly on all levels with equality & LGBT Rights in mind.

He also has bold & well-explained policies on affordable housing and our inconsistent & cumbersome transport network, which are both areas Bristol really struggles in compared to many other major European cities. Bristol has one of the highest average transport fares in the entire country and that’s clearly unacceptable; Only Marvin has expressed a real, detailed plan to tackle that.

But as well as clear, focused policy there’s also something that makes Marvin stand out from usual politicians and that is his incredible respect for people, particularly young people and his humbleness. I was lucky enough in my capacity with Unite the Union to Chair a Question & Answer event with Marvin Rees last month and when the room went quiet & it was clear they were ready for him to start speaking instead he first turned to me and very quietly & respectfully asked ‘Am I okay to start now?’ – That has stuck with me since, that when the room was clearly ready for him he went out of his way to ask me whether he could or not.

Marvin isn’t one of these politicians that thinks he can deliver the world himself, but is very aware of the need to build a coalition of ideas & voters and work with all parties and even those councils outside of the Bristol Boundaries to ensure that as one united city we move forwards together, and that no one is left behind.

Marvin will ensure that everyone in this city & beyond on its fringes has a say on Bristol, on the way our city goes, on how people are treated. With Marvin as Mayor Bristol will move forwards as one city, not as a multitude of bickering & disorganized political bodies, which has become the norm in recent years. Marvin will respect you regardless of your race, gender, sexuality or age and that attitude is essential for our vibrant and brilliantly nonconformist city.

If Marvin is elected Bristol’s Mayor we as a city will also make a significant piece of history. Marvin would be the first directly elected Mayor of African-Caribbean descent in not just Britain but the entirely of Europe too. Given Bristol’s history this is both symbolic & significant, as this brief piece in the Guardian notes.

You can read Marvin’s final election message here.

I very much hope you’ll get out to vote today & shape our city in a positive fashion.

The US Presidential Election – Supporting President Obama.

I’m absolutely certain there are Americans who disdain Brits or any other nationality advising or asking Americans to vote a certain way in their elections, but I’ve always taken the opinion that America has very deliberately adopted a proactive & enthusiastic engagement with the rest of the world, especially when it comes to ‘assisting’ countries into a version of democracy the US is comfortable with. Those military engagements are very rarely done solely by the US Military, as overwhelmingly powerful as it is; In Iraq & Afghanistan Britain has been a core & key partner in military intervention alongside America & It has been that way for the entirety of the 20 years I’ve been walking this Earth. Whilst our troops die alongside American & other nation’s troops in conflict I believe it’s not only natural but necessary that we take notice & get involved in politics that will likely affect our entire diplomatic & military standing and engagements for much of the next decade.

But beyond that consistent war-footing America is on I believe it’s right for everyone to be allowed to voice an opinion on US Politics for other reasons; America is the beating heart through which the blood of the world economy flows, We’ve seen what happens when America’s economy collapses, We’ve seen the rest of the world follows when America increases or decreases regulation & chooses between aggressively pursuing laws to curtail climate change or allowing the free-market to shed regulation, even regulation that could save humanity in the long-term.

And perhaps, on a very personal level, just because I’m one of those soppy liberal types I genuinely care about every other human on this planet & I’m genuinely interested in every other human on this planet. We are a truly fascinating & unique (As far as we know) species who swell with intelligence & intellectual debate and in a world we all share I like to think we also share a concern about each other’s cultures & customs, each other’s wellbeing & survival. This isn’t always reality, but there is no shame in having big dreams.

We hear people talk about the American Dream all the time, US Politicians especially, the big debate about whether the American Dream is expanding or declining and what that means for America as a country. Well I have an American Dream; for a long time now I’ve dreamt of moving to America or studying in America. For the last few years I’ve periodically checked the price of air fare to the State my heart is particularly fond of, Wisconsin, and wondering if one day I’ll be able to move there & open up my very own Vegetarian Restaurant with my better half, if I’m lucky enough to still be with her by the time that opportunity becomes a reality.

But there’s a small flaw in my American Dream that till recently would’ve put moving to the US off my radar forever; that small flaw is that I suffer from a Pre-Existing Condition, Psoriasis, that would’ve made getting US Health Insurance an impossibility before Obamacare. I’m blessed in the sense that my Psoriasis is one of the more minor kinds & it doesn’t affect my life as drastically as it does many, but it is still a Pre-Existing Condition. That is the beauty of Britain’s NHS, You are entitled to the same level of care, paid from taxes, regardless of PECs or any other circumstances, but I respect America has a very different attitude towards healthcare & I wouldn’t burden their already struggling system with my needs without either having the funding to pay for it in cash as necessary or obtaining insurance. Given even a few days in a hospital can cost upwards of $100,000 in the United States the former option wasn’t exactly one that seemed feasible anytime soon.

But regardless of my personal situation, even if I never move to America or never work or study in America I believe that every human on Earth is entitled to healthcare that is funded reasonably and doesn’t kick you out of the system if you actually dare to get ill. People are still ill if they lose their job & insurance, people don’t go away if you kick them out of the system; they’re still there, they’re still suffering… Every day I ponder how anyone could subject someone else to that suffering… It’s inhumane. Obamacare takes a big step towards giving the US the kind of healthcare coverage a nation as wealthy & powerful as America deserves without infringing on the insurance system America already has in place.

Obamacare even makes economic sense, for those conservatives or even independents that see Obamacare as unnecessary big government and don’t buy the argument government has a role in healthcare. The Congressional Budget Office has repeatedly said that Obamacare will reduce the deficit by $143 billion over the 2010-2019 period and repealing the bill would increase the deficit by $210 billion over the 2012-2021 period. It also reduces & hopefully eventually eliminates the problem of people being admitted for emergency care without insurance, running up bills into the hundreds of thousands of dollars range & defaulting on those debts, pushing up insurance costs for everyone.

So yes, this election has personal meaning to me, personal importance even. Thus I’m partially biased here towards President Obama already, and I also supported him 4 years ago. In fact it goes back further than that for me: I supported Obama in the Democratic Primaries against Hillary Clinton right back at the start when absolutely everyone thought his campaign was the longest of long shots, when people were talking up the chance of him running after a two-term Hillary Administration, but there was something in Obama that inspired me and continues to inspire me today. I think it’s fair to say that over four years ago now I wasn’t as eloquent or bathed in the experience of fighting for jobs and fighting against the constant competition humanity has become & the cynicism that brings, and I certainly wasn’t as politically experienced then as I am now but now four long years later I still burn with passion for the politics of hope Barack Obama embodies.

Barack Obama was not only the reason I took more notice of American politics but Barack Obama is very much the reason I became more involved in British politics, leading me to become incredibly active and standing as a Labour Party candidate in 2010 at just age 18, to now aged 20 being the Chair of Unite the Union’s South West Young Member’s Committee, a position that entails an incredible amount of responsibility in protecting our members & guiding policy goals. There isn’t a single day I’m not humbled by the opportunities I’ve been given & the people I’ve had the chance to meet, everyday I wake up and have to take a moment to ponder if this is all really a dream & I’m going to wake up to a shuddering reality soon, but the dream of having the opportunity to represent others just keeps on going and going and I love what I do, I love the people I represent… It’s incredible humbling.

But my transition into British Politics didn’t come easy, growing up on a council estate I never really felt connected to any of our political leaders, they never seemed to get my background, where I lived… And then came along Barack Obama who just has an aura of empathy & unlike a lot of politicians genuinely seems to care about you, you as a person and not just you as a voter. That was the politics I wanted to be a part of and my growing involvement & enjoyment of British politics is sourced at the moment Barack Obama, the longest of long shots, announced his candidacy to be President of the United States of America. Perhaps it’s a tad silly for me to take so much stock in what is only one man, one person, one human being… but Barack Obama restored my faith in the idea that it doesn’t matter where you come from, what your parents did, where you grew up, what you grew up doing; Barack Obama restored my faith in the idea that if you want something, If you want to help people badly enough, Anything is possible, Absolutely anything.

This election & the way it goes is vital to the world, to the world economy, to current & potential military & diplomatic conflict (Especially with Iran), to healthcare for Americans, to trade & banking regulations which America consistently guides the world on… But underneath all those big issues are millions upon millions of people with personal stories, personal reasons why they want one candidate or another to win this election and I think it’s a wonderful endorsement of humanity that at the end of the day beyond all the negative political advertising and campaign rallies and speeches there’s nothing as persuasive as hearing a friend, a loved one, or even a distant stranger on a social network asking for help, asking for society to give them a break, pleading for the economy to get better so they can find decent employment & keep paying their mortgage.

The sad fact is Mitt Romney doesn’t have an economic plan. Mitt Romney has a tax cut plan and one that doesn’t cut taxes for the middle class, for hard working folk, but drives them up by an average of $3000 to pay for his tax cut which to borrow a phrase from the campaign ‘Doubles down on trickle down’.

Mitt Romney’s tax cut plan doesn’t make fiscal sense, and after 8 years of President George W Bush ballooning the deficit with irresponsible & failed tax cuts for folk who didn’t even need them & that failed to trickle down in the same way that trickle-down economics always fails to trickle down we see Mitt Romney returning to the same failed model of tax cuts & stripping away regulation on banking, except this time he wants to dose that model full of caffeine.

It’s hard to put it better than Barack Obama when he said “All they have to offer is the same prescription they’ve had for the last thirty years: Have a surplus? Try a tax cut. Deficit too high? Try another. Feel a cold coming on? Take two tax cuts, roll back some regulations, and call us in the morning!”

Barack Obama’s administration has sculpted the economic atmosphere that has created over 3.6million private sector jobs in the last three years. He also has a sensible approach to reducing the deficit, with a measured mix of tax increases and careful, considered cuts; Mitt Romney & Paul Ryan have refused to budge on tax increases and their economic plan consists of unaffordable tax cuts for the very richest in society and slashing wildly at government expenditure, especially on vital things for the future like education & healthcare whilst increasing the military spending by $2 TRILLION over the next decade that the military hasn’t even asked for and has said it doesn’t want or need.

We in Britain have seen what happens when you have a reckless conservative government who use economic downturn as an excuse to wage ideological war on government & the public sector. In the last 12 months in Britain we have had a total of zero growth, no growth at all; Our economy has only just recovered to where it was one year ago. We have seen our public sector often outsourced to private companies, which in many cases have failed so badly the public sector had to step back in to do the job properly – The Olympics were supposed to be policed & guarded largely by a private security firm called G4S but they failed to meet their targets so badly the British Military was called in at extremely short notice to fill that gap with an enormous deployment of personnel, personnel who then did an exceptional & professional job.

In Britain we’ve also seen attacks on our pensions and on wages; The minimum wage was frozen nationally for under 21 year olds at a time when there are already over a million young people unemployed. In the South West, the region I live, the government has set up a group specifically designed to drive down pay in our National Health Service and nationally they’ve cut 6000 nurses since April 2010. In an effort to appeal to those on the right of the political spectrum they took the step of capping immigration into Britain from non-EU countries, a move that has cost the British economy over $3 billion a year since.

America, I strongly implore you to not walk down the same path Britain has done. If you do just one thing today before you vote it should be to watch President Clinton break down & explain away the Republican economic argument.

And then we come to the last & very probably the most important thing I want to talk about, Mitt Romney & Paul Ryan’s social policies. Despite both of them claiming to be small government conservatives they want to wrap their government’s hands firmly around the wombs of every woman in America. Mitt Romney supports banning abortion except in the cases of rape, incest or if the life of the mother is at risk, but he did nothing to stop the Republican Party Platform not including any exceptions; the Republican Party platform very explicitly bans all abortions, in all cases.

Mitt Romney has also said he’d appoint Supreme Court judges that favour repealing Roe Vs Wade & that he favours repealing Roe Vs Wade, the core foundation ruling that enables women to control their own sexual healthcare choices. Mitt Romney’s running mate, Paul Ryan sponsored a bill in Congress that would’ve enabled states to arrest on murder charges any woman who had an abortion & the doctor who performed it. Recently Paul Ryan hauntingly called rape a ‘method of conception’.

A Romney/Ryan administration would be dangerous & life threatening towards every woman in America. History has shown that when you crack down on abortion & choice largely instead of women having less abortions women are increasingly forced into illegal & dangerous abortions, which imperil the life of the woman. It is hard to believe that in 21st Century America we are seriously debating whether a woman should be entitled to make her own healthcare choices, based on her own beliefs and not dictated by the government.

Government has no place making a decision for you whether it’s the right time & set of circumstances for you to have a child. That is your decision and yours alone. Government has no place making a decision for you about whether you can have affordable access to contraception or not, that is a decision for only you & your doctor or family to share, but a Romney administration would be hostage to the extreme-right in Congress & the Tea Party and would be pressed to tackle contraception rights. This isn’t just an issue of freedom, of liberty, but of compassion too & this campaign has chillingly revealed just how few Republican members of Congress are willing to understand & share compassion with the right’s of women everywhere.

There’s an economic aspect to all this too, as if all this wasn’t bad enough; Mitt Romney has refused to say whether he supports the bill Barack Obama signed into law enabling women to tackle unequal pay based on gender. Mitt Romney has no solutions that’d enable women to smash through what remains a very patriarchal society, a society still full of glass ceilings for women.

Whether you are LGBT or Heterosexual, Whether you are a woman or a man, Whatever your race, Whatever your background, You should have the right to make your own healthcare choices, You should have the right to marry who you love whether you love someone of the same or the opposite sex, You should have the right to serve your country without fear of being kicked out of the military for being gay in the 21st Century, You should have the right to equal pay & equal opportunity.

What I’ve described above isn’t a Mitt Romney administration; It’s a Barack Obama administration. Everyone who values liberty & choice should support Barack Obama for four more years & I wholeheartedly encourage folk to do so & to get out and vote today.

Whoever you vote for today, just go and vote. I support Barack Obama but you may support Mitt Romney or Gary Johnson or another candidate but go and vote. It is the most important thing you will do this year, It will change the world, It will shape the world, and it will shape your country. Be a part of that. Vote.

Supporting Gemma Tumelty in Bristol West.

I want to throw my support behind Gemma Tumelty in Labour’s Bristol West Selection and indeed as the future candidate for Bristol West.

Quite simply, Stephen Williams has miserably failed his student constituents in Bristol West. Gemma has enormous experience with young people & students not only as the former President of the National Union of Students but everything since then as well and can harness & represent that student voice in a way Bristol West has been lacking under Stephen Williams. This has been clearly demonstrated in the way young Labour activists and indeed people who weren’t involved with the party before have signed up to Gemma’s campaign.

Gemma campaigned strongly against the scrapping of Educational Maintenance Allowance, a cut that has had a proven significant negative impact on the number of students going onto further education. Not only does that cut push people out of education & often onto the dole line damaging our economy right now, it is also directly adding to what is rapidly becoming a lost generation. This government couldn’t give two hoots about young people; that has become perfectly clear. Gemma has clear policies that will get young people back into education without being saddled with debt afterwards and that’s a message many in Bristol West & the country more widely will connect with.

But make no mistake; Gemma isn’t a one-issue candidate. Gemma’s appeal reaches out beyond young people – She also supports universal childcare & a National Care Service, two sensible solutions to two of the biggest issues facing our country today. We have seen time and time again just how shockingly wrong private care can go & how expensive it can be, and yes whilst we should retain that option for those who wish it, it makes fiscal & social sense to embrace a NCS.

The elderly have paid their taxes all of their lives & they deserve quality security should it get to the point where they’re unable to look after themselves as they age and equally families shouldn’t have to feel obligated to stay at home and look after elderly relatives because they have no alternative. A private sector solution with loose Government oversight has clearly failed.

Gemma also supports a plan for growth right now. Investment in infrastructure, training & advanced technology; Investment Britain is so desperate for as George Osborne’s Austerity Now policy has dragged us back into a double-dip recession for the first time since 1975, including a 4.9% fall in construction & an increase in the deficit by £4billion over projected estimates in just the first quarter of 2012. Stephen Williams has signed up to this Austerity Now project eagerly & absolutely must be held accountable for that. Millions of unemployed, a looming lost generation: None of us can wait for Britain to start growing again. We need growth now and Gemma backs policies that will see us start walking the path of growth again, not just as a country but in Bristol West too.

Gemma is a fantastically engaging candidate with credible, well-researched policies to match. I would strongly urge Bristol West Labourites to select Gemma as their candidate & I would strongly urge Bristol West to support her as Labour’s candidate come 2015.

She will enthusiastically support you at every turn & she will always be there for you fighting your corner. She will be the voice of the voiceless; a generation of young people so cut off from politics and politicians as a result of being taken for a ride by successive governments & ignored when they objected and she will be your voice too.

A vote for Gemma is a vote for a better Bristol West & a better Britain.

Gemma’s Website

Dominyk Tiller
Former Labour Candidate for Northville
Unite the Union: SW Youth Forum, SW Youth Delegate 2012 Equalities Conference & SW Youth Observer to 2012 Policy Conference.

Planned contribution to Unite/Trident/CND Debate (Was not called on during debate.)

Firstly I need to express concern about EC Statement because the EC Statement banks too much buck on the UN. It’s an organisation fuelled by special interests where the Americans blindly block any condemnation of Israel including & especially the illegal occupation of Palestine. The Chinese & Russians block even the most basic condemnation of anyone suppressing their people, as well documented by their stubborn refusal to condemn purely the Assad regime & its indiscriminate slaughter during the Syrian uprising. This Union should recognise this locked in corruption in the UN & not lend support to that.

However the Executive Council’s statement is considerably more balanced & considered than motion 55 and that is why I support it. Make no mistake about it, Motion 55 would pit union brothers and sisters against other union brothers and sisters and put their jobs on the line. The wording ‘at an early date’ are especially concerning in this regard. I quote something from a FoI response from the Ministry of Defence earlier this year:

‘• BAE Systems (primarily at Barrow in Furness) which manufactures both ballistic missile submarines and conventionally armed submarines and which employs approximately 5000 people. • Rolls Royce (primarily in Derby) which is responsible for the production of the nuclear propulsion system for both types of submarine and which employs approximately 2400 people. • Atomic Weapons Establishment (primarily at Aldermaston) which is responsible for the nuclear warhead stockpile and which employs approximately 4600 people.

These numbers do not include those further down the supply chain nor those at Devonport where submarines and surface ships are maintained. Ultimately decommissioning Trident (and cancelling the successor programme) would have the most significant effect on AWE although as indicated above, the decommissioning process for the warhead would be lengthy. The impact on jobs and skills at the other main industrial facilities would largely depend on whether the conventionally armed submarine fleet expanded (eg through the conversion of SSBNs). If not, then with only the SSN fleet to support, there would need to be rationalisation.’

Rationalisation being the Ministry of Defence’s way of saying job losses.

Motion 55 in going pugnaciously further than the executive statement is also rather flawed & I’d suggest incorrect:

Renewing Trident isn’t in violation of the NPT. It is the clear & expressed opinion of world leaders that updating nuclear stockpiles whilst continuing to reduce the overall stockpile of nuclear weapons with treaties like NEW START is within both the spirit & law of the NPT. China, Russia, America, France & the United Kingdom, all NPT signatories, have all started the process of upgrading their nuclear stockpiles.

It’s wrong to say renewing Trident goes against us Obama’s non proliferation efforts. Obama mostly focused on collecting & safety disposing of loose nuclear material. Obama himself has said: “So long as nuclear weapons exist, we will maintain a safe, secure and effective arsenal that guarantees the defense of the United States, reassures allies and partners, and deters potential adversaries.To that end we are seeking substantial investments to improve infrastructure, strengthen science and technology, and retain the human capital we need to sustain our stockpile, while also strengthening the conventional capabilities that are an important part of our deterrent.” The UK’s Trident renewal is in no way inconsistent with that policy, except in the regard that our conventional armed forces have been chronically underfunded & over stretched by all parties since the Falklands War.

I’d extremely strongly urge conference to utterly reject Motion 55 & Amendment 2 especially & for Conference to remember CND go way way beyond campaigning for nuclear disarmament. Affiliating to CND would have enormous effects on energy as nuclear power provides 15-18% of the UK’s energy currently. It would also change Britain’s foreign policy beyond recognition as CND demands a withdrawal from NATO and an end of all missile defence programmes; Such a shift would do irreversible damage to Britain’s standing in the world & would leave us weaker & less safe as a nation, let alone the impact on defence jobs.

What I would’ve said on the Labour & Unite relationship if I’d been selected to do so:

We should be proud of what New Labour achieved in government, yes with caveats, Because there’s nothing that embarrasses & pains me more about our labour party that in 13 years of government we did pathetically little to protect, strengthen or empower our trade unions and there is little that haunts us as much as a movement than Blair’s sheep-esk invasion of Iraq; The world is a better place without Saddam & his unquestionable brutality towards millions & millions of Kurds & Iraqis but the barefaced lie on weapons of mass destruction was a moment of deep humiliation for our great nation & Blair offering up the UK as the enforcer of America’s ego & rank hypocrisy had a cost in life, limb & blood that sickens me to this day.

But friends, colleagues, brothers, sisters; Be proud of what our Labour Party did in government!

- The minimum wage. In 1995 there were 300,000 people in this country being paid £1.50 an hour or less! Labour in government smashed the race to the bottom on wages. Tories & big business told us it’d lead to enormous unemployment but we went on to record levels of employment & a significant increase in quality of life for the working class.
- The introduction of Sure Start
- The Human Rights Act
- Peace in Northern Ireland
- The introduction of paternity leave & the strengthening of maternity leave.
- More than doubling our international aid spending
- Investment in the NHS resulting in a drastic cut in waiting times, including 100 new hospitals, 40000 new doctors & 83000 new nurses and something dear to me personally, a near 20% drop in cancer mortality rates in the under 75 age bracket.
- Our enormous advances on LGBT rights; Lifting the ban on gays serving in the military, the introduction of civil partnerships, the law allowing transgender people to change their legal gender, the banning of discrimination based on sexual orientation and let us never forget… Repealing Section 28, that vile inhumane policy introduced by Thatcher.
- And 13 years of Labour government, something we may never see again if our movement continues to pull itself apart.

I don’t call that a ‘bitter disappointment’. I am proud of what Labour in government did friends, and we need to keep talking about these achievements because when we don’t the Tories win the war of rhetoric & we risk future generations losing what past generations fought so hard for. We can do so much more together than we can apart. And that’s all of us, all of our factions, both inside the union & out. Unite & fellow sister unions, Labour, the Fabians & dare I say it.. Progress, are stronger together.

Deeply frustratingly as a consequence of their needlessly pugnacious & self-defeating nature I’m forced to implore you to reject Composites 16 and 17. However, with personal concerns I also urge you to consider lending support to Composite 18.

Email to Jack Lopresti Regarding Unpaid Jobseekers Bussed into London to Steward Jubilee Celebrations.

Following a Guardian article regarding abysmally treated unpaid jobseekers being bussed in from Bristol, Bath & Plymouth to steward the Jubilee celebrations in London (Link) I’ve written to Jack Lopresti MP to ask him to support an inquiry into the matter & ensure any residents of Filton & Bradley Stoke effected by this are assisted in getting the fair outcome they deserve.

I’ve copied that email below. I apologise for the size of the image, you can enlarge it by clicking on it if you wish.

UPDATE 15th JULY 2012:

Jack Lopresti’s Reply: (Once again click for full sized version. In future I’ll be attempting to copy these important conversations into one sharable PDF Document which should make life easier for everyone; I apologise for the inconvenience caused to readers)

And my reply to Jack Lopresti: (Click for full-sized)

Filton & South Glos Local Issues: Boules Court & Cycle Speedway Charging & South Glos. Youth Services Cuts.

I haven’t blogged on local politics for a long long time, mostly because I’ve been too tied up in family circumstances to be around & involved throughout the last 14 months or so, but partially because I also don’t want to bore the 35% or so of my readership that comes from America & Asia. I do have a few things I need to touch upon locally though, and whilst I’d usually do so in separate blog posts I’ll do something of a bumper post here to save bothering those who it has no relevance to too much.

Firstly: Filton Town Council’s Introduction of Charging for the Boules Court & Cycle Speedway – Evening Post Story

Fee introduction is something I’ve supported on these two sports/facilities for a fair old while now, albeit not that vocally as I felt Filton Town Council had more pressing issues, but I’m glad this issue has finally been resolved as it should’ve been some time ago.

The biggest issue for me is that use of sports facilities have been charged at Filton for as long as I can remember, with the exception of boules & the cycle speedway. Recently FTC passed a 5% price increase for the other sports facilities but boules & the cycle speedway remained free of charge; this exemption seemed fundamentally unfair & unreasonable to me. If you’ll excuse the pun charging should be a level playing field when it comes to sports facilities.

I see no legitimate reason for boules or the cycle speedway to remain free of charge while all of the other facilities are charged. True, the two sports are relatively specialist interests, but that doesn’t detract from the fact the speedway cost £50000 to construct & the boules court cost £8000 – Presumably given the lack of charging those costs haven’t been recovered. On the fiscal issue alone when the council is having to increase charges more widely it’s ludicrous to say these two sports shouldn’t start paying back some of that investment.

South Glos. Councillor Hutchinson raised the point that young children currently use the speedway for casual use, something I hadn’t witnessed personally but a claim others have verified. Youth issues have always been one of the fields I take a particular interest in, so I suggested making under-14s or a similar age bracket exempt from the charge as one that’d be fair, would ensure young people weren’t disproportionately hit by charges & something that’d be fiscally realistic. It needs to be raised before FTC, which I’m not in a position to do, but I’ll reach out to those I can with this suggestion.

I was somewhat surprised by the reaction my support for the introduction of fees created from a minority of people. Despite implied accusations, my support for the fee introduction isn’t born out of personal malice or malicious intention towards one individual or one group, and the suggestion it is actually quite offends me; as I’ve highlighted above it’s a simple matter of fairness & fair access. What is important to me is the financial issue & fairness issue, not whether the campaign to introduce fees was personal or ‘vindictive’.

There was also the accusation I didn’t ‘bother’ to find out both sides of the issue. Again this is something I resent being accused of. It’s public knowledge that I’ve been away from Bristol for about ½ of 2012 thus far spending time with family (New Baby Brother!) & then having the honour of being a SW Youth Delegate at Unite’s Conference down in Eastbourne, but everything about this debate that’s been pushed into the public domain I’ve paid attention to. If things have been said privately about the fees issue I can only apologise that I haven’t found a way to clone myself yet.

A point was also raised that the introduction of fees could be wildly unsuccessful & raise no income whatsoever; I personally consider this an extremely unlikely situation but I note that currently the boules court & cycle speedway don’t generate any revenue by themselves anyway, to my knowledge, and thus the idea the council could lose revenue that isn’t there is a puzzling one to me.

I would urge that small minority of accusatory voices to at least make the cheap shots in public so we can have a proper debate about these things, and so that people can see for themselves the full range of discussion. If those voices feel our differences locally are irreconcilable I’d be more than happy to explore the idea of challenging them at the next election so we can have that debate, publicly. These behind the scenes digs & petty squabbling frustrate me to no end; you can hardly blame those who run as far away from Filton & South Glos. politics as fast as they can & that must change and those resistant to that change must be swept away if we, as a community, as a council, are to move forwards positively & productively.

I’ve probably touched enough on that now. Moving on.

(Update 16 April 2012) Cllr Hutchinson released another statement to the press, which can be found Here. My response to that latest statement is as follows:

I don’t know how many times I’ve repeated here, in person & elsewhere this habit of Councillors releasing statements to the press where they know full well the ‘average joe’ won’t get nearly as much chance or coverage to reply instead of actually getting out there and holding regular meetings with constituents, instead of actually listening has to end, and having to repeat that hundreds of times is getting tedious.

Someone will raise the point that I could’ve said as much at the Labour Branch Meeting this past week, but in the interest of full disclosure I’m happy enough to admit I didn’t attend; I’ve had stomach flu for the last 9 days or so, so disappointingly I had to cancel my plans to attend. (I also cancelled the other 4 sets of evening plans I had for the last week for the same reason, incase anyone from the branch wants to raise an eyebrow about that).

But if Cllr Hutchinson is in the mood to answer some public questions I’m still waiting on a reply to mine from March 29th, questions that have been raised in this group countless times too. I won’t clog this section up with questions, they remain there in the comments section of the blog I posted a while back: Clicky

This issue isn’t partisan for me; I’m a Labour member, indeed a former Labour candidate for Northville back in 2010, so I don’t have a partisan agenda or even a personal agenda here; I just simply want answers to these not insignificant concerns, as we all do.

Elected representatives simply shouldn’t be launching these attacks on residents of this area, however small or large a group they may be, from behind the press curtain. More openness & transparency is needed, right across the political divide.

Secondly: The Enormously Alarming Threat to Sure Start in South Gloucestershire – Consultation & Explanation of Plans on SGC Website

This is an issue I raised with my union, Unite, at a meeting on the 17th of March, and it’s an issue we were all extremely concerned about, especially given the haste to the consultation process. We agreed to take it forwards & have significant discussion on the issue & this is something I’ll try to hasten. We have till April 2013 before whatever changes are passed are implemented, but it’ll be difficult to reverse the council’s decision once it has been made. Realistically I’d say we’re working to the consultation timetable, which ends in May.

It’s concerning to see a political divide becoming more and more obvious on the issue of youth services; 60% of Conservative & Liberal Democrat controlled councils have made cuts to youth services. Unite estimates up to 3000 people could lose their jobs & 20% of youth centres in the England and Wales could be closed. I’m hoping South Glos will see less of a political emphasis on cuts to youth services & do what’s best for parents, families & the young and focus, but without a guarantee of that it’s vital for outside groups to get involved in the debate & mobilize in defence of what services we currently have.

Sure Start centres in particular are under threat in South Glos. It’s important to look at the research on Sure Start – Disadvantaged Children who use the service are less likely to be overweight by the time they reach age 5, were in better general health & had less chaotic home lives according to the official evaluation. Mothers using the programme also report a “more stimulating home learning environment for their children, disciplining them less harshly and being more satisfied with life.” (1)

Now, as the above link highlights Sure Start hasn’t been a perfect programme, but you don’t take something that has a greater positive impact than a negative impact and target it for cuts, that makes the programme worse & inefficient, not better. The support these centres offer to young children & their families cannot be downplayed or brushed over, nor can there be justification for shipping out high-quality services to the private sector where competition may hinder rather than help that level of quality.

That help to families & children should be there whatever income bracket a person comes from. Ensuring our children have the brightest possible future & best early intervention is not an issue that we can lay aside, because our future & a better, brighter future for our children is something that we cannot afford not to invest in. Sure Start provides a valuable, appreciated, effective service & we should be focused on improving that & investing in new, better methods of enhancing that rather than cutting back on the level of quality we have in place already. The truth is that Sure Start has been underfunded for years, not overfunded & certainly not needing to face cuts.

I’m deeply alarmed that South Glos’ best case scenario is to retain just 6 out of the 15 current centres in the area, with unfilled vacancies remaining so & training budgets cut to boot. Training budgets are something that’s extremely easy to cut on paper, it doesn’t show up as a statistic, most people don’t pay attention to the impact assessment behind such a move & cutting training sounds relatively harmless at quick glance. The truth is cutting training now will hurt long into the future & leave parents, families, children & the community worse off and less cohesive.

The ‘alternative’ South Glos. have offered for the 6 remaining centres is “The leadership, management and operation of the six Children’s Centres are commissioned from one or more external organisations.” – Essentially to privatise those centres.

I’m not against privatisation where it will help & raise standards – I’m a huge supporter of SMEs & favour giving them additional tax breaks on top of our low corporation tax rate; I’m not anti-business in the slightest. But you only have to look at our care service for the elderly & vulnerable and indeed in this region with the horrible, fresh memories of Winterbourne View Hospital to realise that privatisation is not the cure-all many would have us believe.

Repeated evidence shows privatisation of care & children’s services often results in a reduced level of care & service and when cuts to funding, training, staff or centres are made the council responsible previously simply shrug their shoulders & abstains from the political responsibility we elect them to exercise.

I’m not opposed to privatisation as an idea, but when it comes to the idea of shipping out Sure Start & Children’s Services Centres to private providers there is a deeply uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach & I will fight that potential privatisation every inch of the way. I come from a disadvantaged background, I grew up on a rough as hell council estate in Portsmouth; I know what its like to not have that support, that intervention & how hard it makes things for families and I find the idea of subjecting any family to that helpless frustrated feeling repugnant.

It is imperative that we rally against South Glos abstaining on their responsibility to provide quality Children’s Services & it is imperative that we extract more concessions on the already disappointing cutbacks they’re hoping to make to the present centres.

Savings have to be found thanks to central Coalition Government cuts, but we cannot afford to adopt a policy of cut the present, hurt the future. Children’s Services are an easy target, but they shouldn’t be – We can find compromise & we must find compromise.

(Apologies for the length of this post, trying to cram 2 rather complex issues into one post was harder than anticipated!)

Eoin’s Thirty Pieces of Silver.

Three days ago Dr Eoin Clarke, A well-known Labour Blogger of “The Green Benches” made a frankly outrageous attack (http://eoin-clarke.blogspot.com/2012/02/traumatic-news-of-labour-mp-who-wont.html) on Kerry McCarthy, Bristol East’s MP.

It’s worth noting Eoin describes Kerry not signing an EDM she’d discovered just a few days prior as “Traumatic” and says that decision “depresses and saddens” him; That is the level of hyperbole Eoin has decided to exercise against a Labour MP not signing an EDM she’d only recently discovered existed.

If Eoin truly feels those emotions I’d strongly suggest he lacks a sense of perspective but what I suspect to be the truth instead is Eoin is once again employing hyperbole to further his own political agenda. That said, to start attacking a Labour MP who has battled tirelessly against Lansley’s Health Bill is a new low.

As Eoin is well aware EDMs by an overwhelming majority go no-where; They are a convenient, easy tool to raise awareness for a specific event – Congratulating local football teams on promotion (That one was a ridiculous use of taxpayer money as far as I’m concerned) or in more worthwhile cases raising issues such as tackling the health dangers of people smoking in cars that carry children. There are entirely literally thousands of EDMs filed per Parliamentary Session, 99% of which go nowhere. They are ineffective, inefficient & expensive.

Further to his attack article Eoin had the audacity to post on Kerry’s explanatory blog (http://kerrymccarthy.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/health-and-social-care-bill-risk-register/) -

Frankly this comment stinks & is insulting, degrading & patronising. Kerry has asked upwards of 18 Health-related Written Questions since the 2010 General Election and has spoken in numerous health debates in Parliament, including asking Andrew Lansley about his suspect connections to private health providers.

Despite all of the above being on public record Eoin has the audacity to suggest he has sweated blood & walked over hot coals to defend the NHS & by implication Kerry hasn’t and really I think here Eoin needs to get a grip. Eoin’s attack is disingenuous & I suspect he well knows this and I would urge him to withdraw his remarks and apologise for them.

The EDM in question – EDM 2659 (PUBLICATION OF THE RISK REGISTER ON HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE BILL REFORMS) has just 38 signatures thus far. Some of the people who haven’t signed the EDM yet from the ‘red team’ include Andy Burnham, the Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Ed Miliband, The Leader of the Opposition. I notice Eoin hasn’t savagely attacked or attempted to undermine either Andy or Ed and I notice Eoin isn’t calling into question their commitment to defending the NHS.

Eoin’s attack is even more ridiculous when revealed by Kerry’s explanatory blog she’d raised the issue the EDM does in Parliament last November, months before this EDM was published. Even if every Labour MP signed this new EDM it wouldn’t force the publication of the risk register; Kerry has raised the subject in Parliament and it is there on Hansard for everyone to find & see. Kerry now signing an EDM on something she raised 3 months ago would be redundant.

Eoin knows an EDM is not the “grand gesture” he says it is, but rather a vessel that is frequently worthless, ignored by Parliament & nearly always ignored by the general public & press outside of the Westminster Bubble.

I’m afraid Eoin’s article was dishonest, disingenuous, deliberately undermining & I strongly believe there is need for him to withdraw his post & issue a full public apology for subjecting Kerry to a week of maliciously whipped up attacks in which she has been accused of everything from secretly being a Tory (sigh) to failing to represent her constituents and failing to defend the NHS.

Do the right thing & apologise for your article Eoin. I’m sure you can further your political profile in more productive ways than bottom of the barrel gutter attacks against Labour MPs working far harder than you to defeat Andrew Lansley’s attack on the NHS’ founding principles.

We Believe That The Time Has Come For Syrian Intervention.

If you would like to add your name please email harry [@] harrylangford.co.uk or direct message on Twitter @HarryLangford.

We the undersigned believe that it is time for the international community to take action in Syria to stop a preventable genocide of fellow human beings.

More than 2,000 people have died since Russia and China vetoed the first UN Security Council Resolution in October 2011. Between 6-8,000 people have died since the uprising began. Hundreds more have been tortured and illegally detained.

We believe that we should protect those who are striving to enjoy the same rights that we in the Free World enjoy every day as articulated in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

A new standard for international intervention in the affairs of states that undermines those basic rights and freedoms must be developed. We believe that it is important that where the global community has the ability to save lives then it has the imperative to do so.

Intervention, where it is for humanitarian purposes, is not something to be feared. We believe that humanitarian intervention in states which torture and murder their own citizens as an act of political and social repression is not only justified but it is of the upmost importance.

We accept that in the past interventionism has not been as successful as it might have been; nonetheless, we see the action by the international community in Libya and that of NATO in the Bosnian and Yugoslav Wars as a model for intervention.

The Libyan no-fly zone prevented a potential massacre in Benghazi. We cannot allow that kind of mass killing to happen in Syria either. Iraqi Marsh Arabs, Rwandans, Bosniaks at Srebrenica and Kurds have suffered where the international community did not intervene, and we believe that that mistake cannot be repeated again.

We condemn the veto by China and Russia of the draft UN Security Council Resolution supporting Arab League efforts to resolve the crisis in Syria and calling for an immediate end to all violence.

A Syrian-led transition of power away from the corrupt and murderous Assad regime must happen as soon as possible to prevent further deaths in Syria.

Signatories (All in a personal capacity):

• Harry Langford (Author), What’s Next?, Labour.
• Daniel Furr, Too Liberal, Liberal Democrat.
• Cllr Pete Bowyer, Labour & Co-Operative Member for Stockwell.
• Dominyk Tiller, Weighing the World, Member of Unite, Progress and Former Labour Candidate for Northville
• Julie, Julie’s Think Tank
• Deanna Quirke, Exeter University Labour Club, Labour.
• Tom Williams, KCL Labour Society Executive, Labour.
• Daniel Mayhew, NTU Labour Club Executive, Labour.
• Max Wind-Cowie, Muscular Liberal, Conservative.
• Harry Matthews, Yellow Spectacles, Sheffield University Liberal Youth, Liberal Democrat.
• Brad Marshall, University of Leicester Labour Club, Labour.
• Jamil Dhanani, Vice-President, Thornhill Young Liberals.
• Danny Hackett, Labour
• Samuel Baxter, University of Manchester Conservative Future, Conservative.
• Jason Cowan, University of Manchester Conservative Future, Conservative.
• Mike Farrell, LawBlogOne
• Jon Boulton, Conservative.
• Ben McCabe, Conservative.
• Stephen Fulham, Socialist and Labour Party Member.
• Christopher Aldous, Community Activist.
• Brian Devlin, Labour.
• John Brooks.
• Liam Quinn, Conservative.
• Leon Ward.
• David Doig, Socialist
• Peter Lord
• Tariq Rahuma.
• Mike Knight.
• Adam Gray.
• Peter van Vilet.

Filton Airfield Developments.

Recently South Gloucestershire Council approved plans to build thousands of new homes over Filton Airfield, a decision that many locals & I find deeply disappointing and a decision that makes a mockery of the historic connections between Filton and aerospace.

During South Gloucestershire’s public consultation on the future of Filton Airfield I submitted a reply (South Glos FA Consultation). At the time it hadn’t come to light that BAE had made that profit by increasing landing fees but I still reject the premise that BAE did everything in its power to advertise the airfield & achieve profit.

Understandably there has been a degree of outrage from residents that it appears South Glos Council officials & BAE were actively colluding to close Filton Airfield, especially in regards to some within the council deliberately & undemocratically undermining Labour’s valid concerns about the possibility of redevelopment. The full document revealing the collusion can be seen on the South Glos Labour website (http://www.sglabour.org.uk/labour-fury-at-dodgy-dossier).

Given my own MPs (Jack Lopresti) strongly-pro Filton Airfield redevelopment stance I wondered how deep his involvement in the pro-development lobby had been & filed a series of Freedom of Information Requests, several of which I’m still awaiting reply on***. As some of you may be aware David MacLean attempted to pass an amendment to the Freedom of Information Act back in 2007 to protect MP’s correspondence from FOI Requests which ultimately failed to pass the Lords & somewhat muddied the waters on what you can request under the act & what you can’t.

After consulting several Parliamentary contacts who weren’t entirely certain where the line was I decided to FOI Jack Lopresti’s office & request correspondence between him & South Glos or BAE in relation to Filton Airfield. As it turns out (Since I’m presuming Jack did his research before replying) that is where the line lies, you cannot directly request an MP’s correspondence (Though I believe you can request correspondence from Government Departments between that department & specific MPs, which is an interesting loophole).

After contacting Jack this is the reply I received: Reply from Lopresti on FA

I replied: http://ddom2006.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/reply-to-jack-on-fa.png 

To which Jack Lopresti responded: http://ddom2006.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/jl-reply-to-far.png

In a further development since I replied to Mr Lopresti the hundreds of jobs lined up for Filton are now confirmed to be headed overseas as widely suspected (http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Jobs-earmarked-Bristol-going-overseas/story-14389794-detail/story.html) which is obviously a massive disappointment for the area. Both Government & industry must be prepared to make the case for British manufacturing & Filton’s aerospace industry but sadly both are increasingly failing to do so; The opening of a new Boeing office in Filton is a welcome opportunity but when taken with the bigger picture of the loss of Filton Airfield & a large job-creating contract there’s still work to be done in ensuring Filton’s aerospace industry has a long & prosperous future.

***My two initial FOI Requests have now been answered:

Answer from Department of Business, Innovation & Skills: BIS FA FOI

Answer from the Ministry of Defence: http://ddom2006.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/screen-shot-2012-01-20-at-03-38-12.png