I feel this post should start with a phrase like 'it's been six months since my last diatribe' but I shall soldier on with all the confidence and lack of awareness of the average blogger. 'Tis time, dear reader, to put my thoughts down in more detail than Twitter can allow about a subject dear to my heart.
I have worked in local government since 1994 (Pity me!) and I am now involved in research into care, which is an interesting if vexing subject since it centres around how to help people who need that help but with a pot which seems to shrink each year. My experiences over this time have led me to the conclusion that local government is a 'good' which millions of people rely on (drive a car? those roads you trundle along are maintained by someone. Create waste? Yep, you guessed it...) but one which has not grown and developed as it perhaps might have done had it been less constrained.
For local government is like a prisoner chained to a wheel, forced to carry out the same tasks over and over again but with less gruel as each day passes. Budgets are being cut year on year and needs are growing continually. The problem which I have concluded exists is the simple one about whether the questions being asked about local government are the right ones. Some thoughts on this can be summarised thus:
1. Budgets are being cut by central government. True, but is this the problem or is the problem that central government sets the budget for local government the greater problem?
2. Services are being challenged across the board. True again, but is the problem more that services are being prescribed by someone else rather than being led, amended and pioneered locally?
3. Local governments face limited and falling budgets and struggle to provide services they are required to. True - and where does this requirement come from?
4. Council Tax is a very bad joke and does not serve the purpose it was set up to address in any way, shape or form. The Tories designed it as a stop gap in the 1990s and Labour failed utterly to adddress the open wound it created over 13 wasted years. Er, do I need to add to this? Essentially, local finance is non-existent, coming mostly (75%) from central government.
Go down the pub and any number of old lags are happy to slag off the coalition and politicians - I'm often one of them. Perhaps we need to delve a little deeper and recognise that things are changing far more than is being given credit for. The 'fat' years have ended, the money has been squandered by the last government. The services people rightly came to expect after 1945 have moved too far from what was originally envisaged. The vicious, divisive forces of nationalism are threatening our very country. Why?
Local government is often expected to be a cure-all and it is also often a cosy club of retired people who give people the government they think they deserve.
So here's the essential issue I can identify: it's not the funding, it's not the service cuts, it's not democracy and the need for a mayor here or there, the issue is whether local government in England is fit for purpose or whether it is based on outdated principles, old structures and tired politics.
I'm not planning to be a lazy blogger and to leave it here but I do want to set out my thoughts for me to address. I hope this is a start to my own reflections.
NB: if you are reading this with an increasing sense of anger and dismay that I could possibly think such thoughts, allow me to offer you a single word by way of riposte. Rutland.
Saturday, 12 January 2013
Saturday, 30 June 2012
EUROPE BURNS WHILE DAVE BLEATS
The Lib Dems are generally pilloried for our approach to Europe. We like it, we support it, we promote it. That much is understood and generally misrepresented by all and sundry. I, for example, am a passionate European but I think the European Union as it is constituted is a disaster.
As for the Tories, they are a running joke on Europe, with successive Tory leaders hurled onto the rack of right-wing Euroscepticism which infests their party. That much is also understood and generally enjoyed by all and sundry outside of the Tory Party.
Their latest leader has proven himself singularly inept on Europe, starting with his foolish decision to leave the right-wing grouping, the European People's Party, which would have gained him allies across the continent. He did this for short-term gain, to win his party's leadership. He won the leadership of his party but he lost the support of many potential allies in Europe.
He has failed miserably to do anything positive in this current crisis. He goes to meetings, he annoys people, he makes sub-Churchillian statements about the importance of the latest press statement...and all the time economies tumble and people suffer.
However, we shouldn't blame Dave for his failings on Europe. There hasn't been a single British Prime Minister who has 'got' Europe, not even Ted Heath, who was at least a committed European but so much so that it made him craven as he begged for membership.
The problem with this - and the reason for this rant - is that we are once again missing a huge opportunity. Since 1945, European countries have sought involvement and leadership from Britain and since 1945 Britain has failed. We have pretended that we are separate (look at a map: we aren't), or better (look at GDP figures for Germany and France: we aren't), or just not like them (look at 5,000 years of history: complete twaddle).
Now we're in a new period of desperate crisis, with European countries riven between the Germans, who are being asked to bail out less cautious countries and who are quite reasonably asking what is in it for them, and a host of others who want growth, investment, development, an end to austerity and chocolate for breakfast but who can't say who pays for this (see 'Germany', above).
A British Prime Minister with a vision, a stated commitment to the idea of European countries working together and a sense of the fundamental importance of the European market to the British economy would be jetting around the capitals of Europe, offering support, advice and brokerage and providing a British vision for Europe based on enterprise and co-operation - but without surrendering Britain to a federal Europe, whatever the rabid right wing loons might have us think. That Prime Minister would develop relationships and would secure a place for our country at the heart of negotiations to lift Europe from its current gloom - and through this process lift Britain's economy from the doldrums.
Sadly that Prime Minister is as real as Paddington Bear. What we have is Dave the Eurosceptic, Dave the populist, Dave the conciliator, Dave the prisoner of the Tory right wing, Dave the man with the vision to see as far as 2015 but no further.
The latest 'debate' is over a referendum on Britain's membership of Europe. Fine with the Lib Dems: we're the only party which has called for this to be held. However, this is not a policy, merely an argument. We would be confident in such an argument since we would reckon on the support of British business, which would like to secure the 50% of our trade which is done with Europe, together with the 3m people who rely on Europe for their jobs. Bring it on. Unfortunately, this is not a long-term policy for Britain or for Europe.
Labour will demand a referendum. Dave will too, in order to head Boris off in his bid for the Tory leadership (and possibly Prime Ministership, may God have mercy on us!) but neither of the old parties has a policy on Europe. We do. We know it's good for us and good for Europe for a strong, robust British membership which gives us the strength and the allies to take on the parsimonious Germans and the spendthrift French, Italians, Spanish and Greeks and hopefully bring them closer together.
In the Independent today, Vince Cable was interviewed discussing the decision of John Smith in the late 1970s to encourage Japanese investment in Britain - at the time a risky and unpopular strategy. He had a vision and it worked. Sadly we never had a Prime Minister Smith. Instead we got a warmongering pygmy. There is about as much light from Labour on Europe as there is from the deepest recesses of the Tory right-wing.
Until we get someone in Number 10 who is grown up about Europe we are all doomed: Britain to a position of irrelevance and Europe to perennial arguments between Germany and the rest.
As for the Tories, they are a running joke on Europe, with successive Tory leaders hurled onto the rack of right-wing Euroscepticism which infests their party. That much is also understood and generally enjoyed by all and sundry outside of the Tory Party.
Their latest leader has proven himself singularly inept on Europe, starting with his foolish decision to leave the right-wing grouping, the European People's Party, which would have gained him allies across the continent. He did this for short-term gain, to win his party's leadership. He won the leadership of his party but he lost the support of many potential allies in Europe.
He has failed miserably to do anything positive in this current crisis. He goes to meetings, he annoys people, he makes sub-Churchillian statements about the importance of the latest press statement...and all the time economies tumble and people suffer.
However, we shouldn't blame Dave for his failings on Europe. There hasn't been a single British Prime Minister who has 'got' Europe, not even Ted Heath, who was at least a committed European but so much so that it made him craven as he begged for membership.
The problem with this - and the reason for this rant - is that we are once again missing a huge opportunity. Since 1945, European countries have sought involvement and leadership from Britain and since 1945 Britain has failed. We have pretended that we are separate (look at a map: we aren't), or better (look at GDP figures for Germany and France: we aren't), or just not like them (look at 5,000 years of history: complete twaddle).
Now we're in a new period of desperate crisis, with European countries riven between the Germans, who are being asked to bail out less cautious countries and who are quite reasonably asking what is in it for them, and a host of others who want growth, investment, development, an end to austerity and chocolate for breakfast but who can't say who pays for this (see 'Germany', above).
A British Prime Minister with a vision, a stated commitment to the idea of European countries working together and a sense of the fundamental importance of the European market to the British economy would be jetting around the capitals of Europe, offering support, advice and brokerage and providing a British vision for Europe based on enterprise and co-operation - but without surrendering Britain to a federal Europe, whatever the rabid right wing loons might have us think. That Prime Minister would develop relationships and would secure a place for our country at the heart of negotiations to lift Europe from its current gloom - and through this process lift Britain's economy from the doldrums.
Sadly that Prime Minister is as real as Paddington Bear. What we have is Dave the Eurosceptic, Dave the populist, Dave the conciliator, Dave the prisoner of the Tory right wing, Dave the man with the vision to see as far as 2015 but no further.
The latest 'debate' is over a referendum on Britain's membership of Europe. Fine with the Lib Dems: we're the only party which has called for this to be held. However, this is not a policy, merely an argument. We would be confident in such an argument since we would reckon on the support of British business, which would like to secure the 50% of our trade which is done with Europe, together with the 3m people who rely on Europe for their jobs. Bring it on. Unfortunately, this is not a long-term policy for Britain or for Europe.
Labour will demand a referendum. Dave will too, in order to head Boris off in his bid for the Tory leadership (and possibly Prime Ministership, may God have mercy on us!) but neither of the old parties has a policy on Europe. We do. We know it's good for us and good for Europe for a strong, robust British membership which gives us the strength and the allies to take on the parsimonious Germans and the spendthrift French, Italians, Spanish and Greeks and hopefully bring them closer together.
In the Independent today, Vince Cable was interviewed discussing the decision of John Smith in the late 1970s to encourage Japanese investment in Britain - at the time a risky and unpopular strategy. He had a vision and it worked. Sadly we never had a Prime Minister Smith. Instead we got a warmongering pygmy. There is about as much light from Labour on Europe as there is from the deepest recesses of the Tory right-wing.
Until we get someone in Number 10 who is grown up about Europe we are all doomed: Britain to a position of irrelevance and Europe to perennial arguments between Germany and the rest.
Wednesday, 9 May 2012
Saturday, 5 May 2012
TOUGH ARGUMENTS OF OUR TIME: WHY I STILL THINK NICK'S THE RIGHT LEADER
My thoughts on the thorny issue of the leadership are fairly simple. I still think Nick's doing okay and should continue to be supported. Before they come for me, here's why.
Nick should still be leader of the Lib Dems in 2015 and the increasing calls for him to resign just miss the point entirely. Seriously, if Lembit says something you've got to be reassured if you disagree. The phrase 'lost the plot' just doesn't do his present state of mind justice. However, others with greater control of their faculties have said this, so it needs to be considered.
Nick should be supported because he gets it. The Tories are working with us but it is rather like sharing a pit with a python. You might help each other to get out but never take your eyes off it. They will attack us as soon as they think the time is right and it seems to me that Nick recognises this. He appears to know that this is a long game and he is playing it cool.
Come 2015, those vipers (I know, different snake) will strike and we need to react and hit them back hard. If we can show that we tamed them for 5 years and did the good stuff like cutting taxes we might just do well. If.
What could a Tim Farron or Simon Hughes bring to the party beyond further antagonising the Tory right. Great guys both but not right for the job at the moment. And any calls for the Blessed Vince to step up to the plate are likely to fall on deaf ears as Vince is clearly unhappy in the coalition and he just doesn't seem to want the leader's job.
All those calling for Nick's head need to answer two simple questions: who would replace him and where would they take us?
I've been on the doorsteps in the past few weeks and I've had the arguments. The strange thing was that most people were willing to listen. They may not agree but I got a good impression that we can still connect. We won two seats here and we held and achieved good results in many areas around the south. That is small comfort for other areas but it shows that our arguments still work.
We should not ditch the pilot before we are sure he's the problem and that there is a replacement pilot eating peanuts in business class. At the moment I'm not sure there is.
Nick should still be leader of the Lib Dems in 2015 and the increasing calls for him to resign just miss the point entirely. Seriously, if Lembit says something you've got to be reassured if you disagree. The phrase 'lost the plot' just doesn't do his present state of mind justice. However, others with greater control of their faculties have said this, so it needs to be considered.
Nick should be supported because he gets it. The Tories are working with us but it is rather like sharing a pit with a python. You might help each other to get out but never take your eyes off it. They will attack us as soon as they think the time is right and it seems to me that Nick recognises this. He appears to know that this is a long game and he is playing it cool.
Come 2015, those vipers (I know, different snake) will strike and we need to react and hit them back hard. If we can show that we tamed them for 5 years and did the good stuff like cutting taxes we might just do well. If.
What could a Tim Farron or Simon Hughes bring to the party beyond further antagonising the Tory right. Great guys both but not right for the job at the moment. And any calls for the Blessed Vince to step up to the plate are likely to fall on deaf ears as Vince is clearly unhappy in the coalition and he just doesn't seem to want the leader's job.
All those calling for Nick's head need to answer two simple questions: who would replace him and where would they take us?
I've been on the doorsteps in the past few weeks and I've had the arguments. The strange thing was that most people were willing to listen. They may not agree but I got a good impression that we can still connect. We won two seats here and we held and achieved good results in many areas around the south. That is small comfort for other areas but it shows that our arguments still work.
We should not ditch the pilot before we are sure he's the problem and that there is a replacement pilot eating peanuts in business class. At the moment I'm not sure there is.
Debrief - or at least the start of it...
Well, even the shouting is over so a moment of reflection is probably called for. In West Oxfordshire we did okay. We won the ultra blue seat of Woodstock and we held Charlbury and Finstock, increasing the majority to one which can reasonably be described as 'thumping'. Elsewhere in the district the Labour Party did well, gaining 3 seats. It's always good to see the Tories get a kicking but I still hold to the 'plague on both their houses' line.
The Greens also stood across the area, did b*gger all but took votes which could be ours - the only party which actually does stuff to address environmental concerns rather than just recycling our Guardians in a really concerned manner. If you want to really stuff the environment, vote Green. That way you guarantee the Tories get elected.
Politics is a drug which those of us who are hooked cannot shake off so I enjoyed the campaign, from the endless trudging up drives to deliver another bit of paper to the argument with the man putting his daughter to bed at 9.45pm as I begged him to vote. Needless to say, he didn't. Maybe these people frighten their children once a year by telling them to go to sleep or the nasty Lib Dem Knocker Upper will get them.
Every year I do this stuff and every year I end with the thought that we must do something better to get, retain and increase our vote. Looking at mighty places like Eastleigh and Portsmouth, it is clearly possible and we perhaps need to be a little less prim in Oxfordshire and really go for the jugular. After all, there is little in life which is certain but the prospect of a wounded and spiteful David Cameron standing on a very unpopular ticket in 2015 hereabouts is a good bet.
Labour will have donned white robes and fake wings by then so I suppose our job is to damn Dave for everything he has failed to do - like sacking his culture secretary, promoting just one or two people who didn't go to school with him to the Cabinet, and anything on Lords reform - while simultaneously reminding people about 'New' Labour and its record on sleaze, warmongering and leaping headfirst into bed with Australian media barons. Fingers crossed Ed the Supply Leader will still be in charge of Labour in 2015.
As for our leader, well more on that next.
Rather oddly, I am reassured by the election results. They proved that we are taking on the Tories. They also confirm that we are the challengers to Labour. Yes, the fightback will be hard but this is grown up, national politics and the transition is going to hurt but we might just find in a few years that we are in a significantly better position as far as Westminster politics is concerned, at which point the pain of the current period could seem worthwhile.
With apologies to anyone who fought and lost yesterday. I share your pain and I am not making light of it.
The Greens also stood across the area, did b*gger all but took votes which could be ours - the only party which actually does stuff to address environmental concerns rather than just recycling our Guardians in a really concerned manner. If you want to really stuff the environment, vote Green. That way you guarantee the Tories get elected.
Politics is a drug which those of us who are hooked cannot shake off so I enjoyed the campaign, from the endless trudging up drives to deliver another bit of paper to the argument with the man putting his daughter to bed at 9.45pm as I begged him to vote. Needless to say, he didn't. Maybe these people frighten their children once a year by telling them to go to sleep or the nasty Lib Dem Knocker Upper will get them.
Every year I do this stuff and every year I end with the thought that we must do something better to get, retain and increase our vote. Looking at mighty places like Eastleigh and Portsmouth, it is clearly possible and we perhaps need to be a little less prim in Oxfordshire and really go for the jugular. After all, there is little in life which is certain but the prospect of a wounded and spiteful David Cameron standing on a very unpopular ticket in 2015 hereabouts is a good bet.
Labour will have donned white robes and fake wings by then so I suppose our job is to damn Dave for everything he has failed to do - like sacking his culture secretary, promoting just one or two people who didn't go to school with him to the Cabinet, and anything on Lords reform - while simultaneously reminding people about 'New' Labour and its record on sleaze, warmongering and leaping headfirst into bed with Australian media barons. Fingers crossed Ed the Supply Leader will still be in charge of Labour in 2015.
As for our leader, well more on that next.
Rather oddly, I am reassured by the election results. They proved that we are taking on the Tories. They also confirm that we are the challengers to Labour. Yes, the fightback will be hard but this is grown up, national politics and the transition is going to hurt but we might just find in a few years that we are in a significantly better position as far as Westminster politics is concerned, at which point the pain of the current period could seem worthwhile.
With apologies to anyone who fought and lost yesterday. I share your pain and I am not making light of it.
Tuesday, 24 April 2012
MY PRIORITIES FOR HAILEY, LEAFIELD AND MINSTER LOVELL
In
addition to the party priorities set out below, I have my own interests.
I would like to see more investment in cycling provision locally, which would mean more than painting a few white lines onto roads. Cycling is a fun activity which can keep us healthy. It is easy to do and can be enjoyed by almost everyone. It also reduces the number of cars on our busy roads, which benefits us all.
However, most people see cycling as dangerous and would never dream of getting on a bike. Local authorities can do a lot to encourage people through simple activities such as requiring proper cycle lanes to be included in any new roads. With all the planned development around Witney in particular, this could be a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting legacy which can benefit everyone.
We also need to invest in affordable housing which is well designed, which does not swamp existing communities and which comes with the services that people need to live well in our district. I worked for the Vale of White Horse District Council for 7 years, during which time the then Lib Dem administration prioritised high quality affordable housing and delivered more than 1500 homes in town centres and sustainable communities. West Oxfordshire has a good record for affordable housing but we need to keep the pace of building up to make sure that our communities remain strong and vibrant. Leafield's shop and school are good examples of how new housing can benefit villages. More people living in Leafield has meant that both are thriving.
The district council is small and has limited budgets but those budgets must be spent wisely, building strong communities now and leaving a lasting legacy for the future.
I would like to see more investment in cycling provision locally, which would mean more than painting a few white lines onto roads. Cycling is a fun activity which can keep us healthy. It is easy to do and can be enjoyed by almost everyone. It also reduces the number of cars on our busy roads, which benefits us all.
However, most people see cycling as dangerous and would never dream of getting on a bike. Local authorities can do a lot to encourage people through simple activities such as requiring proper cycle lanes to be included in any new roads. With all the planned development around Witney in particular, this could be a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting legacy which can benefit everyone.
We also need to invest in affordable housing which is well designed, which does not swamp existing communities and which comes with the services that people need to live well in our district. I worked for the Vale of White Horse District Council for 7 years, during which time the then Lib Dem administration prioritised high quality affordable housing and delivered more than 1500 homes in town centres and sustainable communities. West Oxfordshire has a good record for affordable housing but we need to keep the pace of building up to make sure that our communities remain strong and vibrant. Leafield's shop and school are good examples of how new housing can benefit villages. More people living in Leafield has meant that both are thriving.
The district council is small and has limited budgets but those budgets must be spent wisely, building strong communities now and leaving a lasting legacy for the future.
LIBERAL DEMOCRAT PRIORITIES FOR WEST OXFORDSHIRE
Every authority needs an active opposition and the Lib Dems have a good record in West Oxfordshire. In March, Lib Dem councillors stood up for the Citizens’ Advice Bureau when the Tories tried to slash the budget. It was Lib Dems who convinced the Tories that they should look at opening a recycling facility at Greystones to replace Dean Pit.
The Liberal Democrats want a better future for everyone in our area, which includes:
- Enough affordable houses so that the next generation can afford to rent or buy a home locally
- Roads and pavements maintained properly
- Higher building standards, to reduce fuel costs and CO2 emissions
- Better recycling for businesses. What;'s the point of us all recycling at home when busioness throw away tons of rubbish each day because there is no choice for them?
- Zero-landfill targets. This will be tough to achieve but there is nothing wrong with having targets to aim for
- Planning policy that supports local food production, encouraging jobs and sustainability
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