Why Labour?

I am a Labour Party member principally because I believe in helping society, through helping its most vulnerable members.

The defection of Luke Bozier from Labour to the Conservatives a week ago, and the recent poll-wobble Labour have suffered seemed to have turned us, as a party, back onto the introspective track. Seemingly endless “coloured” ideological factions are rising up, each with their own ideas of where the party should be going.

Blue Labour think we should embrace a community-led ideology. Purple Labour think we should return to the Blairite New Labour which won three elections on the trot (pun not intended). Red Labour think we should go back to before New Labour, and shift starkly leftwards. In-the-black Labour think we should embrace fiscal conservatism (basically, our economic policies should mirror the Tories’).

I’m not in any of these camps, though I listen with interest to what each of them have to say, and I believe that all of them have a part to play in the ongoing debate about which direction Labour should take. Prior to the leadership election, I wrote about the importance of a Labour party that was “comprehensive, inclusive and effective“, and I still believe this is what we need.

The problem, in many quarters, seems to be an expectation that Labour getting back on top would happen pretty much instantaneous. There’s a very interesting article in the New Statesman that pretty much says that Ed Miliband has to address Cameron as he is, not as he wishes the PM would be. This really is true of Labour with the Conservatives on the whole. It’s almost like we’ve expected the coalition not even to try and hide the nastiness of some of the things they’re doing.

When I joined the Labour Party, between the General Election and the Lib Dem/Tory Faustian pact, it was for a number of reasons. Partly it was the dignity of Gordon Brown’s resignation speech. Partly it was fear at the prospect of a Conservative government. Mostly it was guilt at the fact that although I had always been a Labour supporter, I’d never taken the step of joining; and thus feared that I had contributed to the dreadful outcome.

You see, Labour to me is as an ideal as much as a party. There is a fundamental grounding reason behind it, that the privileged should not be allowed to benefit themselves to the detriment of the underprivileged. The Labour Party has lost its way before, and doubtless will do so again, but always it comes back to that idea of helping society, through helping the worst off.

Contrastingly, the underpinning Conservative line of thought is (since Thatcher, certainly) “Every man (and woman) for themselves”. I’ve never been able to stomach the inherent selfishness contained in this, and for me it underlines everything that this government is doing wrong. From letting the bankers off the hook, to punishing the disabled.

Luke Bozier doesn’t hold to the same principles as I do. Both the fact of and nature of his resignation from the party were timed to help himself gain maximum publicity, built on false claims of who he is. Luke Bozier is not Labour, and deserves no more thought from Labour.

The polls are a little more worrying, but not by much. This was always going to be a long term project, and the expectation that Labour’s reinvention is done (or, indeed, will ever be done) is folly. Take the polls as exactly what they are at this stage in a parliament; near-meaningless. Rather than obsessing about them, we should be doing two things:

1. Helping the vulnerable now, through solid, effective and principled opposition.
2. Deciding how we’re going to help the vulnerable in the future, through a comprehensive and progressive plan for government.

This is why I am a Labour Party member, and why if anyone else wants to pump out any more ideas, in any shade of any colour, I’ll be happy to read and discuss them.

Budget-Making in the Dark

David Lee's arguments why local residents don't need to see his council's plans for their services and taxes holds neither intellectual weight nor sympathy.

Local budgets aren’t usually big news events, despite the fact that they are probably at least as immediately relevant to the lives of the ordinary person as their national equivalents. So most of the time when local authorities set their yearly budgets they are only of interest to those already interested in local politics. Julian Ware-Lane, for example, has posted a bit of a blog on Southend Borough Council’s budget.

For those of you worrying that I’m about to launch into a hugely technical dissection of Wokingham’s proposed budget, fear not. I’m not. I won’t. Why? Because the council are refusing to publish it until the point when the law forces them to. I’m not the only person to write about this, but I feel I have to vent my confusion and outrage at this decision.

Let me start by saying that I’m very much in favour of transparency at all levels of government. You won’t find many (if any) politicians disagreeing with this, but often actions tell a different story. Take Mr Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. He very vocally espouses transparency in local government. He also advised local councils to refuse FOI requests on spending.

So to Wokingham. Cllr David Lee, the council leader who featured on this blog not that long ago, has refused calls for openness and consultation, on the grounds that it would “just be a PR exercise”. Sorry, what? Surely that depends on how you respond to the consultation? True enough I expect the Wokingham executive to ignore whatever local residents tell them, but actually coming out and saying it is frankly astounding.

He also says that any consultation would be pointless because the budget is already “cut to the bone”. Now, people might disagree with me on this, but when there is less money around it seems even more important that it is well spent and that allocation of funds is fair and responsible. Cllr Lee’s attempt to back up this argument with another claim about Wokingham’s poor funding (a subject that I’ve already addressed) lends it neither intellectual weight or sympathy. Publishing the budget would allow residents to have a look at it, and to feed back into the process.

In Brighton & Hove, the minority Green Party administration has launched rather a novel “open budget” process, where they published it long ago and invited councillors from all parties to participate. I’m not holding it up as a perfect example- and as Cllr Warren Morgan has told me, it’s become something of a political gimmick whereby the Greens can find popular dissatisfaction with particular measures and change them, whilst remaining vague on detail- but it certainly gives more of an impression of caring what residents think.

And honestly, I think I’d rather that than Wokingham’s secretive, high-handed approach.

This approach, where the decisions are taken by an elite group (the executive) and no heed is taken of the majority (the residents), is pretty typical of the one party junta-style approach in Wokingham. The Tories completely dominate the political scene, as they hold such an entrenched majority that they don’t believe they will ever be electorally challenged- so needn’t fear consequences of decisions they take. There’s some truth in that, but the comments on the aforementioned Wokingham Times article show a certain resident concern about what their taxes are to be spent on.

So there you go. I may, eventually, post some analysis of the Wokingham budget for 2012-2013. But since I won’t see the budget until 16th February, a week before it is debated at a full council meeting, it will neither be soon nor thorough. The decision to wait until the last minute stifles debate and analysis, and shows further that Wokingham Conservatives have nothing but contempt for the public they are meant to be representing.

Urban Limbo – A Call for Submissions

This is the draft cover art for Urban Limbo. Which looks bloody amazing.

Right, you lovely folks! Many of you will know of my lovely girlfriend, Ashleigh, who is currently in her final year of a Creative and Media Writing degree at Middlesex University. For her final year project, she is putting together a fiction magazine, based around the frankly brilliant theme of urban horror/fantasy, to be entitled “Urban Limbo“

And for this project, she needs your help. She’s looking for short stories, reviews, articles and photography submissions, in a call which is open to everyone. The current deadline is 20th February 2012. The following is from Ashleigh’s blog:

“Urban Limbo is a literary magazine focused on dark, urban-themed fiction, and is the product of Ashleigh’s undergraduate degree in Creative And Media Writing. She is looking for stories and non-fiction submissions to be a part of this exciting venture, and that’s where she wants you to get involved.

This magazine tells tales of the dark, gritty underbelly of our modern society; the unthinkable filth in alleyways and backstreets; the mutant children of our broken social order. If you can imagine a world of faceless gangs, of grimy streets, of open sewers and endless smog, of derelict buildings and torturous cries, of feral dogs and relentless, desolate night, then you’re one of us. This is Urban Limbo.”

If you’re interested, you can find specific guidelines on word counts, etc, at the submissions call on her blog. It’s unpaid, as it’s a student project, but the magazine will actually be produced, and if your work is featured you’ll get a lovely shiny copy of your own. Submissions (as well as questions or queries) should be sent to UrbanLimbo@live.co.uk.

I’m definitely going to be contributed, because honestly the theme is awesome, and from what I’ve seen so far it looks like the project is going to be great.

Scrambled Legs: Raising Money for Air Ambulances

My brother is attempting a 45 mile (in one day) hike in order to raise money for Air Ambulances. Please sponsor him.

Nearly three and a half years ago, my father had a heart attack. At the time, we were on holiday in the Lake District, and he and my brother had gone out for the day to walk up Helvellyn, the third highest mountain in England. A few miles up, he started to have the traditional tight chest and shooting pains down his left arm. They called 999, and because of the location an air ambulance was sent to pick him up.

Three and a half years later, he’s fine. Two stents inserted into his blood vessels, and a bucketload of pills every morning, but otherwise he’s fine. I’m convinced that the main contributor to that is the fact that the air ambulance could get him to James Cook University Hospital so quickly, where he could receive expert treatment.

Why am I telling you this? Well, as a little background to what I’m going to say next.

My little brother, Andrew, and a couple of his more mental friends are taking part in Berkshire Scouts’ Three Towers hike event in April. There’s a more detailed summary on the site, but basically they have to walk a course of 45 miles in length, through fifteen checkpoints, completing the whole hike in one day (and night). It’s a pretty gruelling , and they’re guaranteed to finish up feeling very much worse for wear.

They are doing this Herculean task to raise money for both the Great North Air Ambulance service, who were responsible for airlifting my dad off the side of a mountain, and their local counterpart the Thames Valley and Chilterns Air Ambulance Service. The reasoning behind this is my above tale of parental woe, and they are now taking sponsorships.

So here’s my pitch to you. Please sponsor my brother and his friends on their walk. The air ambulances are a fantastic resource of the emergency services, and they really do save lives. My Dad is walking proof of that. And having seen Andy do (shorter) versions of this hike before, I know that they will earn every penny.

And you can even gift aid your donation (if you’re an income tax payer) and George Osborne will add a little extra on top of your donation. Please click the snazzy link-button below to sponsor them.

The Troll Hunter – A Review

“]

Troll Hunter [2011

Enter The Troll Hunter, a Norwegian found-footage fantasy/horror film which seems to have been getting quite a bit of attention since it’s DVD release. I decided to see what the fuss was about, and sat down with it yesterday evening.

Firstly, whenever I sit down to watch a found-footage style film, my first thought is one of trepidation: “Oh God, not another one.” This is a somewhat unreasonable reaction on my part, as there are definitely good ones out there. It would be stretching it to say that for every Paranormal Activity that’s pumped out there’s a The Last Exorcism, but it’s certainly possible to do a very good film like this. The problem, I think, is the more recent deluge of sub-standard offerings (thank you very much The Blair Witch Project).

Gratifying, The Troll Hunter belongs to the “good” camp.

The film sets a group of college students and wannabe documentary film-makers in Norway, following a man who they initially believe is a poacher, but soon discover is a government-paid troll hunter. Yes, it sounds sort of mad (and it is), and conjures hilarious images of conservative politicians railing against taxpayers money wasted on trolls, but I promise you it works.

The students follow the hunter, who is obviously somewhat apathetic about his job, and film him hunting and killing a variety of breeds of troll. The thrust of the plot is that the trolls are acting out of character, but really it works as a fantastical wildlife documentary.

The main coup The Troll Hunter manages is the believability. The idea of trolls running around the Norwegian countryside and the government keeping it a secret is, on the face of it, stretching credibility. But they manage it, with much careful attention.

The characters have the feel of enthusiastic students, somewhat naive yet delighted to have stumbled on something so big. The production values are realistically low throughout, but without the nauseating camera-swinging of The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield, and with night-time scenes that don’t turn into the disorientating flicker-fest of The Descent. Added to this the subtle use of visual effects for the trolls, and you’re onto a winner.

The ending is a little on the confused side, but I think that’s always likely to be a problem with found-footage. You know, deep down, that it won’t end well for the protagonists, so it’s a matter of working up to that ending, but it gets a bit rushed and hectic.

Still, all in all it’s a good film. It kept me watching, and it goes without saying that the Norwegian countryside is beautiful. It isn’t going to change the world, but it’s a very good watch, and if the big film studios are going to keep making found-footage films (and I think we all know they are…) then they should watch The Troll Hunter very carefully and take note.

Night Terrors II on sale!

"Night Terrors II" edited by Theresa Dillo and Marc Ciccarone

It being Friday 13th, it seems entirely appropriate that this is the day the folks at Blood Bound Books choose to release their new anthology Night Terrors II, featuring a story from yours truly!

My contribution is entitled “Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep”, and having been accepted in the second half of last year is a great way to kick off my 2012. The story is about a recently-single mother, dealing with strange goings on around her daughter, and hopefully it will get the hairs on the back of your neck standing on end.

The anthology doesn’t seem to be up on Amazon yet, but I’ll post an update when it is. For now, it’s available through Blood Bound Books themselves, for a one-day-only special price of $13 (about £8) from the publisher’s website.

In sincerely hope you enjoy it!

Who Watches the Watchers?

Cllr David Lee's experience with Standards for England shows up some of the problems, but the response should be reform not abolition.

This week’s Wokingham Times contains on page 2 an article which caught my eye almost immediately: “Council chief in the clear over bullying allegations“. This is the latest development in a rather unhappy episode for Wokingham Borough Council which last month saw the leader, Cllr David Lee, and another councillor were placed under investigation by Standards for England.

At the time no specific allegations were mentioned, so I’m presuming that the “bullying” revelation is as a result of the investigation being dropped. Cllr Lee was, at the time, understandably angry about being accused, and being unaware both who had made the accusation and what it was, and was quoted article as saying:

“I find the whole thing rather offensive to say the least and I think the only good thing in all of this is Standards for England is now being abolished.”

Which, as I said at the time, I felt was a bit strong really. Within local government and politics circles, standards committees are a bit of a touchy subject. They tend to arouse emotion and hyperbole left right and centre. My issue here is that according to the latest article:

“The investigation into Cllr Lee was dropped this month after Standards for England, the national body for upholding the code of conduct for councillors, decided that it could not contribute anything of value to the investigation in the short period of time before it is scrapped on Tuesday, January 31.”

Which worries me a little. I first met Cllr Lee at the vote count for the Remenham, Wargrave and Ruscombe by-election, and thought it was a nice, polite man. I disagree with him politically, and I wish he’d be a little less combative and engage a little more with the issues at council meetings, but that opinion of him personally hasn’t changed. However, regardless of my, or anyone else’s, opinion of him, the investigation seems to have been stopped less because of his innocence and more because Eric Pickles has scrapped the investigators.

The way it worked was that if a local standards committee didn’t feel that they could adequately investigate an allegation, they would refer it on to Standards for England to investigate but not to adjudicate. That is left to the local standards committee. So although Cllr Lee’s ire was directed at the national body, the allegations must have been such that his fellow councillors saw fit to refer it to them.

The standards committees are flawed.  A group of councillors sit in judgement of one of their own- the opportunity for politics to intrude is too great. Unlike the esteemed Brighton Politics Blogger, who counts this as one of his pet subjects, I don’t think that standards committees should be abolished. True that the electorate have ultimate control, through elections, but they are four years apart.

Most councillors are conscientious public servants, but some will…misbehave, and there must be  recourse for that. I don’t think that councillors should sit in judgement of each other. Maybe local judges? Maybe a jury-style system? I don’t know, but with the effects of the Localism Act soon to be felt we’ll need to decide something soon.

 

Cameron Comes to Maidenhead (But Doesn’t Bring Any Answers)

Policies not working? No new ideas? Then just repeat the old ones, but louder and with a serious expression.

I’m a bit late to this one (somehow my days having been eaten by the combined monsters of writing and Skyrim), but last Thursday saw the Dear Leader, David Cameron, leave the Westminster bubble briefly on a jaunt to Maidenhead. Actually, it was something of a week-long jaunt, which saw him go all the way up to Salford and annoy, in addition to everyone he came into direct contact with, nurses nationwide.

But in Maidenhead he met with a group of 100 business men and women, for a Q&A. Obviously, things aren’t going to plan on the economic front. He said that cutting public spending to the quick would get growth going; it hasn’t. He said that the destruction of untold numbers of public sector jobs would result in a private sector employment boom; it didn’t. He said that his government would reduce borrowing; it hasn’t.

So what to do if you’re a staunch conservative whose policies and ideology are having the exact opposite affect you (but few others) expected them to do? Blame it on ancillary factors! The biggest “commitment” to come out of Cameron’s Maidenhead photo op was a pledge to cut away the red tape. This means deregulation, the very thing which everyone has pretty much agreed caused the financial crisis in the first place.

Cameron wants to remove a whole tranche of worker protection regulations. We’ve already heard how workers will have to have been employed for two years before they can go to a tribunal if unfairly dismissed, but the Tories want to make it even easier to sack people.

They believe that it is too easy for a sacked worker to take their former-employer to court and get compensation. I don’t think this stands up to any sort of scrutiny really, and I’m not the only one, but I struggle simply with the idea that making it easy to sack people will improve the situation.

The suggestion that the reason that there are so few jobs available because cautious employers are too nervous to take on workers that they may not be able to sack is ridiculous. There are so few jobs because businesses cannot afford to take on staff. The economy is crawling along, and the banks aren’t lending to small businesses- something which the government’s Project Merlin was supposed to solve, but didn’t.

Added to that, if you make it easier to sack people, then consumer confidence will take a huge dent. If people are worrying that they could be sacked at any moment (the counter-argument seeming to be that whilst there are unscrupulous employees, there would never be unscrupulous employers; I’m sure we all believe that…) then they aren’t going to rush out and spend, they’ll save. Which would cause another contraction in economic growth. Which is exactly what we all need.

In short, Cameron came to a Q&A in Maidenhead with a lot of ideological waffle, but still nothing in the way of actual answers.

Tits-Up for Private Healthcare?

The scandal surrounding the PIP silicon breast implants is a result of money taking precedence over patient welfare. Surely this should make us rethink the role of the private sector in healthcare?

(Sorry about the title, sometimes you just can’t help yourself)

The last couple of weeks, there have been two unrelated stories in the news. The first has been the tragic scandal around PIP breast implants, which are accused of rupturing and possibly causing cancer. This has rightfully caused a lot of public concern about whether peoples’ health was at risk. The second hasn’t caused quite so much of a buzz outside of political circles; Andrew Lansley’s plans to raise the amount of income NHS trusts can make from the private sector to 49%.

Like I said, these stories are unrelated, but as I’ve been mulling them over they’ve grown some very definite links in my mind. The thing is, they’re both related to the private sector’s involvement in the healthcare industry. In the PIP scandal, most of the operations were done privately, at private cosmetic clinics, rather than on the NHS. And as the risks (which are still unclear) have been investigated, Lansley has criticised the unwillingness of some clinics to cooperate.

You can hardly blame them, really. There’s a lot of money in breast implants. I imagine there will be a lot less if people think that they are in fact ticking time-bombs. The whole issue is one of money, which sadly seems to be taking precedence over the welfare of 40,000 – 50,000 British women. The French government have offered to pay for the suspect implants’ removal. Lansley has not.

The reason these implants are thought to be dangerous is because they used industrial-grade silicon, rather than medical-grade. You don’t need to be an industry expert to figure out the reason behind this- it was cheaper. PIP could make cheap implants, and sell them to private clinics, who could put them into the chests of women whose self-images have been destroyed by the media. And everyone- baring the unfortunate women now carrying the implants around- was rolling in the money.

And since the present government is all about the expansion of the private sector within the NHS, this should really be more of a concern. I’m not against the private sector at all, but there’s no escaping that it’s primary motivation is profit. Whilst usually this isn’t a problem, I have serious reservations about that being the driving force when it’s people’s suffering we’re talking about.

It’s still early days, but the presiding image of the PIP scandal at the moment is one of private companies cutting corners to make money, and ordinary women paying the price. Since I believe healthcare should be universal and a fundamental right (something I know not everyone will agree with me on), this gets my back up a little.

The private sector most certainly does have a role to play in the NHS. But what we seem to be seeing at the moment is a rapid expansion of its involvement, without any apparent concern. As things stand there is a strong possibility of the taxpayer (through the NHS) having to pick up the bill for fixing mistakes of private clinics- which isn’t wrong, as the NHS should be there for anyone and everyone when they need it, but it seems a unfair for the private clinics to make money off the dodgy implants and face no consequences.

My advice is basically caution. The hallmark of the Health and Social Care Bill has been haste, with little consideration for the risks of the changes it seeks to make. This has tripped the government up already several times, and they should take the hint, before widespread privatisation really does send the health service tits-up.

…And in with the New

So, 2012 is here at last! The year of mayoral elections, Olympics, the 29th February, and lots of doom-mongering about the end of the world. Which, actually, seems to have started early with yesterday’s return of bird flu. What joys we have to look forward to…

The start of January is, traditionally, the time that everyone spends denouncing New Year’s resolutions as a load of nonsense. Why make all these pledges you’ll never keep, specifically on the first day of the year? Surely if you want to improve yourself, it shouldn’t be dependent on a certain date?

Well yes, but shut up. Self-improvement is a worth objective whenever, so whilst waiting for New Year to start is dumb, taking advantage of the opportunity to set objectives for the year ahead isn’t. And without further ado, I submit to you dear reader my objectives for 2012:

• Read more, write more, publish more: 2011 was something of a crap year as far as my publishing went. One story published at the start of the year, and one acceptance at the end. Not really good enough. So since my story “Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep” will be shortly printed in the Night Terrors II anthology, I want to start off on that foot. Writing, submitting and publishing. I have several ideas for short stories, a novella underway, and am a few chapters into Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World”.
• Take second place in the May elections: the Rememnham, Wargrave and Remenham by-election I stood in last year saw a good showing for the Labour vote. A strong third place, with a weak turnout. In May the same seat will be up again for re-election, and I hope to get the Labour nomination (I can’t see much competition for it). I’m a realist, so my aim is to take second place off the Lib Dems, but of course a surprise landslide victory would be very welcome!
• Find a job: I’m currently still volunteering with Political Scrapbook, as I have been for several months. It’s a lot of fun, very convenient and I’ve learnt a lot, but I have a rather powerful need for a proper job promptish. So I want a decent job by the end of the year, so I can start saving and get my life and career on track post-university.
• Go to FantasyCon 2011: Since I’m finally a member of the BFS, I’m going to FantasyCon, and no one can bloody stop me! It’ll be a fantastic dose of inspiration, I’ll get to go back to Brighton, and I’ll meet so many of the genre writers I admire (I already owe Gary McMahon a drink!)
• Go to the Labour Party Conference: I was gutted to miss this in 2011. Liverpool is my favourite city in the country, and I would have loved to have gone. This year is Manchester, so still my old stalking grounds, and I’m going.  Whether as Maidenhead CLP delegate or just as a party member, I’m not really too bothered.

So there we have it. What I want from 2012. And if I can get through it hearing a minimum number of ranters going on about the end of the world, so much the better.

Happy new year to you all!