Gary's views

Gary's weekly views

Each week an article by Gary has appeared in the Plympton Plymstock and Ivybridge News in South West Devon. The articles are published here

SUMMER BREAK

Hang out the flags! This will be the last article for a few weeks to allow the holiday season to unfold.

Jan and I will be off shortly with our bucket and spade for our annual fortnight’s break, this year to France. It will be a good time to recharge batteries, get things in perspective and make plans. As we sip our entente cordials by the Gallic pool I will no doubt be turning over next year in my mind.

Because it promises to be a big year on the political front both locally and nationally. Naturally, all taxpayers will be looking hard to see whether all of the extra money is going to produce markedly better hospitals and schools. Or will we need more radical reforms? A close eye will have to be kept on the economy and the spending and borrowing plans with many predicting difficulties. There will be anguished debates about the new EU constitution and the Inter-Governmental-Conference that will finally agree it. Will we get a referendum on it? On the global front, terrorism and security issues will remain at the forefront, with Korea a real worry. Skilful diplomacy is required.

But locally there will be some significant issues too: the closure of Haye road while the diggers bore a tunnel underneath to give access to the aggregate the other side; decisions about whether the new town at Sherford – or the airport – will go ahead. Few doubt that thousands of new homes will be built locally over the next 20 years, but where? Plans to develop the massive Blue Circle site will be taken forward and with it the impact on the local community, not least Billacombe Green. There will be plenty of lively public meetings on these and other hot potatoes over the next few months.

There will be changes close to home also, as Sally Dean, the person who runs my constituency office and her husband Martin are expecting their first baby in September. For six months the rest of the team will be valiantly holding the fort without the efficient and committed input that Sally provides. We wish her well on this wonderful new adventure.

Are these events unconnected? No. Decisions we take nationally and locally over the next twelve months will help to shape the kind of country and locality that young Dean will inhabit. Better get it right then.
Have a great summer.

TRUST

Unless you are a political junkie, absorbed with the minutiae of the Westminster hothouse, you will by now be thoroughly fed up, as I am, with the row between the BBC and the Government. Every news bulletin, every newspaper seemingly obsessed with the War of the Worlds Mark II.

It is being done to death. Sadly, the tragic death of a good man driven to an early grave by other people’s shenanigans. My heart goes out to his family who should now be allowed to grieve in peace. I am glad that a top law lord has been appointed to get to the bottom of this matter. Perhaps we could now quietly await the outcome of Lord Hutton’s inquiry and concentrate on some of the equally pressing issues facing the country, not least affordable housing, the rise in violent crime and the EU Constitution.

But I am not convinced that this will happen, so we are in for a tedious summer of navel gazing. Of course, there is one very real sense in which this tragedy is of great national importance. The real issue underlying all of this is: trust. Can we trust our leaders – not to be perfect, that is too much to ask – but at least to tell us the truth? Can we trust the media, above all the BBC, to be impartial and fair?

We have an unwritten constitution in this country full of subtle checks and balances. Ministers must never mislead Parliament, and MPs are there to hold them to account. We want an unfettered media in which the publicly funded BBC plays a central role. We need to be absolutely confident that this institution is not peddling its own prejudices or pursuing its own agenda.

We are going through an unattractive spell in British public life, where more and more people doubt the motives and integrity of those in the public square. We cannot go on like this.

Nor will we. History does not flow in a straight line. It is full of cycles and seasons; ebb and flow. To every action there comes a reaction. As the trust in public figures continues to run through our fingers there is a huge gap in the market for senior figures in public life to demonstrate that they are what they seem; mean what they say; tell the truth even if it hurts. That gap will be filled. The question is: by whom?

TRANSPORT

Close your eyes and think about it. You are summonsed to Number Ten Downing Street where the newly ensconced Prime Minister shakes you warmly by the hand and offers you a seat on the plush leather chair.

“I want you to be Secretary of State for Transport,” he smiles knowingly, “to sort out public transport in this country.”

With a bit of luck you will simply wake up and realise it was just a terrifying nightmare.

What is the solution to our transport difficulties in this country? The motorways are chock-a-block with cars, white vans and lorries. Too many trains are irregular, dirty and slow. The bus service is patchy and unreliable and if you live in a rural area: forget it.

Years of neglect and under investment in state owned railways and bus services over many decades and by all governments have led us to this sorry pass, combined with one overwhelming reality: the British people have chosen the car. Partly in response to the paucity of public transport maybe, but even so, the love affair with the car is now unstoppable.

It is madness, pure madness that I get in my car every Sunday night or Monday morning, often alone, and drive to the centre of our capital city rather than taking the train or plane. But years of flying on to Newquay and having to bus it back to fog-bound Plymouth, and the gradual discovery that House of Commons voting patterns and railway timetables are incompatible have persuaded me: my car is quicker, more reliable and more convenient. 75% of British people agree with me.

So what will you do to sort out the problem in your new ministerial post?
Get the lorries off the road? That would be great, but it will cost more and the consumer will have to pay. Introduce congestion charges in every major city? Good idea, but will the motorist thank you at election time? Build more stations? Marvellous – just stroll along to Ivybridge to see how often that new station is ever used. Pump billions into the railways and buses to get fares down and services up? Perhaps, but do you think the taxpayer wants to be clobbered again?

Don’t get me wrong – we can do better than this, but there are no pain free solutions.

Still want the job? No thanks, PM; could I have something simple like the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy?

posted by Nigel on Friday, July 25, 2003