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

Conference

For the first two days this week I chaired a conference in London for 180 talented young people trying to grapple with some of the deep-seated problems facing our society, on a quest for new solutions.

Some may say, why bother with that, when you represent the leafy suburbs. To which I reply: wake up, these social issues are a matter for all of us and if we carry on as we are we all risk being engulfed. In any event this constituency faces all kinds of challenges, as I know from my surgeries and postbag. If the only encounter we have with some of the unpleasant fruits of social exclusion is the burden on our tax bill, that should be enough to focus the mind, let alone the human misery.

Violent crime on the increase, heroin addiction and crack cocaine use spreading, 30,000 kids leaving school every year with no qualifications. 4000 children calling Helpline every day, some of them in real distress from abuse. The binge culture, gang warfare and desolate neighbourhoods that blights in many cities. Even in Plymouth you could hardly say we were winning the war against these modern day afflictions could you?

And why engage young people in this? Because many of the challenges we face come from the swirling changes in society that have taken place in recent years and it will take new ideas to tackle them. And it is no good just bringing a bunch of middle aged suburban dwelling stuffed shirts (like me) to grapple with some of the alienation experienced by today’s inner city youngsters. So we had speakers from the coalface, charity workers and professionals who spend their lives trying to make a difference. We had real life case studies. Senior politicians came and spoke, and also, more importantly, listened.

It is not about spending more money on welfare. Truthfully, we have never had so much spent as in recent years, and look at the results. If what we are doing is not working we have to find new solutions and try something different. So early intervention, making better use of the voluntary sector, more genuine local decision making, more police officers on the beat, better access to treatment for drug addiction were all part of our brainstorming.

These two days were just part of an ongoing attempt to try and shape a better future for those caught up in these twilight zones. Work in progress.

posted by Nigel on Friday, September 19, 2003