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

TRADITIONS

Every time I drive into Plymouth another building has been demolished. This week it was the turn of Greenbank Fire station to fall. It has already taken me years to get over the fact that the hospital in which our kids were born (Freedom Fields) is now a rather smart housing estate. Drake Circus and that ugly multi-storey car park are but fading memories and our truly appalling Civic Centre has already been read its last rites. Where next?

Well, the bulldozers are unlikely to visit St. Andrews church, or Saltram House or even the home at Newnham where we are privileged to live: an old granite Tudor house that has seen centuries of change, but still stands proud and strong. It has been modernised of course, there is even an inside bathroom these days.
Some buildings last and others don’t. Some outlive their usefulness and get pulled down; fashions change and architects push back the boundaries; others stand for centuries and provide a sense of continuity from generation to generation. They are rightly cherished and protected.

It is the same way with some of our great national institutions.
Our Parliamentary democracy has survived, even though it has twisted through many changes with no doubt more to come. Our Royal Family has survived, even though it has come through some bleak years. Our House of Lords keeps going even though some would like to send the demolition experts into this place full of wisdom and safeguards.

Other traditions have outlived their usefulness and disappear. Ladies can wear trousers if they want, we no longer have to get married in church, doff our hat to the squire, wear a suit and tie to work, but somehow life goes on. I am in favour of change.

But some of our traditions are important and need to be kept.
This week I voted against the new powers that would allow the Home Secretary decide to place people under house arrest or restrict a person’s movements. I salute the government’s determination to crack down on terrorists, but we also have to safeguard our traditional freedoms. I believe it is important to maintain the convention in this country that our courts decide on issues of individual liberty, not elected politicians. Let us make the law, and judges decide in specific cases. Why? Judges are independent, experienced in sifting evidence and do not need to play to the gallery.

posted by Nigel on Tuesday, March 22, 2005