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

EUROPEAN REFERENDUMS

Europe is back on the agenda – big time. In the next few months there are two massive decisions coming up, both of which will shape the future of our nation. First, whether Britain should sign up for the euro, swiftly followed by the verdict on a new constitution for the European Union.

Both of them involve a step in the dark. How much more sovereignty will we lose if we scrap the pound? Will a one-size-fits-all interest rate euro-zone work in the long term economically? What will happen if we become the only member state out of 25 (in a few years time) that stays outside? If more and more decisions are made by unelected boffins in Brussels (or Frankfurt), how will the British people change things when they can no longer vote the decision makers out of office? Nobody knows the answers to these questions. But at least you will have the final say.

Maybe even more troublesome is the new Constitution for Europe being drafted by a committee chaired by a former French President. We must not treat it as yet a final version, nor should we overreact, but it contains some proposals that cause me concern. Like extra powers for Brussels at the expense of the nation states, like the adoption of a separate legal identity for United Europe, like giving up more of our veto, like suggesting a common defence and foreign policy for the whole of Europe.

I don’t know about you, but if the recent bust up with France and Germany over Iraq taught us one thing, it surely was that we are not ready yet for a common defence and foreign policy!

I worry that the European policy wonks are getting more and more out of step with the ordinary people they are supposed to serve. They dream of a country called Europe, a power to rival that of the USA.

As the world’s fourth largest economy, with all of our heritage and global connections and influence, we can surely aspire to a greater destiny than to become a suburb of Brussels. Which is why the run up to these vital decisions must spark a national debate about the kind of country we want to hand on to our children. The stakes are high. Which is why ultimately, not just on the euro, but also on the new constitution, the people should decide. Let there be a referendum on both.

posted by Nigel on Thursday, May 29, 2003

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

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

You never get a second chance to make a first impression, so the old adage goes. What then must new arrivals to Plymouth think when they emerge from their coach, blinking and stretching, to be confronted with the concrete monstrosity known as Bretonside bus station?

We have had occasion to visit this dark place a lot recently to pick up and take our two children who have been shuttling by coach to and fro London by coach as they prepare for their university finals. Each time I go, the anger builds. How can a serious city, the 14th largest in England, offer such a dirty smelly gateway to the city?

Thousands of visitors pour into Plymouth by bus each week from all over the country. I dread to think what impression is created. Do they ever come back?

If visitors do not decide to turn around and go straight home, the next thing they might see is the bombed out church centre at Charles Cross roundabout. I am going to upset a few of you now. Isn’t it time that this ugly relic of a bygone age also bit the dust? I know that for some it represents a monument to the heroic courage displayed by many Plymothians during the Blitz, but we celebrate that wonderful valour every year in so many ways – and rightly so. The preservation of a derelict building on such a pivotal access point to the city simply reinforces the impression of a city stuck in the past, going nowhere. If needs be it could be taken down brick by brick and put up somewhere more suitable as a memorial to Plymouth’s past; enabling us to welcome visitors with a more appropriate statement about our vibrant future.

But I am not holding my breath. I can well remember serving on the City Centre sub committee way back in 1986 when I was first elected onto the Council. With a sense of drama, we voted for three groundbreaking redevelopment schemes that were about to transform our great city: Colin Campbell Court, Drake’s Circus and the Burton’s building on Royal Parade. What happened? Not one of these schemes has been started, seventeen years later.

Plymouth has got massive potential as a twenty-first century city that everyone wants to live in, but many obstacles remain. The bus station is top of my list and it must go.

posted by Nigel on Wednesday, May 21, 2003

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

PROGRESS AT A PRICE

My call was important to them. I knew that because the recorded message of a very nice sounding young lady kept telling me so between bursts of jarring pop music. It was just that all of their operatives were busy, right now. Yes, but we had been trying for days, first my secretary and then me. If my call is so jolly important to you, why on earth won’t you answer it?

I am far from alone in my frustration. Many of you have called my office in recent weeks to seek help in trying to get through to the new Tax Credit helpline, to make sure that vital family support payments are maintained. We have done our best to get results, but governments and new computer systems simply don’t seem to mix. Unfortunately it is the vulnerable that are hardest hit.

Don’t get me wrong - I am no Luddite. I am tapping this out on my laptop and will be sending it electronically to the newspaper. But while many of our technological advances in recent years are truly breathtaking, others are less impressive. Have you ever tried to make an appointment with someone who uses a computerised diary system, either on a desk, or worst of all in a palm pilot? I simply flip my good old trusty diary open to the right page and wait, and then wait some more while the person I am so keen to see prods and bleeps and taps and then swears, eventually locating the right electronic file.

The frustrating encounters with robots that many of us have shared stands in stark contrast to the recent call I made to buy a new grass cutter from an advert in the paper. It was a well-established Devon and Cornwall firm of agricultural retailers, some would even say old-fashioned. A human being answered the phone, knew instantly the machine I was talking about, asked me some questions just to make sure this was the right machine for my needs, agreed to deliver it free and take a cheque on arrival. They turned up when they said they would, and it works a treat. I salute them.

In the meantime, those to whom my call is so important still won’t pick up the phone. It is not so much about technology; it is about customer service.
They call it progress. What do you call it?

posted by Nigel on Monday, May 12, 2003

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

STUDENTS

Batten down the hatches, get out the Kleenex – we are in for a bumpy ride. Yes, its exam time again. University students all over the country have begun the turbulent countdown to the nerve-racking climax of their studies. But the pain is not just felt by them alone. Parents who field the late night phone calls and mop fevered brows, often from a great distance, go through the agony with them.

I can remember the nightmare well. There is always some brainy swot loudly parading his brilliance outside the exam hall just moments before kick-off, undermining confidence as your own mind goes a total blank. And what genius designed modern life so that the anxiety of finals and the stress of finding that crucial first job come crashing in at the same time?

The question is: is it worth it? Most students now leave college with loan debts of over £12,000 that must be paid off over their first few working years. Already most households have to stump up £1,000 pa in fees and there is now talk of top up fees, increasing the financial pain for graduates and their families. Should we be more generous in our taxpayers support for people who are after all going to contribute massively to the future economy and culture of this country?

Some people call for the end of loans and a return to grants. But is it right that the taxes of the 60% of school leavers who do not go on to higher education should support the studies of those who do? Recent estimates have suggested that the average graduate will earn as much as £400,000 more than a non-graduate over the course of a lifetime. Should others pay for that leg up into comfort?

I think the balance is about right. I cannot see any political party pledging itself to return to grant-based support. I see no reason why each of us should not invest in our own futures, although the payback terms should certainly be generous and not discourage people from making that decision. Good luck to all those who are days away from the final frontier – it is worth it.

But I cannot prevent a wry smile. The two wealthiest people I know in Plymouth both left school at 15 with nothing. Academic qualifications are important, but character, personality and drive still count for more. May it always be so!

posted by Nigel on Friday, May 09, 2003