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

hug a Pole week

If at all possible, find a Pole this week and hug him. Get down to Gdynia Way and plant flowers and hang out Polish flags (mind the traffic) in solidarity. Raise a glass to them in salute this Christmas. We owe them an enormous debt of gratitude for stopping the EU Constitution juggernaut in its tracks over the weekend.

The collapse of the EU Summit last Saturday, almost entirely eclipsed by the joyous news of Saddam’s capture, ranks as an outcome of historic proportions, thanks to the plucky resistance of our Polish allies.

Among the many undesirable provisions of the draft constitution, two in particular were absurd, namely: an EU Foreign Minister and a common defence policy. It is utterly unrealistic to imagine the disparate countries of the EU, who disagreed violently over Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Iraq, to have a common foreign policy. The defence agenda was clearly driven by anti-American sentiment in France. What madness would it be to sign up for a European defence structure outside of NATO that could easily alienate the USA from European defence just at the time that Russia is again showing the first signs of confident nationalism.

The weekend talks floundered, not on these crucial matters, but on voting rights. But whatever the reason, valuable thinking time has been bought, and for the moment the EU Constitution lies in tatters.

It will come back onto the agenda of course, those who dream of a United States of Europe will make sure of that. But its collapse at the weekend provides an opportunity to think again about the future of Europe. And for the first time in years there is a genuine chance to shape the future in a way that suits the core values and opinion of the overwhelming majority of British people.

The new countries coming in, most of them having suffered under the yoke of Soviet tyranny for so many years, are keen to support a more flexible view of Europe: as a family of sovereign states co-operating together in a free trade area, rather than inching towards a centralist superstate. The Poles, the Czechs and others have not thrown off the suffocating oppression of Moscow only to lie down in front of the Brussels steamroller.

A glimmer of hope then, to create a Europe that can work for all of us, which is why I declare this week: hug a Pole week!

posted by Nigel on Saturday, December 20, 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

Health Service

The cat is out of the bag. It’s what many of us expected, but now its official. Figures released independently last week told us that spending on the health service has increased by 37% in the past six years, but output has only increased by 5%. In other words we are all pouring a lot more into the health service, but it is only getting a little bit better.

Few things are as important to any of us than access to first class health care when we need it. Thank goodness there is some improvement, but is 5% a big enough return for all of those extra billions of our hard earned tax? And why am I still getting serious complaints each week about the performance of Derriford Hospital.

Every time I go up to the hospital I am impressed by the effort that everyone is putting in – doctors, nurses and support staff, yes, even the much-maligned management. Everyone wants the hospital to succeed and everyone is working hard, often under enormous pressure. The people in the health service could not be trying any harder. It is not the people, it is the system.

I am increasingly convinced that no matter how much of our cash is poured in the top, it will never produce the quality of outcomes that we all increasingly demand. The government is trying to boost performance by the imposition of a vast battery of targets for every person and every department in the Health Service. This has resulted in the recruitment of an equally vast army of bureaucrats whose job it is to make sure these targets are met. We now have more bureaucrats than beds in the NHS, an achievement unrivalled anywhere else in Europe!

But targets and monitoring do not make people better. If you are a nurse or doctor already working as hard as you can, what is the point of someone standing at your elbow with a clipboard? Wouldn’t it be better if that person were an extra nurse to help with ward duties?

And why do politicians and mandarins at Whitehall think they know better than the local professionals how Derriford should be run?

No, the system is too centralised and drowning in meaningless targets, pointless data collection and useless performance assessment.

I salute every one who works at Derriford. You deserve a system that supports you, not suffocates you.

What do you think? Mail@garystreeter.co.uk

posted by Nigel on Monday, December 15, 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

Local Service

What a contrast. On Friday afternoon I helped unveil a plaque in Ivybridge dedicated to the memory of the late and much missed Jim Kelly who served for years as a town councillor, at great personal sacrifice, as an unpaid servant of the community. I doubt if he ever got a penny for all of his trouble. As I drove back to Plymstock for a surgery I picked up on Radio Devon the tail end of a debate triggered by the councillors who now run Torbay having voted themselves a whopping increase in allowances, including a massive 33% up grade for its leader, now on £30,000 a year! At a time when many on fixed incomes are struggling to pay massive hikes in council tax, I was utterly speechless!

It made me think: where are we going on support for local councillors? Do we still regard it as an unpaid act of service by community minded souls who give up so much of their time, or are we on the way to full time paid councillors who see it as a profession? There is a vast difference between a smallish town council and a unitary authority the size of Torbay, but it raises the issue in principle.

There is trouble these days in finding enough people of proven ability willing to serve on councils of all shapes and sizes. There are many reasons: life is so busy for most people; some councils have become very party-political which turns a lot of good people away; and these days so many decisions are handed down from Whitehall, much of the local discretion has been removed.

But we do need councils, both large and small to make local decisions, and we therefore need elected people on them.

Here’s what I think. First, councillors should not typically be paid, although they should certainly be reimbursed for out of pocket expenses. Second, to make the task worthwhile and attract men and women of ability we must truly devolve power again down to local councils and give real decision-making and responsibility back to them. Third and crucially, we all need to respect and appreciate those prepared to serve. I recall from my own experience on the Plymouth City Council what a mindless slog it can be. Ever thanked a councillor? For local democracy to flourish we need servant-hearts to step forward. People like Jim Kelly.

What do you think? E-mail me on: mail@garystreeter.co.uk

posted by Nigel on Monday, December 08, 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

The Queen's Speech

One of the things I had to learn first about Westminster is the seasons that dominate the year.

Each year our proceedings begin in dignity and splendour in late November with the magnificent ceremony of the state opening. Thereafter they flow through ever quickening rapids before plummeting into the unseemly scramble we saw last week, involving many late nights, while government and opposition wrangle over what will be allowed through before the end of term guillotine falls. It is like starting a marathon each year at a stately trot, knowing full well that the pace will increase with every mile and finish with a mad dash for the line. I don’t suppose it will ever change, in part because governments of all persuasions try and do too much, leaving insufficient time for the unexpected events that will inevitably break into our collective calendar – like war and rugby world cup celebrations (wasn’t it great?)

This week we received the Queen’s speech, written by the government of course, setting out their legislative program for the next session of Parliament. We will debate this leisurely for a week, with a different theme each day, then there will come, both in the Commons and the Lords, a spate of second reading debates which introduce each new Bill.

By Christmas many of these bills will already be starting their committee stages upstairs where the tedious but necessary business of going through long bills line by line gets underway. January to Easter always feels a real slog, with many late nights (less so now, but they still happen) when the bills come back to the floor of the House for what is called the Report stage and Third Reading. With such a large majority the outcome is guaranteed unless there is a substantial backbench rebellion on the government side as there was over foundation hospitals and probably will be again over top-up fees.

By the time mid-summer arrives there is a sense of physical and emotional exhaustion about the whole Palace of Westminster and we escape the intensity for a while, only to hurl ourselves back into the fray in September to deal with the piles of unfinished legislation in what has come to be known as the spill-over session.

There is a sense of relentless momentum about the whole year, moving towards an inevitable climax. So this year’s marathon has just begun – it remains a true privilege to be part of such an historic process!

posted by Nigel on Tuesday, December 02, 2003