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

Sentencing

We have all been appalled at the vicious killing that took place on our doorstep some months ago, ending the life of a much loved father and respected local resident. Unfortunately the sentence that was handed down to the perpetrator late last week has not brought closure.

Forget the age of the culprit for one moment and consider the facts. She stabbed him in the neck late at night, with no known provocation or reason. It was not self-defence. She then spent two hours faking a break in before calling the police. She drummed up a cock and bull story about two young intruders, sending the local police into a frenzy of activity, all of it wasted. Fears that there were drug-crazed murderers on the loose ripped through our usually peaceful community. She sobbed her way through a TV press conference begging the culprits to come forward. It was all lies. To compound matters, she has not shown one ounce of remorse.

The sentence was two years in prison, of which she will serve twelve months, six months of them already served on remand.

Understandably, the family and many local people are upset, feeling strongly that justice has not been done. It was always going to be a very difficult sentence to impose, but the learned judge may have momentarily forgotten that every sentence is supposed to contain three elements: retribution, deterrence and protection. In this case I agree that she poses little or no threat to anybody else. But what about the punishment fitting the crime (retribution) and sending a signal to others who are minded to escape from a relationship that has become difficult, for whatever reason?

I do not want trial by media, but it is important to maintain public confidence. In cases like this, the law provides a potential remedy. We have the right to apply to the Attorney General to hold that the sentence was unduly lenient and for him to ask the Court of appeal to impose a tougher one. On behalf of the family I have done precisely that this week.

Some may ask, what good will it do to send an 81 year old woman to prison for longer? But that is not the right question.

We need to ask, does the punishment fit the crime?

It is now for the Attorney General to look again at this, dispassionately, to ensure that justice is done. What do you think? mail@garystreeter.co.uk

posted by Nigel on Sunday, March 21, 2004

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

Phone Masts

How would you like a mobile phone mast outside your garden, or next door to your child’s school playground? You wouldn’t, even if the wretched thing was camouflaged as an oak tree, and nor would I.

But why not? The experts tell us that they are safe. But let’s face it; the “experts” do not wholly convince us, maybe because they have often been wrong in the past. So although we are told the microwave emissions do not fry our brains, we like to keep our distance.

But how many of us have now got mobile phones and complain like mad when we enter an area of low signal? We all know that without an extensive network of mobile phone masts, this miracle of modern science simply cannot work.

And how disturbing is it that the local police are still waiting for their new communications system that could help save lives and catch crooks – but it cannot yet be rolled out due to lack of masts throughout the county.

This problem can only get worse. The development of the next generation of 3G phones – the ones that take pictures and give Internet access – will require even more masts. We currently have 40,000 in the whole country and will need an extra 100,000! So where will they all go?

I believe it is imperative to give local councils greater powers to reject them and place the onus on the telecommunications companies to prove that there is an essential need for controversial masts.

Which is why I am supporting a private members bill introduced by one of my colleagues in the House of Commons, and very much hope it will become law. We have had a number of controversial mast applications in this area in the past two years and it is bitterly frustrating that our councils have such feeble power to resist. This bill would put that right. It should also make it much more commonplace for different providers to share masts instead of building new ones. Let’s put them under pressure to do so.

Wherever possible I also believe that these masts should be installed alongside the major road network. This will give the providers plenty of choice and ease of access and will mean that fewer people - especially children - will actually be subjected to the possible risk, however remote, of extensive exposure to these unseen microwaves.

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

posted by Nigel on Sunday, March 14, 2004

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

Plymouth

Whether you are reading this in your suburban semi, or a cob-walled cottage in the middle of your rural idyll, the future of city of Plymouth has significance for your life. For the 500,000 of us who live in it’s gravitational pull it is our economic engine room, primary shopping centre and cultural and leisure hotspot. It is in all of our interests to have a thriving City.

For the past ten years at least that has not been the case. Many of us have become increasing frustrated at the absence of vision, leadership or sense of momentum of our urban neighbour. But are there now signs, the first green shoots perhaps, that this long dark tunnel of under-achievement may be coming to an end?

I sat on the optimistically named City-Centre Regeneration Sub Committee in the late 1980’s when we signed off with great expectation projects to re-develop the Burton’s building, Colin Campbell Court and Drake Circus. These premier projects were going to reshape our city. Not one of them happened.

But now there are renewed rumblings of revival. The bulldozers have moved into the Drake Circus mega-scheme.

Planning permission has been granted for prestigious projects on the Hoe, Coburg Street and in other parts of the City Centre. The Mackey plan has received broad cross-party support for it’s exciting rebranding of our streets and buildings.

There are more cranes on the skyline than I can ever remember. New businesses are being attracted to the business parks and industrial estates. Professionals throughout the city sense the stirrings of renaissance.

Could it be at last that our sleeping giant is about to arise and seize its potential?

The City Council, of course, must be the catalyst, and there, some signs of encouragement are peeping through at last. A new group of senior officers is gathering that can provide much needed leadership to this vital task. The leading politicians from both parties embrace this need for change and for once the full-time officers seem capable of delivery.

There is much work to do and some very real obstacles remain as the city plays years of catch-up.

Not only is a rejuvenated city good for its own residents and crucial for the whole region, it will also take the development pressure off its green hinterland. A vibrant city will be a place where people want to live, work and visit, leaving the rural belt in peace. The best of both worlds!

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

posted by Nigel on Saturday, March 06, 2004

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

Accountability Gap

I am guessing that few of you will have noticed the news earlier in the week that the Labour MP for Reading was de-selected and will therefore lose her job at the next election. Hardly the stuff of breakfast time conversation, but I can assure you that it sent frissons of nervousness skimming around the Westminster village. If it can happen to her…

But I for one welcome the news. I know virtually nothing about the circumstances that led the local party to take such drastic action against a seemingly perfectly decent person, and I would naturally hate it to happen to me, but the principle at stake is one to be applauded.

It is called: accountability.

There is a prevailing view that our political system is flawed and that the last thing we need is for “politicians” to make decisions for us – after all they are “politicians” so we don’t trust them. Instead, we set up independent enquiries headed by distinguished judges or former civil servants. You can trust their deliberations, we tell people, because they are not politicians. We set up more and more Quangos to run crucial services that impact all of our lives. They won’t be biased or dogmatic because they are not politicians. Whatever else we do, we must take the decisions out of the hands of elected people. How on earth did we arrive at this point?

As a result, thousands of big decisions are made every day by dozens of Quangos who are accountable only to themselves. You try sacking one! The mindset is growing that as politicians can no longer run things properly, voting is a waste of time. If we continue to devalue our democracy in this way, soon good people won’t bother standing for office and the downward spiral will accelerate. That way disaster lies!

I prefer another route. Give the power back to elected people in exchange for real accountability. Ministers should be overseeing many more of the decisions that have now been contracted out. Parliament should hold those same ministers much more rigorously to account. Local parties should insist on higher standards from their representatives and the electorate should expect that wrongdoers should be dealt with robustly.

Our democracy is precious. The way to preserve it is not to sub-contact out the role of the elected representative, but to go in the opposite direction and reinstate lost power, in exchange for greater accountability.

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

posted by Nigel on Thursday, March 04, 2004

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

R.E.

There has been a great deal of controversy earlier in the week about whether RE lessons in schools should be expanded to include teaching on atheism. A left-leaning independent think-tank has brought out a report recommending precisely that.

It has caused a stormy reaction

Although a believer myself, I have long thought that Religious Education taught badly is probably one of the turn-offs of the century. In that case maybe it would be better not to inflict it on our children at all. But taught well it can change a child’s life. And at a time when social cohesion is showing signs of unravelling at the edges, when more and more people are looking for a compass to guide their lives, now is not the time to further dilute the value system that has defined our culture for 2,000 years.

So I would go in the opposite direction – not water down the great teachings that can be a source of wisdom and guidance, but actually try and teach them better.

Whether or not anyone believes Jesus of Nazareth was divine is a matter of personal choice and should not be taught by state schools. However, it is a well-established historical fact that he lived and said things that turned the world upside down.

And what did he say? In an action packed three-year period he came up with some remarkable insights.

For example, that a good code for life is to treat others as you want to be treated yourself. If every school child could be taught that simple principle, there would be much more respect and tolerance in our society. He taught that we should love our neighbour as ourselves. In the midst of a self-obsessed “me” generation, is this not a voice that needs to be heard?

He also hammered home the point that each of us is unique, special and of value just as we are. If this were more widely known perhaps we would have fewer teenagers struggling with self worth and starving themselves to get their naturally size 14 bodies into a size 10 pair of jeans, just to be cool.

I am pleased that this debate has broken out. We must constantly review the way we teach our children to give them the best chance of achieving their potential. But we would be foolish to abandon principles that have shaped our freedoms and helped make Britain great. What do you think – mail@garystreeter.co.uk

posted by Nigel on Thursday, March 04, 2004