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

ST GEORGE

Friday is St George’s day and I will be waving my red and white flag. We celebrate him as the patron saint of England, a symbol of triumph over adversity, of courage and honour. Legend has it that our hero took on a mighty dragon and won, an inspirational example to us all.

It falls this year in the same week as the government announced that we will after all get a referendum on the proposed EU Constitution. It comes hot on the heels of the first new British citizens being sworn in under a new system, requiring greater allegiance to our Queen and traditions. It takes place in the midst of a world in turmoil, in Iraq, in the Middle East where we seem to have lost our independent voice.

St. George’s day is a good time to reflect on who we are as a nation. (Forgive me for now applying this to Britain and not just England. Call me old-fashioned, but I still believe in the Union.)

For the major part of the twentieth century we saw our empire gradually decline. During the last fifty years, people have come to our shores in unprecedented numbers, many from vastly different cultures and religions. We have seen our sovereignty increasingly eroded, first by more integration within the EU than many of us ever intended, and then by forces of globalisation pulling the rug from under national governments’ ability to make autonomous decisions.

All of this has thrown us into great confusion about who we are.
So is the dragon destined to win this time round? Many cynics say that the concept of “Britishness” has no more meaning. I profoundly disagree – and now would be a very good time to start rediscovering who we are and plot a course to national self-confidence. May I suggest five possible steps?
1. No more integration into the EU.
2. Insist on much more cultural integration for anyone choosing to settle here.
3. Embrace a more positive vision of our unique standing in a troubled world. There are many things that we do best: not least diplomacy, peacekeeping, aid, law and democracy.
4. Teach our kids a proper version of British history and stop apologising all of the time.
5. Remind ourselves that we can be generous, compassionate and tolerant, and patriotic and proud of our country and heritage at the same time.
It is time for St George to ride again.

posted by Nigel on Sunday, April 25, 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

THE A38

For thousands of years the Nile has been the central highway of the ancient civilisation of Egypt; the Trans-Siberian railway when completed brought a sense of community to the vast rolling spaces of twentieth century Russia, but for those of us living around these parts – we’ve got the A38!

Let’s face it, if you live in Plympton, Plymstock or Ivybridge, or the small villages all around, the Devon Expressway (to give it it’s official title) is a pretty important part of our lives.

And the powers that be are doing a major review of it and they have sought my opinion on how well it works and whether changes are necessary. So I am seeking your views. We have until the 30th April 2004 to send in any comments, and I am keen to do so. In particular I want to focus on the part that snakes through my constituency from Marsh Mills Roundabout to the Woodpecker pub just before South Brent.

Compared to many arterial highways the A38 works well. It can get snarled up in rush hour and there have been far too many accidents in recent years. So what can be done about it?

I have a couple of points. There have been a number of nasty accidents around the Deep Lane junction in the past few years and it seems to me a very fast exit coming from the Exeter direction. It must be a nightmare for bicycles and other slow moving traffic going on towards Plymouth when cars are turning off at speed to go to Plympton.

I have witnessed a number of near misses where three lanes become two on the way to Ivybridge and too many drivers treat it as a virility test to try and get one over on the car in front that is only doing seventy (i.e. the speed limit!). I also wonder whether the small slip road that runs past the Lynham pub adds to the problem.

Further on the road seems to work extremely well, but you may have other ideas.

These major reviews do not happen very often, so now is our chance to have our say. If there is ever a new development at Sherford/Deep Lane, this road can only get busier – so now would be a good time to make improvements. Over to you. Safe motoring!

posted by Nigel on Monday, April 19, 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

IMMIGRATION

Hands up all those who think the complex issue of mass economic migration from the developing world to the developed world is going to evaporate over the next few years? Not a single hand moves – and for good reason. Responding to the issues thrown up by this unprecedented flow of humanity is one of the challenges of our age – and will remain so for as far as the eye can see.

Immigration is an issue that provokes deep emotions and must be handled responsibly by all politicians. But it must be handled. It is an issue that can provoke all kinds of emotions: hatred, fear, racism to name but a few. But it must be tackled nonetheless; not least because if mainstream politics does not put in place robust policies to meet public concern, then this subject will be monopolised by the fringe parties who will use it to whip up support for their policies of intolerance.

In Holland, the chattering classes have just woken up to the fact that as a result of their liberal immigration policies over thirty years their Muslim population will be in the majority by 2017. Suddenly they are trying to slam on the brakes, put up the barriers and insist on cultural integration.
In Britain, our challenges are of a different order but we need some guiding principles to help us.

First, this must not be about racism, but rather about developing a coherent society. I do not care what colour a person’s skin is or where they come from and nor should anybody, but I do want Britain to function as a cohesive whole.

Second, we are entitled to ask that anybody wishing to live in this already crowded island should seek to integrate as far as possible into our culture – including our language. Of course we should celebrate diversity and learn from it, but it must not undermine a sense of national community.
Third, even allowing people to come here to take up short-term vacancies in our domestic economy – vacancies that may not exist in a few years time – should not just be about money. The social consequences must also be taken into account.

Generations of immigrants have made a rich contribution to this country. All of us must work towards integration and friendship with all communities. But we also need to ensure that further immigration happens at a pace that can be readily accommodated.

posted by Nigel on Tuesday, April 13, 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

Risk Averse

Public information broadcast 2005:
“Don’t go out today, you might trip over and hurt yourself. Certainly do not get in your car, given that over 3,000 of us die on the roads every year. Think twice about turning on your gas cooker or changing a light bulb. Do not let your children out to play without three inches (sorry 558 millimetres) of cotton wool bandaging and under no circumstances let them go on a school trip. If you are a doctor or teacher social worker or police officer do not exercise your own professional judgement and in every case refer all decisions to a third party panel of independent experts. To be on the safe side, stay indoors, make no decisions and don’t do anything.”

Sheer fantasy, or the natural progression of the way our society is developing?

Risk averse - that is the posh name for being scared of making a decision, exercising discretion or judgement or taking a chance. Are you noticing more and more examples of this affliction spreading? So general practitioners of many years experience feel under pressure to refer patients to the hospital for a second opinion, clogging up the waiting lists, when they know full well what the diagnosis is. So school trips are cancelled because the insurance companies wring their hands about whether the staff pupil ratios are adequate. So rather than on-the-spot common sense dispensation of justice, voluminous police reports are written and time is taken to go through the “proper procedures”.

What is going on out there?

More and more professionals are reluctant to make the decisions that they are trained to make because they are terrified of making a mistake and paying for it heavily either in the law courts or through the unpleasant modern version of witch ducking – trial by frenzied media. On top of that more and more regulation, poking its stifling nose into every nook and cranny of our lives chokes discretion and local flexibility. Everything is done by the book, referred up to the next level, considered by committee or cancelled all together.
Does this make us any safer or better run? No, because the most effective layer of decision-making is the one closest to the coalface where a real assessment of the problem in hand, and the individual concerned, can be made. Somehow we must find a way to give the freedom back to professionals to exercise their judgement without forever glancing over their shoulders.

posted by Nigel on Monday, April 05, 2004