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

CYCLE TRACKS

I support action to tackle global warming and reduce car emissions. We should be encouraged to get out of our cars and into our lycra cycling gear, despite the rain and the contours locally that don’t help.

But have you seen the new scar on our city landscape that runs by the side of Glen Road in Plympton, flanking the Fire Station? They started work on digging up the wide grass verge about 4 months ago, clearly a work of some scale. But what were they doing? Slowly all was revealed as ugly tarmac replaced attractive lawn, non-slip paving slabs were carefully laid at the junctions and vivid asphalt completed the extreme makeover. It was a cycle track.
But what was the point of it? All it did was substitute a wide straight road (perfect for cycling I would have thought) with a multi-coloured obstacle course requiring the rider to twist and turn to cover the same distance. As soon as it nears St Mary’s bridge, where traffic often queues, the track comes to an end and the bikes presumably have to rejoin the highway!

Over the last few weekends I have been scouring this new facility in the heart of my constituency for beneficiaries of the council’s munificence. Finally, last Friday I spotted one from a distance: a cyclist was powering his way impressively along Glen Road. My heart fluttered with excitement. It was only when I drew closer that the sad truth emerged: our cyclist was not negotiating the cycle track at all but was thundering along the same road as the cars. Another white elephant, to sit alongside the absurd traffic calming in Woodford and Radford Dip has entered our world.

It comes at a time when the Plymouth City Council has revealed a shortfall in its finances over the next 3 years of £33 million. I support their honesty and the attempts of the new Chief Executive to get to grips with it. I do not intend to try and score cheap political points against the Labour Council, but will work with them to get the city’s finances onto an even keel, and to roll out the exciting future that our city could have, for all of our sakes. It is certainly time for our potential to be realised, a time for delivery.

The City must focus on key priorities and spend our money wisely. No more Cycle Tracks to Nowhere please.

posted by Nigel on Monday, July 25, 2005

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

LONDON

For Londoners last week, it was truly, as Dickens wrote, the best of times and the worst of times. Joy unlimited on Wednesday after the Olympic bid triumph, quickly followed by the nightmare scenario of the bombs on Thursday. Then the poignant 60th commemoration of the end of the war, culminating in the mass gathering in the Mall, polished off an unforgettable week. All of us, whatever our post code, shared fully in the highs and lows of those remarkable few days.

As I travelled back on the train to the Commons this week and took the tube from Paddington to Westminster, passing through Edgware road tube station, one of the flash points, I wondered if I would notice a difference. There were a few more security guards on view and the loudspeaker warned us to report suspect packages more frequently than usual. But other than that, the irrepressible spirit that won us the Second World War was very much in evidence. Everyone was just getting on with it, although of course for the fifty or so families scarred by the terrorists cowardly bombs, life will never be the same.

London is very different now than during the Blitz. It is incredibly cosmopolitan, all colours and creeds and races mingling together. But this does not seem to have diluted our Bulldog character. Where were the scenes of mass hysteria, the wailing chaos, last Thursday? There were none. What we saw was a people stoic in the face of adversity, superbly served by dedicated professionals who quickly took control. We saw years of training and planning meticulously put into practice. We can all be proud.

The fact that we are becoming so multi-cultural is not dampening our cussed, back to the wall, independent British-ness. Nor need it ever do so. The impressive river of our culture has throughout history been widened and deepened by tributaries from other sources joining us, whether by force or invitation. For example, are we so cool in a crisis because of that ice-cold Viking blood flowing through us?

The war on terror is not a struggle between two competing religions. It is a conflict between those of us who believe in our fundamental values of democracy, freedom and the rule of law and a ruthless band of extremists who seek to destroy those liberal values.
These terrorists will not win. We will not be intimidated. Our values will flourish. London has shown us that.

posted by Nigel on Monday, July 18, 2005

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

FETES

I have attended 3 summer fetes in the past 2 weeks, with plenty more to come later in the month. Jan and I always enjoy them, not just for the home made marmalade and butterfly cakes, both a particular favourite, but because of the warm expression of community that they encapsulate.

Young and old, rich and poor, the busy and the more sedate, all come together to enjoy a few hours of pottering and pleasure, usually raising money for a very good cause. As ever, the work of organising falls to the same few who work their socks off behinds the scene so that the day will flow smoothly like a grand old river. In this hurtling, often bewildering, rapidly globalising world, it is good to remind ourselves that, despite the awesome achievements of technology, life is still lived locally. It all still comes down to human relationships knitted together, in our families and in our communities.

I am genuinely thrilled at the achievements of the Live8 concerts and the Make Poverty History movement in the run up to this week’s historic G8 encounter. I pay tribute to all of those involved. I pay tribute to Tony Blair in his leadership of this time. I support the move to increase aid and cut debt for many struggling African countries, although I urge all concerned not to forget that no matter how much help we pour in from the outside little progress is sustainable unless there is good governance. We can help with that too.

But while we all now think globally, we live locally. We should help our overseas neighbours but we should also make sure our own communities get the help they need. Not through unwanted projects imposed from on high, not through taking away from communities the need to stand together and help themselves, but in doing what it takes to enable this kind of living to endure.
What is that? If our villages and small towns are to flourish into the future there must be more small-scale affordable housing, dedicated to locals to help them to stay in the community. There must be more help for vital institutions like the post office. There needs to be improved public transport.

It is important, no matter how the world develops, to ensure that local communities have the infrastructure they need to survive.
Give people the tools to do the job and they will do the rest.

posted by Nigel on Thursday, July 14, 2005

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

ASB – THE FINAL INSTALMENT

This will be the fifth and final article on anti-social behaviour and today I want to explore wider cultural influences and particularly the role of the media. Once again thanks for all the replies and the ideas – keep them coming. I intend to keep going on this at Westminster until we find better solutions.

We live at a time when the framework of values that shaped our nation (imperfectly) has all but disappeared. That framework was essentially a Christian heritage (love God and love your neighbour) that flowed out of centuries of religious belief. Although, it had basic flaws – the inflexible and unfair class structure and the subservient role of women to name but two - most people knew what it was and it defined us. It was underpinned by the church and other institutions, shaped our laws and social behaviour.
Since the Second World War that edifice has crumbled and now eroded.

We may now ask what framework of values defines our country today and what institutions help to shape how we live? I would argue that the media, especially TV, has replaced these old foundations and now determines how most people live, especially younger people. It is the place from which many people now draw down their values.

And what values are these? Whilst there is an awful lot of good quality broadcasting aimed at the very young, I am afraid that for the most part the staple diet served up to the coming generation has a continuous underlying theme: do whatever you want. This is the “because I’m worth it/anything goes” generation. The higher virtues of respect and duty, community and service are rarely discussed.

I agree that for each one of us achieving our potential is the right goal. But this has to be balanced by a proper understanding that we are just part of a bigger picture, that we have obligations too.
We need to agree on a new framework of values that can shape the future of our society.

My suggestion? Simply this: treat others as you wish to be treated yourself. Most of us know how we like to be treated. Thus we can carry around with us an ever-ready guide to our inter-action with others.
But unless we can harness the power of the media in shaping the mindset of the coming generation it is hard to see how such a framework could now be put in place.

posted by Nigel on Monday, July 04, 2005