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

SUMMER AT LAST

We have been given a lesson in parenting skills. Earlier this year, two swallows built their nest (somewhat precariously) on top of our outer front door, laid and hatched out their eggs, spent weeks darting in with emergency food supplies to keep their children alive and well. The four youngsters rapidly grew until it was a comic sight to see them squeezed between the top of the nest and the porch ceiling, utterly dependant on their parents. We decided to ignore the terrible mess that this all made to our door and porch floor, feeling privileged that nature had visited us in this wonderful way.

But then there came a day when something within their little birdie instincts told Mr and Mrs Swallow that it was time for the youngsters to fly the nest. One morning, the parents were joined for the special occasion by other adult swallows swooping and chirping constantly in and out of the porch, obviously encouraging the four children to spread their wings and fly. Look it’s easy! For a while it seemed a hopeless task as the ungrateful teenagers sat stupefied on top of the door. Then all of a sudden one of them plucked up the courage and plunged from her (just guessing that the bravest one was female) security into the scary unknown to fly for herself. Then the other three gamely followed suit.

That evening, the four youngsters came back to spend the night in familiar surroundings. But there was no sign of the parents who, job done, seemed to have gone onto their next assignment.
What a lovely lesson in the importance of family. It is slightly different for humans of course. When our kids leave the nest, they keep fluttering back for all kinds of reasons, usually involving extra cost! But would we have it any other way?

Whenever someone comes to a surgery, concerned about a disabled child, or a grandchild who is a drug addict, or for housing help for their ageing relatives or whatever, it moves me. No matter how “modern” we become, no matter what new fangled gadget they are about to invent, blood will always be thicker than water.
This will be the last article for a few weeks, while I rush around the house with hot water and towels ready to do whatever men have to do when a new baby enters the world. Panic, mainly!
Have a wonderful summer.

posted by Nigel on Thursday, August 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

POLICE IN SCHOOLS

As I approach the end of my forty-ninth year on this planet I am acutely aware that I am becoming more and more like my father. Jan tells me that it is no bad thing to be like my dad, and I agree, but I mention it because I have to make sure that my reaction to some of the things going on in our society today is appropriate, and not just that of a grumpy old man railing against legitimate change.

But try as I may, I cannot come to terms with the recent decision by two of the schools in my constituency to deploy police officers (which they pay for themselves) in schools to help keep discipline. I am bewildered by it and quite understand the decision by one set of governors to react so decisively against the revelation when made known.

I first heard of such things about a year ago in a debate in the Commons when a Home Office minister let slip that in some inner city schools police stations were being opened to help keep order. I challenged her, baffled that such a step should be either necessary or thought desirable. Yes, she affirmed, I had heard correctly and it was a good idea.

On a bad day I might be persuaded to agree that in some schools in one or two of our troubled conurbations this step is defensible. But in Plymstock?

If we have really lost control in our schools of the behaviour of large number of students to that extent, then we really are in big trouble. Surely it is better to look at ways of restoring the respect that pupils should have, must have, for teachers rather than bringing in uniformed officers to exert their muscle. If we allow all of our informal bonds of mutual respect to be eroded, the glue that binds our society together, all we will have left is a big stick wielded from the outside. Employing police officers sends a clear message from the teaching staff to the playground yobs: you have beaten us, have a crack at the boys in blue.

I am totally and utterly against this move. I would far rather take the debate back to parents, consider more exclusions and give teachers back the ability to punish, than concede this precious ground.
But maybe this is just my wonderful dad growling from the sidelines.

posted by Nigel on Monday, August 15, 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

1984

George Orwell got it wrong, but only by about 20 years. We already live in the Big Brother society – and I’m not talking about that dreadful Channel Four reality TV programme that, inexplicably, several of my family seem to like.

I’m talking about what “they” (those in authority) know about “us” (normal people) as we go about our everyday lives.
We are all glad that suspected terrorists have now been arrested. But pause for a moment to reflect on how it happened. It was primarily information received from the public after the publication of those four vivid photos, most of them taken before the bombs were planted. Where did those shots come from? They could only be taken by hidden cameras on buses and tube trains. We all knew that station platform and city centres have elaborate CCTV, but buses and tubes too? When did that happen?

The alleged bomber who escaped to Italy was traced by security forces listening in to his mobile phone calls. They can see us and they can hear us.

We are all glad that we seem to have captured those allegedly responsible for trying to blast dozens of innocent victims into Kingdom Come, but we should not allow ourselves to lose sight of a slightly more sinister truth that is emerging. Almost everything we do or say is capable of being monitored and recorded. Add that to the sum of knowledge already held on each of us: what we spend on our credit cards, where we go on holiday, the car we drive, confidential banking information and much, much more. It begins to add up to a picture of awesome power in the hands of an invisible few.

But who will raise a voice against it when the terrorists stalk our streets? Indeed, the opposite is true – already many are calling for more checkpoints at more ports of entry into our country so that we better know who comes in and who goes out.

All the time our security forces are subject to proper democratic accountability, I guess we have little option but to live with the alarming degree of central control that is now in the hands of those who would keep us safe. But imagine that control in the hands of people whose motivation becomes perverted. It would be a short slippery slope to Orwell’s nightmare society.
We must beat the bombers, but we must safeguard our essential freedoms too.

posted by Nigel on Tuesday, August 09, 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

LATE JULY

Parliament has risen for the summer, and we leave Westminster with the sound of bombs and handguns ringing in our ears. We will all keep a careful watch on the awful events of the bombings and its tragic aftermath as they unfold, and if we need to be recalled to discuss any government action we should be.

But in the meantime the summer recess is an opportunity to immerse ourselves, uninterrupted, in the constituency for a number of weeks, as well as recharge batteries. As I potter around these pleasant climes, a constant theme comes to mind: thank goodness I don’t represent Birmingham Central!

But there is plenty to be going on with. Public meetings on the new town at Sherford are planned. This scheme is slowly taking shape on the designer’s desk (all credit to the developers who seem to be listening to local concerns). The pressing need is to stir the Plymouth City Council into action to sort out the difficult transport issues.

The power station at Langage has once again reared its ugly head, with Centrica (British Gas) going out to tender on its build proposal. I met with the directors recently. Local opinion remains firmly against this unwanted blot on the landscape, but the shadow creeps ever closer.

A coherent response to some of the worst anti-social behaviour still needs to be found and discussions are ongoing between the police and the council about this. It is time to use the full panoply of powers.

Plymouth runs out of somewhere to tip its waste in 2007, just around the corner. I sense a new battle coming on as the scramble to find a new site (guess which area this is likely to be in) takes off.
400 jobs have now been lost as a result of the fire at the Hillyers factory in Plympton. The impressive owners are determined to start again, but will probably need a bit of public finance for a short period to rescue most of those jobs. I expect to be throwing myself at the Regional Development Agency any day now to seek help.
It promises to be a busy summer, but there are compensations.
The four swallow eggs laid in a nest in our front porch have all successfully hatched and flown, chattering, away. Our magnificent Irish wolfhound, the only survivor of his litter, is still going strong. Our second grandchild is due in August. All is well.

posted by Nigel on Thursday, August 04, 2005