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

BRITISH DEMOCRACY

Name three countries in the world with better systems of governance than Britain. Can you? Of course there are some in Europe with roughly equivalent arrangements and it might be hard to judge between us. But I can’t think of a evidently superior system. Our democracy works pretty well, although it is certainly far from perfect.

And it just got a whole lot better last week! Why? Because one of the in built requirements of our system is that an elected government, especially if it has a sizeable majority, needs a very strong opposition to keep it in check. After ten years of scratching around in a parallel universe, my own party has finally signalled its hunger for office once again. Under new and exciting leadership, we should now give people a real choice at the next election and hold the government properly to account along the way. At last!
Out of our healthy democracy flow our essential freedoms. The ability to speak our minds, live and work where we want, travel freely abroad, worship whichever deity we choose, sleep at night without fearing a visit from the secret police and elect a government and chuck them out when we want to. It was hard won, took a long time, needs careful protection, but we should thank our lucky stars that we live in such a country.

Sadly, about two thirds of the world’s population do not live under the same set of rules. Tin pot dictators, political corruption, human rights abuses and no real freedom of speech– all everyday reality for the vast majority.

In our increasingly globalizing world, where political activity in even a tiny corner affects us all, Britain has both a responsibility and an opportunity to do something about it. To help individuals in each of these nations, wherever possible, to put in place the same framework of freedom, obviously coloured by their own cultural experience, as we take for granted over here. Which is why I have agreed to take on this challenge for my party, heading up both our democracy building programme and our human rights commission to take forward this long-term, painstakingly slow, but ultimately essential work. This is not philanthropy; this is in the national interest.

As our democracy has just got even healthier, wouldn’t it be great if we could now see progress in many other countries.
It would certainly make the world safer for my rapidly growing grandsons!

posted by Nigel on Monday, December 19, 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

STORM TROOPS OF COMPASSION

We should do more in Britain for people who really need help; and we could pay for it by doing less for some who don’t – but lean on the state nonetheless. I have always thought that and experience gained in the last 13 years of doing this job has only confirmed things for me.

For example, I had a meeting last Friday, organised by the excellent Carer’s UK with some people in Ivybridge who were full time carers for severely disabled loved ones. Yes, some of them worked outside the home as well to earn much needed income, but they were all full time carers because that is what life is like in their world: 24/7 worry and effort, interrupted by all too fleeting moments of joy at unexpected responses.

And we, the state, the taxpayer, the rest of us, should do more for them. More provision of services for their loved ones, providing more individually crafted care and support, not one size fits all.

People who are born severely disabled, or who become disabled by reason of accident or illness or age should be a very high priority. It is not their fault.
Those who care for them rather than placing them in state funded institutions should be celebrated as heroes and not pushed to the margins. Just think how much they save the chancellor every year – latest estimates are £57 billion.

Above all, we have to come up with better respite care so that the carers can get a break, think their own thoughts, breathe their own air, before returning to the daily struggle. (In some parts of the country there is far more respite care available.) Many people who have been to see me cannot get respite care for love nor money, and that should be a matter of local shame.

But how could we pay for it? We simply do less for the many thousands of people in this country who are still taking us for a ride. This is getting worse. A creeping welfare dependency, freshly driven by the absurd philosophy of the “rights agenda” is spreading its icy tentacles over the land once again.

But rights come second to responsibilities. Each one of us has a duty to stand on our own two feet, if we can.

Then we would have more resources to support these storm troopers of compassion as they care for severely handicapped members of the family.

posted by Nigel on Thursday, December 15, 2005