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

GUNS

The spate of shootings in London coincides with a study the Home Affairs select committee on which I sit is holding into the why there are so many young black boys caught up in the criminal justice system. It is an illuminating investigation. Witness after witness, drawn from these minority communities, are telling us that even after fifty years since the SS Windrush brought the first substantial number of Afro-Caribbean settlers to our shores – to do the jobs that indigenous white people no longer wanted to do – still, many of them do no feel accepted or validated as part of British society. Still, now more than ever we are told, despite all of the black faces on TV and our sporting fields, there is a sense of alienation and exclusion among many black boys. It causes them to gather in gangs and find their personal confirmation in gangland activities which seems increasingly to involve drug running and the use of guns.

We have not concluded this study yet, and I do not know what recommendations we will make. But it is unlikely to be about toughening up gun law – but rather trying to find new ways to bring this unhealthy sense of exclusion to an end.

But it brings me back to the real reason why immigration has to be handled so carefully and why the current system needs a major overhaul. Social cohesion. I do not care what colour skin a person has on the outside or where their ancestors were born. But I do care about social cohesion. I do care about the strength of our society and nation. We have always been a country that has grown through immigration (or invasion!) and that is unlikely to change. But any such inward flow of people has to be at a pace and in a manner that does not undermine social cohesion. There is a case now for taking a very robust line indeed towards future immigration, coupled with a five year intensive focus on promoting much greater integration of those who have most recently come to our shores, not least in the insistence of speaking the mother tongue. There is increasing national discussion about the end of multi-culturalism. Good, but we must not leave this at the level of airy fairy debate but should urgently nail down some concrete policies to underpin British values and society before it is too late.
What do you think?

posted by Nigel on Tuesday, February 27, 2007

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

PRIVATE MEMBERS BILL

I won’t be back to my Plympton home next week until Friday night. Although I hate to be away from the constituency on that busiest of days, the reason is a positive one. I shall be legislating at the House of Commons, or trying to. After 14 years at Westminster, this is my first opportunity to try and introduce my own bill.

Why did I choose to bring in the Disabled Children (Family Support) Bill?

I have long believed that we do not do enough for disabled people and their families. Families with severely disabled children need and deserve more support. In a recent survey, eight in ten families with severely disabled children told Mencap that they were at, or close to, breaking point. Support out there is patchy and inadequate - and in some areas, the level of service is going down. A third of those parents receiving any sort of short break service have reported a cut in the amount of hours they get. My Bill would create a specific duty on local authorities and health agencies to provide short breaks for families caring for the most severely disabled children. These are children that are already eligible for services under the Children Act 1989, but only a tiny minority - one in 13, according to the Commission for Social Care Improvement - are actually getting any support. In addition, if the Bill became law, short break providers would have to show how the breaks were of positive benefit to both the child and the family, guarding against the low-quality breaks that too many families are offered at present.

I am pleased to say that my Bill has cross-party support, but it comes with a price tag. It is unreasonable to impose yet more duties on local authorities and primary care trusts without a funding package to enable extra services to be offered, so the government would have to stump up for this. The timing is auspicious because the government is itself reviewing support for disabled families. I hope that we might be able to agree a way forward together and earnest discussions with ministers are in hand. Fingers crossed!

Any government can kill off a private member’s bill, usually by talking it out. I am hoping this will not happen to mine. It is simply too urgent for those many families who battle so fantastically to bring up their severely disabled children. They deserve a better deal.

posted by Nigel on Monday, February 19, 2007

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

JENNYCLIFF

Do we look after our crown jewels? At Jennycliff we have one of the most fantastic waterfront leisure spots anywhere in Europe. The views over the sound, out to sea, back towards an increasingly interesting Plymouth skyline are second to none.

But what have we done with it? My attention has been drawn recently by two constituents to the fact that at we have allowed the breathtaking coastal walks along Jennycliff to become a glorified dog’s toilet. I went for an inspection with Cllr Ken Foster, one of the energetic ward councillors. I have been there many times over the years to enjoy the unique views from the car park with elderly relatives, but to my shame I have rarely walked the path back towards Mountbatten.

Let’s face it the adventure does not start well. If there is a more pit-holed car park anywhere in the western hemisphere I would like to see it. But the appalling nature of the parking surface pales into insignificance when your eyes feast upon all of the rubbish encircling the parking space. Scraps of paper, plastic bags and bottles everywhere.

Within a few yards of crossing the road, the sheer magnificence of the seascape takes your breath away. But I was not there to enjoy the view – on we strolled. To find that the walkway is indeed littered with dog’s mess. It was obvious that someone, presumably the council, had recently picked up a whole load of droppings, because the grassy surface was riddled with pock marks where some kind of mechanical devoice had been used. But there was still plenty of mess around that would have prevented me from taking the grandchildren for a fling.

It is not the fault of the dogs. Too many dog owners are not behaving responsibly. I did see some people putting their poop bags in the two or three bins provided. But there are not enough bins and not enough signs to encourage people to use the bins and warn of dire consequences if they don’t. We will be urging the council to do what they can about the litter and the car park. More bins and signs and more regular dog warden patrols would also help. But in the end, dear people, it is down to you and I to pick up our rubbish and take it home and scoop up any poop our dogs may make and put it in the bin

posted by Nigel on Monday, February 19, 2007