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

CHRISTMAS 2007

Christmas will be a tough time for those who mourn. On special days, the hole in the family gathering where that person should be is somehow greater. I lost my brother Mark in January this year to a sudden heart attack. We always used to gather, the whole tribe at our house, on Boxing Day and this year, the first year without him, the day will be full of poignant memories, funny things he said or did, treasured recollections. We will light a candle in his memory and talk about him and celebrate the wonderful person he was. Whatever view you take of life after death, we can ensure that people live on in our memories and in our conversations.

But predominantly, Christmas is a time of hope. I love it. All year long we politicians deal in the things that go wrong: burgeoning anti-social behaviour, the lost discs, the darkening economy, the gloomy international prospects. It is the stock in trade of politics, understandably, because to make things better you have to grapple with the defects in our society.

Over the festive season we can raise our heads and be boosted by a ray of hope from the Christmas story. The people living in darkness have seen a great light. A child was born, not as a great king in a marble palace, but in humility and vulnerability, in a smelly stable. Joseph was told to name him Jesus – the one who will save his people. He grew into a man who said and did outrageous things. He claimed to know the true meaning of life and offered redemption to those who followed him.

Isn’t it amazing that 2000 years later many are still following him and most of our cherished freedoms and rights that have made us a great nation have been built on the foundations of his teachings? It is no coincidence that only in countries with a Judeo-Christian heritage do we find these values.

And this inspirational story brings hope. Nothing is so bad it cannot be made right. I see it in the faces of my excited grandchildren. I see it in the energy of the sixth formers as they receive their awards for their school efforts and look forward to adulthood. I see it in the rewarding smiles of those serving others less fortunate than themselves – all over the constituency: hope.
Merry Christmas and a Hopeful New Year to you all

posted by Nigel on Thursday, December 20, 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

POLITICAL SLEAZE

I may be the only opposition MP not rejoicing at the current troubles of the government over political donations. Why? Because actually the issues involved are relatively trivial and the scandal only serves to drag all of us down, undermining confidence in the entire political system. Already people think we are all in it for ourselves and all as bad as each other.

In my job as chairman of my party’s international office I travel a lot to countries that are struggling to find their feet on the rocky journey towards good governance. In almost of these countries in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the public square is bighted with deep-seated corruption: nepotism, back-handers, bribes for government contracts and personal pocket lining from the public purse – it is endemic from top to bottom. It will probably take generations to get all of these things ironed out in some countries, if it ever happens. We take for granted the benefits of a free press, an independent judiciary and verifiably free and fair elections. We shouldn’t – they are the safeguard for the freedoms we enjoy in Britain, imperfect though they are.

What I am about to say will anger some of you, but I am going to say it anyway: Here in the UK we do not really have corruption in our political system. In fact, we probably have the cleanest politics in the world. Even the so-called sleaze during the Major years hardly deserved the name – a handful of human beings behaving badly, whipped out of all proportion by a bored media. What we have now – “donorgate” as some have dubbed it – concerns one northern business man giving money to a political party through acquaintances. It was wrong, stupid (difficult to understand) and the people concerned should be held to account.

But as the scandal rumbles on I fear that only three things will result. First, more good people will be turned away from politics. Second, the public confidence in all politicians will be further undermined. Third, a new system of funding political parties will be introduced that will cost the tax payer more without resulting in better governance.

But the national press can smell blood and so off they go, teeth bared, hunting as a pack, determined for a kill. Thank goodness we have a free press, but don’t let Fleet Street decide who governs this country – that should be for you to determine.

posted by Nigel on Friday, December 07, 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

MODBURY

“Doing a Modbury” has entered the English lexicon. It is the clarion call for a community to go plastic bag free. I met with the leading traders in this attractive Georgian town in the heart of my constituency on Friday to be briefed on the tremendous campaign that was launched there six months ago. The decision by every single trader to agree for the town to go plastic bag free as their contribution towards the health of the planet has captured the imagination of the national and international media, with camera crews regularly descending upon them. I congratulate every person involved.

It was triggered by concerns of a Modbury resident who works for the BBC and helped make a documentary that included footage of adult Albatross birds inadvertently feeding plastic bags to their young, thus choking them to death. Plastic bags do not decompose once we throw them away – or at least not for a very long time – they just sit there and contaminate our world: in the case of Albatross chicks, to devastating effect. The BBC correspondent shared her concerns with two Modbury traders and they decided to act. They called a meeting of all traders and they all, without exception, decided to go plastic bag free – even though this is at no small inconvenience and cost to some of them. They have produced “bags for life” instead and the culture of shopping in Modbury has changed for good. The retailers are now considering where next to act.

Of course, a small town taking this step will not suddenly right all of the careless wrongs of the industrial revolution. But just because we cannot do everything does not mean we should not do something. Action like this can inspire others to act, like kindling setting fire to bigger logs.
It is that way too with climate change and global warming – it all seems such a gigantic problem that we can become overwhelmed by it all. What is the point of me reducing my carbon footprint, or the UK, if China and the US will not?I am coming to see that we should all live in the most responsible way possible. Perhaps, we should all take a leaf out of the Modbury book and do one thing – maybe one new thing every year – that makes a contribution, big or small, to the sustainability of this fragile planet. Before it is too late.

posted by Nigel on Tuesday, December 04, 2007