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

posted by Nigel on Friday, February 29, 2008

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

BOUNDARIES 
Some of you can remember vividly when Plympton RDC was annexed into the city of Plymouth during the early 1970's. Hardly a month goes by without a resident of Plympton or Plymstock grumbling to me about becoming part of the city all those years ago.

But what if it is about to happen to Ivybridge, or Yealmpton or Modbury? Strange as it may seem, such an outcome could well be determined in a new review of Devon's boundaries that the government has just ordered.

It all started last year because Exeter City Council wanted to become a unitary authority in the recent round of local government review. Plymouth and Torbay are both already unitary authorities, but the rest of Devon is run by a county council (schools, social services and roads) and a series of district councils (planning and refuse). The Exeter bid failed because it is too small to run its own show, but rather than just declining the bid, the government ordered a review of the entire shape of Devon governance to see if a better solution could be found.

The pressure on the committee that will make its recommendation to ministers by the end of 2008 is two-fold. First, they have an in-built bias towards a unitary solution (Cornwall is soon to become one single tier council), so the likelihood that they will recommend no change is minuscule. Second, they have been expressly ordered to look at the boundaries of Plymouth and Torbay if necessary to find a Devon wide solution. A larger Plymouth and Torbay, with the rest of the county split into one or more unitaries is the most likely outcome.

There is some logic in expanding Plymouth to take in Langage and Sherford, but a more fundamental outcome, swallowing more rural places into the city boundaries is unattractive. Watch this space.

posted by Nigel on Friday, February 22, 2008

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

SHARIA LAW
Few things have made me as angry recently as the Archbishop's comments about Sharia law. I have met him and he is a genuine and intelligent man, but he has got this completely and utterly wrong. Instead of suggesting that elements of Islamic law might be drafted into our own law in the future we should be sending the opposite signal: that Sharia law will never be acceptable in any part of the legal system in the United Kingdom, full stop.

I say this for two reasons. First of all, it is crucial, if we are to retain any form of national and social cohesion that we all live under the same law. Naturally now we have devolved institutions in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, sometimes their laws are different from those in England. But if I fly into Glasgow the same law applies to me in that city as any other person in it. That is how it should be. I do not like certain aspects of our drinking and gambling laws, but I cannot claim that certain parts of the law do not apply to me differently because I am a practicing Christian, nor should I. Britain has never been so diverse and even the cultural gaps between old and young have never been greater. But having one law for all, irrespective of race, colour or creed is part of what binds us together.

Second, we have got to stop pandering to minorities, and in this case a minority of a minority. I am pleased to know lots of Muslims. They are delighted to be British citizens and embrace all that westernisation has to offer. They are hard working, committed to their families and ambitious for themselves and their children. They love the freedom this country offers. They would be horrified at the thought of being shackled once again by Sharia law, especially the women. The Muslim community makes up about 3% of British people and of those only a tiny fraction are the religious zealots we see on TV. The vast majority of this group just want to be accepted for what they are: moderate British citizens who want to get on with their lives.

So let us stop bowing and scraping to a few extremists who want to impose their ways on the rest of us. Let there be one law, the same law, for all of us. What do you think?

Labels: SHARIA LAW

posted by Nigel on Friday, February 15, 2008

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

MENTORING

Amidst all of the media feeding frenzy about MP's employing family members last week, I was glad to slip into one of the many receptions and events that take place in the mother of Parliaments every day and meet some real people. It was a celebration of the wonderful work done by heroic people all over the country mentoring others, young and old. We heard from those who had been mentored as well as the people, some of them still teenagers themselves, who had been mentoring others.

I met a fifteen year old girl from Plymstock School who was proud to tell me about the impact on her life that her wise mentor, also present, had made. She produced a computer print out (sign of the times) of her behavioural record at school. Three years earlier there was a list as long as your arm of incidents of "disruptive behaviour" and detentions. This had shrivelled to three minor incidents in the current year. This bubbly young lady also told me that as a result of being mentored the relationship with her mother had improved dramatically and that she had lifted her horizons about what she might do with her life.

One meeting a week over a three year period with an experienced woman was all it had taken to bring about this change of heart.

What a powerful testimony of how well placed voluntary effort can make all of the difference to a young life. The state can help organise but does not have the resources to field a team of professional mentors. Besides it is important that the confidante is seen as being on the young person's side.

The mentoring scheme at Plymstock School is organised by Jane Brotherton who told me that they have more pupils suitable for this kind of help than volunteers.

Are you a good listener who has something to offer to the next generation? Can you put all of those excruciating years guiding your own teenagers in the vague direction of normality to good use? If you can help, why not offer your services, or find other avenues for mentoring people whose lives might be changed for ever. Jane would love to hear from you.

In the end, most mentors tell me that they are the ones who benefit most. The rewards of seeing a young life blossom just by listening and offering the occasional word of advice are very real.

posted by Nigel on Thursday, February 07, 2008

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

LANGAGE POWER STATION

Of the many campaigns I have fought and lost, the Langage power station still rankles. I remain convinced that placing a new gas fired power station right alongside 35,000 people, on the gateway to the moor and rolling beauty of the South Hams was a poor decision by the DTI. Given that they have had to move pylons and dig up half of Devon to install a new pipeline, I feel somewhat vindicated.

However, it is now being built and it is time to accept that it will shortly be part of our daily lives in south west Devon. I was shown around the construction site on Friday. Centrica Plc (British Gas to you and me) are spending £400 million on this ultra-modern complex and currently there are over 500 people working on it – most of them British workers – a number that will rise to a massive 850 this summer. I have never seen so many cranes and tractor type vehicles in my life, with steel and concrete thrusting out of the ground at every turn. It is intended to open the station in late 2008/early 2009. The project is currently running to time and on budget.

Through the constant lobbying of many people, the design has been improved and the foundations lowered so that the impact on all of us locally will be diminished. We will see it from the Deep Lane junction, but probably not from the A38. We won't see it in Plympton until we drive through Langage and I am assured we will not hear or smell it. Time will tell.

It is an impressive feat of engineering. Already the firm are starting to employ the 50 or so people who will run it, several of them local people. I never bought into the idea that we will benefit in our power bills locally, and it seem that we will not. The main benefit will be security of supply.

My primary concern remains the energy park alongside the power station that would attract 2,000 new jobs to the region. This has nothing to do with Centrica, but is owned by Carlton Power Limited. Well, there is a posh sign on the entranceway and some swanky landscaping has been done. But there is not a sign of a building in which these new jobs can be created. Carlton Power - please get a move on. As the economy tightens we need those jobs.

posted by Nigel on Saturday, February 02, 2008