Great news that the school leaving age is to be raised to 18. It should provide the extra impetus for a much larger number of young people to get qualifications and skills, including vital life skills, they would not otherwise have gained.
I left school at 17 to work as a hospital porter. It was only later that I went to university, and I feel I got more benefit from doing things that way. I had more experience of life when I eventually pitched up at university at 21, and in the intervening years I had saved enough to be able to manage my finances over three years of study without getting into debt.
My dad left school at the age of 15 in 1955 to work as a labourer, later qualifying as a plumber. His dad left school at the age of 12 in 1917 and went to work digging gravel, later becoming (among other things) a painter and decorator.
It's amazing how opportunities for young people from working class families have advanced over the past century, due in no small part to successive Labour governments, including this one.
I can only speculate what my dad and granddad might have done with their lives if they had been encouraged to learn as young people are today. As a school governor, it's a privilege these days to see youngsters excelling.
Friday, 12 January 2007
Monday, 8 January 2007
problem poll
I was curious to read the YouGov poll that was published today in the Guardian, commissioned by Jon Cruddas MP.
It suggests that only 1 in 3 voters have been contacted by Labour since the general election in 2005.
Apparently 62% of people have had no contact with the party since the last election. That's a big worry.
Jon Cruddas, whose hat is already in the ring for the deputy leadership, said: "This poll is a wake-up call, but the debates we will have this year give us a perfect opportunity to turn things around. We're at our best when we have activists on the streets knocking on doors, speaking to people in our communities. Some people may think that clever direct marketing techniques can win us elections, but these results are a reminder that we can't beat the Tories without Labour activists on the doorsteps."
Quite true, but I hesitate to beat myself up about it. In Streatham South, the picture is somewhat different. We work hard and have a good voter contact rate to show for it. Every household regularly gets something from us, which is reflected in consistent waves of calls, emails and visits to our surgeries. Whether or not our leaflets are read avidly is another matter, but I've no reason to think we aren't communicating as much as we should be.
On top of that, we knock on doors all over the ward and make ourselves as visible and approachable as possible with walkabouts and street stalls.
But Jon Cruddas is right that we should never allow ourselves to become complacent. We need to keep Labour in government, and build on the progress of the last ten years.
It suggests that only 1 in 3 voters have been contacted by Labour since the general election in 2005.
Apparently 62% of people have had no contact with the party since the last election. That's a big worry.
Jon Cruddas, whose hat is already in the ring for the deputy leadership, said: "This poll is a wake-up call, but the debates we will have this year give us a perfect opportunity to turn things around. We're at our best when we have activists on the streets knocking on doors, speaking to people in our communities. Some people may think that clever direct marketing techniques can win us elections, but these results are a reminder that we can't beat the Tories without Labour activists on the doorsteps."
Quite true, but I hesitate to beat myself up about it. In Streatham South, the picture is somewhat different. We work hard and have a good voter contact rate to show for it. Every household regularly gets something from us, which is reflected in consistent waves of calls, emails and visits to our surgeries. Whether or not our leaflets are read avidly is another matter, but I've no reason to think we aren't communicating as much as we should be.
On top of that, we knock on doors all over the ward and make ourselves as visible and approachable as possible with walkabouts and street stalls.
But Jon Cruddas is right that we should never allow ourselves to become complacent. We need to keep Labour in government, and build on the progress of the last ten years.
Thursday, 4 January 2007
Home Secretary visits Streatham
John Reid, the Home Secretary, took time to come to Streatham today for a “Let’s Talk” event, to make a keynote speech and meet local Labour activists.
Introduced by Lambeth’s Labour leader Steve Reed, we heard a considered and thoughtful speech, ranging widely from his Home Office portfolio to talk about a bigger picture for Labour supporters and activists as we prepare for challenges ahead, post Tony Blair.
He also took time during his speech to praise what we have been doing in Lambeth since May, mentioning our stated mission of “delivering quality and tackling inequality.” He also highlighted his approval of our decision to invest in more PCSOs to patrol the borough.
He also answered questions from his audience, ranging from human trafficking to the condition of local school buildings.
Some people who weren’t there have seen it as a gauntlet being thrown down for the leadership. I didn’t see it that way – more as a discussion about where the party goes a decade on from winning in 1997, and about the need to adapt to new challenges as we find and face them.
Whether or not people define themselves by New or Old Labour labels, he said our aim must remain “to show that we are as much on the side of those who were getting on, as we are for those who need help."
He said: "Though Tony may be stepping down, the underlying philosophy and direction of New Labour is one shared by all of us in government and all of us who form the leadership and will continue undimmed. New Labour did not and will not start and end with Tony Blair's leadership. It will continue."
"It's important we make that very clear indeed, because otherwise we will allow, by default, the impression to persist that New Labour is, and has been, nothing more or less than Tony Blair. Our opponents will try to sow that seed. They will personalise the whole issue."
"The Tories will try to argue that Tony Blair equals New Labour. Therefore they will say that when Tony Blair goes, New Labour goes. Wrong - and we have to make sure that people understand that that is wrong.
"The New Labour project was not the product of one person nor even a small group of people. It was the product of the efforts and energies of many people over a long period of time.”
Introduced by Lambeth’s Labour leader Steve Reed, we heard a considered and thoughtful speech, ranging widely from his Home Office portfolio to talk about a bigger picture for Labour supporters and activists as we prepare for challenges ahead, post Tony Blair.
He also took time during his speech to praise what we have been doing in Lambeth since May, mentioning our stated mission of “delivering quality and tackling inequality.” He also highlighted his approval of our decision to invest in more PCSOs to patrol the borough.
He also answered questions from his audience, ranging from human trafficking to the condition of local school buildings.
Some people who weren’t there have seen it as a gauntlet being thrown down for the leadership. I didn’t see it that way – more as a discussion about where the party goes a decade on from winning in 1997, and about the need to adapt to new challenges as we find and face them.
Whether or not people define themselves by New or Old Labour labels, he said our aim must remain “to show that we are as much on the side of those who were getting on, as we are for those who need help."
He said: "Though Tony may be stepping down, the underlying philosophy and direction of New Labour is one shared by all of us in government and all of us who form the leadership and will continue undimmed. New Labour did not and will not start and end with Tony Blair's leadership. It will continue."
"It's important we make that very clear indeed, because otherwise we will allow, by default, the impression to persist that New Labour is, and has been, nothing more or less than Tony Blair. Our opponents will try to sow that seed. They will personalise the whole issue."
"The Tories will try to argue that Tony Blair equals New Labour. Therefore they will say that when Tony Blair goes, New Labour goes. Wrong - and we have to make sure that people understand that that is wrong.
"The New Labour project was not the product of one person nor even a small group of people. It was the product of the efforts and energies of many people over a long period of time.”
Wednesday, 3 January 2007
Lib Dems: the Tories who dare not speak their name
If anyone ever wondered whether Lib Dems are really Tories in quaint tangerine disguise, the defection of Richard Porter, a former Lib Dem councillor and parliamentary candidate in Southwark, seems to confirm it.
An LGBT campaigner, he wrote the Lib Dem manifesto on LGBT issues for the last general election.
He said in April 2005: "We must never forget that it was the Conservative government who denied our community basic human rights for so many years."
Yes, quite.
He also said, conveniently ignoring (as Lib Dems tend to do) the long campaign for equality that has gone on in the Labour movement for decades: “in a sense, legislative changes are easy.”
Yes, Mr Porter, how easy legislative changes were in the 1980s and 1990s when the party you’ve just joined held sway. How childishly simple it was for them to introduce Section 28, and what a doddle it was for them to resist equalising the age of consent before May 1997. Looking back, civil partnerships would have been the work of a moment for your party. Gay adoption rights – easy-peasy. Joining the Armed Forces? Gay? No problem, we’ll just pass a little Bill to help you out. Pardon the pun, dear.
Curious then that this same Richard Porter should now be saying: "Ming Campbell is a 'has-been' and since he has been in control of the party, they have been stuck firmly in reverse gear.
He continues thusly: "After the election [which he lost – Camberwell and Peckham, proprietor: H. Harman, Labour] I took time out to reflect on my own personal beliefs and values [losing by 13,483 votes can do that to a Lib Dem]. Previously I thought that these values were best represented by the Liberal Democrats but I now believe that the principles of freedom from state interference, personal freedom, the environment and civil liberties are all areas where the Conservative Party leads the way."
So there we have it. His thinking is all cock-eyed (apart from the bit about Ming Campbell’s leadership), but at least Mr Porter has stepped out of the tangerine closet and declared himself, as every honest Lib Dem should, as a true blue Conservative. Maybe he was just going through a phase.
Curiously, the Conservative gay group, Torche, seems to have tight-lipped on their new arrival. But then their website, which appears not to have been updated since Stanley Baldwin was in Downing Street, is not exactly overflowing with news about any Tory fight for equality.
2 Comments »
Displaying results 1 to 2 out of 2
Mel said,
Streatham
Fri, 12 Jan 2007 - 11:06 AM
I suppose one difference between Mark and Lambeth's Lib Dems is about £3m. That's the amount of fraud that was going on at the town hall before Mark helped to kick them out of office last year.
Ben Russell said,
sleaford - Lincolnshire/north kesteven
Thu, 11 Jan 2007 - 10:50 AM
i'll be honest, i didnt read the bulk of this blog but the point stands that at the little intro piece clearly condemns the lib-dems! you are labour! traditional lefties, steadily becoming more right wing then the conservatives, at what point do you lose all sense of self and criticise the actions of another party who may or may not (as i suspect is really the case) be doing something similar to yourself!
An LGBT campaigner, he wrote the Lib Dem manifesto on LGBT issues for the last general election.
He said in April 2005: "We must never forget that it was the Conservative government who denied our community basic human rights for so many years."
Yes, quite.
He also said, conveniently ignoring (as Lib Dems tend to do) the long campaign for equality that has gone on in the Labour movement for decades: “in a sense, legislative changes are easy.”
Yes, Mr Porter, how easy legislative changes were in the 1980s and 1990s when the party you’ve just joined held sway. How childishly simple it was for them to introduce Section 28, and what a doddle it was for them to resist equalising the age of consent before May 1997. Looking back, civil partnerships would have been the work of a moment for your party. Gay adoption rights – easy-peasy. Joining the Armed Forces? Gay? No problem, we’ll just pass a little Bill to help you out. Pardon the pun, dear.
Curious then that this same Richard Porter should now be saying: "Ming Campbell is a 'has-been' and since he has been in control of the party, they have been stuck firmly in reverse gear.
He continues thusly: "After the election [which he lost – Camberwell and Peckham, proprietor: H. Harman, Labour] I took time out to reflect on my own personal beliefs and values [losing by 13,483 votes can do that to a Lib Dem]. Previously I thought that these values were best represented by the Liberal Democrats but I now believe that the principles of freedom from state interference, personal freedom, the environment and civil liberties are all areas where the Conservative Party leads the way."
So there we have it. His thinking is all cock-eyed (apart from the bit about Ming Campbell’s leadership), but at least Mr Porter has stepped out of the tangerine closet and declared himself, as every honest Lib Dem should, as a true blue Conservative. Maybe he was just going through a phase.
Curiously, the Conservative gay group, Torche, seems to have tight-lipped on their new arrival. But then their website, which appears not to have been updated since Stanley Baldwin was in Downing Street, is not exactly overflowing with news about any Tory fight for equality.
2 Comments »
Displaying results 1 to 2 out of 2
Mel said,
Streatham
Fri, 12 Jan 2007 - 11:06 AM
I suppose one difference between Mark and Lambeth's Lib Dems is about £3m. That's the amount of fraud that was going on at the town hall before Mark helped to kick them out of office last year.
Ben Russell said,
sleaford - Lincolnshire/north kesteven
Thu, 11 Jan 2007 - 10:50 AM
i'll be honest, i didnt read the bulk of this blog but the point stands that at the little intro piece clearly condemns the lib-dems! you are labour! traditional lefties, steadily becoming more right wing then the conservatives, at what point do you lose all sense of self and criticise the actions of another party who may or may not (as i suspect is really the case) be doing something similar to yourself!
Tuesday, 2 January 2007
Lib Dems = Chaos
I’ve been re-reading Ovid’s Metamorphoses in the recent translation by David Raeburn. I only mention this because a particular passage from Book One (Creation) reminds me strongly, on a number of levels, of the Liberal Democrats of Lambeth.
This is Ovid’s description of Chaos, the state that came before order was created (think May 2006):
“A crude, unstructured mass,
Nothing but weight without motion, a general conglomeration
Of matter composed of disparate, incompatible elements.”
A few lines later, Ovid continues:
“None of the elements kept its shape,
And all were in conflict inside one body: the cold with the hot,
The wet with the dry, the soft with the hard, and weight with the weightless.”
Talking of Lib Dem chaos, I was surprised to read the other day that Menzies Campbell had visited the Sackville Estate in Streatham several weeks ago, together with an individual called Chris Nicholson, a former Lib Dem councillor in Kingston (“he’s not LOCAL!!!” – will the Lib Dem leaflets be informing anyone of that I wonder…) who is being hawked as the Lib Dem PPC for Streatham, though he appears to live in Furzedown Ward, the part of Streatham that falls into Tory Wandsworth and Labour Tooting.
He seems to have usurped a youngish Clapham Common councillor who stood against Keith Hill last time round. What furious cataclysm has happened in the Lib Dem ranks in Streatham, can we wonder? Just think back to Ovidian Chaos – “a general conglomeration of matter composed of disparate, incompatible elements.”
I passed Menzies Campbell shortly before Christmas, in St Stephen’s Hall in Westminster, where he appeared to bump into a statue. I’m not sure what or who he bumped into in Streatham, but there was a write-up of his visit in the Streatham Guardian, in which he shared a few pearls of Menziesian wisdom about the pressures on social housing, but curiously nothing, on the face of it, about the daggers-drawn, knickers-knotted position of Lambeth Lib Dems on the ALMO that Labour is proposing to bring Lambeth’s housing stock up to Decent Homes standard.
Mr Kingston, or whatever his name is, could have said something about the ALMO but appears to have said nothing – unless the reporter considered it a waste of shorthand.
Instead, we were treated to the following colourful utterance: “I am delighted Menzies decided to come here … I hope it will be the first of many visits to Streatham.”
Yes, Ming, come to Streatham and campaign for Decent Homes, rather than just talking about them, or allowing councillors from your party to obstruct them.
This is Ovid’s description of Chaos, the state that came before order was created (think May 2006):
“A crude, unstructured mass,
Nothing but weight without motion, a general conglomeration
Of matter composed of disparate, incompatible elements.”
A few lines later, Ovid continues:
“None of the elements kept its shape,
And all were in conflict inside one body: the cold with the hot,
The wet with the dry, the soft with the hard, and weight with the weightless.”
Talking of Lib Dem chaos, I was surprised to read the other day that Menzies Campbell had visited the Sackville Estate in Streatham several weeks ago, together with an individual called Chris Nicholson, a former Lib Dem councillor in Kingston (“he’s not LOCAL!!!” – will the Lib Dem leaflets be informing anyone of that I wonder…) who is being hawked as the Lib Dem PPC for Streatham, though he appears to live in Furzedown Ward, the part of Streatham that falls into Tory Wandsworth and Labour Tooting.
He seems to have usurped a youngish Clapham Common councillor who stood against Keith Hill last time round. What furious cataclysm has happened in the Lib Dem ranks in Streatham, can we wonder? Just think back to Ovidian Chaos – “a general conglomeration of matter composed of disparate, incompatible elements.”
I passed Menzies Campbell shortly before Christmas, in St Stephen’s Hall in Westminster, where he appeared to bump into a statue. I’m not sure what or who he bumped into in Streatham, but there was a write-up of his visit in the Streatham Guardian, in which he shared a few pearls of Menziesian wisdom about the pressures on social housing, but curiously nothing, on the face of it, about the daggers-drawn, knickers-knotted position of Lambeth Lib Dems on the ALMO that Labour is proposing to bring Lambeth’s housing stock up to Decent Homes standard.
Mr Kingston, or whatever his name is, could have said something about the ALMO but appears to have said nothing – unless the reporter considered it a waste of shorthand.
Instead, we were treated to the following colourful utterance: “I am delighted Menzies decided to come here … I hope it will be the first of many visits to Streatham.”
Yes, Ming, come to Streatham and campaign for Decent Homes, rather than just talking about them, or allowing councillors from your party to obstruct them.
Lib Dems = Chaos
I’ve been re-reading Ovid’s Metamorphoses in the recent translation by David Raeburn. I only mention this because a particular passage from Book One (Creation) reminds me strongly, on a number of levels, of the Liberal Democrats of Lambeth.
This is Ovid’s description of Chaos, the state that came before order was created (think May 2006):
“A crude, unstructured mass,
Nothing but weight without motion, a general conglomeration
Of matter composed of disparate, incompatible elements.”
A few lines later, Ovid continues:
“None of the elements kept its shape,
And all were in conflict inside one body: the cold with the hot,
The wet with the dry, the soft with the hard, and weight with the weightless.”
Talking of Lib Dem chaos, I was surprised to read the other day that Menzies Campbell had visited the Sackville Estate in Streatham several weeks ago, together with an individual called Chris Nicholson, a former Lib Dem councillor in Kingston (“he’s not LOCAL!!!” – will the Lib Dem leaflets be informing anyone of that I wonder…) who is being hawked as the Lib Dem PPC for Streatham, though he appears to live in Furzedown Ward, the part of Streatham that falls into Tory Wandsworth and Labour Tooting.
He seems to have usurped a youngish Clapham Common councillor who stood against Keith Hill last time round. What furious cataclysm has happened in the Lib Dem ranks in Streatham, can we wonder? Just think back to Ovidian Chaos – “a general conglomeration of matter composed of disparate, incompatible elements.”
I passed Menzies Campbell shortly before Christmas, in St Stephen’s Hall in Westminster, where he appeared to bump into a statue. I’m not sure what or who he bumped into in Streatham, but there was a write-up of his visit in the Streatham Guardian, in which he shared a few pearls of Menziesian wisdom about the pressures on social housing, but curiously nothing, on the face of it, about the daggers-drawn, knickers-knotted position of Lambeth Lib Dems on the ALMO that Labour is proposing to bring Lambeth’s housing stock up to Decent Homes standard.
Mr Kingston, or whatever his name is, could have said something about the ALMO but appears to have said nothing – unless the reporter considered it a waste of shorthand.
Instead, we were treated to the following colourful utterance: “I am delighted Menzies decided to come here … I hope it will be the first of many visits to Streatham.”
Yes, Ming, come to Streatham and campaign for Decent Homes, rather than just talking about them, or allowing councillors from your party to seek to withhold them from Lambeth tenants.
This is Ovid’s description of Chaos, the state that came before order was created (think May 2006):
“A crude, unstructured mass,
Nothing but weight without motion, a general conglomeration
Of matter composed of disparate, incompatible elements.”
A few lines later, Ovid continues:
“None of the elements kept its shape,
And all were in conflict inside one body: the cold with the hot,
The wet with the dry, the soft with the hard, and weight with the weightless.”
Talking of Lib Dem chaos, I was surprised to read the other day that Menzies Campbell had visited the Sackville Estate in Streatham several weeks ago, together with an individual called Chris Nicholson, a former Lib Dem councillor in Kingston (“he’s not LOCAL!!!” – will the Lib Dem leaflets be informing anyone of that I wonder…) who is being hawked as the Lib Dem PPC for Streatham, though he appears to live in Furzedown Ward, the part of Streatham that falls into Tory Wandsworth and Labour Tooting.
He seems to have usurped a youngish Clapham Common councillor who stood against Keith Hill last time round. What furious cataclysm has happened in the Lib Dem ranks in Streatham, can we wonder? Just think back to Ovidian Chaos – “a general conglomeration of matter composed of disparate, incompatible elements.”
I passed Menzies Campbell shortly before Christmas, in St Stephen’s Hall in Westminster, where he appeared to bump into a statue. I’m not sure what or who he bumped into in Streatham, but there was a write-up of his visit in the Streatham Guardian, in which he shared a few pearls of Menziesian wisdom about the pressures on social housing, but curiously nothing, on the face of it, about the daggers-drawn, knickers-knotted position of Lambeth Lib Dems on the ALMO that Labour is proposing to bring Lambeth’s housing stock up to Decent Homes standard.
Mr Kingston, or whatever his name is, could have said something about the ALMO but appears to have said nothing – unless the reporter considered it a waste of shorthand.
Instead, we were treated to the following colourful utterance: “I am delighted Menzies decided to come here … I hope it will be the first of many visits to Streatham.”
Yes, Ming, come to Streatham and campaign for Decent Homes, rather than just talking about them, or allowing councillors from your party to seek to withhold them from Lambeth tenants.
Monday, 1 January 2007
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