Reason 6: Election Night
I had not long been born and the Third Reich was already providing my childhood playgrounds just round the corner. It had prepared plans for one of its battle routes to London along the A20 which came right past my dads pub in Maidstone. Rather than serving these travellers a drink or two my dad would have been shipped off to a slave labour camp somewhere. The rest of us I know not where, although I have a few horrible ideas. When I last looked over the English Channel from Hells Corner tucked away in the cliffs below Dover Castle I couldn't help pondering how that twenty miles of sea has affected me and what I like to believe is my thinking.
In 1943 it was just wide enough for this sceptred isle to dig in, prepare the defence lines, get ready to flood Romney Marsh as we had done in readiness for Napoleon, to build all the pill boxes and tank traps and to get a network of last stand heroes hidden away in their bunkers among the chestnut under-wood of my home county of Kent. The Men of Kent would have been in the front line. In 1066 on the other hand these narrow seas were just not wide enough and the Norman invader met a battle worn army. Once again, all these centuries later I ponder how those events have affected my thinking.
Some wars are completely pointless, and indeed I might go as far as saying that most of them are. Some had their point but it is lost somewhere in the library. Some had clear causes while others like the First World War need a lecture course to explain, yet still leave you asking, 'Why?' My granddad was in the Boer War and my dad in the First but the reasons and the significance of the Second is at another level of understanding and justification. Election Night reminds me that it was a close run thing back in the 1940's and that it was worth the fight. That is why I will be an aggressive democrat, both in the sense of using it and criticising its product, till the day I die.
On Election Night we witness the re-constituting of a Norman institution which was teased out of a succession of Kings, including the despotic King John. We won't be having a King choosing that name in a hurry. Many great improvements have been won down the centuries but it must not be forgotten that at the centre of our Executive branch of government the vestiges of despotism still lurk in the modern equivalents of the contingency plan filing cabinets and , given the wrong conditions from the citizens point of view, are ready to be implemented by a latter day despot. Anyone who thinks otherwise has failed to understand the purpose of democracy, the rule of law, scrutiny and accountability. Worst still, they know nothing of the nature of our system of government or our history. Democracy is all very inconvenient to the bureaucrats but that is how it should be. That is why those bureaucrats who advocated the abolition of Election Night for administrative convenience are the unwitting, not to say witless, enemies of democracy. They also give an insight into how governments can become divorced from the people. A small example but nonetheless revealing.
This is my sixth reason why I will not only enjoy this General Election but both savour it and thank my lucky stars that it still happens. As the results come in I hope you will join with me in celebrating this fact of a decent life, and think of those in the world who are denied fair elections. Whoever wins, if we lose sight of the reason why we are going through this process, we are lost.
Thursday 29 April 2010
Tuesday 27 April 2010
6 Reasons for enjoying the General Election 2010 : Pt.5
Reason 5: Time for the House of Commons to Reassert and Reform itself
After the expenses scandal the House of Commons will be one of the least experienced in recent times. How will they adapt to the rigours of parliamentary life and more particularly the dreaded Whip System and 'toeing the party line'? There was a lot of talk by the time the Euro elections arrived of more independent candidates standing and there night be one or two. Not as many as I was hoping for back at that time and it will take a while to see how many party rubber stamps make it to the chamber. More importantly, how many of them wish to get promotion to the front bench via the many career moves towards a Government post and pension. It will take a while to establish who these are but if there are a great many of them the old old problem with Parliament will continue, namely, 'never mind the merits', think of your career'. As so many new MP's will have been on the usual political training routes and have not had established careers, saying 'yes' to their could well be an automatic response.
If this were not enough, the amount of legislation government's seem to want to pass has reached a ridiculous level. If it is true that a lot of EU material just passes though for approval with little scrutiny, why is it that the House of Commons so often gets passed by when legislation is being discussed. A great deal of rubbish reaches the statute book without our elected representatives getting much of a look in. If this is inevitable then there is either something wrong with the system or the amount of legislation is too great or is rushed through. Granted, the House of Lords does a lot of scrutiny in committee as does the House of Commons, but it is the Government which dictates the timetable, which amendments will be discussed and when the guillotine will fall to push the Bill through to its next stage. When measures involve civil liberties, criminal liability and human rights the missed provision can be disastrous in the long-term. Governments fully understand their short term aims are best enacted in haste, leaving the rest of us to put up with the results at our leisure.
All the parties are promising one form of constitutional reform or another. Having fixed term Parliaments is one such idea as is the reduction of the number of constituencies. I cant help feeling that many of the reforms that are out there are rather cobbled together without looking at all the variables which the present constitution embodies in its conventions. When a manual working system is being transferred to a computer based system it was always my understanding that a Systems Analyst was the person who set out what the old system did. I remain to be convinced that those suggesting constitutional reform haven't done any in depth analysis. As a half baked idea House of Lords reform will take some beating as it has ended up stalled, but with a second chamber that has excelled at delaying legislation with more legitimacy than the old hereditary dominated chamber. Any reforming government must come to terms that a second chamber that is merely a rubber stamp is a waste of money and a dangerous constitutional omission from the few checks and balances that are left, after it is realised that a Government can almost always on the House of Commons as its lap dog.
The problem to be confronted is how our elected chamber can acquire some credibility, sandwiched as it is between the remote Leviathan of the EU's institutions on the one hand and the emasculated local authorities of England and the aspiring Welsh and Scottish legislatures, on the other. How reducing the number of Parliamentary constituencies will help, inevitably making them bigger, is a puzzle. Distancing electors still further from their representatives doesnt seem a good idea in the light of the invisibility achieved by Euro MP's. Should the Westminster Parliament ever make provision for dealing with English matters without the interference of Scottish and Welsh MP's, representative proximity will be essential as will the need for a proper system of proportional representation so that one party will not predominate to the exclusion of all others.
In the meantime I will enjoy the coming election not only because it will prompt so many of these speculations but it will also be entertaining in spotting how many of these would be political animals have failed to understand the constitutional and political cage they are about to enter.
Dacier
After the expenses scandal the House of Commons will be one of the least experienced in recent times. How will they adapt to the rigours of parliamentary life and more particularly the dreaded Whip System and 'toeing the party line'? There was a lot of talk by the time the Euro elections arrived of more independent candidates standing and there night be one or two. Not as many as I was hoping for back at that time and it will take a while to see how many party rubber stamps make it to the chamber. More importantly, how many of them wish to get promotion to the front bench via the many career moves towards a Government post and pension. It will take a while to establish who these are but if there are a great many of them the old old problem with Parliament will continue, namely, 'never mind the merits', think of your career'. As so many new MP's will have been on the usual political training routes and have not had established careers, saying 'yes' to their could well be an automatic response.
If this were not enough, the amount of legislation government's seem to want to pass has reached a ridiculous level. If it is true that a lot of EU material just passes though for approval with little scrutiny, why is it that the House of Commons so often gets passed by when legislation is being discussed. A great deal of rubbish reaches the statute book without our elected representatives getting much of a look in. If this is inevitable then there is either something wrong with the system or the amount of legislation is too great or is rushed through. Granted, the House of Lords does a lot of scrutiny in committee as does the House of Commons, but it is the Government which dictates the timetable, which amendments will be discussed and when the guillotine will fall to push the Bill through to its next stage. When measures involve civil liberties, criminal liability and human rights the missed provision can be disastrous in the long-term. Governments fully understand their short term aims are best enacted in haste, leaving the rest of us to put up with the results at our leisure.
All the parties are promising one form of constitutional reform or another. Having fixed term Parliaments is one such idea as is the reduction of the number of constituencies. I cant help feeling that many of the reforms that are out there are rather cobbled together without looking at all the variables which the present constitution embodies in its conventions. When a manual working system is being transferred to a computer based system it was always my understanding that a Systems Analyst was the person who set out what the old system did. I remain to be convinced that those suggesting constitutional reform haven't done any in depth analysis. As a half baked idea House of Lords reform will take some beating as it has ended up stalled, but with a second chamber that has excelled at delaying legislation with more legitimacy than the old hereditary dominated chamber. Any reforming government must come to terms that a second chamber that is merely a rubber stamp is a waste of money and a dangerous constitutional omission from the few checks and balances that are left, after it is realised that a Government can almost always on the House of Commons as its lap dog.
The problem to be confronted is how our elected chamber can acquire some credibility, sandwiched as it is between the remote Leviathan of the EU's institutions on the one hand and the emasculated local authorities of England and the aspiring Welsh and Scottish legislatures, on the other. How reducing the number of Parliamentary constituencies will help, inevitably making them bigger, is a puzzle. Distancing electors still further from their representatives doesnt seem a good idea in the light of the invisibility achieved by Euro MP's. Should the Westminster Parliament ever make provision for dealing with English matters without the interference of Scottish and Welsh MP's, representative proximity will be essential as will the need for a proper system of proportional representation so that one party will not predominate to the exclusion of all others.
In the meantime I will enjoy the coming election not only because it will prompt so many of these speculations but it will also be entertaining in spotting how many of these would be political animals have failed to understand the constitutional and political cage they are about to enter.
Dacier
Saturday 24 April 2010
6 Reasons for enjoying the General Election 2010: Pt.4
Reason 4: A Democratic Parliament for the UK and England
Devolution in Wales and in Scotland seems to be working with growing confidence and self - esteem on the increase in both Celtic nations. Why this has come about can be traced back to a few by-elections in the 1970's and growing pressure from within both nations. Now that Northern Ireland has secured its own form of devolution only one part of the jigsaw remians to be put in place to give consistency to our nations formal title of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, no less than devolution for England.
Why did England miss out? Could it have been that Labour Governments have in the past owed so much to these nations constituencies to secure and retain power? Could it also be that the English have not only forgotten much of their traditional culture but have become rather shy in reasserting it. Thankfully no such inhibitions seem to be found in the English folk music community or among enthusiasts for English classical music. Sadly the nationalist lack of inhibition is also found in large measure at the mid to far right bearings of the political compass with more flag waving than even I feel is tasteful.
Nevertheless it is now a good time for the centre ground to start shedding these inhibitions. Firstly the lame attempt at a form of devolution for England, the Regional Assemblies, have now been abolished. The name was a misnomer if you think that they came into being by local elections. They were just another product of the nomination culture that brought us the Quango and the Regulators of the Offtrack variety. I wonder what they achieved
and at what cost? Present plans to have another go still look like a new fudge of the old culture which would leave voters cold should they be given a look in.
While Wales and Scotland were gaining control of their affairs the English were seeing their once proud local authorities being starved of funds while having to act more and more as mere agents of central government. Add to that a range of new decision making processes, different from one authority to the other, the import of the modern corporate manager with salary to match, and a huge consultancy dependency, and it is no wonder that the average elector is alienated from Town or County Hall. So much so that local election turn outs are way down among the 30 per cents. I am sure I am not alone in concluding from my own dealing with local government officers that they no longer seem to regard themselves as servants of the local community but slaves to the financial constraints created by central government imposing more and more work but without the funding. All this adds up to a loss of local control and a demeaning of function. Without adequate funding local authorities seem to spend much of their time explaining why they cannot act.
It is therefore time to bring some real power to the people. At a national level English MP's alone should decide English matters. I was surprised how attractive the English Democrats election broadcast was since it defined the problem very graphically. I had several reservations about their claims regarding the funding of Welsh and Scottish affairs and the inevitable objections to EU membership but the central argument makes sense. I cannot say that their website inspired with confidence with so many emotive symbols which made me feel rather uncomfortable, but why should Welsh and Scottish MP's ,who have an Assembly or Parliament back home dealing with devolved matters, be able to poke their noses in and vote on purely English issues.
There is still nothing in it for Labour but with the possibility of a new type of Parliament the time for the fudging to end has arrived. Many of the changes and reforms that Labour are proposing sound a lot like asking for a chance to clear up the mistakes they themselves have made or ignored in preference to some pet or half baked projects like the now abolished Regional Assemblies : an unnecessary extra layer between incompetent central government and emasculated, sometimes also incompetent, local government. A distinct English component within the Westminster Parliament would have a legitimacy which would give credibility to the delegation of real powers and duties and budgets to local authorities which could start to rebuild their local commitment and in return start to earn local loyalty and appreciation. This would be more about democracy and what you do with it than the business development that the Regional Assemblies seemed to be limited to. To think that they would bring decisions nearer to the people now looks like a conclusion promoted by the misguided for consumption by the gullible.
So, as the results come in on Election Night it will be interesting to see whether the figures will show how far England has been the poor relation in the culture of bringing powers back home. If Labour survive by the skin of their teeth due to their Welsh and Scottish victories the question of English Devolution will be buried and those protesting at the graveside dismissed as the eccentrics of the flag waving right.
Dacier
Devolution in Wales and in Scotland seems to be working with growing confidence and self - esteem on the increase in both Celtic nations. Why this has come about can be traced back to a few by-elections in the 1970's and growing pressure from within both nations. Now that Northern Ireland has secured its own form of devolution only one part of the jigsaw remians to be put in place to give consistency to our nations formal title of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, no less than devolution for England.
Why did England miss out? Could it have been that Labour Governments have in the past owed so much to these nations constituencies to secure and retain power? Could it also be that the English have not only forgotten much of their traditional culture but have become rather shy in reasserting it. Thankfully no such inhibitions seem to be found in the English folk music community or among enthusiasts for English classical music. Sadly the nationalist lack of inhibition is also found in large measure at the mid to far right bearings of the political compass with more flag waving than even I feel is tasteful.
Nevertheless it is now a good time for the centre ground to start shedding these inhibitions. Firstly the lame attempt at a form of devolution for England, the Regional Assemblies, have now been abolished. The name was a misnomer if you think that they came into being by local elections. They were just another product of the nomination culture that brought us the Quango and the Regulators of the Offtrack variety. I wonder what they achieved
and at what cost? Present plans to have another go still look like a new fudge of the old culture which would leave voters cold should they be given a look in.
While Wales and Scotland were gaining control of their affairs the English were seeing their once proud local authorities being starved of funds while having to act more and more as mere agents of central government. Add to that a range of new decision making processes, different from one authority to the other, the import of the modern corporate manager with salary to match, and a huge consultancy dependency, and it is no wonder that the average elector is alienated from Town or County Hall. So much so that local election turn outs are way down among the 30 per cents. I am sure I am not alone in concluding from my own dealing with local government officers that they no longer seem to regard themselves as servants of the local community but slaves to the financial constraints created by central government imposing more and more work but without the funding. All this adds up to a loss of local control and a demeaning of function. Without adequate funding local authorities seem to spend much of their time explaining why they cannot act.
It is therefore time to bring some real power to the people. At a national level English MP's alone should decide English matters. I was surprised how attractive the English Democrats election broadcast was since it defined the problem very graphically. I had several reservations about their claims regarding the funding of Welsh and Scottish affairs and the inevitable objections to EU membership but the central argument makes sense. I cannot say that their website inspired with confidence with so many emotive symbols which made me feel rather uncomfortable, but why should Welsh and Scottish MP's ,who have an Assembly or Parliament back home dealing with devolved matters, be able to poke their noses in and vote on purely English issues.
There is still nothing in it for Labour but with the possibility of a new type of Parliament the time for the fudging to end has arrived. Many of the changes and reforms that Labour are proposing sound a lot like asking for a chance to clear up the mistakes they themselves have made or ignored in preference to some pet or half baked projects like the now abolished Regional Assemblies : an unnecessary extra layer between incompetent central government and emasculated, sometimes also incompetent, local government. A distinct English component within the Westminster Parliament would have a legitimacy which would give credibility to the delegation of real powers and duties and budgets to local authorities which could start to rebuild their local commitment and in return start to earn local loyalty and appreciation. This would be more about democracy and what you do with it than the business development that the Regional Assemblies seemed to be limited to. To think that they would bring decisions nearer to the people now looks like a conclusion promoted by the misguided for consumption by the gullible.
So, as the results come in on Election Night it will be interesting to see whether the figures will show how far England has been the poor relation in the culture of bringing powers back home. If Labour survive by the skin of their teeth due to their Welsh and Scottish victories the question of English Devolution will be buried and those protesting at the graveside dismissed as the eccentrics of the flag waving right.
Dacier
6 Reasons for enjoying the General Election 2010: Pts..2 & 3
Reason 2: Exposure of the Electoral System
The first past the post system can work quite well in some constituencies. This will depend on how many candidates stand and what the predominant political views are. Take for example a constituency in one of the old coal mining areas where the sitting Labour MP could have a majority of 20,000 or more. If a Conservative stood there would be little chance that the Labour candidate would not be a clear winner with the Conservative getting a very small share of the votes. In more mixed constituencies with a three way split and possibly with several small parties, it can happen that the winning candidates will have had more votes cast against them, than for. If the total votes cast for the winners opponents exceeds the the winners votes, the split vote, rather than the winners popularity, has brought about the victory.
A similar situation can arise nationally with the total votes cast for each party There is much talk at the moment of the Labour Party winning the majority of the seats despite being third in the current opinion polls. There is a real risk that Gordon Brown will have to be asked by the Queen to form a Government because his party won more seats than the other parties put together despite being second or third in the national popular vote when all the votes are divided up between the parties. Lack of popularity does not always prevent a party winning.
It is these two forms of what may be called, 'the popular vote contradiction' which could be exposed by the coming election results one and for all. This always happens to varying extents in most elections but the present position of Labour in the polls and the growing popularity of the LibDems due to the Clegg effect, is raising expectations. Given that Gordon Brown has not yet been elected as the PM, not even by his own party, to return to power with a third rate popularity vote could be too much for many voters to tolerate. The popular vote contradiction will not just cause academic interest but public outrage and disillusionment in equal measure. Perhaps this is why PM Brown is promoting a watered down form of proportional representation to head the opposition off at the pass. Even this decision seems beyond him as he has promised a referendum. Where did I hear that before?
Granted, the first past the post system normally has the advantage of giving a clear cut decision but this is by no means guaranteed in this General Election. In any case more and more people will come to realise that a clear cut decision should not be achieved at the cost of fairness.
Reason 3: The Hung or Balanced Parliament
The British Constitution is a story of the Executive gradually conceding power from the top down. Often the concessions have been begrudging and have often turned out to have been rather thin. Starting with the Reform Act of 1832 it took just short of 120 years to arrive at one person one vote. Lets hope that we do not have to wait much more than the 170 years we have been enduring an unsophisticated electoral system which has favoured one branch or the other of the political establishment. On this occasion the usual model may not deliver that certainty and a House of Commons with no clear party majority will emerge. The Queen, acting as a Constitutional Monarch is perfectly well equipped to deal with this situation even if the Cabinet Secretary thinks it is necessary to have a special contingencies plan in place just in case some constitutional nightmare was about to be acted out on the black tarmac of Whitehall or the red tarmac of the Mall. The electorate may not understand the rarely applied conventions about choosing someone to try and form a Government but it will be the Queens task to find someone in the House of Commons who would enjoy sufficient confidence to form a Government. In such situations that person does not even have to a leader from any of the parties but would in such a case have to be an outstanding character. Unfortunately there are not likely to be many of them in the next House of Commons so one of the party leaders would be the most likely. I can however imagine Vince Cable being considered if the financial establishment gets the jitters at seeing the UK preparing a coalition government. This is rather strange since first past the post voting systems are the exception rather than the rule and probably has more to do with not having a Conservative government more than anything else. In any case the Constitutional Monarch has to tread carefully, lsien to the advice of her Prime Mister Mr Brown and then consult with the other party leaders. She can asl the advice of anyone she likes and has a large number of Privy Councillors to choose from. As most people have no idea that this is the only real political job she has it is bound to be misunderstood by many. Hence the need for caution and her long experience should provide it. That is why a Monarch is never out of the country when an election result is due. If a coalition works then electoral reform will be inevitable as the electorate will want a voting system in which such outcomes are more likely. If so there will be more work for the Queen.
So, will my enjoyment of the prospect of a hung Parliament be translated into seeing the actual thing come to pass. We will know whether it is likely by the small hours of the 7th May,but if it is really on the cards, the following week will be taken up with a lot of toing and froing between Downing Street and Buckingham Palace. Even if all of this is new to the Cabinet Secretary I can assure you that the Monarch will have seen much of it before. It is at times like these that I am pleased that our Chief Executive is not in place because of being an elderly political time server. We have had a glimpse of that model with Speaker Martin's career. Ironically, she is not only elderly but she is pursuing her specialist subject on behalf of her subjects because of an even more unacceptable political device from ancient times, the hereditary principle. Having seen the creatures that modern political systems too often throw up, so to speak, as Presidents, I am at lost to suggest a reliable alternative. Hey ho.
Dacier
The first past the post system can work quite well in some constituencies. This will depend on how many candidates stand and what the predominant political views are. Take for example a constituency in one of the old coal mining areas where the sitting Labour MP could have a majority of 20,000 or more. If a Conservative stood there would be little chance that the Labour candidate would not be a clear winner with the Conservative getting a very small share of the votes. In more mixed constituencies with a three way split and possibly with several small parties, it can happen that the winning candidates will have had more votes cast against them, than for. If the total votes cast for the winners opponents exceeds the the winners votes, the split vote, rather than the winners popularity, has brought about the victory.
A similar situation can arise nationally with the total votes cast for each party There is much talk at the moment of the Labour Party winning the majority of the seats despite being third in the current opinion polls. There is a real risk that Gordon Brown will have to be asked by the Queen to form a Government because his party won more seats than the other parties put together despite being second or third in the national popular vote when all the votes are divided up between the parties. Lack of popularity does not always prevent a party winning.
It is these two forms of what may be called, 'the popular vote contradiction' which could be exposed by the coming election results one and for all. This always happens to varying extents in most elections but the present position of Labour in the polls and the growing popularity of the LibDems due to the Clegg effect, is raising expectations. Given that Gordon Brown has not yet been elected as the PM, not even by his own party, to return to power with a third rate popularity vote could be too much for many voters to tolerate. The popular vote contradiction will not just cause academic interest but public outrage and disillusionment in equal measure. Perhaps this is why PM Brown is promoting a watered down form of proportional representation to head the opposition off at the pass. Even this decision seems beyond him as he has promised a referendum. Where did I hear that before?
Granted, the first past the post system normally has the advantage of giving a clear cut decision but this is by no means guaranteed in this General Election. In any case more and more people will come to realise that a clear cut decision should not be achieved at the cost of fairness.
Reason 3: The Hung or Balanced Parliament
The British Constitution is a story of the Executive gradually conceding power from the top down. Often the concessions have been begrudging and have often turned out to have been rather thin. Starting with the Reform Act of 1832 it took just short of 120 years to arrive at one person one vote. Lets hope that we do not have to wait much more than the 170 years we have been enduring an unsophisticated electoral system which has favoured one branch or the other of the political establishment. On this occasion the usual model may not deliver that certainty and a House of Commons with no clear party majority will emerge. The Queen, acting as a Constitutional Monarch is perfectly well equipped to deal with this situation even if the Cabinet Secretary thinks it is necessary to have a special contingencies plan in place just in case some constitutional nightmare was about to be acted out on the black tarmac of Whitehall or the red tarmac of the Mall. The electorate may not understand the rarely applied conventions about choosing someone to try and form a Government but it will be the Queens task to find someone in the House of Commons who would enjoy sufficient confidence to form a Government. In such situations that person does not even have to a leader from any of the parties but would in such a case have to be an outstanding character. Unfortunately there are not likely to be many of them in the next House of Commons so one of the party leaders would be the most likely. I can however imagine Vince Cable being considered if the financial establishment gets the jitters at seeing the UK preparing a coalition government. This is rather strange since first past the post voting systems are the exception rather than the rule and probably has more to do with not having a Conservative government more than anything else. In any case the Constitutional Monarch has to tread carefully, lsien to the advice of her Prime Mister Mr Brown and then consult with the other party leaders. She can asl the advice of anyone she likes and has a large number of Privy Councillors to choose from. As most people have no idea that this is the only real political job she has it is bound to be misunderstood by many. Hence the need for caution and her long experience should provide it. That is why a Monarch is never out of the country when an election result is due. If a coalition works then electoral reform will be inevitable as the electorate will want a voting system in which such outcomes are more likely. If so there will be more work for the Queen.
So, will my enjoyment of the prospect of a hung Parliament be translated into seeing the actual thing come to pass. We will know whether it is likely by the small hours of the 7th May,but if it is really on the cards, the following week will be taken up with a lot of toing and froing between Downing Street and Buckingham Palace. Even if all of this is new to the Cabinet Secretary I can assure you that the Monarch will have seen much of it before. It is at times like these that I am pleased that our Chief Executive is not in place because of being an elderly political time server. We have had a glimpse of that model with Speaker Martin's career. Ironically, she is not only elderly but she is pursuing her specialist subject on behalf of her subjects because of an even more unacceptable political device from ancient times, the hereditary principle. Having seen the creatures that modern political systems too often throw up, so to speak, as Presidents, I am at lost to suggest a reliable alternative. Hey ho.
Dacier
Friday 23 April 2010
6 Reasons for enjoying the General Election 2010: Pt.1
Reason 1: The Internet
For once I feel I have a voice either via this blog or through Twitter. I have been interested in politics from the first time I heard my mum and dad calling to each other as another result was announced by the BBC Home Service. My parents were Conservatives and I now know that this was the 1951 election which brought Churchill back into power after the post-war Labour landslide had rejected his party's policies despite his wartime leadership.
Once the results came out on election night TV the whole process became much more dramatic and so by the 1964 election when it looked clear that the old grouse moor Tories would be bowing out the true election night tradition for me began. I had access to a TV! Where the Internet makes everything so much better is that if you have the time to spare you can track the election debate from start to finish. For those who have never engaged with the political process, especially those young people who feel elections will not make any difference to them, there is a chance that the Internet might just draw them in. There is certainly no lack of comment, from the comic through to the serious world of the political analyst, whether dealing with voting projections or the stature of the party leaders. The statistics for Twitter alone show how many go in for re-active TV viewing.
There will be those who say that the Leadership Debates have changed the election campaign into a sort of Pop Idol event to the exclusion of the traditional hustings and interviews. At the moment I see no signs that the latter will come to an end. What I do see is the possibility of previously disillusioned voters engaging with these new electioneering methods. Whether the leaders will agree to such debates again remains to be seen but with the arrival of the Internet, television is only one part of the democratic process . The Internet will have an increasingly important role if computer literate youngsters become convinced that an election can lead to improvements in their lives, rather than waste, ineffectiveness and broken promises. This is crucial because an election with few voters is meaningless and there are elites who would be very pleased to fill the vacuum thereby created. In five years time who knows where the Internet Election will be.Such speculations should make it interesting and intellectually enjoyable. To those who say that nothing changes I answer, 'Yes it does, and often for the worse. If you don't vote you can't complain, and one day it could have serious consequences if you did complain.' There is no benign circuit hard wired into our political institutions. I am therefore enjoying this election because it means so much for the future of democracy in the UK.
Dacier
Comments: Unfotunately many comments come through in code and cannot be moderated. If your comment does not appear it is unlikely to have been censored. It just couldn't be read.
For once I feel I have a voice either via this blog or through Twitter. I have been interested in politics from the first time I heard my mum and dad calling to each other as another result was announced by the BBC Home Service. My parents were Conservatives and I now know that this was the 1951 election which brought Churchill back into power after the post-war Labour landslide had rejected his party's policies despite his wartime leadership.
Once the results came out on election night TV the whole process became much more dramatic and so by the 1964 election when it looked clear that the old grouse moor Tories would be bowing out the true election night tradition for me began. I had access to a TV! Where the Internet makes everything so much better is that if you have the time to spare you can track the election debate from start to finish. For those who have never engaged with the political process, especially those young people who feel elections will not make any difference to them, there is a chance that the Internet might just draw them in. There is certainly no lack of comment, from the comic through to the serious world of the political analyst, whether dealing with voting projections or the stature of the party leaders. The statistics for Twitter alone show how many go in for re-active TV viewing.
There will be those who say that the Leadership Debates have changed the election campaign into a sort of Pop Idol event to the exclusion of the traditional hustings and interviews. At the moment I see no signs that the latter will come to an end. What I do see is the possibility of previously disillusioned voters engaging with these new electioneering methods. Whether the leaders will agree to such debates again remains to be seen but with the arrival of the Internet, television is only one part of the democratic process . The Internet will have an increasingly important role if computer literate youngsters become convinced that an election can lead to improvements in their lives, rather than waste, ineffectiveness and broken promises. This is crucial because an election with few voters is meaningless and there are elites who would be very pleased to fill the vacuum thereby created. In five years time who knows where the Internet Election will be.Such speculations should make it interesting and intellectually enjoyable. To those who say that nothing changes I answer, 'Yes it does, and often for the worse. If you don't vote you can't complain, and one day it could have serious consequences if you did complain.' There is no benign circuit hard wired into our political institutions. I am therefore enjoying this election because it means so much for the future of democracy in the UK.
Dacier
Comments: Unfotunately many comments come through in code and cannot be moderated. If your comment does not appear it is unlikely to have been censored. It just couldn't be read.
Reflections on St.George's Day
Flying the Flag?
Why is it that as a mongrel Englishman I feel uncomfortable while writing this note about our national day? The Celtic nations within the United Kingdom have no inhibitions about their various ways of celebrating their national day. I suspect it is something to do with not feeling the need because whatever the Celts might do, being English automatically meant that you were British and that was enough. This attitude seems to be echoed by our American cousins who often talk of England when they really mean Britain. With the promotion of Wales and Scotland through their devolved governments this is changing. With Northern Ireland now having a form of devolution the picture is nearly complete within our nation's formal title, 'the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland'.
A new Patrotism?
The reasons for this discomfort are many and various. Firstly, the embarrassment which many people have about talking about patriotism. Following your government, right or wrong, is not a good idea, but there is surely nothing wrong in saying that you love where you live, you like the people around you ,and you appreciate its wide ranging culture, its quirks and its eccentricities. I get particularly moved by both our natural and man-made landscapes and the histories they reveal and there is nothing wrong with being proud of an understood heritage. Nor is there anything wrong in saying you can't stand the government of the day whilst saying 'but it is ours' rather than that of an invading or colonial power. Even this brings on feelings of guilt to anyone who knows some colonial history But, that was then and this is now, and I have always found it a remarkable fact of post imperial life that so many citizens of our old colonies are more than happy to be on speaking terms, and I have always found great affection for Britain coming from the many Commonwealth students I have taught. That is why I feel that the present wars both bring out patriotic feelings for our troops but great doubts with regard to the judgements of our politicians.
English Devolution?
The movement for devolution has shown Englishmen like me, contrary to my initial fears, that bringing decisions and a budget nearer to Cardiff and Edinburgh has made, and highlights some difference, not least student fees and prescription fees. Although it seems an odd thing to say, decisions which affect only England, should also be brought nearer to London. The time must surely have come to exclude Welsh and Scottish MP's from votes which exclusively deal with matters within the borders of England. English MP's cannot vote on matters dealing with matters being voted on by the Welsh Assemby or the Scottish Parliament. The exclusuion of the Celtic vote would mean that for English matters the Parliament of Great Britain and Northern Ireland could revert to its old title of the Parliament of England which was abolished with the Act of Union with Scotland in 1706. Matters of defence and Foreign affairs and anything else not within the remit of the devolved instutions would remain where they are now. There would probably be no need for yet another building but this would become clearer once the principle of English devolution was established. The nonsense of English Regional Assemblies, who knows what they are anyway, could fall by the constutional wayside. Futhermore the case for fewer MPs would be strengthened and the art of scrutinising the national executive branch of the national government might be rediscovered.
With an effective and accountable English Parliament in place there would be no embarrassment in flying a flag above its rooftops which at its simplest represents the triumph of Good over Evil.
Why is it that as a mongrel Englishman I feel uncomfortable while writing this note about our national day? The Celtic nations within the United Kingdom have no inhibitions about their various ways of celebrating their national day. I suspect it is something to do with not feeling the need because whatever the Celts might do, being English automatically meant that you were British and that was enough. This attitude seems to be echoed by our American cousins who often talk of England when they really mean Britain. With the promotion of Wales and Scotland through their devolved governments this is changing. With Northern Ireland now having a form of devolution the picture is nearly complete within our nation's formal title, 'the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland'.
A new Patrotism?
The reasons for this discomfort are many and various. Firstly, the embarrassment which many people have about talking about patriotism. Following your government, right or wrong, is not a good idea, but there is surely nothing wrong in saying that you love where you live, you like the people around you ,and you appreciate its wide ranging culture, its quirks and its eccentricities. I get particularly moved by both our natural and man-made landscapes and the histories they reveal and there is nothing wrong with being proud of an understood heritage. Nor is there anything wrong in saying you can't stand the government of the day whilst saying 'but it is ours' rather than that of an invading or colonial power. Even this brings on feelings of guilt to anyone who knows some colonial history But, that was then and this is now, and I have always found it a remarkable fact of post imperial life that so many citizens of our old colonies are more than happy to be on speaking terms, and I have always found great affection for Britain coming from the many Commonwealth students I have taught. That is why I feel that the present wars both bring out patriotic feelings for our troops but great doubts with regard to the judgements of our politicians.
English Devolution?
The movement for devolution has shown Englishmen like me, contrary to my initial fears, that bringing decisions and a budget nearer to Cardiff and Edinburgh has made, and highlights some difference, not least student fees and prescription fees. Although it seems an odd thing to say, decisions which affect only England, should also be brought nearer to London. The time must surely have come to exclude Welsh and Scottish MP's from votes which exclusively deal with matters within the borders of England. English MP's cannot vote on matters dealing with matters being voted on by the Welsh Assemby or the Scottish Parliament. The exclusuion of the Celtic vote would mean that for English matters the Parliament of Great Britain and Northern Ireland could revert to its old title of the Parliament of England which was abolished with the Act of Union with Scotland in 1706. Matters of defence and Foreign affairs and anything else not within the remit of the devolved instutions would remain where they are now. There would probably be no need for yet another building but this would become clearer once the principle of English devolution was established. The nonsense of English Regional Assemblies, who knows what they are anyway, could fall by the constutional wayside. Futhermore the case for fewer MPs would be strengthened and the art of scrutinising the national executive branch of the national government might be rediscovered.
With an effective and accountable English Parliament in place there would be no embarrassment in flying a flag above its rooftops which at its simplest represents the triumph of Good over Evil.
Tuesday 6 April 2010
Briefing Notes for Candidates and Electors on Rural Housing Issues
i) What are the problems?
If we want to have viable rural communities they need a sound demographic spread. The outgoing youngsters and the incoming or remaining older ones will be the cause of an elderly community. National market forces mean that those who retire from high value property markets can down size and reap the benefits from the high value of the property they are selling. Young people starting out to make a home and raise a family will not be able to compete unless they can inherit a local property or have already established a means of high income. The only hope for buying a property depends on whether they can get a run down building or site and rebuild through their own resources. Those who have done this are fully aware of how lucky they have been.
The only way of stopping the imbalances of property values between, say London, and Herefordshire would be intervention through planning controls and regulating what properties can or cannot be available to outside purchasers. Add to this the increase of city bonuses and the differences in incomes and it is no wonder that some villages and even towns become deserts from September through to March as has happened in other parts of the country. If intervention occurs however local people who want to sell will be denied the opportunity to secure the best price under unrestricted market conditions. Intervention by national Government seems unlikely but it is the only way that market forces can be prevented from emptying the countryside of young people. In so doing government subsidy would be necessary to compensate present owners
The other problem is having something to make young people want to stay or settle. In France the process of ‘desertification’ has meant that more and more farms have been left to rot. The result, an influx of British ex-pats taking advantage of the much lower prices. This is not always popular with the French. The result? : a potential elderly British population in France.
The Consequences: A viable community depends on a range of ages so that various facilities can operate. An elderly populations will give employment to doctors, but the need for schools will fall. A house bound community will be dependent on others to deliver their supplies. Public transport is unlikely to be needed for older members of the community who cannot venture out, and not very convenient for those who would like to due to the difficulty of getting to a bus stop and so on.
Elderly residents may find it hard to shoulder the burdens of local civic duties, running a church or other social activities. Young people will look elsewhere to nearby towns for their entertainment and probably change to urban living where they have a better chance of earning a living and getting accommodation. Add to this the decline in agriculture and the ‘desertification’ process gains momentum.
Shops, Churches, Chapels, Pubs, Youth Clubs, Community Centres all need money and physical support from the local community if they are to survive.
ii) What could be done?
Schools need to be maintained as a reason for youngsters to find a way of staying or moving in. Although the bureaucrats will always tell you that a bigger better school many miles away will be much better, it rarely is, and the result of the closure of the village school is to rip the heart out of the community
If nothing is done to reduce the consequences of a free housing market by national government then local communities need to nurture the idea of cheaper housing through housing associations. Currently housing associations are being told by national government to reduce their rents in line with the fall in inflation, with the result that their building budgets will be reduced. Political pressure has to be brought to bear on national politics because there is little which can be done locally in this respect. The one thing which can be done is to try and establish the places where land might be available and where demand for the housing would fit in with employment and transport opportunities etc.
Council Housing may make a come back but this seems too far in the future to make a significant contribution to halting the drift away to the towns by the young and the creations of detached elderly communities.
Empty properties should be monitored so that the local authority should make use of its powers to discourage this wasteful use. 3% of the national housing stock remains empty for more than 6 months with 1.6% being from the private sector. 20% of the population live in rural areas. Government policy on their website.
This site gives a wealth of information regarding housing generally and how owners can be helped to bring their property back into the housing pool. Such properties should be identified and the Empty Homes Agency will try to involve housing associations and the local authority in returning such properties to the housing stock. Whilst rotting ruins may be seen as having some visual amenity there is a growing recognition that if the owners cannot make use of them as part of the housing stock, local authorities will have to intervene more.
Since 2006 local authorities may issue last resort enforcement orders under the Empty Dwelling Management Orders (EDMOs). For once there seem to be some intervention powers which could be used after a property has been empty for more than six months. In rural communities there are often properties which have been left empty for much longer. Rather than going on the open market perhaps the next stage is for local authorities to find ways to bring them into a social housing pool or to give assistance to local young people in financing their purchase. Is the return of the local authority mortgage well overdue?
The second homes problem should also be analysed and consideration be given to regulation but this is again a problem of national policy rather than local. It is also complicated by the restriction of choice that central intervention could bring about. The debate to date has been rather simplistic because the phrase in effect covers several categories.
Those who buy to let for the purposes solely of letting the property out as a holiday home on commercial terms should be discouraged in areas where there is a housing shortage. In some parts of the country where the local population has moved on the empty properties are at least used to contribute something to the economy for part of the year. Those who simply buy to let as all year round homes can bee seen as making a contribution to the local housing pool as long as rents and housing benefits are in a realistic ratio.
Second Homes in Transition could cover those properties where the owners have purchased a property with a view to retirement and may be taking advantage of the differences in national house values. Others may have purchased the property as their main residence as they are in tied accommodation and the ‘second home’ is their insurance or, as is more likely, their eventual residence on retirement. The same can apply to properties which have been inherited but the new owner has to seek their living elsewhere, pending retirement. In the meantime these properties are sometimes let out as holiday lettings while be the owner may visit for weekends or longer breaks in the winter months. Others may choose to keep the property unlet.
The Second Home as a bolt hole pure and simple is probably the least valuable to the local community in removing a potential home from the market. These maybe seen as the least complicated and where the property is isolated or without facilities may not be viable units in the housing stock. However, where they would be viable there is a case for intervening by way of legislation creating special planning permission and setting maximum quotas. If a perfectly sound starter home is going to be removed from the market for this purpose then present free market laws will not prevent it. Such a property might be an ex-council house situated in a viable community with a shop, pub and good communications.
Sometimes the owners of such properties will not have any intention of getting involved in the local community because that would contradict the rationale of ‘getting away from it all’ and their retirement plans may be centred elsewhere. These owners may contribute to the local community if they shop in the area and employ local firms for building etc. They now have to make a full contribution to Council Tax. Restrictions of selling for this purpose would have to involve compensation of some kind to the original owner if the restriction reduces the sale value.
Purpose built second home complexes such as those round water parks etc are not available for housing as such due to the planning conditions, rather like mobile holiday parks which cannot be use throughout the year, and so should not be a housing issue apart from questions of land use generally.
Improvements and extensions to existing properties to accommodate younger people do happen but the biggest bug-bear is the difficulty of getting planning permission for new houses outside the designated development zones. Again there is little that can be done at the immediate level of local government and the real decisions are made at higher levels. Classic reasons for refusing permission will be that the property would be out of keeping with the landscape (even where the proposal is to rebuild a property which had been in the landscape for many years before planning control was invented) or the access is restricted for emergency vehicles, or access onto the road is inconsistent with the highways policy etc. Within these rules it seems that conversion of barns into dwellings often seems to be acceptable in many cases as does, on occasions, the demolition of an old house to make way for a modern replacement. An additional house adjoining an existing farmhouse or nearby, seems to fall outside the criteria, while housing estates can gradually grow within designated development areas. It is very frustrating for people who have access to land for building but cannot get planning permission but is it equally frustrating to see green field building occurring in a way which would undermine the visual impact of the countryside. All this against a struggling agricultural industry and at a time when food security is becoming recognized as an emerging issue. Somewhere a compromise has to be drawn as a countryside with declining agricultural use and a population imbalance might look pleasant for a while, but it will not last as the people who used to keep it that way gradually leave..
What should be done? The bullet of rural housing needs to be bitten, as indeed does the national problem of a housing shortage. From the citizens point of view this means that the opinions in favour of housing initiatives in the rural community have to be expressed and organized with both local and national politicians. The present situation is destructive of the rural community in the ways outlined above and as a society we either have to accept the consequences of a free property market e.g., desertification and demographic imbalance, or develop equitable methods of intervention.
Dacier
If we want to have viable rural communities they need a sound demographic spread. The outgoing youngsters and the incoming or remaining older ones will be the cause of an elderly community. National market forces mean that those who retire from high value property markets can down size and reap the benefits from the high value of the property they are selling. Young people starting out to make a home and raise a family will not be able to compete unless they can inherit a local property or have already established a means of high income. The only hope for buying a property depends on whether they can get a run down building or site and rebuild through their own resources. Those who have done this are fully aware of how lucky they have been.
The only way of stopping the imbalances of property values between, say London, and Herefordshire would be intervention through planning controls and regulating what properties can or cannot be available to outside purchasers. Add to this the increase of city bonuses and the differences in incomes and it is no wonder that some villages and even towns become deserts from September through to March as has happened in other parts of the country. If intervention occurs however local people who want to sell will be denied the opportunity to secure the best price under unrestricted market conditions. Intervention by national Government seems unlikely but it is the only way that market forces can be prevented from emptying the countryside of young people. In so doing government subsidy would be necessary to compensate present owners
The other problem is having something to make young people want to stay or settle. In France the process of ‘desertification’ has meant that more and more farms have been left to rot. The result, an influx of British ex-pats taking advantage of the much lower prices. This is not always popular with the French. The result? : a potential elderly British population in France.
The Consequences: A viable community depends on a range of ages so that various facilities can operate. An elderly populations will give employment to doctors, but the need for schools will fall. A house bound community will be dependent on others to deliver their supplies. Public transport is unlikely to be needed for older members of the community who cannot venture out, and not very convenient for those who would like to due to the difficulty of getting to a bus stop and so on.
Elderly residents may find it hard to shoulder the burdens of local civic duties, running a church or other social activities. Young people will look elsewhere to nearby towns for their entertainment and probably change to urban living where they have a better chance of earning a living and getting accommodation. Add to this the decline in agriculture and the ‘desertification’ process gains momentum.
Shops, Churches, Chapels, Pubs, Youth Clubs, Community Centres all need money and physical support from the local community if they are to survive.
ii) What could be done?
Schools need to be maintained as a reason for youngsters to find a way of staying or moving in. Although the bureaucrats will always tell you that a bigger better school many miles away will be much better, it rarely is, and the result of the closure of the village school is to rip the heart out of the community
If nothing is done to reduce the consequences of a free housing market by national government then local communities need to nurture the idea of cheaper housing through housing associations. Currently housing associations are being told by national government to reduce their rents in line with the fall in inflation, with the result that their building budgets will be reduced. Political pressure has to be brought to bear on national politics because there is little which can be done locally in this respect. The one thing which can be done is to try and establish the places where land might be available and where demand for the housing would fit in with employment and transport opportunities etc.
Council Housing may make a come back but this seems too far in the future to make a significant contribution to halting the drift away to the towns by the young and the creations of detached elderly communities.
Empty properties should be monitored so that the local authority should make use of its powers to discourage this wasteful use. 3% of the national housing stock remains empty for more than 6 months with 1.6% being from the private sector. 20% of the population live in rural areas. Government policy on their website.
This site gives a wealth of information regarding housing generally and how owners can be helped to bring their property back into the housing pool. Such properties should be identified and the Empty Homes Agency will try to involve housing associations and the local authority in returning such properties to the housing stock. Whilst rotting ruins may be seen as having some visual amenity there is a growing recognition that if the owners cannot make use of them as part of the housing stock, local authorities will have to intervene more.
Since 2006 local authorities may issue last resort enforcement orders under the Empty Dwelling Management Orders (EDMOs). For once there seem to be some intervention powers which could be used after a property has been empty for more than six months. In rural communities there are often properties which have been left empty for much longer. Rather than going on the open market perhaps the next stage is for local authorities to find ways to bring them into a social housing pool or to give assistance to local young people in financing their purchase. Is the return of the local authority mortgage well overdue?
The second homes problem should also be analysed and consideration be given to regulation but this is again a problem of national policy rather than local. It is also complicated by the restriction of choice that central intervention could bring about. The debate to date has been rather simplistic because the phrase in effect covers several categories.
Those who buy to let for the purposes solely of letting the property out as a holiday home on commercial terms should be discouraged in areas where there is a housing shortage. In some parts of the country where the local population has moved on the empty properties are at least used to contribute something to the economy for part of the year. Those who simply buy to let as all year round homes can bee seen as making a contribution to the local housing pool as long as rents and housing benefits are in a realistic ratio.
Second Homes in Transition could cover those properties where the owners have purchased a property with a view to retirement and may be taking advantage of the differences in national house values. Others may have purchased the property as their main residence as they are in tied accommodation and the ‘second home’ is their insurance or, as is more likely, their eventual residence on retirement. The same can apply to properties which have been inherited but the new owner has to seek their living elsewhere, pending retirement. In the meantime these properties are sometimes let out as holiday lettings while be the owner may visit for weekends or longer breaks in the winter months. Others may choose to keep the property unlet.
The Second Home as a bolt hole pure and simple is probably the least valuable to the local community in removing a potential home from the market. These maybe seen as the least complicated and where the property is isolated or without facilities may not be viable units in the housing stock. However, where they would be viable there is a case for intervening by way of legislation creating special planning permission and setting maximum quotas. If a perfectly sound starter home is going to be removed from the market for this purpose then present free market laws will not prevent it. Such a property might be an ex-council house situated in a viable community with a shop, pub and good communications.
Sometimes the owners of such properties will not have any intention of getting involved in the local community because that would contradict the rationale of ‘getting away from it all’ and their retirement plans may be centred elsewhere. These owners may contribute to the local community if they shop in the area and employ local firms for building etc. They now have to make a full contribution to Council Tax. Restrictions of selling for this purpose would have to involve compensation of some kind to the original owner if the restriction reduces the sale value.
Purpose built second home complexes such as those round water parks etc are not available for housing as such due to the planning conditions, rather like mobile holiday parks which cannot be use throughout the year, and so should not be a housing issue apart from questions of land use generally.
Improvements and extensions to existing properties to accommodate younger people do happen but the biggest bug-bear is the difficulty of getting planning permission for new houses outside the designated development zones. Again there is little that can be done at the immediate level of local government and the real decisions are made at higher levels. Classic reasons for refusing permission will be that the property would be out of keeping with the landscape (even where the proposal is to rebuild a property which had been in the landscape for many years before planning control was invented) or the access is restricted for emergency vehicles, or access onto the road is inconsistent with the highways policy etc. Within these rules it seems that conversion of barns into dwellings often seems to be acceptable in many cases as does, on occasions, the demolition of an old house to make way for a modern replacement. An additional house adjoining an existing farmhouse or nearby, seems to fall outside the criteria, while housing estates can gradually grow within designated development areas. It is very frustrating for people who have access to land for building but cannot get planning permission but is it equally frustrating to see green field building occurring in a way which would undermine the visual impact of the countryside. All this against a struggling agricultural industry and at a time when food security is becoming recognized as an emerging issue. Somewhere a compromise has to be drawn as a countryside with declining agricultural use and a population imbalance might look pleasant for a while, but it will not last as the people who used to keep it that way gradually leave..
What should be done? The bullet of rural housing needs to be bitten, as indeed does the national problem of a housing shortage. From the citizens point of view this means that the opinions in favour of housing initiatives in the rural community have to be expressed and organized with both local and national politicians. The present situation is destructive of the rural community in the ways outlined above and as a society we either have to accept the consequences of a free property market e.g., desertification and demographic imbalance, or develop equitable methods of intervention.
Dacier
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