Around two years ago...

Around two years ago we had protests at the G20 conference - see yesterday's blog. At roughly the same time we had the BNP standing in front of a Polish spitfire thinking it was British. We were also discovering that some MPs were milking the system and Michael Martin was struggling in his role of speaker. How do I know? Well I have just looked back at my blog entries and we were having elections for the first time ever for a Morecambe Town Council. So roughly two years ago the Morecambe Bay Independents were asking about the use of the armorial bearings (the coat of arms) of the former Morecambe and Heysham Borough Council but there was no mention of this party using it with or without permission.

One of the great recent advances in technology has been our ability to communicate. Who would have thought even in 2001 that the 2011 census could be filled in by using the internet? The opportunities to improve our democracy are tremendous. Even on a local level anyone could email their councillor or MP. Now the downside. My MP has decided not to answer my email. I did get an automated response to say that it would be dealt with and that was that. Then there are websites. Take a look at http://www.morecambe.gov.uk/flite.php and you will see that there is no community forum for the local council. Still, they have only been trying for two years.

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A Police Apology

Almost two years ago I wrote about the G20 protests. In particular I wrote about the investigation into the death of Ian Tomlinson shortly after he was pushed over by a police officer. I felt that the balaclava and the lack of an obvious number on the uniform was not helpful to the investigation and I felt it was a cause for concern if police officers could remain anonymous. Well PC Simon Harwood is not an anonymous officer and he apologised yesterday "if it is the case that in any way I have caused Mr Tomlinson's death".

I am pleased that this apology has been made. I think the police have a hard job and the push was not particularly excessive but I was waiting for the result of the inquiry. Results were published and now an apology has been made. The inquest continues but I remain concerned about the possibility of police anonymity when dealing with protests.

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Shedding light on NHS policy

When the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference voted overwhelmingly against Tory-led plans for NHS reform, it seemed to many that this would introduce friction into the workings of the coalition. Now, however, David Cameron has been forced to rein back the ambitious plans following criticism from all sides. When Norman Tebbit and Shirley Williams are both strongly critical of the same policy, and for the same reasons, you know that there's something wrong with it.

Both coalition parties agree on the need for NHS reform, but the Liberal Democrats approach is that patients come first. This means having elected health boards. The Conservative plans involve giving control of 80 percent of the NHS budget to GP consortiums. Now, GPs certainly ought to have a say in how the NHS operates, because they see it at close hand and can be expected to have a good idea of what patients want and need. However, taking doctors who are skilled in the treatment of patients and making them into administrators is perhaps not the best use of resources.

The other thing is that Liberal Democrats say it is alright for the government to pay for private treatment if for any reason the NHS is unable to provide it on time. We should obviously work to close the gap, so that the same situation doesn't arise again later on, but when lives and health are at stake that's no time to go all ideological. The Conservative-led proposals though would have patients referred for private treatment even if the NHS was fully capable of providing it. It would have had NHS and private contractors competing on a supposedly equal footing - except the NHS doesn't have a vast marketing department dedicated to persuading GPs to use its services.

So, how did we get to this point? These plans weren't in the coalition agreement hammered out after the last general election. They weren't in any manifesto. They probably surprised David Cameron as much as anybody - he is on record as having said repeatedly that the NHS would be safe in his hands, and that there would be "no more pointless and disruptive reorganisations".

The whole thing seems to be the brainchild of Health Secretary Andrew Lansley. And while it seems likely that similar plans would have sped through unopposed in a purely Conservative government, the Liberal Democrats have shed just enough light on them to ensure that even the Conservatives can see the problem with them. That has to be a good thing.

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Grants more important than pronunciation

Heysham is a village next to Morecambe. If you have not heard of it then you may have a problem with the pronunciation. The locals say the first syllable like the pronoun he, not the dried grass hay. One of the groups to feel the recent cuts from the Arts Council (see yesterday's blog) was the dance company The Cholmondeleys and Featherstonehaughs (usually pronounced The Chumleys and Fanshaws). There are a few rules of pronunciation in English but the first rule must be that there you have to bow to local knowledge when it comes to proper nouns. In the North West we have three Claughtons all pronounced differently - just go with the locals.

I spent the first year of my course in physiotherapy learning how to pronounce anatomical and physiological words. I spent the rest of my life learning that everyone pronounces them differently. Pronunciation may not be the most important aspect in any political thinking but mispronunciations will not win votes. However it is much more important to do the right thing than to pronounce it correctly. Let's hope the big society work of the Chumleys and Fanshaws and the Lancaster Ludus Dance may continue.

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A smaller big society

A few days ago I was telling you how Mike Harding's audience viewed the big society. This week the Arts Council announced cuts in funding to many organisations including Ludus Dance based in Lancaster. The cuts are significant and it is difficult to see how this group could survive but they do have a year or so before the cuts really begin to be felt. This was the main headline in our local paper on Friday 1st April but it was no joke. However there was good news for "More Music in Morecambe". I have attended their guitar classes and although this is only one small aspect of their work in the community, I think they do a very good job in a deprived area of Lancashire.

So there are some winners but with overall cuts of 30% it is not difficult to work out that most beneficiaries will be losers. If we are to have a big society we must have the means to organise groups to work together and uphold the notion of society and see people work together not because they are employed but because they wish to participate in a better community. The arts must play a part in that big society but it just got a little smaller this week.

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Peace-loving protestors?

Later today the English Defence League are holding a protest in Blackburn which, according to them, will be peaceful. I am not sure how they can be so sure as they also tell us that they manage to attract "wrong-uns". How could such a peace-loving organisation attract those with a violent nature? Come to that, why are they demonstrating in Blackburn? It isn't the Blackburn branch (if there is one) that has organised the event. On the other hand Blackburn and Darwen Unite Against Racism (BADUAR) has organised a counter-protest. I am taking a wild guess here but the organisers may come from Blackburn and Darwen.

I used to work in Blackburn and I have also worked in Oldham. I found no overt racism in these areas but I have been much more likely to come across opposition to Muslim extremists in towns where there is no significant ethnic minority. Why have this group picked on a town with a significant ethnic population? It sounds antagonistic to me. It is the sort of planning that may attract "wrong-uns". Why are these people so concerned with extremists who are Muslim? Could we not condemn all extremists including Dr Terry Jones who is in the news because he burned the Koran?

Taxi drivers in Blackburn have decided to go on strike for 24 hours from 6am. They are doing this because they are concerned for their own safety. I hope there is no violence in Blackburn today but even if everything runs smoothly I am not sure it is anything to do with planning from the EDL.

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It sounds a bit fishy

When the Rainbow Warrior was sunk by the French secret service there was a backlash against the French and their nuclear testing. It turned out that the French had to pay Greenpeace over $8 million and it caused testing to be halted. Sometimes subterfuge doesn't pay. Prior to the sinking New Zealand wasn't too bothered about French testing. After the sinking it sent a flotilla of yachts to Moruroa in order to protest.

On Wednesday I saw footage of cruelty against an elephant and protests were taking place in Knutsford against the Bobby Roberts Super Circus who owned the elephant. It struck me that if this was a genuine beating then the man was sick. The circus owners said that he would have been sacked if he had not disappeared. Let's presume he was not sick. What other motivation could the man have? Well I can think of one easy answer. If I wanted to ban animals from the circus I would like footage of a man beating an elephant, so I would set up a camera and release the footage. The only thing that I would have to learn from the French in New Zealand would be to make sure that the culprit did not get caught, for example I could make him disappear.

I happen to think that a circus could offer a stable environment for an animal as opposed to say the wild. Protest may be legitimate but it can't be based on a mad keeper who disappears after acting in what looks like an evil manner in front of a camera. This action, like the sinking of a former trawler sounds a bit fishy to me.

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