What I Heard on the Ground in Eastleigh

On a cold winter's evening last week I knocked on doors in Eastleigh and got a sense of the faith that people still have in the party. People told me their concerns about both national and local issues and felt that the Lib Dems had something to say to them. It is wrong to write the Lib Dems out of either level of politics.Those who were going to vote UKIP can never be swayed by Liberalism because they fear anyone who is not White and British born. That is not the Liberal way.

In today's Times Daniel Finkelstein says that the Lib Dems "are not a serious National Party,"  because "Nick Clegg has failed to lead his MPs away from interest-group politics." Ironically, if this were true we wouldn't have a large number of disabled people being angry with the Lib Dems over welfare reform. I may have used a negative point to demonstrate that the Lib Dems have become a serious national party but you get my point. Let us not forget the good work that Chris Huhne did in Eastleigh which brought into people's conciousness the fact that the Lib Dems did make the transition from local level to Government. 

Are Academies A Neo-liberal Tool?

Is the granting of approval to run Academy schools a favour by Michael Gove to a big Tory donor?
I attended a showing of a film which demonstrated a blatant upheaval of the Education system in what could be seen as a move to remove state schools from government spending.

The case study used was Downhill Primary, a community primary school that was previously failing but, due to a new headmistress (Leslie Church), started hitting floor targets for the first time and was improving. Michael Gove identified Downhill as a 'failing school', despite evidence to prove otherwise, and Harris Academy took it over despite the parents staging a huge protest. The parents attended introductory meetings with Harris Academy prior to the take-over. Presentations were given to the parents by Harris Academy but they avoided the parents questions and were extremely evasive towards them.

Lord Harris, the owner of carpet right and Harris academies, donated 2 million to the Tory party. Since then 13 schools have become Harris academies. Is this a coincidence? I don't think so.

A vote for Gay Marriage would help reduce bigotry among British youngsters

Gay bashing through the telling of rude jokes, light hearted teasing and really serious teasing and bullying is common among children in Britain. 'Gay' has become a common term of insult amongst young people. 'Gay' is used as an alternative to the insulting words of 'lame' or 'sad'. Boys in my school point at each other, call other boys 'gay' and then laugh. 

A positive vote for gay marriage today would send a message out to young people that being gay is not an abnormality. There is a generation of children growing up with many prejudices and institutional bigotry only reinforces their discrimination. History shows that the 'now is not the right time' has always been a convenient approach to withhold human rights from minorities (slavery) to satisfy the interests of the majority. 

Oscar Wilde and Gay Marriage Vote

When first I was put into prison some people advised me to try and forget who I was. It was ruinous advice. It is only by realising what I am that I have found comfort of any kind. Now I am advised by others to try on my release to forget that I have ever been in a prison at all. I know that would be equally fatal. It would mean that I would always be haunted by an intolerable sense of disgrace, and that those things that are meant for me as much as for anybody else - the beauty of the sun and moon, the pageant of the seasons, the music of daybreak and the silence of great nights, the rain falling through the leaves, or the dew creeping over the grass and making it silver - would all be tainted for me, and lose their healing power, and their power of communicating joy. To regret one's own experiences is to arrest one's own development. To deny one's own experiences is to put a lie into the lips of one's own life. It is no less than a denial of the soul.

De Profundis by Oscar Wilde 

I publish this in support of gay marriage - Maelo Manning