Teather and Gloria De Piero Are Heroines

I had the misfortune today of having an illness that kept me off school. I had the double misfortune of being able to follow PMQ which is that public display of male buffoonery which I find really embarrassing. Some of the monkey antics were aimed at the Labour MP Gloria de Piero. Our own Sarah Teather has come under fire for announcing that she will be stepping down at the next election because she does not agree with Lib Dem policies on welfare and immigration.

Just as the party conferences are coming up and, no doubt, there will be talk again about the lack of female MPs in Parliament we see two female politicians  coming under fire for their convictions. Gloria De Piero was trying to involve members of the public in politics when she tweeted asking for suggestions on what she could ask in the House. Voices of the public are needed in the Westminster bubble but Gloria De Piero was shot down for doing this by masochistic point scoring against Ed Miliband.

My first recollection of Sarah Teather was when she spoke at a fringe event at conference a few years ago and I was struck by her deep conviction for her politics. When I look at some of the comments on Lib Dem voice I think that I have strayed into Tory territory because of the nastiness on display. In fact, the Tories have been nasty about her.  It is obvious that Sarah cares about her constituents and there is no point in the endless questioning of her motive. Sometimes you resign to make a point - Michael Heseltine did it. Lib Dems like her who don't believe in the welfare and immigration policies have not been able to influence Nick Clegg & Co otherwise. She makes a point by resigning. I am sorry to see Sarah Teather go but more importantly will our deluded leadership feel sorry?

An Event on Chelsea Manning

I am hosting an event on Thursday 19th September from 6:30- 8:30pm in the Community Room, Doreen Ramsey Court, The Cut, Waterloo, London, SE1 8LN on 'Has Chelsea Manning Redefined Nationalism and Patriotism?'  The evening will start off with a play put on by Calders Bookshop followed by an open forum discussion. Biscuits and soft drinks will be provided. Children welcome. Disabled access. 

Balcombe, Cuadrilla, Francis Maude, Fracking in Pretty England

It was like a scene from a Michael Moore documentary. There was a divided community, a heavy police presence in place to protect vested interests, fear, corporate interests and a large group of people protesting peacefully but who are viewed as a danger. I was at the anti-fracking protest in Balcombe.  It is the sort of English village which would be used  in the filming of whodunnits.  Then there is the contrast with the protester's tents which may have been poorly structured but their ideas were not, as I discovered.

When I arrived at the station a lovely friendly local woman approached me and offered to drive me to the camp. Her name was Kathryn Mcwhirter and during the 3 minute car journey she gave me a deep insight into what it was like to be a Balcombe resident who does not want fracking to take place on her doorstep.

As a local she was not informed about Cuarilla being granted permission to drill and only  found out when her husband spotted an article about it in The Independent newspaper almost two years later. Kathryn confronted Francis Maude, the local MP, about it   and warned him that he lived in a 'PEDL' (Petroleum Exploration and Development Licence) and he replied, 'Oh good, that pays for my pension then'.

Perhaps Mr Maude meant  for his words to be a joke or he was being serious but the point that I make here is about how a proper democratic  process of consulting the locals was not carried out adequately and the local MP does not see anything wrong with this. Also, it has been well documented that there is a close working relationship between cabinet office and Cuadrilla.

At the camp I spoke to a fearful woman called Janet who was Balcombe born and bred. She did not want her photo taken because she had already been verbally abused by 3 local men for taking part in the protests. Even her own family did not know that she was anti-fracking.

This is how divided the community is and it reminded me of all that I had read about of the miner's strike. Residents who are against the drilling tie yellow ribbons around lamp posts and wake up to find that these have been snipped off overnight. The broken yellow ribbons symbolise the rifts.

 Janet spoke about police intimidation and how the protesters are watched and photographed and arrested for no obvious reason. Interestingly, about 30 police officers have asked to be moved from their duties at the fracking site because they thought the policing situation was in danger of becoming unethical. I received this information from a  very reliable source.

It is all to easy to dismiss the protesters as 'unemployed hippies' or some other slur as the Right wing often does but if you do so then you miss a point. There is no conclusive evidence that fracking will not cause harm. Fracking has been known to cause earthquakes even if these were minor ones. The Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering approve of fracking but want stronger regulations to be put in place which in itself suggests that there is some cause for concern. The fluid that is used in fracking worries people because the chemicals that it contains are not always known. There are also worries that fracking will affect drinking water. If there was nothing to worry about then why were two children in America slapped with a lifelong ban by a fracking company? Where capitalism exists there will always be corporatism. It is a simple fact.

In the search for alternative energy sources it would be a missed opportunity if brute force, vested interests and damaging language are used to deal with genuine fears. I do wish the Lib Dem leadership would speak  up. For all the talk about wanting to be the greenest party there has been silence.




http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/fracking/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14432401

Is David Cameron cool or what?

Ahead of One Direction's movie premier tonight, which is making the news because of the thousands of teenage girls who have camped out to see the boys, I thought I would post this video of our esteemed PM looking 'I need to do this to win the youth vote' ish. Cameron appears at 2:42 and if you don't find it funny then your laugh-o-meter needs fixing.

Malala, The Gender Gap, and Educational Inequality

I wrote an article for the University of Birmingham Lib Dems about the widening gender gap that has been represented in A level results. Have a look here.

Interview with Steve Webb at the Social Liberal Forum Conference

On Saturday 13th July I attended a Social Liberal Forum conference with the theme; 'Ownership and Democracy - where does Power lie?'  Being a young person in the party, I constantly question how the leadership is using its  power to help young people. I was delighted to be given the opportunity to interview Steve Webb in the blogger's interview at the SLF conference.

I asked Steve Webb; "Youth unemployment has hit one million, students have increasing debt and  housing prices have risen making it nearly impossible for a young person to have a decent start in life.  Students won't even be able to afford university without getting into massive debt which will hold them down for the rest of their lives. How are the Lib Dems going to win the youth vote at the next election after all of these disasters?" 

Steve Webb answered by saying that the party had established the £1bn youth contract with the slogan  "Earn or Learn." Steve also said that Nick recognises there should be fairness between generations and the importance of supporting them all. He pointed out that the internship scheme had given many young people the skills and work experience that they needed. He admitted that there are not enough houses and that it is causing a lack of shelter and the rising cost in houses  and that it needed amending. I was told that Norman Baker was helping young people by looking into travel costs and trying to make this more affordable for the youth.

Steve was right when he said that Nick Clegg recognises the need for fairness between generations which is key to promoting equality. It is good that the housing problem is being recognised by the Government and I hope that something will be done before house prices soar even higher.

Despite the things that Steve said the Lib Dems are doing for young people, I think that we will struggle to get the youth vote at the next election because of, mainly, the u-turn on tuition fees. There may be a credible economic case for the u-turn but those paying the price, literally, will disagree. Other reasons are the cut to EMA, the fact that 75,000 young people will be homeless this Christmas and the thousands of young people who have to claim housing benefit because of such low pay. I really wish that the Lib Dems were doing more for young people.

I am glad to be a member of Social Liberal Forum because it does not support the austerity programme which does not seem to be producing growth or jobs.

Louise Shaw's blog on the conference
Caron Lindsay's blog on the conference
Mark Jewell

When is Bad Behavior Malarkey and not Rioting?

It is the Summer season for hi jinx among the youth and it is interesting to see how the class distinction operates.  Students from a private school called Mill Hill County School trashed a £2 million home in Hampstead, London, and caused havoc on the streets too. The school charges £9,038 a term for full boarders. 

It is shocking that these students think that it is acceptable to rent a house and trash it just because they had paid for it. These middle class types show a sense of entitlement that is destructive and lacks respect for person and property. What goes on in the real world is irrelevant to them. 

There is a fine line between malarkey and rioting but these students obviously did not seem to think that £15,000 worth of damages to a house was blame worthy because they have got away lightly. The pupils swore at police and only 3 were arrested. Their parents, if you read the report, don't think that their children were to blame. There is a vast group of middle class teenagers growing up who think that they can do what they like whilst looking down on the working class youth who riot in much  the same way but have to face the justice system. 

An Angry Letter to Danny Alexander

Danny Alexander posted an article today in Lib Dem voice and this is the comment which i left:

Dear Mr Alexander,
Your article infuriates me a lot. Yes, Labour made a mess and while I don’t think Labour would do any better I don’t think this excuses your first sentence. Your number one priority should be to make this country a better place. Why does almost every policy the Government comes up with have to be about political point scoring against Labour? You mention Labour twice in the first paragraph. Being in Government involves a serious job of making things better. This political point scoring whereby every decision is made as a response to what Labour did or what Labour would do is really macho nonsense and I wish you and your colleagues would stop it. People want to know what the Lib Dems will do, not what others would do.

Balancing the books on the back of the most vulnerable is exactly what you have tried to do and the vulnerable are almost broken in the process. The books aren’t balanced yet either. Do you know that Food Banks are starting up every week and that the suicide rates among disabled is rising? Do you know that there are thousands of children living in B and B’s and often with drug dealers and criminals? Do you know that there are children who can’t afford to eat at home? Do you know that there are parents who go to loan sharks to borrow money for essentials?

You see, I have reason to complain and be angry. My mother works for the public sector. My father had a serious sudden illness recently and the NHS didn’t come up to scratch. Talk of keeping people out of hospital and helping them in their homes means that families bear the worry and burden of medical conditions which they aren’t qualified to do.

I worry about my future because I don’t think that you and Nick and the Tories are going to leave much for ordinary people like me. In your last paragraph you say that you don’t want to burden future generations. Given the large number of NEETS with no hope what do you have to say?

Maelo Manning
aged 13

Nick Isn't The Villain BUT

Nick Clegg isn't the villain, Charles Saatchi is.  The whole fiasco stemming from Nick's appearance on LBC today somehow is casting Nick as the villain of domestic violence.  There is a tendency in this country to always deviate from the issue at hand and place blame on an intervening person. During the Saville scandal the victims and the BBC were criticized for  making false accusations. Suddenly, the scale of victim abuse by Saville became a side-show to what was going at the BBC. 

BUT, I do think Nick was foolish today by not condemning domestic violence straight off.  I have put my head in my hands today a few times over this whole fiasco. Nick  referred to 'one photograph' to seemingly prove a point that there wasn't enough evidence. Isn't one instance enough? This is where I think Nick really does need to get back to basics and show people that this party stands for equality and justice. Instead it seems as if the Lib Dem leadership does not seem to take female issues seriously. 

Why wasn't Lord Rennard investigated a long time ago? Mike Hancock? Caron Lindsay has said that Nick Clegg ought to have been briefed and to this I add why wasn't Clegg himself politically astute enough to anticipate a question on Nigella?  

What world do our politicians live in and that includes the female politicians today who have been making political hay. Yvette Cooper and Harriet Harman have jumped on the bandwagon.  The worst comment was by MP Sarah Wollaston she wrote, "So just don't call Clegg if your partner likes to grab you by the throat to emphasize a point." Nick Clegg isn't an enforcement agency for domestic violence, you should call the police not Nick Clegg. Why wasn't this much anger shown towards those who commit domestic violence? 

All said and done, as a young female Lib Dem I really hope that the party wakes up from its patriarchy now, not tomorrow or the day after. 

Absent Fathers

Absent fathers are often attacked and stigmatized but fathers who are living in the house do not always participate in family life. Absent fathers are used by the right wing as evidence of so called delinquent behavior among the working class. From my observation absent fathers in the home is a middle class and rich class problem. Many children are growing up without the influence of a paternal role model who is interested and beneficial to their lives. I have some answers about the middle class absent father syndrome. Fathers  in this bracket do participate in family life because they are content with the way things are. They They do not bother to enhance their children's lives because they do not see the need for paternal influence. There is no concept of fathering like their is for mothering. Some middle class fathers are very content to leave parenting to their partner or wife because it is seen as a 'feminine' role. These Fathers have disposable income and instead of emotionally connecting with their child they compensate for the lack of parenting by indulging in gadgets, clothes and toys for their children. David Lammy had written something similar in the Guardian