Comments on: Vision of a Liberal Europe: Ming Campbell http://www.mingcampbell.org.uk/2006/12/13/vision-of-a-liberal-europe-ming-campbell/ Local Campaigner with a National Reputation Tue, 02 Dec 2008 07:20:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3 By: marilyn donnison-morgan http://www.mingcampbell.org.uk/2006/12/13/vision-of-a-liberal-europe-ming-campbell/#comment-1489 marilyn donnison-morgan Wed, 27 Dec 2006 19:29:38 +0000 http://www.mingcampbell.org.uk/2006/12/13/vision-of-a-liberal-europe-ming-campbell/#comment-1489 I had already written a long reply but then in the way of all computers I pressed a wrong key and the whole lot went I know not where. So, here goes again. 2. I was a magistrate on the Bristol Bench in the 80's. My own inadequacy to help those that needed it was the worst part of the job. More often than not I was siiting with people who knew nothing of the grinding poverty that can lead to crime. I saw a woman sent to prison, her children put in care because she had not paid the fine for not having a TV licence. With the miserable income she was trying to live on she deemed that the fine came at the bottome of her budget. Prison should be for those who are a danger to society. Reintroduce the secure hospitals for the insane where any paedophile should be sent for a start. Most crime comes from poverty, not just economic but the poverty of the mind. Go back to the root of society - Education. Quick fixes: increase the school day so that 1) it fits in with a working family 2) children and teenagers are not on the streets at 3.15 in the afternoon. Cut back on the unnecessary school holiday length. Re-introduce the apprenticeship scheme. Bring back the idea of different schools for different abilities/asperations but don't make the mistake of the 50's where the Secondary Moderns were underfunded and badly managed. Any young person not going to college or work at the age of 18 has to undertake either military training or community work. Change the powers and face of Social Services. Create a department that is funded and equipped with better qualified and experienced people to care for communities. Isn't it strange that we need a test to drive a car yet the most important job that we will ever do is raise a family which we seem to believe any old Jo Soap can do. Introduce a licence to have children. A licence that is given on the proven ability of BOTH parents to be fit for the job, this includes educational attainment, attitudes, skills and a level of income that ensures the child can be taken care of adequately. This is where a more powerful and informed Social Services would come in. If the parents are subsequently found to be failing then the children are removed from their care. Bringing up a child in a severely disfunctional home is NOT the best place for it. Poverty of the mind follows the same downward spiral as poverty of the purse. Legislate to bring down the cost of housing so that everyone has a realistic chance of having their own home. Penalise those who own more than one property, especially those who buy up numbers of property in places like Cornwall or Devon leaving the indigenuous population no chance to ever afford a home. I don't suppose you were expecting such a long reply when you offered "leave a reply" but I'm an old SPD person - one of "Davey's Groupies" who was bitterly opposed to any union with any party but accepted the need to do so for political survival. The Labour years have been a dreadful disappointment as they have moved so far to the right and so far from their roots . The thought of a Conservative government fills me with dismay bordering on panic. So, you see, I'm pinning my hopes on LibDems to be a party of the people who puts standards of behaviour and responsibilities back on the agenda. We don't want to be hugged and we soon see through any patronising behaviour. We elect a Government to represent us and manage the machinery of running the country in a way that is fair to everyone. The gap between the rich and the hard-up is far too wide, dangerously so. When worrying about paying council taxes and utility bills its hard to worry about the state of the planet. Don't tell us to get on our bikes when the roads are so dangerously crowded and affordable accommodation is miles from the work place. Don't accuse immigrant workers of taking our jobs because we are too lazy to do them. Not so, the wages paid for these jobs are too low to be able to live and please don't get me started on claiming benefits! Farm labourers have a long history of being exploited and working long hours for miserable wages (see the chapter in Heroes by John Pilger for proof of this) The farmers have never cared for their work force. Enough already, for I have written too much. I had already written a long reply but then in the way of all computers I pressed a wrong key and the whole lot went I know not where. So, here goes again.
2. I was a magistrate on the Bristol Bench in the 80’s. My own inadequacy to help those that needed it was the worst part of the job. More often than not I was siiting with people who knew nothing of the grinding poverty that can lead to crime. I saw a woman sent to prison, her children put in care because she had not paid the fine for not having a TV licence. With the miserable income she was trying to live on she deemed that the fine came at the bottome of her budget. Prison should be for those who are a danger to society. Reintroduce the secure hospitals for the insane where any paedophile should be sent for a start. Most crime comes from poverty, not just economic but the poverty of the mind. Go back to the root of society - Education. Quick fixes: increase the school day so that 1) it fits in with a working family 2) children and teenagers are not on the streets at 3.15 in the afternoon. Cut back on the unnecessary school holiday length. Re-introduce the apprenticeship scheme. Bring back the idea of different schools for different abilities/asperations but don’t make the mistake of the 50’s where the Secondary Moderns were underfunded and badly managed. Any young person not going to college or work at the age of 18 has to undertake either military training or community work. Change the powers and face of Social Services. Create a department that is funded and equipped with better qualified and experienced people to care for communities. Isn’t it strange that we need a test to drive a car yet the most important job that we will ever do is raise a family which we seem to believe any old Jo Soap can do. Introduce a licence to have children. A licence that is given on the proven ability of BOTH parents to be fit for the job, this includes educational attainment, attitudes, skills and a level of income that ensures the child can be taken care of adequately. This is where a more powerful and informed Social Services would come in. If the parents are subsequently found to be failing then the children are removed from their care. Bringing up a child in a severely disfunctional home is NOT the best place for it. Poverty of the mind follows the same downward spiral as poverty of the purse. Legislate to bring down the cost of housing so that everyone has a realistic chance of having their own home. Penalise those who own more than one property, especially those who buy up numbers of property in places like Cornwall or Devon leaving the indigenuous population no chance to ever afford a home.
I don’t suppose you were expecting such a long reply when you offered “leave a reply” but I’m an old SPD person - one of “Davey’s Groupies” who was bitterly opposed to any union with any party but accepted the need to do so for political survival. The Labour years have been a dreadful disappointment as they have moved so far to the right and so far from their roots . The thought of a Conservative government fills me with dismay bordering on panic. So, you see, I’m pinning my hopes on LibDems to be a party of the people who puts standards of behaviour and responsibilities back on the agenda. We don’t want to be hugged and we soon see through any patronising behaviour. We elect a Government to represent us and manage the machinery of running the country in a way that is fair to everyone. The gap between the rich and the hard-up is far too wide, dangerously so. When worrying about paying council taxes and utility bills its hard to worry about the state of the planet. Don’t tell us to get on our bikes when the roads are so dangerously crowded and affordable accommodation is miles from the work place. Don’t accuse immigrant workers of taking our jobs because we are too lazy to do them. Not so, the wages paid for these jobs are too low to be able to live and please don’t get me started on claiming benefits! Farm labourers have a long history of being exploited and working long hours for miserable wages (see the chapter in Heroes by John Pilger for proof of this) The farmers have never cared for their work force.
Enough already, for I have written too much.

]]> By: Mike http://www.mingcampbell.org.uk/2006/12/13/vision-of-a-liberal-europe-ming-campbell/#comment-1092 Mike Wed, 13 Dec 2006 12:05:56 +0000 http://www.mingcampbell.org.uk/2006/12/13/vision-of-a-liberal-europe-ming-campbell/#comment-1092 Blair cartoon: http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoons/stevebell/0,,1970972,00.htm Blair cartoon:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoons/stevebell/0,,1970972,00.htm

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