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By Jack Straw ( view all posts) I got the shovel out again the other day. It’s been behind the front door for the past four weeks. It had snowed overnight.
There’s a surprise – after all, after the last few weeks it feels as though snow is now a permanent fixture. I cleared our otherwise dangerous steps, and then shovelled some snow off the public footpath outside our house and that of our neighbours.
There was nothing out of the ordinary in my morning exertions. Everyone in our turning has mucked in. As have millions of others who have been working very hard to keep their streets, their schools and their communities going since this extraordinary winter started to bite. We really have seen people acting as good neighbours, following the example of the Good Samaritan, and not walking past on the other side.
We read a great deal about those in our society who are selfish, who commit the most horrible crimes, or who by being simply selfish drive their good neighbours to distraction. But the overwhelming majority are not like that, and there’s something noble about the way in which everyone joins in when faced with adversity. Indeed, some of the stories of people coming to the rescue of stranded drivers and giving them food and shelter – in some cases overnight – have been truly heart-warming. Did someone say Britain was broken? I think not.
The one thing I didn’t think about as I started shifting the snow on the public footpath was whether I was going to be sued by someone who’d walked on my cleared bit, slipped, and blamed me for their injuries. If you read some of the papers you could be forgiven for believing that health and safety experts were instructing people not to clear public paths, for fear of getting sued.
There may have been a little creative reporting here, but it’s also true that when asked by one of the newspapers, the body representing health and safety workers was hardly unequivocal about the risk. If a company gritted beyond their property, but failed to do it well enough and someone was injured in a fall, they “could incur some liability”. The group in question, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, was irritated that its full guidance, which said that in the event it would probably be best to grit areas to avoid accidents, was not reported. Such are the perils of dealing with the newspapers.
I hope this flurry of activity didn’t put anybody off clearing the snow outside their houses and on the pavements. The reality is that should someone seek to take action against a householder in these circumstances, the courts would take a sensible view. It’s doubtful that they would agree that one person might sue another for negligence, and I rather suspect that in fact the court would look kindly on a householder who was doing the right thing by clearing the snow from the pavement. It certainly won’t be stopping me getting the shovel out again.
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By Jack Straw ( view all posts) Wootton Bassett is a small market town in Wiltshire. A few years ago it would rarely have made the front pages of the newspapers.
But for the saddest of reasons, Wootton Bassett has come to signify the fundamental decency of the British people.
It is through Wootton Bassett that the bodies of British servicemen and women killed in Afghanistan are carried from nearby RAF Lyneham, where the planes carrying their coffins land.
The town has duly become famous for the way local people line the streets to pay tribute to the bravest of the brave, those who have given their lives in pursuit of a better life for others, at home and abroad.
It is moving beyond words. Having family, or close friends, on active service is worrying enough, even where the loved one returns from a tour of duty in one piece.
The pain for those who do lose someone forever is terrible.
Nothing can bring back the father, mother, husband, wife, brother, sister, friend, but the extent to which the rest of us can salute and honour their memory can make a significant difference to the grief of those who lose near and dear.
They need to know that their loved ones died for a purpose, protecting the rest of us; that we recognise their supreme and selfless sacrifice.
So it must surely be some comfort for the bereaved to see so many in Wootton Bassett paying tribute to the fallen.
So I therefore find it repugnant that the radical group “Islam4UK” is planning a protest march through the town.
It shows absolutely no respect for the families of dead troops, or indeed for Wootton Bassett, which has been keen to avoid these solemn occasions being used for political ends.
What I find particularly objectionable is that the proposed march is designed entirely with the intention of creating publicity and inciting anger – there can be no other purpose.
And the views of “Islam4UK” are not remotely representative of the overwhelming majority of British followers of Islam. There are many more British Muslims in our armed forces than there are members of this group.
It reminds me a little of the row in 2006 when there was understandable anger in the Muslim community over cartoons published in a Danish newspaper.
I said then that while we all respect freedom of speech, there is also an obligation on us all not to “insult or to be gratuitously inflammatory” as I felt the newspaper had done.
A similar test applies here. I will defend the right of anyone to protest against the military action in Afghanistan.
I wouldn’t agree with them, but the right to protest and to free speech is the sort of right which the Afghan government is seeking to entrench in its fledgling democracy, with our forces seeking to help them do that, as well as reduce the serious threat of Al Qaeda terrorism which has already killed and maimed people here.
But rights have limits and there is no right at all to insult, or to be gratuitously inflammatory, and that is exactly what ‘Islam4UK’ are trying to do by proposing to march through Wootton Bassett.
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By Kate Hollern ( view all posts)  Weather woes, but whose fault is the mess
that has resulted on the streets of Blackburn?
According to the Councils ruling coalition of Tory, Lib-Dem and Darwen independent misfits it’s certainly not them.
“Residents are lazy, not tough enough, whinging, selfish and soft.”
These are just some of the claims made by Tory and Liberal Councillors and spokespeople during this period of terrible weather.
As usual with the Tories and their allies when things go badly wrong on their watch it is everyone else’s fault and not theirs. However, the facts point the blame right at where it needs to be. It shows that due to the lack of planning and penny pinching when it comes to providing adequate services the incompetence of those running the Council has led to the whole Borough grinding to a halt.
The list of problems is endless – schools are closed, businesses are suffering terribly, hospitals are being put under pressure and transport has all but stopped. Vulnerable residents who receive home care are being left isolated cold and hungry as their carers cannot reach them and they can’t get out to the shops.
This has happened despite the bad weather having been predicted for weeks. I mean this is the North of England and everyone knows at least once a year it does snow and we have icy conditions.
As usual the Council has failed to adequately plan for the inclement conditions. Despite the hilly nature of the area they have failed to supply salt bins where they are needed and unforgivably they have failed to fill up the few salt bins there are.
Cynicism has also surfaced as cars have been abandoned all over the Borough and the Council see an opportunity:
Helping the drivers by clearing the snow and ice? No that would need common sense and unfortunately our Council bosses lack that in abundance. Instead they spot a nice little earner and send traffic wardens out to put fixed penalty notices on all the cars stuck in the snow.
Hitting stranded motorists and saving money by keeping grit stocks dangerously low allows them to spend thousands more on their jollies including conference expenses and allowances.
Welcome to a winter wonderland Tory controlled Blackburn with Darwen style!
Happy New Year
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By Blackburn Labour ( view all posts) The death has been announced of Jim Mason, a member of Blackburn Labour Party for many years, and a lifelong member of the Cooperative movement and a hugely important influence in the Labour administration that successfully ran Lancashire County Council from 1981 until last year.
In particular, Jim was the driving force behind the establishment of Lancashire Enterprises Ltd which became an example of the way that public authorities could support and enhance socially valuable businesses as opposed to simply allowing market forces to run their course. This was a controversial policy during the years when the Thatcher governments were prepared to blindly follow market forces wherever they led and whatever the consequences but this policy pointed the way forward for some of the Labour governments’ actions from 1997.
Jim died last weekend after a long illness and his funeral will be held at 1.15 pm on January 11 at Silverdale Methodist Church followed by a service at Lancaster Crematorium at 2.45 – Jim’s family would welcome the presence of old friends and comrades.
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By Jack Straw ( view all posts) The cry I hear more often than I would like regarding the ‘problem’ of faith schools is: “Close ‘em down. Divisive. Makes segregation worse”.
The critics of our distinctive Anglican and Catholic state schools and our one Muslim faith state school – and, elsewhere in the county, some Jewish and Methodist schools – claim these schools are outdated, as fewer go to church these days, and add the charge they are ‘elitist’.
Church attendances may have fallen, but 70 per cent of the British population in the last census stated they were Christian, and any politician who sought the abolition of faith schools would be consumed by the public uproar which would follow.
There is huge attachment to faith schools because of their faith and because generally across the UK, specifically in East Lancashire, they are good schools.
This is not to decry non-faith schools – both my children went to one.
And, whether faith schools, foundation schools, or community schools are ‘elitist’ depends principally on their catchment area, ethos, and record. Not on their category.
So are faith schools divisive?
In a town like Blackburn, with large Asian communities, and concern about ‘parallel communities’ it’s a reasonable question.
On the face of it, it could well be that faith schools, with a preference at entry for children of that faith, would engender a sense of separateness, and exclusivity, and make matters worse.
Recent evidence, however, points in exactly the opposite direction. It enforces a view that if you respect and celebrate someone else’s faith, they are much more likely not just to respect and celebrate yours, but become inquisitive too about it.
The evidence is from a Church of England report with research by Professor David Jesson of York University, comparing how faith and non-faith secondary schools performed in OFSTED inspections on the promotion of what is called ‘positive contribution to the community’ in their reports. He found that faith schools received average grades 11 per cent higher than non-faith schools.
As the chief education officer for the Church of England, Rev Janina Ainsworth said: “For church schools, community cohesion is more than ticking a box for the government.
“It is about acting out the values articulated in the school’s mission statement in ways that serve and strengthen our human relationship.”
OFSTED scores for Blackburn and Darwen secondary schools – faith and non-faith – are similar, with Pleckgate (non-faith) and St Wilfrid’s (Anglican) rated ‘outstanding’ and all but one of the remainder ‘good’. This latter group included the Muslim Tauheedul Islam Girls High School.
Its inspection was three years ago, just after it was set up. My guess is that the next full inspection will put it in the ‘outstanding’ category, not least because it’s a humanities specialist with citizenship as a core subject, and it’s working hard with non-Muslim schools to improve understanding across the faiths Parents should have a choice between faith and non-faith schools, of course.
But criticism of faith schools as divisive is plain wrong, and the opposite of the truth.
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By Kate Hollern ( view all posts) The Tory led Council has again been shown up for incompetence and wasting money after pumping nearly £100,0000 of taxpayers money into a hare-brained Lottery bid they knew they were ‘highly unlikely’ to get.
Last month the Lancashire Telegraph revealed the council had run up a bill of £93,121 to put plans together for a £20million transformation of Blackburn Museum they knew was highly unlikely ever to happen.
Tory Executive Member Michael Law-Riding, who approved the spending, has aspirations to be the next Member of Parliament for Blackburn which bodes well for the Town if he should ever get elected.
However I can reveal that this is only a proportion of what the Coalition of Tories, Liberal Democrats and Darwen Independents have wasted since coming into office in 2007. Recent analysis by the Labour Group has also found the council has spent at least £750,000 on other meaningless feasibility studies and have also bought three million pounds worth of unnecessary buildings that are lying vacant and unused.
This is yet another example of the coalition wasting money left right and centre, and again worryingly they have tried to keep these facts secret from the residents and voters of Blackburn and Darwen. However with the help of my Labour colleagues and the pages of the Lancashire Telegraph the shocking true facts have come out and they have yet again been caught out wasting Council Taxpayers money.
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By Jack Straw ( view all posts) If words could adequately describe the feelings and power of music, I guess we could dispense with music and stick to words.
This rather odd thought came into my mind on Tuesday evening as I enjoyed a rare treat.
I work most Tuesday evenings, but as it was the day before the State Opening of Parliament by The Queen, I could safely go with my family to hear Murray Perahia, one of the world’s most acclaimed pianists.
But music does reach parts of our soul, creating emotions quite beyond words. It doesn’t matter what kind of music it is – and I still enjoy going to the occasional gig and reliving my youth – we all need music.
But there’s little about my day job which can be put to music.
Politics and government decision- making is all about words.
So yesterday, the programme for the new session of Parliament was set out, in words (though with plenty of music beforehand), as Her Majesty delivered her speech from the Throne in the House of Lords – “The Queen’s Speech”.
Sessions of Parliament normally last about 12 months.
This one can only last at best six months as there will, by law, be a General Election by June, or maybe earlier.
But I’ve seen such short pre-election sessions where a General Election has been a certainty three times before, and contrary to some of the comment, a lot of business does go through before Parliament is dissolved for the election.
Work has already begun on some bills – those which are ‘carried over’ from the previous session, including one of mine, on constitutional reform.
And we will get cracking on the new items pretty quickly, with a flurry of legislation introduced in the days and weeks ahead.
There has been a debate about how much difference the Queen’s Speech will actually make to the big decision voters make when they go to the polls sometime in the next six months.
The argument runs that it may be a big deal in the “Westminster village”, it doesn’t really affect the country as a whole.
But I think it makes a significant difference.
Sure, not everyone will have tuned in to watch the speech yesterday, but its effects will become quickly apparent as the debates get going in the months ahead. And I’m confident we’ll make a lot of progress.
The issues range from a new national care service to give free personal care to those who need it the most, in their own homes, to measures to deal with the management of flooding and some interesting measures in schools, such as school report cards for parents to keep up with the performance of their child’s school.
For all the impressive finery of the State Opening, and few can deny that it is an impressive ceremony, the issues at the heart of the speech come down to the brass tacks of daily life.
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By Kate Hollern ( view all posts) We all remember the statement from Tory Councillor Allan Cottam blaming pensioners for abusing the concessionary fare scheme. He claimed some were using their free passes every day, and as a result he had a £ 400k shortfall in his budget. We all knew this was a nonsense and the Labour Government had given Blackburn more than enough money to cover the scheme. In fact they had £ 400 k extra, which they duly gave away to their Tory friends in the Ribble Valley, Blackpool and Preston leaving many of our residents without buses as the Bus Company faced £1million cut from Councils.
At the November Executive Board meeting I asked Councillor Cottam, why since the introduction of a £1 fare each way on Community Transport, and the new 48 hour booking system, had the usage gone down 20%.
He was quite proud in announcing that since disabled users, and those who found it difficult to use the bus service had to pay this fare, they now found that they could use the regular bus service, (if they are lucky enough to have one). Wouldn’t it be great if a serious illness could just disappear if you had to pay £1?
I probed a little further and he quite openly stated that users, disabled and elderly, had been abusing this service and now there was less need than six months ago. He was joined by another Tory Councillor, John Slater, who admitted that the booking system was a shambles, there was not enough staff to cope with the system and having to give 48 hours notice meant in his words not mine “these old dears are booking the travel then not using it” though he did, with puckered pride in his chest, tell me he was going to introduce a” three strikes and you are out” system to stop people booking travel then not using it.
They both have completely missed the point. If you suffer from arthritis or some other disability that restricts your mobility, 48 hours can be a long time and conditions can worsen quite quickly. Let’s face it those suffering a serious illness have good days and bad days, some worse than others with no warning.
With the promise of “three strikes and you are out” residents who desperately need this form of travel are scared to book in case two days later they are unable to get out of their homes, they don’t feel very well, or the weather is too bad for them.
I suppose if I was a cynic I would say that this will lead to a drastic reduction in use and allow the Council to say there is no need of this service which will allow them to cut it completely saving a significant amount of money. Just as they have done with Community Centres, Arts in the Parks, and possibly King Georges Hall and Libraries in the near future,
Michael Law Riding, another Tory who has aspirations of taking on “Our Jack”, has cut the events budget from £ 250k down to £50k,getting ris of the wonderful Arts in the Parks, and at the same time cut the funding for books in the Library by 25% in two years, and is definitely going to close some leisure facilities in Blackburn.
The next battle cry from the Tories will be, very few people use the Library, why waste money on having it.
Watch this space, because low cost airlines could learn from these guys.
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