New Labour: A great deal of gratitude

Many people see Tony Blair and New Labour as spelling one thing: Iraq. This is along similar lines to how many people view David Cameron and his Liberal Conservatives as spelling Brexit. These views are parochial.

In the interest of not forgetting the best characteristics of people and governments, I would like us to consider why and how Tony Blair becoming Prime Minister positively changed Britain.

Blair achieved much in a short space of time in terms of positive social change, indeed by starting with helping to get 101 women Labour MPs elected.

Quickly on his successful election, Blair equalised the gay age of consent. His government saw great waves in terms of equal and diverse rights among us, enshrined by the Human Rights Act. Labour ended section 28, ending the ban on gay positive education, permitted same-sex couple adoption, and set the groundwork for equal marriage by introducing civil partnership.

His government secured access to higher education for millions more people by implementing tuition fees (which were not “a bad thing”, given the alternative – smaller numbers), alongside presiding over the introduction of academies.

There were failings. I hated them. Specifically, I loathed the complete failure to care about social mobility beyond access to higher education. There was no real incentive to do anything, nor help for people like my family, who worked hard and did the right thing. We were taxed too much, crime was too high, and in Iraq, we saw the end of any positive thoughts about Tony Blair – though we did re-elect his Government in 2005. This man won an election by deploying the same tactics of anyone looking to secure a third term, without abusing the Fixed Term Parliaments Act.

In his Chancellor, he had someone who prevented him from doing the now unthinkable and joining the Euro. The problem with his Chancellor was that he was someone who, of course, was, apart from that judgement call, pretty fiscally incompetent. Yes, there was a financial crisis, but guess which nation had the first collapse? Britain – in Northern Rock. This happened before Lehman Brothers. What followed after Brown became Prime Minister was nothing short of a catastrophe.

But Blair made all of this bearable because, ultimately, his additional funding and reform to the National Health Service were a good thing. His commitment to his liberal instincts and his fiscally sane nature (forgiving his poor judgement on the Euro, which was prevented) made him an excellent premier.

Without New Labour, we would not have had any significant developments on health, education and equal rights for all. We would not have had Cameron engage his brain to defeat the Labour Party again, permitting further social developments.

We should be eternally grateful for so much of their programme of government, and I think it’s sometimes useful to reflect on that.

Helping people to take the first step towards recovery from eating disorders

I am delighted to say that I’ve accepted an appointment as a Trustee for First Steps Derbyshire which is a charity that helps prevent eating disorders in young people by early intervention and education, and to help those who suffer from them recover.

Eating disorders are an incredibly tough trial to go through, knowing numerous people affected by them at some point in their lives. The problem with these disorders is, unlike many other mental health problems, recovery can oftentimes be seen as the opposite, and the triggers become so great that the disorder grows larger and larger. It’s only through psychosocial intervention (including friends and family), and by getting people help, that those affected have any hope of recovery.

The fantastic staff at the charity support service users by offering a range of services, including one-to-one counselling, befriending services, Skype sessions, group therapy and a range of other positive solutions.

The charity works with local stakeholders, including my employer (The University of Nottingham), to help as many people as they can, and it’s work that I would love to get involved in.

Using skills I obtained in previous employment, I’ll be helping First Steps in a voluntary capacity with their communications and marketing strategy. I will be donating as much time as I feasibly can to their great work.

No, the people of Syria should not be expected to wait for the next election

“If you and I have the courage to tell our elected officials that we want national policy based on what we know in our hearts as morally right. We cannot defy our security … by committing an immorality so great by saying to a billion human beings now enslaved behind the Iron Curtain, ‘Give up your dreams of freedom, because to save our own skins, we were willing to do a deal with your slave-masters’.” – President Ronald Reagan

We have reached the point in the Syrian crisis and Donald Trump’s absolute requirement to take his citizens’ eyes off his failures at home in which, for the wrong reasons, Mr Trump has taken a unilateral move of signalling the beginning of the end for the Assad regime.

Here at home, our Government’s response to the missile launch has been lackluster; we are, apparently, not to get involved. This is a repeat of the consistent mistakes that have been made by politicians in this country, who have been in desperate election mode since 2013.

What is becoming increasingly clear is that the current government has no intention to act in any further military or operational way. This to me spells one thing: an early general election.

Marginal seat Members of Parliament are, once again, bombarding their constituents with election literature. This is happening pretty much everywhere. There happens, of course, to be local elections in many seats, but if anyone knows of any marginal MP who isn’t doing this at the moment, please do feel free to comment. It just so happens also that many of these MPs or candidates are publicly anti-Syrian interventionism.

Jeremy Corbyn’s statement on Syria was about the least offensive thing that he could say to his hard-liners, and those who he needs to ensure that Labour are not completely obliterated in the coming election. These aren’t words of any real sentiment; in fact, Mr Corbyn is well-known for supporting terrorists both here and abroad. What is happening here instead is that he is taking the chicken approach to foreign policy: He quite literally cannot state who he privately supports, because that would cost him his job, and for some reason, he does not view that prospect as a bad thing for the Labour Party or the country.

What’s quite clear is that Mr Trump, in reality, probably should not be permitted to do this alone. I don’t particularly wish to wait for any United Nations resolution – because, quite frankly, given Russia and China, one will not be forthcoming. If I had it my way, we’d have voted the right way in 2013. Sadly, Parliament did not.

Perhaps Mrs May, in advance of calling an early election, might decide to appoint a strategist, as opposed to a joke of a tactician who accidentally won a referendum, to deal with this situation. The lives of millions of Syrians may just depend on it.

What follows from here may be no further significant developments, especially given Russia’s insistence that if the US press ahead, there will be trouble. It may prove insurmountable, but with ISIS in retreat and Assad now directly threatened, it is blatantly obvious that we have a duty to ensure that power vacuum does not emerge, so that a coalition can support the citizens of Syria, as opposed to killing them.

In the coming weeks, there may be a chance for the Government to accept that this is required. We need to advance in defence of our values, our red lines, and in order make it clear to him and all those in the region that we will not accept human beings living in misery, slavery and isolation.

Month: April 2017