Week 8 2012 23.2.2012

Tendring Topics.....on Line

Where are we going?

          Did you know that we are all to be invited to take part in an election in November of this year?   It is to decide who, in the future, is to appoint Chief Constables and to have strategic control of the UK’s Police Force in our area.  I have to confess that I had only the vaguest idea of who exercises this control at the present time.  I did know that a relatively small proportion of our Council Tax payments is earmarked for the ‘Police Authority’ and, as Police Authority boundaries generally coincide with those of the county, I thought that the Police Authority must be something to do with the County Council.

            In fact, Police Authorities are quite separate organisations.  Typically they have seventeen members, nine of whom are nominees of the County and District Councils in their area and eight are ‘independent’ councillors, nominated by the Police Authority itself.  Of the independent councillors at least three must be Justices of the Peace.  I don’t think that anyone would claim that an organisation of which almost half its members are self-appointed could claim to be ‘democratic’.    Alternatives might be for all the members to be directly elected in the same way as councillors, or perhaps for them to be nominated by the county and district councils in the Police Area. Justices of the Peace in the area might be invited to elect their own three representatives on the Police Committee.

             Those however are not the choices that we shall be invited to make in November. The Government, which has abolished ‘committee control’ of local government and now requires local councils to have all-powerful elected Mayors (the preferred option) or ‘cabinet control’ by a small majority party clique, as in the central government in Westminster, is introducing an even more dictatorial system of control for Police Authorities.  Police Authorities will be abolished and replaced by an elected full-time Police Commissioner for each area who will appoint the Chief Constable, allocate funding, and decide on strategic police policy.  Candidates for these posts will not be required to have any previous police experience and political parties will probably put their own candidates forward.  I understand that the only party so far to have selected a candidate is UKIP – though I have just learned that Lord Prescott (former Deputy Prime Minister) hopes to be Labour’s candidate for South Humberside.  Oh yes – there is one requirement.  Each candidate will be required to find a £5,000 deposit to be forfeited if he or she doesn’t achieve a certain proportion of the total vote.

             The new idea may be more efficient than the present arrangement.  It may be less expensive – though that I doubt.  It will certainly be easier for central government to persuade one man (or woman) rather than a committee to toe the government line. It won’t be more democratic.  And all of this from a government that says it is promoting localism and power to the people! 

            Directly elected all-powerful Mayors! Directly elected all-powerful Police Commissioners!  Where are we going? Perhaps we should have a directly elected all-powerful Prime Minister.  He could be given a new title – National Leader perhaps?  I am old enough to remember that something of the sort was tried in mainland Europe during the last century – in Germany, Italy, Spain and the Soviet Union!

‘One Nation’ Conservatism?

          A few years ago I was amused when one Conservative MP told us proudly that to him ‘One Nation Conservatism’ meant keeping England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as one United Kingdom.  That isn’t its meaning of course.  It derives from a novel written by Benjamin Disraeli, the founder of the modern Conservative Party entitled Sybil or The Two Nations. In it he claimed that early Victorian Britain was not one nation but two – the rich and the poor; possibly not a message that today’s Conservatives want to hear.

            It is a novel remarkable for its realistic description of the living conditions of  working class people in England at that time; a description remarkably similar to that of Frederick Engels who, with Karl Marx, was a founder of the Communist Party, in his ‘Condition of the Working Classes in England in 1844’. The two books were published in the same year – 1845.

            I think it likely that David Cameron, despite his old Etonian background and his millionaire-packed government, would claim to be a ‘One Nation Conservative’.  He genuinely believes that he speaks and acts for the welfare of the whole population of the UK, rich and poor alike.  Of the current financial crisis he claims ‘We’re all in this together’.

 That is something that many would question.    I don’t think though that anyone would doubt his devotion to that other, incorrect, meaning of One Nation Conservatism.   He made clear in his recent speech in Scotland which he had visited to have face-to-face talks with Scotland’s First Minister and Leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party Alex Salmond that he would do his utmost to maintain the union of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom, even though Scottish independence would be to his own political party’s advantage in England.  Unable to prevent a referendum on Scottish independence (after all, he does claim to believe in local autonomy) he is determined to achieve a resounding ‘No’ vote when it takes place.     

Did the public speech that David Cameron made on that occasion further or hinder his cause?   The first part of his speech could well have come directly from the Scottish tourist office, listing the illustrious Scots who have played a part in shaping Britain’s destiny. This was followed by an exposition of the reasons why he believed the Scots should reject independence. Most of these (a United Kingdom can play a larger part on the international stage than a fractured one, for instance) are also good reasons for our becoming an active member of a more closely integrated Europe!  There was as well, a promise and a not-all-that-veiled threat.   After the referendum had taken place he (no word about Parliament being in any way involved!) would consider the possibility of transferring other powers to the Scottish parliament and government that are currently held by Westminster.   That would, of course, depend upon there being a clear ‘No’ vote to Scottish Independence in the referendum.

            I don’t know how the Scots may have reacted to all that.  I do know, as an East Anglian, that if a Politician from elsewhere in the UK visited us to make a speech telling us what a wonderful contribution to British history had been made by, for instance. Hereward the Wake, Fr. John Ball,  Cardinal Wolsey, Lord Nelson, Mother Julian of Norwich, Elizabeth Fry and Edith Cavell, I would have thought he was being patronising and trying to teach his grandmother how to suck eggs!  Had that politician been David Cameron I would have been amazed that someone who had imagined, even momentarily, that in 1940 Britain had been a junior partner to the USA in the struggle against Nazism, could have had the effrontery to deliver a homily on British history to anyone at all!

            As for the threat (or possibly ‘promise’), nobody with any sense believes politicians promises and my admittedly limited knowledge of Scotland and its inhabitants suggests to me that the Scots don’t take kindly to threats. 

            If I were a resident of Scotland I would unquestionably vote YES in the forthcoming referendum on Scottish Independence.  I would certainly have much more confidence in Alex Salmon’s Scottish Nationalist government in Scotland than in David Cameron’s coalition.  They have been more successful too.  Despite Glasgow’s one-time reputation for violent gangs, there were no summer riots ‘north of the border’, and I think that, given independence, the Scots would get rid of that nuclear submarine base within their territorial waters.

            However as a resident in England (I’m too old to emigrate northwards and I don’t really think I’d care for the climate!) I have mixed feelings.  I certainly wish our Scottish neighbours and their government well – but I fear that, as David Cameron predicted, independence for Scotland would be to his party’s advantage in England.  It really wouldn’t make much difference to me.  I can hardly expect to live to see anything different.  I would be sorry though to think of my sons and grandchildren condemned to years – perhaps decades – of Europhobic ‘market obsessed’ governments with the gap between rich and poor becoming ever wider, wider….and wider still!   

‘Essex Works’ – so they claim!

            Since falling in a hotel bath on Boxing Day and having to summon help, I have been rather more conscious of ‘health and safety’ than in the past.  I am ninety, I do live alone and I am vulnerable!   I make sure that I always have my Tendring Helpline pendant and my mobile phone within reach while I am having my morning shower.  I never venture out of the house without my walking stick and mobile phone.  I have been looking round my bungalow for potential danger spots.

            One possible hazard that I have identified is just outside my front door.  There is a fairly deep step down to the concrete path.  Several years ago a kind neighbour made a wooden ramp with a non-slip surface to make it possible for me to push my wife in her wheel-chair in and out of the bungalow.  Since her sad death, now nearly six years ago, I have retained it.  I may one day need to get my mobility scooter in and out of the bungalow in the same way!   In the meantime I do find the easy slope of the ramp rather easier than using the step.

 However I realize that I am in my greatest danger of falling as I step down that ramp. I always have my stick and I descend very slowly and carefully.   There is no doubt though that I’d be much safer and more secure if I had a hand-rail to clutch as I come in or go out. 

The observant viewer will note a ‘key safe’ fixed to the wall to the right of the door. It affords the local police means of entry in an emergency.

This, I thought, is where Essex County Council’s Social Services Department will be able to help.  Promoting safety in the homes of old people living alone as I do must undoubtedly be one of the activities to which the County Council is referring in the  claim on all its printed material that Essex Works!  I surely had only to give them a ring and an expert would visit, assess my need, and arrange for a hand-rail to be fitted.  While he or she was with me I’d ask them to look round and let me know if they could see any other potential hazard that I might have missed.

            It hasn’t worked out quite as simply as I had imagined.  First came the problem of contacting the Social Services Department. One morning four weeks ago I dialled the number. Very promptly a mechanical voice told me that my call might be recorded for training purposes and that I’d be put through to one of their trained staff as soon as one became available.  Then, I waited – and waited – and waited. Eventually, it was at my second attempt on the following day, a human voice rewarded my patience.

            I explained my situation to a helpful lady who told me that before I could be helped I would need to be ‘assessed’ and that part of that assessment would, with my agreement, take place there and then by phone.   Why not?   She asked me my full name, address and email address and my date of birth – 18 May, 1921. At that she became more solicitous.  Was I able to get up unaided, wash, shave and shower and dress myself?  Feed myself?  Could I prepare my own meals? Could I do my own shopping, house cleaning and gardening (I already arrange outside help for the last two of these)?  Could I, perhaps with a washing machine, do my own laundry?  As I gave affirmative answers I could almost hear any priority that my age might have afforded, disappearing into the distance.  I was asked if I minded the information I had given being shared with other departments. ‘Not in the least’ I replied.  I would be hearing from them, I was assured, within the next few days.

            And so I did.   I received a communication telling me that I would be told the time and date of my on-the-spot assessment ‘shortly’. That was over a fortnight ago and I haven’t heard yet.  Enquiries suggest that there are three stages still to come; the on-the-spot assessment, delivery of any equipment agreed at the time of the assessment, installation of the equipment.

            It seems quite possible that, at some time or other, I’ll be able to confirm from experience that Essex Works – though not at a breakneck speed!    

           

           

Week 31.10 3rd August

Tendring Topics………on Line

The Queen…….and I

The Queen and I haven’t a great deal in common. We’re both members of the human race, we’re both well past the first flush of youth and we both wore uniform during World War II, though hers was a good deal more elegant, and more comfortable, than mine was. When, in a mood of patriotic fervour, I volunteered for the Territorial Army early in 1939, she was included when I took my enlistment oath to protect her father King George VI and all his lawful heirs and successors. Oh yes, and my wife and I were very pleased when the Queen sent us a card and message of congratulation on our sixtieth wedding anniversary.

That was about it until very recently, when I learned that, like me, she had a collection of photographs displayed on the Flickr Web Site. This site displays many thousands of photographs submitted by people all over the world and is recommended to art teachers and students seeking inspiration and example.

Trooper Hall, F.C. 17th Lancers 1901

I have over 400 pictures on display – a great many family ones of course, with some of me as a tiny baby with my proud parents, culminating with some of me as I am now. There is a picture of my father in 1901 (one of Queen Victoria’s Redcoats) newly enlisted as a trooper in the very dashing 17th Lancers which, just fifty years earlier, had taken part in the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava in the Crimean War.

Right: Younger Son Andy with granddaughter Jo

There are pictures of my now-middle aged sons, and of my grandchildren as babies and, as they are now, in their late twenties.

Above - Myself, Chris girlfriend Ariel,Chris, Pete

Right - Arlene, Pete, Nick, Nick's girlfriend Romy

There are pictures of record too, some unrepeatable; a glance into a girls and a boys primary school class in the 1930s, pictures of a frozen sea off Clacton during a now-long-ago winter, and pictures of the famous Turkish packhorse bridge at Mostar in Bosnia, taken in 1980 before it was destroyed in the Jugoslav civil war.

The old Turkish pack-horse bridge at Mostar in Bosnia taken on a never-to-be-forgotten holiday in 1980. Through the archway a mosque can be seen in the distance. The bridge was destroyed in the subsequent bloody civil war. It has since been rebuilt at the expense of the Turkish government. It isn’t really the same though!

You can see my flickr pages by accessing www.flickr.com/photos/ernestbythesea (my somewhat romantic code name was a product of the fertile imagination of my elder grandson Chris, who set the site up for me). The website has brought me into contact with a Canadian distant cousin whom I hadn’t known existed; a Baptist truck driver from the USA’s ‘deep south’ with whom I had a brief but interesting correspondence, in which we disagreed with each other on practically every issue raised; and with a number of interesting people with requests, always granted, for permission to use one or other of the pictures displayed.

I hope that the Queen gets as much pleasure and interest from her flickr site as I have from mine.

Clacton's Bashful Fountains!

Clacton’s water feature, on what was once called ‘Christmas Island’ but is now ‘The Town Square’ has had a short history but a distinctly chequered one. When first installed in 2008 (amid inevitable accusations of its being ‘a waste of taxpayers’ money) it resembled similar water features in many other English towns. Fountains of water shot up into the air from hidden nozzles at pavement level.

It was attractive to look at. In what passed for a summer that year, it attracted small boys who enjoyed running through it and getting soaked. A great many adults enjoyed watching them do so!

Outside Sheffield’s Town Hall. This is how Clacton’s water feature is supposed to look

It was too good to last. First of all some joker introduced washing powder to it and the jets squirted bubbly suds! (Clacton, I’m sorry to say, has more than its fair share of such humorists.) The water feature was switched off, emptied and cleaned. It was at about that time that the Council realized that their fountain hadn’t been provided with an adequate water purification plant. It had been an economy measure, a typical case of spoiling the ship for a ha’porth of tar, though in this case it would have been a pretty big ha’porth.

Stray cats and dogs, and even seagulls, could be fouling the water through which little children were innocently disporting themselves! The possible threat of expensive lawsuits initiated by the kind of ambulance-chasing lawyers whose ‘no win: no fee’ adverts keep daytime commercial tv on its feet, began to haunt the dreams of Councillors and senior Council Officials. What if some child developed an unpleasant disease, blamed it on the fountain, and the parents sued? Playing safe, they switched off the fountain and off it remained for several months.

Last summer, again not much of a summer, the fountain started up again – but with an instantly derided (and expensive) fence all round it. The only justification for the fountain’s existence was the contribution its attractive appearance made to the town centre. The fence effectively destroyed that!

This year they are having another try. The ugly fence has come down and the fountain again enhances the attractions of the town centre.

Now though, thanks to electronic wizardry, it resembles the bashful heroine of a mid-Victorian romantic novel. The general public is invited to enjoy its beauty but strictly on a ‘keep your distance and touch me not’ basis. Get too close and electronic sensors send it into the equivalent of a Dickensian swoon – the fountains of water start to fail and eventually shut down altogether.

Nineteenth Century novels usually include ‘some blackguard’ managing to break down the young heroine’s reserve and threaten her virtue. So it is with our water feature. Already, so I understand, small boys have discovered a blind spot in the electronic barrier and have managed to get past it to frolic in the fountains without activating the protective screen!

A few days ago (28th July) I drove my mobility scooter to the town centre to get a photo of that accident-prone fountain. The jets weren’t working; presumably closed down again while someone sought an answer to the latest problem. I wonder what the one after that will be?

‘Essex Works’

‘Essex Works’, proclaims the headline on the latest edition of the County Council’s self-congratulatory newsletter. No one would doubt it, though I am by no means so confident that the same can be said about its County Council.

In the newsletter are set out five ways in which that Council proposes to save £300 million pounds – Buying better, Working smarter, Working together, Thinking ahead, and by means of Sharing and Trading Services. It reads to me more like a wish list than a programme for action but it ends with the bold claim that, by means unspecified, they have already saved £60 million!

I hope that they are successful. They have certainly been very good at spending our money. It seems likely that they’ll have to spend a good deal more of it if they are going to bring all their services up to an acceptable standard. Their child-care services, in particular, have long been below standard. I remember a year ago it being promised that they would take immediate effective steps to improve them. They don’t seem to have been very successful. During 2009/2010, 148 enquiries and complaints about the ECC were received by the Local Government Ombudsman, compared with 139 the previous year. Complaints relating to children and family services rose from 4 to 14 and those relating to adult care doubled from 9 to 18. There were also 36 complaints about education. As a result of these complaints the County Council had to make eleven local settlements in compensation, costing the taxpayers £16,456. This is trivial compared with the £300 million they are hoping to save but, as they say when commenting on these, ‘Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves’. The converse is also true, ‘Squander the pennies and you soon won’t have any pounds to save’.

In an attempt to improve their failing Children’s Services they have appointed a new Director of Schools, Children and Families. Dave Hill, the new Director, will be moving from a similar job in Croydon. His salary is not reported but it certainly won’t be peanuts! They are also offering a two-year contract of up to £150,000, not for new staff, but to a company able to bring in non-EU social workers to reduce reliance on agency staff. I’d have thought that non-EU workers from cultures and traditions very different from our own would be particularly unsuitable for social work.

I mentioned a few weeks ago in this blog that, despite their enthusiasm for saving, Essex Councillors had just voted themselves increased allowances. I now learn that during the last financial year they paid out £90,000 in staff bonuses, not to hard-pressed social workers and the like, but to top officials already on six-figure salaries. I have also discovered that they have spent no less than £800,000 (now that isn’t a trivial sum by anyone’s standards!) redesigning the Council’s website. Of this extravagance Emma Boon, campaign manager of the Taxpayers’ Alliance says, ‘The Council already has a site designed and built at the public’s expense. They shouldn’t spend more of our money doing it all over again’.

And so say all of us!

Above left: myself, Ariel Chris' girlfriend, Chris.

Right: Arlene, Pete, Nick, Romy Nick's girlfriend

The Turkish packhorse bridge at Mostar, taken while we were on holiday in 1980. The bridge was to be destroyed in the subsequent bloody civil war. It has since been rebuilt at the expense of the Turkish government. It isn’t really the same though!

There are some pictures of record too, some of them irreplaceable: a glimpse into boys and girls classrooms in primary schools in the '30s; the sea frozen over off Clacton Beach in a cold winter many years ago; the Turkish packhorse bridge in Mostar, Bosnia, destroyed in the civil war.

You can see my flickr pages by clicking on www.flickr.com/photos/ernestbythesea (my somewhat romantic code name was a product of the fertile imagination of my elder grandson, who set the site up for me). The website site has brought me into contact with a Canadian distant cousin whom I hadn’t known existed; a Baptist truck driver from the USA's ‘deep south’ with whom I had a brief but interesting correspondence in which we disagreed with each other on practically every issue raised; and with a number of interesting people with their requests, always granted, for permission to use one or other of the pictures displayed.

I hope that the Queen gets as much pleasure and interest from her flickr site as I have from HM from mine.