lgilmore | 
24 May 2009 at 15:55 | 530 views
“Ask me what was the pinnacle of it all, and I would not hesitate with the answer: 9th June 1983, the night we won Yeovil at the General Election. For there is no privilege greater than representing the community you live in, and love, in Parliament.” Those are the words of Paddy Ashdown, from the final page of his extraordinary autobiography: “A Fortunate Life”, which was published recently and which I would recommend to all those interested not merely in politics but in life.
I have no doubt, too, that being MP for our area is the most important job that I will ever do, and the greatest privilege which I could have.
I have always been proud to be MP for this area, and however tough times have been, I have always felt honoured to be representing the interests and concerns of 110,000 people of South Somerset in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
But the revelations of the last couple of weeks have turned the words “Member of Parliament” from being a designation of honour to being a badge of shame. In living memory, the reputation of Parliament has never been so low.
There has been evidence of MPs claiming money that they were never entitled to; evidence of MPs switching the designation of their main homes to gain unfair financial advantages; and claims for items as extraordinary as £18,000 bookshelves, £8,000 TVs, and even 550 bags of horse manure.
It does not matter that, in my own view, the majority of MPs are honest and have not abused the system. The reputation of all MPs has been massively damaged. It is now the responsibility of all parties and MPs to address these issues before it is too late.
It is already a tragedy that those canvassing for support in our local elections, on 4th June, are finding that the public is blaming all politicians, and threatening to opt out of local elections as well as those for Westminster. This would be grossly unfair to the thousands of individuals, of all parties, who give their time to stand for local election. These individuals receive very modest rewards for their efforts – and some councillors receive no income at all for their work. Nor do local councils have the same laxness of expense management as has been displayed at Westminster.
I would ask all local residents, whoever you vote for, not to take out the sins of Westminster on the local politicians who, by and large, work so hard to serve their communities – and not themselves. And I would warn against supporting dangerous fringe parties which will seek to profit from the current crisis, but whose programmes would lead Britain down a dangerous and divisive path.
It will take years to restore trust in national politics. But all parties must unite now to start that process of re-building. Firstly, there should be maximum transparency and accountability. Last week, I became the first MP to publish my detailed expense claims for 2008/09. I will continue to do this, regardless of the formal rules, but these should also be changed for all MPs.
Secondly, I agree with Nick Clegg that the present Speaker, Michael Martin, should step down immediately. The culture of Westminster has been too much that of a cosy Members’ Club, and not of an accountable Parliament. This Speaker has acted as a constant road-block to reform and transparency. He has regarded himself as a parliamentary shop-steward and not as a Leader of Parliamentary Accountability. His attack last week in the House on two MPs who have fought for reform was, for me, the final straw. We need new leadership of Parliament itself, and in my view confidence will never be restored with this Speaker at the helm.
Finally, the rules must be dramatically tightened up, and large budget savings must be made. Reform need not wait until the Independent Inquiry reports – there is much that should be done right now, if the Prime Minister was willing to support change.
Our parliamentary democracy is a crucial and valuable part of our national life. All of us are losers if it is undermined. All of us have a duty to start the process of re-building.
David.
lgilmore | 19 May 2009 at 12:35 | 470 views
This week is "Local Newspaper Week" – an opportunity to celebrate the many local newspapers, including the Western Gazette, which report on and often participate in the life of local communities right across the country.
While national newspapers have been very much under pressure over recent years, not least from the internet, local newspapers have tended to do better. Much local news simply cannot be accessed on the internet, and there are many of us who do not wish to read most of our stories on a computer or on a mobile phone!
Local newspapers also have a better reputation with the public – they are more trusted than the national media. In my experience, this is usually justified – local newspapers are more likely to write fair and balanced articles which do not attempt to skew the news just to get a sensational story.
While national newspapers often behave with no sense of responsibility, merely writing as dramatic a story as possible and then moving on, local newspapers know that they need to be trusted by their local communities and they know that they have a responsibility to report the news in an accurate and impartial way.
This does not mean, of course, pulling punches. Newspapers have to be able to report stories that not all of us will like. The key is not whether censorship is applied to "hush up" stories, it is whether stories are reported in an unbiased and fair way.
Local newspapers are particularly valued because they are often the only way of receiving genuinely "local" news. TV stations often claim to have a "local" news slot, but when you live in Yeovil or Chard and discover that all of the stories are about Bristol or Cornwall, the notion of "local" doesn’t mean very much! I have, in fact, never lived anywhere where I have found that much of the "local" TV news was really relevant to me.
Of course, local radio also often covers "local" news, and this is often very important and useful for picking up major local stories in a timely way. However, local radio is increasingly under tough budget constraints, and the news staff are often unable to get out of their studios very much to collect local news and to ferret out stories. With a news programme on every hour, a large part of the job of local radio news staff is just to keep up with the regular broadcasts rather than to track down new stories.
Local newspapers are, therefore, the crucial forum for local news. They also provide a community news service, which is valued by many people, and an opportunity for debate and discussion of local issues and controversies. Without local newspapers, people would struggle to find out what was happening locally, and the identity and coherence of local communities would be undermined.
But this is a particularly tough time for local newspapers, which depend tremendously on advertising revenue rather than the "cover price" of the paper. When you consider what is advertised in local newspapers – property, cars and jobs make up a BIG percentage of advertising – it is no surprise that the present recession has been so damaging. Indeed, many local newspapers are struggling or going out of business.
We must hope that as the economy begins to grow again, as it probably will do by next year, advertising in our local newspapers will turn up once more.
In the meantime, I would urge all readers to continue to support our local newspapers – like local post offices and many other valued local services, it really is a case of "use them or lose them." It would be a disaster for local communities if local papers were squeezed out of business in the present recession. Once lost, it would not be easy to get these papers back.
That is one reason why, this year of all years, Local Newspaper Week is SO important,
Ever,
David.