It’s been a few days since my last post on the blog - but don't worry, I haven’t been on holiday to the Caribbean (like some I could mention!). It’s been a very busy couple of weeks politically, and also personally - more of which I hope to share with you over the coming weeks.
Just to update you on my actions over the past few days...last weekend both myself and Dave Furnell were out and about on Saturday and Sunday in Waterhouse Lane and Regents Park Road. Although the weather wasn’t with us, we did receive quite a warm welcome on the doorstep - great news as this hasn’t been our strongest area of the ward for many years.
My wife was relieved to hear that I had Monday night off from doing politics, but you'll be pleased to know that I was back in the swing of things on Tuesday night: I met up with the Chairman of a major Southampton amateur sports club to discuss the future direction of the club and how they could weather the financial storms of 2011. It was a positive meeting and I was glad to help out where I could.
Wednesday evening was taken up with a party forum to discuss the direction of our policy in the leisure and economic areas. It was a lively debate with members from across the party. It’s our third meeting and a great opportunity for all members to come together to develop a meaningful and realistic alternative to the Tories holed up in City hall.
On Thursday evening I went to the Southampton Biomass Consultation public consultation meeting. I must admit I have sat down a read a fair few pages of the publicly available documents - but I must warn you that they run into hundreds of pages...Have a look for yourself http://www.southamptonbiomasspower.com/ I would urge you to log on and have a look as this power station will be a real legacy for Southampton. And we’ve only got until the 18th March to respond on the proposals. Based on only 2 days of public consultation I'm not yet sure of whether we should or shouldnt support this. The messages on the doorstep have been mixed and the consultation staff I spoke to on Thursday night were not able to answer most of my questions sadly.
And so that brings me to Friday. I met Andy Burnham earlier today. He is the Shadow Secretary of State for Education and a really nice guy to boot! Expect lots of pictures of me and Andy in our upcoming leaflets - apologies if I'm smiling like a loon in them!
Have a great weekend, and possibly see you at the junction of King Georges Avenue & Westbury Road tomorrow at 10.30am.
Asa,
ReplyDeleteI am afraid to say this is one of those occasions where I fear that the local population are simply not clever enough or not informed enough to sensibly comment on a proposal of significance nationally if not internationally.
The key facts here
- We need to broaden our mix of energy generation methods. The geopoltical landscape is grotesquely skewed by our dependence on oil/gas and to a lesser extent yellow cake to drive our fossil fuel and nuclear power production needs. There are literally thousands dieing year on year as a direct result of our projection of soft and hard power in support of these interests.
- Climate change whether man made, natural or a mixture of the two is real and again from a left of centre perspective is a real negative driver on the life chances of millions of the poorest in society around the world. A key fact from the FAQ on the site you reference is the reduction in C02 emmissions of 720,000 tonnes as compared with coal fired energy production. As a labour politican surely you must support anything that science suggests will reduce the impact of this global driver of economic deplacement and poverty ?
- Locally the proposal will create employment both during construction and to a lesser extent during operation. This is clearly a *good thing* from anyones perspective in these economically challenging times ?
- The economics of the generation of power generation from biomass are only going to improve as oil/gas become scarcer. It also the economics of the mad house to use a resource such as oil for power generation when it can be used for such a wide array of other processes such as plastics etc for which there are currently few comercially viable alternatives.
I would say that the above four points are a clinching argument for the proposal. If one dives into the detail a bit more there is of course a number of subsidary issues both positive and negative. I would critique a little for example the proposed fuel mix and the energy miles associated with importing some of the biomass and issues to resolve in terms of impact on the port and surrounding area, but these dont outweigh the points I make above.
I have unfortunately seen little evidence your average punter on the street being prepared to engage with such issues on the basis of evidence or even informed emotional gut appeal. The average opinion is at best partially informed and at worst misinformed and primarily based on a wierd mix of emotional bias and a desire to kick a party or parties based on tribal loyalties.
The issue is far too important for that.
Shaw,
ReplyDeleteAs ever a useful insight into the issues as you see them. There is a lot of resonance with the comments you make, however I'm not too keen on the overall tone - specifically "I fear that the local population are simply not clever enough...". UNACCEPTABLE.
There is a bit of a communication vacuum coming from Helios at the moment, in so far as the documents are not easily digestible: not concise nor written in plain english. It doesnt help if the commitments on paper are optimistic version of reality either.
It is true to say that this is a legacy issue, but it is the job of the Council and more importantly Helios to ensure that the local poppulation do have the information they need in a format they need. This is a MASSIVE decision for the people of Southampton and Millbrook.
We need to be sure that when we look back at this point in time, in years to come, that we can say that we got it right.
Nationally this does tick the boxes of a broadening energy security policy, new cutting edge technology, new jobs (albeit limited local appeal). This issue still remains is this right for Southampton? Is this right for Millbrook? Is this right for us?
This could be a massive boost for our area for years to come or the biggest mistake in recent memory.
You seem to have misunderstood me slightly
ReplyDeleteYes it is beholdent on the proposer of the scheme to explain the issues to interested *informed* parties and yes there is a local consideration as to whether millbrook is the right place for the scheme.
Where we part company is your simplistic interpretation of the democratic principle. We dont operate under a direct plebecite model we have a *representative* democracy. It simply isnt necesscary or indeed desirable for all complex issues to be dumbed down to allow a knee jerk partial gut feel reaction from the broad mass of the community.
What is important is that the punter on the doorstep can look you in the eye and feel confident you hold his interests at the heart of your political pysche, he/she needs to be able to trust your judgement. Politics isnt a continual process of vox pop but rather an engagement on principles between the electorate and the politican with the politicans then playing out those principles exploiting opportunities and avoiding pitfalls as they occur.
To say you cant have a position on the plant because feedback on the doorstep is mixed is rediculous. You need to peel back the layers of the onion analyse the fundamental driving principles of the people of millbrook and analyse for yourself how these should play out on this issue. As I said in my original post given you are a labour politican the answer should be clear-cut, I am suprised it isnt.
Actually this quote from a letter the charlemagne in 798 puts my basic point much more elegantly than I could ever hope too.
ReplyDeleteNec audiendi qui solent dicere, Vox populi, vox Dei, quum tumultuositas vulgi semper insaniae proxima sit.
Which paraphrased into english roughly translates as
Do not listen to those that say that the voice of the people is the voice of god for the riotness of the crowd teeters on the edge of madness.
Shaw,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the informative enterptretation of the democratic model which we have here in Millbrook. Sadly, both of my degrees studied in politics have failed to prepare me for the realities of the doorstep.
The fact is that politicians have not engaged with their constituents as well as they should have. That is not to say that I accept every discussion I hear as truth, but rather that two way conversation between electorate and elected is crucial to validating the mandate with which the politician can govern.
We have serious issues of employment and education in our community, but to dismiss the majority of our community as being uninformed and therefore should not be conversed with, is at best misguided.
Back to the original discussion point of the Power Station, I am very pleased to see that common sense prevailed and that there will be additional public consultation exhibitions to allow everyone effected the opportunity to examine the plans and ask questions.
I will certainly be in attendance once again.
p.s. Shaw, thank you for taking the time to put down your thoughts on my blog. I do appreciate it.
haha you really will make a good politican in all honesty. You should have told me get knotted on about post 1 :D I talk an awful lot rubbish amidst a few valid ideas.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with politics isnt in my opinion the lack of understanding of what the public wants I think most politicans "get it" in that sense. The problems come about due to a large and growing gap between the solution space that would meet the public aspirations and those that are acceptable to the ruling political and economic elite.
The deficit reduction is a case in point. I honestly believe the public would welcome a slower more deliberative reduction programme. I also from my limited study of economics believe the keynesian approach of the last government to focus on growth is the right one for the long term best interests of the british economy. I also believe however that the economic elite the so called "markets" are the driving factor together with the tory ideologs pushing for a smaller state.
You can see this kind of problem all over the place in modern politics, the public are up for real change, fresh ideas but the politicans for the most part are unable or unwilling to meet the public even half way.
Good luck with the election, should you want a few leaflets shoving out one weekend get in touch you have my email addreess.