Ben Bradshaw MP Update -
Jim continues to keep Exeter’s Member of Parliament, Ben Bradshaw, up to date with major issues in the Campaign. The following email was sent 31st August 2009.
A complaint to the Devon & Cornwall Constabulary had been copied to Ben and, as ever, was kindly acknowledged by a sympathetic letter and his best wishes.
The email below was sent to thank Ben for his letter, put my previous email into context, and draw Ben’s attention to the front page of a recent Western Morning News. The hyperlink will lapse when the article is pulled from the WMN website.
Dear Ben
Thank you for your letter of 13th July. I’m sorry to take so long to acknowledge it, but I wished to do more than give a cursory response.
If you are on holiday, you may not have seen Thursday’s (27th Aug) Western Morning
News. It is headlined “THE AGE OF THE CHILD CRIMINAL – Lib-
Unquestionably, Labour has much to answer for, but in my view the issues are not particularly party political. Even so, national and local government are largely responsible for creating the thoroughly unhealthy climate which damages so many youngsters.
The growing awareness that we are failing our children is widespread. This is supported by UNICEF statistics, and those from many other sources reported in the press as each is published. The situation is extremely complex, and there are no quick and easy solutions. There is, however, a huge and urgent need to get back on track.
Over the last three years, I have been researching these issues. Instead of calling myself a retired schoolteacher, I would now refer to myself as a voluntary campaigner for children and community. I am not trying to undermine government in any way, but to enlarge its perception.
In acknowledging the copy of my email of 25th June, you say “it is not too clear what your actual problem and complaint is about.”
With all due respect, I am not the one with the problem. The Summerway Campaign is
of no benefit to me. It is children, community and society who will reap the benefit
if we eventually get our points across and appropriate action is taken. So far, we
have not been able to ascertain how the Summerway calamity originated. Arrogance,
short-
Your brief is much wider than mine. I do not expect you to have the same detailed knowledge of youngsters as I have acquired by working with them for well over fifty years. Long experience, a deep concern for people, and an open, questioning mind have given me a depth of specialist knowledge. Sadly, local government officers and councillors are unwilling to consult, discuss or deal with me.
I have tried to keep you informed of the bones of our immensely significant campaign, and I’m sorry if this has been so fragmented that the main concerns listed in my email to the police seem isolated from the overall picture. I assure you they are not.
Were you to examine all the circumstances surrounding my complaint to the D&C Constabulary, you would understand that the problem lies more with government than with our overstretched police force and judicial systems. Treating symptoms might be popular and gain plaudits from undiscerning members of the public, but the solution is to correct the root causes which lead to crime. This is a long term and radical project, and the sooner we begin it, the better.
While decisions regarding Summerway and the Heavitree Arch remain unexamined in depth, there is little hope for improvement. They are prime illustrations of where the plot has been lost. Trying to sweep them under the carpet, together with similar autocratic decisions, denies opportunity to profit from mistakes and bad experience. Hard lessons need to be learned by government before we can begin to make a change in the right direction. Humility, and the wish to serve rather than rule, seem anathema to those with political power. This isolates them from ordinary mortals like us. Democracy has become a meaningless word used to suggest a false credibility. We have discovered our elected representatives do not listen to us, but to the bureaucracy, and maybe the party line resulting from bureaucratic diktat.
Perhaps the desire to control and snoop should give way to true democratic principles.
Thank you for your continued interest.
Yours sincerely
Jim