What should we do in 2010?

Hi 38 Degree Team,
You have asked what should be tackled in the lead in to the general election and for me the subject must be health inequalities.

Just a precis: I have been trawling the NHS complaints system for over four years now and the things I have discovered would make War and Peace look like a paperback!

I have found clear evidence of situations akin to Romania, where vulnerable people are left to their own devices and carry their possessions around in black bin liners!

There has been lots of contact with Parliament re systemic failure (and Boris Johnson was my MP then!) following the publication of two investigation reports, the resignation of West London Mental Health Trust CEO (for a seconded job at the Strategic Health Authority on full pay!) and Nursing Director has gone to another public job with the mental health services.

And during this time the appalling failures at Mid-Staffordshire, Basildon and Thurrock hospitals and Milton Keynes maternity unit have highlighted the inadequacies of Foundation Trust status.

The Chair of the Care Quality Commission(CQC) Baroness Barbara Young has resigned and CQC is “in limbo” (which is not a good place for a so-called health regulator!)

The nationally identified 2nd stage lead in complaints, the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) only reviews less than 2% of complaints brought to the PHSO service, thus leaving over 98% of complaints unresolved. Yet, this ‘public service’ costs us more than £34m per annum!

I have masses of info now on system failure and in these times of crisis, is it fair for Government to be withdrawing national and local suicide indicators and funding for counseling (I am still checking how widespread this is!)
Mental health services have always been known as “the Cinderella Service of the NHS”….isnt it about time we tackled this?

Health inequalities sounds like a good idea to me. I sued the NHS in the hope that things would change. I have seen no evidence of that happening!

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Social Services!!
This country is systematically failing children and all I have seen SS do is hiding behind their legal department.

We have been used by SS to take care of a child, placed with us by them, with no financial or practical help whatsoever and there is nothing we can do (apart from dropping the child off at their doorstep, but who would do such a cruel thing!)
We have complained, but all that has happened is that the complaint is looked at by the same local authority where the problem started, so oh suprise, all complaints have been dismissed.

After baby P, you would have thought that things would be changed for the better, all local authorities seem to have done is strenghten their legal departments to dismiss any sort of responsibility!!

If I am alone in this, so be it, but I am sure there must be more stories out there, probably more shocking than ours.

Kind regards,
Franne Ravensbergen

Following the failure of Copenhagen – phoning, emailing and writing no longer seems to be enough.

Johann Hari can be a little strident for my tastes but he seems to be on the money here:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-after-the-catastrophe-in-copenhagen-its-up-to-us-1846366.html

Organisations like 38 Degrees should start mobilising their supporters – we need to be on the streets every weekend until the UK takes unilateral action on climate change.

Well, there are three specific issues which I think require special attention. These include Civil Liberties, unemployment and the need to reform our crumbling political process.

With civil liberties, I would like us to campaign for the abolition of the National Identity Register, an end to be retention of DNA (for all cases where someone is found not to be linked in any way to a crime scene), much less CCTV coverage. Also, CCTV which we do keep, should be more targeted. Journalists and others should also be permitted to do their work, without being stopped by Police in the streets! This has been happening, particularly with journalists who need to take photographs for their work!

With unemployment, employers face numerous restrictions imposed by Government. They need more incentives, and fewer barriers. Abolish the mimimum wage, reduce much of the equal opportunities legislation, simplify the CRB process and ensure that employers can only use it when actually needed.

On a more positive note, employers should look for strengths in potential recruits, rather than simply finding the cheapest or nearest. Also, what about making far more effort to introduce work placements for the unemployed? Or, more work trials? And without restricting these measures, to any particular group of people? In addition, employers could (and should) provide far more training than they do at present. Particularly, the larger and more profitable organisations, obviously.

Decent Homes Standard

Sign and support a petition against the deferral of Decent Homes Standard monies and make politicians listen to combine funding streams of seperate departments into one that really makes a difference creating sustainable communities.

Background:

Thousands of council house tenants in properties managed by an Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) will not now receive the improvements to their homes that they were promised this year or next.

The Government’s decision to divert £150 million from the Decent Homes programme to fund new housing means ALMO’s who had not gained the required two star rating by 17th July 2009 will not be guaranteed the funding promised to enable them to bring their properties up to a decent standard. As a result, many tenants now feel badly let down.

The Decent Homes programme has improved the lives of tenants in some of the worst housing in the country. It has also created and sustained many jobs and apprenticeships. Diverting funding will put many of these at risk.

ALMO’s are calling on the Government to stand by its pledge to council tenants whose housing conditions are amongst the worst in the country.

From:

A cold 8th floor flat in a neglected 1963 high rise tower block called Arthur Millwood Court on THE Islington Estate in Salford M3, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, England.

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year from Hessel F de Boer, Chair of TIETARA – The Islington Estate Tenants And Residents Association http://www.theislingtonestate.com

Dear 38 Degrees,

Thanks for all the excellent work you’ve carried out this year.
As someone who has been voting for the Green Party for 30+
years, I’m tired of spoiling my vote (only Conservatives and Lib
Dems in the depths of Shropshire, no Greens, or Labour for that
matter) and desperate to see some benefit from voting. I would
like you to tackle the absence of a democratic vote by pursuing Proportional Representation.

Best wishes for New Year
Mike

Doubtless further Climate Change action will rightly be on the agenda, but I would like the underlying issue of our need to live sustainably on this planet brought into focus more. Because of the focus on reducing carbon there is now an open door for the immensely powerful nuclear industry. Unless we are very vigilant then we are likely to end up with a nuclear future rather than one based on clean renewable energy sources, which frankly would be a disaster (IMHO) whether or not there are any major nuclear accidents (caused by terrorism or otherwise). Soon enough, nuclear fuel is likely to become a limited commodity too, and is open to being controlled for political and economic gain by the nations that produce the raw materials. And it is still impossible to put a price on managing the waste products, so its economic viability is similarly impossible to gauge. A pretty dubious choice spurred on by scientists (mainly men of course) who would always rather pursue cutting-edge ‘Sci-Fi movie’ technology than put equal effort and funding into boring un-sexy wind or wave power solutions.

I fill in the forms send the letters sign the pledges, or do what ever I’m ask on here, but sadly being disabled i tend to not bother with politics anymore.

I think Politicians in the UK have become the Bankers of the 2000′s greed has taken over, the lies and the feeling I have for politicians mean I’d shoot the lot of them and leave them for the birds.

I think many people now feel after new labour we have been living a lie for too long.

So I’ll fill in the letters send the pledges fill out the surveys but thats it I’m afraid, I not kick an MP to save his life.

The Lib-Dems have abandoned their commitment to hold a referendum on UK membership of the European Union. But such a referendum is necessary. We were cheated out of a referendum on the new EU Constitution; our continued membership of the EU is therefore illegitimate and unconstitutional, and will remain so until the people are allowed to decide the issue.

Well done for all your excellent work cleaning up the mess that our elected representatives have made of this country! If they worked as hard for us voters and taxpayers as they do for the rich and powerful this would be a much better place to live.

I think that the next area that you should tackle is planning law. Where I live, in South Manchester, a developer has recently bought a well loved area of open space and is planning to build a massive sporting complex on it (see the Save Chorlton Meadows blog). In spite of receiving over 900 letters of objection, petitions, a Facebook page with 6000 signatures, objections from everyone from the Environment Agency to the CPRE and objections from all the local politicians, the local Planning Dept. are still “minded to approve” and it is obvious that, although they have ticked the box marked ‘consultation’ they regard the views of local residents as being irrelevant. The Planning Committee are due to vote on the matter in January of next year – then we shall see how much ‘democracy’ there is locally.
But even if the Committee reject the plans the developer can appeal – and we, the local residents whose quality of life will be affected by this, can’t.

I would like to see a renewed campaign to end the false distinction between NHS care and so-called social care and the means-testing that goes with the latter which punishes savings and thrift and results in thousands of sick people being deprived of their houses by being forced to sell them to pay for the same level of care that others including wasters get free funded in part from the taxes paid by the charged users of social care. Before his election Tony Blair said he did not want to live in a country where people lost their homes to pay for their care. He set up the Sutherland Commission which made a majority recommendation that all care should be free for those who really need it but just shelved it and Tony Brown is currently examining a new system which will still not achieve this aim.

Hi 38 degrees team – best wishes for the holiday period.

With the GE fast approaching, I would like to see the pressure being kept up for improving the democratic process within parliament.
1. Keep up the pressure for a recall law.
2. Continue to campaign for a referendum on electoral reform within the lifetime of the next parliament

I think it important to keep focused on the ’38 degrees’.
I suggest you should also beware too much side-tracking into too many political areas.
I agree that people power has a huge affect, but equally excessive bombarding MP’s etc can also have the reverse effect.

I would like to see a challenge to the monopoly of pharmaceutical medicine. Orthodox is a tag put on that medicine which people misunderstand as the only ‘effective’ medicine, rather than that which has the stamp of an authoritarian ilk. Herbs are the basis of medicine; without which, the ideas about healing people would not exist. Digitalis, Willow bark and the opiates etc are fundamental to medicine. It would also link with a healthy environment and putting nourishment back into our depleted earth. Education on simple things like; posture, demonstrated by yoga, the Alexandra technique etc. These underpin most fashionable and contemporary exercise regimes and should be taught in primary education. Posture reflects our health and our health and well-being is reflected in our posture. I have a lot more to offer on this subject.

I think a campaign holding politicians to account over exactly how the country’s debt will affect a generation of school and university leavers is important, and what plans they intend to make to get our generation into employment. Too much time is spent on quick fixes by older generations of politicians who deliberately ignore the financial and economic impact of their decisions on my generation; the ones who will have to bear the brunt of their mistakes (the last figures by the Conservatives estimated each child will now be born owing £17,000…how will this affect the generation inbetween, who will also have to pay off tens of thousand of pounds in uni fees?). Given that we will be new voters next election I think it’s vital to ask the main parties to outline their commitment to us to help us to make a decision and encourage more new voters to use their vote.

The REDD scheme, debated at Copenhagen but not completed, is supposed to stop deforestation by paying owners of forests not to chop down the trees. It’s very worrying. In the present draft (from a BRITISH official), a palm oil plantation will get as much fiunding as an untouched forest, so the scheme will give an incentive for a land grab for rainforest to turn it into planatitions with the emission of enormous amounts of CO2. Even if this loophole is closed it could still lead to a land grab and eviction of peoples who live in the forest whose titles are not legally recognized or ignored.
Please can you do something about this.
All best, and thanks for all you’ve done this year

I sent in a campaign suggestion a month or so ago and its not been acknowledged or posted on this page, why?
It was to campaign to gain both public, commercial and political understanding and action on the oncoming threat to us all from peak energy. This is easily a more immediate threat to us than climate change.
Please could you respond to this?

I would like to see 38 Degree’s help out campaigners like myself who show fraud and corruption from Number Ten downwards, if you read my party web site on http://www.no-justice.org.uk read the home page first, i would ask 38 Degree’s to ask its members to take up the same claims as these affect our children and grandchildrens futures which at present is zero except for the repaying of trillions of debt. Thank you.

Roy Jenkins. Get snouts out the trough party

2010 is designated as the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion.

There will be activities around the UK to raise awareness and to promote the voices of people who are experiencing daily struggles to cope with not having enough money or being able to access adequate support and services to enable them to live a dignified life – in fact being discriminated against because they are poor.

It would be good to highlight and support a number of campaigns (Get Fair, End Child Poverty, Need NOT Greed, A Million Climate Jobs, etc) and to make links across Europe to spread experience, enable voices from grassroots to be heard and to build some lobbying for ideas that work and are fair and just.

The European Anti Poverty Network (EAPN) and its member networks across Europe are good links. EAPN is campaigning on Adequate Minimum Incomes.

Let’s link poverty to human rights in a many-stranded campaign – raising awareness, challenging stereotypes, promoting ideas and lobbying around specific progressive practical change.

I think it’s really important to keep up the pressure on all political parties to do something about student debt.

High fees – and potentially much, much higher fees – are widening social inequality and ladening an entire generation with debts that may take them decades to pay off.

Huge amounts of debt have got us into the situation we are in now. The government can’t fight debt with more debt. It doesn’t make sense!

Additionally, any measures to clean up British politics would be welcomed. A recall law, greater independence for individual MPs and electoral reform would go a great way to renewing British democracy.

Dear 38 degrees team: I feel 100 degrees less frustrated and helpless since you’ve come on the scene. Thank you for all your hard work. I work for a small charity and I know what time and energy it takes to keep informed and in communication and I think that’s what you do for us. Skimming the comments above, it’s obvious how much there is still to do and I support all the causes and greivances aired. Mine is: bike lanes! I’ve been cycling in London since 1973. In those thirty-six years there have been vast improvements in facilities for cyclists which I needn’t list here. However, Boris is (apparently) planning superhighways for cyclists – excellent idea – but without any protection for them – what a waste. Motorists and vans (grrr) park in lanes that exist currently, forcing cyclists into the road and the path(potentially) of traffic (see Chiswick High Road, parts of Bayswater Road, Gower Street) I would press hard to see dedicated cycle lanes on major thoroughfares to and thru London with bollards to prevent parking (see Charlotte Street W1) and to offer some protection from lorries and other traffic. It’s a small thing, I know, but improvement in this area could encourage many more cyclists, especially women, which in turn could reduce car emissions and improve general health of citizens leading to less pressure on the beleaguered NHS! Thanks for reading bearing with me whilst I ventilated. My very best wishes for a happy and safe Christmas.
I hope you’ll let us know what else we can do to help in 2010.

I agree that electoral reform is massively important, and would put that topof my list. In addition the estimated cost of Trident you posted of £34bn is hugely conservative, it has been projected to rise to £76bn over the course of the new programme’s life time. This obvoisuly has a huge impact on the way our indebted government, present and future, will approach public spending, and investment in our carbon-free future. Challenging Trident is to challenge the implicit power-gap between the weapons holders and the have-nots, the ‘decisionmakers’ and the rest of us.

With floods and and the recent failure at Copenhagon fresh in our minds, keeping up the pressure NOT to waste precious funds on a detrimental nuclear weapons programme is definitely second on the list for me!

Thanks for all your hard work, and I look forward to being both challenged and inspired by you in the new year.

GRILL ANTHONY BLAIR, he needs to go to a war Tribunile..

Start asking WHO these un elected people in Parliament are, such as Peter Mandelson and the two Milliband brothers, is this verging on Nethisum??

Good work the 38 degree team, this is a great way for everyone to have a voice, and not just put up with the corruption surrounding us in the UK!!

We need brand new prospective candidates – and probably a new party – to spearhead a totally revamped and radically improved parliamentary system, aimed at replacing Westminster’s thoroughly discredited breed of dishonourable MPs, by implementing progressive causes that a truly modern Britain really needs and enlightened British people really want…!

This is something that the 38 Degrees website should introduce to its members and begin to invite proposals for right away.

We are small fish in the scheme of things I suppose but out here in the vast beauty of The Hebridean Islands we have a terribly fragile economy, built almost entirely on tourism and primarily I suppose ‘Ecotourism’ because of the huge interest in all things environmental these days.

Frankly we need National Park status for the Hebridean Islands and last year we came close because the labour government presented it on a plate for us, but unfortunately an election was imminent and it was shelved as the various political factions clouded the issue.

These Islands are environmental jewels strung across the Hebridean sea, each one different from the next but each Island struggling for survival, with little connection or integration with the other islands. I feel that not only would a Hebridean Islands National Park probably be the most beautiful and romantic National Park in the world, but it is the only force that can bring all of these Islands and their people together to protect and promote us as Britains top Ecotourism destination.

All I need is a lobby campaign to Alex Salmond to get this on the table for consideration. It is an argument that the current government cannot really argue against because there is no plan B for here anyway.

i think a campaign for localism take co2 emissions %30 comes from the food industry then %50 of this is catered food the majority of which is government or council controlled eg. hospitals prisons schools ect sourcing local foods would put a big dent in co2 emissions common sense really. take recycling if we did it correctly nothing would move further than 15 miles the distance scientist have said is the point of zero emissions it would also create local jobs

Hi 38 degrees

Why don’t we all get behind the green party for the election??
As far as I can see, they are the only politicians on earth that won’t sell out, because they actually have a set of beliefs!!
Merry Christmas

James

I think an extremely important matter is the care and provision for the elderly. More and more people are reaching a great age in our society and very many are not getting the care they need. There is a disgraceful argument between the NHS and Social Services for instance over who will pay for those suffering from dementia. This has led to elderly and confused people being shunted from one type of care home to another. Why? Largely because dementia is not recognised as needing medical attention which of course is a travesty. How would Gordon Brown feel being left to sit for hours on end in his own faeces and not be able to put the words together to let anyone know?
Of course care for the elderly should be properly funded and provided by the NHS both for Dementia and Alzheimers.

Season’s Greetings 38 degrees

The efforts and campaigns of everyone involved, has achieved massive results and has opened up a few politicians to take seriously the challenges facing this and the next generation. You ask, what should we campaign for in the next election; the obvious answer, is to support the Green Party. Politicians operate in the currency of votes, and that is where the three main parties can suffer losses, while at the same time, wake them up to engaging with fair and just policies needed to mitigate climate change.

Charlie

Dear 38 Degrees team.. Thank you for your efforts and achievement this year. Bless you! As for next year, I agree with many of the comments made before mine. My list includes theirs, ie – climate change, social and health care reforms, care of older people, but the three issues that I find myself most incensed about these days are:

1) EUROPE
There HAS to be a mandate from the British people for our membership. I want to see a referendum. Withdrawal would not destroy our trade, but it WOULD give us back control over our own resources, not to mention our borders and our jobs!

2) HUNTING WITH DOGS
I am concerned that if the Conservatives are elected, then the act is in danger of repeal because of a loud minority. The majority of people in this country do NOT want hunting with dogs to be allowed. It is barbaric and there is NO justification for it for any reason whatsoever. Far from being repealed, the act should be rigorously enforced.

3) PRESERVING BRITISHNESS
Difficult to pin this down, but basically…
I am tired of feeling like a foreigner in my own country.
I am tired of our government bending over backwards to accommodate other cultures at the expense of our own.
I am tired of feeling threatened by other cultures who seem to want to force change upon us.
I am referring to many different cultures, not just one. I am not seeking the diminishing of any.. just the promotion of our own interests, by default, as a priority in our own country.
Let’s see something done about promoting St George’s Day. Maybe if our children grew up respecting our flag and declaring their allegiance as they do in America, things might change a little, too.

I know not everyone will agree, but that’s my two-penneth. Thanks again, and have a jolly Christmas!

Chris

I really think our government has the power to change policies abroad; if we pride ourselves in upholding democracy, civil and human rights, then we should be helping vulnerable people in other countries to uphold these values too. An example is the Ugandan bill to execute homosexuals and the harsh punishments given to those who don’t report homosexual activity abroad. This is just one of hundreds of examples where our government turns a blind eye, just as long as it can continue business with that country, or even to just avoid a confrontation. This is disgusting and we need to protect people from these bigotries, especially when lives are at risk. China is another country that needs to answer for its human rights abuses. Everyone is aware of what goes on there, but the government doesn’t make an effort to change things. I think we should be concentrating on pursuing justice for people abroad who don’t have the same freedoms and simple privileges as we do in Britain.

Firstly I think the focus on climate change has to be maintained as the number one priority.
I think the other most important issue is civil liberites. The massive erosion of civil liberties in the UK in the name of fighting terrorism has moved us so far up the league table of countries who are in direct contravention of the International Convention of Human Rights it is almost unbelievable. Most of all, we should campaign as a matter of urgency to have the laws that impede the right to gather in public protest, or in some cases to even protest publicly as individuals.
As a personal victim of the unfairness in access to health care, both for my own health and my wife’s, I strongly support action to fight for the return of a fair, consistent and effective NHS. To the issue of inconsistency in treatment I would add that of decisions taken on financial rather than clinical grounds.
However, please don’t take up the hysterical plea to oppose “orthodox” medicine. Orthodox medicine is not the great conspiracy by the pharmaceutical companies so beloved of the media, but the rational approach that results from solid scientific research. If you have any doubts, try reading Ben Goldacre’s “Bad Science” which amply demonstrates that many lives have been lost as a result of belief in these myths.
Otherwise, I agree completely with those contributors who say that 38 degrees should not get directly involved in politics. I especially oppose suggestions for aligning with any political party, most notably the Green Party – this would cause my support for 38 degrees to be lost for one – and for taking a stance on the issue of membership of the EU – this is an entirely political issue and far from uniting people, as is the intent of 38 degrees, is highly divisive.
Let’s stick to those all important issues that affect people – climate change, poverty, civil liberties, etc., not to constitutional issues or party politicial issues. That route will divide your support and cause 38 degrees to fail ultimately

You should be getting the power of the people directed at getting us out of the Eu mess that Brown and Co signed us up for.
Now that that France is freeing Illegal immigrants and we apparently cant send any back., it is time to pull out of Europe and close our borders. The other members are not playing fair with regard to ur bordes and the rules set out for asylum seekers

Congratulations to everyone at 38 degrees, being an old socialist I was a bit sceptical about all this e-lobbying lark. I was gob smacked to hear from my local MP within 2 weeks. I am never amazed at what can be made to happen when people stand up together to try to right things that are plainly wrong in principle and practice.
However, I feel the message from our member hjarta cannot be left just hanging in the air without further comment; the issue of illegal immigration is not only a problem in the UK, but a problem in many EU countries and needs to be tackled EU wide not from a narrow UK platform.
Furthermore, as we in this country are still basically Subjects of THE QUEEN, the only substansive rights are those given us under The European Courts which can override some of the injustices handed down by an eliteist right wing justice system which wants to maintain workers in their place; think BA workers.
So may I suggest to member hjarta, lets not to be quick into falling into the RIGHT WING trap that is being driven by groups of interested parties such as Murdoch, Rothermere [Daily Mail] and other Tory fellow travellers to take the British people back to the forelock touching Victorian age.

Hi! I think it is important that 38 remains unaffiliated with any political party or mainstream movement. Seems to me that 38 as a campaigning body should be perceived to be politically neutral and campaign on an issues merits. Let’s take the Trident issue: that is politically divisive and 38 decided to campaign against Trident. I don’t think that kind of topic should be dealt with by 38 unless 38 is just another left or left of centre organisation – of which there are plenty.

The attractiveness of an organisation like 38 is that it is humanistic, politically neutral and campaigning for the good af all regardless of political persuasion.

I think 38 should be balanced in its agenda and if it feels itself leaning too much to the left it needs to “right” itself quickly in order to maintain its neutrallity on political and religeous fronts.

All your members are going to have their own natural political leanings; the 38 leadership I think should be neutral and let the members act according their conscience. I think the way that you headline you want to “Hit Tony Blair” (even if he deserves it), and the way you campaign against Trident (even if Trident is a folly) is too blatently politicised and I am a member of 38 because it is supposed to be “a-political” or neutral.

If 38 is a left leaning movement then at least you should state that and be open about it.

Right now I am uncertain if 38 is at it says it is on the can or setting itself up to be a LibLab quango…

Obviously campaigning on huge issues (health inequalities, care for the elderly, climate change) is important but it’s difficult to know what success looks? I’m not suggesting going after ‘easy wins’ but alongside these important campaigns I’d identify specific policies to campaign on:

1) Moving to presumed consent organ donation system (this has been much discussed so I won’t repeat the arguments here).

2) Changing the way in which Child Support payments are administered. In Britain it is the father’s responsibility to ensure payments are made – should he default the Child Support Agency have the difficult and costly job of chasing down missing fathers and enforcing payment. This leaves children in poverty more vulnerable. Either through the absence of such payments all together or through inconsistent payment patterns (difficulty of budgeting).

In France child support payments are administered by the state who then reclaim that money from fathers directly (through the tax and/or benefit system). This ensures that child support is paid consistently – regardless of the behaviour of any absent or irresponsible father.

It’s so difficult to know where to start really due to the fact that this moribund Government has made so many mistakes in all areas.

So in those circumstances it’s best to stick to what you know. I passionately appeal to you to put extreme pressure on the government, whatever hue, to demand a return to traditional policing.

I spent a long time on the streets of London as a police officer. It wasn’t perfect by any means and major mistakes were made. However, the majority of the public knew that we were acting in good faith in their interests. We engaged with the public on an everyday 24 hour basis and if there was a problem, however minor, people would call the police and would either be pointed in the right direction or an officer would attend for reassurance.

Now the police have opted out of so many fields. They don’t deal with parking, traffic, alarms, anti social behaviour, litter, offences involving dogs and many other things at ground level. They only appear, if you’re lucky, if it becomes a problem or someone complains long and hard enough and then it’s likely to be a sparsely trained and disempowered PCSO. Prioritisation is an excuse for inertia.

The warranted police now only appear after a problem has occurred and they’re usually in gangs either to block off streets at the drop of a hat or to “reassure” people, allegedly. As they spend so little time on the streets they lack interpersonal skills and tend to be aggressive and surly.

There has been an Orwellian trend which has resulted in generally law abiding people being caught on CCTV committing minor traffic offences and then receiving fines through the post. So those who register and insure their cars get penalised while the hundreds of thousands who don’t, plus the asbo types who blight our lives, get away scot free to the detriment of us all.

Police work is basically very simple. It has been complicated by pseudo academic senior police officers whose purpose it serves to attempt to confuse the public while they and politicians indulge in sound bites and gimmicks.

The absolute bottom line is that there are more warranted police officers than ever before with greater back up than ever before and with greater communication than ever before and there should be one near you 24 hours a day. They shouldn’t be ensconsed in their fortresses or their warm cars, engaging in reports, social work, blues and twos adrenalin rushing or dreaming up wizzy schemes to bamboozle the public. They need to be on foot and serving us.

When politicians want advice about policing they consult the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) whose President, Sir Hugh Orde, knows very little about basic policing and was recently quoted as saying “we should be looking for sub optimal solutions” whatever they are and “it’s not about police on the streets.” Well he’s wrong it’s absolutely about cops on the streets and plenty of them, not being officious but learning their people skills by engaging with the public and harrassing the miscreants.

It’s almost a loss cause as the modern day officer has lapsed into the wrong slovenly culture but it can be readdressed by strong management, non existent currently, or by a radical change of structure involving municipal police to deal with quality of life offences.

Please can we pressurise politicians to that end.

We need to end the imprisonment of children in immigrant detention centres. A recent report on this in the Observer indicated their human rights are being abused & the public would be outraged if they knew how they were being treated.

But tackling climate change is priority. Airport expansion is a major threat here and I believe politicians & businesses are already colluding to prepare for further runways elsewhere once Heathrow get theirs

I’d echo many of the points made by others but the issue i most want to add weight to is climate change.

We have to see, for the first time in a UK general election, some serious airtime given to the tough choices that we and politicians must now face up to if we are to move fast enough toward a sustainable future that can avert dangerous climate change.

This may sound alarmist but, from what i can see, climate change is becoming the biggest threat to our ‘civilised’ existence. The general election could prove to be an important time to push political leaders closer to the courageous action needed to get us out of the present political stalemate and toward a sustainable and happier future.

Climate change and the wider issues of environment sustainability are no longer marginal issues – the links are there to be made for all of us from jobs and the economy through to food and energy security. Let’s use 2010 to build massive momentum towards some powerful action on the most important problem the world faces, and help the UK and the world toward better times in the process.

Just adding to my own previous comment (23/12 1:59 am) and slight refinement on Nick Grant’s conribution (23/12 2:07pm) regarding the need to remain politically neutral.

I am extremely supportive of Nick’s comments, indeed, as I indicated in my own previous contribution, I feel this is essential if the organisation is to retain the cross-political support it currently holds. However, I think it’s important that this is achieved not by selecting this policy that is “leftist” and another one that is “rightist”, but by avoiding issues that show any leaning of any kind.

I think this is best illustrated by Nick’s concern that 38 could turn into another “leftist” organisation, whilst at the same time one of my concerns was about taking a stance on EU membership, which is, in theory at the very least, not a matter of right or left, but nonetheless is equally in need of a neutral stance. For that matter, even support for the Green Party, despite obvious alignment of objectives in the field of environmental issues, would wreck that neutrality, as, by being a parliamentary political party it necessarily takes political positions on economic, constitutional and other issues that do not form a component of 38′s apparent raison d’etre. There appear to be more directions than simply left and right in the current political field, and all directions should be avoided.

Nick has it right on the button when he says that the attraction of the organisation is in remaining humanistic, politically neutral and campaigning for the good af all regardless of political persuasion, and it should select its battlegrounds accordingly. Let’s see these principles “written into the constitution”, or more importantly always made the cornerstones for determining future action. If action is developed purely on these grounds, if it then happens to coincide with the beliefs of a particular political persuasion, that’s OK, providing you can, in all conscience, genuinely “tick the boxes” to confirm that this never entered into the reasons for determining that action, and that it was determined totally in line with these principles.

Let’s all be vigilant to ensure that the organisation does not get “hi-jacked” by political leanings or positions.

The compound interest charges levied on young people for their education is in my opinion a criminal act. The fact that Mr Brown sees the scottish loans company and this huge debt as an asset, speaks volumes. What will happen when he sells their debt off? To whom will he sell it? This all hurts even more when young ‘English’ people realise that in Scotland it is all very different, and free! Whether they like it or not, our young people, will be paying back this mortgage on their ‘education’, for the rest of their working lives. Young people are encouraged to become ‘better educated’. But when they go to school, little investment is put into helping them as individuals to find a career/work path that will make best use of their skills, and keep them happy. This needs investment. Education is a life long process, that we can dip into all of the time, freely through library resources, and the internet, and social groups. Our young people rarely turn to the Open University, (a cheaper more affordable and highly redputable alternative) and often leave home, get into serious debt, all in the hope of a better chance of employment. They think they’ll get a ‘good job’ that they often find just doesn’t exist. We need to take responsibility for these young hopefuls who are our future. I can see that revenue drives the higher educational machine now, to the extent that degrees can often be questionable pieces of very expensive paper. It is time to rethink before all that we hold good is lost. It is bad enough that universities do not provide anything for their students in this debtors package, other than additional weekly rental fees for very small rooms. Students usually have no meals provided, and many colleges have few recreational outlets or useful career development contacts. It is a travesty that these young people should be in debt to this State, watching those at the top and in banking, securing their own excessive finances so effectively. Student’s should pay back a flat fee!..what they actually owe, and not a penny more! If the course costs £12,000 (sharp intake of breath) then that should be the limit of their debt, for all of their working lives.

Climate change is a complex issue. Climate always changes and the planet has been warming up over the last 40,000 years. But it is obvious that with our increasing success as a species and the large numbers of humans globally, we have to somehow work to compensate for the imbalances that we contantly cause. Tree planting and linking up gardens with hedgerows and woodland areas. Leaving broad strips of grassland and becoming more sensitive to wildness, less controlling, will be so important. Dynamically reinventing our towns and cities to create inner green wealth and avoiding the mind bogglingly antisocial and unimaginative housing estate developments that we are used to seeing now, even on green field sites. We can’t go on and on building in the peurile conception that this will kick start the economy. It won’t.

We can all play a part in redressing the balance, across the whole world, as individuals. If we all planted a native plant, an evergreen for instance, there would be 70, 000,000 more of them in a year just in this country! Roads pavements drives car parks buildings new builds etc are all effectively sterilised ground. It adds up to a lot of damage…stops natural drainage of water, stops essential microbial ecosystems and any photosynthetic activity. Photosynthesis is the natural carbon absorber. Reinstating green life is the first step to compensating for excessive carbons! We can all do something to make that happen, irrespective of all those power hungry politicians.

I do agree with the comment that 38 degrees should remain unpolitical. Politics has always, and will always be a corrupt arena. It is essential that we keep independent pressure on it, and have scrutiny of it, as educated and caring people always should. 38 can be more important that way, and effective!

I would also like to support those who require that 38 to be politically neutral. Returning to my hobby horse, the police, they have become politicised over recent years having in the past been totally apolitical. The stance of Ian Blair and the arrest of Damien Green would never have been considered 15 years ago. This situation must be redressed.

The Tories desire to appoint elected commisioners of police who are not attached to any political party which has it’s dangers and would need close monitoring. Nevertheless it’s worth considering as the police clearly don’t work for us any more. They and politicians completely set their own agenda with targets and the imposition of PCSOs.

We desperately need to return to a situation where we are the police and the police are us.

I have 2 New Near wishes that you may like to petition for:

Firstly, I would like to see a fair political system whereby every voters vote counts. Presently, if one lives in a labour dominated county and wishes to vote for any other party, their vote does not count towards the formation of a government and as a result they have no representation (or weakened representation) in Parliament. This has lead to our present two party politics which constantly tips this country from one extreme to another at election time.

I would therefore like to see a fairer political system like Proportional Representation put in place so that most of the people in this country have a voice in Parliament. This method is good enough for the now powerful EU, it should be good enough for the now weakened UK. This is also an encouragement for those who do not vote because they believe that their vote “does not count anyway”. They would see that their vote will count. They will count.

Secondly, I admire what the ancient Greeks came up with for the early days of their democracy. Namely, that if, after a senator’s period in office the voters did not like what their representative had done in Office they could vote him into a 10 year exile. This is such a brilliant concept as it undoubtedly keeps the senators “in line”.

I certainly believe that such a concept would have made Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair think twice before making some of their disasterous decisions.

Thanks everyone for all these comments and suggestions. They’re really useful as we start to plan for next year. Please keep them coming.

Greg, sorry to hear that you never got a reply to your campaign suggestion. Could you send me an email (johnny.c@38degrees.org.uk) and with the details of the suggestion and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

Proportional representation: democracy may be a great deal better than the alternatives but in it’s current form it leaves a huge amount to be desired. PR is almost certainly not perfect either but it would make voting more representative and may help to get away from the “personality” based politics that have become the default in the UK.
Public service should mean just that and politics should stop being the career of choice for failed lawyers.

I know that their are organisations out there campaigning for prison reform but is it possible to spread the word wider so that politicians can stop pandering to the press and public antipathy to those who break the law.
Following the american model we appear to be taking a pride in “banging people up” for the purpose of revenge and because it is far easier than dealing with the complex and difficult social and psychological roots of criminal behaviour. Prisons should be well funded and with highly motivated staff interested in reforming the individuals within their care not, as they are at the moment, staffed by narrow minded bigots who at best are indifferent and, at worst, merely help to reinforce the criminal mindset of “us and them”.

Thanks so much for all these comments and suggestions – they’re incredibly useful and interesting. Here’s some things which jump out to me (with apologies if I’m missing something obvious, it is Boxing Day!)

- Climate Change – seems like lots of us want to see continued campaigning on this is 2010. Lots of questions about where the focus should be post-Copenhagen.

- Staying non-party-political – Important we get this right, clearly something which lots of us see as a key reason they’re involved with 38 Degrees. I found it interesting that some raise trident as an issue which raised questions about party politics – not sure I completely understand this. Historically it’s fair to say that Trident’s been something that there’ve been big arguments about within the Labour Party, but there are also now plenty of prominent Conservatives questioning the wisdom of spending billions on it – Michael Ancram MP for example. Is this not an example of an issue where it doesn’t really follow party lines?

- Local issues – great to see suggestions for these from Manchester and the Hebrides. Keen to do more local and regional campaigning in 2010.

- Healthcare – lots of people pointing out that whilst we’re glad the NHS exists it’s far from perfect, and highlighting several problems like mental health, social care, and regional health inequalities. Any thoughts on what the priorities might be.

- General Election – Lots pointing out that the General Election will be an important event this year. More thinking to do re: how we campaign on it.

Please keep the thoughts coming, we’re reading and thinking about every single comment.
David Babbs

Mark Lynas’s description of the Copenhagen negotiations showed that China played a major part in their failure. The worst thing is that this seems to have been deliberate. China’s aim, which it achieved, was to avoid making any committment to restraint and also to keep other countries committments out of the final text.

So if we want to see progress on climate change we’ll have to find ways to influence China.

Community empowerment, I think, holds great potential for addressing poverty, inequality, deprivation, the recession and climate change.
By campaigning for community empowerment (e.g. estate management, rent collection, hiring and firing of contractors by residents board – and other such ways of empowering communities) you can target a wide range of issues with one single ask.

There are a number of issues that concern me and some have been mentioned above. The three that stand out:

- Mental health: I have found from personal experience that the part of the NHS that deals with it really is the Cinderella service. Service personnel returning home fron Afghanistan and Iran have complained about the lack of availability of treatment for PTSD. While I feel a great deal of sympathy for them the message from me is “Welcome to my world – how long do you think I’ve had to wait and then found that the treatment is inappropriate?” More provision for EVERYONE and a concerted attempt to prosecute anyone who stigmatises and bullies the mentally ill.

- Planning and the environment: Recently I found out that a planning application with potentially profound, longterm and negative effects might easily slip through unless someone with experience knows how to counter it. I managed it this time but back garden development is a hidden threat to the small and precious specks of garden in which our small mammals, birds and reptiles now survive. I believe that we need to remove the entitlement to build on a certain percentage of a property without the need for a planning application and apply greater fines for those who breach these rules.

- China: Long before the execution of Akmal Shaik I believed that far too many products in the UK’s shops were made in China. I now feel that we must act to make sure that we reverse this trend. It is time to inform British based companies that they must source and produce goods in the UK or at the very least in countries with a better human/animal rights and environmental record. The Mayor of London should be made to guarantee that any 2010 Olympics souvenirs and commemorative items will not be made in China. They should be made in the UK. Look at the label and if it says “Made in China” don’t buy it!

In the coming year, and after the disapointment of Copenhagen, it is more important than ever to put climate change at the top of the priority list.

Greater public awareness of the real implications of climate change and how little time we have left to stop it will help; there is still so much misinformation and apathy around.

With it looking increasingly likely we could end up with a Tory Government, we need to get organised and make sure there is a big progressive voice in the Westminster parliament. Disenfranchisement with the mainstream parties is IMHO a very good thing but we need to be careful that it does not let the extreme right mop up disaffected voters. A real effort to get a progressive vote out is essential, by that I do not mean just supporting the Labour Party or the Lib Dems, there are some good people out there on all sides but they need to be assessed against human rights, environmental issues and social justice and poverty scorecards and we need need need to succeed otherwise we are screwed.
Good luck!

Our absolute priority should be electoral reform. We need a system that acknowledges all votes and eliminates safe seats, such as the Single Transferable Vote (rather than the List system that political parties would prefer if they cannot retain First Past the Post.) We also need an elected House of Lords with its own clearly defined powers and responsibilities. A recall system for MPs would be useful. With the greater power and influence over our representatives thus obtained, people would be in a stronger position to pursue other objectives. I agree with John that a scatter gun approach will have limited success in influencing events and may even prove counter productive.

These suggestions are great – thank you so much for taking the time to contribute and please do keep them coming.

The question about what we do around the election is a really good one – we’re planning a more in-depth discussion about that in the New Year, so keep watching here and in our e-mails for the details for how to sign up to be part of it.

Make sure all political parties spell out their policies on renewable energy and human rights before the election.
Many jobs can be generated and poverty alleviated if we took the right steps now, apart from benefiting the planet.
Re human rights- I think its time we stopped buying Chinese goods and trading with China- reducing consumption of goods is good in itslef, but forcing manufacturers to highlight where the goods come from (e.fg renewable resources or destruction of rainforests etc) and how they are made will benefit both our workers and the panet.

Maybe we can pressurise political parties to agree to a combined ‘CO2 and human rights index’ for all manufactured goods sold in the UK/EU??

Please keep the spotlight on climate change. With Copenhagen over, media focus will shift to other things, so we must keep up the pressure on UK politicians. But please let’s stop talking about preserving ‘the planet’ – this euphemism gives people who have never cared about the environment an excuse to keep dismissing climate change as just another environmental issue. The fact is, the planet will look after itself, it’s human civilisation that is under threat now. Even ‘climate change’ is too soft a term for what we face – perhaps ‘climate crisis’ is more appropriate.

Parliamentary reform is another broad topic to keep working on.

Although I think 38 Degrees should campaign on broad general issues such as the above, rather than very specific ones, your item on Akmal Sheikh brings to mind Gary MacKinnon, the man with Asperger’s syndrome who hacked into the Pentagon computer network to find info on UFOs and is soon to be extradited to the USA to face criminal charges of putting US security at risk. The UK Government has been spineless in agreeing to hand over a citizen who has done no harm except to embarrass the US military establishment, so a campaign on this particular issue would be welcome.

I believe Electoral Reform has to be a high priority. It is the most efficient way we can force political parties to focus on policies, not petty squables. It would make them give us reasons to vote for them, not the current excuses to avoid voting for their opposition.
Single Transferable vote (google ‘Electoral Reform Society’ for more info) would also make it possible for a minority party to become a leader within a single election whilst ensuring choice if your primary vote doesn’t succeed. The result will never go entirely according to plan, but better a change we have control over, than the current stagnation in parliment.