Optimism returns
Fun in the garden
It was the first time I have ever been there.
Last night's good weather allowed the backbenchers’ reception at 10 Downing Street to be moved to the garden.
The rear of the house is not a thing of beauty but the event was a joy. In spite of the rumours of wrist-slitting gloom among Labour MPs the mood was very optimistic. Hopes are high for a creditable result on Thursday from Glasgow East. The recess is usually a good time for Government. Gordon Brown was humorous and positive about a turn in our fortunes. Why not? The price of oil is dropping.
The press are having their reception in the same place tonight. I am not counting on too many laughs from their reports.
Jay walk-over
Lord Jay faced his grilling by select committee this morning. He is the chosen nomination to chair the Commission that will vet and select new peers.
I warned him of the perils of pre-appointment hearings in dredging up criticism of his past records. Not that there is a great deal in his exemplary career that is worrying. The Foreign Affairs committee once had a go at him and I asked him to answer their criticism. Gordon Prentice and Paul Rowan had both unearthed some other adverse comments.
We were all conscious that we could be putting bits of unfair malicious baseless gossip into the public domain for no good reason. But our job was to test his resilience and fortitude.
This process is brand new. Without being gratuitously offensive, we did our job of probing his suitability. Lord Jay smothered all criticism and we unanimously gave him our approval.
Great expectations
With relish I am looking forward to the publication of the diaries of Chris Mullin.
He is a good writer with a wry view of the politician’s job. He has been a minister twice. The first time he stood down in’ order to exercise more influence on the backbenches’. Blair was mildly shocked with this reason.
He will be writing about the tedious hours of pointless activity in the lives of junior minister. He has been an exceptionally gifted Select Committee Chair. The Home Affairs committee produced their best report in 20 years under his leadership. It remains one of the few sensible reports of our failing drugs policy.
I had a meal today with the fortunate person who is editing his diaries. The sad news is that they will not be published until next spring. Never mind. It will be a great read and well worth the wait.
"Hopes are high for a creditable result on Thursday from Glasgow East" -
That's as maybe, but what the hell can Labour boast of after 80 years in power in Glasgow East ?
Posted by: Ted Balls | July 23, 2008 at 10:36 AM
Well there's the NHS and the Welfare state in the past 80 years. How about these for starters as Labour's Achievements, Ted Balls ,in the last ten years.?
1. Longest period of sustained low inflation since the 60s.
2. Low mortgage rates.
3. Introduced the National Minimum Wage and raised it to £5.52.
4. Over 14,000 more police in England and Wales.
5. Cut overall crime by 32 per cent.
6. Record levels of literacy and numeracy in schools.
7. Young people achieving some of the best ever results at 14, 16, and 18.
8. Funding for every pupil in England has doubled.
9. Employment is at its highest level ever.
10. Written off up to 100 per cent of debt owed by poorest countries.
11. 85,000 more nurses.
12. 32,000 more doctors.
13. Brought back matrons to hospital wards.
14. Devolved power to the Scottish Parliament.
15. Devolved power to the Welsh Assembly.
16. Dads now get paternity leave of 2 weeks for the first time.
17. NHS Direct offering free convenient patient advice.
18. Gift aid was worth £828 million to charities last year.
19. Restored city-wide government to London.
20. Record number of students in higher education.
21. Child benefit up 26 per cent since 1997.
22. Delivered 2,200 Sure Start Children’s Centres.
23. Introduced the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
24. £200 winter fuel payment to pensioners & up to £300 for over-80s.
25. On course to exceed our Kyoto target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
26. Restored devolved government to Northern Ireland.
27. Over 36,000 more teachers in England and 274,000 more support staff and teaching assistants.
28. All full time workers now have a right to 24 days paid holiday.
29. A million pensioners lifted out of poverty.
30. 600,000 children lifted out of relative poverty.
31. Introduced child tax credit giving more money to parents.
32. Scrapped Section 28 and introduced Civil Partnerships.
33. Brought over 1 million social homes up to standard.
34. Inpatient waiting lists down by over half a million since 1997.
35. Banned fox hunting.
36. Cleanest rivers, beaches, drinking water and air since before the industrial revolution.
37. Free TV licences for over-75s.
38. Banned fur farming and the testing of cosmetics on animals.
39. Free breast cancer screening for all women aged between 50-70.
40. Free off peak local bus travel for over-60s.
41. New Deal - helped over 1.8 million people into work.
42. Over 3 million child trust funds have been started.
43. Free eye test for over 60s.
44. More than doubled the number of apprenticeships.
45. Free entry to national museums and galleries.
46. Overseas aid budget more than doubled.
47. Heart disease deaths down by 150,000 and cancer deaths down by 50,000.
48. Cut long-term youth unemployment by 75 per cent.
49. Free nursery places for every three and four-year-olds.
50. Free fruit for most four to six-year-olds at school.
Posted by: Paul Flynn | July 23, 2008 at 04:29 PM
And the greatest acheivement of all: ten years of keeping the Tories out of Downing Street. The nation should rejoice!
Posted by: Baneswell boy | July 23, 2008 at 08:33 PM
Paul,
you’re perhaps a little too quick to reach for the official Labour press pack. The issue here is life in Glasgow East, and what do its people have to show for decades of Labour politics.
Your points 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 15, 16, 19, 20, 35, 41, 45 are of little / no relevance to Glasgow East, and the local effect of the rest is debatable. Reports from various sources of the quality of life in Glasgow East are fairly consistent, and hardly a source of pride for its political dynasty
NHS Greater Glasgow
The East Glasgow CHCP area has the highest proportion of Scotland and Glasgow’s most deprived areas with almost half the working age population unemployed and reliant upon state benefits
guardian
Glasgow East constituency was created following boundary changes in 2005, but was also held by Labour in its previous incarnations. Glasgow East, a predominantly Catholic area, is one of the poorest and most unhealthy constituencies in Britain.
It holds the most voters on incapacity benefit or disability allowance, and the fewest with higher education qualifications. Glasgow East hosts the highest proportion of single-parent households, with one of the highest levels of social rented housing in Britain.
Class A drugs have been a serious blight in the area for many years.
guardian
From being the workshop of the world, Glasgow became an industrial wasteland, with a community beset by chronic ill health, substance abuse, depression and worklessness. Things have got better in Glasgow East in the past few years, as new housing has sprung up around the great council estates of Shettleston and Easterhouse, but it is precious little reward for voting Labour for decades.
times
Tough place to live, easy place to die
In Easterhouse ..........the library is shuttered. Even the “regeneration centre” has boarded windows
spectator
The life expectancy of its sink estates is worth recording here. A boy born in Camlachie is expected to live to 64.5 — the same as in Uzbekistan. In Parkhead it is 62, the same as Bangladesh. Just outside its boundaries lies Dalmarnock where the figure is 58 — lower than Sudan, Cambodia or Ghana. The lowest is Carlton, where the figure of 54 is lower than even Gambia’s equivalent
Official unemployment is just 6.7 per cent. But add in such factors as those claiming incapacity benefit, and it quickly emerges that a scandalous 50 per cent of the working-age population are on out-of-work benefits
Oops... I forgot the Daily Mail altogether.
Posted by: Ted Balls | July 23, 2008 at 08:43 PM
Re-writing history ?
Paul,
What had been your last retort on this topic seems strangely to have disappeared with the announcement of the Glasgow East result...
Remember you retorted that Glasgow East would give Labour a modest majority of 2000, because the electorate would react against being run down by outsiders ??
Revisionism in action - if it disappears, it never happened ?
Posted by: Ted Balls | July 25, 2008 at 09:46 AM
The people of Glasgow East will decide and a it looks like being a Labour majority of 2,000. Many local people are angry at the way their area is being described by outsiders.
Posted by: Paul Flynn | July 25, 2008 at 10:59 AM
Not conspiracy. I'll blog about Glasgow East later today. There are several (wrong) forecasts about my optimism about Glasgow East on the last few blogs, they remain unchanged. Not a word has been altered on any of the blogs since I started blogging.
Comments are edited to keep out the those who slander others.
Posted by: Paul Flynn | July 25, 2008 at 11:04 AM