Paul Flynn - Read My Day

Nationalising volunteering

It’s been a day of wild accusations.

  

The Commons debate on the Big Society was marked by an assurance by a Tory that it does not include volunteers being asking to conduct brain surgery. But he did paint a nightmare Kafkaesque view of Labour society in which people were forbidden to rescue drowning children from ponds or help old ladies to cross the road. I intervened on one Tory and asked him how Cameron’s Big Society would persuade people to rescue drowning children.

 

The debate was introduced by the MP for Dover who waxed eloquent on a scheme for a peoples’ takeover of the town’s harbour. However he did not explain how the Big Society would help that. I reminded him of the cooperative takeover of Tower Colliery about twenty years ago in the face of Tory government antagonism.

 

No Labour speaker today decried the aims of a Big Society, although we prefer to call it the Good Society. But the Government’s attempt to force activism or nationalise volunteering will be counterproductive. Our Good Samaritans now act out of the goodness of their hearts – not in obedience to a politician’s gimmick.

 

Demonstrating my lack of bias, I warned parliament to beware of all Prime Ministers bearing three word policy gimmicks. The Cones Hotline, Back to basics, the Third Way, The Big Society.  One Tory intervened on me and said ‘You didn’t mention the Third Way’. The Chamber grumbled back at him saying ‘Yes, he did.’

 

It was a new member who did not know that I was not always the greatest fan of Tony Blair and all his works. Unexplained in the debate is how £3-£5 billion of cuts in Charity funding will allow an increase in volunteering.

 

PASC will listen fairly to evidence on the Big Society and commend worthwhile initiatives. But I fear the Big Society is the Big Cop Out.

 

 

 

Baby killing? NO!

 

The AV debate has gone weird. The No camp has desperately claimed that a Yes vote in the referendum would jeopardise the lives of premature babies, or members of our armed forces. Huh?

Government confirmation that an AV world would not add to public expenditure blows the No campaign's fake figures out of the water.  We deserve an honest and open debate on the real issues of this referendum. Ben Bradshaw MP said today, ‘This kind of shameful scaremongering is exactly the type of old politics we need to change.

 

Only 9 weeks left to convince the public that first past the post is a cheat. AV would be a worthwhile reform.

 

Vaccine doubts

Dr Meryl Nass MD writes:-

 

Since August 2010, following widespread use of vaccines against influenza (H1N1) 2009, cases of narcolepsy, especially in children and adolescents, have been reported from at least 12 countries. In the US, an average of about 75 children/year die from flu-related causes.  Most of these children have underlying, chronic medical illnesses. There are over 50 million children in the US.  If half were vaccinated, and their rate of developing narcolepsy was the same as in Finland (one in 12,000), we might expect 2,000 new cases of narcolepsy in vaccinated children. Granted, it is unclear what the risk of narcolepsy is for use of swine flu vaccine in the US; and it is unclear whether the novel Glaxo adjuvant used in Pandemrix swine flu vaccine outside the US may have contributed. But I just did the math.  And it appears that if Finland has a similar childhood death rate from flu as the US, it could be seeing 80 cases of narcolepsy for every flu death prevented.

Secrecy, not cuts, for some

The Mail on Sunday’s Robert Verlaik reveals that a wealthy Tory minister earns £2m in EU farm subsidies that his department tried to cover up.

Further proof that it’s cuts only for some. Robert writes:-

"The family of a Government Minister whose department has covered up details of who receives EU farm subsidies has earned £2 million from the same payouts.

Richard Benyon is one of the richest MPs in Parliament. The great-great-grandson of three-times Tory Prime Minister Lord Salisbury, he can trace his ancestry back to William Cecil, the chief political adviser to Elizabeth I.

Tory MP Mr Benyon, the Environment and Fisheries Minister, has received income from a family trust which owns a 20,000-acre estate worth £125 million. 

In 2009 alone the family farms were paid nearly £200,000, placing them in the top one per cent of beneficiaries of the EU scheme.

Farming Minister Jim Paice has also received several thousands of pounds in EU subsidies for his farm in Cambridgeshire over the same ten-year period. 

Mr Benyon was appointed a Minister at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) last May. Some time after November the department decided to block all information about how much farmers had earned from subsidies. More than 100,000 British farmers were paid the majority of the £3 billion available in EU farming subsidies for last year.

Ministers argue that they are following advice from Brussels, but freedom of information campaigners claim they have deliberately taken draconian steps to protect rich farmers from public scrutiny.

Labour MP Paul Flynn said that Mr Benyon’s position was unjustifiable. ‘This is wrong in so many ways. How can Ministers benefit from EU payments while at the same time introduce an information-denial policy?

 

Georgia

 

A splendid account of the IPU delegation's visit to Georgia has been prepared by the Independent peer Richard Harries who was one of the six man delegation. I agree with all his conclusions. Here is part of the report.

 

A personal  report by Richard Harries 

IPU Delegation to Georgia

February 20-24, 2011 

 

Overall a great deal has been achieved in a short period. There are very grave difficulties, but these are being tackled by an able, innovative and optimistic people.

Richard pictured in Georgia at the Jvari mountain monestery

The Russian presence in Abkhazia and South Ossetia

 

Understandably this was the main theme on the minds of the parliamentarians we met. They were grateful for UK support but strongly urged us to continue to put pressure on the Russians to withdraw, and to support their application to become a member of both the EU and NATO.

A more nuanced approach was put forward by the head of the EU Monitoring Mission, Ambassador Haber. He did not see any fundamental change for the next ten years and stressed that the Georgians must seriously engage with the Abkhazians and South Ossetians. Whilst Russian aspirations in relation to Georgia would not change ( which at the least presumably means decisive influence), they could come to see that this was best achieved with a co-operative Georgia, not a hostile one. This change would be related to a change in attitude within Abkhazia and South Ossetia, who do indeed wish to affirm European values but are held to Russia at the moment by financial considerations.

The importance of keeping non-Russian voices in Abkhazia was also stressed by Brian Faull before we left the UK and by our own embassy in Georgia.

Other members of the delegation, Tory MPs John Whittingdale, Nigel Evans and Mark Reckless

The head of the Foundation for Strategic and International  Studies  also took a more nuanced approach, contrasting the attitude of the present Georgian Prime Minister, who seemed to think that Georgia’s best interest was served by bad relationship between the USA and Russia,(hence the suggested interest in a Republican win at the next election) with that of the past, which thought Georgia’s best interest was served by a good relationship.

 

The Georgians are determined to press ahead in their application for EU and NATO membership, and would not be intimidated by Russian opposition. 

 

 

The development of democracy

 

A great deal had been achieved, not least elimination of corruption from the police, and the new constitution for 2012. That will mean a shift in power from the President to a Prime Minister elected by parliament. However, significant concerns were expressed.

There is no real ideological difference in parliament between government and opposition, only a small right and centre/right empahasis. The non parliamentary opposition are very divided.

 

 Labour Peer  Bill Brett was the other delegation member

The government has effective control of the broadcast media. There are three major channels located off shore, whose ownership is not public. Though there are alternative view points these only have a small share of the audience.

There is a great disparity in political funding. There is no investigative journalism. So, according to critics, there is a “monopoly of political space, a monopoly of economic space and a monopoly of media space” 

 

 

The judiciary badly needs reforming. At the moment  prosecution assumes conviction. Only .1% of those prosecuted are found not guilty. There are 25,000 people in prison, a very high number for the size of the population.

 

No cuts for some

 

An eerie silence from the farming lobby hides a new denial of information.

Not only are there no cuts in the sumptuous farm subsidies but they might even get a handsome increase in the 2.9% increase in EU payments. No-one is saying. There is media omerta on the worldwide increase in farm prices that have allowed farm incomes to rocket. No one is telling us about that. 

Nor have I have seen any press coverage of the new retreat from freedom of information. There was a long battle a few years ago to publish details on who was receiving what in the subsidies. There were some revealing figures of £millions pouring into the coffers of members of the royal family. There are also a handful of farming Tory Ministers and MPs, whose income is handsomely supported by handouts from the public purse.

Now we are told, that privacy must deny us details of subsidies to farming politicians and royals. The royals are immune from the petty restrictions that bother the rest of us in many areas. Politicians are obliged to declare their outside earnings. Farm subsidies are major interests that cry out for transparency.

 

Paradise lost

A few occasions are unique.

Never in my life have I used the Welsh word for 'beatitude'. It was appropriate as we were discussing languages that I should address the Patriarch of the Georgian Church in Welsh - using his title, 'Cyfarchion eich Gwynfyd.'

 

 

We were greeted in the palace with the glorious sound of a Georgian male voice choir. Most were dressed in gold cassocks, others wore jeans. They all sang like angels.

The Patriarch was once the Bishop of the now lost area of Abkhazia. He spoke passionately against the brutal divisions of the country. He had recently visited the Queen. Oddly much of the conversation with this supreme spiritual leader concentrated on dogs - including the derivation of the word cor (dwarf) ci (dog). 

 

Georgia was the second country in the world to embrace Christianity. Wales and Ireland were not far behind with the Celtic Church that flourished here before St Augustine came to spread the influence of Rome.

Richard Harries had modestly described himself as 'Independent member of the House of Lords' throughout the visit. He wore his bishop's colours for the Patriarch. Richard is best known as the Bishop of Oxford and has been delivering 'Thoughts for the Day' on the Today programme for the past 30 years.

A sign of the times was a 'goody bag' that included a greatly appreciated CD of the choir. I look forward to many hours driving down the M4 accompanied by the thunderous beauty of those fine voices.

 

Labour bargain

One beneficial result of the elections in the Irish Republic may be a substantial share of seats to the under-valued Labour Party. They could drive a hard bargain with Fine Gael as the price for coalition. Minor parties usually pay a high price for coalition. Labour must demand some of the major offices.

 

A dream is born

 

 

 

It's a seductive dream and worth a try.

Pulses race at the thought that Newport best-loved icon could be listed as World Heritage Treasure. Unfortunately the local paper last night exposed the idea to mockery by claiming that the bridge compared with the Taj Mahal! Even I as the bridge's greatest fan would not go that far.

There is only one Taj Mahal but there are nearly a thousand places that have been anointed with the World Heritage Label. Blaenavon Ironworks ruins and the Froncysyllte bridge are more typical of the recipients of the prize.

Today expert Rolf Hoehmann told a Newport conference that the idea of applying for world heritage status for all the world's transporter bridges was a runner. UNESCO believe that they have listed too many palaces and cathedrals and should look for more industry sites that reflect working class history.

 

The Transporter Bridge in Bilbao is already listed. The case for listing the lost is a compelling one because it spreads the prize across many nations in Europe and South America. It was not the best way to charm a Newport audience, but Rolf said that our Tranny's strongest point was it was international. Designed by Frenchman Ferdinand Arnodin and built by Newport workers.

Today's meeting was attended by Councillor David Hando, Friends of the Transporter Bridge and the Mayor of Newport pictured some time ago opening a model of the bridge.

 

Good practical advice was provided to an appreciative audience. Fascinating accounts were given of the bridges in Middlesborough  and Warrington.

A dream is born

 

Breaking a stick over Maia's head

     Maia Kobakhidze is President of the Educators & Scientists Free Trade Union of Georgia.  Her tale is one that disgraces the Government of Georgia.

 

For many reasons I have been a supporter of Georgia. The country has had a rough deal from the West. The Conservative MPs on the Council of Europe disgracefully backed the Russians in 2008 when they invaded the sovereign territory of Georgia and created 30,000 additional Internally Displaced Persons. The Tory MPs in Strasbourg sit on a far right group named the EPP that contains many hardline Russians.

 

The Georgian Government has suffered with trade boycotts from what was their traditional customer Russia. For political reasons the Russians have run baseless health scares about Georgian products and destroyed their vast market in Russia. They are desperate for new investors. But they have gone too far in selling their country as one with weak trade unions.

 

Maia  was the chosen leader of the 100,000 strong union that represents teachers and science workers in Georgia. She was called to the Ministry of Education and invited to resign her post in order to be replaced by a woman who was not even a member of the union. On offer to Maia was a comfortable job in the Education Ministry. She refused. In the Georgian idiom she said 'They were trying to break a stick over my head'. To agree to this deal would be to sell out her members and destroy the bargaining power of the union. It would have become a poodle compliant union like the ones of Soviet days.

 

A second approach was made to Maia when it was clear that she was not going to cooperate. She was warned to be careful and reminded of a person who was murdered a year ago in mysterious circumstances. Maia is convinced this was a veiled threat to her life.

 

Our delegation yesterday met Maia and other Trade Union Leaders in the British Embassy Building in Tbilisi. House of Lords Member and former Leader of the International Labour Organisation Bill Brett was able to give them valuable advice on how the matter can be tackled internationally. Bill was part of our very strong delegation from the International Parliamentary Union.

 

All members of the delegation, including the three Tories and the independent former Bishop of Oxford Richard Harries, were appalled at this threat to trade union rights. The Georgian Government must be embarrassed into realising that this conduct cannot be tolerated if they hope to join fully the European family of nations.

 

Ranter

The miracles of modern communications allow me to keep in contact with constituents' fury at the slaughter in Libya. How has this deranged ranter lasted so long? His speech from his bunker was at first comic but eventually frightening as he uttered his blood curdling threats.

I have been in touch with the Government urging a firm line to provide practical help.

 

 

 

Fire turns cold

 

Today it was stark, beautiful and peaceful. Desperately poor people seek out an existence from the unproductive  soil. A European Unit monitors the ceasefire between Georgians and Russians / South Ossetians.

In the heat of August 2008 it was scene of terror and bloodshed. The Red Army had reacted furiously against an attempt by the Georgians to assert their authority over South Ossetia. The result was a loss of territory and 30,000 additional Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) for Georgia.

 

 

Many of the IDPs are located in a prefab village about five miles from the line (whatever you do, don't call it a 'border') and travel back to South Ossetia to tend their gardens and assert their property rights. Tensions remain high. Hundreds of Russians are garrisoned a few miles away. They conducted manoeuvres recently near the line and we clearly see their tanks using binoculars.

 

 

'The Russian presence is a dagger aimed at the heart of Tbilisi' we were told today. Our journey to the line took about 45 minutes. We have been repeatedly told that there is no antagonism between the people of Georgia and the people of Russia. That is not the case between the Georgian President and Russia's Prime Minister Putin who loathe each other.

 

Afterwards we visited a monastery perched high on a mountain above Georgia's original capital.

One disturbing account I heard today was that yesterday a large number of IDPs were internally displaced when they were ejected onto the streets from their make shift homes in Tbilisi-allegedly by the Government. Some have been housed in the palace of the Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church.

More of that tomorrow.

 

 

Monster who sang

 

The intense timetable of Inter Parliamentary Union visits is a surprise to me. It's a good ten years since I last joined one.

 

Today has been dawn to dusk with Georgians who are all impassioned about their own country. Yesterday it was the new Embassy built at a cost of £17 million. Today it was the marvellous British Council in Tbilisi that have had their work cut by 50% to save £200,000!

 

 

A most impressive group of non-government organisation representatives dumped some praise and a lot of blame on the Government. Yes Mikheil Saakashvili has improved material life here. But he is not delivering on their high ideals to create a full-blooded Western democracy. Perhaps his greatest achievement has been cleaning up an endemically corrupt police force.

 

 

He sacked the lot. He then recruited a new force with new uniforms and standards. Now the petty bribery has gone and the police enjoy the trust of the public. But the media has been reported to us as being deeply biased on the side of the Government.

 

This afternoon we visited the museum of the Soviet occupation. For most of my life Georgia has been part of the Soviet Union. Stalin and Beria were mother tongued Georgians. Except in his home town of Gori, Stalin's memory is hated. 

 

20 years ago when Newport was first twinned with Kutaisi, I was asked what I thought of Stalin. I said that he was a tyrant who murdered 20 million people. My Georgian questioner was quiet for a while, then said ' But did you know that he wrote beautiful lyric poetry and had a lovely tenor voice?'

 

That is not the view now. Stalin and Beria were merciless in their invasions and massacres of Georgians. The museum in reminiscent of Yad Vas-shim and the Tallinn museum of the occupation. Stalin is pictured triumphant, alongside pictures of his slaughtered victims. It's the grimly familiar tale of man's inhumanity to man.

 

Kutaisi rewarded

 

Newport has been twinned with the second city in Georgia Kutaisi for twenty years.

 

The relationship between the two cities lies deep in communist times and has weathered terrible events in Georgia. In the recent Russian invasion of August 2008, a member of the Newport twinning group was on holiday in Agaria on the Black Coast. The British Embassy did a great job in getting her safely out of the country.

 

 

As there is no Parliament in session this week, I have joined an inter-parliamentary union delegation to catch up relations between the two parliaments. The delegation is led by Commons deputy Speaker Nigel Evans.

 

 

 

The UK has a brand new Embassy here. It's built for defence and the front was inspired by the design for a nuclear power station. Tbilisi has a light covering of snow over its mist shrouded architectural charms. Kutaisi is the country's second city and has always felt neglected. One mountainous area in the North with a population of 5,000 is represented by one MP. Kutaisi with a population of 110,000 also has one MP.

 

Justice is about to be done. The country's new Parliament is being built in the second city. It's striking design emphasises transparency. The Senedd building in Cardiff has the same aim with its glass walls on three sides and a view of the Chamber from above. A model of this exciting new building is on display in Georgia's present parliament.

 

 

Liberate the downtrodden

 

A bracing start to a Sunday Morning. The splendid BBC Wales Politics show 'Sunday Supplement' began with a forensic probe into the Big Society. They chose a great point to begin by playing the following from this week's PASC meeting.

 

Q138 Paul Flynn:  Every idea that you’ve come up with has been put forward by Governments over the last 40 years, at least. I’ve yet to hear anything new.

          Mr Hurd: I think I was trying to make the point that lots of Governments have talked about this, but we are determined to try to deliver.

          Q139 Paul Flynn: Do you really think that someone like you—the son of a Cabinet Minister who represents leafy suburbs—could come down to constituencies that many of us represent, where the parents’ generation lost their jobs in the coal and steel industries, and where the younger generation is being sacked because of the cuts, and tell them that they will be liberated by being allowed to work for nothing?       

          Mr Hurd: No, that is not what I am saying.

 

In my rush to nail Hurd's credentials as the spokesman for a cabinet of millionaires, I forgot that the Chairman of our session Bernard Jenkin is also the son of a cabinet minister. Is there a bond of brotherhood between them?

A Tory AM struggled to defend the 'Big Society' on the radio this morning.. The Assembly in Wales has already tried something very similar with patchy results.  The AM's feeble defence exposes the hollow heart of the Big Society. 

Why is it when money is short for every good cause, unlimited cash can be found to shore up a Prime Minister's pet project?  £millions will be wasted on a certain failure. Cameron's reputation will be garlanded with ridicule.

Bliss and bile

The consolations of opposition are displayed at the Labour Conference at Llandudno while the Tories are crumbling.

Pure reason and happy comradely fellowship ooze abundantly in North Wales. The screeching harridans of hatred are tearing into the only asset the Tory Cabinet has. The acceptable blokeiness of Ken Clarke gives the Government a glint of humanity. He is also talking sense on the monumental failure of the prison service. This is too much for the idealogical Tory right who are demanding his head. 

They will probably get it.

 

 Chartists 'Yes'

Good to see that the Daily Mail is against AV - although their readers' poll is in favour.

Opponents of voting reform are depending on what Andrew Rawnsley called today the 'thickie' vote. Cameron's arguments are aimed at the non-thinking electorate.

The Chartists' demand was for a system that represents the views of the majority of the voters. First past the post does not. AV is an improvement.

Revolving door for BAE defender

 

 

You could not make it up.

I have been banging on about the potentially corrupting revolving door. Top Civil Servants, Ministers, Generals could be tempted by retirement job prospects into acting for their own interests rather than those of the country. That is why the watchdog (ACOBA) ought to be given teeth.

Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles played a key role in ending the Serious Fraud Office's investigation into BAE's al-Yamamah arms deal. It stank to high heaven of something very close to big-scale bribery. Sherard's role was in pressuring the Serious Fraud Squad to drop charges against BAE. 

Thanks to the Guardian, we know that next week Sherard starts his retirement job - with BAE of course. He will become BAE's international business development director, focusing on Asia and the Middle-East.

The Guardian report that Cowper-Coles' appointment has been cleared by the prime minister's advisory committee on business appointments, which vets new jobs for former civil servants who have worked for the crown in the past two years. One of the conditions set is that Cowper-Coles must not lobby ministers or civil servants on behalf of BAE for the next two years.

The story was a major scandal that saw the UK abandon its traditional ethical role. The Guardian writes :

"He had three significant meetings in London in late 2006 with Robert Wardle, then director of the SFO. Cowper-Coles told Wardle that Britain's national security was at risk if the BAE investigation continued, as Saudi princes were threatening to withdraw co-operation in fighting terrorism. Two days after the last meeting, Wardle ended the investigation, attracting condemnation in Britain and abroad. Tony Blair, then prime minister, and Lord Goldsmith, attorney general, both cited national security concerns in supporting the move. Under Britain's anti-corruption laws, the government can intervene in an investigation only on such grounds and not for commercial or diplomatic reasons.

In February 2008, one of Britain's most senior judges accused the government of "holding a gun to the head" of Wardle. BAE had been lobbying the government intensively for some time."

Shame that Parliament is in recess next week. I look forward to raising this further example of the revolving door that spins to riches.