Nick Bye: Has the world gone mad?

After the ups & downs of politics at Westminster through fourteen years of Conservative & Conservative led governments most observers must have thought a new government elected with a big majority last July would have resulted in a period of calm & (fingers crossed) progress.

There's generally a feeling of optimism in such circumstances & although my political colour is different to Sir Keir Starmer I wished him well as I believed he was a decent man & his team would start to address the bread & butter issues of domestic politics: for example the health service, education & housing.

These seemed to me to have been neglected by the previous lot, my lot, who spent far too much time focussing on some fairly fringe issues, inevitably smoothing the bumps in the road following Brexit & falling out amongst themselves when there were more important things to do.

Now we have had two further resignations, including that of the Deputy Prime Minister & Housing Minister Angela Rayner for failing to pay the correct amount of tax on a property purchase & our Ambassador to the USA Peter Mandelson for being too close to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

I am in something of a minority perhaps when I declare myself a fan of Angela Rayner. I thought she was heading in the right direction with her plans to reform local government, advocating the creation of larger unitary councils very much along the lines suggested by Redcliffe Maud in the 1960's, also relaxing planning so more desperately needed homes would be built.

Her backstory is authentic & she was a colourful member of an otherwise fairly drab bunch.

It's difficult to write warmly about Mandelson although everyone who has worked closely with him will say he is highly intelligent. But how is it possible to  have such a super brain yet absolutely no judgement?

His resignation will be the one most damaging to our Prime Minister as there were obvious risks in his appointment; there was no necessity of making this appointment in the first place & Sir Keir continued to defend him in Parliament after emails came to light which showed Mandelson maintaining a close/friendly correspondence with Epstein after his initial imprisonment & disgrace.

The politics of this aren't good for Keir Starmer as many of his own party will question why he was so keen to save the skin of Mandelson (for whom there is little affection) whereas he was more than happy to throw other colleagues under the bus for much less. Indeed he might easily end up with Lucy Powell who he recently sacked, as the new Deputy Leader of the Labour Party in place of Angela Rayner. 

Their relationship might be a trifle rocky to say the least especially as Lucy Powell is calling for a change of direction & a more inclusive approach.

Then there's the challenge from the far right & the awful demonstrations (& counter demonstrations) in London with significant numbers of police officers sustaining injuries.

Politics has certainly become more "shouty" in recent years but this takes things to a different level. 

In the past leaders would try to calm things down but now certain mischievous characters are only too happy to stir the pot.

It seems somewhat ironic to Yours Truly the far right is setting out a stall of flag waving & patriotism when our true culture is much more along the lines of "Keep Calm & Carry On".

What is sad is a weakened Prime Minister is less likely to show strong leadership. Simple messages need to be spelt out. We can't keep blaming others for  our problems & although I understand the frustration surrounding illegal immigration my fear is this just leads to a hostile environment & further division.

The facts are, like most European countries, we have an ageing population & desperately low birth rates. The average woman now has just 1.4 children, a record low & way below the level needed to maintain our working age population. We simply couldn't sustain our current way of life without reasonable levels of migration into the UK.

Most hospitals, care homes, food production, fisheries, hospitality & tourism depend upon people coming here to work. Our most prosperous cities are a melting pot of cultures which is exactly what you will find around the globe.

At a local level there's an opportunity to keep the temperature down, treat others with kindness & respect whilst concentrating on making a difference to every day lives. 

In the last week or so I have been delighted to visit Brampton Court, our first hotels to homes project which will provide 14 new affordable flats; announced the local auto enrolment of free school meals which has identified 234 more youngsters who will now receive a nutritious  meal as well as an additional £287,000 Pupil Premium funds for schools; also voted for investment by SWISCO in new vehicles & equipment which will keep the place clean & tidy.

At a time like this perhaps it's just best to keep our heads down & carry on working for our communities: keep calm & carry on.