Globalisation and Discontent

I've been wanting to do a blog called "Globalisation and Discontent" for some time, and some overnight doubts about whether I'd been totally fair to the Deputy Prime Minister in my previous post have helped crystalise my thoughts on this theme.

It seems to me that a fundamental problem of the "New Labour Project" is an overenthusiastic and undiscriminating embrace of the "New" (or what it perceives to be "new"). Ill-advised government IT projects are a good example of this; and so is the Government's response to globalisation.

A "positive" attitude to globalisation is at the heart of Tony Blair's premiership; and this is one area where he and the Chancellor seem to be in step (although I may well be wrong here, but I'll pass that by). This is because, or so it seems to me, "New Labour" isn't really a "labour" party at all, but rather modelled more on the "Democrats" of Ex US President Bill Clinton.

I'm not such a great fan of Bill Clinton, and so could not help enjoying the irony when his appearance at the Labour Party Conference took second place in the media (tabloid and "quality") to the triangular personal affairs of two British immigration judges and their Brazilian cleaning lady, an illegal immigrant. So much for The Clinton Global Initiative !

I seem to remember that a senior figure in the Clinton administration - who too may have been some kind of judge - was also "undone" by her employment of a domestic worker who was an illegal immigrant. This case led to something of a furore in the US media, as I recall, on the grounds that rich americans were beneficiaries of the labour of poorly paid migrant workers.

Many people have argued passionately that one of the main dynamics of the most recent wave of globalisation (which isn't so new in itself) is the exploitation of poorer people and nations by richer people and nations. Not only are migrant workers - illegal or legal - open to exploitation, but their willingness to accept lower wages than local people may undermine the labour market.

For many of its citizens Britain is now a low wage country. Moreover the "wage" disparity between those on high incomes and those on low is growing. Immigration is widely credited with keeping wages down, which is precisely why employers organisations like the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) are enthusiastic about it, and why people in poorer areas often less so.

There are also other pressures linked to mass immigration, including those associated with housing provision and public services. These issues take me back to Mr Prescott, the former Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR), Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), and present Department for Communities and Local Government.

Government policy on planning and regional development underwent a major transformation between 1997 and the early part of the new millennium. Planning has increasingly been held up as an impediment to economic growth; and regional regeneration to tackle the North-South Divide" has taken second place to planning for development in the South of England.

In all this the Deputy Prime Minister and his various offices have undoubtedly been victims of forces greater than themselves : the Prime Minister and No 10 Policy Unit, and the Chancellor and his Treasury, with their globalisation-related agenda (not to to say ideology). Attached to this "agenda" one can also find various (?) "interns" of the former Bill Clinton administration.

One of these is Ed Balls, a former advisor to the Chancellor and how a junior minster (?) at the Treasury. Mr Balls is widely credited with being one of the authors of New Labour's economic policy and has gone by the title of "The Chancellor's Representative on Earth." The other is Yvette Cooper (Mr Ball's wife), and Minister for Housing and Planning.

The couple hold neighbouring parliamentary constituencies in the North of England, although, as I understand one of these (?Mr Ball's ) will disappear when boundary changes are introduced in a few year's time.

Ms Cooper is responsible for some of the daft planning and regeneration policies inherited by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). These are now subject to a departmental "Housing and Regeneration Review" (which began under the ODPM), and a separate economic review of local and regional policy which is being conducted by the Treasury.

The challenge for these reviews, I would propose, is the adoption of policies which suport the positive aspects of globalisation (of which I acknowledge there are some) and the growth of labour markets linked, for instance, to expansion of the European Union, and which are in their turn compatible with sustainable economic regeneration and environental conservation.

We are some way from this situation at the present time, and if I have attributed undue responsibility for this state of affairs to the Deputy Prime Minister, I offer him my most sincere apologies.

On the Buses with the (Ex) Deputy Prime Minister

Before moving on to the North of England, I would like to mention the (the soon to be ex) Deputy Prime Minister's performance at the conclusion of the Labour Party Conference.

It occured to me yesterday (although I may have had a subliminal awareness of this for some time), and I'm sure others have noted the likeness, that Mr Prescott bears more than a passing resemblence to the late Les Dawson. Apparently, the Prime Minister's (rather flat, in my view) joke about not having to worry about his wife running off with the man next door was based on a Dawson gag, and came from a recently published anthology (can't the Government come up with its own jokes ?), recommended by Alastair Campbell (all this according to Channel 4 News).

At the beginning of his speech, Mr Prescott apologised to the conference for personal misbehaviour (which I won't go into). However, I would suggest to the Deputy Prime Minister that the real apology was due to the millions of ordinary people affected by the daft area planning and regeneration policies to emerge from the former office of the Deputy Prime Minister, and now "housed" in the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). (See my previous blogs : Government Regeneration isn't Working; and The Demise of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister).

Whilst some urban areas in London, the Midlands and the North of England are threatened with wholescale demolition (notwithstanding that many people like living in them) , other areas of countryside (mainly, but not exclusively in the South East/Midlands) are threatened with massive housebuilding programmes. The failing of Mr Prescott and his ministerial colleagues has been to let the qango called English Partnerships (itself strongly associated with the mass housebuilding sector) to trample over local government and communities, and even other qangos, like the regional development agencies.

Perhaps when Mr Prescott has relinquished his ministerial jag, and is employing his senior citizens bus pass, he will see the error of his ways. As for his performace at conference, I would remind him (now that the festive season is but a few months away), that the late Les Dawson also did a very good pantomime dame. A future blog is already stirring in me !

I would also like to add that as a person I warm to the character of the Deputy Prime Minister, it's his policies I've had a problem with.

"Things Can Only Get Better....."

Government Regeneration isn’t Working for Communities and Individuals

A High Court judge earlier this week ruled that a compulsory purchase order issued by Ministers to English Partnerships, the Government’s National Regeneration Agency, breached the human rights of Elizabeth Pascoe, who faced being moved out of her home in Liverpool’s Edge Lane West area so that new housing and roads leading to the city centre could be constructed. Mrs Pascoe had set up a campaign group called “Better Environmental Vision for Edge Lane”, and this week’s ruling puts on hold the demolition of 500 homes. The demolition programme forms part of the Government’s controversial Pathfinder house building initiative, and regeneration schemes affecting 30 towns and cities, and covering 700 000 homes and 2.5 million people, may be affected by the outcome of yesterday’s judgement. According to human rights lawyers, the ruling could freeze plans to bulldoze thousands of homes across the Midlands and the North of England under the Pathfinder Scheme.

Elizabeth Pascoe said she and her neighbours wanted to keep their homes, but also see the Edge Lane area of Liverpool “truly regenerated”. However, whilst there is now “great relief” amongst residents of the area, Mrs Pascoe said she was “nervous about the longer term effects (of the High Court judgement). They (regeneration agencies) could just leave us to rot”. This concern may also be shared by communities in the other Pathfinder areas.

(Above information obtained from Metro newspaper 28.9.2006)

In a separate development, a report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation published last week found that the Pathfinder Scheme undercompensated homeowners whose properties were due to be demolished, making it difficult for them to purchase another house.

Sleeping Giants of the Thames Gateway (and other places)

Some years ago I was working with an Asian business network in London who were asked by the Mayor of London's Office to organise some consultation meetings on regeneration issues for the Thames Gateway area. The Mayor's Office later withdrew their support.

My client and I duly met in a Woolwich café to discuss these meetings. Our conversation was overheard by a youngish man who obviously had strong feelings about some of the things going on locally under in the name of “regeneration”. He called the situation “a sleeping giant”. By this he meant that when local people understood that regeneration might not be in their best interests, there would be trouble.

Opposition by communities and individuals to compulsory purchase orders to facilitate larges scale demolition programmes (involving homes and businesses) and the construction of road schemes, is now being felt throughout the country. In London, these programmes are substantially linked to the 2012 Olympics, and elsewhere to initiatives like the Pathfinder Scheme.

More effective public consultation by the likes of the London Development Agency and English Partnerships (of whom I shall have a lot more to say), may well have alerted politicians and officials to the problems inherent in a “comprehensive re-development” approach to area regeneration.

Once again, and as my next blog shows, it seems Liverpool is a city that has dared to fight nationally imposed policy, albeit at the community rather than local government level. Moreover, on this occasion the community has won, and set a precedent for other areas.

What (and Who) Not to Wear

Not so long ago the Conservative MP Anne Widdicombe was interviewed on Radio 4 concerning a poll amongst young people which had rated her as a more influential figure than Madonna.

Yesteday a new series of BBC1's "What not to Wear" (with new presenters) brought together a group of women, some similar in appearance to Ms Widdicombe, who had much younger male partners or husbands (as does Madonna).

Two of these women were duly selected for a "makeover". One emerged with what could only be described as "the New Labour look" for middle aged women, and might have progressed to "Faking It" (? Channel 4 Series) as a female cabinet minister.

It seems to me that life is as much about "who" as "what not to "wear". If partners, friends and colleagues make you feel uncomfortable about yourself , or your values, then it may well be time to say "Good Bye".

For this I admire Clare Short, who recently announced her decision to stand down as a Labour MP. Amongst the reasons for this were not only major policy differences with colleagues, but the "inefficiency" of the present administration.

This is a government which, after all, likes "dressing up". The prime minister's wife is now famous for her interest in (and expenditure on) "Fashion and Beauty". However, it is for a multitude of "policy makeovers" that New Labour will be remembered.

Ground Hog Days for Pedestrians and Cyclists - Email to British Waterways Board

I refer to previous email correspondence on the matter of the Diglis Development. To my surprise, the situation did seem to improve for a while ! However, it has now worsened again.

The problem is almost certainly the joint responsibility of BWB and Worcester City Council as it concerns the repeated (we seem to have a "Gound Hog Day" situation here) digging up and reconstruction of the road and pavement on Diglis Road adjoining the Canal Basin, and the junction with Diglis Lane. There is also the added problem of a 10 week closure of the riverside walk between the Diglis Hotel and the Basin area.

However, I draw the Diglis Road/Lane issues to your particular attention because some of the more elderly/less physically able people who need to pass through the area to access local services are really struggling just now !

Politics is not Strictly Come Dancing

I am a great fan of "Bremmer, Bird and Fortune", and particularly enjoyed a sketch in which the Labour leadership issue is transformed into a "Strictly Come Dancing" contest. Tony and Cherie, together with Gordon and Sarah, are, of course, the finalists. Gordon manages some particularly fancy foot work, tripping Tony up, and leaving Cherie to wonder whether "Peter" (Mandelson)might make a better dancing partner.

Cherie Blair certainly tripped up Gordon Brown's flow yesterday at the Labour Party Conference, whether she said "Can I pass" (her own version of events), or "That's a lie", her words in response to Gordon's expression of admiration for her husband, according to a female journalist.

One message to be drawn from the above episodes is that partners can be liabilities as well as assets, and this lesson is particularly pertinent to New Labour.

Several years ago when I had occasion to do quite alot of work around the London local (then mainly Labour) government "scene", it sometimes occured to me that virtually everyone was
someone else's partner. Indeed, I also wondered whether being thus partnered was an unwritten condition for certain consultancy contracts.

The fact is that in the politics of "New Labour" who your partner is really is really matters. After all, we wouldn't even be thinking about the prospect of Gordon Brown becoming leader of the Labour Party and the next prime minister if he wasn't married to Sarah.

Personally, I don't think this state of affairs is particularly good. The last single person to be leader of a major UK political party (the Greens are more progressive in this respect) was Edward Heath in the 1970s. Sir Edward's premiership may not have been spectacular. However, on the international scene his major achievement was membership of the E C, in my view a more positive contribution to British Foreign policy than the legacy of the Blair government.

Moreover, Heath's contemporary, the trade unionist Jack Jones described him as a greater friend of British working people (including those "hard working families" invoked by New Labour), than the Labour prime ministers who preceded and followed him : Harold Wilson (married but childless) and Jim Callaghan (a "family man").

As far as I can make out, the later Sir Edward was a cultured man who knew how to enjoy to enjoy himself. During the years of the Thatcher Government, he was also widely regarded as the most effective member of her majesty's opposition (whilst the Labour Party fought amongst itself). In more recent times, Sir Edward too seems to have enjoyed a dance : for instance, at the opening of an exhibition by the painters Gilbert and George.

The fact is that you don't have to be a family person, married or have a partner to be a good politician. Even if I have to wait a long time, I look forward to the kind of British politics which will again allow a single person - be they straight, gay or, for that matter, bisexual - to be prime minister.

Now, where's my pogo stick....

The Downbeat Britain Blogs (1) - Not Going to Extremes

As a personal antidote to the upbeat marketing excesses of governments and corporations, on the one hand, and the "Bad News" culture of some journalists and broadcasters, on the other, I've decided to develop a series of blogs on the theme of "Downbeat Britain", or "Not Going to Extremes". For me Downbeat Britain is a place both physical and cultural.

Indeed I would argue that some of the nation's best culture over the last 5o years or so has come from precisely this downbeat place. I'm thinking of the tradition of comedy stretching from the likes of the "Carry On" films, to "Fawlty Towers" and "Only Fools and Horses". Funnily enough, as they are exported around the world , these kind of shows still conjure up the spirit of Britain for many foreign people who have yet to visit the country.

With regard to the actual location of Downbeat Britain, I would say that this can be found pretty much everywhere, so I've decided to explore its presence in my fairly immediate locality. Therefore a personally regenerating visit last summer (during the heatwave) to the Droitwich Brine Baths, and regular travel on the 382 Worcester to Pershore bus (an excellent service) will be the kind of experiences I shall recount in my forthcoming series.

Letter to FT : More Little Britain than New Britain

In the interests of journalistic balance, I suggest that Philip Stephens (Another Country: with Blair has come confidence in an embrace of the world/FT 22.9.06) read The Birmingham Post published on the same day as his article.

This newspaper has the headline "City Split by Poverty", and carries an editorial entitled "Face the Truth: Birmingham isn't working". The business section leads with "PWC: Car plant closures not over".

Birmingham is Britain's "Second City", yet to read Mr Stephen's article, one would indeed think that he was living in "another country". However, I would suggest that the messsage to be drawn from his rather rosy "New Labour" worldview is this : it is much easier to "accentuate the positive" in economic trends - such as a strong property market - even if these have "negative externalities", than it is to tackle deep rooted problems.

As The Birmingham Post's Chief Reporter Paul Dale points out : "While relatively prosperous suburbs continue to flourish, more than a third of adults in inner city wards where black and Asian populations are in the majority are either unemployed or claiming benefit". However, this situation is not unique to Birmingham, nor to areas with majority ethnic populations. The fact is that we live very much in the best and worst of times, and most cities have two tales to tell.

My guess is that Mr Stephens has been spending too much time in the capuccino and smoothie bars of Canary Wharf and the Tate Britain. As a result his article, as far as I am concerned, is "More Little Britain than New Britain". As for "a country travelling in the right direction", I would suggest he read the articles on transport in The Birmingham Post.

"The End of Birmingham" and the Beginnings of My Blog

As a consultant, I find that it is good practice to revisit the beginnings of a particular project from time to time, and to remind oneself of the initial catalyst for the enterprise.

In March, I emailed my friend and associate, Patrick Roper, with the following comments :

"Speaking of Dostoyevsky, I travelled up to the National Motorcycle Museum near the Birmingham NEC (National Exhibition Centre) the other day - not so much a museum as an enormous subterranean conference centre with small surface museum. The journey to/from the train station was a real "dark day of the soul", traversing motorways on foot as my "how to get there instructions" said the Museum was 5 mins (by taxi - except this wasn't mentioned) from the station. Birmingham to me is the antithesis of sustainable planning - fine countryside is swallowed up whilst the City remains a wasteland of brownfield sites.....".

On receiving this, Patrick suggested I set up a blog. His suggestion "sunk in" when I chanced upon David Miliband's blog. Mr Miliband was then a minister at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, and is now Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Incidentally, whilst Patrick brought up Dostoyevsky, my March visit to the NEC area took place the day after I watched the first installment of Channel 4's "The End of Russia" week of programmes. In this, Louis Theroux evokes a particularly apocalypic picture of modern Russia, with its defunct soviet factories and endless dereliction (human and environmental).

Some may remember that we had a rather cold and grey spell around the Spring Equinox, which I found had an almost "Soviet chill". As I travelled on the slow train from Worcester to Birmingham - which for some reason did not stop at the suburban commuter stations of the West Midlands Conurbation, thereby leaving many people in the cold - it did occur to me that Mr Theroux might also make a programme about "The End of Birmingham".

The Symbolism of Hurricane Gordon

With the approach of the Labour Party Conference, and the end of Tony Blair's premiership in sight, those of us with an interest in syncronicity (or meaningful co-incidence) may wonder at the symbolism of Hurricane Gordon, and the onset of unseasonably warm and windy weather.

Hopefully, the hurricane's impact will not be felt too strongly in the UK. The eye of the storm is forecast to be elsewhere. Besides Britain's own Gordon, Chancellor Brown, conjures up damp, overcast weather in my mind, with the prospect of localised air pollution, itself re-inforced by global climatology. The fiscal climate of the globalised Brown economy - still to enter the Green era - is rather grey in outloook, but we have yet to encounter the "great storms" (and their economic manifestations) which presaged the end of the Thatcher government. However, the Scottish Chancellor, like the man who gives his name to "The Scottish Play", should take heed of changes in the weather.

(This theme is taken up in my poem - At Thames Gateway)

POEM - AT THAMES GATEWAY

(Inspired by S T Coleridge’s poem “Kubla Khan”)


At Thames Gateway did Rogers Khan*
A stately pleasure-dome decree,
Where Tamesis, sacred river, ran
Through transport corridor of man,
Down to Southend-on-Sea.

Then Government did command
A conference in London’s Dockland,
And midst this Rogers heard from far
Across the river voices prophesising war !
A montage of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves….
Government had failed to measure
Environmental impacts on the weather ! **

A planner and developer
In a vision once I saw,
With a traffic engineer,
And on his model he displayed
Complex forecasts overlaid.
What future held these three
For the Gateway Bridge Inquiry ?
At which junction, I awoke
And replied : The SEA, The SEA***


Janet Mackinnon


Notes

*Lord Rogers of Riverside, Chairman of the Urban Task Force
** Appendix 3 of my Proof of Evidence to the TGB Public Inquiry
*** Strategic Environmental Assessment - never provided for the TGB


The TGB planning inquiry inspector is due to submit his report to government this autumn (? October), and, to quote Transport for London's website : "A decision on whether or not the scheme will proceed is expected in spring 2007".

See also my June 2006 blog on the Thames Gateway Bridge.

Summission to British Equestrian Federation

London 2012 – Equestrian Sports & Legacy Proposals[1]

This paper deals with 2 related matters :
the location of Horse Trials in the London 2012 Olympics; and
the equestrian legacy of the Games in South East London

1. Location of equestrian sports in the 2012 Olympics
Although Greenwich Park and Blackheath are identified as the focus for equestrian sports, there has been some debate about whether these sites offer the most appropriate venue. However, it is accepted here they will accommodate the show jumping and dressage components of the Games (? including Para Olympics). The Royal Artillery campus at Woolwich is to host shooting sports and it is proposed that “The Military” (the name formerly given to Horse Trials) also takes place in the vicinity of Woolwich Common/Shooters Hill (the latter area accommodating a good part of the cross country section). The equestrian component (and other parts ?) of the Modern Pentathlon might also take place at Woolwich instead of Greenwich.

The reasons for the above suggestions (in addition to the kind of issues raised in recent correspondence in the equestrian media) are as follows :
environmental/sustainability
regeneration/legacy

Legacy issues are covered below. Although London 2012 has made much much of its “green” and “sustainability” credentials, many people (including myself !) have questioned these. “Cramming” all equestrian sports into the Greenwich World Heritage Site is another example of the capacity of the local environment being overriden. The “Equestrian Establishment”, as represented in the British Equestrian Federation, also needs to properly tackle the imperative of environmental sustainability. There is little evidence of this to date.
(I am happy to expand on this issue !)

2. Equestrian Legacy of the 2012 Games
The discussion here is primarily focussed on South East London, but it is accepted that the legacy should extend beyond this and particularly take in regeneration areas north of the river ie in the Lea Valley, London Docklands and adjoining parts of the Thames Gateway. The legacy should also acknowledge the multi-ethnic nature of local communities, and the fact that non-white groups are not well represented in equestrian sports; as well as the perception (and to some extent reality) that equestrianism (“at the higher levels”) – and particularly dressage and horse trials - is a sport for social elites.

It is therefore proposed that an “Equestrian Centre of Excellence”, with strong links to other local riding establishments, be established in the vicinity of the Royal Artillery campus at Woolwich. This Centre of Excellence should include :
An indoor “Riding House” of great architectural as well as technical merit
A permanent cross-country course based on the Olympic one described above
? Polo Grounds on Woolwich Common

In terms of its “organisation”, this Centre of Excellence would probably involve a partnership between The Army and British Equestrian Federation. It should also involve a partnership between the public, private, non-government and community-based sectors.
[1] From Janet Mackinnon 25.8.2006 (email : janet.mackinnon@tiscali.co.uk web: www.epona-land.co.uk)