The Stormcock Community

Hi all,

Been a while since I last posted, so here goes.

Tory philosophy based on my knowledge of the party and its past practice, coupled with the manifesto 'promises' and interviews with Tory MPs during the day on TV and radio is as follows:

Imagine the following, p.s. you can choose the replacement word you want in square brackets instead of the word before:

David Cameron/George Osborne/Michael Gove (pick any you like) afirms:

"We will reduce [minimise/cut/slash] national and local wastage [spending] in all areas of society.

We will unburden business [let them have a free hand in betting on markets] by reducing unnecessary bureaucracy [legal or fiscal mechanisms to hold unbridled demand and supply in check].

We will free society of the straitjacket of government dictat [we won't tell you what to do, instead you can decide among yourselves / we won't give you some guidance, instead you make it up / we can't be bothered with you plebs, so we'll let you all decide to jump on the bonfire if that's what you want to do].

We will let you the citizen [voter/sheep/idiot] build and manage your own school {we'll let you dig for victory instead of us giving you some reasoned and seasoned advice about where, how and when to plant, grow and harvest the crops for your families].

There we have it my proud nation. You are the people, you are the power. Now get on with it so me and my rich chums can exercise our horses!

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What is horrifying here, and I see as a net result of 'governance by the people' (this ideal of empowering people that the Tories are all chanting about today, of building and managing their own schools, for example, is that the vast majority will not do it. Why? Many reasons:

- can't be arsed/why should I - lack of civic responsibility/personal proud per se
- too many responsibilities as it is - job, family, myself
- don't know how to - lack of skill, experience and knowledge, specific or general

This 'idea' is one that is already in place, specifically schools and education -  yes, I know the Tories want to spread the ideal further and I'm coming back to that in a minute - Labour already have allowed external bodies to establish and manage schools, they are called Academies. There's one in Bristol where I was over 3 years ago. There's a new one in my local town, surprise the 'Aylesbury Academy' (established in part by the Church of England), and many others including the one in Cambridge in part established/funded by Microsoft. So this great and astounding 'ideal' is already happening.

What is worrying about what the Tories are suggesting is that they get rid of government bodies, and employees. i.e. peoples' jobs, (central or local), quangos and other advisory/supervisory bodies that serve a very good purpose of rewarding, guiding and punishing good and bad practice in society; already this year the local authority education advisory service have a much reduced role in advising schools on good practice, as well as government think (this is a Labour move by the way - many do welcome it, but the advisory service are made up of many experienced teachers who offer good (or better) 'hands-on' knowledge to teachers who may be struggling for one reason or another. Perhaps the argument here is that many experienced teacher (and long-time servers will cost the nation in high pensions). So even Labour don't live up to their philosophy.

Ok, let's imagine the situation, a local council housing estate. They have the power to set up their own school. Their existing local primary school is failing, in most areas, in goes into 'special measures' (close scrutiny by OFSTED during a period of time - guidance is given to the school management team - but before, and especially since the announcement, parents are worried, nervous, angered that the school their child is going to is a failure. Well now... the government says we can do it ourselves... Let's dig for victory.

So now we're expecting people with little experience of education and business themselves, living in 'deprived' circumstances to be able to establish and manage a primary school by themselves? Without professional support or guidance? Where's the money going to come from to start the process anyway?

Ok, I've restricted the argument to education, let's pave it out to a local park. Local council thinks park is too expensive to maintain and costs council taxpayers too much money (wages/opportunity cost, etc.). Council wants to sell it and build new houses (a good return, eh?). The residents are up in arms about the proposal arguing that noise and pollution will increase and access to green spaces, social mobility and meeting one's friends and physical exercise and overall good health will be put into jeopardy. Well, now the government says we can do it ourselves... Let's dig for victory.

Ok, so who will pay for upkeep of the local park? Who will reimburse financially the local council for the loss of their property? Who will paint the swings (and pay for it) and weed the beds every year? Oh yes, there'll be plenty of 'do-gooders' who pledge their allegiance to the cause, but when it comes to getting one's hands dirty, there will be few (experience of local residence meetings was a good insight; a lot of fuss and very little done). So in the end, the very good few will do a lot to keep the park in good order, but it will be to no avail and the local council will have to take it back, and then promptly sell it to a developer to build houses on, with the argument of "you had your chance and we can't afford to maintain it".

Responsibility... and freedom (reward).
Carrot and stick.
Why do I get up in the morning to go to work (even when I hate it)?

Because I need the money pay the mortgage (responsibility)., so I have a roof over my head and keep warm (responsibility to my wellbeing) and play my on my Xbox and slurp my bottle of Blue Nun :) (reward).
What if I can't be arsed dong my job? Then I will lose my reward and my employer will have the responsibility to sack me (because he will lose his freedom (reward) if he doesn't).

Hey... so what about the local park?

Responsibility and freedom.

"Who's going to paint the swings...? (delay) Err, (Dave) I will I suppose.
And what about the flower beds? They need weeding. Bert you're green-fingered, will you do that ?
Eh? What?
Flower beds, Bert. You grow your own tomatoes.
Aye, I do. I did ten years ago.
Good. Mary you help Bert. Ok?
Anyway, Antony's holding a little celebration drink at his house next Thursday. Who's in for that?

Aye.. Aye.. Aye.......

Just who is going to draw up rules and oversee them so that the park is kept in good nick? What will really happen?

Tune in to your next installment of Gardener's QT with DaveC and crew. Good Night!

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Suffice to say, I believe the Tory ideas outlined in their manifesto for 'power to people' is lacking in detail as regards the practicalities of the proposals they out forward (ok, so it's manifesto - it's not an hour's interview with the leader of party about his philosophy).

But don't the ideas sound great, people getting involved in things? Dig for victory and all that?

Well, as was pointed out on the BBC News, this is not anything new, and is something that is trotted out every so often by one party or another. Added to that that every (eligible) person can become a school governor, a councillor, an MP, become involved in their local church, scout/guide or youth group, others?. Hey, you can even set up your own business, now isn't that novel?

So, out of all this fuss, what really is new? Is it just all spin or hot air lost in their vacuum cleaner at the gates of dawn with a touch a fearless echoing in a pillow of winds. And do I really know what I'm talking about?

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Following with interest the political circus (Talking Heads?) and what result we will eventually have in 3 weeks.

Enjoy,
Bob Toms.


p.s. the people who need help the most are the least well equipped to carry out measures for their own survival/success - there's the irony - so who will carry the plans out? Good, informed and experienced local or national government of course. Yet the other irony is the Tories want to cut local/national expenditure in these areas. I wonder why.