British media write off Labour

British Rail, preferred to the private operators by the electorate

The number of journalists and political commentators writing off the Labour Party for a generation, if not forever, following the Copeland by-election result is a facile but typical groupthink. The electorate is totally fed up with all political parties at the national level as is evidenced by the low turnouts in Copeland 51%, and Stoke Central 38%. Labour under Jeremy Corbyn indeed looks unelectable in any general election but none of the parties looks to be capturing the mood of the electorate in these troubled and uncertain times. The Tory voters are more loyal than Labour voters at present but a dozen years ago the Tories had been written off forever following the barren years under the dreadful leadership of Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard.

What no one has reported is that the ten largest cities in the UK: London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, and Bristol are all Labour-controlled apart from Edinburgh where Labour is the largest party under a proportional representation electoral system. They are for the most part running administrations that are valued by their citizens who discern the difference between local and national politics. Apart from Scotland, where there is an alternative left-of-centre party, the SNP, there does not seem to be a collapse of Labour at the local level that is assumed by the media.

This presumption reflects the fact the national press gave up reporting on local government at the turn of the millennium when they greatly reduced the number of seasoned reporters of local government. Politics is ignored outside the bubble of Westminster and the devolved governments in Scotland and Wales. Yet as Simon Jenkins wrote last year "Labour has some outstanding leaders" but that "it is a shame that they are all in the regions." It reflects my experience working with politicians, both councillors and MPs, at the local level. Thirty years ago I was present when a rumbustious councillor, ambitious for an increase in his allowances, pleaded with the principled leader of the Council to be given the chair of a committee. He was told in no uncertain language that he would never be made a chair; local government services are far too important and that if he wanted more remuneration he should stand for parliament.

He did and was elected in a job lot of Jimmies and Tommies that were elected to Parliament at the next general election. The moral of the story is that there is a sense of public duty that pervades local politicians (of all parties) who are drawn from a wider cross-section of society and have real responsibility for delivering services. These qualities are often absent among national politicians, many of whom have limited working experience outside politics, and are over-represented by academics, educationalists, lawyers, financiers and journalists. The large majority of MPs are not involved in decision-making and are prone to focusing on politically correct or salient issues that exercise the media and chattering classes but are a lot less vital for most citizens. Some are just there for more salacious activities that Westminster is tapped into.

Politics are being redefined, not on class lines but by the electorate's values and perspectives on wider issues. These include the role of the state in delivering education, health, housing, care and infrastructure that remains a dividing line between the parties. They also embrace the protection of the environment, climate change, social justice, community control, the unregulated power of global capitalism, and international issues that include aid and migration as well as trade and defence. There is also the tranche of populist stances on immigration, human rights, nationalism and gender politics that are classless. The way that political parties provide clear direction on these issues will determine their future survival. They will have to convince an increasingly savvy electorate who are far more fickle than previous generations when it comes to party loyalties.

Mrs May has adopted an approach that appears to be unambiguous on the wicked issues of nuclear power, defence, tax, schools, austerity and Brexit. This plays well with a certain demographic - the older, financially secure and more nationalistic. It contrasts with the Corbyn-led Labour Party which embraces ambiguity on some of these national issues and leaves the younger. less financially secure and more globally aware, uncertain of what the Labour Party stands for apart from equality and human rights. If the Labour Party could become more committed to its traditional values that embrace state-owned railways and infrastructure, locally accountable public services, social housing, more progressive taxation, regulation of the financial sector and a real commitment to tackling climate change it could become a far more potent force than is currently assumed by the fickle media. This is unlikely to happen under Corbyn, some of his fantasy policies that are constantly amplified by the press will never be acceptable to the wider electorate.  

Rob Roy Way: Callander to Aberfoyle

Ben Ledi from Callander

Friday, 24 February 2017
15 kilometres
3 hours 10 minutes

A dry morning after storm Doris persuaded me to walk another section of the Rob Roy Way from Callander to Aberfoyle. I ran this route regularly in the 1980s when we lived in Glasgow and came out to see my in-laws on Sunday. I had also walked the route in the 1990s with two 11-year-olds who were raising money for a Leukaemia charity. The route has become more difficult since then with the growth of newly planted trees and today it was covered in deep wet snow over a path that was a part bog.

The walk began at the bridge over the River Teith in Callander and took me to the mini roundabout where the back road runs towards Loch Venachar. The old moss-covered stone walls and native woodland make it an attractive amble despite the flooding on the road and the row of caravans at Callander Holiday Park overlooking the road. I stopped at Gartchonzie bridge to watch the gushing Eas Gobhain below the weirs at the exit of the loch. At the outflow of Loch Venachar, there are benches that provide a fine view down the loch to the mountains, which were blasted with snow.

The early brightness of the day was turning grey before the rains arrived. A party of volunteers were litter picking and a massive sign had been erected to by the national park to proclaim the newly introduced 'no camping zone'. The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park have refused to allow new housing, introduced measures that restrict the right to roam and seem to be in hock to hotel owners and tourism chiefs, who are more focused on making money than giving folk the opportunity to enjoy and explore the splendours of the natural environment. John Muir would not have approved, he saw national parks as places for people to engage with the natural environment as well as protecting it from exploitation for profit.

At the east lodge, a car park has been constructed and a forestry track climbs steadily through the conifer plantations for about 3 kilometres. By the time I had reached 200 metres in height, the tracks were covered in wet snow. Passing the small lochan is the high point of the walk, thereafter the Rob Roy Way turns off the track and becomes a boggy narrow path through the forest with burns to cross, tree roots to negotiate. Quite a few trees had blown down in recent high winds and required some tricky diversions. The rain was threatening so I pushed on eventually leaving the forest for a 2-kilometre passage over open moorland with a path that had disappeared into the snow. I was the first walker coming across the Way since the snowfall on Wednesday evening, 36 hours ago.

My aim was the gate into the forest below the Menteirth hills, the snow was less deep here and it was the bogs that slowed me until I alighted onto the forestry track that leads down to Braeval. The path continues along the top of the Aberfoyle golf course, a place with superb views but not today. I dropped down through the golf course and arrived at the village below Dounans camp. I arrived home as the rain began and dosed in the afternoon.

Eas Gobhain below the weirs

Loch Venachar with Ben Venue

Looking north over Loch Venachar to Ben Ledi

The lochan at the top of the route

Slow going in the snow along the boggy path

Post-optimism

It has been a dreary start to the year and trips to Glasgow, Dundee, Perth, Stirling, Falkirk, York, Wakefield, Carlisle and Brampton have made me realise how our urban centres are in serious decline with empty shops, commercial buildings and the urban realm all looking in need of extensive repair. Only York has had a sense of vibrancy with the tourism attractions generating lots of visitor expenditure from home and abroad on a bitterly cold February day.

Presumably, there are more towns in the south that are thriving. Certainly, during visits over the past couple of years to Oxford, Hemel Hempstead, Sevenoaks, Brighton and surrogate southern towns like Chester and Harrogate, I have been pleasantly surprised to find them exempt from the dilapidation that has afflicted northern towns and cities.

Towns in the Midlands and North already look like they are broken in the way the remain camp are predicting for after Brexit. The urban fabric is a mess with street furniture and signage cluttered, broken and dirty, pavements and roads a tribute to the failure of the power, telecoms and water providers to restore the public realm, and business premises showing an ever increasing number of vacant properties. Pubs, banks, independent shops and restaurants have closed; it is only charity shops, poundshops, fast food outlets and betting shops that seem to be surviving, if not thriving. There are notices for the reduction of bus services, future shop closures and travel agents suggesting that we escape the depressing UK winter. They serve to confirm the sense of urban decline and pending recession. People are looking sad.

The rundown of our towns and villages is not surprising given the wage stagnation and benefits reductions of recent years. These have been exacerbated by the most severe cuts in public expenditure since the war, an ever-accelerating switch to online shopping and a failure to regulate the street works effectively.

I have spoken to several local businesses in recent weeks and they have all made the same comment. They need to know what is going to happen post-Brexit and they all say that orders have slowed down. The uncertainty is beginning to strain their resources and plans are being put on hold or abandoned. The 14 directors that I have mentored this year are almost all dealing with reducing or closing services, disposing of premises and laying off staff. Only two or three are looking at developing new or improved services and even then there is uncertainty about funding for making the changes. Experienced managers in their 50s are being retired with little evidence that their knowledge and experience will be replaced. Austerity is the mother of a fake economy.

I watched I, Daniel Blake and it reinforced the scale of social injustices that are being perpetrated by 6 years of austerity. Even in 2015, 29% of children were living in poverty and 14% of pensioners were living on less than 60% of median incomes. These figures are increasing year on year. The post-truth announcements from government focus on the record number of people employed and the FTSE 100 increases. But these fail to acknowledge that many jobs are part-time, non-permanent or self-employed and they often lack pensions and sick pay, there are a lot of false jobs in the count. The FTSE is soaring on the back of a £ that has depreciated by 20% or so. The UK has become a takeover target for global corporate companies and other businesses are being sucked into mainland Europe in anticipation of Brexit.

As a lifelong optimist, I am struggling to find the upside in all of this. Housebuilding is in further decline and unaffordable; the NHS is in meltdown; education expenditure in England is focused on free schools or academies rather than targeting the shortage of pupil places or much needed investment in existing schools, and sustainable energy initiatives have been sacrificed on the altar of fracking and nuclear deals. The government are still 12% ahead in the opinion polls. It makes you wonder what other damage they can get away without denting this lead.

But even some Tories are now beginning to worry that 2018 could be the year when the public says enough is enough. The convergence of 10 years of austerity, heartless benefit reforms, the ever rapid dismantling of the NHS, the lack of decent affordable housing and the pension deficit have conspired to create an "inequality of wealth that is grosser than any European country", This is what George Orwell had said in 1941 in his essay, the Lion and the Unicorn'. It is probably even more apposite today.

The fruits of three decades of neoliberal policies coupled with the dystopian policies emerging in the United States and the loss of trade links following Brexit could generate a perfect storm that sparks a groundswell of despair arising from the skewed affluence within the UK. There could be a showdown with the government if the electorate could find an alternative that they trusted. The calls for an early election before this happens may not fall on deaf ears.

And 2018 is the Chinese year of the dog.

National Railway Museum

Rocket replica

A weekend near York for an extended family reunion provided the opportunity to visit the National Rail Museum at York. It is a fine facility and does much to generate tourism traffic for a city that is already well endowed with attractions from York Minster to the Viking centre, city walls and the shambles. York may lack scenery, located on the flat and frequently flooded Ouse, but it is well positioned on road and rail networks to attract visitors from most parts of the UK. It is a pity that the national museum was not located in Crewe, Doncaster, or Darlington all of which were formerly railway towns that would be more deserving and benefit more from rail tourism.

Nevertheless, it was chance to touch base with the steam locomotives and railway infrastructure that I spent three or four years inhaling between the ages of 9 and 13. I spent most Saturdays watching trains on the West Coast mainline and, during school holidays, I raided many engine sheds to cab locomotives and made visits to locomotive works in Horwich, Crewe, Gorton and Doncaster. My geography of the UK was largely gained by knowing travel times to towns on the rail network and my map reading skills honed by locating engine sheds. The names of the locomotives also provided most of my knowledge of countries, cities, Greek gods, kings and queens, castles and regiments along in each case with a 5 digit number.

There were lots of memories as I took my 3-year-old granddaughter onto the footplate of my favourite locomotive, a coronation class pacific - the Duchess of Hamilton (46229). She seemed interested and asked me how it worked; my impromptu description of being like a giant kettle on wheels was accepted but she knows how to humour me. It was the very same locomotive that my grandad had lifted me onto the footplate to be shown the controls by the friendly engine driver as it stopped at Preston whilst pulling a Glasgow bound express.

I was also 3 years old at the time and on the Saturday mornings when my grandad was not working he would ask what I wanted to do, the answer was obvious. The museum had on display the nameplate of another coronation class pacific, Queen Mary(46222), which was my final 'cop' of this class of locomotive when I was 11 years old. The target for all trainspotters was to complete all the 'semis', the name given to this most powerful of all the British locomotives. Happy days indeed.

Mallard, the fastest steam locomotive

The cab of a Coronation class pacific locomotive

Evening Star, the last steam locomotive built for British Railways

46222, my final Coronation class locomotive (semi)

Is democracy trumped?

The last couple of weeks have seen some of the most bizarre gyrations in political posturing. Channel 4's Washington correspondent, Kylie Morris, confirms through her regular reporting that President Trump is just as bonkers as we had suspected from gasping at the indiscretions that he uttered and tweeted throughout the presidential campaign. Footage from the innards of American states like Indiana and Tennessee suggest that his supporters among the working classes are loving the way he is treating the Washington insiders with the same contempt as his apprentices. It will be interesting to see what they think in a year when their financial plight has been put on hold whilst taxes for the wealthy and corporation tax for companies are reduced. The Sioux tribe have already witnessed his contempt for struggling communities by his approval for the Dakota oil pipeline to be routed across their homelands with army engineers ordered to execute his decision.

His supporters are delighted with his daily brag that things are happening. Terrorists are being locked out; trade agreements are being torn up; companies, journalists, and world leaders are being insulted, ignored or demonised. He is using all the bullying tactics that have made him a gold plated dickhead and it seems to be working with the greedy, the weak and unprincipled companies and governments gushing their support. Witness the way that the republicans, car manufacturers and dependent states, including the UK, are happy to play his games.

China, the European Union and Mexico have called him out and after this morning's rant on the phone to the Australians PM, the equally intemperate Aussies could declare a 'fuck you mate' diplomacy. It is Russia, Israel and the UK that seem the most enamoured with the new President. They are all hanging their hat on him blessing some of their more risky ploys, as in the Ukraine, switching the US embassy to Jerusalem and leaving the EU. There will be deals to be struck in these and many more international agreements but, as he said twice, yes twice folk, it is America first.

Mrs May's ill timed rush to be the first world leader to hold his hand had seemed rash even to begin with. After the President's announcement of the exclusion of citizens from war torn countries and the PMs refusal to challenge this policy, the homage proved to be a diplomatic own goal. Meanwhile the more principled world leaders and demonstrators across many nations have been blowing the whistle on his conduct over immigration, climate change and his name calling of regimes and organisations that are multilateral. As his frenzied playlist of prejudices is further activated with little attempt to discover their wider impact, more countries, corporations and groups will challenge the legality and morality of his infringements of the constitution and international agreements.

In the midst of this there were some strange bedfellows joining the protests. Starbucks, never knowingly oversold, offered to hire 10,000 refugees worldwide and 2 million UK citizens have signed a parliamentary petition calling for the Queen to be absolved from hosting a state visit for President Trump. Senators are considering a fillibuster against some of his nominations for key posts; California is talking about leaving the union; and the National Park service has a twitter campaign objecting to the damage of national parks like Yellowstone and Grand Teton by oil pipelines approved by the President.

Contrary to what we are being told by some of the media, that populism is usurping liberal democracy, I wonder if it is unwittingly releasing a far more positive worldwide movement. The reaction to Trump's early examples of executive populism could be a powerful and inclusive networked democratic movement. One that sheds the elitism of representative democracy and encourages more collaboration between diverse local and global movements.  It may be that this cloud democracy will be able to overwhelm the narrow, selfish, tax evading, individualistic and nationalistic tendencies that trumpism exemplifies. Hopefully this will happen before the wannabe populists secure more footholds in other parts of the world.

I'm just looking forward to the smile on Kylie Morris's face on the day that Trump is vanquished.