Tag: politics

Delay in London Cycling Initiative

A major revival of cycling infrastructure in the outer boroughs of London has been put on hold by mayor Boris Johnson, after having initially praised the move.

The mayor of London, and his predecessor Ken Livingstone, both agreed to aim to reach the proposed 400% increase in cycling by 2025. Recent developments have indicated that things are going in the right direction, with 2003 seeing an introduction of a congestion charge, and the “European style” bike hire made available in 2009.

Indeed, the cycling culture of inner London has improved drastically, where it can often be quicker, not to mention far healthier, to commute by bike than by car, but it is the areas in outer London which currently need the most attention. The majority of cycling trips in the future will have to be made in these areas, so it is essential that the experience of cycling there is a safe one, and not potentially off-putting to the novice.

According to the Guardian, the overall “vision” of the cycling initiative will focus on  “the creation of ‘mini Hollands’, to transform conditions in areas of outer London and make safe, pleasant cycling a reality for local people.” Inspired by many European cities, London, being one of the largest cities in the world, realises the sense it makes to develop a similar scheme. But it seems that the scheme is being halted, albeit temporarily.

One obvious reason for this is the severe government cuts being made all over the country; there simply may not be enough money in the near future to fund a better cycling infrastructure. But public interest is being expressed far and wide in the value of investment in cycling.

In Scotland this weekend, thousands of cyclists, novices and seasoned pros alike, are planning to take part in Pedal on Parliament, descending on Holyrood en masse to campaign for better cycling infrastructure, and that the limited resources available will in fact be better spent on a healthier and safer means of travelling.

Certainly from a health perspective, with the current concerns for obesity and widespread lack of exercise, this could be the ideal investment for the governments to make, tackling both health and transport issues at the same time.

Judging from the better records of many other cities in Europe and elsewhere, and the growing expression of interest from the UK public, perhaps it is the best next move for Boris Johnson to reopen the cycling case, and put the limited economy to the best possible use.

Support For Wind Energy

Recent studies have shown that the majority of people are in favour of onshore suppliers of wind energy, but would be less likely to cast their vote.

A number of MPs have claimed that wind farms would be too expensive, despite growing evidence that people would in fact be more likely to vote for them if they were seen to be in favour of environmentally friendly energy.

At the end of last month, The Department of Energy and Climate Change gathered and released data that showed strong support for those in favour of wind energy, and on 1st May a series of polls were commissioned by RenewableUK, which revealed how voters really feel about the views of their local MPs on core issues such as climate change.

However, the number of voters could use a boost in many demographics; proportions of pro-wind energy votes are high among Labour and Liberal Democrat voters, but votes are also relatively high among Tory voters, 33% of whom would support a pro-wind farm candidate. Furthermore, 23% of UKIP voters claim that they would be more likely to vote for a candidate that openly supports wind energy, clearly leaving the rest of UKIP voters in a state of non-support, or uncertainty.

One vote that was given in a surprising quantity was “makes no difference”, which may lend more credibility to the notion that people are not, in fact, opposed to wind farm energy, which many MPs have been claiming, but that there are simply too many other issues to take into consideration.

Propelling wind energy to the forefront of the minds of the people will be something of a challenge, given the priority of other issues, such as welfare cuts, immigration and affordable housing. Yet with various contemporary issues to contend with, the importance of wind energy, and its potential to help conserve the environment in the future, should not be neglected when there are more potential voters than ever before, all of whom have the chance to make a difference to the environmental wellbeing of the country.

Anonymity of the accused in rape cases

In light of the recent arrest of Tory MP Nigel Evans for rape and sexual assault, the Government may be questioning itself as to why it decided not to extend anonymity in rape cases to the accused. If it had taken up this issue and made changes to the law in order to protect people accused of rape and sexual assault then the public would not currently be aware of Nigel Evans arrest. The only time the public would become aware was if he was convicted.

The Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1976 introduced anonymity to victims of rape and sexual assault. This created a lifelong ban on their identity being revealed unless they choose to identify themselves. This anonymity is given to victims largely due to the stigma that comes with being a victim of such an intimate and violating offence.

Anonymity for men accused of rape is not a new idea conjured up by the latest coalition government. It was introduced in 1976 by the Labour Government and repealed by the next Conservative Government in 1988. The Liberal Democrats included it in their 2006 party policy and the current coalition Government proposed introducing it into law only a few years ago. The topic was dropped without being taken forward on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence that a new policy was needed.

Granting anonymity to a person who is not yet guilty of a crime arguably coincides with one of the fundamental principles of the law in the UK – the notion of being innocent until proven guilty.

There are clear grounds for the argument that men accused of rape should remain anonymous unless they are proven to be guilty by a court of law. The stigma attached to being accused of rape or sexual assault is such that it affects the accused’s entire life and their family’s lives. The accused may lose family and friends, their job, be subjected to violence or harassment or have to leave the area in which they live. This is particularly true of a person in the public eye whose accusations are documented throughout the media. If a person is found to be innocent or the accusations are withdrawn then there is often less media attention surrounding this type of story. Many will therefore be assumed guilty, even without trial. Many people believe that a person should not have to experience this if they have done nothing wrong. If they remained anonymous this would never happen.

However, there are also reasons why the accused should be ‘named and shamed’. Arguably, being accused of rape or sexual assault is no worse than being accused of other offences such as child murder. If anonymity is given to one offence then a snowball effect may occur and anonymity demanded for all sorts of offences. One of the features of the justice system in the UK is that it is open to the public. If people accused of crimes are given anonymity then the public will no longer be able to attend criminal court and have the access to the legal system that is currently in place.

Granting anonymity to an accused means that there can be no public appeals for more victims to come forward. In cases such as that of Jimmy Saville, this could have been potentially disastrous. If he had been alive and capable of being prosecuted a lack of victims could have meant that charges were never brought against him. The fact that the allegations came to light after his death would mean that had anonymity been in place the public would never have been made aware of the accusations.

A further argument put forward for accused people to not be granted anonymity is that it is disrespectful to the victim. This may be true in cases where the accused is guilty, however, in cases where the allegations are false and the accused is entirely innocent the lack of respect appears to be aimed at the accused rather than the other way around.

It is unlikely that this issue will be resolved to everyone’s satisfaction. Any form of censorship should not be taken lightly and granting anonymity to a person accused of a crime has an effect on the way the justice system works. The Coalition Government may now be regretting the decision to shelve the idea in the light of the recent accusations; however, to rush into a change in the law is likely to be reactive rather than a logically decided and necessary amendment.

Local Elections pose interesting questions

The first week in May is always an exciting one for political anoraks, as people go the polling stations in their droves (maybe) and take part in democracy by choosing their elected representatives. This time around it is mainly county seats up for grabs, which means that while there won’t be as many of them, the impact which those elected can have in communities is significant.

This is a strange time in the electoral cycle, with still more than two years to go until the next general election. None of the three parties has moved towards anything even remotely looking like a manifesto or even an idea of what might be included in one come 2015.

The county seats up for election this time round were last contested in 2009; that strange, distant time when anything seemed politically possible in Britain but most politicians were hiding away trawling through their expense claims.

Gordon Brown was the prime minister who, despite being widely regarded as saving the global financial system, was one of the most unpopular in living memory. David Cameron was leading his Conservatives to what appeared to be an irresistible landslide in 2010 and cheeky Nick Clegg was the darling of the disaffected. Then there was UKIP, seen back then as a slightly oddball bunch who might be good for a protest vote at the European elections but not for much else.

So what can we be looking out for this week to give as an indication of what the future might hold?

Don’t expect big Labour gains

Remember most of the seats up for election are in the Conservative strongholds of the Home Counties and the rest of the ‘Shires’. While Labour should make good gains in the midlands and further north, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Cumbria and the like, don’t expect any big breakthrough anywhere else in the country. Anything more than a 400 councillor net gain would be a pretty remarkable result for Labour.

The UKIP factor

Having spoken to those campaigning in a few places around the country, feedback from the doorstep seems to be that while people are more inclined to think about UKIP, the actual effect they will have on the results remains minimal, perhaps between 5-10% in some seats, but in most places not even that much. As usual though, UKIP may end up being more of a threat in the safest Tory seats, so look out for Buckinghamshire, Suffolk and West Sussex for a good showing, picking up no more than 10-20 seats overall. David Cameron will also be watching his own backyard of Oxfordshire closely.

Can the Tories hold their own

It’s the nature of the cycle of support that about halfway through a Parliament the governing party has to defend seats won when they were in opposition, and they do so badly. In the 1990s Tony Blair won crazy council seats in places Labour would never usually even stand, then haemorrhaged those winnings throughout his premiership. There have been plenty of predictions on both sides as to how badly they will fare, with the Tories saying up to 800 losses and Labour saying 400ish, probably somewhere in the middle is a reasonable prediction. Don’t forget that many people in the Tory heartlands are not only largely unaffected by the cuts to public expenditure, but indeed actively support it and believe more can be done quicker.

What about the Lib Dems

In many ways 2009 was the high water mark for the Liberal Democrats. The time when voters still believed all that stuff about being Social Democrats and wanting to abolish tuition fees before they made their pact with the Conservatives and appeared to give it all up. However, don’t discount them here, while they will undoubtedly take some losses, the ability of the Lib Dems to dig in once elected is well known, and on top of that they have some very hardworking local councillors. After the recent Eastleigh by-election a Labour foot soldier was heard to remark that “after the nuclear apocalypse the only two creatures surviving will be the cockroaches and the Liberal Democrats telling everyone that the cockroaches aren’t local.”

The Independence question

One thing that makes local elections slightly more difficult to predict than general elections is the role independent councillors play. Many communities don’t want a member of a political party to represent them, much preferring to have someone who has, in the voters’ mind, only the interests of the area at heart, rather than some political career ambitions. This may have more bearing this time, given that in 2009 the expenses ‘scandal’ lowered the standing of any politician in the public mind.

Three things are certain on every election day and in those which immediately follow. Firstly, there will be some results which are total anomalies and don’t stand up to any analysis. Secondly, every party will say that the election had nothing to do with them, but was a damning indictment on the state of the other party/their leader/their policies/their lack of policies. Thirdly, the most sobering though for those of us who are interested, the vast majority of people don’t care about the elections, the candidates or the results.

Is Britain behind the world in legalising same-sex marriage?

The past two weeks would be regarded as a success by same-sex marriage campaigners. With significant developments in Uruguay, France, Ireland and New Zealand the number of countries recognising and allowing same-sex marriage is increasing. So where does this leave Britain? Is it falling behind other parts of the world in this issue or is it an unnecessary waste of time because civil partnerships have been established for many years now?

 

April 11

The lower house in Uruguay voted in favor of legalising same-sex marriage. The result came a week after the senate  passed it by a wide majority and makes Uruguay the third country in the Americas to legalise same-sex marriage.

 

April 12

France’s upper house voted in favour of legalising same-sex marriage, meaning this country is also well on its way to having same-sex marriages. However, the decision was taken amidst lively debates and strong protests. Whether it passes the next stage will be interesting to see.

 

April 14

Same-sex marriage was on the agenda for debate in Ireland, with an overwhelming majority of 79% voting for constitutional reform allowing gay people to marry. 78% of people also voted that the constitutional amendment be directive rather than permissive. Meaning that, if adopted, the constitutional change will require laws to be made allowing same-sex marriage, rather than merely permitting laws to be made to allow same-sex marriage.

 

April 17

New Zealand legalised same-sex marriage with the result of both MPs and members of the public bursting into song to celebrate. New Zealand has made history by becoming the first country in the Asia Pacific to legalise same-sex marriage.

 

Where is Britain in the process of legalising same-sex marriage?

With so many controversial ideas and policies being discussed and implemented recently, the issue of same-sex marriage seems to have been somewhat forgotten. However, it was only in February that MPs in the Commons voted in favour of marriage equality (Same Sex Couples) bill with a majority of 225. This was the second reading in the Commons, meaning that the legislation has now progressed to the committee stage where it will be scrutinised and amended. Once this stage is finished it will be reported and the third reading in the Commons will be carried out. If the bill passes this it will then progress to the House of Lords to begin the same process.

This bill has therefore still got a long way to go before it becomes legal for same-sex couples to marry, if the law is ever passed at all. Conservative MP David Burrowes predicts that there will be great opposition once it reaches the House of Lords.

 

Is same-sex marriage necessary in Britain when civil partnerships are legal?

The Civil partnership Act 2004 made it legal for same-sex couples to enter into legally recognised partnerships. To many people this has bridged the gap that left same-sex couples unable to be recognised by the law, however, there are major distinctions between civil partnerships and marriages which mean that there is a convincing argument that civil partnerships are not equal to marriage.

Firstly, whilst civil partnerships are legal they arguably do not hold the same social standing as marriage. The distinction also forces same-sex couples to ‘out’ themselves whenever they are required to state their marital status. This may not appear to be a significant issue, but many same-sex couples live in fear of being discovered and many believe that ‘outing’ themselves will lead to prejudice and discrimination.

On a more practical level civil partnerships do not grant couples the same financial rights as married couples, for instance pensions are generally lower for a surviving civil partner than for a surviving spouse.

Civil partnerships are not recognised around the world, even in countries that either allow same-sex marriage or some form of civil partnership, so there is no guarantee that a couple civil partnered in the UK will be recognised as a legal couple in other parts of the world. For example, in Sweden and Portugal same-sex marriage is legal, but they do not recognise civil partnerships as a legal relationship. This causes restrictions on travel and the possibility of moving abroad as a couple.

The law surrounding civil partnerships is not as settled and so there may be areas that still cause confusion legally. Civil partnerships are dissolved rather than divorced and adultery is not recognised as a legitimate reason to file for dissolution. This has two implications: firstly, this may feed into the stereotype that gay people are promiscuous and the stigma that civil partnerships are not as important as marriages; and secondly the vast amount of law surrounding marriage may not be applicable to civil partnerships, promoting uncertainty and the possibility for civil partners to be treated very differently by the legal system.

In order to bring legal partnerships between same-sex couples up to an equal footing with heterosexual couples it seems that same-sex marriage is necessary. To ensure that all citizens enjoy the same rights the same law is needed, not a substitute that seems to be very similar, which is arguably what the Civil Partnership Act is. However, if equality is what is being strived for then the issue of civil partnerships also needs to be addressed. It would not be an equal situation if same-sex couples have the choice of either a marriage or a civil partnership, whilst heterosexual couples are restricted solely to marriage.

Kent Airport Development Causes Concern

The proposal to expand a small Kent airport into a “regional hub”, which has just been approved by the government, has caused great concern for environmental campaigners.

LyddAirport in Romney Marsh has now been granted permission to expand its runway and to build a new terminal building, and about half a million more passengers could potentially be accommodated by this new development. However, although there is a prevailing optimism about the new airport, as it would certainly give the area a higher profile, there is growing anger that the local area – where there is an abundance of wildlife – will be endangered by the encroachment of a much bigger airport. For many species, the “Garden of England” is a natural refuge.

Green Party MEP, Keith Taylor, has commented on the new development, saying that there are “huge concerns about the impact these proposals would have in terms of the increase in pollution for local residents and the threat to important wildlife.”

This development has emerged amid worldwide concerns that the progression of low-carbon energy is not happening quickly enough to offset global warming. The International Energy Agency has reported that there has only been a 25% growth in non-fossil fuel generation, compared to 45% of fossil fuel generation.

New developments that would help offset the still-excessive CO2 emissions, such as carbon capture and storage, while still being developed and built, are simply not appearing fast enough to counteract the growing worldwide damage.

While countries such as the US are pioneering ways to generate environmentally friendly energy (such as shale gas technology), the majority of Europe is still, allegedly, falling far short of targets which need to be met to see a maximum rise in global temperature of 2 degrees celsius by the end of the century.

The new airport development at Romney Marsh will certainly be an economic asset for the region, and will create much-needed jobs, however it is important that it tries to remain environmentally responsible, so that it can help the region to uphold the reputation of being an ecological haven.