Hi Janine,
If you want to publish the piece I can send you a photograph that I took of the Prime Minister that you also can use if you like. I have a couple of pictures. I will attach them now. Gordon Brown is the heavier of the two men on the platform. The thinner man is Jack Straw, Justice Minister in Brown's cabinet. Jack Straw came to Oldham with Brown because the topic of the talk was the substantial reduction in crime in the UK under Labour. The picture does give you a sense of how close I was to Gordon Brown, and also how lax the security was. Inside my camera bag there could have been a weapon instead of a camera, but no one bothered to check.
Gerry
If you want to publish the piece I can send you a photograph that I took of the Prime Minister that you also can use if you like. I have a couple of pictures. I will attach them now. Gordon Brown is the heavier of the two men on the platform. The thinner man is Jack Straw, Justice Minister in Brown's cabinet. Jack Straw came to Oldham with Brown because the topic of the talk was the substantial reduction in crime in the UK under Labour. The picture does give you a sense of how close I was to Gordon Brown, and also how lax the security was. Inside my camera bag there could have been a weapon instead of a camera, but no one bothered to check.
Gerry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My political education in the UK
I have been learning a lot about the British political system the last few days.
Yesterday (Wednesday) we went to an event with the Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is campaigning for re-election in one week's time. It was a pretty intimate setting, in a room sized for about 80 people--there were a few more than that present, perhaps 100 in all, with quite a few people standing in the back. The PM came in and shook a lot of people's hands, not five feet from us. As he spoke he was about ten feet away from us. Barbara said after the event that I probably have never been that close to a US President. I told her that the ordinary public are not allowed to get that close to a US President. As further evidence of the informal nature of things over here, a woman in the audience, during the question period, challenged Brown to come across the street after the event to visit her hair salon and neighboring businesses. Of course those sites had not been scrutinized by the PM's security team, but he agreed to do it, and indeed did do it after the event. I can't imagine a US President making a spontaneous visit like that.
Brown was personable. He comes across better in person than he does on television. He was quite relaxed, probably because he knew he was among supporters. The event was by invitation only. My cousin Barbara was invited because she is a Labour candidate for city council. She was allowed to bring guests, so she brought her husband Dave and me. I was surprised at how easy it was to get in the room with the PM. I didn't have to show any ID, there were no metal detectors or anything of the sort.
Brown spoke for about ten minutes, and then answered questions for about half an hour. He actually gave direct answers to the questions, unlike most politicians. Perhaps that's because he was among supporters, but the national television was there broadcasting it live, so anything he said was immediately a part of the public record. Barbara and Dave were actually on the telly, in the background. The event was held in a community center with lots of youth activities. He talked about how crime has gone down by 30% since Labour came to power in 1997--violent crime down 40%. He attributed that, in part, to the youth activities in center's like the one we were in, which have seen a significant increase in funding since Labour has come in. The building also housed a Sure Start Center, for very young children, somewhat comparable to our Headstart program. No such centers existed when Labour came to power in 1997; now there are about 3500 of them nationwide. What he was doing, of course, was pointing to the accomplishments of his own party since they have been in office. There are many such accomplishments, but they are not covered much by the media.
The media prefer the sensational stuff--best of all, a scandal. Gordon Brown provided them with one. About an hour after he left the event in Oldham he went to one in nearby Rochdale. Leaving that event, he was confronted by a woman outside the venue about the immigration issue. The exchange was caught on camera, and that is my source of information on this incident. I only know what has been on the telly. The woman seemed to be complaining that too many Eastern Europeans were being allowed into Britain. He responded by saying that while it is true that about a million Europeans have immigrated into Britain in recent years, about a million Brits have emigrated to Europe in the same time period. After the exchange, he got into his car to leave. As he was being driven away, he mistakenly left his lapel microphone on. He commented on the woman, referring to her as a "bigot." That gaffe was broadcast all over the television that night, and was also in every newspaper Thursday morning. Brown went and apologized to the woman in person, spending about forty-five minutes with her, but that probably will not be enough to undo the damage that has been done. Labour was already down a bit in the polls, and this could put them further down. However, it is a three-way race, and Labour could still come out of this with a plurality of seats in the Parliament. It will likely be a hung Parliament, and a coalition government will have to be formed. Labour may or may not become part of the coalition.
Meanwhile, as Gordon Brown was in Rochdale, the three of us went to the house of Barbara and Dave's daughter, Nicola. She lives in another council district of Oldham, not the one Barbara hopes to be representing. We did some leafleting in that neighborhood for Michael Meacher, the Member of Parliament for that area, as well as for a local candidate. Leafleting goes pretty quickly, as we are just leaving campaign literature, not knocking on doors. During the daytime there are not that many people at home, so knocking on doors is not a very efficient use of time.
In the evening I went out again, in still another neighborhood, going door-to-door for Michael Meacher, the sitting MP, and Jean Stretton, a friend of Barbara's who is the council candidate from that district. It was a group of five of us doing the canvasing, including Michael Meacher himself and Jean Stretton herself. It being early evening, we did knock on doors, and found a lot of people at home. I got to speak to quite a few voters of all sorts of political persuasion. It turned out that several of them knew Michael, their MP, and also quite a few of them knew Jean, the council candidate. When I told people that Michael and Jean were also on their street knocking on doors, several of them came out and waved or said hello. I was surprised at how many people in this rather ordinary neighborhood knew Michael; perhaps it is because he has been their MP for 40 years, and he goes door-to-door often. In the US, I have never had my member of Congress come to my door; he won't even respond to letters I send him. In the UK the districts are much smaller than those in the US, about one eighth the size population wise, and it seems that most people know who their MP is, quite a few know him in person, and many would recognize him walking down the street. Contrast that to the US where most people can't even name their member of Congress. It's a different world over here.
Well, my political education is not over. There is still about a week until the election, and I will be going out many more times. I find all of this fascinating, and a bit of fun as well.
Cheers,
Gerry
I have been learning a lot about the British political system the last few days.
Yesterday (Wednesday) we went to an event with the Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is campaigning for re-election in one week's time. It was a pretty intimate setting, in a room sized for about 80 people--there were a few more than that present, perhaps 100 in all, with quite a few people standing in the back. The PM came in and shook a lot of people's hands, not five feet from us. As he spoke he was about ten feet away from us. Barbara said after the event that I probably have never been that close to a US President. I told her that the ordinary public are not allowed to get that close to a US President. As further evidence of the informal nature of things over here, a woman in the audience, during the question period, challenged Brown to come across the street after the event to visit her hair salon and neighboring businesses. Of course those sites had not been scrutinized by the PM's security team, but he agreed to do it, and indeed did do it after the event. I can't imagine a US President making a spontaneous visit like that.
Brown was personable. He comes across better in person than he does on television. He was quite relaxed, probably because he knew he was among supporters. The event was by invitation only. My cousin Barbara was invited because she is a Labour candidate for city council. She was allowed to bring guests, so she brought her husband Dave and me. I was surprised at how easy it was to get in the room with the PM. I didn't have to show any ID, there were no metal detectors or anything of the sort.
Brown spoke for about ten minutes, and then answered questions for about half an hour. He actually gave direct answers to the questions, unlike most politicians. Perhaps that's because he was among supporters, but the national television was there broadcasting it live, so anything he said was immediately a part of the public record. Barbara and Dave were actually on the telly, in the background. The event was held in a community center with lots of youth activities. He talked about how crime has gone down by 30% since Labour came to power in 1997--violent crime down 40%. He attributed that, in part, to the youth activities in center's like the one we were in, which have seen a significant increase in funding since Labour has come in. The building also housed a Sure Start Center, for very young children, somewhat comparable to our Headstart program. No such centers existed when Labour came to power in 1997; now there are about 3500 of them nationwide. What he was doing, of course, was pointing to the accomplishments of his own party since they have been in office. There are many such accomplishments, but they are not covered much by the media.
The media prefer the sensational stuff--best of all, a scandal. Gordon Brown provided them with one. About an hour after he left the event in Oldham he went to one in nearby Rochdale. Leaving that event, he was confronted by a woman outside the venue about the immigration issue. The exchange was caught on camera, and that is my source of information on this incident. I only know what has been on the telly. The woman seemed to be complaining that too many Eastern Europeans were being allowed into Britain. He responded by saying that while it is true that about a million Europeans have immigrated into Britain in recent years, about a million Brits have emigrated to Europe in the same time period. After the exchange, he got into his car to leave. As he was being driven away, he mistakenly left his lapel microphone on. He commented on the woman, referring to her as a "bigot." That gaffe was broadcast all over the television that night, and was also in every newspaper Thursday morning. Brown went and apologized to the woman in person, spending about forty-five minutes with her, but that probably will not be enough to undo the damage that has been done. Labour was already down a bit in the polls, and this could put them further down. However, it is a three-way race, and Labour could still come out of this with a plurality of seats in the Parliament. It will likely be a hung Parliament, and a coalition government will have to be formed. Labour may or may not become part of the coalition.
Meanwhile, as Gordon Brown was in Rochdale, the three of us went to the house of Barbara and Dave's daughter, Nicola. She lives in another council district of Oldham, not the one Barbara hopes to be representing. We did some leafleting in that neighborhood for Michael Meacher, the Member of Parliament for that area, as well as for a local candidate. Leafleting goes pretty quickly, as we are just leaving campaign literature, not knocking on doors. During the daytime there are not that many people at home, so knocking on doors is not a very efficient use of time.
In the evening I went out again, in still another neighborhood, going door-to-door for Michael Meacher, the sitting MP, and Jean Stretton, a friend of Barbara's who is the council candidate from that district. It was a group of five of us doing the canvasing, including Michael Meacher himself and Jean Stretton herself. It being early evening, we did knock on doors, and found a lot of people at home. I got to speak to quite a few voters of all sorts of political persuasion. It turned out that several of them knew Michael, their MP, and also quite a few of them knew Jean, the council candidate. When I told people that Michael and Jean were also on their street knocking on doors, several of them came out and waved or said hello. I was surprised at how many people in this rather ordinary neighborhood knew Michael; perhaps it is because he has been their MP for 40 years, and he goes door-to-door often. In the US, I have never had my member of Congress come to my door; he won't even respond to letters I send him. In the UK the districts are much smaller than those in the US, about one eighth the size population wise, and it seems that most people know who their MP is, quite a few know him in person, and many would recognize him walking down the street. Contrast that to the US where most people can't even name their member of Congress. It's a different world over here.
Well, my political education is not over. There is still about a week until the election, and I will be going out many more times. I find all of this fascinating, and a bit of fun as well.
Cheers,
Gerry
