Safety first

Much to the dismay of the security staff at Labour Party Conference, like thousands of other women, I carry a personal alarm in my handbag. Discovered as I entered the secure zone, said illegal item had to be reported to the supervisor and then confiscated. I tried to reason that should I want to interrupt a speech in the main hall I could do so just as effectively shouting at the top of my lungs but they remained unconvinced and the alarm was removed from my possession. Irritating but I could understand where they were coming from.

However, what was more irritating was when I went to collect my alarm before going home. After a lengthy search the alarm was produced but rather than trusting that I was in fact leaving the complex and heading home, I had to be escorted out of the secure zone and my alarm was only returned once I had passed through the security barriers. They wouldn’t even trust me to with it as I went through the gate, rather they had to squeeze it through the barrier once I had exited, ensuring me and my illicit alarm were not reunited until firmly evicted.

If I was a braver individual I would have tugged the cord and flung the shrieking alarm (which for male readers who may be unfamiliar with how these things work, once triggered can’t be silenced) back into the secure zone. Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately) the adult in me prevailed and realising the security incident and ensuing lifetime ban from Conference that would have resulted from my act of rebellion, I let the opportunity for revenge pass.

All the same, a woman should not be made to feel like a criminal for carrying a personal alarm, perhaps something Conference organisers could remember for next year?

A single issue voter

During the general election I came across plenty of single issue voters and in this Labour leadership election I plan on being a single issue voter myself. My issue is women in the Labour Party and what our next leader plans to do to increase the number of women participating in the Party and standing for election. My experience of being a candidate was of operating in what at times felt like an all male world. Even within the Young Fabians it is a challenge to get young women to stand for election to the Executive, although our Young Fabian Women event the other week showed we have no shortage of bright, young women with lots to offer. I want not just commitments around All Women Shortlists and balancing the cabinet, whilst important, in many ways these just disguise broader issues around the engagement of women in politics. I want to hear the candidates’ ideas around how they will get more women involved in grass roots politics, the role of women at Party Conference and how they will encourage more women to seek selection as parliamentary candidates. That’s my single issue, so far there have been a few promising murmurings from some candidates but I want more. Whoever comes out with a clear plan for getting more women active in the Labour Party gets my vote.

You can be too nice…

I was a candidate in the General Election and at my first hustings my opponent pulled out my chair for me to sit down. He was simply being polite and it was well meant, but straight away it left me feeling that I was somehow (as I was) being treated differently to the other candidates.

At tonight’s leadership hustings all the candidates went to great lengths to talk about their aspirations to widen the appeal of the Labour Party and in particular get more women involved. They were also super supportive and friendly to Diane, but in doing so somehow singled her out as different, as if she needed that extra bit of support. Now I know that people will respond with comments about nominations (indeed, one of the candidates made the same remark tonight), but regardless of how she got there, Diane is in the contest for Labour leader. She has proved herself more than capable of holding her own in public debates and whilst the older brother routine of her opponents is well meant (and probably unintentional) it risks undermining her contribution.

I realise there is no malice involved, and the other candidates are as well intentioned as my chivalrous Conservative, but if we are going to have a serious discussion about women in the Labour Party and about changing the culture of politics, we need to start with the contest itself.

Social Care – somebody has to pay

Reform of social care, or care and support as it is now known, is high on the Government’s agenda. Everyone is agreed that the current system is failing and with demand set to increase action needs to be taken. However, whilst the consensus seems to be that we need a world class system of care and support, when it comes to how to pay for it politicians are timid, and understandably so when voters are hostile to any increase in tax, be it income or inheritance, yet the money needs to come from somewhere.

What is strange is the public perception that social care is not something we should all be expected to contribute towards. Can you imagine if we took this approach to other areas of public policy? If you’re in your twenties and childless would you argue that you should pay less tax as you have no need of schools, or if you never see a doctor would you argue to withhold your contributions towards the NHS?

We already accept that our taxes pay for many things that we as individuals may never use, but we also value both living in a society where we know such services are available and the knowledge, that should we need healthcare, education, the police and so on, they are there. Why is social care so different? Anyone of us could find ourselves in the position of needing social care at anytime and we need to face up to the reality that someone, somewhere is going to have to pay for that.

How much do we need to know?

Dominating most of the papers today is John Terry and stories of his relationship with another football player’s former girlfriend; his initial gagging order overturned by a judge who believed Terry more concerned with the loss of lucrative sponsorship deals than the invasion of his privacy.

Surely this is strange though, do we really need to justify our right to a private life? Surely the right to privacy is absolute and regardless of our motivations for wanting to maintain that privacy, it should be protected?

It is also being championed as a triumph for the freedom of speech, but is it not a slightly sad reflection on society that we revel in the fact that we get to read about a man cheating on his wife. Is this really the epitome of freedom of speech? Was this really information that we not just needed, but had a right to know?

We need your money!

Young Fabian Exec members have been encouraged to use this blog to write about their work on the Exec and I’ve been pondering how to engage with this. I can see how if you’re Embassies Officer perhaps or maybe Anticipations Editor people might expect your job to be filled with regular interesting titbits that the world wide web would eagerly devour. But I’m treasurer. Hardly the most exciting role in the world. I’m the Young Fabians equivalent of Alistair Darling, except without the eyebrows. It’s my task to somehow make our income and outgoings match and I can assure people that right now that’s not as straightforward as it sounds. The combination of the recession and Labour’s performance in the polls means many former sponsors no longer see the Young Fabians as such an attractive prospect…

So what to do? Sadly, I don’t have the power to levy an additional tax, nor can I demand more money be printed and we’ve already cut back as much as possible. I suppose I could simply place the blame on the international stage (Iceland would seem a popular target at the moment) and talk about an age of austerity whilst hiding behind long words and economic predictions.

Or, I could take a far less dignified approach and beg for money. So here it is, we’re skint. At the Young Fabians, we publish our own magazine, run a packed programme of political and social events, publish our own pamphlets and organise an increasing array of forums and networks for members to engage in. But we can’t do this on nothing! So, if you’re reading this please help! All donations make a difference from a ten pound donation towards the cost of our schools newsletter, to sponsoring one of our events, to advertising in Anticipations. In short, we need your money! Now!

End child poverty, who cares?

Last Tuesday the Young Fabians held a roundtable discussion looking at Labour’s commitment to end child poverty in a generation. There was an interesting discussion around a lack of understanding as to what was meant by “end child poverty” and whether low media interest was perhaps the cause or effect of this. However, there was also talk about public apathy towards the issue and what struck me most about our event was the turnout. For me, child poverty is an issue that should be at the heart of Labour policy, surely it’s the very embodiment of social justice, yet there were fewer than twenty people in the room.

It left me wondering, is it that the young just don’t care, perhaps they don’t believe poverty really exists in the UK, or is it that the banner “end child poverty” leaves people uncertain as to what the issue is? I don’t know, but I’m hoping it’s the latter, because if we stop caring about something as fundamental as children’s life chances then I’m not sure what, as a party, we’ve left to offer?

Young Fabians’ event on Gaza

The Young Fabians’ debate on the legacy of Gaza saw a range of arguments put forward and thanks must go to our excellent speakers, Richard Stanforth from Oxfam, Louise Ellman MP from Labour Friends of Israel and Richard Burden MP from the Britain-Palestine All Party Parliamentary Group, all of whom made powerful arguments.

However, whilst recent events have filled countless newspaper columns and dominated the political agenda, already they are being displaced, a plane crash in America and a teenage dad are deemed meatier topics of conversation. It seems that yet again we have had our fill of debate over what should become of the Middle East and moved on to other, clearer cut issues. Perhaps that is why groups like the ones Richard Burden and Louise Ellman represent are so important, they help keep the issue alive even once it disappears from newspapers and TV screens. In order to avoid accusations of political voyeurism, taking an interest only when tensions spill over into open conflict, then this debate must continue.

Each speaker was asked to conclude with what they felt was the one thing that, in the short-term, needed to be done to enable both sides to move forward. Richard Stanforth argued for the depoliticisation of aid, Richard Burden called for immediate action to tackle the humanitarian crisis and Louise Ellman’s top priority was an end to arms’ smuggling. I doubt anyone reading this does not have their own thoughts on the way forward, in which case, get typing, join the debate and be a political voyeur no more…..

Is there such a thing as a socialist sport?

So, New Year’s resolution number one was to try new things and in this spirit I signed up to a beginners’ course in fencing, of the swords and fancy footwork variety, rather than planks and Ronseal.

However, this has provoked various accusations from friends on the left that I am somehow betraying my political creed, accusations that tend to be swiftly followed with sarcastic comments that next I will take up clay pigeon shooting or show jumping.

Yet this begs the question, what constitutes a socialist sport? I am sure most peoples’ instant response would be football. Football where tickets to a premier league game cost in the region of £40, a replica shirt produced in a far off sweatshop will cost you the same again and pampered players are paid hundreds of times what our teachers and nurses receive. Is this really a socialist sport?

But this strays from the point, the point is that the ideal of sport is of something above politics and the aim of sport is to bring people together. My fencing lessons do this just as much as a local football club or netball team does.

So I say to my critics, leave my humble fencing lessons alone, and who knows, maybe next time I will try clay pigeon shooting.