Nothing Short of Soho

14.10.07

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Clare Short is known for her forthrightness as an Independent Labour MP and has represented the constituency of Soho within the House of Commons since 1983. Before this she was the Director of Youthaid, the Unemployment Unit and the community based organisation AFFOR that promoted racial equality. Chosen by virtue of the winning vote it is her role to highlight and act as a constituent advocate; so even if you did not vote for or agree with her views, she is still your representative and first port of call regarding matters of local and central government. Regardless of party membership and political affiliations - your MP can help you with a range of matters if you find there is no one else to help in a certain situation. Asked if growing up in the area she now works for is what shaped the humanitarian side of her, she answered: “My family shaped me and my constituency reinforced those values”.

Clare was born and raised in Ladywood, Birmingham, on 15 February 1946, she can intercede on your behalf for many reasons some of which, to name the most common, include tax problems (excluding council tax), National Health Service (NHS) issues, Social Security Department matters, education, immigration and employment. This excludes matters to which you can be referred to your local authorities for and also private disputes, which would be a matter for the judicial system to handle. She has the power to write a letter on your behalf to deal with an initial problem – if the matter can not be dealt with as simply as this she can then bring the issue to parliament, highlight any issues in the House of Commons, in the press or publicly. Dealing with this sort of work load is quite time consuming as Clare can testify: “Roughly, I spend the weekends in my constituency and weekdays in Parliament but have lots of constituency mail and casework daily.”

I asked Clare if the area she represents had improved at all since it had been characterised by unemployment and criminality. She answered frankly that it was mixed: “Better in some ways, worse in others. I have helped many individuals but the consequence of the party whose policies I helped to shape for 20 years has been very disappointing.” She added she had no regrets in her decision to resign from the Government over the Iraq war in 2006.

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http://www.epolitix.com/EN/MPWebsites/Clare+Short

100 Days in Power

08.10.07


Its been over 100 days in power for the uncharismatic Gordon Brown, who has just come under harsh criticism for holding off on the would be November General Election. At the top of the list we have Tory Leader David Cameron, who wouldn’t dare miss out on an opportunity to capitalise on this possible tragic decision stating the Prime Minister is, ‘treating the British people as fools’.

If we cast our minds back to Brown’s statement to Parliament in July, we’ll see he was proposing quite the opposite when he called for a constitutional reform that entrusted more power to Parliament and the British Citizens. It would appear that the new PM was trying to steer clear of the ‘presidential style’ tag that had characterised his predecessor Tony Blair - which quite possibly lost him the vote of confidence from his constituents. Brown proposed limits on the power exercised by the Executive and a more inclusive role from the Parliament following an extension to their overall powers, he went on to suggest a written constitution may be in order to aide the people in accessing and understanding their rights.

In a likely attempt to display a ‘1st among equals’ image from the word go – that is from his acceptance speech outside Ten Downing street, Ben Macintyre of The Times suggested Gordon is being, ‘deliberately and ponderously unflashy, his every word and actions were intended to convey the unBlair, an emphatic Tony-lessness’, and certainly he is not a man of fanfare or jubilance for that matter - with a grave pending doom countenance, which might see the odd smile spread across it at some remote point.

Is anyone convinced? I think maybe not - as we are still asking is Brown the new Blair as we chuckle at one reporters ‘accidental’ slip up when he addressed the new PM as Gordon Blair. For one, Brown has several Presidential style special advisors despite the fact that they are not being Cabinet members and candidly states that he and President Bush are on exactly the same page in terms of Iraq. When asked about the Iron Fist archetype that was Margaret Thatcher, Brown stated: "she is a conviction politician. She stands very clearly for principles. I believe, and I have said before, that I am also a conviction politician." We will have to wait and see.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1996704.ece

http://www.number10.gov.uk/