Metta Bhavana Great Britain

I once had a work-mate who went to school at Eton. We used to talk about the culture of our respective schools. He said that at Eton, popularity and happiness are absolutely essential. There was a constant pressure to be outwardly happy, regardless of whether your mood was good or bad, at any given moment.

Eton: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer

I found this interesting because at my school, Stepney Green, in the east end of London, everything was about being hard or at least the illusion of being hard. The glamorous kids were the ones with problems. Miserable and angry was cool.

Sonny’s Lettah

On the evening of 11th April, 1981, Brixton, south London, exploded in riots.

I think it’s probably difficult for young people to comprehend why the black community exploded with such rage over those three days, resulting in 279 injured police officers and 100 vehicles burned. The Sus Law gave police the power to arrest people on suspicion, with little or no justification for that suspicion.

In a couple of weeks time, it will be thirty years since the events. Expect there to be much coverage. I’m writing this now to give people younger than me a idea of why it was important. I’m not using my personal experience; east London was quiet and we were too young to be angry. I’m using someone else’s words here today.

Linton Kwesi Johnson was an Afro-Caribbean poet during the late 70s and early 80s. He was so unusual, and so good, that he became a television celebrity, but he was never mainstream, far from it.

In his classic, Sonny’s Lettah, he gives us an touching insight into the world of racism. The story is told through a letter that Sonny writes from his cell in Brixton prison, to his mother in Jamaica, where he gives her the news of the death of his brother at the hands of the police, and his own arrest for murder.

A Dangerous Precedent – Libya

The West didn’t intervene in the peaceful uprising in Tunisia or Egypt, but did intervene when violence flared between Benghazi and Tripoli. This is a dangerous message to send the world: that peaceful protest will be ignored, but violence will be supported.

NATO Headquarters in Brussels Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/latvianmf

The West portrays the intervention as a humanitarian mission to defend the democracy protesters against a violent dictator, but the truth is different. On the first day of the uprising, mobs set fire to police stations across the country and called for “the end of the regime” rather than the introduction of democracy. It was always a tribal uprising rather than a democratic movement.

Sky Defames Ed Miliband?

Ed Miliband had to think long and hard before he agreed to speak at the TUC March for Alternative yesterday for fear that his reputation would be damaged. Why? Doesn’t that sound a bit weird?

My photo of the rally.

What kind of a free world do we live in, when democracy has become so corrupted by the tabloid sensationalism of the TV News, that political leaders are regarded as brave for speaking at an ordinary political rally?

Brave because the leader is at risk of damaging his reputation, due to the utterly unrepresentative manner that these tabloid TV broadcasters, such as the BBC and Sky, choose to represent the event.

Brave because of how they distort the truth, associating the actions of a single criminal gang, with every legitimate political or campaigning organisation, that seeks to promote their cause through peaceful demonstration.

What’s the Exit Strategy, Dave?

Overnight he was transformed from Mr Bean to Stalin. In the same way that Thatcher had her Falklands, Cameron had his Libya. But then it didn’t go according to plan.

At the first site of a cruise missile, Gaddafi didn’t throw down his weapons and put his hands in the air. Nor did he try to surrender to the F16s that were circling above him at 30,000 feet. He didn’t rush down to the beach and swim out into the Mediterranean in search of a British Polaris submarine, so that he could beg to be taken prisoner. No. He just sat tight and waited for it to pass.

Miliband Slaughters Osborne in Budget Response

This is probably the best performance Ed Miliband has shown us so far. He absolutely tears into Osborne following the budget today. The jokes are good too. “Delboy economics” is my favourite.

The West should Respect the Arab League

Understanding international law is vital to understanding the pitfalls of the Libya policy.

Criminal Law is based on wisdom, while International Law is based on consensus or horse-trading.

The Arab Spring

So much for the Arab Spring. Two out of twenty two countries have disposed of their dictatorships, which, on the basis of the encouraging start is beginning to look like a disappointment.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zenashots/

However, there’s no doubt that the despots have been jolted out of complacency. They will no longer underestimate their populations. Serfdom has ended. The Arab Street has become a Boulevard.

Disappointing Policy Forum

The Justice Policy Forum in the East Winter Garden in Canary Wharf had Sadiq Khan in political mode. This was in contrast to the billing for the event, which should have had him in engagement mode.

We had been asked to attend in order to give him our thoughts, to contribute to the process, but he simply did what politicians tend to do, and justified the last government while condemning the present.

He didn’t give us confidence that the Labour leadership are seriously seeking out policy ideas on Criminal Justice. He didn’t come across as someone who was thinking deeply about the issue.

Following his initial speech, the event turned to us, the audience. I was one of the first to speak. Of the many contributions I could have made, I decided on a legal issue as Sadiq is a solicitor, so I thought he’d easily understand me.

I said that companies regularly commit acts of fraud and dishonesty against customers because there is little disincentive with our system of Ombudsmen. It would be better to have the police look at these matters.

I could have given many examples of people being systematically overcharged by banks and credit card companies, but the example I gave was my personal experience of refusing to pay a £25 fine for going £3.50 overdrawn on a credit card. The company then piled up the fines until it reached £200 and then sent a debt collector after me.

I was pursued for a whole year, with three phone calls a day being made to me, making a total of roughly 1,000 phone calls, all over a £3.50 overdraft. When I made a complaint to the police of harassment, I was told that it was against public policy for the police to pursue a case against a company, as the government doesn’t want to restrict enterprise.

Khan completely missed the point I was making, and told me that the last Labour government made a number of anti-business laws including a bill against the paying of brides in foreign countries that the present government has failed to push through.

I could understand if he disagreed with me, but he didn’t disagree, he just completely missed the point. He didn’t ask for any clarification, he didn’t probe. He wasn’t really listening.

Throughout the evening, it was as if Khan had no sense of curiosity. He never once asked for clarification or probed any person’s point. We were there to listen to him tell us why the present government is wrong while the last government was right. It was “An Audience with Sadiq Khan”, rather than a “Policy Forum”.

Cllr. Judith Gardiner

When Judith Gardiner, a probation officer and Labour councillor, suggested a bunch of ideas including Restorative Justice, Khan became very excited and told us that he’d read an article about a doctor who was raped and confronted her victim in the restorative justice program.

He said the last government only concerned itself with restorative justice towards the end of their term but he’d like to see it pursued strongly, in order to reduce re-offending.

This was completely incorrect. The last government looked at restorative Justice early in the Blair period but found that the system tends to have little effect on reoffending. Restorative Justice is wonderful for the victim; they believe that the offender is a huge powerful monster, and only by confronting them do they discover that he is a tiny, frightened and insignificant person. This helps them overcome their trauma. But it doesn’t seem to have much effect on the reoffending rates. So I don’t think Khan was on top of his brief.

City Gateway

The bright moment was when Sarah Webster and Suzi Stride spoke about their work at the City Gateway, a youth club that provides job training to their NEETs, then finds them work experience and jobs. Their system works better than other training organisations, because they are a youth club primarily, so they engage by forming relationships first and then offering the opportunity of training and jobs only once they’ve made friends. All youth clubs should follow their model.

Sadiq Khan is an articulate intelligent man, and is clearly a part of the future. I first met him at the last election when I found him to be just about the best doorstep campaigner I’ve come across. It is no accident that he so convincingly won such a difficult seat last year. Butthe Canary Wharf event demonstrated that he hasn’t switched off his “campaign mode” and switched on his “policy wonk” mode.

He showed no curiosity, and seemed as if he was just going through the motions. As the right-hand-man to Ed Miliband, this does not bode well for the future of the party.

He told us that he believes that the Tory-Led government will last one term only. I remember when Margaret Thatcher had become so unpopular that a Labour victory seemed inevitable. The Tories put John Major in at the last minute and went on to win that election.

If the Labour leadership is complacent; if they believe that they have salaried jobs rather than committed vocations, then we are in trouble. Remember, the Hare and the Tortoise fable isn’t just about the Tortoise moving slowly and steadily. That fable relies on the Hare falling asleep.

If we are relying on the Tories to hand us an election victory, then we are vulnerable. This isn’t good enough. We need to be hungry. We need Sadiq Khan and others in the leadership to be preparing the fight for
government. We need them to have an edge, if we are to win. This wasn’t in evidence last night.

Disappointing Policy Forum

The Justice Policy Forum in the East Winter Garden in Canary Wharf had Sadiq Khan in political mode. This was in contrast to the billing for the event, which should have had him in engagement mode.

We had been asked to attend in order to give him our thoughts, to contribute to the process, but he simply did what politicians tend to do, and justified the last government while condemning the present.

He didn’t give us confidence that the Labour leadership are seriously seeking out policy ideas on Criminal Justice. He didn’t come across as someone who was thinking deeply about the issue.

Following his initial speech, the event turned to us, the audience. I was one of the first to speak. Of the many contributions I could have made, I decided on a legal issue as Sadiq is a solicitor, so I thought he’d easily understand me.

I said that companies regularly commit acts of fraud and dishonesty against customers because there is little disincentive with our system of Ombudsmen. It would be better to have the police look at these matters.

I could have given many examples of people being systematically overcharged by banks and credit card companies, but the example I gave was my personal experience of refusing to pay a £25 fine for going £3.50 overdrawn on a credit card. The company then piled up the fines until it reached £200 and then sent a debt collector after me.

I was pursued for a whole year, with three phone calls a day being made to me, making a total of roughly 1,000 phone calls, all over a £3.50 overdraft. When I made a complaint to the police of harassment, I was told that it was against public policy for the police to pursue a case against a company, as the government doesn’t want to restrict enterprise.

Khan completely missed the point I was making, and told me that the last Labour government made a number of anti-business laws including a bill against the paying of brides in foreign countries that the present government has failed to push through.

I could understand if he disagreed with me, but he didn’t disagree, he just completely missed the point. He didn’t ask for any clarification, he didn’t probe. He wasn’t really listening.

Throughout the evening, it was as if Khan had no sense of curiosity. He never once asked for clarification or probed any person’s point. We were there to listen to him tell us why the present government is wrong while the last government was right. It was “An Audience with Sadiq Khan”, rather than a “Policy Forum”.

Cllr. Judith Gardiner

When Judith Gardiner, a probation officer and Labour councillor, suggested a bunch of ideas including Restorative Justice, Khan became very excited and told us that he’d read an article about a doctor who was raped and confronted her victim in the restorative justice program.

He said the last government only concerned itself with restorative justice towards the end of their term but he’d like to see it pursued strongly, in order to reduce re-offending.

This was completely incorrect. The last government looked at restorative Justice early in the Blair period but found that the system tends to have little effect on reoffending. Restorative Justice is wonderful for the victim; they believe that the offender is a huge powerful monster, and only by confronting them do they discover that he is a tiny, frightened and insignificant person. This helps them overcome their trauma. But it doesn’t seem to have much effect on the reoffending rates. So I don’t think Khan was on top of his brief.

City Gateway

The bright moment was when Sarah Webster and Suzi Stride spoke about their work at the City Gateway, a youth club that provides job training to their NEETs, then finds them work experience and jobs. Their system works better than other training organisations, because they are a youth club primarily, so they engage by forming relationships first and then offering the opportunity of training and jobs only once they’ve made friends. All youth clubs should follow their model.

Sadiq Khan is an articulate intelligent man, and is clearly a part of the future. I first met him at the last election when I found him to be just about the best doorstep campaigner I’ve come across. It is no accident that he so convincingly won such a difficult seat last year. Butthe Canary Wharf event demonstrated that he hasn’t switched off his “campaign mode” and switched on his “policy wonk” mode.

He showed no curiosity, and seemed as if he was just going through the motions. As the right-hand-man to Ed Miliband, this does not bode well for the future of the party.

He told us that he believes that the Tory-Led government will last one term only. I remember when Margaret Thatcher had become so unpopular that a Labour victory seemed inevitable. The Tories put John Major in at the last minute and went on to win that election.

If the Labour leadership is complacent; if they believe that they have salaried jobs rather than committed vocations, then we are in trouble. Remember, the Hare and the Tortoise fable isn’t just about the Tortoise moving slowly and steadily. That fable relies on the Hare falling asleep.

If we are relying on the Tories to hand us an election victory, then we are vulnerable. This isn’t good enough. We need to be hungry. We need Sadiq Khan and others in the leadership to be preparing the fight for
government. We need them to have an edge, if we are to win. This wasn’t in evidence last night.