Affairs

Apologies, the headline may have been a tad misleading. Can almost hear the elevated heart rates of the gossip queens/kings who thought I was about to dish the dirt on the less monogamous of us.

There is a list of things young people don’t like. It’s a long one. I’m the first to admit I have one, and I’d imagine it’s more extensive than most; it just happens to be somewhat irregular. For instance, one of my pet hates is noisy children. If they aren’t in baby form, and create noises within the spectrum of human hearing, then I tend to be on the edge of committing hara-kiri.

It isn’t my dislike of children however that is of concern to me at the moment. One of my greatest worries of late is the lack of interest people have in current affairs and politics in particular.

For most young people having to watch the news or read a newspaper is an example of the epitome of boredom. If you then bring politics into it, suicide becomes the preferential option.

Why is this? Why is it people aren’t interested in politics? At first I simply put it down to the subject: politics, especially at first, can seem a bit of a boring subject. Something discussed by groups of old men and women who don’t really know what they’re talking about. Regardless of this fact, politicians make decisions that affect all parts of our everyday lives; be it the speed limits on the roads or whether or not we go to war. You would imagine this is reason enough for people to follow the goings on in the political world closely? The evidence however points towards the contrary. In June this year, turnout to the European Elections fell to a record low; with only 43% of the electorate voting. To work out why we are in this situation we have to look at what the role of our political system is.

The sole purpose of Parliament is to represent the views of the people and subsequently to make decisions with public interest at heart. Always. There should never be any doubt as to whose interest they are acting in.

Unfortunately, many politicians have planted seeds of doubt in the heads of the public. Their objectives now appear questionable; are they working for us or is self-interest their principal goal? The expenses scandal shows that this may be the case for some of the politicians in the Commons. This apparent self-absorption, coupled with the arrogance many of the political elite show the public has resulted in one of the widest gaps ever seen between the public and politics.

In general, it would seem people are just a bit fed up with politicians of late. The public see them as being out of touch, arrogant and frankly dishonest. Their inability to answer a straight question, along with the deft trick of obfuscating matters with cosy words and universal opinions has everybody sick. Something must be done. I believe a new age of politics is required: voters need to feel their votes and opinions matter. How this is achieved falls into the hands of Parliament. Does it begin with political reform or simply just listening? It is, however, easy to blame the government and the politicians. Responsibility sits with us as well.

Most of us have not long turned 18, or will do so in the near future. With this milestone we are granted the right to do many things; most of which are undeniably more enjoyable, but undoubtedly less important than the right to vote.

It is the job of the politicos to correct their currently declining credibility and to return the status of respectability to being an MP. We, the people, are obligated to hold them to account. They serve us, and in the court of public opinion we are both judge and jury. When polling time comes, we will be given this opportunity. I advise you not to take it lightly; find out who these people are and most importantly what they stand for. You are given the right to vote for them; your responsibility is to know what you’re voting for...

The Register is growing...

I didn’t think I was going to have an opinion for today. I was actually a bit worried, “Am I sick?” was my first thought. I scoured the BBC website looking for a subject and then it hit me. The headline that will provide Frankie Boyle with material for the next six months: “One in ten inmates is sex offender.”

Yes, this is the news released by the Scottish Government today that out of the 8ooo people in Scottish prisons 798 of them are registered sex offenders. That is a pretty incredible statistic, one in ten! Some men may say this is a sign of Scottish virility; those men, however, are probably the ones in jail. How fortunate.

This figure raises many questions. Why is the number so high? What is being done about it? How many more sex offenders are there on our streets?

In his statement today the Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said, "The sad reality is that sex offenders and the threat they pose have existed for all of human history but what has improved is the way in which they are managed.”

I tend to agree with this view, people; the older generation in particular, seem to think things are much worse than they were when they were in their youth. As relatively young adults we hear it all the time, “Teenagers are so badly behaved these days... they have no respect for anyone... et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.”

I considered this notion on my way up road tonight, mugging an old lady and kicking a baby on the way of course, and decided it is quite preposterous. Things may be slightly worse, but I put this down to normal changes in social patterns, it is a case of old folks doing what they do best; moaning! True enough there are a lot of ghastly people out there, this is reflected in the stories we hear in the media all the time. This, however, doesn’t mean it has always been that way. There have always been bad people in this world; you just don’t tend to notice it as a child. Added to this the fact media has never been so close to our fingertips and you have the perfect recipe for people to pick up on every bad story.

As a result I agree with Mr. MacAskill that these iniquities have existed throughout history, and it is how we manage it today that counts. In 2007 Mappas (Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements) was formed to assess sex offenders in Scotland. This allows the Police, the Scottish Prison Service and councils work together to manage this problem.

I don’t feel this goes far enough. People, governments in particular, spend a lot of time talking about sex offenders but not enough time doing anything. Programs to monitor them are not enough. People who are a danger to the community, children in particular, must not be allowed to commit these crimes, and when they do the consequences must be tough. Real prison sentences are needed in these scenarios, not being let out early for good behaviour.

Anyway readers, enough for today, my five hundred words will turn into 1000 if I’m not careful, and remember kiddos; hands to yourselves, we don’t want you becoming another statistic!

From Boom to Bust and I Ain't Talking Economics

It all started on a Tuesday. Geography, period 2. Clare was off, she looked lonely. No wonder, I wouldn’t have spoken to those behind me if I was her. So over I sauntered, took a wee seat and off we went. At that point we didn’t realise what it would turn into... I occasionally wonder how things would be different if we didn’t meet that day.
At this point I suppose I should introduce the star of the show/blog. I can hear you saying, “What on earth are you talking about Calum?!”
She goes by many names; Boom Boom Shake the Room (this is a reference to her vivacity rather than a weight reference), Boom, Brucie, Ratcher, Ratch and on Sundays, or when parents are doing the salutations, she is simply Rachel.
Some of you may have gathered that this entry isn’t the same as the others to date; there isn’t a whiff of politics of current affairs. The reasoning behind this is simple coercion on her part.
Now fortunately for all you I shan’t start describing all of the good times we have had, all the topics discussed or even the quotes we have made. If I did you would be numb-arsed by the time you got to the end of it, so I shall give the background details.
Ratch, my (clean) name of choice for those of you who don’t know, came to us from the land of Gourock in 2004. I have to shorten this a lot because I don’t have time by the way. Since then she has graced many of us with her banter, her beauty and her bitchiness, although graced maybe not being the preeminent word for the latter of this list.
“Why the title then?” some may ask, I see the Boom, but where is the bust. This is simple, we’re going different ways, the same way all of us are. Much like the recession of late the question is when will the recovery begin how will it affect us? My question is similar, where do we all go from here, will the life and friendships we knew from our pre-uni days carry on along a similar route or will we all go down our own paths from now on?
Regardless of this, we will always have times like the fiery man on the bus and withered arms in English revision school, lest we forget Chinese names and “You’ve Got Mail”. Variety is the spice of life after all...

A Royal Let Down

If I was a Republican I would be in a fine mood this morning. Once again a member of the monarchy has decided to plough their way into the field of politics. This morning, Prince Andrew, The Duke of York, defended bankers’ bonuses, saying that in the scheme of things they are “minute”.

This statement comes after an announcement this week that bank bonuses would reach £6bn this year, up around 50% from last year. This figure is still a great deal lower than the £10bn paid in 2007 but this isn’t any comfort to regular members of public; some of whom are struggling to make ends meet having lost their jobs in past months.

It is statements like this that show just how out of touch our royals are with the public today. There is an element of truth in what Andrew says, in the grand scheme of the financial crisis a few billion here and there doesn’t seem a great deal to those with the economic know-how. In the colosseum of public opinion however, we are left wondering how those who played such a great part getting us into this mess are again being rewarded so highly. The most galling factor for most is that it is the taxpayer who is left with the bill; after all, it was our money that was used to bail these banks out in their time of need.

The duke, whist speaking to the Telegraph, said “Bonuses, in the scheme of things, are minute. They are easy to target.”

I, however, feel that they should be targeted. We understand that bonuses ensure banks are getting the best staff possible, but there must be an element of regulation. Bonuses in the past were granted to those who were taking massive risks with a great deal of money that banks didn’t actually have; the consequences of which were catastrophic. We must not see a return to this era of irresponsibility.

On the topic of responsibility, what of Prince Andrew’s comments? It isn’t the first time he has stepped into the political arena, is this a responsible move for a senior royal?

In general I am for it, the royals are still symbols of continuity for the state, they should be allowed to make their opinion known if they choose to do so. My warning to them, however, is to examine the tone in which they do so. Prince Andrew, I believe, was simply too flippant in his commentary. The question of whether the monarchy still has a role in life today is one that raises itself habitually. The public usually say yes. Will this continue to be the case if differences of opinion are as extreme as those announced today?

Another day, another opinion...

Embarrassment. This one word encapsulates my feelings towards the fiasco that was Question Time last night. I had been looking forward to see the snake that is Nick Griffin humiliated in front of the electorate. Unfortunately, this is not what I saw. What I saw was the representatives of our two biggest parties interrupting him every time he spoke and spouting pre-written statements which they hoped would make them seem morally superior in the media the next day.

To me it seemed more like a nationally broadcasted kicking contest. Griffin is, without doubt, a disgusting man, evidence of this can be seen by searching the fount of video-based knowledge that is YouTube. The way to show this, however, is not to make him seem like a victim of political bullying. The best, and most mature, approach is to annihilate his policy rather than shouting louder than he does.

The ever deceptive Griffin seems to have realised that this is his strongest best defence. With Mr. Straw and Baroness Warsi constantly cutting him short, he had no need to defend simply indefensible policies, but sit smugly as the others embarrassed themselves with their ignorance, throwing in the occasional sound bite in between.

Among the bumbling of Jack Straw and the river of patronising comments from Warsi there was a small ray of hope from the panel. This shone in the strange form of Chris Huhne; who made quite a few impassioned attempts to scratch away the veneer of the BNP. His comments even made political sense on the odd occasion.

So with one of the three MPs actually making a decent input I am left asking, “Is this the best our politicians can do?”

On top of the luck lustre performance of the other panel members I was left disappointed by the performance and comments of David Dimbleby. I believe he has forgotten his role on the show; he is the chairman, whose role is giving every panel member an opportunity to speak whilst remaining impartial throughout. This was not shown last night, with him making every attempt to undermine Griffin when the opportunity arose rather than remain the usually venerable host that he is.

I hope those of you reading this do not think this is a defence of Griffin or his policy, it is simply my disillusion with British politics being put on paper (so to speak). Again, we were shown MPs inability to answer questions surrounding the important issue of immigration. There is no doubt that a number of British people are becoming disheartened by the influx of foreigners to the UK and are left seeking solace in the far-right policy of the BNP. I would argue that if the mainstream parties grew a pair and made Realistic policy on how to control this then people would veer away from the BNP and their policy.

If the government do not realise this, however, there is another option to defeating the BNP. Force them to talk about the policy and challenge it, compelling them to break through their veneer of deception and showing them for the fascists they truly are.