Reality check
4 October 2005
Sound effects
Last week all eyes in the political world were on Brighton. This week the focus is Blackpool. But, thankfully, Labour’s part in the autumn Conference season is over and I am back in Stevenage – with a dreadful cold and no voice.
This is every politician’s nightmare. The voice is, after all, the main tool of our trade. It is how we communicate with constituents, colleagues and the rest of the world. It is what we use to explain, cajole, debate and, occasionally, spin. So what do we do when it goes? Some of us, like Neil Kinnock, Bill Clinton and myself, try to soldier on – consuming packet after packet of cough drops in the process and croaking unintelligibly at people.
But this time even croaking was out of the question. By Friday I had completely lost my voice. So I cancelled my appointments, whispered my apologies and sat, wrapped up warm, on the couch waiting for my voice to come back. It still has not, though I can now manage the occasional, frog-like, sentence.
This has given me plenty of time to think, and write. It has also made me aware of just how precious good health is. So, please, take care of yourself. Now is the time for the elderly and the vulnerable to get their flu shots. I am off to have mine later this month. I hope that you have already arranged to have yours. Call your doctor now if you have not. You owe it to yourself.
Listening for Britain
I knew that I was getting ill on my last day in Brighton. But I thought that hot tea and a large dose of Vitamin C would stave it off. It did, but only long enough for me to attend a rather appropriate event about listening to people.
This is something that politicians, this one included, are not very good at. We think that we have all the answers and do not hesitate to tell people so. This tunnel vision is compounded by the fact that we spend most of our time in the rarefied atmosphere of fortress Westminster. So when the Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell, urged Labour MPs to take part in her listening exercise my hand went up.
Over the next couple of months I will be meeting with groups of people from all over the Stevenage constituency to hear what they think the government should be doing to make Britain a better place to live in. For once, I will not be saying what the government is doing. I will be listening to what you want it to do. Then I will go back and tell Ministers, and the Prime Minister, what you said.
This is not one of those consultations for consultations sake that bureaucracies are so fond of. I would not do it if it was. It is a genuine attempt, after eight years in government, to find out what you think. If you would like to take part in this listening exercise please
contact me via the form on this site
or write to me at the House of Commons, London SW1A OAA. The meetings will be informal and I hope that as many people as possible will take part.
Wake-up call
My voice had better be back soon. On Monday the House of Commons meets for the first time in eleven weeks and there will be a great deal to say – particularly on the subject of terrorism. The July bombings in London and the latest outrage in Bali have made the need to tighten up the law urgent.
I have no problem with making it a crime to incite someone to commit an act of terror. Nor do I think that it is wrong to ban books or shut down websites which promote it. This world is too full of hate already. We do not need any more.
But I do feel that we need to be very careful about extending the time that the police can hold a suspect without charging them to ninety days. At present the limit is fourteen. I know that the collection and collation of the huge amounts of evidence that these cases generate takes time. But I do not think that this should be the defining factor.
For example, it is going to take the police far longer than ninety days to sift through the 38 warehouses full of evidence that they apparently have on the London bombings. It could be years before they are finished. That is why I think that we have look at other ways of getting the evidence needed to charge suspects quickly.
One source could be phone taps. At present these cannot be used in British courts. I see no reason why this should not be changed. Another source could be the evidence of spies or infiltrators. I realise that their anonymity needs to be protected but we could take a leaf out of the books of our European colleagues and hold such courts “in camera”.
We have a long tradition in this country of justice being seen to be done. Sadly, this may not always be possible in today’s world.
Barbara Follett MP
