2019
WORTHING HERALD ARTICLES
A SELECTION OF MY RECENT WORTHING HERALD COLUMNS CAN BE FOUND HERE
Archived Articles
Acts of Remembrance in Communities
14th November 2019
Around the constituency, across the nation and around the Commonwealth on Remembrance Sunday and this year on Remembrance Day we have gathered at memorials to the fallen.
This year there are no Members of Parliament because of the General Election. I have been careful to be part of the congregation: the Portcullis was not on my wreaths.
We are grateful to Janet Goldbrough-Jones, to Tom Wye, to the Mayor of Worthing Hazel Thorpe, to her chaplain Dr Hazel Sherman...
Lasting Issues in Parliament
7th November 2019
Let us hope that the new Parliament lasts longer, though I fear that we may take a time to settle into a degree of stability and agreement.
During the last day in the Commons, I heard the statement on the dilemmas faced by some customers of Thomas Cook. I sympathise with the staff too. We were told that the directors of the firm had failed to insure or to put money safe for compensation for people who had proper claims for life-changing injuries or loss-of-life.
Before many MPs made their valedictory speeches, the House came together to pass all stages of the Historical Institutional Abuse (Northern Ireland) Bill. See the website hiainquiry.org for the background.
Increasing Agreement and Minimising Difference
31st October 2019
Most seven-day periods could fill a small book; many days might merit more than a chapter. Last Thursday I hosted the UK Air Cargo annual gathering. These freight professionals cope with the changing rules of international trade. Half their work is with international consignments outside the EU. They will cope, whether politicians make a mess of the UK separating from the EU 27 or whether we manage to use common sense in reducing the possible costs of a no-deal exit. I refrain from comment now on parliamentary steps towards a possible December election; it makes sense to apply for a postal vote in case the weather turns bad.
A Few Wisely Led Are Better Than
More Without A Head
24th October 2019
At the St Margaret’s church, Parliament Square, memorial service for Baroness Warnock, we heard about the life of the mother of five who was one of the great and the good. She was head teacher of an Oxford high school before heading a Cambridge college.
Mary Warnock chaired the inquiry that led to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act. Her report on special education led to improved teaching for learning-disabled children and for the helpful ‘statementing’ system to gain special educational support. She provided advice on animal experimentation and on the questions of what Nazi loot should be returned to the families of original owners.
Anniversaries and a Better Future
17th October 2019
Monday’s Queen’s Speech was a glorious display in the House of Lords. I contributed to the debate in the Commons. Before coming to my topics, I want to share sentences by my colleague Vicky Ford, MP for Chelmsford for two years, four months and six days. She believes rightly that the vast majority of people go into politics because they want to make a difference. ‘When we see good things happen in our constituencies, we want to replicate them. When we see bad things happen, we want to eradicate them. We want to move forward and yet, for the past two years, four months and six days, I have often felt the we are going round and round in circles...
New Homes Would Wreck Goring Gap
10th October 2019
During the noise of the discussions and negotiations over our withdrawal from the EU, much is happening closer to home.
On Monday, escaping the disruption of the self-appointed ’Extinction rebels’ I attended the consultation on the proposed development of 465 new homes by Persimmon on the Chatsmore Farm site. This would wreck the Goring Gap and it would make Ferring appear to be part of Worthing.
Persimmon have sprung this as a surprise to me and many residents. As MP, they should have informed me directly. I knew thanks to Ed Miller of the Ferring Conservation Group.
Four Issues from the Supreme Court
03rd October 2019
Elections for the Arun District Council in May this year led to change of control. The councillors elected James Walsh (Liberal Democrat) to lead the council in succession to Gill Brown (Conservative).
Four of the 32 parish and town councils are within the Worthing West constituency; the others are represented by my colleague MPs Nick Gibb and Nick Herbert.
The problems that might have followed from a hung council were avoided. Terence Chapman leads the Conservatives. He and all the councillors can be trusted to use the changing political situation to maintain the quiet provision of local services. Residents can expect civility in place of civil war.
The Gift of Perseverance
30th August 2019
The fine East Preston food festival came before the Bank Holiday Monday, when I joined the crowds as the Rotary carnival procession turned into Worthing’s Steyne. Everyone enjoyed the stalls and exhibitions. Many of the participants were young. Even after the waiting in Grand Avenue and the lengthy walk, they were still dancing, singing and playing. That perseverance matches the final thoughts in the lovely memoirs, An English Spring, of the great Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor. In 2000, having served as Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, he moved from his home in Storrington to Westminster Cathedral to be one of the five Roman Catholic archbishops.
Three Men and a Quote
22nd August 2019
Jerome K Jerome wrote the popular novels Three Men in a Boat and Three Men on the Bummel (a.k.a. Three Men on Wheels): these titles inspired three south coast journalists to collect experiences from 150 years of local news and scandal. They claim rightly that their stories are revealing, funny and sad, but never dull. Careers that ranged from the 1950s to the recession in 2009 included a great number of memorable events, involving the eccentricities of editors, the historic printers’ strikes and the introduction of terrifying new newspaper technology. There is also the quotation: ‘A good journalist, on retirement, has few friends: if the job has been done properly, just about all of them will have been upset at some time.’
Beaches around the World
15th August 2019
The offshore Rampion wind farm produces electricity that can power half the homes in Sussex. It is an example of conception, planning, financing and carrying through to successful operation a major public benefit project over nine years by a responsible private company.
The short recent national grid failure had unacceptable and unexpected consequences. Hospitals and the train services are supposed to keep going. It does not matter whether the faults were at regional, local or national level; it does matter that lessons are identified and that the problems are fixed.
The Uk in the World with the EU
08th August 2019
The fall in the value of the £ pound sterling has consequences. When the Worthing twinned towns’ representatives visit, they will find their euros go further. When we go to them, our exchange rate has moved against us. Twinning documents were signed and exchanged by Worthing with the Black Forest towns of Elzach, Gutach, Simonswald, Waldkirch in 1997 and the Twinning Charter with Chateau d'Olonne, Olonne Sur Mer, Les Sables d'Olonne - Le Pays des Olonnes on the French Atlantic coast - was signed at Worthing Town Hall in 1998. Mayor Herbie Golds was involved. Rustington twinned in 2002 with Kunzell, Germany.
Holiday on South Coast, Travel Abroad
01st August 2019
Our sympathies go to those caught in travel horrors. A day of delay in a week of holiday can be a long time, especially if there are children or elderly friends to care for in a crowded terminal or on a train stuck because overhead lines sagged. I also feel for the staff trying to cope with a multiplied set of tasks.
Often I think that the clever management consultants who devise schemes of service and of staffing structures assume everything goes smoothly. Would that they could hold my hand as I try to wend a way through a set of options that do not fit the problem I need to resolve.
Four Issues from the Supreme Court
26th September 2019
The Supreme Court judgment on Tuesday was admirably clear and limited. The President Brenda Hale overlapped with me at university. The now-decided cases raised four issues: Is the question of whether the Prime Minister’s advice to the Queen was lawfully justiciable in a court of law? If it is, by what standard is its lawfulness to be judged? By that standard, was it lawful? If it was not, what remedy should the court grant? Reading the 24 pages will increase respect for the way the eleven justices limited what could have been thought and said. The government were dished because there was no convincing justification for losing several parliamentary weeks before the EU and UK formally separate, expected on 31st October.
Enjoyment, Health and Wealth
19th September 2019
We had a jolly good time during the glorious weekend in Kingston, Ferring, Rustington, East Preston and around Worthing. The thought in the Worthing shield EX TERRA COPIAM E MARE SALUTEM - From The Land Plenty, From The Sea Health – could be expanded to cover the land between the coast and the South Downs.
Enjoyment is the important extra. In my parliament activities, especially in the constituency. On Friday, my team and I joined Tim Loughton MP to recognise the welcome further progress and the remarkable achievements of students and staff at Worthing College.
Coming Together to do Better
12th September 2019
‘MPs For A Deal’ is a cross party group making clear that, if Prime Minister Johnson reaches a practical agreement with the EU27, there will be enough Labour and other MPs to outweigh the predictable opposition by the zealots for whom no deal would be supportable. At a meeting, I said that describing simply the agreed objective would be clear and popular. Constituents have a range of views. I understand them. They know that I am part of the majority who accepted the result of the referendum, with the ambition to be part of the parliamentary majority needed to end the impasse, allowing businesses and individuals to make progress.
Change in Days, Decades and Centuries
05th September 2019
One of my local heroes is Ed Miller, best known as a leading member of the Ferring History Group and the Ferring Conservation group. By good fortune we had been colleagues in the Department of Employment in the mid-1980s when I took over responsibility for equal opportunities and the youth career services from Alan Clark MP who is remembered more for his diaries than for his ministerial achievements.
Another minister, Peter Morrison, said he could brief me on the personal politics of each senior civil servant. I declined to listen. If it showed in their work I would know; if it did not, I would not need to know.
Climate Change, a Sense of Proportion
27th June 2019
The Six O’clock news studio on 23rd May 1988 was invaded by demonstrators. Here is part of one report:
‘Demonstrating an impressive level of sang-froid, Lawley continued to announce the headlines as the activists could be heard crying out “stop Section 28!” She commented, ″we have rather been invaded″ - while her co-presenter Nicholas Witchell found himself forced to take action to keep one of the protestors quiet.
″I found she had handcuffed herself to Sue’s desk, so I sat on her and put my hand over her mouth,″ said Witchell, now BBC News' royal correspondent.
Doing Good, Having Fun, Failing Often
20th June 2019
Girls and boys from Summerlea Community primary school in Rustington came to Westminster. We had a lovely time together, exploring the purposes of politics, remembering the importance of avoiding unnecessary civil war or international conflict, helping people to be self-reliant when possible and giving full help when it is needed. We also played a few maths games; it is impressive when a bright child sees through a conundrum with clarity. Also, this week I walked a group of American friends around the Palace of Westminster. The art in Portcullis House, the new building, includes a grotesque caricature by Gerald Scarfe of the Commons chamber...
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Champions for the Excluded
13th June 2019
Parliamentary visitors and watchers are often keen to experience PMQs, oral questions to the Prime Minister that are now heard on sitting Wednesdays. Years ago there were PMQs for fifteen minutes on Tuesdays and Thursdays; on balance I prefer that though prime ministers may not.
Other things happen too on Wednesdays. This week we elect the new chair of the Northern Ireland Select Committee. I hope and expect that Maria Caulfield MP for Lewes to be chosen. By pleasant chance, on Wednesday morning I took Communion at the rail of St. Margaret’s church, Parliament Square.
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They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old
06th June 2019
‘Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.’
These words from the fourth verse of Laurence Binyon’s poem FOR THE FALLEN came to him first as he looked out to sea in September 1914, after the start of the Great War and the British Expeditionary Force had suffered casualties at the Battle of Mons and the days of fighting at the Marne.
This verse has rightly been adopted as a proper exhortation by the Royal British Legion at ceremonies of Remembrance. I commend the full poem.
Winds of Change: Africa to Perestroika
25th July 2019
On Wednesday Virginia and I shall have helped launch Lord Popat’s book A British Subject: How to Make It as an Immigrant in the Best Country in the World. He left Uganda aged 17 a year before Idi Amin expelled tens of thousands of Ugandan Asians with little more than the clothes on their backs. In the debate that celebrated the contributions made in this country by those who came to settle in the United Kingdom, Lord Parekh kindly mentioned that we had been amongst the 2,000 families who first offered to share our home with the refugees. It was not to the credit of Enoch Powell that he supported a critical motion at the Conservative Conference; it is to the credit of the Young Conservatives...
Think Ahead, Plan Ahead, Go Ahead
18th July 2019
‘Many things are worth doing; few are worth doing perfectly.’ My father-in-law John Garnett did more than most in many fields of life. I hope I realise most of my own mistakes and errors of omission and of commission. The most frequent are when I sail a dinghy or play my flute. I admire the younger more proficient sailors off the shore between Worthing and Ferring. Admirable too are the skills of the young musicians who play and sing together in the Assembly Hall, given to the town in 1934 by Alderman James Denton, mayor of Worthing. The data base of the Theatres Trust gives a fine description. It is doubtful whether a modern mayor could be so generous.
A Week is a Long Time in Politics
11th July 2019
Tuesday evening included the ITV questions to Jeremy Hunt and to Boris Johnson. I decided not to offer guidance to anyone who asked my advice about for whom to vote. I have said that if I thought Boris Johnson were the obvious answer, I should have said so. Each viewer can decide who won the debate; each can also decide who could be the better prime minister. During each of the parliaments in which I have served, I have tried to work constructively with successive prime ministers, no matter which their party. Harold Wilson was the first to offer a kind word after I succeeded his parliamentary private secretary Bill Hamling MP.
Compassion, Realism and Radicalism
04th July 2019
There has not been a dull week during my life serving as Member of Parliament. The past days remind me of the shared joys and the shared sorrows in the lives of our shared communities and families.
On Friday during the public advice session in the Guildbourne Centre, a long-married couple cheered me. Over the years we have tackled a series of serious problems successfully. My feeling that day must be what nurses and doctors feel when a patient is restored to health.
Dame Sarah Mullally was the NHS chief nurse. Now Bishop of London, she addressed Tuesday’s National Prayer breakfast in the Great Hall at Westminster. I hope her words will be on the Diocesan website.
Take Liberties, Accept Responsibilities
30th May 2019
Do try to try visit the Palace of Westminster before the expected programme of restoration and renewal. Assuming there is neither devastating fire nor swamping flood, there are a few years as decisions are made about temporary homes for the two Houses.
When guiding constituents or visitors, I try to show three wall plaques that matter to me. One lists the trades of all those who built the place together with the occupations of those who work to make parliament effective. Next is Tony Benn’s list of those who challenged the system to achieve liberty, knowledge and the opportunities to organise.
The Young, the Old, the Middle Ages
23rd May 2019
Hazel Thorpe’s Mayor’s Service on Sunday was led by the Reverend Hazel Sherman at the West Worthing Baptist Church. The congregation was impressed by the confident reading of the Lesson by the new Youth Mayor.
On Monday at Westminster I was invited to meet young pupils from School 21 in Stratford, east London. They were showing off their oracy skills. Yes, I know: it was a new word to me too. The term oracy was coined about fifty years ago by Andrew Wilkinson, the educational researcher. He wanted to have a way to match literacy and numeracy, describing oral skills in education.
From Land Wealth, from Sea Health
16th May 2019
The Times leading article, headed Putting Asunder, argues that no-fault divorce is a sensible, humane and overdue legislative move. This would change the 1973 Matrimonial Causes Act that included three fault grounds: adultery, desertion and unreasonable behaviour.
Sometimes those who are married to an MP might class us as less athletic than James Cracknell though as dedicated to public and political service as he has been to endurance tests. Last week I received a message from home asking why I was late: I resisted the temptation to suggest watching the Parliament Channel: it could show I was not out on the town; it could also be a sedative?
Road Casualties Around the World
09th May 2019
Rightly, many news stories inform us of what is wrong, bad or sad. We should not assume that generally everything is getting worse just because some things do. Where there are challenges, past progress should inspire us, drive us to achieve more.
At the weekend when travelling from the Arun parts of my constituency towards Worthing, I reflected on an A259 road casualty initiative that I campaigned for. It was introduced after two pensioners were tragically killed when an unqualified driver smashed into them as they crossed the road. I wish my efforts had had earlier implementation.
Arun, Worthing and Westminster
02nd May 2019
Most MPs give most to the local area. On Tuesday I joined Salvationists, socialists and assorted peers in the House of Lords for the memorial meeting celebrating the life of Lord Foster. As Derek Foster MP for Bishop Auckland, he was the longest serving Labour chief whip with four Labour leaders.
A Russian general was told that Derek’s army motto was Blood and Fire – he relaxed a little when told it inspired the Salvation Army. Commissioner William Cochrane, territorial commander of Norway spoke. Another said that age and experience defeat youth and enthusiasm. My experience of the Salvation Army is that they combine each of those merits.
Westminster Women, changing politics
28th March 2019
Emily Wilding Davison was a teacher in Worthing. She is known for her activities as a suffragette. She died at the Epsom Derby.
The online encyclopaedia and other sources record that she worked briefly at a church school in Edgbaston between 1895 and 1896, but found it difficult and moved to Seabury, a private school in (West) Worthing, where she was more settled. She left the town in 1898 and became a private tutor and governess to a family in Northamptonshire. Returning to university education, she graduated from the University of London with a first class honours degree in English Language and Literature. Famously, she objected to being recorded in the 1911 Census.
Words of kindness, works of community
21st March 2019
At the end of last week, I was honoured to be received by Imam Idris before Friday prayers at our district Islamic Society. On behalf of Tim Loughton MP and myself (Tim was guiding his bill through the House of Commons at the time), sorrow and solidarity was offered following the attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand. Earlier, by kind agreement of Waitrose, I had held a drop-in surgery and met a range of constituents. Some talked of individual problems.
Some said they hoped the Prime Minister would get through the EU withdrawal process. Other views were also expressed. I was glad to see local councillors in different parties discussing issues that matter to everyone. I attended ward meetings in Arun and in Worthing.
An MP but not quite a politician?
14th March 2019
There can be joy in reading a well-written memoir. This week Virginia and I enjoyed the launch in the House of Lords of Robin Renwick’s Not Quite A Diplomat, 35 short chapters in fewer than 300 pages. The title came from Margaret Thatcher when she sent him to South Africa where he was trusted by Nelson Mandela and by F W de Klerk. In the Foreign Office he contributed to the successful agreement that returned back to Britain two thirds of our contribution to the European budget. As Ambassador in Washington DC, he became a confidant of President George Bush Sr. and then of Bill Clinton: he was an exceptionally influential diplomat.
Our Bright Future in Parliament
07th March 2019
The organisation Our Bright Future brought young people to Parliament on Tuesday. They gave presentations on some of the 31 projects that are funded by the National Lottery Community Fund. More than 80,000 young people have taken part. The activities include practical conservation and wildlife, campaigning with planning and decision-making, sustainable construction, homelessness, work experience and apprenticeships, social entrepreneurships, mental health – and coasts. The Our Bright Future website – ourbrightfuture.co.uk – gives more information and the full project list. It is impressive. Dara from Northern Ireland is autistic, not that anyone would guess from his forceful compelling address.
Climate Science, Personalities, Protests
25th April 2019
The BBC radio 4 programmes on Wednesday morning explored the origin of our moon before giving a chronology of our awakening to the depletion of ozone over the Antarctic and to the urgent international measures that would moderate and reverse the damage. In those years Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev with the near unanimous support of the US Senate also joined the world campaigns to reduce our dangerous increase in human actions that boosted the carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere.
Leaving aside the catastrophic possibility of an earth shattering solar system collision like the one that put our moon into orbit, we can consider what can be done in the waste hierarchy to reduce, to re-use and to recycle.
The UK and the World Around Us
18th April 2019
Holy Week this year has become fuller than usual, more crowded than expected. The religious significance means much to me; this article is not a pulpit so please forgive me for concentrating mainly on secular issues.
On Saturday, Col. Mark Turner and I walked in Rustington to the Mosquito Memorial in Chaucer Avenue.
The crew of two and three residents sadly died when in February 1945 the aircraft MM550 from Ford suffered from a control problem or engine failure before crashing on bungalows. After Easter, we could nominate the memorial for listing and for protection on the National List?
Marriage and Divorce Proposals
11th April 2019
The Times leading article, headed Putting Asunder, argues that no-fault divorce is a sensible, humane and overdue legislative move. This would change the 1973 Matrimonial Causes Act that included three fault grounds: adultery, desertion and unreasonable behaviour. Sometimes those who are married to an MP might class us as less athletic than James Cracknell though as dedicated to public and political service as he has been to endurance tests. Last week I received a message from home asking why I was late: I resisted the temptation to suggest watching the Parliament Channel: it could show I was not out on the town; it could also be a sedative?
Listen to the young on voting at 16
04th April 2019
Sixteen years have passed since the campaign coalition was created in 2003. At the debate hosted at County Hall by West Sussex County Council, it was plain that there are few good reasons to delay extending the opportunity. It is the right thing to do.
For fun, look at the reasons given against the reduction to 18, against the reduction to 21 for women, against older property-owning females, against men who happened not to have assets above a limit – and so on.
I do not buy the argument that all age restrictions should be the same. The age to buy fireworks or to be a customer in a tanning booth can be decided separately.
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Parties Need to Overlap
21st February 2019
During my years as the parliamentary representative for Worthing West, I have been impressed by political cooperation as well as political contest in the Arun and the Worthing sections of the constituency. There is respect across the political spectrum and there has been movement too, not just one way. It is a matter of record that much that needs doing is done best when people who vote in different ways are capable of accepting results of elections and of the rare referendum. Between votes, we achieve better results when together we accept the responsibility of making things work, work better and work best in the interests of local residents and local businesses,
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Words at Westminster, Life in Worthing
14th February 2019
People interested in the benefits of professional journalism and who care about public-interest journalism should read chapter six of the review by Dame Frances Cairncross.
On Tuesday I spoke, mentioning the BBC support scheme for local journalism. The underlying problem is caused by the incredible share of advertising now taken by two modern media giants. One way or another, it is vital that trained journalists can print edited reports on what happens in our council rooms and our law courts, in addition to reporting on protests, campaigns and desired initiatives.
Saints, Leaders and Giving
7th February 2019
Last week, I took the evening to contribute to a debate at the Cambridge Union Society on whether Margaret Thatcher could be remembered as a feminist.
I put the case for her, starting with the question: “What did David Blunkett do for the blind? He showed that there were few things they could not do.”
I made the obvious point that a person could rattle on about modern feminism or they could make clear that women and men could be bold, opinionated, independent, effective, successful and able to us their talents in every way, regardless of their gender.
West Sussex, Westminster and the World
31st January 2019
The Holocaust gatherings in and around Worthing were matched by people coming together across the nation and in a growing number of countries.
The tragedy of whole peoples being targeted for elimination is not a single event. The tragedy is a series. Few empires were innocent.
Killing enemy soldiers outside active combat is bad enough; aiming to kill all members of a race or religion is awful.
There is a bad example of the former in chapter 12 of the Book of Judges. The Gileadites defeated the Ephraimites and then slaughtered 42,000, identifying them by how they said the word ‘shibboleth’.
Challenge assumptions, remember errors
24th January 2019
This Sunday at 11am the Worthing and District Holocaust Memorial gathering will be in Beach House Park, between Worthing Hospital and the sea.
One question I offer to students of history and of politics is this: "Which was the year when Adolf Hitler should have faced military challenge when it was clear he would be an aggressor against most countries in Europe and would decide to kill every Jew in Europe? Ever? Never?"
I do not know the answer. I do think the question needs discussion in every generation just as our children and grandchildren and their successors must know the history and the horrors of the Holocaust he caused.
Decisions, delays, debates, discussions
17th January 2019
At the end are my words in the parliamentary debate on the progress, or lack of it, as the Commons and the government try to implement the referendum decision that the UK will leave the European Union. We have the responsibility to end the deadlock.
Those who want to Remain united with Labour, SNP and the Lib Dems on Tuesday evening with those who have no interest in a negotiated withdrawal agreement, nor in transition arrangements that matter to business, nor in the future trade arrangements with the EU 27 and with the rest of the world.
I will continue to try to implement the referendum decision with the least possible damage to our interests.
The still voice and the loud noises
10th January 2019
Every week there are contrasts in the life and experiences of most MPs. My working assumption is that I am average. Like other average people, I can be most effective by asking others to help and by being available to help others. Most leaders, in the private sector and also in public services, want to guide their colleagues to work together ethically and successfully.
Some leaders do not know what their first line supervisors need to know. With fellow officers of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Sex Equality, I heard on Tuesday of the problems staff can experience in forms of sexual harassment in offices and factories by colleagues, and in shops additionally by customers.
With similarities and differences
03rd January 2019
One of the first messages received this new year was from a constituent who voted in 2016 to leave the European Union, having voted in 1975 to stay in the Common Market. He also mentioned Nicholas Ridley, a member of Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet: Virginia and I had each served under him as junior ministers. He died at 64 of lung cancer after much smoking.
He was a delight to work with and to work for. When there was fun to be had or praise to be received, he pushed us forward. When storm clouds approached and if blame, merited or undeserved, was coming he would be the umbrella or the whipping boy.