LOCAL ISSUES MORE URGENT THAN PARTY CONFERENCE FRENZY
15:00 - 11 October 2007
The last few weeks have been a roller coaster for those involved in British politics.The opinion polls have gyrated wildly. Reputations have been made and lost and made again.
All those of us compelled to participate in the party conference season - from whatever party - must have shared the sense of this dizzying ride with its unexpected ascents and falls.
But, in the midst of all of the great debates that occupy the national media, it is a useful corrective to remember what really matters to people here in West Dorset.
This week, I will not be attending a party conference. I will not be surrounded by huge packs of journalists, probing detail and seeking scoops. Instead, I will be standing at the crossroads of Kings Road and Prince of Wales Road in Dorchester, together with local councillors and a group of local parents.
This has come about because two of the parents visited me at one of my advice surgeries recently and quickly persuaded me that they had a real problem on their hands - one which deserved not only attention but speedy action.
The issue that concerns these parents is not a great ideological struggle. It is the very simple - but very important - matter of whether they can get their children safely to school each day.
They are worried that the way the traffic system works exposes their children to unnecessary danger.
One doesn't really need to ask why these parents are so concerned. One just has to be a parent to know how much this matters. If your son or daughter is at daily risk, there isn't anything that could matter more than finding a way of keeping them safe. Any of us who have had the experience of seeing the child of a friend die can feel, rather than merely observe, the intensity of the passion which the thought of such a possibility inevitably arouses.
So, in the end, it is these simple things that matter most - something that it is all too easy to forget in the clash of political armies and the huge excitements of national politics.
I very much hope that the effect of the stand that I and others are taking will be to achieve a real improvement in the safety of these roads for the children of these parents. And I also hope that politicians all over the country, of whatever political persuasion, will keep on coming back to these plain but crucial matters which are the threads out of which the fabric of our real lives, (as opposed to the frenzy of media politics) is woven
The last few weeks have been a roller coaster for those involved in British politics.The opinion polls have gyrated wildly. Reputations have been made and lost and made again.
All those of us compelled to participate in the party conference season - from whatever party - must have shared the sense of this dizzying ride with its unexpected ascents and falls.
But, in the midst of all of the great debates that occupy the national media, it is a useful corrective to remember what really matters to people here in West Dorset.
This week, I will not be attending a party conference. I will not be surrounded by huge packs of journalists, probing detail and seeking scoops. Instead, I will be standing at the crossroads of Kings Road and Prince of Wales Road in Dorchester, together with local councillors and a group of local parents.
This has come about because two of the parents visited me at one of my advice surgeries recently and quickly persuaded me that they had a real problem on their hands - one which deserved not only attention but speedy action.
The issue that concerns these parents is not a great ideological struggle. It is the very simple - but very important - matter of whether they can get their children safely to school each day.
They are worried that the way the traffic system works exposes their children to unnecessary danger.
One doesn't really need to ask why these parents are so concerned. One just has to be a parent to know how much this matters. If your son or daughter is at daily risk, there isn't anything that could matter more than finding a way of keeping them safe. Any of us who have had the experience of seeing the child of a friend die can feel, rather than merely observe, the intensity of the passion which the thought of such a possibility inevitably arouses.
So, in the end, it is these simple things that matter most - something that it is all too easy to forget in the clash of political armies and the huge excitements of national politics.
I very much hope that the effect of the stand that I and others are taking will be to achieve a real improvement in the safety of these roads for the children of these parents. And I also hope that politicians all over the country, of whatever political persuasion, will keep on coming back to these plain but crucial matters which are the threads out of which the fabric of our real lives, (as opposed to the frenzy of media politics) is woven
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