I was prompted to reflect on this question last week when trying to make my way from a meeting about community justice panels in Dorchester to the opening of the renovated Hindley steam engine and steam boiler at the [...]]]> What kind of advantages today should we be willing to sacrifice in turn for a better tomorrow?

I was prompted to reflect on this question last week when trying to make my way from a meeting about community justice panels in Dorchester to the opening of the renovated Hindley steam engine and steam boiler at the Castleton waterwheel in Sherborne.

The meeting on community justice panels was thoroughly useful – and I hope that we are going to see a very considerable increase in the use of restorative justice and community justice in West Dorset – because there are huge gains both for taxpayers and for society as a whole if we can lead more people away from crime and anti-social behaviour by confronting them with the reality of their misdeeds and the reality of the effect on their victims.

The prospect of opening the engine at Sherborne was also attractive – because the restoration of the waterwheel at Castleton – and now the associated machinery in the adjoining museum – has been a remarkable labour of love carried out by highly dedicated and skilled individuals giving freely of their time – a marvellous example of the Big Society in action, as well as a splendid illustration of our industrial history.

But the journey from Dorchester to Sherborne on this occasion was anything but smooth, at least at its start, because of the complicated road works currently taking place at the intersection with the Old Sherborne Road where it comes out at Dorchester.

I wasn’t, of course, the only person in the traffic jam. There was quite a long queue around me – and a long trail of cars coming from the opposite direction. So the aggregate amount of inconvenience caused by the road works and the accompanying traffic management system was really quite considerable.

But, on the other side of the balance sheet, we have to place the advantages that will accrue once the works are complete.

And this, of course, is a particular instance of a very general truth. In order to improve matters in the long run, we need to make investments that involve real effort, cost and the sacrifice of things we could otherwise be doing with our time and money today.

This, of course, is essentially what is happening with the British economy just now, as we take the pain of tackling the excessive debt with which we are saddled and the pain also of rebalancing the economy in order to have a more prosperous future. But it isn’t just the road works or the reduction of deficits and the rebalancing of economies to which this general truth applies. Whether it’s creating community justice panels or – as our Victorian ancestors very well knew – investing in the long-lasting later returns depends on present investment and, hence, on accepting painful inconvenience in the short term.

I suspect that many of us, if subjected [...]]]> There is a certain sort of psychological test that consists of the tester saying a word and the person who is being tested saying the first word that comes to mind in response.  You know the sort of thing: “black”, “white”; “high”, “low”; “sea”, “ship” and so on.

I suspect that many of us, if subjected to a test of this sort and if given the word “charity” would automatically respond “Mencap”.

There are, of course, many charities that have succeeded in imprinting themselves on the public mind.  But I don’t think that any have done a better job of this than Mencap – and what makes this really remarkable is the subjects on which Mencap focuses are much less likely to arouse a high degree of public awareness and concern than some others.

If you are raising money for worthy causes like cancer cures or cancer care, starving children or earthquake relief, heroic soldiers injured in war or the lifeboat needed to rescue people at sea, you can absolutely guarantee that you will have a warm reception.  But it is much more difficult, in general, to interest our fellow citizens in the fate of those who suffer from learning disabilities, or indeed from other, quite different but equally non-physical issues such as mental illness.

Perhaps part of the reason why these non-physical issues have received so little attention is that they are particularly unsettling.  There is a terrible temptation to be so worried about mental disabilities and mental illnesses that the easiest thing becomes to push them under the carpet.

But – as I reflected when addressing a little conference in Dorchester on Thursday – Mencap has never allowed learning disabilities to be pushed under the carpet.  It has put a huge amount of effort into making sure that the rest of us don’t forget and don’t pretend away the problems of those who have such disabilities.  Looking round the room at the Dorford Centre, it came home to me once again just how valuable a role organisations like this play in achieving a proper balance.

But Olympic athleticism, marathons, cricket, polo, rowing [...]]]> Once upon a time, ancient Greece made a name for itself with the marathon and the Olympics.  Ancient Rome was famed for circuses and gladiators.  Cricket and polo were the sports that marked the empire on which the sun never set.  And Henley is Henley, and Wimbledon is Wimbledon.

But Olympic athleticism, marathons, cricket, polo, rowing and tennis are not everyone’s cup of tea – and there are plenty of young people whose main desire is to put on a pair of roller skates or jump on a skateboard.

I remember, more than 30 years ago, standing with my mouth wide open watching a virtuoso performance of skateboarding by the Pacific in southern California.  It was the first time I had seen it done – and the young men doing it were athletes of the first order, or perhaps I should say ballet dancers of the first order.  As they swung and twirled and jumped and flipped, they fair took one’s breath away partly for fear of a ghastly mishap and partly in admiration of the sheer dexterity of the thing.

Since that time, of course, skateboarding has become a national past-time in this country, too – and we now have virtuoso performers of our own.

But skateboarding at the highest level requires the right sort of ramps, enabling the skilful enthusiast to achieve flips of the most majestic kind.  I was therefore delighted to find myself handing over a cheque from Sport England to the new skate park project in Sherborne last week.  This admirable investment in the opportunities for the young people of Sherborne to take part in sport has been promoted by Sherborne Town Council – and it is particularly good to see that the Town Council fully recognises the importance of providing such facilities for the young.

Inevitably, most of the people willing to serve on town councils are at or near to the age of retirement – and it is all to easy for them to ignore or understate the needs of young people.  So it is really good to see that, in Sherborne, nothing of this kind is happening.  On the contrary, effort is being put into ensuring that there are constructive and enjoyable things for young people to do.

Needless to say, this is in fact in the interests of everybody in the town of whatever age – because we all know what happens if young people are not able to burn off their energy and enthusiasm in constructive ways.

How much better for those growing up in our towns to be able to cultivate a skill and tone up their physiques in this way, than to be sitting in front of flat screens or imbibing too much alcohol.

Well done, Sherborne Town Council, and well done Sport England for helping them do it!

Time was when the Amsafe factory was known as Bridport Gundry – and was just one of the many rope makers that gave Bridport its pre-eminent position as the supplier of [...]]]> Last week’s Bridport News reported the remarkable fact that the Amsafe workshops have now begun production of netting for the military version of the airbus.

Time was when the Amsafe factory was known as Bridport Gundry – and was just one of the many rope makers that gave Bridport its pre-eminent position as the supplier of rope for the British navy.

This was, of course, at a time when Britannia ruled the seas – and it was also a time when ropes were what would now be called a “mission critical component” of war ships.  Of course, it was big business.

But today’s ropes bear little resemblance to the ropes of those far off days.  They are a high-tech product that is capable of withstanding fantastic pressures, and they are used not only as a crucial part of aircraft but also to serve an amazing range of military and civilian purposes that the ropes of yesteryear could never have coped with.

Anyone who thinks that Britain isn’t any longer capable of first-rate manufacturing just needs to go to Amsafe to see how wrong this is.  As well as having world-beating pharmaceutical, aerospace, information technology, and advanced manufacturing, Britain actually has leading edge capacities in types of engineering (like ropes) that all too often go unnoticed.

As we clamber out of the economic doldrums, it’s companies like Amsafe that are going to provide many of the jobs and much of the growth that we so sorely need – and we should all be proud of the fact that this excellent company is located right here in Bridport.

It is particularly heart-warming when this resolutely modern approach to making things is so clearly connected with a long and distinguished industrial history.  We do not have to choose between celebrating the ancient and pushing the limits of modernity.  As Amsafe shows, we can do both at once.

I hope that whatever goes into the time [...]]]> I was delighted last week to see that pupils from Thomas Hardye School are contributing to the creation of a time capsule that is to be planted in the splendid new sports centre so that a future generation can gain a better understanding of the lives we lead.

I hope that whatever goes into the time capsule will be very explicit – because there is plenty of scope for misunderstanding items from the distant past.

I am reminded of a rather brilliant young archaeologist who used his powerful imagination to conjecture the purposes of items discovered at archaeological digs. Alas, some of his conjectures turned out to be incorrect, and he was specifically asked by senior colleagues to stick very close to the facts. He took this advice to heart and applied it when engaged in an excavation in Greece. The excavation revealed steps set into a hillside – which, with masterly avoidance of any interpretation, he described as being “for ascent from the lower to a higher place”. Unfortunately, this very restrained description proved to be his undoing: the steps in question were in fact part of an amphitheatre and were for sitting on rather than for climbing.

I have a terrible feeling that we may all too easily suffer from similar – but perhaps more exaggerated – mistakes about the significance of ancient things. How terrible it would be to discover, for example, that Stonehenge was in fact some form of primitive cooker or that the Cerne giant played a part in some long-gone comic strip.

But all of this is just to say that the time capsule needs to be carefully designed to avoid the slightest ambiguity. The idea remains wholly valid – and a splendid tribute to the fact that we human beings are capable of thinking in ways that connect us both with our distant ancestors and with those whose distant ancestors we ourselves hope to be. I can’t think of a better thing to teach our children than their connectedness with the past and the future, and hence the need for stewardship – and the time capsule is a fine way of conveying that enormously important message.

A few weeks back, I used the column to draw attention to the need for hospital transport in West Dorset – and I mentioned the meeting I have arranged to discuss how we can take forward the idea of volunteer transport in the Sherborne area, alongside [...]]]> I ought to begin this week’s column with an apology.

A few weeks back, I used the column to draw attention to the need for hospital transport in West Dorset – and I mentioned the meeting I have arranged to discuss how we can take forward the idea of volunteer transport in the Sherborne area, alongside similar initiatives in other parts of West Dorset.

No sooner than I had done so, I got a very understandable reaction from a splendid group known as Sherborne Good Neighbours.  They pointed out to me that they have been operating for a considerable period a very useful volunteer driver scheme for people who need transport of all kinds, including hospital transport, from Sherborne itself to points around. 

I am really rather ashamed that I hadn’t heard about this splendid scheme – which is peculiar I think, so far as West Dorset towns are concerned, to Sherborne.

Having now been in touch with the chairman of Sherborne Good Neighbours, it is clear to me that a large part of the purposes for which a volunteer hospital driver scheme would be established has already been fulfilled by the very well named “Good Neighbours”.

There are, however, gaps that we can clearly fill – and should fill – to provide hospital transport for those living in the villages around Sherborne and also for those (whether in the town itself or in the villages around) who need transport to points far away, such as Southampton Hospital.

I am absolutely sure that we can set something up that works in close harmony and co-operation with Sherborne Good Neighbours to provide a complementary service that fills in the gaps and ensures that no-one falls between two services.  Indeed, this may provide a very useful model for the other West Dorset towns, since we may well find that it is easier to provide a network of networks, rather than a single operation covering all aspect of hospital transport for each of the areas around each of our towns.

As I am sure I have remarked in previous columns, I am constantly being surprised by the rich texture of voluntary activity that West Dorset has.  Any time you think you have found something that isn’t already being done, up pops somebody – or, in this case, a whole group of people – who have actually been doing it very well for a long time. 

The remarkable thing – and it’s a tribute to the people concerned that this is the case – is how little they do to brag about their efforts.

I don’t think this is an accident.  On the contrary, I think it arises from the fact that the people who give so much of their time so generously for these sorts of activities are exactly the sort of people who don’t specialise in telling you how wonderful they are.  They just get on with the job – very English, very Big Society, very admirable.

Several recent events have provided a snapshot into the health of democracy around the world.

‘Super Tuesday’ showcased the fine health of democracy in the U.S, with millions of people across 10 states voting on the same day for their preferred Republican presidential candidate. Over the Bering Sea, we can see a somewhat more [...]]]> VIEW FROM WESTMINSTER

Several recent events have provided a snapshot into the health of democracy around the world.

‘Super Tuesday’ showcased the fine health of democracy in the U.S, with millions of people across 10 states voting on the same day for their preferred Republican presidential candidate. Over the Bering Sea, we can see a somewhat more troubled democratic process leading to the re-election of Vladimir Putin.  Meanwhile, across North Africa and the Middle East, we see democracy in its infancy as country after country is reformed through internal struggle people, desperately wanting the power to elect those that govern them.

Such events lead me to ponder what people in other countries must think about the health of our democracy, particularly the current hot topic of our unelected second chamber – the House of Lords.

Do Americans think we suffer from a democratic deficit? Do Russians find our criticisms of their system somewhat ironic? Would Syrians think it quaint to see us concerned about the number of truly elected chambers, when they would be delighted to have just one?

There is nothing like a good constitutional imbroglio to make parliamentarians vociferous. So the corridors of Westminster are buzzing with talk about the House of Lords – although I suspect the topic is of little immediate concerned to many of our fellow citizens, who are more preoccupied with jobs, taxes, public services and the everyday challenges of life.

Nevertheless, the structure of our Parliament is something that will undoubtedly affect us all over the decades, and it does therefore merit real (though not obsessive) attention.

My own views on the subject were formed on one particular evening just before the 2001 election.  The then government was seeking to pass a particular law.  The Bill in question had not managed to get through its normal process in the House of Commons in time for it to be brought into law before the election.  A procedural wrangle ensued and the government whips then found an ingenious solution.  A motion was proposed and carried – stating that the Bill in question was deemed to have gone through all its stages.

It was at this point that I realised with a slightly sickening thud that it was at least theoretically possible for a government that commanded a majority in the House of Commons to pass a motion on the day after a general election which would make it unnecessary for the House of Commons to do anything further during the remainder of the Parliament, simply by deeming that everything the government put before the House of Commons had gone through its various stages and had been approved without amendment.

Of course, in a country with a written constitution, this would not be possible.  But we don’t have a written constitution and, in the absence of such a constitutional check, my own view is that we do need a second chamber that feels sufficiently self-confident to place a real check on the power of the executive (and hence on the power of the House of Commons). In a democratic age, I don’t personally believe that the second chamber will ever have that kind of self-confidence until it has at least a substantial proportion of elected members.

A few months back, the Training Centre I was opening had to do with Yeovil College and their remarkable expertise [...]]]> Yet again, last Friday, I found myself opening a Skills Training Centre in Bridport run by BLAST – the wonderful charity that is providing more and more skills training for young people in the Bridport area.

A few months back, the Training Centre I was opening had to do with Yeovil College and their remarkable expertise in equipping young people to deal with the composite materials that are now being used in a huge range of engineering.

This time round, the Training Centre is connected with Kingston Maurward College – West Dorset’s very own land-based college, which does remarkable work training people in a wide range of agricultural and allied skills that are much in demand locally.

Kingston Maurward itself is a beautiful place in every sense – it looks wonderful with its splendid old building, its grand parkland and the magnificent and sensitively designed new buildings which fit into the landscape.  But the College is at least as much about realities as about appearances.  It has been moving from strength to strength in recent years, forging links with prestigious institutions such as the Royal Veterinary College, developing more higher education courses, working with local schools to provide practical and vocational training, and continuing its role as the natural home for anyone engaged in social or commercial enterprise of a kind that focuses on rural and agricultural life in our part of Dorset.

But, if you happen to live in the Bridport area and if you are young and find it quite a business to get to Dorchester, it can be difficult to gain access to this treasure house.

Hence the enormous value of BLAST’s brilliant plan to bring Kingston Maurward to Bridport.

Some years back, I really wondered whether a little charity like BLAST could fulfil the grand ambition it had set for itself to provide a whole new level of training opportunities for Bridport’s young people.  I think it is now possible to say definitively that BLAST has been an enormous success.

Three cheers for those who have worked so hard to bring this about!

Indeed, I don’t think there has been a time during my period as the local MP, when this has been off the agenda.

Now, once again, the issue has come back for consideration – and, [...]]]> For many years now, the question of the development of the so-called south west quadrant of Bridport has been on the agenda.

Indeed, I don’t think there has been a time during my period as the local MP, when this has been off the agenda.

Now, once again, the issue has come back for consideration – and, as before, it centres on the question of the future of the St Michael’s Trading Estate. 

We desperately need more homes in the Bridport area – and I am glad to see that the draft local plan has identified new possibilities, so far as development of housing is concerned. 

But the trading estate, and the artistic workshops that have gone alongside it, are something very special indeed.

It is truly remarkable to see the emergence over the last decade or so of a hugely thriving and incredibly innovative business and cultural quarter despite the condition of the buildings in this area of Bridport. 

Until now, every time that the question of development has arisen, there have basically been two camps: those in favour and those against.  But, last week, I talked to a group who are breaking the mould.  Instead of simply opposing the plans for development, they have formed a provident society which is proposing an interesting and exciting alternative. 

What makes the proposal so interesting is that the aim of the new society is to put together a package that can use a range of funding from local and other sources to purchase the site and then gradually improve it while preserving both the remarkable vitality and variety of its businesses and the thriving artistic community with its growing national profile.

Given that Bridport needs not only more houses but also more jobs and more economic and cultural activity, a solution that involves building more houses elsewhere in the area and gradually renovating the south west quadrant as a business and cultural centre seems enormously attractive.

As always, with these visions, there is a welter of practical detail to be sorted out.  But I very much hope that it may be possible to take this exciting idea forward.  I think in years to come Bridport will benefit if we can do that.