I'm really lucky in what I do in the sense that I get out and about around the country and see what's going on in lots of different schools.
Being a typical Scot, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
My transient work pattern means that relationships, while broad, aren't always deep.
So, I miss that satisfaction, which is the real job satisfaction in teaching, about changing young people's lives for the better.
Today I was in Greenfaulds HS, Cumbernauld, at the invitation of a guy I'll call DJ. I now know this is what the kids at the school call him, so, if its good enough for them :-)
DJ organised a Higher Modern Studies conference today. There were teachers and pupils, 349 in total, from schools all over North Lanarkshire, in a cracking theatre within Greenfaulds HS.
Several things were notable about the conference.
The first thing was how focused the pupils were. I mean, I wasn't exactly Robbie Williams onstage. I did my contractual slot and talked about the main issues concerning wealth and health inequalities in the UK, and Glasgow in particular.
So, entertainment I wasn't.
I was on for about 40 minutes, on all sorts of dead serious issues. The previous two speakers were the same. The pupils were just fantastic; asking questions, taking notes and concentrating in a way that really makes you realise that the generalisations which many people make about young people are way wide of the mark.
Another was the school itself. I spoke with the heidie and he was exasperated about the infrastructure of the school and the need for investment. Fair point.
But, and this leads on to point three; it is obvious to anyone who enters Greenfaulds HS that there is the most extraordinary vitality about the place.
Everyone smiles. I don't think I came across anyone who was scowling, who didn't have somewhere to go, something to do, some activity that wasn't important.
I'm a massive believer that, just as you can tell within a minute of interviewing a person for a job whether they've got what it takes or not, you can suss out more about a school by walking around it than you can through endless, tedious, examinations of "quality assurance" folders.
Which brings me on to DJ.
DJ has a CBE for his work at Greenfaulds HS. He is extremely bashful about this and I know he had his reservations about the whole process. But someone, or a group of people within the community, wanted to recognise his amazing contribution. Right now, getting a gong from the Queen is a really powerful way that acknowledgement can be made.
I've known DJ for a few years now, but never seen him within his school environment before. It was amazing. He was organising a conference for 349 pupils, involving ten schools. He had a programme to organise, guests to see to, car parking, photocopying, the lot.
He delegated to key pupils. I saw the fun DJ had here; the banter with pupils, the mutual respect. He probably taught these pupils' mums and dads. DJ could hardly speak in fact as he had been up more or less all night, all week, organising a school theatre event.
DJ's school trips abroad are the stuff of legend. He does one every year, which has no trouble and is remembered for life by everyone who is lucky enough to get a place on it. DJ has an opt-in supported study class with 50 pupils attending, after school. I met DJ's colleague, Joyce, and she was just as full of life as DJ.
In short, what I saw today was the kind of educational environment which never makes the news. Why should it? There is no scandal. It is positive. It is caring, it is motivating, it is the kind of place I would dearly love to send my own son to.
DJ is a one-off, as the kids say, "a legend".
But, as DJ would be the first to admit, there are teachers like DJ, but different in their own way, all over the country.
And, brilliant pupils all over the country too.
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Haiti: Too Difficult to Watch but Very Easy to Help
Don't know if you're like me but I just can't bear to watch anything about the earthquake.
Watching it on tv isn't going to save anybody. All it's going to do is make me upset, so I switch over and watch the football instead.
Honest, that's what I've been doing and maybe you've been the same.
You might think, I'll raise some money or I'll donate some money. But will the money really reach the injured, the homeless and the sick?
You read a bit of background about Haiti and you wonder.
While Haiti was the only country in the Western Hemisphere to have undergone a successful slave rebellion, its recent history hasn't been glorious.
Francois Duvalier ("Papa Doc") and his son Jean-Claude Duvalier ("Baby Doc") were textbook 3rd world dictators, murdering and terrorising their people.
Baby Doc was the Saddam of the 1980s. (The US could have invaded and established democracy, the way it does now, with some countries. Back then it arranged for Baby Doc to be exiled in France!)
Since democracy arrived the country has been badly mismanaged. 1% of the population owns 50% of the wealth. Most of the country lives on less than $2 a day. Half of the population cannot read or write.
The people who who were blown out of their beds on 12 January really are among the poorest and most vulnerable people on earth.
But, you can do something to help them. Glasgow the Caring City's Campaign means that if you text HELP to 88008 you will donate £1 (although it will cost you £1.50 plus your text charge)
There can't be too many people in work in Britain today who would actually miss £1.50
Its a cliche but those £1.50s really will make a difference to these people. GTCC are a NGO you really can trust to deliver.
You'll never personally be thanked by someone in Haiti for it and I'm not trying to make you feel guilty if you don't text or donate.
But I do know you'll feel better about yourself if you do.
Watching it on tv isn't going to save anybody. All it's going to do is make me upset, so I switch over and watch the football instead.
Honest, that's what I've been doing and maybe you've been the same.
You might think, I'll raise some money or I'll donate some money. But will the money really reach the injured, the homeless and the sick?
You read a bit of background about Haiti and you wonder.
While Haiti was the only country in the Western Hemisphere to have undergone a successful slave rebellion, its recent history hasn't been glorious.
Francois Duvalier ("Papa Doc") and his son Jean-Claude Duvalier ("Baby Doc") were textbook 3rd world dictators, murdering and terrorising their people.
Baby Doc was the Saddam of the 1980s. (The US could have invaded and established democracy, the way it does now, with some countries. Back then it arranged for Baby Doc to be exiled in France!)
Since democracy arrived the country has been badly mismanaged. 1% of the population owns 50% of the wealth. Most of the country lives on less than $2 a day. Half of the population cannot read or write.
The people who who were blown out of their beds on 12 January really are among the poorest and most vulnerable people on earth.
But, you can do something to help them. Glasgow the Caring City's Campaign means that if you text HELP to 88008 you will donate £1 (although it will cost you £1.50 plus your text charge)
There can't be too many people in work in Britain today who would actually miss £1.50
Its a cliche but those £1.50s really will make a difference to these people. GTCC are a NGO you really can trust to deliver.
You'll never personally be thanked by someone in Haiti for it and I'm not trying to make you feel guilty if you don't text or donate.
But I do know you'll feel better about yourself if you do.
Monday, 4 January 2010
Ken Loach. Genius.
I like all sorts of films.
Over the holidays I discovered that my mrs had never seen Back to the Future. Amazing!
So, I had the enormous pleasure of buying the triple DVD pack and even more fun watching BTTF1, hopefully see 2 next weekend. The films are even funnier now that they're so dated (on the subject of which, did you know Wall Street 2 is coming out this year?)
So, please don't accuse me of just liking serious political films, alright?!
But, I really, really love Ken Loach's films. Ken Loach is just one of those guys, and you don't have to be a Lefty or a Guardian reader to acknowledge this, that just has integrity and pride in his work.
He only does a film when he has something to say, usually about an underdog, that the mainstream film industry won't touch. He also gets actors from "normal" backgrounds who have talent but are, as yet, undiscovered. He doesn't care about making loads of money. He just does what he is good at; making films that entertain but also make the audience think.
Its hard to believe that this attitude is so unfashionable (I'll admit it, I watched the first night of Celebrity Big Brother last night, I always do, and I am proud to say I hardly knew any of them).
The first Ken Loach film I saw was Kes, when I was a lad. Forced to by my English teacher but loved it all the same. Then, when I became an adult I discovered Ken Loach for myself. A Question of Leadership was banned from C4 because it was too critical of the Thatcher Government. Whose Side are You On was also banned during the miners strike, it was seen as "too political".
Carla's Song and Hidden Agenda start off well enough (first part of Carla's song with Robert Carlyle taking a Glasgow double decker bus up to the Highlands is just magic)but lose their focus, which is a shame. Land and Freedom was also a bit of a missed opportunity and the great film about the Spanish civil war has yet to be made.
The Wind That Shakes the Barley is the film about the Irish civil war that Land and Freedom should have been about Spain. Painful to watch at times, but fantastic political film making. As is Bread and Roses about illegal immigration to the USA. Sweet Sixteen, set in Greenock, is well worth a watch too.
But, the best film he's ever made, IMHO, is My Name is Joe. That's why I'm not just delighted that the film is being shown as a special Modern Studies event at the Glasgow Youth Film Festival, I'm honoured to have the slightest, tiniest, connection with bringing this film to a wider audience.
I'll never forget when the film first came out in 1999. I took my Higher class from Boroughmuir High School in Edinburgh to see it. Higher pupils from Boroughmuir don't know very much about Glasgow and they don't know very much about housing estates or poverty. That's not their fault. They're lucky to have been born into comfortable backgrounds and everybody should. At the end of the film there wasn't one girl, and a few of the boys, who came out in tears. If I wasn't such a big hard guy myself I'd have been the same.
Gary Lewis, who's gone on to Gangs of New York and all sorts of other big films is coming along and Peter Mullan, who plays Joe might make it too. I hope you can make it.
There's still loads of other Ken Loach films I haven't seen. Aye Fond Kiss is one, for starts, Looking for Eric another. Check them out yourself, maybe not the film for a first date, but your mind and brain will be all the healthier.
Over the holidays I discovered that my mrs had never seen Back to the Future. Amazing!
So, I had the enormous pleasure of buying the triple DVD pack and even more fun watching BTTF1, hopefully see 2 next weekend. The films are even funnier now that they're so dated (on the subject of which, did you know Wall Street 2 is coming out this year?)
So, please don't accuse me of just liking serious political films, alright?!
But, I really, really love Ken Loach's films. Ken Loach is just one of those guys, and you don't have to be a Lefty or a Guardian reader to acknowledge this, that just has integrity and pride in his work.
He only does a film when he has something to say, usually about an underdog, that the mainstream film industry won't touch. He also gets actors from "normal" backgrounds who have talent but are, as yet, undiscovered. He doesn't care about making loads of money. He just does what he is good at; making films that entertain but also make the audience think.
Its hard to believe that this attitude is so unfashionable (I'll admit it, I watched the first night of Celebrity Big Brother last night, I always do, and I am proud to say I hardly knew any of them).
The first Ken Loach film I saw was Kes, when I was a lad. Forced to by my English teacher but loved it all the same. Then, when I became an adult I discovered Ken Loach for myself. A Question of Leadership was banned from C4 because it was too critical of the Thatcher Government. Whose Side are You On was also banned during the miners strike, it was seen as "too political".
Carla's Song and Hidden Agenda start off well enough (first part of Carla's song with Robert Carlyle taking a Glasgow double decker bus up to the Highlands is just magic)but lose their focus, which is a shame. Land and Freedom was also a bit of a missed opportunity and the great film about the Spanish civil war has yet to be made.
The Wind That Shakes the Barley is the film about the Irish civil war that Land and Freedom should have been about Spain. Painful to watch at times, but fantastic political film making. As is Bread and Roses about illegal immigration to the USA. Sweet Sixteen, set in Greenock, is well worth a watch too.
But, the best film he's ever made, IMHO, is My Name is Joe. That's why I'm not just delighted that the film is being shown as a special Modern Studies event at the Glasgow Youth Film Festival, I'm honoured to have the slightest, tiniest, connection with bringing this film to a wider audience.
I'll never forget when the film first came out in 1999. I took my Higher class from Boroughmuir High School in Edinburgh to see it. Higher pupils from Boroughmuir don't know very much about Glasgow and they don't know very much about housing estates or poverty. That's not their fault. They're lucky to have been born into comfortable backgrounds and everybody should. At the end of the film there wasn't one girl, and a few of the boys, who came out in tears. If I wasn't such a big hard guy myself I'd have been the same.
Gary Lewis, who's gone on to Gangs of New York and all sorts of other big films is coming along and Peter Mullan, who plays Joe might make it too. I hope you can make it.
There's still loads of other Ken Loach films I haven't seen. Aye Fond Kiss is one, for starts, Looking for Eric another. Check them out yourself, maybe not the film for a first date, but your mind and brain will be all the healthier.
Saturday, 26 December 2009
Good times, bad times
I think we all know that Christmas and New Year is a tricky time of year.
We're urged by the media to spend, spend, spend and have loads of fun.
This is despite the fact that an increasing number of people in the UK do not think of themselves as Christian and know little of Christ's teachings.
The original Christmas story (and its up to you how much of it you believe) was of someone, eventually, opening their door to a couple of asylum seekers, desperate for somewhere to give birth.
Its a long way from online sales, binge drinking and Simon bleeding Cowell.
Not that I'm a grump!
I've had a great Christmas!
I just remember times when I didn't. I'm sure we've all had our difficult days at this time of year. When its cold and dark, everything's shut and the whole world (apart from you) seems to be happy, its not surprising that organisations like The Samaratins get record numbers of calls.
That's the difference between being alone and being lonely. Being lonely is grim. Being alone, sometimes, is just about essential!
I've actually always liked being on my own a wee bit at Christmas. I think it goes back to childhood when I'd get my new ball or tracksuit and go out for a kick-a-bout. None of mates would be allowed out as they had relatives visiting. So, I'd go over to Bellahouston Park and kick the ball about myself. For hours. It was great.
(Immediate post-Revie era Leeds tracksuit, now, quite rightly, a retro classic, was my favourite present ever and my mum gave me a terrible row for getting it dirty the first time I wore it, which I felt was a wee bit unfair. Give a 10 year old a white tracksuit to play football in?)
This year, in between the various get-togethers, I've managed a bit of solitary quality time to read Harlan Cobden's Hold Tight. Highly recommended if you like your crime thrillers.
My six year old son has had a brilliant time and he's lit up our Christmas they way only kids can. He's up at 6am every morning and he drags me out of bed for his usual games and now his new ones. The other morning, once my mrs got up and took over duties, I sneaked out and took some photos of the Winter Wonderland Aberdour has become these last few days.
Aberdour really is one of the most gorgeous places on earth and I'm really lucky to live here. I haven't always lived in Winter Wonderlands and I haven't always had happy family Christmases. But the bad times just make you enjoy the good times all the more.
We're urged by the media to spend, spend, spend and have loads of fun.
This is despite the fact that an increasing number of people in the UK do not think of themselves as Christian and know little of Christ's teachings.
The original Christmas story (and its up to you how much of it you believe) was of someone, eventually, opening their door to a couple of asylum seekers, desperate for somewhere to give birth.
Its a long way from online sales, binge drinking and Simon bleeding Cowell.
Not that I'm a grump!
I've had a great Christmas!
I just remember times when I didn't. I'm sure we've all had our difficult days at this time of year. When its cold and dark, everything's shut and the whole world (apart from you) seems to be happy, its not surprising that organisations like The Samaratins get record numbers of calls.
That's the difference between being alone and being lonely. Being lonely is grim. Being alone, sometimes, is just about essential!
I've actually always liked being on my own a wee bit at Christmas. I think it goes back to childhood when I'd get my new ball or tracksuit and go out for a kick-a-bout. None of mates would be allowed out as they had relatives visiting. So, I'd go over to Bellahouston Park and kick the ball about myself. For hours. It was great.
(Immediate post-Revie era Leeds tracksuit, now, quite rightly, a retro classic, was my favourite present ever and my mum gave me a terrible row for getting it dirty the first time I wore it, which I felt was a wee bit unfair. Give a 10 year old a white tracksuit to play football in?)
This year, in between the various get-togethers, I've managed a bit of solitary quality time to read Harlan Cobden's Hold Tight. Highly recommended if you like your crime thrillers.
My six year old son has had a brilliant time and he's lit up our Christmas they way only kids can. He's up at 6am every morning and he drags me out of bed for his usual games and now his new ones. The other morning, once my mrs got up and took over duties, I sneaked out and took some photos of the Winter Wonderland Aberdour has become these last few days.
Aberdour really is one of the most gorgeous places on earth and I'm really lucky to live here. I haven't always lived in Winter Wonderlands and I haven't always had happy family Christmases. But the bad times just make you enjoy the good times all the more.
Saturday, 5 December 2009
Money for Something
Bankers are in the news again. In case you missed it, amongst all the really important stuff about Katie & Peter's Christmas plans and Tiger's motor, senior executives at RBS have threatened to resign if they don't get the Christmas bonus (from us that is, the taxpayer) they feel they deserve.
More than 5,000 investment bankers expect a Christmas bonus of around £1 million each. They say if they don't get it, they'll resign and go to a bank that will pay them this kind of money. We as taxpayers will, they claim, lose out even more if we don't give them the money, as without their talents, RBS will have no way of ever paying back the £20,000,000,000 the Government lent the bank when it squandered its, er, investments, making daft purchases and lending money to people who couldn't pay it back.
The reality is that RBS hasn't paid back its loan and is after even more money from the Government. If this happened to you or me and we didn't pay the bank our loan for our house the bank would put us out in the street. If the bank doesn't pay back its loan to us, the bankers want a bonus! Yes, you couldn't make it up.
There are two common responses. The first is to support these guys, on the basis that they have a decent case, or you are one of them, or you're the Duke of York. You actually believe that RBS investment bankers have such rare talents we'd all be worse off without them.
The second response, one I have a bit of time for, I'll admit, is to call their bluff and say, sorry boys, you just haven't earned it yet baby. But, I think there's another option, a third way, if you like. Give the bonuses to the people in the public sector who really do deserve it.
The Government owns 84% of RBS. So, its employees are public sector workers in the same way state school teachers, NHS doctors and nurses are. Let's say for example that the Government/RBS has £5,000,000,000 (sorry for all the zeros but we rarely see billions spelt out like this. £5bn just doesn't have the same effect) to give out.
Is it really so crazy to take that sum, and the many others that have been given out in MPs homes etc to the people we really couldn't do without? Let's say there are around 6 million people who work in the public sector. These are the June 2005 National Statistics figures. They are a wee bit out of date, but they give us something to work from.
If we gave this £5,000,000,000 to every public sector worker (including RBS bankers), that would be £833 each for Christmas. Now, I'm not arguing that we should. Not all of them deserve it. There are public sector workers, like private sector workers, who just bad at their job and they don't deserve any bonus. So, for the majority who do do their jobs well, often highly stressful ones, there could easily be £1,000 up for grabs, if their performance merits a bonus.
Would it be too much for the Government to come up with some kind of incentive scheme whereby public sector workers could earn this bonus? Would £1000 at Christmas for public sector workers not be good for the economy? Surely it would be better for lots of £1000s to be spent, or saved, all over the country rather than being spent in car dealers and jewellers in London? Would £1000 not be very, very welcome for millions of families? Would this not be a massive vote winner for the Government?
Is it me that's mad or this idea just too sensible for the Government ever to carry out?
And, before private sector workers get all shirty, going on about public sector holidays, job security and pensions, if being a teacher, a social worker or a nurse is such a cushy job, why don't you do it?
More than 5,000 investment bankers expect a Christmas bonus of around £1 million each. They say if they don't get it, they'll resign and go to a bank that will pay them this kind of money. We as taxpayers will, they claim, lose out even more if we don't give them the money, as without their talents, RBS will have no way of ever paying back the £20,000,000,000 the Government lent the bank when it squandered its, er, investments, making daft purchases and lending money to people who couldn't pay it back.
The reality is that RBS hasn't paid back its loan and is after even more money from the Government. If this happened to you or me and we didn't pay the bank our loan for our house the bank would put us out in the street. If the bank doesn't pay back its loan to us, the bankers want a bonus! Yes, you couldn't make it up.
There are two common responses. The first is to support these guys, on the basis that they have a decent case, or you are one of them, or you're the Duke of York. You actually believe that RBS investment bankers have such rare talents we'd all be worse off without them.
The second response, one I have a bit of time for, I'll admit, is to call their bluff and say, sorry boys, you just haven't earned it yet baby. But, I think there's another option, a third way, if you like. Give the bonuses to the people in the public sector who really do deserve it.
The Government owns 84% of RBS. So, its employees are public sector workers in the same way state school teachers, NHS doctors and nurses are. Let's say for example that the Government/RBS has £5,000,000,000 (sorry for all the zeros but we rarely see billions spelt out like this. £5bn just doesn't have the same effect) to give out.
Is it really so crazy to take that sum, and the many others that have been given out in MPs homes etc to the people we really couldn't do without? Let's say there are around 6 million people who work in the public sector. These are the June 2005 National Statistics figures. They are a wee bit out of date, but they give us something to work from.
If we gave this £5,000,000,000 to every public sector worker (including RBS bankers), that would be £833 each for Christmas. Now, I'm not arguing that we should. Not all of them deserve it. There are public sector workers, like private sector workers, who just bad at their job and they don't deserve any bonus. So, for the majority who do do their jobs well, often highly stressful ones, there could easily be £1,000 up for grabs, if their performance merits a bonus.
Would it be too much for the Government to come up with some kind of incentive scheme whereby public sector workers could earn this bonus? Would £1000 at Christmas for public sector workers not be good for the economy? Surely it would be better for lots of £1000s to be spent, or saved, all over the country rather than being spent in car dealers and jewellers in London? Would £1000 not be very, very welcome for millions of families? Would this not be a massive vote winner for the Government?
Is it me that's mad or this idea just too sensible for the Government ever to carry out?
And, before private sector workers get all shirty, going on about public sector holidays, job security and pensions, if being a teacher, a social worker or a nurse is such a cushy job, why don't you do it?
Thursday, 26 November 2009
Should politics be left to the politicians?
I didn't intend to post anything else relating to the Glasgow North East by-election. It was just that after spending the best part of an hour with John Smeaton I was fascinated by last week's BBC Scotland documentary on him.
John did much worse than he expected. Perhaps when he first threw his hat in the ring with The Jury Team he had hopes of winning. By the time I spoke with him he was hopeful of coming third. In the end, more people, in one of the poorest parts of Britain, voted for the Tories rather than this "man of the people".
How come?
The documentary told me a lot more than my interview did about John. To be honest, the interview with John, as with all the other candidates, was pretty apolitical. On the stump, John's selling point to be an MP was the fact that was a "normal guy", as opposed to the other, "career" politicians.
My first concern about this approach is that I'm not sure that John any longer is a "normal" guy. "Normal guys" don't get showcased at the Labour Party conference, invited to Congress, gigs with the First Minister or get a column in The Sun. Underneath the celebrity status, John may well still be a normal guy, and he was great company when I met him, but he won't be "normal" again any time soon.
John's political stand, that he wouldn't put his views forward, but would support "the people's" views, was also a bit suspect.
How was John to work out what "the people" wanted on the many many decisions an MP has to make, day in day out? Who are these "people"? Are they Sun readers? Guys who turn up at his surgeries? Randoms who stop him in the street? Are their opinions any better or more representative or than anyone else's?
John had one popular policy; that he would get MPs' noses out of the public trough. But all the other parties committed themselves to doing that as well. And Labour (possibly the Tories soon) will actually be in a position to do this.
Other than that he is/was a normal guy, John struggled to come up with any other plausible reasons for voting for him. How he would bring in jobs was never really explained. I'd guess there's another 648 MPs committed to the same thing and it isn't really happening for them, so how John can do it needed to be spelled out.
Ultimately voters want a bit more from their politicians than just simply offering themselves to stand up for, er, whatever, you want me to. If people are going to elect an MP, that MP or his/her party, has to have credible policies on a wide range of issues. One of the inescapable laws of politics is that you can't please all of the people all of the time. Voters appreciate a bit of honesty about this.
Another political fact is that money and organisation goes a long way too. I really didn't know that John's team was pretty much him, his mate and his mum and dad. The Jury team appeared to chip in when they got annoyed with John, and perhaps the film did the Jury Team a disservice, but John seemed to be easily brushed aside by the big boys' machine.
The moment which really captured my attention though was the comment by one of the voters. Exhibiting that classic, awful, Scottish cringe, she commented "he's just a baggage handler, he's got carried away with himself".
Presumably she'd rather be represented by "Robo-MP", the kind of MP/MSP we see far too much these days. Guys and gals straight out of uni or party research who've never done any real job in the private sector or the sharp end of the public sector, but see politics as a career just like any other. They say what they're told, voter as they're told, dress as they're told and never depart from the script. I'm sure you can name loads of them.
My hope is that with the reform of MPs pay and expenses we do get more baggage handlers, nurses, police officers, fire fighters as well as teachers, doctors etc getting involved in politics.
John's experience proved that its very hard for a guy on his own (especially one allied to a fringe political party) to beat the party machine. Its to be hoped that those within the major parties who have selected the candidates of 2010 have selected people who are both representative of the public and are committed to the public.
John did much worse than he expected. Perhaps when he first threw his hat in the ring with The Jury Team he had hopes of winning. By the time I spoke with him he was hopeful of coming third. In the end, more people, in one of the poorest parts of Britain, voted for the Tories rather than this "man of the people".
How come?
The documentary told me a lot more than my interview did about John. To be honest, the interview with John, as with all the other candidates, was pretty apolitical. On the stump, John's selling point to be an MP was the fact that was a "normal guy", as opposed to the other, "career" politicians.
My first concern about this approach is that I'm not sure that John any longer is a "normal" guy. "Normal guys" don't get showcased at the Labour Party conference, invited to Congress, gigs with the First Minister or get a column in The Sun. Underneath the celebrity status, John may well still be a normal guy, and he was great company when I met him, but he won't be "normal" again any time soon.
John's political stand, that he wouldn't put his views forward, but would support "the people's" views, was also a bit suspect.
How was John to work out what "the people" wanted on the many many decisions an MP has to make, day in day out? Who are these "people"? Are they Sun readers? Guys who turn up at his surgeries? Randoms who stop him in the street? Are their opinions any better or more representative or than anyone else's?
John had one popular policy; that he would get MPs' noses out of the public trough. But all the other parties committed themselves to doing that as well. And Labour (possibly the Tories soon) will actually be in a position to do this.
Other than that he is/was a normal guy, John struggled to come up with any other plausible reasons for voting for him. How he would bring in jobs was never really explained. I'd guess there's another 648 MPs committed to the same thing and it isn't really happening for them, so how John can do it needed to be spelled out.
Ultimately voters want a bit more from their politicians than just simply offering themselves to stand up for, er, whatever, you want me to. If people are going to elect an MP, that MP or his/her party, has to have credible policies on a wide range of issues. One of the inescapable laws of politics is that you can't please all of the people all of the time. Voters appreciate a bit of honesty about this.
Another political fact is that money and organisation goes a long way too. I really didn't know that John's team was pretty much him, his mate and his mum and dad. The Jury team appeared to chip in when they got annoyed with John, and perhaps the film did the Jury Team a disservice, but John seemed to be easily brushed aside by the big boys' machine.
The moment which really captured my attention though was the comment by one of the voters. Exhibiting that classic, awful, Scottish cringe, she commented "he's just a baggage handler, he's got carried away with himself".
Presumably she'd rather be represented by "Robo-MP", the kind of MP/MSP we see far too much these days. Guys and gals straight out of uni or party research who've never done any real job in the private sector or the sharp end of the public sector, but see politics as a career just like any other. They say what they're told, voter as they're told, dress as they're told and never depart from the script. I'm sure you can name loads of them.
My hope is that with the reform of MPs pay and expenses we do get more baggage handlers, nurses, police officers, fire fighters as well as teachers, doctors etc getting involved in politics.
John's experience proved that its very hard for a guy on his own (especially one allied to a fringe political party) to beat the party machine. Its to be hoped that those within the major parties who have selected the candidates of 2010 have selected people who are both representative of the public and are committed to the public.
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