Email to UKIP

Today Pink News published this article. Suffice it to write that I found it so galling I felt I had no option but to send my own comments to the subject of the story. I have posted it below.

Dear Councillor Silvester,

I am writing to add my voice to what must be by now a loud chorus of opposition to your published views on the cause of the recent floods that have affected some parts of the country. Frankly, it simply beggars belief that you could exploit human misery to attack a minority. You complain about crocodile tears whilst performing two acts of cowardice in one. You seem, unaccountably, to have ignored the fact that opinions must be informed.

So, let us consider:

·       This country has a strong recent history of flooding that goes a lot further back than any link with the fight for equal rights for LGBT people. What caused the floods of 1953, for instance, when (put very simply) homosexuality was illegal?

·       Many countries around the world have enacted equal marriage for same sex couples. Please could you set out the humanitarian disasters that have affected these countries? I am unaware of them – and I avidly follow the news so it is remiss of me if I have somehow missed them.

·       There has been widespread reporting for many years around the risks of building on flood plains, the dangers posed by global warming/climate change etc. Are you going to blame that on the gays as well?

·       You comment on a petition, 600,000 signatures strong, against equal marriage. Well, you ignore the tens of millions in favour. Why?

 

I could go on but suffice it so say I do feel you are very much putting yourself forward as a standard bearer for this nation’s greatest affliction – a staggeringly uninspiring generation of local and national leaders who have nothing to contribute and can only blame the manifest problems we face on scapegoats and easy targets. We have real problems; if you can’t help, and are incapable of making things better, then get out of the way. You should not put yourself in the same political spectrum as radical Muslim fundamentalists, fascists, and tinpot third-world dictatorships.

 

Finally, and this is a message for all your party: if you single out a group of people to point fingers at and call names then you will never have their votes. Consider the wisdom of alienating millions of LGBT people who, because of the struggles they face, are far more likely to vote than the average voter. Make no mistake, that is us, voters, taxpayers, citizens too. The same as and equal to you in law and before God. We are also sons and daughter; brothers and sisters; uncles and aunts; nieces and nephews; employers and employees; volunteers and church goers; and great companions to our many friends. How else can we respond to these attacks with our own voice –  ceaselessly reminding to all of the many people we know and love never, ever, EVER to vote for UKIP. Because of the way that you have behaved.  

I don’t expect a response. I am confident you will not even read this far. I do hope, however, you will learn from what I suspect is a lot of negative feedback about your article and adopt a more rational tone and some political sensibilities in your future conduct.

 

Regards,

Rage against the Machine!

As I have alluded to in the past I am an NHS employee. I actually work for small NHS organisation in London, and am responsible for good governance.



You can read my handy guide to the UK's national religion in the new page I've created or follow some of the links on the right. As for governance, if I were in a prosaic mood I should describe my role as the keeper of all the unloved virtues. Ultimately I am responsible for the systems and processes that ensure we manage risks, take timely decisions, manage patient information securely, take into account the needs of the whole community when we do design services, etc.



I've done it for a while and I'm good at it. "Good at it" means I work hard to ensure governance is not a necessary evil, or a set of reins to hold back unruly children. Instead I would sum up the corporate culture I work to create as one that that helps and supports staff make the right decisions, take the right actions, and if - if - a mistake is made we acknowledge it, support each other, learn from it.

I am delighted to have been given relatively free rein to build systems as I saw fit. For example, the organisation I work for inherited over 100 policies averaging over 100 pages each. For an organisation of 30 odd people this seemed like overkill, In fact, that struck me as a tool for the PCT to punish its staff should things go wrong. "It was in the policy" they'd say "they're part of your terms and conditions. You should have read them". Crap: no-one could, rationally, do other than pay the minimum lip service to that pile of paper required to get on with their job. That, after all, is what they want to do.



Instead I've rationalised all these policies into a couple of dozen, all no more than 10 pages long each, including cover and glossary/reference. Underneath each policy is detailed guidance that is drafted and adopted by the teams themselves and is proper guidance on how to do their jobs - with the policies setting out key principles, organisational attitudes and accountabilities.


The reason I'm writing about this is because a few weeks ago I, and representatives from other organisations were invited to come together and discuss governance - or rather, invited to meet a challenge. If you were able to run your organisations as you would want, without the existing restrictions or 'received wisdom' of how things have been done before, how would you do it?



What an inspiring challenge! I've set about getting opinions and holding workshops to see what people could imagine for a better, more responsive organisation. Being a dry topic I was slightly apprehensive about the level of engagement I'd get in governance but I was blown away by how much people had - and wanted - to contribute. It seems a lot of people have ideas about making things better, which is very pleasing. I look forward to working with colleagues and front line services to make some changes. I wonder if you have any pet hates about the way organisations or public services are run?

Dry January

Five days in and all is well so far. It’s not a huge amount of days compared to a whole month but a couple of important milestones have been passed.

The first weekend has been got through without any hitches. Normally I would enjoy a small sherry or two (by that I mean my favourite tipple of a glass of dry white wine or three) of a weekend at home so it was a bit unusual to consciously choose not to have one when, frankly, I was in the mood. However, I persevered and feel all the better for it.

Secondly, my first night out with friends in 2014. Now, most if not all of my friends are not unafraid of spanking it hard so I was a little apprehensive for three reasons. Temptation; the chances of enjoying watching half a dozen people get a bit tipsy; and not being on my most scintillating form. However, I surprised myself on all the counts and I very much enjoyed myself to the point when I got home rather later than I had intended.

Why am I so keen and anxious about sticking to my guns on this one? Well, the truth is my love affair with ethanol has been a passion that has lasted more than 20 years. I’m not talking about getting hammered each night for all that time but I’ve probably, on an off, been quite unhealthy in my consumption. This has in part led to a tolerance for the booze that leaves my spanking friends impressed.

Also, about 15 years ago, I was attacked in my home by an intruder and I started drinking at home as a way of calming my nerves, which can’t have helped.

Being someone who indulge his pleasures as and when, the long term effect has been weight gain and I will admit to having body issues that prevent me from doing things I’d like to do – meeting new people, buying nice clothes etc. Dry January will, I hope, get me down towards a trimmer figure.

The health benefits of this exercise are quite clear; but if you need any convincing I found this lovely diagram online recently.

 

I want me some of that action!

Then in February I want me a small sherry. But just one.