Amanda Ramsay « Labour Uncut

Posts Tagged ‘Amanda Ramsay’

From “Margaret Thatcher, milk snatcher” to “Michael Gove, toilet snatcher”

28/02/2012, 07:00:05 AM

by Amanda Ramsay

First the Tories gave us “Margaret Thatcher, milk snatcher”, now a new generation of school children are to become victims of “Michael Gove, toilet snatcher”.

Children’s charity Education and Resources for Improving Childhood Continence (ERIC) is fighting government plans to axe the requirement for a minimum of one toilet for every 20 pupils with their “Bog Standard” campaign. Cutting standards of sanitation and hygiene for children is part of the department for education’s contribution to the government’s “red tape challenge”. The consultation period on scrapping provisions in the School Premises Regulations (1999) closed in January and the changes will become law in spring.

While Michael Gove has targeted children in his Thatcherite crusade to remove statutory safeguards, teachers’ toilet facilities will remain protected under Workplace Regulations from 1992 which are the responsibility of the department for business, innovation and skills.

School toilets have a big impact on health and well-being. But many schools are failing their pupils with poorly maintained, dirty and smelly facilities. Research carried out by ERIC and online campaigners Netmums has found a quarter of pupils in England’s schools avoid using toilets because they are so dirty.

The consequences for children of not being able to go to the toilet are severe with issues of soiling and bullying making school life a misery for many. Lobbying parliament on Tuesday, ERIC will target government ministers, MPs and Peers with a petition from angry parents demanding action.

(more…)

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Tribute to Alan Keen

19/11/2011, 08:00:26 AM

by Amanda Ramsay

Alan was a very good friend and always found time to meet and to advise, with a wicked sense of humour and wit so dry, it was positively arid. He was always quick to help, without exception. He was a constant support, when deciding to stand as a Councillor in 2002 and then when seeking selection to be a Labour prospective Parliamentary candidate for the 2005 general election.

We shared a love of football and would go to games, my first at the Emirates in fact, which was a big thrill. A former talent scout for Middlesborough FC and life-long fan, he was hugely supportive attending meetings in the House of Commons and offering advice when as a Merton councillor, myself and colleagues on the Labour Group were fighting to support AFC Wimbledon and their search for a ground, attending a match with me in Sutton and doing TV interviews to raise their profile.

Back in May of this year he wrote very warmly via e-mail, expressing great sympathy for my search for full-time paid employment. It was then he dropped the bombshell, he’d been diagnosed with lung cancer the previous December, after experiencing increased breathlessness while playing football. It was all the more shocking as he’d never smoked and was so vehemently focussed on health and fitness, playing football regularly and being very weight conscious.

Back then, Alan thought it very unlikely that anything else would occur, reporting that his tumour disappeared after just three weeks and head and bone scans were all fine. Six weeks of radiotherapy and his consultant had given him a clean bill of health. I made my blood boil to then hear people deriding his appearance, when he sat on the committee for culture, media and sport and heard the now infamous Rupert Murdoch evidence back in July.

Then last weekend, reading over his last email, reminded of his humour: “when my hair grows again I will be back to normal. I frighten myself when I look in the mirror”. Anyone who knows Alan will almost be able to hear him say this.

Alan always had a smile on his face and did not take life too seriously. He was non-egotistical and well-respected by those who knew him well.

Though not close mates in recent years, I will miss this very softly spoken, gentle man. Rest in peace, Alan and thank you for always finding time for me.

Amanda Ramsay worked alongside Alan Keen in the House of Commons.

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There is an alternative

14/07/2011, 03:00:52 PM

by Amanda Ramsay

When Jacob Rees-Mogg MP spoke in prime minister’s questions in January, he may as well have stepped out of a time machine and metaphorically donned a leopard-skin tabard as he banged the drum to that old Maggie favourite, of TINA – there is no alternative.

Recollections of TINA induce shudders down centre-left spines, remembering all too well the last time TINA entered political parlance in the dark, recessionary years of the 80s and 90s, huge swathes of industry decimated, home repossession rife and unemployment sky-high.

Sadly, the public largely seems to have bought into the Tory and Lib Dem line that blames Labour for the economic crisis of debt. Labour must take bold ownership of the truth over the government’s economic narrative to counter this, otherwise how will the electorate think any differently? Which of course is where campaigning on the doorstep comes-in.

It is important to note that before the global financial crisis, despite rhetoric to the contrary, the UK had the second lowest debt of G7 members and national deficit was smaller pre the 07/08 crash at 2.3 per cent of GDP than that of 3.4 per cent in 96/97, with total debt down from 42.5 per cent to 36.5 per cent.

There is many a policy alternative to lazily slashing the very fabric of our society. (more…)

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Criminal justice: Amanda Ramsay says a bad situation just got worse

21/10/2010, 11:30:27 AM

One comprehensive spending review (CSR) commentator dared to ponder: would Labour have landed a more Brown-like ‘clunking fist’ on George Osborne had Ed Balls been the shadow chancellor? No. The man of the moment for Labour was Alan Johnson and he did not disappoint, delivering a deft performance in response to the cuts.

Balls took to the post-announcement airwaves, making his mark as shadow home secretary, characteristically quick to challenge his opposite number, Theresa May, over huge 20% cuts to the policing budget, predicting “massive cuts in police numbers” and a “very dangerous situation for public safety.”
Add the 20% cuts to policing and the massive 23% cuts at the ministry of justice and public order and the social ramifications of the CSR loom enormous. Not that you would know this from either the mainstream or social media discussion.

Ahead of the game, the police federation had already described the anticipated wide-scale cuts in police numbers as heralding “Christmas for criminals”. Labour’s Tony McNulty, a former home office minister, was also quick to conclude that “these cuts, to the crown prosecution service (CPS), courts and probation, will have a huge impact on policing”. (more…)

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A Labour activist at Tory conference, by Amanda Ramsay

08/10/2010, 04:00:10 PM

Tory activists flocked to their annual political pilgrimage in Birmingham this week, for David Cameron’s first party conference as Prime Minister. Despite 13 years of opposition leading to a coalition rather than a Conservative government, this was a big moment for Tory activists. But for a paid-up member of the Labour party, the prospect of attending my first ever Tory conference filled me with dread. Politics is nothing if not tribal and the prospect felt so alien.

Once in Birmingham, the atmosphere was much the same as the intoxicating buzz of most Labour conferences in recent memory, other than 2010 perhaps, the leadership election having engulfed proceedings. However, there were some distinct differences about the Conservative version.

For starters, the exhibition itself had a bizarre array of interest groups, hard to imagine at a Labour conference: the British fur trade association, countryside alliance and Carlton club to name but three. Harvey Nichols also had a stand as did Crombie, offering made-to-measure clothing for ladies and gents. I don’t think we have a Harvey Nicks at our conference. (more…)

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The Tories’ lust for cuts reveals itself in local government already, says Amanda Ramsay

07/06/2010, 02:16:47 PM

When David Cameron coined the phrase “Big Society”, no one really seemed to know what he meant. But take a look at new-style Tory Councils and see how the Prime Minister was sign-posting a well thought-out, ideological intention to take government back to laissez-faire, sink or swim politics, where the state sits back and does the very bare minimum.

It is at local government level that Cameron’s cuts will be fought out. So expect to hear free-market buzz words like “outsourcing”, “privatisation”, “small government” and “consumer choice” as key parts of Cameron’s Conservative vision for municipal governance.

No wonder we’ve heard so much from John Redwood since the Conservatives formed their coalition with free-market zealots Nick Clegg and David Laws. (more…)

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Amanda Ramsay is not impressed by elected police chiefs

26/05/2010, 08:10:03 AM

No one knew what mutated policy offspring the Cameron and Clegg marriage of inconvenience might produce. Their coalition agreement, published last week, revealed a one word amendment to a little publicised Tory manifesto pledge – to introduce elected police chiefs to England and Wales. The Queen’s speech yesterday confirmed it.

Apparently, both Liberal and Conservative coalition negotiating teams chose to ignore the concerns of senior police officers, by pressing ahead with plans for what ended up being termed: “elected individuals” to oversee police forces.

Labour is rightly against tampering with the independence of the police. Shadow Home Secretary Alan Johnson summed it up while still in the Home Office: “The last thing police forces want is politicians telling them how to do their job, which will inevitably happen with elected commissioners.” (more…)

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