The Tragedy of Owen Paterson

 You can always tell things are bad when I take the blog out of mothballs.

I have entitled this entry ‘The Tragedy of Owen Paterson’.

Watching the events unfold yesterday, I was left with a feeling that I was witnessing the end of any pretence that Tory MP’s (most Tory MP’s) have any decency.  

A vote in the House of Commons which basically emasculated the present system of independent oversight of the standards in said House. The proposal of a new system, heavily weighted in favour of the governing party. A delay in voting on the recommendations of the report into the ‘egregious’  actions of Owen Paterson. This seems like a death knell for proper, independent oversight of the behaviour of politicians, who are pocketing hundreds of thousands of pounds from external sources.  A tragedy for democracy…and yet I call this ‘The Tragedy of Owen Paterson’.

I shall try to be  fair-minded as I present my thoughts on this matter so to begin we must accept the very real tragedy that Mr Paterson and his family suffered with the death of his wife, Rose. 

In June 2020, Mrs Paterson ended her life by suicide. The inquest did not look into, nor offer any reasons as to why Mrs Paterson might have ended her life. 

We have heard frequently though, from Mr Paterson and others, that the investigation into his alleged wrongdoing was a contributory factor. There is no evidence I can find to substantiate this claim. 

In a statement he gave after the inquest he made it clear he had no idea as to why his wife had ended her life. Could it possibly be that Paterson is using the death of his wife as some kind of emotional camouflage? To deflect us from considering other possibilities including  that his own ‘egregious’ actions had taken a direct toll on his wife’s mental state?  That would be a tragedy wouldn’t it?

One of the complaints from Mr Paterson is that the process of investigation took so long. This is smoke and mirrors, as from what I can see on the record, many of the delays were requested BY Mr Paterson and agreed too by the committee investigating the allegations, allegations  that he took thousands of pounds from companies who he then lobbied for in parliament. 

And I think at this point we must say that, as far as I can tell, not one Tory MP has come forward to defend those allegations. Paterson himself continues to state that he did not consider what he did was wrong and would do exactly the same again. The tragedy being he cannot see what the rest of the world can see. He took money for his benefit and that of the company he was working for and helped procure advantages for them. Plainly not allowed under the rules. 

And he did it 14 times. Hence the use of the word ‘egregious’ in the committee’s findings. 

Paterson claims he wasn’t able to call witnesses, but to what end? 

What might people be able to testify too, when Paterson doesn’t deny he acted in the manner reported? 

What Paterson actually wants his ‘witnesses’ to offer is opinion as to why he and they think the process of taking money to lobby in parliament should not be illegal in certain circumstances. What Paterson wants is to make it easier for himself and other MP’s to make money out of their status and office.

What Paterson and 250 other MP’s (mostly Tory) want, is to be free to act without oversight from an independent body. They’ll just have their mates change the rules so they can line their pockets.

Supporters of Mr Paterson were lining up yesterday to talk about ‘natural justice’.  How there was no avenue of appeal for someone found to have breached the rules. OK, amend the rules to introduce a route for appeal, don’t throw the rules away. 

Imagine you’re caught speeding. You’re doing 100mph in a 30mph zone. You don’t deny driving fast but you claim you weren’t in the wrong because what you were going to do was more important than the rule. So, they change the rule for you, and you can now drive at 100mph wherever you want. But the rest of us have to stick to the limit. That’s basically the world we now live in. One rule for us, the rule of law, and for Tory MP’s, whatever law they make up. Does that sound like ‘natural justice’? 

And on the subject of ‘natural justice’, the accepted norm is actually that a process is seen to be fair. The only unfairness in this tragedy for Mr Paterson is that the system worked all too well. 

Paterson has been an MP since 1997. He knows what the rules are and if he had an issue with the rules then he had many avenues to go down to highlight this. He chose to take the money believing he knew what was right. What he knew was more important than the rules. 

Of course, without the intervention of Andrea Leadsom and her iniquitous amendment,  it was likely Mr Paterson would have been suspended from the House for 30 sitting days. This could have triggered a recall motion and if enough names signed the recall petition then a by-election would have been called.  There was a possibility he could have lost his seat. That’s a good reason for a ruling party to obstruct the natural justice of the process in place isn’t it? 

Also, deconstructing the body that might subsequently find against other Tory MP’s, I bet that went down well in  the PM’s office.  Or am I being cynical? (The answer is ‘NO’.)

Corruption exists in many organisations, but it’s usually hidden from public view. Yesterday, in full view, we watched 250 elected representatives of you, and I, vote to ‘mark their own homework’. 

Those who spoke against the amendment, were referred to as ‘sanctimonious’, as if aspiring to higher standards in public office was a bad thing. 

Be warned, a government with a large majority but with a lack of scruples will lead us to a very bad place. And that’s a tragedy wrought by Owen Paterson. 

NB: A day is a long time in politics - between me writing this blog this morning and the time I add this note, the government has completed an embarrassing u-tun and Mr Paterson has announced his intention to retire from politics.  I think that's what they call a happy ending. 

A Little Love & Understanding

Like so many others I make my living through the use of words.

The words I use are formulated through a process.

Basically it breaks down as follows.

First of all the act of listening, and most importantly, hearing.

Then comes processing & understanding.

Once we understand then we can move on and begin the process of rephrasing, but not misrepresenting, what we have heard.

We then prepare and then deliver a final piece of work, such as a funeral ceremony.

This process is one I try and use in all my interactions with other people. You know, try and think before you speak. I don’t always succeed.

I sometimes fail to listen, as Mrs B will tell you.

I may hear but not fully understand. This is a common trait amongst human beings I fear!

In trying to understand what others have said, to comprehend their needs, requirements or meaning,  you sometimes have to remove the political, social and perhaps even spiritual filters that make up your own philosophy for life.  Or at least you might be prepared to accept that your perceptions may be coloured by those filters?

To be of use, I have to be open to so many possibilities. I have to be open minded and accepting that some people see the world differently to me because they experience life differently to me.

This preamble is leading to the point I’m trying to make today and tried to make yesterday in a Facebook post about the Black Lives Matters protests.

It should be possible, even in the snake pit of social media, to express an opinion or to pose a question (which asks you to think about things in a different way), without actually signalling support for one view or another.

You’re just thinking, listening, measuring the arguments and trying to comprehend why people do things that you might initially think are daft or dangerous - like march in protest in the midst of a pandemic.

So today I want to ask a question which I hope might make people think and then understand why people act differently.

And I hope we can do it without any judgemental diatribe. We can just be human and try and understand other humans.


Picture it: The Nottinghamshire coalfield, 1984 and it's the height of the Miner’s Strike.

People are picketing and protesting in large numbers. They want to secure their jobs and a future for their industry and their families.

Some of us were there and remember the passions that were aroused. It was a very hard time for many. Some families split asunder for ever. Everyone had an opinion and fought to defend their point of view.

Imagine now, in the midst of all this protest, a global pandemic occurs.

Ask yourselves this…do you think the striking miners would have just packed up and gone home?

Or do you think some of them would have fought on?

Do you think some might still have turned out to stand on picket lines, shoulder to shoulder with their work mates?

Still protested and gathered in enough numbers to show the government that this was so important they felt they had no choice but to ignore official advice?

Do you think you might just think about that?

And through your thought processes do you think you might find some understanding as to why people sometimes feel desperate action is needed?

You don't have to agree with it. Understanding isn’t approval.

And if you find that you can understand why a miner, or anyone, might stand up and fight for their job, (even though there are risks attached), can you now understand why people might fight for other things…like life?


Thats all I hoped for yesterday, today and tomorrow. That we can at least try and understand. And if we understand, maybe we don't judge so harshly?

Heroes

Is there in truth no beauty?

Well it was bound to happen. After spending weeks playing Merge Dragons or watching back to back episodes of ‘Murder, She Wrote’, I’ve given in to temptation and headed back to the blog.

I warn you, I have nothing to say of any great pertinence about the situation we all find ourselves in.  I’m not a scientist nor a medical expert (unlike most other people on Facebook apparently) but I did want to raise an issue that’s been bothering me.


Let me say that I have nothing but praise and admiration for everyone working in the health service and other frontline roles during this pandemic. Your service seems to have been exemplary in the face of such awful pressure.

As well as the Thursday night clap, there have been many posts on social media extolling and acknowledging these newly discovered heroes. I think this is great, but I can’t help but ask why we didn't consider them heroes to begin with?

The thing that really bothers me though is that these gestures of praise cannot seemingly stand alone, they are often accompanied by negativity and even hate, with many posts going on to denigrate others.

Why do people feel that you have to knock someone down as you raise others up?

The target of many of these negative posts are ‘celebrities’.

For me there are two categories of celebrity. There are those who achieve fame through hard work and skill, for example actors and sportsmen, authors and artists.

There are others who are seemingly famous for being famous.  Those who have no determinable skill (in my opinion), and who might have the words ‘influencer’ or ‘reality star’ attached to their name.

I have no axe to grind with this latter category, although on occasion it does seem they get caught up in their own self importance. I guess I might fall into this category as I expect you all to read this blog and think I’m wonderful. Please validate my existence!!!

The attacks aimed at celebrities seem to have one main thrust.

You have no value in society now: we have realised that nurses and doctors deserve all of our admiration because they are doing something concrete in the face of this pandemic. They save lives, they tend to our injuries and needs both physical and mental. They risk their lives for others. What are you doing?

Celebrities are just in it for the money and attention. Luvvies and left wingers, snowflakes and…well, endless insults depending on the mindset of the attacker.


I best declare an interest here. I love theatre, film, TV, literature, music & art.  Maybe I’m biased in what I’m about to say but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be said.


Dear Haters, when you’ve been sat on your keyboard all day, warrior-ing away, maybe highlighting the work of nurses for example, whilst also spitting poison at actors; what do you then do to relax?

Perhaps you turn on Netflix? Or Spotify? Or a video game?  It’s likely you turn to the work of the very people you’ve been bad mouthing. Those who create so much for you to enjoy.

A nurse may help save your life, but what is life without art? Without beauty?


I cannot tell you how much I’m missing the theatre. To think I might not be able to go again for months and months is shattering. But I have music, I have TV, I have box sets, I have streaming events, I even have Zoom coffee mornings with likeminded folk.

There’s much beauty in my life thanks to the work of artists and ‘celebrities’ who are using their skill to keep me, and the rest of the world entertained and sane.

One of the biggest problems with being at home, and not working, is that the phone stops ringing. That’s hard. I guess, like so many in the arts sector, I’m currently resting.

You’re worth as a person may be wrapped up in getting a phone call inviting you to work. But for some there is no work in their chosen field.

Of course many are not resting at all. Many are working wherever there is work to be found, like supermarkets.  Anywhere that helps them pay the bills. Some have even been returning to previous jobs in nursing & the care sector.

Still, even in their isolation, artists have been giving us a constant stream of material via the internet. plays, musicals, concerts, poetry…all greedily lapped up by us, the audience.

Can you imagine isolation without this? Or a book. Or a virtual tour of a gallery? Or whichever game occupies your time online.

Heroes come in many guises, and for me those who remind us of the beauty found in life, through the arts, remain heroes.

I hope we never again underestimate the value of our NHS staff, those who care and who put the needs of others before themselves.  I also hope we can see it’s OK to put them on a pedestal without knocking someone else from theirs.

We must continue to value and support the arts wherever and however we can. And to all my friends out there, worried about what awaits them after the storm, you will always find an audience, even if it’s just me.

Life Upon The Wicked Stage

January 18th

Life Upon The Wicked Stage

Have I ever mentioned I love going to the theatre?

Mrs B & I are heading to Sheffield today to visit one of my favourite theatres, The Crucible.  We shall be seeing a production of Guys and Dolls. I’ve heard only good things about it but then again Alex Young is in it and she’s like a lucky charm for me. I can honesty say I’ve never seen any show in which she was cast, that wasn’t amazing. From Follies to Sky’s Edge - all top drawer stuff.

I’d love to have been in a production of Guys and Dolls, it’s on a list entitled ‘Regrets’, along with not learning to play the piano or to tap dance.  I think I have the physique to have made a good Nicely-Nicely Johnson, but sadly I don’t have the voice to match.

My acting career (everybody laugh) did give me a few chances to appear in plays that were great favourites, but I’d have loved the chance to play Hector in The History Boys or Henry Drummond in Inherit The Wind.

But I’ll be content having played Goldberg in The Birthday Party, Thomas Milburn in Close The Coal House Door, and Juror 11 in 12 Angry Men.


12 Angry Men was the first play I appeared in after moving to live in Mansfield. My recollection of being cast is a little hazy now but I think one of the other actors in the play would occasionally visit the shop where I was working at the time…yes, I was a shop assistant for a while.

I think the conversation came around to them staging 12 Angry Men and how they were looking for people to audition and so I offered my services and was apparently the only one who could manage the middle European accent required of the character. I got the part and in a way that changed the direction of my life because I then also decided to became a mature student and study performing arts! HND Distinction.

The production was extremely well put together and around that table I met a range of actors with varying levels of experience and expertise but we all worked so well together and my friendship with Juror 12 (who won’t be reading this) started around that jury room table. I have lost touch with so many of them but I guess that happens doesn’t it?

The reason this has come to the forefront of my mind today is twofold.

First of all, I ran into Juror 4 yesterday. I hadn’t seen him for years and it was nice to have a quick chat.

The other reason is that it’s around three years since Juror 6 died. Such a sad thing to have happened.


He had worked at The Crucible as part of the stage crew and on the day we learned of his death we went there to see Anna-Jane Casey give a wonderful ‘Audience with’. She was starring in Annie Get Your Gun which we had seen the week previously.

All of these memories are washing around in my head and I guess you could get a little maudlin but actually there is only happy memories associated with that production of 12 Angry Men, so I’m just sticking to the good stuff.

It may well be that I never set foot on a stage again and although I do have regrets they are nowhere near as important to me as the joy I often found being someone else on a stage for a couple of hours.

It was fun. (Just don’t ask me about Romeo and Juliet)

Hello!

January 17th

Hello!

I’m doing some research on Unitarians, because after someone commended me on my delivery of a funeral ceremony, they added I’d make an excellent Unitarian.

I smiled and thanked them of course as I was raised to be polite, but I must admit without reading up on the Unitarian philosophy I wouldn’t have a clue if I was being appreciated or insulted!

Now it turns out there is a Unitarian meeting house in Mansfield so I might have to pop along at some point and find out first hand what’s going on but as I already read it involves hymns and prayers then I’m not sure it’ll be my cup of tea…although they do give you a cup of tea and a biscuit afterwards. I thought they only did that when they took your blood!

I wonder if they wear robes? I think I’d look good in robes. Not keen on a dog collar, nobody would see it anyway as my chins would hide it.

They don’t do wine and wafers I’m guessing as they don’t do the whole Jesus thing so no sneaking sacramental wine under my new robes for later consumption.

Not sure about a calling from god, more a calling for robes that has me hooked…oh well, I’ll read up some more and report back at some point.

You’re never too old to learn something new and you should never stop asking questions about your place in the world. My thoughts on religion have changed markedly over the years and I feel mostly satisfied with agnosticism and Humanism, but who knows what might happen when you allow yourself to be open to the possibilities?

I don’t expect a full scale conversion like some of my friends, and you won’t find me knocking at your door saying ‘Hello, my name is Elder Baxter’…


I have a confession to make.  Not in a Catholic way, I’m not fiddling with my beads as I lie in bed writing this;  I just wanted to confess that as a regular theatre going man and musical theatre junkie, it’s hard to explain why I’ve never seen the Book of Mormon.

Well I’m making amends and I’ve booked tickets to see the show when it arrives in Nottingham later this year.

I had a little session of theatre booking yesterday, found a little spare cash and decided to treat Mrs B to tickets to see Matthew Bourne’s ‘The Red Shoes’ plus I’ve booked to see ‘The Addams Family’ musical again, without knowing who will be in the cast. (Fingers crossed).

It’s also the year when I finally get around to seeing Phantom of the Opera. Now don’t judge me too harshly, there must be a reason why at sometime in the last 34 years I didn’t manage to secure a ticket.

Is Michael Crawford still in it?

I suppose there are lots of shows I have yet to see, like Matilda, Wicked, The Lion King and The Mousetrap but having seen Les Miserable more than once and having booked to see A Christmas Carol for a third time, I think it balances out.

This confessing thing is great! I haven’t seen Fleabag or The Crown or Peaky Blinders!

I don’t make this admission with the intention of wearing it like a badge of honour like the Game of Thrones or Star Wars haters would, it’s just that I never got around to it.

Too busy watching NCIS.

Well that’s it for today.

PS: There’s a squirrel in the garden.