Does the Conservative candidate for North East Somerset think we are all idiots in this part of the world?
In a letter to Newton St Loe residents he gives the false impression that the Conservatives are doing all they can to defend the greenbelt and how deeply they’re opposed to the proposal of 2,000 houses being built next to the village.
Mr Rees-Mogg needs to be reminded that it was HIS party that voted in favour of the Core Strategy Spatial Options Consultation document in October. In the document there are two main options. Both of them conclude that building 2,000 houses next to Newton St Loe is favourable to building them anywhere else. If his Conservative Councillors were so opposed to it why did they vote in favour of a consultation that gives no choice to Newton St Loe residents?
At that same meeting, the majority of Liberal Democrats did not take part in the vote because we did not (and still don’t) believe the document was ready to go out for consultation. Some Lib Dems actively voted against!
Mr Rees-Mogg also needs to note that the Lib Dems have run successful campaigns in defending areas such as the Haycombe and Englishcombe Vales from development.
I rarely write letters to the newspaper these days, but when politicians give out completely misleading information, I think it is important that they are corrected.
From what Newton St Loe residents have told me, their wannabe Tory MP has been less than helpful in supporting them and listening to their views.
I don’t intend to score political points, but it’s actually Prospective Lib Dem MP Gail Coleshill who has put the residents first. She’s the one who has met with residents, liaised with the press on their behalf, attending public meetings in the village, presented petitions in Bristol and written on their behalf to the Government Office of the South West.
Friday 27 November 2009
Saturday 26 September 2009
Wednesday 1 July 2009
Spending almost £1m on a 700yard bus lane IS a waste of money!
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In this week's edition of the Radstock Journal Labour Councillor for Paulton, John Bull, claims that spending almost £1m on a 700yard bus lane is a good use of our money!
John needs to be reminded that in 2005 the Conservatives were in charge of transport in B&NES – they have been for the last six years!
It’s a shame that he is such a keen supporter of the new Oddown bus lane, because I have been overwhelmed with emails and phone calls from residents who support my argument that spending almost £1m on a 700yard bus lane really is a waste of money.
To be clear, not in any of my TV or radio interviews have I said that I’m opposed to bus lanes in their entirety. Those that serve a purpose and encourage people to use their cars less and public transport more are great. The new bus lane on the A367 going into Bath does not do either of these.
To date, on the numerous occasions that I have travelled to and from Bath, I have not seen a bus use the lane. Money well spent? I think not! John Bull’s claim that this is not at the local taxpayers’ expense because it’s funded by central government is madness! Don’t people pay their income tax? It does not matter if the money comes from local or central government – it’s still from taxpayers’ hard earned wages.
I would also like to respond to Charles Gerrish’s comments a few weeks ago in The Journal where he claims that the Lib Dems have not come up with any solutions to Bath’s traffic problems. Where has he been for the last four months?
The Lib Dems have said on many occasions (including on national TV) that we would like to provide every single young person with a free bus pass – so their parents don’t have to take and collect them from school. Instead, many can catch the public bus. If you travel into Bath during the school holidays there isn’t any traffic! A clear indication that school traffic cause of congestion in the mornings.
The cost to provide these passes would be just half of the cost of the bus lane. Our proposals are both beneficial with easing congestion and better for the taxpayer.
I would like to invite both John and Charles to come to Peasedown St John one afternoon, and I would be more than happy to introduce them to a lot of people who are fed up with their money being wasted in this way.
John needs to be reminded that in 2005 the Conservatives were in charge of transport in B&NES – they have been for the last six years!
It’s a shame that he is such a keen supporter of the new Oddown bus lane, because I have been overwhelmed with emails and phone calls from residents who support my argument that spending almost £1m on a 700yard bus lane really is a waste of money.
To be clear, not in any of my TV or radio interviews have I said that I’m opposed to bus lanes in their entirety. Those that serve a purpose and encourage people to use their cars less and public transport more are great. The new bus lane on the A367 going into Bath does not do either of these.
To date, on the numerous occasions that I have travelled to and from Bath, I have not seen a bus use the lane. Money well spent? I think not! John Bull’s claim that this is not at the local taxpayers’ expense because it’s funded by central government is madness! Don’t people pay their income tax? It does not matter if the money comes from local or central government – it’s still from taxpayers’ hard earned wages.
I would also like to respond to Charles Gerrish’s comments a few weeks ago in The Journal where he claims that the Lib Dems have not come up with any solutions to Bath’s traffic problems. Where has he been for the last four months?
The Lib Dems have said on many occasions (including on national TV) that we would like to provide every single young person with a free bus pass – so their parents don’t have to take and collect them from school. Instead, many can catch the public bus. If you travel into Bath during the school holidays there isn’t any traffic! A clear indication that school traffic cause of congestion in the mornings.
The cost to provide these passes would be just half of the cost of the bus lane. Our proposals are both beneficial with easing congestion and better for the taxpayer.
I would like to invite both John and Charles to come to Peasedown St John one afternoon, and I would be more than happy to introduce them to a lot of people who are fed up with their money being wasted in this way.
Saturday 23 May 2009
Support the Lib Dems on June 4th
A few weeks ago a letter appeared in the local newspapers from Sara Box, one of the English Democrat European candidates, advocating her desire to create an English Parliament.
She is absolutely right in referring to some of the great things that have happened in Scotland over the years which include the abolition of student tuition fees and free personal care for the elderly.
These achievements are not necessarily the result of Scotland having its own Parliament though. Instead, they are a result of Lib Dems being in coalition government – introducing a much fairer society for the Scottish people.
I do not believe that creating an English Parliament, as she does, is going to address some of the key problems that our country faces. The English Democrat idea of creating another layer of government will just result in another set of elections with low turnout and huge amounts of voter apathy.
Instead, what we need is strong and effective local government – where local people feel inspired and enthused to get involved with the democratic process. If we can’t get people to vote in local elections (the layer of government closest to the people) then what benefit will an English Parliament have?
The best thing Sara and the English Democrats can do is support the campaign to create an independent Town Council in Midsomer Norton – as does my party!
The Liberal Democrats have a strong track record of supporting local people in their communities. The South West Lib Dem MEP Graham Watson has worked extremely hard since he was first elected in 1994 for a better, and fairer, deal for the South West.
Instead of supporting a party that wants to create more bureaucracy, residents can vote Lib Dem on June 4th - a party that believes in putting people before politics.
She is absolutely right in referring to some of the great things that have happened in Scotland over the years which include the abolition of student tuition fees and free personal care for the elderly.
These achievements are not necessarily the result of Scotland having its own Parliament though. Instead, they are a result of Lib Dems being in coalition government – introducing a much fairer society for the Scottish people.
I do not believe that creating an English Parliament, as she does, is going to address some of the key problems that our country faces. The English Democrat idea of creating another layer of government will just result in another set of elections with low turnout and huge amounts of voter apathy.
Instead, what we need is strong and effective local government – where local people feel inspired and enthused to get involved with the democratic process. If we can’t get people to vote in local elections (the layer of government closest to the people) then what benefit will an English Parliament have?
The best thing Sara and the English Democrats can do is support the campaign to create an independent Town Council in Midsomer Norton – as does my party!
The Liberal Democrats have a strong track record of supporting local people in their communities. The South West Lib Dem MEP Graham Watson has worked extremely hard since he was first elected in 1994 for a better, and fairer, deal for the South West.
Instead of supporting a party that wants to create more bureaucracy, residents can vote Lib Dem on June 4th - a party that believes in putting people before politics.
Wednesday 15 April 2009
Hard hitting campaign video
This week, the Lib Dems in the European Parliament have released a hard hitting campaign video in the run up to the elections on June 4th.
The film really brings home the importance of living as part of a community and standing up for one another.
In the end, if we don't stand up for others who will stand up for us? -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcridvxfLBo&feature=related
The film really brings home the importance of living as part of a community and standing up for one another.
In the end, if we don't stand up for others who will stand up for us? -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcridvxfLBo&feature=related
Saturday 28 March 2009
My three-point plan
Many people lose weight in different ways, and some people find it more difficult than others.
As many people will have read in the newspapers recently I was 18 stone when I left school. It was awful – I was very unhealthy, and only ate fatty foods.
Last week, a resident wrote to me asking for advice and practical suggestions to loosing weight. In response, I wrote back with three key ideas. Let's call it my three-point plan:
1) Self discipline and will-power
2) Exercise
3) Eating sensibly
I’ll go through these one at a time –
1) Self disciple and will-power. I would encourage you to take a photo of yourself now, and stick is on the wall in your house. That way everyday you will look at it and feel encouraged to lose weight. You’ll need to mentally commit yourself to changing the way you look. This also involves changing the way you think. Often we put on weight easily because we are not very self-confident and have low self-esteem. If you start to think positively and always say to yourself ‘I can do this’ and ‘I will do this’ your attitude to life will start to change
2) Exercise. It’s always difficult to start exercising. Our bodies often get into a rut and like to do things ‘the same old way’. Start by choosing an exercise that you enjoy. For instance – if you like walking then commit yourself to walking 1 mile per day. Each day walk faster and speed up the amount of time it takes to walk the mile. Gradually, over time you will feel the walking getting easier and easier. From then try other forms of exercise.
3) Eating sensibly. Dieting does not have to be boring. Start dieting by choosing healthy foods that you like. I started with banana, yoghurt (the healthy varieties) and cereal. The good news is you can eat as much of these as you like. Eat these kinds of foods with one hot healthy meal per day. Try to completely avoid chocolate, crisps, cake, chips, burgers etc.
If you can commit to this you should see the weight drops off over a few weeks.
Ultimately, if you really want to lose weight it’s all about will power and self-discipline. I believe that we, as individuals, can do anything as long as we put our minds to it and believe in ourselves.
Remember change can happen – you just have to believe in it!
As many people will have read in the newspapers recently I was 18 stone when I left school. It was awful – I was very unhealthy, and only ate fatty foods.
Last week, a resident wrote to me asking for advice and practical suggestions to loosing weight. In response, I wrote back with three key ideas. Let's call it my three-point plan:
1) Self discipline and will-power
2) Exercise
3) Eating sensibly
I’ll go through these one at a time –
1) Self disciple and will-power. I would encourage you to take a photo of yourself now, and stick is on the wall in your house. That way everyday you will look at it and feel encouraged to lose weight. You’ll need to mentally commit yourself to changing the way you look. This also involves changing the way you think. Often we put on weight easily because we are not very self-confident and have low self-esteem. If you start to think positively and always say to yourself ‘I can do this’ and ‘I will do this’ your attitude to life will start to change
2) Exercise. It’s always difficult to start exercising. Our bodies often get into a rut and like to do things ‘the same old way’. Start by choosing an exercise that you enjoy. For instance – if you like walking then commit yourself to walking 1 mile per day. Each day walk faster and speed up the amount of time it takes to walk the mile. Gradually, over time you will feel the walking getting easier and easier. From then try other forms of exercise.
3) Eating sensibly. Dieting does not have to be boring. Start dieting by choosing healthy foods that you like. I started with banana, yoghurt (the healthy varieties) and cereal. The good news is you can eat as much of these as you like. Eat these kinds of foods with one hot healthy meal per day. Try to completely avoid chocolate, crisps, cake, chips, burgers etc.
If you can commit to this you should see the weight drops off over a few weeks.
Ultimately, if you really want to lose weight it’s all about will power and self-discipline. I believe that we, as individuals, can do anything as long as we put our minds to it and believe in ourselves.
Remember change can happen – you just have to believe in it!
Sunday 1 March 2009
MP fails to help... again!
Last Friday I spent the afternoon visiting some of my residents in Peasedown St John – helping with various issues and listening to their concerns.
On my rounds I bumped into a young mum who is struggling to find somewhere to live. She is currently staying on her Mum’s sofa and desperately needs to find a place of her own.
She told me she had been in contact with the Council’s Housing Department to ask for her old reference number (the housing application system has recently changed) which she had lost. I was horrified to hear that they had told her ‘It’s in the basement and we’re not going down to look for it’ – If this is true I am going to go mad! A council is a public body, its councillors and staff are there to serve the people in the area it covers.
This young mum’s plight for somewhere to live re-iterates just how frantic the social housing situation has become. There are currently over 6,500 households in our area waiting for a ‘council house’. My party has been campaigning for months for many of the empty properties in the district to be brought into social housing use (similar to the case in Mendip District Council where landlords are given financial help to bring properties back into use).
At a meeting in January the Conservative in charge of housing confessed to me that he did not have any idea of the number of empty properties in the area and seemed uninterested in trying to tackle the 6,500 (and growing) waiting list.
Since becoming a Councillor in May 2007, helping with social housing problems has been a huge challenge for me. But, I got involved in politics to help people just like this young mum. It is they that need that extra bit of help, support and encouragement.
This same conversation also sparked up another issue – something else that has been bugging me for some time. The young mum started by telling me she had been to see our local Labour MP – Dan Norris. Her words to me were ‘he’s s#@t’. She had been to visit him some months ago but since has had no response and has been completely unhelpful.
This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this. Over the past two years this is something that I hear more and more often. People go to visit our MP and he is no help at all – in fact, does not even appear interested.
It is when I meet people like this young mum and hear her story that I realise how useless and ineffective our MP is. It’s upsetting to think that the Labour Party, which was founded over 100 years ago to fight for and defend working class people can no longer be bothered to even help those that need it the most.
I must thank Dan Norris for one thing though. It was through meeting him in 2000 (when he visited my school) that I felt inspired to go into politics… and join the Liberal Democrats.
Meeting him made me realise that we had little in common and if I wanted to join a political party that really did stand up for people then the Labour Party was no longer it. (Just like this young mum, I didn’t feel he was at all interested in what I had to say and he couldn’t even give a straight answer to a question I asked him.)
My conversation with the young mum left me feeling more than ever that we need a definite change at the next General Election. Our Labour MP and our Labour government are clearly not working!
I know this won’t come as a surprise to anyone but my support will whole-heartedly going to Gail Coleshill – someone that for the last ten years has stood up for hard working people and believes in the same kind of change as I do.
Change can happen – we just have to believe in it.
For information about Gail Coleshill visit www.gailcoleshill.co.uk or www.nes-libdems.org.uk
On my rounds I bumped into a young mum who is struggling to find somewhere to live. She is currently staying on her Mum’s sofa and desperately needs to find a place of her own.
She told me she had been in contact with the Council’s Housing Department to ask for her old reference number (the housing application system has recently changed) which she had lost. I was horrified to hear that they had told her ‘It’s in the basement and we’re not going down to look for it’ – If this is true I am going to go mad! A council is a public body, its councillors and staff are there to serve the people in the area it covers.
This young mum’s plight for somewhere to live re-iterates just how frantic the social housing situation has become. There are currently over 6,500 households in our area waiting for a ‘council house’. My party has been campaigning for months for many of the empty properties in the district to be brought into social housing use (similar to the case in Mendip District Council where landlords are given financial help to bring properties back into use).
At a meeting in January the Conservative in charge of housing confessed to me that he did not have any idea of the number of empty properties in the area and seemed uninterested in trying to tackle the 6,500 (and growing) waiting list.
Since becoming a Councillor in May 2007, helping with social housing problems has been a huge challenge for me. But, I got involved in politics to help people just like this young mum. It is they that need that extra bit of help, support and encouragement.
This same conversation also sparked up another issue – something else that has been bugging me for some time. The young mum started by telling me she had been to see our local Labour MP – Dan Norris. Her words to me were ‘he’s s#@t’. She had been to visit him some months ago but since has had no response and has been completely unhelpful.
This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this. Over the past two years this is something that I hear more and more often. People go to visit our MP and he is no help at all – in fact, does not even appear interested.
It is when I meet people like this young mum and hear her story that I realise how useless and ineffective our MP is. It’s upsetting to think that the Labour Party, which was founded over 100 years ago to fight for and defend working class people can no longer be bothered to even help those that need it the most.
I must thank Dan Norris for one thing though. It was through meeting him in 2000 (when he visited my school) that I felt inspired to go into politics… and join the Liberal Democrats.
Meeting him made me realise that we had little in common and if I wanted to join a political party that really did stand up for people then the Labour Party was no longer it. (Just like this young mum, I didn’t feel he was at all interested in what I had to say and he couldn’t even give a straight answer to a question I asked him.)
My conversation with the young mum left me feeling more than ever that we need a definite change at the next General Election. Our Labour MP and our Labour government are clearly not working!
I know this won’t come as a surprise to anyone but my support will whole-heartedly going to Gail Coleshill – someone that for the last ten years has stood up for hard working people and believes in the same kind of change as I do.
Change can happen – we just have to believe in it.
For information about Gail Coleshill visit www.gailcoleshill.co.uk or www.nes-libdems.org.uk
Saturday 14 February 2009
Dad at 13!
The news that a 13-year-old boy has become a Father is all over the newspapers.
Understandably it is causing debate amoungst people about the 'rights' and the 'wrongs'.
Perhaps, way over due, this will allow us - as a nation - to have a full and open debate about the taboo subject that is.... sex.
Statistics show that the UK has the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Europe. Whereas The Netherlands, who have a much more open and liberal approach to sex, can boast the lowest teenage pregnancy rate.
Is it now time to adopt the Dutch model and talk with young people much more openly about sex from a young age?
Below I have copied an article that appeared in the The Times newspaper last November. It's a bit long but well worth the read.
----------------------
Sex education: why the British should go Dutch
Britain's Schools Minister plans to introduce sex lessons for five-year-olds. They already have them in the Netherlands. Is that why they also have the lowest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe?
The children of De Burght School in Amsterdam walk past the red-light district to their classrooms every day, past the “Peep Shows, Live Girls,” the risqué underwear shops and the newsagents selling teen magazines with free condoms. At school the five-year-olds play mummies and daddies in the playground knowing what their parents did in bed last night.
Next year, 12-year-old Sasha explains to me, they will learn how to put a condom on a broomstick (she says this without a trace of embarrassment, just a polite smile). Across the city, nine-year-old Marcus, who lives in a beautiful 18th-century house on a canal, has been watching a cartoon showing him how to masturbate. His sister, 11, has been writing an essay on reproduction and knows that it is legal for two consenting 12-year-olds to make love. Her favourite magazine, Girls, gives advice on techniques in bed, and her parents sometimes allow her to stay up to see a baby being born on the birthing channel.
Then there is Yuri, 16, who explains to me in perfect English that “anal sex hurts at the beginning but if you persevere it can be very pleasurable”. When I ask whether he is gay, he says “no” but he has watched a documentary on the subject with his parents.
Sex is everywhere in the Netherlands, yet the country has the lowest teenage pregnancy rate in the West and the lowest rates of sexually transmitted diseases among young people. Now Britain, with almost the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Europe - five times higher than the Netherlands - wants to emulate its success.
Ministers are planning to introduce compulsory sex and relationships lessons for children from the age of 5 by 2010. There will be a “naming of parts” session in which children learn the correct words for vagina and testicles, and many will receive a sex education comic called Let's Grow with Nisha and Joe.
The Government has chosen the Dutch model rather than the Nordic way of tackling the subject of sex because the Netherlands, unlike Scandinavian nations, also manages to have one of the lowest abortion rates in Europe. In Britain, the number of abortions performed on under-16s rose by 10 per cent last year to 4,376.
So how do the Dutch do it? Siebe Heutzepeter, the headmaster of De Burght School, laughs at the idea that sex lessons are all children need to stop them becoming sexually active too young.
“We don't have formal sex education in primary schools,” he says. “The children talk about sex when they feel like it and when they want an explanation. We treat sex as a healthy physical activity between two adults who are in love. Every year we have teachers who are pregnant or getting married, whether they are gay or straight, so it is a good way to talk about adult relationships.”
Heutzepeter says that the Dutch are more relaxed than Britons in every aspect of their lives. “The English are embarrassed to talk about sex. They are too squeamish. Here adults and children are better educated. It would be unthinkable for a Dutch parent to withdraw their child from sex discussions. I have had only one Muslim mother who left halfway through a parents' talk on sex.”
He believes it is important to talk to children in a relaxed way about sex before they become self-conscious and embarrassed. “It is all about self-respect,” he said. “There is no point in telling children just to say ‘no' - this is a liberal country; you need to tell them why they are saying ‘no' and when to say ‘yes'.”
A series of books by Sanderijn van der Doef provides Dutch children with all they could need to know about sex. The book for five-year-olds has pictures on the cover of toddlers kissing each other on the lips. Inside, children are told why their mothers have breasts and shave their armpits, how smiley-faced sperm travel, how human beings prefer to lie on top of each other but dogs mate from behind, and what their father's penis looks like. The book for 11-year-olds shows a girl examining her genitals in a mirror, and explains about periods and the Pill. Van der Doef is a star in her country and her manuals have become classics. Dutch parents read them to their children at bedtime, for information and enjoyment. “Here sex is a normal daily part of life, like shopping or football. In England it is a joke,” says the author. “My books teach children what adults do when they love each other and how babies are created. Children as young as 4 should know if they were born by Caesarean section or after artificial insemination. It is vital to be honest.”
John van der Woning, the head of one of Amsterdam's leading schools, Willemspark, says: “We teach children about all sorts of sex. We have lots of homosexual teachers and they celebrated a marriage of two female teachers recently. But we also try to teach the older children about the darker side of sex, about prostitution and child abuse. It's important to be open about the world.”
At secondary school the sex education is formalised and children are shown how to use various types of contraceptive, how to have “safe and pleasurable sex”, the importance of responsibility and how to recognise the symptoms of sexually transmitted diseases.
This openness seems to work. In Britain the average teenager loses his or her virginity at 16 - more than a year before the Dutch average of 17.7 years. About 93 per cent of young people in the Netherlands use contraception, compared with 53 per cent in Britain. A study of teenagers in both countries found that while boys and girls in the Netherlands gave “love and commitment” as the main reason for losing their virginity, boys in Britain cited peer pressure and physical attraction.
But Laura Watts, a British mother who has lived in the Netherlands for the past ten years, thinks that the lower rate of teenage pregnancy there may have more to do with family structure than with sex education. Dutch children are five times less likely to be living in a family headed by a lone parent, divorce rates are far lower and fewer mothers are in full-time employment.
“I think my eight-year-old son has probably learnt more about sex from David Attenborough than from school,” she says. “It is the family that makes the difference. Parents leave the office by 5pm in Holland and eat dinner with their children at 6pm. They then watch TV or play sport together, so they tend to be closer to their children and can guide them to do the right thing.”
Trudie, a fashion stylist, has always talked about sex with her daughter. When, at 16, her daughter asked her what sperm looked like, Trudie asked her husband to provide a sample. “My daughter walks past sex shops every day, the family watches sex scenes together on television and we try to be as open as possible. It's not considered smutty, as it is in England.”
Henny de Barbarison, a teacher at De Burght School, agrees: “My 18-year-old son still walks around the house naked - that's healthy. Everyone here is more relaxed.” Her female students are taught about “lover boys” who flirt with girls just to have sex with them, then pressurise them to sleep with other members of their group. Male students are taught about homosexual sex. There are no “no-go areas”.
Another reason why the teenage pregnancy rate is so low may be that in the Netherlands there is still a stigma attached to having a child before the age of 20. In Britain, a baby who can offer unconditional love, a free home away from parents and a cheque every month is not considered a disaster for a teenage girl. The Dutch Government still penalises single mothers under 18, who are expected to live with their parents if they become pregnant. Until six years ago the Government gave them no financial support.
Dutch children are taught that getting pregnant in their teens is a barrier to success. “I'm not prepared to risk messing up my life. I am strong enough to wait,” says Ruby, 12. “I want to be 19 and in love before I have sex,” says her friend Grace. Julia, 11, says: “My mother's best friend is gay, my hairdresser is gay, half my family seem to be gay. It's not an issue.” Children in their final year of primary school have not been shielded from anything, but their teachers have continually reinforced the message that sex is about love and commitment. The pupils all agree that they will not sleep with anyone until they have finished secondary school and are in a serious relationship.
Vanessa Storm de Grave, a mother of four who works part-time for a publishing company, thinks that her compatriots may be more responsible about sex than the British because the Netherlands is a more religious country. “The family is very important here,” she says. “Almost no mothers work full time; they see their main role as educating their children.
“I hope I will teach my eldest son how to become a responsible man by example, but I tell him anything he wants to know. I have talked about homosexuality and why it means that you can't have babies, but he is more interested in sport.”
Doortje Braeker, a Dutch mother who works in Britain for the International Planned Parenthood Federation, says: “We are not scared of young people being sexually active and we want to make sure that their first experiences are safe and pleasurable. We are a Calvinist country so it is important that we don't have too many abortions, but the postwar generation also wants to have fun.”
Braeker was shocked when she first came to Britain. “Young girls here seem to have babies to prove that they are adults. In the Netherlands it would just prove how uneducated and naive you are,” she says. “There you can have a boy as a friend, here it's almost always about sex.” Mena Laura Meyer, who produced the seven-part documentary series Sexy for Dutch TV last year, says that sex education is the least relevant aspect of the country's success. “All the children I talked to were quite dismissive about their sex education at school,” she says. “They appreciated knowing how to put on a condom but were more interested in the emotional than the physical side of sex.”
Her series, which addressed every issue from anal sex to S&M, was watched by more than a quarter of Dutch households. “All you watch in Britain are your soaps, which are all about single mums, and your wildlife documentaries, which just cover penguins mating,” she says. “Sex and relationships aren't government issues. Until the British can sit down together and watch programmes about masturbation and birth, you will never have a healthy attitude to sex.”
In Britain the Government has decided that schools must bear responsibility for sex education. Jim Knight, the Schools Minister, insists that from 2010 schools must make time for the new personal, social and health education (PSHE) syllabus. Children aged 5 to 7 will learn about feelings; those aged 8 to 11 will be taught about the biological aspects of sex. At secondary school they will learn about contraception and sexually transmitted diseases.
But maybe it's up to parents. Perhaps we should all be buying our toddlers Mummy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole, leaving condoms around the house, as one Dutch mother suggests, “to prompt discussions”, and sitting down to supper each evening to discuss our relationships. One colleague attempted this, and her 12-year-old son asked her “how many positions are there?” in front of the babysitter. My eight-year-old asked me if it was more painful to wax my legs than to give birth. But after my few days in the Netherlands, my children now understand where babies come from. It has marred the beginning of Dumbo when the storks come down from the clouds, but I hope it will turn them into more responsible adults.
Maybe, instead of expecting schools to teach children morality and the missionary position, the British should adopt a few other Dutch lessons. Employers could encourage staff to go home at 5pm for a family supper, parents could discuss contraception with their children, and the BBC could ask David Attenborough to turn his attention to human reproduction.
----------------------
(Printed 24/11/08)
Understandably it is causing debate amoungst people about the 'rights' and the 'wrongs'.
Perhaps, way over due, this will allow us - as a nation - to have a full and open debate about the taboo subject that is.... sex.
Statistics show that the UK has the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Europe. Whereas The Netherlands, who have a much more open and liberal approach to sex, can boast the lowest teenage pregnancy rate.
Is it now time to adopt the Dutch model and talk with young people much more openly about sex from a young age?
Below I have copied an article that appeared in the The Times newspaper last November. It's a bit long but well worth the read.
----------------------
Sex education: why the British should go Dutch
Britain's Schools Minister plans to introduce sex lessons for five-year-olds. They already have them in the Netherlands. Is that why they also have the lowest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe?
The children of De Burght School in Amsterdam walk past the red-light district to their classrooms every day, past the “Peep Shows, Live Girls,” the risqué underwear shops and the newsagents selling teen magazines with free condoms. At school the five-year-olds play mummies and daddies in the playground knowing what their parents did in bed last night.
Next year, 12-year-old Sasha explains to me, they will learn how to put a condom on a broomstick (she says this without a trace of embarrassment, just a polite smile). Across the city, nine-year-old Marcus, who lives in a beautiful 18th-century house on a canal, has been watching a cartoon showing him how to masturbate. His sister, 11, has been writing an essay on reproduction and knows that it is legal for two consenting 12-year-olds to make love. Her favourite magazine, Girls, gives advice on techniques in bed, and her parents sometimes allow her to stay up to see a baby being born on the birthing channel.
Then there is Yuri, 16, who explains to me in perfect English that “anal sex hurts at the beginning but if you persevere it can be very pleasurable”. When I ask whether he is gay, he says “no” but he has watched a documentary on the subject with his parents.
Sex is everywhere in the Netherlands, yet the country has the lowest teenage pregnancy rate in the West and the lowest rates of sexually transmitted diseases among young people. Now Britain, with almost the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Europe - five times higher than the Netherlands - wants to emulate its success.
Ministers are planning to introduce compulsory sex and relationships lessons for children from the age of 5 by 2010. There will be a “naming of parts” session in which children learn the correct words for vagina and testicles, and many will receive a sex education comic called Let's Grow with Nisha and Joe.
The Government has chosen the Dutch model rather than the Nordic way of tackling the subject of sex because the Netherlands, unlike Scandinavian nations, also manages to have one of the lowest abortion rates in Europe. In Britain, the number of abortions performed on under-16s rose by 10 per cent last year to 4,376.
So how do the Dutch do it? Siebe Heutzepeter, the headmaster of De Burght School, laughs at the idea that sex lessons are all children need to stop them becoming sexually active too young.
“We don't have formal sex education in primary schools,” he says. “The children talk about sex when they feel like it and when they want an explanation. We treat sex as a healthy physical activity between two adults who are in love. Every year we have teachers who are pregnant or getting married, whether they are gay or straight, so it is a good way to talk about adult relationships.”
Heutzepeter says that the Dutch are more relaxed than Britons in every aspect of their lives. “The English are embarrassed to talk about sex. They are too squeamish. Here adults and children are better educated. It would be unthinkable for a Dutch parent to withdraw their child from sex discussions. I have had only one Muslim mother who left halfway through a parents' talk on sex.”
He believes it is important to talk to children in a relaxed way about sex before they become self-conscious and embarrassed. “It is all about self-respect,” he said. “There is no point in telling children just to say ‘no' - this is a liberal country; you need to tell them why they are saying ‘no' and when to say ‘yes'.”
A series of books by Sanderijn van der Doef provides Dutch children with all they could need to know about sex. The book for five-year-olds has pictures on the cover of toddlers kissing each other on the lips. Inside, children are told why their mothers have breasts and shave their armpits, how smiley-faced sperm travel, how human beings prefer to lie on top of each other but dogs mate from behind, and what their father's penis looks like. The book for 11-year-olds shows a girl examining her genitals in a mirror, and explains about periods and the Pill. Van der Doef is a star in her country and her manuals have become classics. Dutch parents read them to their children at bedtime, for information and enjoyment. “Here sex is a normal daily part of life, like shopping or football. In England it is a joke,” says the author. “My books teach children what adults do when they love each other and how babies are created. Children as young as 4 should know if they were born by Caesarean section or after artificial insemination. It is vital to be honest.”
John van der Woning, the head of one of Amsterdam's leading schools, Willemspark, says: “We teach children about all sorts of sex. We have lots of homosexual teachers and they celebrated a marriage of two female teachers recently. But we also try to teach the older children about the darker side of sex, about prostitution and child abuse. It's important to be open about the world.”
At secondary school the sex education is formalised and children are shown how to use various types of contraceptive, how to have “safe and pleasurable sex”, the importance of responsibility and how to recognise the symptoms of sexually transmitted diseases.
This openness seems to work. In Britain the average teenager loses his or her virginity at 16 - more than a year before the Dutch average of 17.7 years. About 93 per cent of young people in the Netherlands use contraception, compared with 53 per cent in Britain. A study of teenagers in both countries found that while boys and girls in the Netherlands gave “love and commitment” as the main reason for losing their virginity, boys in Britain cited peer pressure and physical attraction.
But Laura Watts, a British mother who has lived in the Netherlands for the past ten years, thinks that the lower rate of teenage pregnancy there may have more to do with family structure than with sex education. Dutch children are five times less likely to be living in a family headed by a lone parent, divorce rates are far lower and fewer mothers are in full-time employment.
“I think my eight-year-old son has probably learnt more about sex from David Attenborough than from school,” she says. “It is the family that makes the difference. Parents leave the office by 5pm in Holland and eat dinner with their children at 6pm. They then watch TV or play sport together, so they tend to be closer to their children and can guide them to do the right thing.”
Trudie, a fashion stylist, has always talked about sex with her daughter. When, at 16, her daughter asked her what sperm looked like, Trudie asked her husband to provide a sample. “My daughter walks past sex shops every day, the family watches sex scenes together on television and we try to be as open as possible. It's not considered smutty, as it is in England.”
Henny de Barbarison, a teacher at De Burght School, agrees: “My 18-year-old son still walks around the house naked - that's healthy. Everyone here is more relaxed.” Her female students are taught about “lover boys” who flirt with girls just to have sex with them, then pressurise them to sleep with other members of their group. Male students are taught about homosexual sex. There are no “no-go areas”.
Another reason why the teenage pregnancy rate is so low may be that in the Netherlands there is still a stigma attached to having a child before the age of 20. In Britain, a baby who can offer unconditional love, a free home away from parents and a cheque every month is not considered a disaster for a teenage girl. The Dutch Government still penalises single mothers under 18, who are expected to live with their parents if they become pregnant. Until six years ago the Government gave them no financial support.
Dutch children are taught that getting pregnant in their teens is a barrier to success. “I'm not prepared to risk messing up my life. I am strong enough to wait,” says Ruby, 12. “I want to be 19 and in love before I have sex,” says her friend Grace. Julia, 11, says: “My mother's best friend is gay, my hairdresser is gay, half my family seem to be gay. It's not an issue.” Children in their final year of primary school have not been shielded from anything, but their teachers have continually reinforced the message that sex is about love and commitment. The pupils all agree that they will not sleep with anyone until they have finished secondary school and are in a serious relationship.
Vanessa Storm de Grave, a mother of four who works part-time for a publishing company, thinks that her compatriots may be more responsible about sex than the British because the Netherlands is a more religious country. “The family is very important here,” she says. “Almost no mothers work full time; they see their main role as educating their children.
“I hope I will teach my eldest son how to become a responsible man by example, but I tell him anything he wants to know. I have talked about homosexuality and why it means that you can't have babies, but he is more interested in sport.”
Doortje Braeker, a Dutch mother who works in Britain for the International Planned Parenthood Federation, says: “We are not scared of young people being sexually active and we want to make sure that their first experiences are safe and pleasurable. We are a Calvinist country so it is important that we don't have too many abortions, but the postwar generation also wants to have fun.”
Braeker was shocked when she first came to Britain. “Young girls here seem to have babies to prove that they are adults. In the Netherlands it would just prove how uneducated and naive you are,” she says. “There you can have a boy as a friend, here it's almost always about sex.” Mena Laura Meyer, who produced the seven-part documentary series Sexy for Dutch TV last year, says that sex education is the least relevant aspect of the country's success. “All the children I talked to were quite dismissive about their sex education at school,” she says. “They appreciated knowing how to put on a condom but were more interested in the emotional than the physical side of sex.”
Her series, which addressed every issue from anal sex to S&M, was watched by more than a quarter of Dutch households. “All you watch in Britain are your soaps, which are all about single mums, and your wildlife documentaries, which just cover penguins mating,” she says. “Sex and relationships aren't government issues. Until the British can sit down together and watch programmes about masturbation and birth, you will never have a healthy attitude to sex.”
In Britain the Government has decided that schools must bear responsibility for sex education. Jim Knight, the Schools Minister, insists that from 2010 schools must make time for the new personal, social and health education (PSHE) syllabus. Children aged 5 to 7 will learn about feelings; those aged 8 to 11 will be taught about the biological aspects of sex. At secondary school they will learn about contraception and sexually transmitted diseases.
But maybe it's up to parents. Perhaps we should all be buying our toddlers Mummy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole, leaving condoms around the house, as one Dutch mother suggests, “to prompt discussions”, and sitting down to supper each evening to discuss our relationships. One colleague attempted this, and her 12-year-old son asked her “how many positions are there?” in front of the babysitter. My eight-year-old asked me if it was more painful to wax my legs than to give birth. But after my few days in the Netherlands, my children now understand where babies come from. It has marred the beginning of Dumbo when the storks come down from the clouds, but I hope it will turn them into more responsible adults.
Maybe, instead of expecting schools to teach children morality and the missionary position, the British should adopt a few other Dutch lessons. Employers could encourage staff to go home at 5pm for a family supper, parents could discuss contraception with their children, and the BBC could ask David Attenborough to turn his attention to human reproduction.
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(Printed 24/11/08)
Sunday 8 February 2009
Lib Dem support goes up, Labour support goes down!
Good news in this morning's lastest opinion poll in the Daily Telegraph newspaper.
Labour's support amoungst the masses has fallen to its lowest since Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling's bail-out of the banks.
Whilst at the same time, Liberal Democrat support has shot up from 16% to 22% - showing that more people are turning to the Lib Dems for real solutions to the financial mess we are in.
People just don't trust this government anymore. They were elected in 1997 on the promise of real change and a fairer society. But look what's happened - the gap between rich and poor is now wider than it was under Thatcher and Brown has allowed rich cats in the City of London to pay, proportionally, less tax than every one else.
Let's hope at the next General Election people really tell Labour what they think of them.
To read today's article in the Daily Telegraph visit: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/labour/4548307/Labours-support-falls-to-lowest-level-since-bail-out.html
Labour's support amoungst the masses has fallen to its lowest since Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling's bail-out of the banks.
Whilst at the same time, Liberal Democrat support has shot up from 16% to 22% - showing that more people are turning to the Lib Dems for real solutions to the financial mess we are in.
People just don't trust this government anymore. They were elected in 1997 on the promise of real change and a fairer society. But look what's happened - the gap between rich and poor is now wider than it was under Thatcher and Brown has allowed rich cats in the City of London to pay, proportionally, less tax than every one else.
Let's hope at the next General Election people really tell Labour what they think of them.
To read today's article in the Daily Telegraph visit: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/labour/4548307/Labours-support-falls-to-lowest-level-since-bail-out.html
Friday 6 February 2009
Tories (still) in disarray on Europe - 6th Feb '09
The Conservatives still can’t decide where they will sit in Europe!
Readers may remember that David Cameron pledged in 2005 to withdraw British Conservatives from the European Conservative political grouping in the European Parliament. The European Conservatives are the largest political group in the Parliament. Leaving the group would mean a serious loss of influence for British Conservative MEPs who, not surprisingly, are split on the issue.
Now Cameron has said he is going to wait until after the European elections on 4th June this year before deciding whether or not to pull out.
The president of the Group in the European Parliament, Wilfried Martens, has said he wants Cameron to make up his mind before the election campaign starts in April.
However ‘The Parliament’ magazine points out that “any signal by Cameron before the European elections that Conservative MEPs might stay in the EPP-ED (Euro Conservatives) group would infuriate eurosceptics within his party and likely damage the Tory vote in June”.
While Conservative MEPs waste time discussing where to ally themselves, Liberal Democrat MEPs have no such identity crisis. The Liberal group in the European Parliament is widely seen as one of the most forward thinking and hard-working forces in the EU, with British Liberal Democrat MEPs to the fore!
Readers may remember that David Cameron pledged in 2005 to withdraw British Conservatives from the European Conservative political grouping in the European Parliament. The European Conservatives are the largest political group in the Parliament. Leaving the group would mean a serious loss of influence for British Conservative MEPs who, not surprisingly, are split on the issue.
Now Cameron has said he is going to wait until after the European elections on 4th June this year before deciding whether or not to pull out.
The president of the Group in the European Parliament, Wilfried Martens, has said he wants Cameron to make up his mind before the election campaign starts in April.
However ‘The Parliament’ magazine points out that “any signal by Cameron before the European elections that Conservative MEPs might stay in the EPP-ED (Euro Conservatives) group would infuriate eurosceptics within his party and likely damage the Tory vote in June”.
While Conservative MEPs waste time discussing where to ally themselves, Liberal Democrat MEPs have no such identity crisis. The Liberal group in the European Parliament is widely seen as one of the most forward thinking and hard-working forces in the EU, with British Liberal Democrat MEPs to the fore!
Saturday 24 January 2009
UK Youth Parliament Elections
This Thursday teenagers right across Bath and North East Somerset will have the chance to vote for the person they want to represent them in the UK Youth Parliament.
Now in its 8th year, the UK Youth Parliament is a growing body with represenatives from every Council authority in the United Kingdom.
Here in B&NES we have twenty young people that have put their names forward as candidates (you can view the manifestos here: www.dafby.co.uk) - of which all are extremely skilled and very capable of representing their peers.
For me, it's a great priviledge to have been asked to spend the day at my former school, Writhlington, manning the polling station and trying to encourage as many of the pupils to vote as possible.
More so, because it was with the UK Youth Parliament that I started my political life in 2001 - under the banner of the popular young people's campaign group - DAFBY (Democratic Action for B&NES Youth). Still going strong with almost 40 members, DAFBY is a place that allows young people to learn more about the political process, to take part in the decision-making-processes, and to learn new skills in self-confidence and team-building.
If you are aged 11-18, there is a very good chance you will see a polling station in your school on Thursday. If you do, please go and vote - it can make all the difference!
Now in its 8th year, the UK Youth Parliament is a growing body with represenatives from every Council authority in the United Kingdom.
Here in B&NES we have twenty young people that have put their names forward as candidates (you can view the manifestos here: www.dafby.co.uk) - of which all are extremely skilled and very capable of representing their peers.
For me, it's a great priviledge to have been asked to spend the day at my former school, Writhlington, manning the polling station and trying to encourage as many of the pupils to vote as possible.
More so, because it was with the UK Youth Parliament that I started my political life in 2001 - under the banner of the popular young people's campaign group - DAFBY (Democratic Action for B&NES Youth). Still going strong with almost 40 members, DAFBY is a place that allows young people to learn more about the political process, to take part in the decision-making-processes, and to learn new skills in self-confidence and team-building.
If you are aged 11-18, there is a very good chance you will see a polling station in your school on Thursday. If you do, please go and vote - it can make all the difference!
Monday 12 January 2009
Sick Tory Activist
I was sickened by the news last week that a youth activist in the Tory Party dressed up as the missing 4-year old Madeliene McCann at a fancy dress party.
What made it even worse is, as well as wearing pink pyjamas and holding a cuddly toy, he painted fake blood onto his face - implying to be the victim of some sort of abuse.
This could be the kind of behaviour we would expect from fascists - but not a member of a mainstream political party that obviously had ambitions to progress up the political ladder.
Anyone who didn't see story can find out more here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7820727.stm
What made it even worse is, as well as wearing pink pyjamas and holding a cuddly toy, he painted fake blood onto his face - implying to be the victim of some sort of abuse.
This could be the kind of behaviour we would expect from fascists - but not a member of a mainstream political party that obviously had ambitions to progress up the political ladder.
Anyone who didn't see story can find out more here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7820727.stm
Friday 2 January 2009
People of the Year Awards
I am extremely pleased to have been a runner-up in the Politician of the Year category of the first every People of the Year Awards.
This new venture of the Bath Chronicle is a great way to recognise and pay tribute to various people who have, over the past 12 months, worked hard in their communities, work places and particular fields of study.
It brings a smile to my face to see people like Tim & Sharon Ball, Julie Peacock and Nicholas Coombes listed. They have all made their mark during 2008. I agree completely with the Editor's recognition of Nicholas Coombes - he is definately an MP in the making. Watch this space!
I would personally like to thank Editor Sam Holliday and his team for listing me in the Politician of the Year category. My work in Peasedown St John is for the good of my constituents and I get a genuine buzz out of serving others.
Happy New Year!
This new venture of the Bath Chronicle is a great way to recognise and pay tribute to various people who have, over the past 12 months, worked hard in their communities, work places and particular fields of study.
It brings a smile to my face to see people like Tim & Sharon Ball, Julie Peacock and Nicholas Coombes listed. They have all made their mark during 2008. I agree completely with the Editor's recognition of Nicholas Coombes - he is definately an MP in the making. Watch this space!
I would personally like to thank Editor Sam Holliday and his team for listing me in the Politician of the Year category. My work in Peasedown St John is for the good of my constituents and I get a genuine buzz out of serving others.
Happy New Year!
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