So far, I have discussed what I think I can achieve on a local level in Battersea as your Independent local MP.
And in my 'specialist' four areas – Education, Health, Market Economy and The Media – I have provided an in-depth analysis of the professional skills and experience I would hope to achieve on a national level as your local independent MP.
I will now provide short answers as to where I stand on a number of other issues.
In my life, I am lucky not to have been the victim of serious crime.
However, my family has suffered from anti-social behaviour, and we know the culprits, so we understand the difficulty of taking them to task, or calling the authorities, because one is fearful of escalating the problem. I am sure this is a dilemma many of us have faced and it is a terrible indictment of society today.
My parents had their house robbed once. My dad didn’t care much about the stuff that got nicked. But he was distraught that his war medals and OBE were among the haul. How can any thief look at himself in the mirror with any self-dignity having in robbed a poor old man of such priceless possessions for the sake of a few quid? I just don’t understand it.
I am against the death penalty for domestic murders. Any of us who were living near Wandsworth and Clapham Commons following Rachel Nickell’s murder on Wimbledon Common in July 1992 must have felt a real sense of concern - and deep sympathy for her two-year-old son who was with her.
However, the way the police tried to frame Colin Stagg for this murder was an absolute disgrace and has compromised my feeling of trust in the police forever. For me, this was the death knell for capital punishment.
There may be a case for capital punishment for terrorist offences as indiscriminate acts of war. After all, you don’t hear many complaints about the hanging of Saddam Hussein. I would have to think carefully about this if asked to vote.
As for the Police, since I have started writing this manifesto, only a few short weeks before the General Election, a seven year old girl has been starved to death, a man has fathered nine children by repeatedly raping his own two daughters and a sad and vulnerable 64 year old man has been hounded to death after 10 years of harassment by local youths.
I have said that for most social issues, the Role of Government comes down to defining and ensuring freedom and protection. Nowhere is this more important than the local areas where we live.
I am not an expert in how the Social Services work in Battersea but I promise you that, if you vote for me as your MP, I soon will be. And I know I will identify new and creative insight to help overcome anti-social behaviour. It is a crime that people in our society can behave in this way.
Our flipping politicians have totally let us down in this area.
I fear that, in modern Britain, our housing system divides us as much as our education system. We are divided by the ‘private’ and ‘state’ sectors. As someone who has either paid rent or owned a house, I have always live in ‘private sector’ housing.
More recently, I have come to learn more about ‘public sector’ housing – and I am keen for a dialogue with the people of Battersea to examine whether or not the system is as fair as it should be.
I have an instinct, but no evidence, that there are people who ‘play the system’ to the detriment of others whose housing needs are far greater.
If you have any evidence of this, please contact me. It is a vitally important issue and one which I would very much like to address with more knowledge and evidence behind me.
Until he appeared at the Chilcot enquiry, I was prepared to give Tony Blair the benefit of the doubt in that, if he was convinced that the US were going into Iraq to get Saddam anyway (which they were), then he may have judged that by going in alongside Bush, he would have avoided a USA vs Europe clash (which is just what Al Qaeda would have wanted).
As we now know this was not the case, I feel more let down than the rest of you – but hope I have contributed to a more speedy outcome, and an earlier withdrawal of troops, by my media proposals above.
I believe that tax should not be so onerous as to discourage a healthy free market economy but should be sufficient to deliver ‘front-line’ services.
Businesses need the freedom to make profits and thrive. The Role of Government is to set tax levels that will encourage legal, free enterprise in such a way that Government can protect for the poor, the old, the sick, the disabled and the ‘underclass’ that divides our society.
Before the banking crisis, I believe we had the taxation balance about right – except we spent too much in the good times which has left us short of cash for the bad times. This is not a party political point. It is the truth.
I believe Britain should be a self-governing nation state within a free enterprise, trading co-operative with our neighbours in Europe.
I do have one insight here which is that, if we do ever have to join the Euro, all this would mean would be ‘pegging’ our currency to the Euro.
We would not have to throw away the pound. In The Bahamas, where the Bahamian dollar is pegged to the US dollar, both Bahamas and US currency exist and are used side-by side.
If ever we do enter the Euro zone, we would have to make sure we went in at a favourable exchange rate, which is certainly not now.
I am in line with the majority thinking on the environment, although the society cannot be governed on a totally ‘green’ agenda. The ‘haves’ may think we can live this way but the ‘have nots’ know we can’t.
The priority is to identify and minimise waste.
I recently joined the much-despised people in London who drive a 4x4 car. This decision was taken because I am disabled by chronic back pain and it is easier for me to get in an out of one of these cars. I would rather have bought a car that was more environmentally friendly (and cheaper).
Chewing gum on pavements is really annoying. I believe chewing gum manufactures should provide wrapping for every ‘pastel’ and urge their customers to us this to discard chewing gum less selfishly.
Sir Alex Ferguson, I’m marking you!
Lastly, we need more waste re-cycling points in Battersea. The queues for the tip in Smugglers Way are ridiculous, especially just when you need them. This seems to be a seasonal issue, so the tip needs to be open for longer hours at these times of year.
I am lucky to have come from a close family and to be a happily married husband and father.
Others are not so lucky, but I do not think is it the ‘Role of Government’ to massage the tax system with a view to socially engineering marriage. What if you are a widow – or your husband beat you up?
‘Family’ is not just Mum and Dad. As we know from other cultures, family is a much wider support group, including friends and neighbours.
I do not mind carrying an ID card. In fact, I think it might be quite useful. But I do not believe it is the ‘Role of Government’ to force people to do so.
In my late teens, a farmer friend invited me shooting. I shot a pigeon but when I approached where it had landed, I saw I had not killed it and had to blow its brains out. I did not enjoy this experience and vowed never to shoot again. So I haven’t.
I do not think is it the ‘Role of Government’ to ban people from traditional countryside pursuits although I do hope that, over time, social awareness will be such that we do not kill animals for sport.
I am happy to talk to Battersea people, and Wandsworth Council, to sound out opinions on urban foxes. They make a mess and smell. But I don’t want to shoot one.
That would be the end.
