So today I am going to take a sidestep from politics and refer to a topic, which has caused me to think of how our national pride and identity may have suffered two damaging blows in the space of 24 hours. First we will focus on what has turned into the main trending topic on Twitter, involving American R&B singer Kelis which had claimed she was racially abused and discriminated against at Gatwick airport when she jumped the queue at passport control.
This is where it is claimed that a man took offence to the queue jumping and according to Kelis on her Twitter was alleged to of been called a "disgusting Nigerian" and "kunta kinte", which is a character from the slavery novel Roots by Alex Haley. This was said in front of Kelis's two-year old Son Knight and over 50 people also queuing at passport control. Over the course of today more details of the story have been released through Kelis's Twitter, which have included that the racist remarks seemed to have happened after the flight from Gatwick to Spain where Kelis has claimed that the man continued to call her a "slave" and obliged that she called him "sir", but this occured at passport control in Spain, not at Gatwick.
With all this information being released and the Home Office announcing they will take no action into the matter because the incident that took place was from a "member of the public" and because Kelis did not make a formal complaint. This could be seen as the Home Office following formal rules and regulations, but I think this is another example of an old fashioned way of thinking because even though it is only one individual it seems that we are trying to forget that any form of racism is wrong and should not be treated with contempt and should be treated with the most highest severity.
Then we can look at the other part of today's news that I feel has shown once again that sometimes Britain can be seen as part of the problem, even though we do help fight to bring a solution. Today was the beginning of events commemorating 10th anniversary of the United Nations World Conference on racism in South Africa and Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the UK would not be sending anyone over the commemorate the occasion and have "withdrawn" their invitation. This has been done due to the events of the original conference 10 years ago, which the Prime Minister felt was overshadowed by the immoral acts of "deplorable anti-semisitsm."
Now I fully agree with the Prime Minister when the conference took place days prior to the events of 9/11 and that the event was overshadowed by protests of Israel treatment of the Palestinians people by the Arab nations and the anti-semistic world of the draft documents, which led to the original withdrawal of the United States and Canada from the original conference, but the world has moved on since. I think that it would show a sign of unity that the UK agrees and joins the UN's stance on not tolerating any form of racism or abuse against human rights.
The conference has again been boycotted by the United States and Canada, as well as Australia, Italy and Israel, but the argument here is it a show of unity boycotting an event that was overshadowed by forms of racism or is it ignorance where these countries should be uniting in the continued fight against racism and equality across the world. It would show a sign that our government, as well as other are united in this cause and that any problems that the world face's is tackled in an united cause and not ignore the problem by boycotting an event.
We live in one of the most diverse multi-cultural societies in the world and racism is not something that is a problem with the majority, it is only the minority that cause this issue. What we need to realise those is sometimes it takes a twitter rant from a famous singer to spark an debate that will also be rife in society and I felt I needed to comment about something that gets on my nerves when you see something you want to speak up.
I am also not saying that the government do not tackle the problem of racism at home and abroad because we do, but I do not feel ignore chance to show a sign of united solidarity is the way to do it.
Tomorrow we will be back to normal with my political views of the day, but I just needed a forum to vent my opinion on something that is not right.
Kelis who today felt that the UK showed how they are "racially decades behind progression."
Showing posts with label David Cameron. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Cameron. Show all posts
Thursday, 15 September 2011
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
Have you seen the new map of the United Kingdom? It is painted Blue
Well it has been a long and turbulent summer and I thought it was finally time that I did a blog. With my impending role as Political Correspondent on Winchester News online drawing ever closer, today's events was the perfect excuse to begin my own form of political satire.
The General Election of 2015 will see the biggest change in the Commons in over a century. The proposed plans to slash the number of MPs by 50 to 600 in 2015 and will see each constituency have nearly the same number of voters. The proposals will see a radical shakeup in constituency boundaries with some seats being merged, some new seats being created and some lost altogether.
The proposed changes have seen some of the leading members of the Coalition Government positions come under threat. These include Chancellor George Osborne for the Conservatives, Business Secretary Vince Cable and Energy Minister Chris Huhne for the Liberal Democrats and Shadow Cabinet members Ed Balls and Tessa Jowell for Labour.
I will come back to the changes to the political landscape in the South later, but I would like to focus on one MP whose constituency boundaries have not changed, Prime Minister David Cameron. It is not surprising that the Prime Minister’s constituency, Witney is not affected by any of the changes proposed. However, it is The Liberal Democrats within the coalition government who are who are the worst affected in these changes. For the 77 MPs whose seats are not affected it is another day at the office, but for the remaining 583 MPs it is time to reapply for their own job.
Now let's take a closer look at how the proposed changes will affect the political landscape in the South. Across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight there will be many changes to political constituencies these will include the formation of the new seat for Hamble and Hedge End, as well as the lost seats of Romsey and Southampton North and Meon Valley to be replaced by the new constituencies of New Forest East and Romsey and Fareham and Horndean. This means that MPs like Caroline Noakes and George Hollingbery may lose their jobs. In the case where two political constituencies will merge into one, MPs who lose their seats will have the chance to contest to be representative of the newly formed constituency in the next General Election.
There are also MPs who will gain and lose political wards in the boundary change. These include the Eastleigh constituency, which is currently held by Chris Huhne. The changes will see Huhne lose nearly half the voters in the Eastleigh seat and will gain around 39,000 from the surrounding Southampton Itchen and Winchester constituencies. This has made Chris Huhne one of the MPs most at risk of losing their seats in the next General Election.
In Hampshire one of the major changes, which has baffled me, is the change to the structure of the two Southampton seats and the newly formed seat of Hamble and Hedge End. In my constituency of Southampton Itchen the proposed changes would see the loss of the Bitterne ward, which includes the Thornhill area Southampton and the inclusion of the Bevois ward.
This is where I feel the proposed changes will have a negative effect because it will see areas of the city being represented by a completely different area outside of the city boundary and with these changes will it mean that the next changes will be the boundaries to local councils and unitary authorities.
What is clear is that the bias, which has affected the political landscape of the United Kingdom for over half a century, has still not been changed. The pledge of the government to have a fairer boundary limit were all MPs constituencies would be represented by roughly the same amount of people has not been changed. The government has said that the changes will say £12 million a year but in reality it is the equivalent of a large-scale restructuring plan and Conservative corporate takeover.
MPs who are most at risk and are now staring defeat in the face will now have to decide whether to contest the proposed changes in the 12 week consultancy period up to the end of December or face having to reapply for a new constituency. However, this could see MPs moving to an area where they can beat their fellow colleague to a “safe seat."
If this is the case then I would advise that all Conservative MPs that Devon and Cornwall may be a nice place to move house from within the foreseeable future and any Labour MP that is looking to secure their job in the next General Election to set their Sat Nav to find the quickest route to Sunderland as soon as possible.
Within the next 12 weeks we will see arguing and moaning of every MP who feels that these changes could see them out of a job and joining the unemployment line. These changes were laid out to ensure there was a less biased political structure within the House of Commons, but it looks as if the real winners are the Conservatives who are likely to take a stranglehold within the House of Commons if the boundary commission's plans to England put in place.
If I was David Cameron then I would not be worried about losing his job at the next general election as it may be the case that the Conservatives will become the sole party in charge at 10 Downing Street. For many MPs today, their future may be summed up in the words of Conservative MP, Andrew Percy who has joked “I’m looking for a job.” If I were Andrew Percy, I would hope I’m not eating those words in a year’s time.
The futures bright, the future is Conservative... Possibly a steal of copyright, but this is what we could be waking up to the morning of the General Election in 2015.
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