Adam Brown

Sitting at the bottom of the political spectrum as I do I have to admit it is becoming slightly annoying to have the entire structure brought into disrespect by our colleagues in Westminster. Out delivering leaflets last week I was met by the usual comments "What's the point!", "You're all the same." and the old favourite "You're all just in it for what you can get!" I have to admit that this last one annoys me the most. as one of several Councillors on Crawley Borough Council who has not claimed any expenses I get a bit upset by people assuming that we are all on the gravy train. (There are many part time jobs I could do for more money and less hassle.) However it is hard to argue with their findings when day after day the press are jammed with stories about expenses and allowances which although not illegal struggle to be seen as ethical.

If it is not claiming your second home as the large country house whilst your main residence is the back room of your sisters flat, or having your second home ten miles from your main home. It is 88p bath plugs and movies to relieve "loneliness" the problem is that the longer this goes on then the more damage is being done to politics as a whole, it may be ok to finish up in Westminster and then head home to one of your houses behind the security gates but for those of us on the doorstep it is getting beyond a joke.

I would like to see the following changes to the expenses of MP's.

• 1) Second homes should all be in London (The constituency home should be the first) and only for MP's with over an hours commute.
• 2) These homes will be up to a maximum value and brought outright by the state, when their term is up the state will either pass the property to a new MP or sell it and add any profit to the exchequer.
• 3) All MP's Costs to be managed centrally, Give all MP's Corporate cards with all bills being sent centrally to parliament for payment, obviously with controls over what can be brought, nothing that is not brought with the card will be reimbursed.
• 4) One office in each constituency to be brought by the state and given to whomever the sitting MP is. All bills to be paid centrally.
• 5) Secretaries and Aides to come from a central pool of civil servants not family members.

Until these basic steps are followed there is no way that we can expect to start building up the faith of the electorate a faith that without which we lose the legitimacy to rule at any level from Parish Council to European Union, it is time we remember that with Great Power comes Great Responsibility!

As for the Scuffle that is of cause a reference to the fight that broke out in the palace of Westminster, Nick Farrari of LBC spoke this morning of how it was another example of the disrespectful actions of our current MP's however it would appear to actually be the actions of Journalists so I guess it was his people and not ours after all.

I was wondering if there would be anything of political signifigance happening today, There are apparently some changes taking place in America which I guess would count. Of cause today is the day that America welcomes it's first black president, and while I think it is a good thing I do worry that too much is being made of the colour of his skin, whilst he may well be of mixed race parenting surely the fact that President Obama is the best person for the job and possibly the best figure to deliever a small amount of hope to a country that has been desperatly doubting itself seems to be in danger of being forgotten.

This starting me thinking about The UK, a search of BBC news on Tolerant Society brings up a myriad of articles asking if the UK is a racist society the good news is that each report seems to conclude that the UK is less racist than it used to be and as these range from 1998 to 2008 it can be assumed that we are showing not just progress but continued progress over a long period of time, although I doubt that we will ever fully irradicate racism in my life time I do foresee a time when it is so socially unaccaptable it will have very little impact on peoples lives.

However the title of this piece asks if the uK has become too tolerant, which I guess I should try to justify, whilst I am always ready to get into a debate about the stupidity of Racism and intolerance one thing that I, like most people, shy away from is our seeming over tolerance, It was revealed yesterday that 20,000 sex offences are recorded against children everyday, lets not forget how many are not being recorded. Just a few months after the details of Baby P were revealed we are again shocked to hear how at risk the children of our country are, however whilst after Baby P the fury of the british public focused on the head of Child Services I think perhaps the real villans are being over looked, We have become so tolerant, protective of everyones right to have a child regardless of how unfit they may be, and the price is that we have children being abused and dying all over our country whilst all teh while we are too scared of any back lash to stand up and say enough is enough. Enough making child birth a valid career plan, Enough relying on the government as the only protector of our young and Enough expecting teachers to be solely responsible for our childrens upbringing - they should be there for the facts, everything else is the parents responsibility!

Perhaps it is time we stopped saying to people, it's ok, whatever you do we will sort it out and started to say - These are your responsibilities, you sort it out.

A few weeks ago I wrote about my idea for a complete overhaul of the political system, and after a wide ranging debate (three comments is a record for me even if one was just telling me I was wrong - thanks Gordon) and I promised to elaborate shortly, but as always life took over and I haven't had time to come back on it, luckily as my car has been "off the road" for a few days I have had ample time sat on busses to think about it again so here goes with an elaboration on my "single tier" model of Governance.  

I have already mentioned a couple of points

Step 1:  Dissolve parliament in its current form.

Step 2: Create single unit politicians who directly influence the world around them.

Now to illustrate the rest of the model I will use Crawley Borough Council as a template mainly as I obviously know it better than other councils.

Basically I would create a range of "super councillors" who could deal with all spheres of public life and in turn be held accountable for all actions within their wards. This new "Super Council" Will most likely function very similar to our current executive led model with the executive either chosen by the other councillors or via direct election, (Currently we elect our council by thirds so in stead of the 4^th year being council elections they could be executive elections.)

I envisage a slightly bigger executive with varied portfolios.

1. Leader (Chair of the executive)
2. Leisure and Culture (Leisure Facilities, Parks, Art, Public Art, Grass & Tree Maintenance)
3. Community Engagement (Community Pride, Interfaith Networks, Equality, Charitable Grants)
4. Forward Planning (Multiyear Planning, Long Term Projections, Business Liaisons, Shared Services)
5. Tax & Efficiency (Taxes, Internal Audit, Process Management, Benefits)
6. Transport (Roads and Parking, Busses, Trains, Airports)
7. Infrastructure (Waste Disposal, Recycling, Development Control, Housing, Estates and Assets)
8. Health and Safety (GP's, Hospitals, Ambulances, Fire Brigade)
9. Education (Schools, Colleges, Library, Museum)  
10.  Sheriff (Police, Courts, Prisons, Licensing, Traffic)

Along with this are two other positions, one the Mayor as the ceremonial head of the council and a second is the Parliamentary Representative.

The Parliamentary representatives would obviously represent the council in parliament, basically I still see a need a for Parliament for I do not believe it would be in the best interest of anyone for independent councils to raise their own armies, and similarly there are several other areas where a unified "nationwide" outlook would be more suitable.

I would therefore suggest a much reduced government to encourage better working between these "Super Councils" with Representatives chosen for the following roles.

1. First Representative (The Head of State)
2. Foreign Secretary (Foreign Relations, Intelligence)
3. High Sheriff (National Police Co-operation, Internal Security)
4. Human Rights (Appeals Court, Monitoring Human Rights)
5. Commander in Chief (Air Force, Navy, Army)
6. Scientific Research (Dedicated Research for the Benefit of Society)
7. Chancellor of the Exchequer (Interest Rates, National Tax)

The main changes I would therefore make to sustain this model are a change from a Council Tax to a National Tax, with all other taxes diverted to the Council level, each person with a much smaller base of representation and greater responsibilities, therefore being able to influence more directly and being easier to hold account for inaction.

The Sheriff would have direct control over the local police force, something that is currently not done, The Sheriff could therefore decide what level of Crime is acceptable, if people want him to crack down on crime he will be able to but the taxes will go up to deal with the increase in prison/courts costs. If the neighbouring council want lower taxes and take a more lenient stance they will have to deal with people going over there to commit their crimes, but the important thing is that everyone will have a much greater input into the decisions. Unlike the situation we have at the moment where people feel they have no control over the decisions taken a long way away and completely un-accountable.

Anyway, I have prattled on enough, any responses would be great, and I will write a bit more at a later date.

on the way into work this morning i heard on the radio that they were considering giving prisoners compensation for stopping them taking drugs in prison 'nice try' I thought and assumed they where just trying their luck, and then I read this on the BBC. I know there is more to it than simply stopping them taking drugs and from everything I have been told going cold turkey is hell, but are we not on a dangerously steep slope when we let prisoners sue for the right to take drugs inside. I may have an old world look on the world, but I believe Prison is supposed to be bad (I'm not saying sleep in the corner, fight to the death bad, but with restricted personal freedom.) there have been times that I have been talking to my friends inside and I have wondered why it was supposed to be a bad thing! (of cause this was an open prison for a mild offence.)  

The Human Rights act was a very important piece of legislation and to give everyone Human Rights is essential to the formation of a well balanced society. but we never here talk of Human Responsibilities, it is not a one way street and to have Human Rights should come with a responsibility to the Human Rights of others. 

Well this has not been the most active of weeks as far as council life has taken me, I am finishing the last touches on my latest newsletter that I will hopefully start getting out next week. but I thought i would take the time to check my google raiting for my website and weblog.

I have a disadvantage with my name being Adam Brown any attempt to search under my name creates a large amount of results (and hence why my website is www.adamgbrown.com ) Adam Brown .com having gone a long time ago.

I finally found my website at place 314 meaning that you must sift through 32 pages of links if you are determined to find my site (Would any residents click through that many? I doubt it.) however the 31 pages I went through where quite interesting, amoung the highlights are a band called "The Adam Brown" with their lead singer Adam Brown, Photographer Adam Scott Brown, an Architect, Comedian Adam Selkirk-Brown, A Book called Fanatics by Adam Brown and a company called Adam G Brown who annoy me by being above me if you search for Adam G Brown as well. Other Adam Brown's include a Canadian Historian, A UCSD Political Science Student, a former mayor of pittsburgh, a Doctor of Aeronautics, A Sociology Professer at MMU and about 6 Lawyers. 

Seems to me that mine is name which leads itself to the Social Sciences so maybe I picked the right path after all. 

I do have other entries though including Crawley Conservatives Profile (208), My crawley Borough Council Profile (115) and this blog (11) and under Adam G Brown i come in at no. 5

Oh well, looks like my next mission will be to try and increase my web raiting, so if a resident is trying to find me they can.