To start with a bit of biography.
I was born in 1945 in Ashton under Lyne.
My Father was still in the RAF and my Mother brought me home to the house that they had somehow managed to buy in Crossland Road, Droylsden, Manchester.
She was not a single mother but for two years until he was demobilised she saw little of my Father and relied on the support of her Mother who lived just round the corner in High Street.
At the end of Crossland Road was a Mill.
Saxon Mill was built in 1906 for the Saxon Mill Company, it was a large four story building 18 bays long and 14 bays wide and was built of Accrington Brick with some Sandstone detailing.
Amongst my earliest memories was of the noise of the Mill Workers rushing down Crossland Road for the start of their shift, their clogs and heavy shoes drumming on the pavement disturbing my sleep.
Our days were punctuated by the sound of the Mill's hooter declaring the start and end of the shifts each day.
By the time my family moved across Manchester to Gorton, the Mill was still working and employed fifty three people, it no longer wove Cotton as it had switched to Rayon in the 1950's.
My Father died in 2014 in Australia where he was living with his second wife.
After the funeral my sister and I repatriated his ashes and interred them in the family grave in Droylsden.
I took my family to see the house in Crossland Road and was astonished to see that there was no trace of the Mill which had dominated the view from our house and in its place stood a modern housing estate.
For me this is just one example of the changes that have transformed the world, the spinning and weaving of cotton was exported along with manufacturing generally, as part of a long transition in the process of what we now call, globalisation.
Recently I needed a new part for my Motorcycle which is itself a 'grey' import from either Japan where it was manufactured or America, I bought the part on eBay (where I bought the bike) and it is being shipped, free, from China.
For my Father who swapped his RAF uniform for the uniform of a Manchester Corporation bus driver the changes which led him to swapping his home in Manchester for his new home in Perth, WA, were in 1947 when he was demobilised, unimaginable, yet they happened and the process continues and so it would seem to me that the changes that I have experienced in my lifetime will also continue to influence the futures not only of my children but my grandchildren also.
It is clear also that the underlying engine of GDP which drives Capitalism forward will also continue to change and transform peoples lives unless Capitalism can be checked. As average wages decline the rewards claimed by those who Chair Boards and manage companies increase exponentially so inequality increases. As the present British Government continues to privatise the national assets which were introduced in 1945 offering opportunities to their supporters to maximise profits at the expense of the majority of individuals, so the risk of deepening inequality continues with all the attendant socio-economic risks, as we move from a manufacturing economy to an economy predicated on increasing personal indebtedness.
Essentially the swapping of public debt for personal debt is the essential project which underpins austerity it is a 'political' choice.
I am essentially disenfranchised because I choose to live in a constituency where with the best will in the world my vote counts for nothing because the local MP who represents my constituency will always be re-elected if the other parties persist in standing in opposition, not to the Conservative candidate, but to each other.
With the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party I begin to see an opportunity for a new kind of politics, a politics of hope.
We need a progressive, anti-austerity alliance to emerge in order that in 2020 we can look toward the real possibility of a Government governing in the interests of the 99% rather than the 1%, a government that can occupy the public square in the interests of people offering peace, security and equality.
To demonstrate how this might happen in my constituency of Penrith and the Borders I started with the figures:
This safe seat has been held by the Conservatives since the 1920's
In 2015 Rory Stewart polled 26202 votes or 59.7% of votes cast..
Labour came second with 6308 or 14.4% of the vote, so far so bad.
Given the general collapse of the Liberal vote nationally, only a few years ago they came second in this constituency, it is wiser to count the votes of all the main parties including UKIP who whilst not a progressive party may to some extent include an anti austerity impulse and there were 'other' candidates who secured another 5% of the vote or 2303.
The results in total then, were Conservative 26202, others 20202, still not a progressive victory in fact Mr Stewart could well be seen to be both safe and secure in 2012.
But that is not the whole of the story.
In 2011 the Boundary Commission estimated the Electorate Figures for the Constituency as 65234 suggesting that some 21313 of the electorate either chose not to vote, were unable to vote or felt that voting was simply a waste of time.
If those who chose not to vote voted in the same percentage proportion as those who did vote then again Mr Stewart would be home and dry. But it is not unreasonable to imagine that would not be the case, because like me those who chose not to vote might have felt disenfranchised.
If the 21313 could be persuaded to vote or if indeed 7000 could, and if they voted for a progressive anti austerity party then Penrith and the Borders my not be such a safe Conservative seat and Mr Stewart might be looking for new employment in 2020.
I was born in 1945 in Ashton under Lyne.
My Father was still in the RAF and my Mother brought me home to the house that they had somehow managed to buy in Crossland Road, Droylsden, Manchester.
She was not a single mother but for two years until he was demobilised she saw little of my Father and relied on the support of her Mother who lived just round the corner in High Street.
At the end of Crossland Road was a Mill.
Saxon Mill was built in 1906 for the Saxon Mill Company, it was a large four story building 18 bays long and 14 bays wide and was built of Accrington Brick with some Sandstone detailing.
Amongst my earliest memories was of the noise of the Mill Workers rushing down Crossland Road for the start of their shift, their clogs and heavy shoes drumming on the pavement disturbing my sleep.
Our days were punctuated by the sound of the Mill's hooter declaring the start and end of the shifts each day.
By the time my family moved across Manchester to Gorton, the Mill was still working and employed fifty three people, it no longer wove Cotton as it had switched to Rayon in the 1950's.
My Father died in 2014 in Australia where he was living with his second wife.
After the funeral my sister and I repatriated his ashes and interred them in the family grave in Droylsden.
I took my family to see the house in Crossland Road and was astonished to see that there was no trace of the Mill which had dominated the view from our house and in its place stood a modern housing estate.
For me this is just one example of the changes that have transformed the world, the spinning and weaving of cotton was exported along with manufacturing generally, as part of a long transition in the process of what we now call, globalisation.
Recently I needed a new part for my Motorcycle which is itself a 'grey' import from either Japan where it was manufactured or America, I bought the part on eBay (where I bought the bike) and it is being shipped, free, from China.
For my Father who swapped his RAF uniform for the uniform of a Manchester Corporation bus driver the changes which led him to swapping his home in Manchester for his new home in Perth, WA, were in 1947 when he was demobilised, unimaginable, yet they happened and the process continues and so it would seem to me that the changes that I have experienced in my lifetime will also continue to influence the futures not only of my children but my grandchildren also.
It is clear also that the underlying engine of GDP which drives Capitalism forward will also continue to change and transform peoples lives unless Capitalism can be checked. As average wages decline the rewards claimed by those who Chair Boards and manage companies increase exponentially so inequality increases. As the present British Government continues to privatise the national assets which were introduced in 1945 offering opportunities to their supporters to maximise profits at the expense of the majority of individuals, so the risk of deepening inequality continues with all the attendant socio-economic risks, as we move from a manufacturing economy to an economy predicated on increasing personal indebtedness.
Essentially the swapping of public debt for personal debt is the essential project which underpins austerity it is a 'political' choice.
I am essentially disenfranchised because I choose to live in a constituency where with the best will in the world my vote counts for nothing because the local MP who represents my constituency will always be re-elected if the other parties persist in standing in opposition, not to the Conservative candidate, but to each other.
With the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party I begin to see an opportunity for a new kind of politics, a politics of hope.
We need a progressive, anti-austerity alliance to emerge in order that in 2020 we can look toward the real possibility of a Government governing in the interests of the 99% rather than the 1%, a government that can occupy the public square in the interests of people offering peace, security and equality.
To demonstrate how this might happen in my constituency of Penrith and the Borders I started with the figures:
This safe seat has been held by the Conservatives since the 1920's
In 2015 Rory Stewart polled 26202 votes or 59.7% of votes cast..
Labour came second with 6308 or 14.4% of the vote, so far so bad.
Given the general collapse of the Liberal vote nationally, only a few years ago they came second in this constituency, it is wiser to count the votes of all the main parties including UKIP who whilst not a progressive party may to some extent include an anti austerity impulse and there were 'other' candidates who secured another 5% of the vote or 2303.
The results in total then, were Conservative 26202, others 20202, still not a progressive victory in fact Mr Stewart could well be seen to be both safe and secure in 2012.
But that is not the whole of the story.
In 2011 the Boundary Commission estimated the Electorate Figures for the Constituency as 65234 suggesting that some 21313 of the electorate either chose not to vote, were unable to vote or felt that voting was simply a waste of time.
If those who chose not to vote voted in the same percentage proportion as those who did vote then again Mr Stewart would be home and dry. But it is not unreasonable to imagine that would not be the case, because like me those who chose not to vote might have felt disenfranchised.
If the 21313 could be persuaded to vote or if indeed 7000 could, and if they voted for a progressive anti austerity party then Penrith and the Borders my not be such a safe Conservative seat and Mr Stewart might be looking for new employment in 2020.
