Snow, my accident and the NHS
The year started off as it finished with the most snow we have seen in many a year. With half witted headlines like this:
It did make life difficult for us all and made getting about difficult, especially as many councils were woefully in prepared and did not have the grit reserves required to keep the snow clear.
The snow also resulted in me having a bad accident on my bike. Cross a bridge a skidded on some ice and landed on my right elbow breaking my arm in 4 places. After being rushed off to hospital I was operated on and had pins inserted into my arm, so it now looks something like this:
Unfortunately during the operation my lung collapsed and I ended up in a high dependency unit leading to a 5 day stay in hospital. My arm will never be the same again, although hopefully will be a bit more comfortable once part of it is removed next month, a year after the accident.
This was my first real experience of a hospital, and found York District Hospital to be professional from the ambulance to the post-op physio. It is clear they all work under a lot of pressure and those who criticise clearly have little understanding of the many demands on staff time. I sincerely hope that the improvements Labour have made to the NHS over the past 13 years are now not going to be unravelled by the ConDem root and branch re-organization. I do however have grave concerns as I laid out in previous blog entries this year on the NHS.
My injury along with the continuing pains I have from a pinched nerve in my neck have pretty much put an end to my cycling, and 16 years I have finally purchased a car again. I would rather have not, but there is no public transport where I live, so was left with little choice.
From Green to Labour
In May I voted Labour for the first time since 2001 as I had confidence in Gordon Brown's economic skills, and greatly feared what my result from a Tory or ConDem government, which unfortunately I am now placed to say 'I told you so' to all those who voted Lib Dem.
Gordon Brown had help re-build my confidence in Labour after the appalling actions of Blair. He wasn't perfect and unfortunately didn't come across well in the media, but I feel in years to come Brown will be acknowledged to have made the right moves when it came to the economy. Where as like Antony Eden and Suez, Blair will only be remembered for Iraq.
I won't go into the details again as to why I left the Green Party, as they are outlined in my original post. There are still many things I agree with them on, and respect many of the activists, particularly those in Green Left. The only areas I fundamentally disagree with them is mainly around Science and the Food Industry, particularly their opposition to GM. But if I am to be honest, my main reason for joining the Greens was because they were anti-war, and although I of course believe in climate change and reducing consumption I feel these are not the only major issues to be focusing on and that the majority of the public just do not buy the Green manifesto and feel my time and effort is better spent working to get Labour back in power at the earliest opportunity, rather than working against them.
When I joined Labour in May along with tens of thousand of other new members we were immediately faced with a leadership election. I supported the Ed Miliband campaign and was very pleased to see him elected. I feel Ed was the fresh start we needed. Only getting Labour elected will help put a stop to the devastating changes faces the country's public services, and urge every to get involved and join the party.
I remain a Parish Councillor in Heslington, now in my fourth year and plan to stand again next May. I will be putting most of my time into helping David Levene take the Heslington council seat from Labour, which I believe is an achievable target. Visit his site at http://www.yorklabour.org.uk/people/davidlevene.php
Heslington now has a new website, which I maintain. Thank you to Matthew Clements for designing and hosting the site.
The Cuts and the Con Dem government
Even in my wildest imagination did I expect the horrific vandalism planned for the public services by the Tories. From near privatisation of the NHS, to free schools, to extreme funding cuts, to universities resulting in trebling of tuition fees to hundreds of thousands of public sector redundancies. This is a shameful attack on the public sector which has more to do with right wing ideology than dealing with the deficit, and it is shameful that the Lib Dems are propping up this Tory Government.
I urge everyone to become active in their trade unions and local anti-cuts groups, as we cannot stand by and our public services get trashed by the government.
I am involved in York Stop the Cuts and am also a delegate to York Trades Union Council and will be spending the next few years campaigning against these cuts and help build for the national demonstration in London on March 26th, which is likely to be the biggest protest against the government since the Iraq war.
Other activism
I still remain committed to other campaigns including Republic, which in a year of the royal wedding will be leading calls for an elected head of state, please consider joining at http://www.republic.org.uk/Get%20Involved/Join%20Republic/form.php
This year sort Israel blocking the Viva Palestina convoy at the beginning of the year and later carrying out a massacre on the Mavi Mamara in international waters in May. The Palestine Solidarity Campaign continues to campaign to end the illegal occupation of Palestinian territories, and I would urge you all to join the campaign at http://palestinecampaign.org/Index5b.asp?m_id=1&l1_id=78&l2_id=102
I really enjoy engaging with other Labour activists on Twitter. You can catch up with me at http://twitter.com/#!/mr_andy_c
To look forward
Health permitting I hope to be fully engaged in 2011 campaigning for Labour and against the cuts. The future of the country is at stake and we cannot sit by and let the Con Dems wreck it.
