Meet the scientists!

I have been a councillor for nineteen years (23 if you count the parish council). My greatest sense of achievement is when I can help an individual or a family with a problem.

The way our society is governed is complicated. In Gloucestershire, we have three layers of councils: parish, district and county. Added to that many vital services are provided by national government, the NHS and private companies, such as bus operators, the privatised utilities (water, gas and electricity).

Sometimes people with a real problem can be shunted from one agency to another with no one willing to provide the necessary assistance. As a councillor who understands how things operate, it is often possible to put an individual in touch with the person who can unlock and solve their issue.   As a councillor sitting in on a meeting between a constituent and an official often takes the anger and heat out of the situation and leads to a solution.

As a politician, I enjoy the challenges of deciding priorities and designing services that meet the community’s needs at an affordable price. For the first twelve years of my time, my party was in control of the council. Now we are in opposition and we can only try to influence those who are making the decisions. As a politician, there is nothing to recommend in opposition.

As I am now retired from full-time teaching, each day is different. Sometimes I get a call from a school and do some supply cover work – anything from an odd day to several weeks.

Every day involves some council work, answering emails, visiting constituents to talk about their issues or attending meetings.

Saturdays, I try to keep free for me and the family. I’m a devoted Shedhead and follow Gloucester Rugby both home and away.

In fact, tomorrow I’m off to France to watch Gloucester play Agen. Hey, being old and retired has its compensations!

There is an awful tendency to pigeon-hole people. Young people are as diverse a group as any in society. What they do have in common is their youth, their lack of economic clout and the tendency for their potential and contribution to be condescendingly dismissed by older people.

As he youth engagement champion, I would try to meet and engage with young people on their own terms and in places that they feel comfortable, whether that be a youth café or cyberspace. I believe that society could do a much more for young people, but the pay-back is much greater. We ignore the contribution of young people at our peril.

After all, today’s young people, (including my grandchildren), will still be actively engaged with this community in fifty years time when today’s councillors will be long forgotten.