Author Archives: Colin Ross

Reflections on Rotherham (4): Lessons were not learnt before. They cannot be ignored again.

By Colin Ross | Sat 30th August 2014 - 10:15 am

The report into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham issued this week makes tragic reading. It highlights the collective failure of the authorities to take robust action over a number of years. It is a matter of astonishment that the findings of no less than three reports were either dismissed or treated as exaggerating the situation. How many fewer victims would there have been if a more aggressive approach had been taken at an earlier stage?

Let us not forget that the real villains in this are the perpetrators of these crimes, who have committed unspeakable acts of violence and abuse on …

Nick’s One Million Door Challenge

By Colin Ross | Thu 11th September 2008 - 5:47 pm

Party Leader Nick Clegg has set us a challenge – a One Million Door Challenge!

One million sounds a lot, but it is actually just around 1,500 doors per constituency. In the eleven months leading up to this May’s local elections we, in Wolverhampton South West, knocked on about 17,500 doors. Perhaps 1,500 doors isn’t that much after all.

Knocking on doors matters, but not just for the sake of it. Knocking on doors should be at the heart of Liberal Democrat campaigning, it is within our tradition of Community Politics, a tradition that is key to our success. There are at …

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Opinion: Conference delegates should vote for ‘No new Trident’

By Colin Ross | Thu 15th February 2007 - 8:15 am

Colin and Sean ring the peace bell To me the answer is simple – the answer is no. No to Trident, No to son of Trident and No to any so called Independent Nuclear Deterrent.

Last year I went on behalf of the party to Pakistan and tried to engage with politicians there as to why it was wrong for Iran or any other nation to develop nuclear weapons and why Pakistan should pull back from developing more nuclear weapons. What message does our policy send to them – that it is okay for the UK to have nuclear weapons but you can’t?

Last year I also went to Hiroshima. I challenge anyone who is in favour of the UK, or anywhere, having nuclear weapons to go there for a day. See what destruction they caused and come back and tell me it is a good idea. The Mayor of Hiroshima – Tadatoshi Akiba has written to Ming Campbell, he said “In the name of Hiroshima, in the name of the human race, I call on the British government to immediately terminate all new development of nuclear weapons and begin destroying all existing nuclear weapons. I ask that the United Kingdom adhere conscientiously to the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice declaring that the threat or use of nuclear weapons is illegal under international law, and live up to the promise clearly stated in the NPT of an unequivocal undertaking to eliminate its nuclear arsenal. I fervently hope that Great Britain will take the lead in making the 21st a genuinely peaceful century free from nuclear weapons.” The full text of the letter is at http://www.colin-ross.org.uk/news/001093.html