Do you have those inevitable first week of January blues? This will warm your heart because it’s really what politics is all about. It’s about making people’s lives better. It’s a short film showing Simon Hughes going around various community events in his constituency on Christmas Day. As he said, the big city is made up of villages and we all need to look after each other. Enjoy.
As much as it captures Simon’s commitment to his community, it also shows the huge affection for him in it.
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5 Comments
It was interesting to see a Missionary of Charity featured. I have worked as a volunteer at the Hospice for the Dying Destitute in Calcutta, and I know from my time there, that Mother Teresa spoke of the ‘spiritual poverty’ in rich western nations such as ours.
It makes me deeply ashamed that there is work for the Missionaries of Charity in our rich country, so I have ambivalent feelings about the video.
If anything this film understates Simon’s commitment! Late this Christmas Eve he came across a confused, elderly lady on her own, worked out that she spoke Tagalog and managed to help her by deploying my sister-in-law by phone (also from the Philippines and a Tagalog speaker).
On a personal level, he is a good bloke. On a political level, this shows why he deserves to get re-elected.
I think most people see him as a good bloke, but his voting record is very confusing. I doubt anyone spoke stronger against raising tuition fees than him, but after the election he abstains on the vote. He votes in favour of the bedroom tax and his voting record on secret courts is mixed. I think he will struggle to hold his seat defending the governments record – still a 1% lead over Labour in the very recent Ashcroft poll – a Labour gain for me, but it will be very close.
malc
Do not write off Smon Hughes so easily. When knocking on doors for him in a previous General Election I was struck by the number of people who insisted that they would be voting Labour again because they has always voted for Simon Hughes.
When I asked them to put an up a Liberal Democrat Diamond-shaped poster with the name Simon Hughes on it these lifetime Labour voters did so without a second thought. And the posters stayed up. I have no doubt at all that they voted for Simon — as they said to me they always had.
I am not entirely sure that the Ashcroft polling techniques are sophisticated enough to spot this curious feature of politics around the Elephant and Castle.