The space between us

This post is all about space. Not that great black unknown out there beyond the solar system but quite simply the space between different people and entities in this country, Europe and the wider world.


Take Gordon Brown, soon to be our Prime Minister though without much of a mandate from us, the people. Real question marks hang over his head as to how engaged he will be with the British public, or with his Cabinet for that matter. Gordon is his own man and a control freak which, personally, I don't think is such a bad thing when you're to be leader. But to run a country with a mood bordering on disdain for so many people underneath you would be highly unsatisfactory.

Gordon hasn't warmed the leader's chair yet so I'm not going to leap to any conclusions but there's nothing wrong with speculating and even in the last few weeks he has set a few examples that he's not overly keen to close the gap that Tony Blair enjoyed between himself and the electorate.

For example, the question of Europe. Is it right that the only apparent reason for not holding a referendum on a treaty is because you would expect to lose it? We haven't had a vote on European involvement since 1975 and it seems our wait is set to continue.

The argument today is that because this looming agreement is only an "amending treaty", then there is no need for public ratification. There seems to be a clear problem with this, aside from the obvious con of the EU calling everything an amending treaty from here on in regardless of what it actually is.

It was decided back in 2004 that the status quo for the voting process for the EU members was no longer suitable, given that the numbers had increased from 15 to 25 and the new 10 includes the heavily populated Poland which will skew voting rights in a significant way. Tony Blair stated categorically that any changes in the makeup of the European Union would require a YES vote in a referendum in the UK.

There has been no changes to the European Union since such times given the quite sensible rejection of Valery Gisacrd Destaing's jumbled and bungled attempt at an EU constitution.

So, either this new "amending Treaty" is the new constitution we need, in which case it requires public ratification via a referendum. Or it doesn't go far enough and not only does it not need approval via a referendum but it's just a waste of everyone's time.

Whichever way this amending treaty goes, Brown and Sarkozy's back-scratching exercise of preventing the general public getting a say on any of this does not bode well for our new PM fermenting an atmosphere of closeness between us and him.



Another example of Gordon Brown not being too keen on narrowing the space between the elected and the electorate is the issue of the Freedom of Information Bill that passed a vote in the Commons whereby MPs would be exempt from the Freedom of Information Act, denying us knowing what MPs were spending our taxes on in the name of 'expenses'.

Gordon Brown failed to show true leadership at the very moment he was being confirmed as the next Prime Minister of the country and stating that his time in power would always be open in its approach. He could have stepped in and smacked this Bill down in his bid to show that MPs will always be answerable to the people and will be transparent in the ins and outs of their day to day business. He could have stepped in. He didn't.

Thankfully, the Lords seem to have applied some common sense in this Freedom of Information Bill and are not willing to sponsor it.

As Lord McNally of the Lib Dems puts it: "It seems very likely that this squalid little Bill will no longer become law". Good news indeed. It's just a shame that it's the Lords who had the common sense to stop it rather than Gordon himself.


Not much blame can be laid at Gordon's feet for this one but a posting about the space between people in this world would not be complete without a comment on the failure of the G8 earlier this month.

A $60billion commitment to fighting AIDS looks good as a headline, but when you dig a little bit deeper and see there is no timeline, no detail and, worst of all, it's just a repeat of the headlines at the seemingly successful Gleneagles G8 summit in 2005, then it's understandable why Geldof, Bono, anti-poverty/pro-environment campaigners and pretty much everyone else who isn't part of that close-knit group of 7 men and 1 woman are more than a little bit disappointed.

Questions have to be raised as to whether these G8 summits are really just a bit of a jolly for a select group of high-profile friends when they consistently pay lip service to the rest of us with regard to their efforts on climate change, making trade fair and global poverty.


A further example of Gordon Brown's happiness of keeping some distance between the public and himself was his petulant behaviour after the SNP's narrow election win. Refusing to congratulate Alex Salmond until 17 days had passed, and even then only because of the media pressure to do so was not a good advert for Gordon's acceptance of democracy. There was also the occasion when he walked away from Glen Campbell after he was simply asked (twice) how he was going to work with the new First Minister.


So, in this new political dawn, it is so far a bad start for PM-in-waiting Gordon Brown in my eyes. It seems the New Labour trick of talking a good game and then running the country in spite of the general public, rather than being the servants of the people, is all set to continue.


To me, the continental drift of 21st century politics has resulted in Westminster having never seemed so far away. But someone a lot closer to home might not mind that so much.