Afghanistan is long way from Hexham - what are we going to do to help?

No blogs for a while as I have been away on holiday - cycled from Lands End to John O'Groats. Great way to see the country. What a country we live in - incredible countryside, stunning bridges and beautfiul towns and villages. We met lots of lovely people along the way. It was nice to get away from the realities of politics for a while.

We raised money for FareShare North East during the bike ride. Thanks to all for the donations. For more information see the blog about the bike ride: http://lejog2021forfsne.simplesite.com/450021484

Any donations to FareShare North East would be gratefully received. They do vital work in the region to tackle food hunger and food waste.  https://donorbox.org/wylam-friends-cycling-to-fight-hunger

Anyway - back to reality with a bang. Considering its the summer holidays, sadly our Government do not take a holiday from new levels of incompetence.

The latest issues to outfox the capabilities of the government make depressing reading/viewing in the news. The chaotic disengagement from Afghanistan has raised all sorts of legitimate questions about the wisdom of intervention in the first place, but having intervened, leaving so many people in the lurch is unforgivable. There was heavy criticism from all sides including former Prime Ministers and former members of the military who served in Afghanistan. The sacrifice of the dead servicemen and their families is difficult to get your head around. How those families must be feeling now is beyond normal comprehension

Keir Starmer and Caroline Lucas (as well as Jeremy Corbyn and others) made some very good points in the emergency parliamentary debate. As ever it's easy to be critical of incompetence, but what is a bit lacking is a clear alternative vision. No mention of the role of the UK in arms manufacturing and the arms trade; no clear articulation of what an ethical foreign policy would look like; no mention of the United Nations and how the UK could/should influence international events and conflict; little mention of veterans/families and how woeful the support for them has been. A progressive foreign/defence policy programme would be popular - Stop the arms trade; renew international efforts to make the United Nations more effective; deploy the military in a thoughtful, humanitarian and peacekeeping/peace promoting role; equip the military appropriately for that kind of role; look after veterans properly; distance the UK from regimes who do not promote human rights; abandon pointless military spending on Trident and make the UK a leading advocate of ridding the world of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction; reconsider the historical closeness of the UK to the USA; plough a much more non-aligned furrow with like-minded international partners. Who would cheer if Keir Starmer was articulating this kind of vision? Labour has tied itself in knots over patriotism/defence/Trident/foreign policy - many mistakes have been made by previous Labour administrations. What's needed now is a clear vision for the future with electoral appeal.

Defence and Foreign Policy can't be seen in isolation from other issues. The issue of migration/immigration/refugees is directly linked. Imagine being so desperate to flee conflict or war or poverty that you would risk your life and the life of your child to undertake a perilous journey to another country? Imagine having to leave your home in Hexham constituency with the clothes on your back and a small bag of possessions. Imagine doing the journey in the opposite direction? Going to a country where you may not speak the language and the culture is different. What of sort of help or welcome would you hope for? Suffice it to say the welcome currently on offer, in the UK, to many in that situation is well below what we should be aiming for. In many ways you reap what you sow. If your economic and foreign policy position promotes poverty, inequality and war, don't be surprised if displaced people turn up on your shores. The least we can do is to provide shelter and a welcome. The poor people trying to get out of Afghanistan at the moment, for fear of retribution from the Taliban, require particularly urgent action. To turn your back on those who have worked with the UK government and military is something we can all be ashamed of.

The clock is ticking towards the next election. The polls are narrowing, but despite all the problems caused by or exacerbated by the government, they remain popular in many quarters. The opposition remains split and without a bit of unity and tactical alliances coming together mighty quickly, we won't see a non-Tory government in the UK and there will be no hope of a non-Tory MP in our own constituency.

The signs from Keir Starmer aren't particularly encouraging. He has been attacking the left in the Labour Party. I reluctantly supported this move on the grounds that groups like Socialist Appeal are not going to help Labour win the next election and their programme has little electoral appeal. But purging dissenting voices in the Labour Party won't in itself forge the type of political and electoral alliance needed to win the next election. Some on the left say "there's no point in winning the next election if all you get is Tory-lite Labour". That's not going to save the planet or tackle the structural issues which cause poverty. That's true, but some compromise on what you might regard as "pure Socialism" is going to be needed to win an election. Jeremy Corbyn says he won the argument at the last election. Well, maybe he did, but look at what the Tories have done since! The pandemic has unmasked a load of issues which highlight why change is needed. The Tories continue to laugh at the opposition and, frankly, that will continue unless we get our collective acts together.

Keir has also, apparently, ruled out electoral pacts with other parties. Why he has done this is mystifying. Rather than carving out a new way of doing things he runs the risk of trying the same old failed approach. I hope he has a change of approach quickly. Clive Lewis was on Radio 4 Any Questions recently. He struck the right note - he wants to support Starmer, but he is worried about the lack of clear leadership. We all are! Come on Keir, there is a massive open goal - you just need to be brave and boot the ball in the top corner.

Starmer has started hinting at a vision. Some good policies from Labour are starting to be articulated. But it's got to be done at pace now. The party conference season is going to be crucial for Labour. Has Keir got it in him to articulate a vision which the Labour Party can unite behind as well as forge the necessary electoral alliances with the Greens and Lib Dems? On top of that - carry the electorate with that vision to deal with climate change, poverty, inequality, poor health, poor housing, low wages, poor transport infrastructure, the ongoing fallout of Brexit etc etc. The place is crying out for clear leadership and a progressive vision. Hexham may be a long way from Afghanistan, but I hope we can find a way of contributing to a change which will benefit the constituency, the country and other countries near and far.