I have always believed that, aside from my parents, it was the early influence of my primary school teachers at Moreland Street that helped set me on the path that made me the person I am today; and I hope that those who know me would consider me a hard working and decent chap, always ready to lend a hand if somebody is in trouble. 

 

If we get it right at school, all our children can grow up to be happy, well-adjusted individuals, ready to work and contribute as taxpaying members of society rather than just sitting back and sponging off the state.

 

If we get it wrong, we all pay the price for our children receiving a poor education - I wanted to help ensure we get it right and that is why when my kids attended St Luke's Primary School I volunteered as a Parent Governor and why, after a gap of almost 18 years,  I have volunteered again to serve as an LEA (Local Education Authority) appointed Governor, so that I may not only continue to support the excellent work done by our teachers, but also to keep them on their toes and striving for excellence through continuous improvements.

 

 

 

Note:

The role of the school governor is to be a "critical friend" to Headteachers and their staff, so if you are concerned about Education and would like to get involved in shaping our children's future education, please click here to find out more about the work we do and for further information about how to volunteer as a School Governor in Islington, . http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Schoolslearninganddevelopment/SchoolLife/DG_10038366

   

The world now consumes far more than it produces - something made possible only by burning fossil fuels which have taken millions of years to lay down in the form of coal and oil deposits - as a result, our carbon footprints are trampling all over our children’s future and I am passionate about trying to protect the earth that they will inherit from us.

 

I will therefore support any sensible scheme that will make my great-grandchildren proud of what we have done preserve their planet. However, my decisions regarding the policies that I will support and promote will always be based upon hard evidence, not gut feeling or hysteria. I agree completely with the UKIP  position on what used to be called global warming and is now called climate change and whilst I am a keen recycler, and conservationist in the truest sense of not wanting to see things "wasted", I will only support measures based on empirical evidence.

Green taxes imposed on us by the European Union have kept fuel prices much higher than they need to be, and little old ladies are dying in their homes because they have to choose between heat and eat. Sorry, not on my watch - not anymore!

We have some wonderful greenspaces and parks in Islington but I would like to see more. I also want to ensure we can

all enjoy them without fear of treading in dog's mess or being intimidated or annoyed by anti-social behaviour. We need to do all we can to protect our environment and beautify it by "greening-up" as much of the grey concrete as we can; just because we live in the city it doesn't mean we can't encourage wildlife like small birds, butterflies and bees. I don't want to live in a concrete jungle, which is why I have trained as an amateur beekeeper and help look after two hives in the wildlife sanctuary I helped to create on my estate, and if we can all do a little bit to improve and green-up our own local areas, then residents of the whole borough can enjoy a better quality of life.

 

It IS possible for each of us to "do our bit" to reduce pollution and lower carbon emissions and I will support all schemes that are fairly and sensibly aimed at improving our environment. I know it's a pain, but surely we should ALL be recycling and reducing our carbon footprints as much as we can and, if we ALL did it, we could make a MASSIVE difference to the planet we leave behind for our kids. 

 

I promise that, if elected, I will do my very best to ensure that our children will inherit the earth - and in a much better condition than it is now

 

I never used to be very good with recycling until I saw the excellent Leonardo DiCaprio film/ documentary "The 11th Hour" - I watched it once and it changed the way I treat the environment - if you have time, please watch it too - it might change how you look at the world !  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_11th_Hour_(film)

Housing, Immigration, Jobs and Taxation.

We are living longer than ever before and with continual improvements in modern medicine, this trend is likely to continue. My mother Florence died aged 91 in 2013, a victim of Alzheimer's for her last 10 years, but thankfully cared for in a really excellent NHS funded care home near the Angel. I feel we were fortunate to get a place for mum there, but in the next 10 years, around a quarter of our entire population will be retired so how on earth are we going to fund the medical care for this growing population of senior citizens ?

 

Ever felt depressed ? Ever known anybody who suffers from depression ? Ever drunk too much or become dependent on drugs. Many poor unfortunates (AND THEIR FAMILIES) spend years in cycles of despair and misery when undiagnosed mental illnesses are "self-medicated" with drink and drugs. The results of which we see all around us in the form of drink/drug addicts who are often mentally ill, living on the streets of London in a vicious circle from which few escape without proper help or intervention. Determining which illness is actually the "base" illness is half the battle and people who present with this "dual diagnosis" problem of mental illness whilst simultaneously abusing substances, often drop through the treatment cracks. This occurs when the root problem is obfuscated as people presenting with depression are often refused mental hospital care if they are also abusing drink of drugs to feel better (self-medicating). Conversely, addicts are routinely refused rehab opportunities if they are on psychiatric medications. All too often, these sick people end up in prison instead of hospital, creating massive additional burdens on the NHS, Police and Blue-Light services, when, if properly treated, the do not become a burden to society, but instead become productive contributors to it.

 

The NHS are hard pressed to deal with these poor people effectively - I know some people will say that these addicts simply choose to abuse - but there are just as many who, through no fault of their own, have ended up on the streets or in our prisons with little hope of breaking this vicious circle of offending to feed their habit. I have seen first-hand how mental illness can make matters even worse and how very often, the results can lead to self harm and suicide. I believe we can do better and could (and should) be doing much more to help these poor people, in a more effective and cost efficient ways than we seem to now.

I also don't want to leave a massive welfare burden for my children and grandchildren to bear in looking after me in my old age. I think we need to do more now to prevent our NHS being overloaded in the future - so I promise that, if elected, I will do my very best to ensure that our hospitals remain open, are properly funded and staffed, with waiting lists brought under control and no post code lotteries for new medicines. UKIP plan fund this by leaving the EU and reducing Foreign Aid.

 

I am furious that this successive governments have negotiated away some of the hard fought rights and privileges of our citizens by, for instance, making unfair and unequal extradition agreements with the American Government which allows them to extradite British citizens to stand trial in the USA, but where we cannot extradite US citizens to stand trial in the UK. Remember the case of Gary McKinnon ?

I am an IT professional and have spent many years working with firewalls and software systems that are designed to keep unauthorised people out of "mission critical computer networks" and frankly, I feel that if the US defence networks are so poorly defended and vulnerable that an amateur like Gary McKinnon can penetrate them, then he should be applauded for highlighting a weakness in their systems, not put behind bars !

 

If the USA are our allies and truly value our "special relationship" they ought to show us the respect we deserve and treat us as equals - we have to stop letting them treat us as though we were their Aircraft carrier in Europe !

 

I am all for upholding and defending human rights wherever they are threatened and working with the Americans to do so if needed, but not by becoming the world's self-appointed policemen and certainly not by sending our brave servicemen and women, ill-equipped and poorly supported, to prosecute an illegal war based on a pack of lies about weapons of mass destruction that were never found - especially without a proper UN mandate ! 

I believe that peace in the middle east can only be achieved by starting with a two state solution in Palestine. Israel and Palestine must recognise each other's right to exist - the Israeli's must stop expanding it's settlements, Hammas must renounce violence and both parties must come back to the negotiating table. It is a travesty that Israeli bombs kill innocent Palestinian women and children, but it is unforgivable that Hammas have deliberately exposed those innocents to death and injury by deliberately placing them around their own rocket launcher sites which Israel say they try to target as accurately as they can. Despite the fact that my father was Jewish, I was raised Christian and have always been sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinians, but until Hammas renounce violence I do not support the recognition of a Palestinian state - and neither do UKIP. It seems to me that Israel is a tolerant, democratic modern state that allows Arabs to stand for election, that does not abuse it's LBGT citizens, and where all they seem to want to fight for is peace. It is a shame that the only rhetoric we hear from the Palestine is aggressive and warlike.

 

 

UKIP Policy, government of the people, for the people, by the people.

But here below, you can see what, to me, are the most important UKIP principles taken from the first few paragraphs of the UKIP Constitution and I have highlighted the points which particularly inspired me to get involved by standing for election as ward councillor;