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Face Masks and Personal Responsibility

I had to go into a hospital today (nothing major for me, in case anyone wonders!) and I was genuinely surprised by something. Only around one person in every five was wearing a face mask, despite these being given out for free at every entrance. This really made me think about personal responsibility and how that would be applied to face masks. Personal responsibility is central to a number of political stances, not least libertarianism, which seems to have been wholly embraced by Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng (disastrously so). So how might or should this principle apply to wearing a face mask?

What is Personal Responsibility?

(NB, this gets a bit deeper into the philosophy of ethics than I originally thought, so feel free to skip to the next section for the meat of the argument).

It might be an obvious question with an even more obvious answer to some, but it is an interesting philosophical point. In my view, it is about taking ownership of decisions or actions you make and agreeing to help if your actions cause negative consequences. In other words, if you harm someone whether directly or through inaction (thank you Isaac Asimov) then you indemnify the victim for that harm and adjust your behaviour to minimise future harm.

This becomes a little more difficult when you have a cost to mitigating your current behaviour and you need to compare that cost to the harm that you do. At that point you would need to assign relative costs to both the actions you take and the harm that would be done as a result. This ends up being hugely subjective and has been the subject of endless debates between ethicists for millennia.

Face masks and personal responsibility - a balancing act?

Personal responsibility is a balancing act

In my view, though, the moral position can be reduced to:

  • If you have the option to reduce harm with no cost to yourself, then the only moral option is to reduce harm.
  • If you are faced with a choice to cause yourself a cost but it would not reduce harm, then it is not a moral imperative to pay the cost.
  • In the majority of cases, there is a mixture of harm and cost, and it is necessary to quantify these according to an individual moral framework.

Within most moral systems there is the idea that causing harm to others is generally worse than minimising a loss for oneself. In other words, one could be better off by stealing from someone else, but unless that theft is necessary to preserve life or reduce harm to others, it is genuinely hard to see how this could be considered moral.

What are Face Masks?

Face masks and personal responsibility - a balancing act?

Face Masks – what do they do?

This might fall into the category of blindingly obvious, but it might be worth revisiting what these are for. Masks aren’t just for virtue signalling or decoration, after all. They provide a tangible benefit in the control of infections. Importantly the main benefit isn’t to the mask wearer. Instead the mask helps to stop the wearer from passing on their germs to others. It’s a little like sneezing into a tissue – that action isn’t for the sneezer, but for all the people around them that might otherwise be sneezed on.

When it comes to certain pathogens (viruses, bacteria and fungi), airborne transmission is the primary means of infection. Sometimes you can be a carrier of an infectious pathogen without displaying any symptoms, so simply “feeling fine” is not a guarantee that you aren’t carrying an infection that could be lethal to someone else.

I mentioned cost above as a reason not to do something, so it’s worth revisiting the costs of wearing a face mask:

  • Cost of acquisition – usually free at the point of use. There’s an argument that NHS trusts or private hospitals have to foot the bill so we pay indirectly, but I would argue that these decisions are made on a cost-benefit analysis by individual trusts.
  • Cost of wearing – usually nothing. The masks can feel uncomfortable, but this is usually a minor inconvenience. There is some talk about face masks reducing oxygen saturation in the blood, but this largely seems discredited.

This is obviously different for people that cannot wear a mask for medical reasons – clearly the cost for them is insurmountable. For most of us, though, wearing a mask is nothing more than a minor inconvenience.

Personal Responsibility and Face Masks

Here we come to the discussion of how personal responsibility and face masks intersect. When it comes to personal responsibility, I summarised that it would be immoral to do something that caused harm to others if the cost was negligible to not do that. Under the topic of face masks, I concluded that, for most of us, the cost of wearing a face mask is negligible.

I therefore think that the conclusion is inescapable. Wearing a mask has minimal or no cost and potentially saves lives. As such, it certainly seems to me to be entirely moral to wear them where there is likely to be a positive effect. Hospitals are likely the place most likely to result in deaths if infections are allowed to spread uncontrolled, and they are the place where masks are still provided free of charge for everyone.

Possibly more importantly, in most hospitals there is a good chance that there will be some patients there who did not make a choice to go there – instead they are there because of an illness or injury that they certainly would not have chosen to acquire. As such, there can be no use of the “they chose to go there and accept the risks” type of argument that could be used to oppose mask mandates.

My conclusion is not to suggest that a mask mandate should be reintroduced nationally. However, I genuinely feel that those who turn down free masks in hospitals run the risk of killing someone else by accident, and personal responsibility should make them pick up face masks and wear them with pride.

Hazeena A

Ian, thank you once again for your support. It means a lot.

Thank you so much for [creating this petition] and so amazingly quickly!!!

You did a brilliant job on both the blog and petition. Some of the NHS staff were even impressed with the speed at which you addressed this, and I have had varying positive comments from friends who have read your post.

Hazeena A – Ruislip, Northwood & Pinner Resident

Sheena Y

Having worked with Ian I can say that I found him incredibly transparent and honest which I think would be rare and much needed in today political arena. He is also very clever, direct and a great communicator.

Sheena Y, former co-worker

Andy H

Ian is a very smart individual, but more importantly is honest and truly cares about people.

He is an unselfish individual and would absolutely have the public’s best interests at heart.

Andy H, brother

Luca M

I met Ian a few months ago for the first time and straight away I felt confortable with him and I thought: ” Ok I would trust that guy”.

Luca M, fellow speakers’ club member

Francisco V

Throughout the 12 years I have known Ian, he has always demonstrated to be very bright, kind and upright. I’ve seen all of these attributes in his personal life, for instance, in our sport association he volunteered as treasurer where he improved the overall system and costs as well as championing charitable giving & generous donations. He’ll definitely make a difference in a bigger role in politics.

Francisco V, fellow jū jūtsu instructor and friend

Irene H

You have the moral integrity and high standards in all aspects of the requirements of your potential constituents. You will stand up to injustice and defend those deemed to have had injustice against them. You are committed to environmental change and to look after the less well off in society.

Irene H, mother

Graham C

First and foremost, your personal ethos of kindness and care for others is your top qualification. That you are also highly driven with a need to be productive, and understand very complex matters such as financial systems, makes you stand out.

Graham C, fellow jū jūtsu instructor and friend

Anonymous

You are one of the most principled people that I know. You are committed to making changes that support the most vulnerable in our society and you don’t give up when you know you’re fighting for what’s right.

Anonymous

Helen C

Integrity.
Unlike the rest of us who are disillusioned with the lack of honesty, morals, and the unfair and outdated ‘public schoolboy network’ displayed by this government, you have decided to stand up and make a difference.
Your constituents couldn’t have a better candidate.

Helen C, Aunt

Miles H

Having known Ian for a number of years during which we worked closely as Financial Advisers, I am confident that he would make an excellent MP. Ian is an intelligent man who has the ability to absorb, understand and manage complex information quickly; I have, on many occasions, witnessed him do this whilst retaining the ability to explain it, in a manner which is easy to understand.

I have seen Ian display the courage of his convictions on a professional level, where he has put the clients needs before that of the company and have no doubt he would carry this attitude into public life.

Ian and I have disagreed on politics in the past, but he has always listened carefully to any position and taken time to offer a thoughtful response. If he became an MP I am sure his constituents would benefit from an effective and hard working representative.

Miles H, former co-worker

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Scandals

Houses of Parliament - no scandals visible

Houses of Parliament – hard to see the scandals from this angle

Simple title for a simple concept. Right now, the government is utterly mired in scandals. In the last couple of years, we have had Owen Paterson, Partygate, Chris Pincher, Gavin Williamson, Dominic Raab, Suella Braverman (several times), Priti Patel, Matt Hancock, PPE Contracts, sewage being dumped into our waterways while the water companies pay out huge dividends, MP second jobs, doctors, nurses and others going on strike, and Nadhim Zahawi’s attempt to evade tax. Worse yet, there are undoubtedly more that I have forgotten to include (contact me if you spot a particularly egregious example). Frankly this level of sleaze, corruption, scandal and laziness is not what we should expect with the politicians of a developed country. We should hold our government to much higher standards, and we certainly should let them get away with treating us like serfs while they walk away with small fortunes.

So what should we do differently? How can we reclaim government that best represents us, the people who read this and are incensed by the sheer arrogance of these authoritarian despots who have decided to abuse their constituents for personal gain?

If the above sounds angry, it’s because I am. Livid, in fact. The amalgamation of all these scandals frankly makes me sick. I want to see our country governed responsibly, and the Conservative party has shown over the last 13 years that they simply cannot be trusted with any aspect of our country. The fact that a former Conservative Prime Minister is quoted as saying “The NHS is about as safe with them as a pet hamster would be with a hungry python” says it all.

So I have a few suggestions for making our politicians more accountable.

Recall Petitions

At the moment an MP is an MP until they die, reach the end of their term, or are recalled. The last one of these is extremely limited in scope, and can only be brought into effect if the MP is found guilty of one of a small number of offences or if they disappear. The fact that an MP can entirely misrepresent their constituents, lie during campaigning, or be entirely absent from the constituency and Westminster is a fundamental failing of the electoral system that could be addressed with a simple option of allowing a recall petition at any time.

The caveat to this is that under normal circumstances, I would expect that an MP should only be recalled if more people opt for a recall than voted for them in the first place. For example, if an MP obtained 45% of the vote in the last election, they would be safe unless 45% or more of the electorate signed a recall petition. This would give them much more safety if they did their job correctly, but would mean that if they became embroiled in scandals that their constituents didn’t appreciate, they could be subject to a recall even if they do not trigger one of the mandatory triggers that currently exist.

Scandals include Partygate, Paterson, Pincher, PPE Contracts, sewage, strikes and the start of Zahawi's tax dodging.

Uxbridge & South Ruislip constituents are stuck with their absentee MP until the General Election (or an earlier recall if he is suspended from Parliament for more than 2 weeks)

An example of this is Boris Johnson in Uxbridge & South Ruislip. I have asked repeatedly for information on how many constituency surgeries he has hosted since 2019, but his office has refused to provide this information. Constituents on my Twitter thread generally seem to agree that he has been wholly absent, with a common joke being that he likely doesn’t even know where Uxbridge is, he has visited so infrequently. Under current rules, he is not subject to a recall for this absence, though this may change if the Privileges Committee finds that he lied to the House of Commons over Partygate.

More Disqualifications from Parliament

As an added measure to the above, I believe it would be fair to list a set of standards that, if breached, automatically trigger a by-election. Off the top of my head, this would include:

  • Tax evasion.
  • Threatening investigators with frivolous lawsuits.
  • Abusive behaviour towards fellow MPs or Parliamentary staff.
  • Lying to the House.
  • Issuing false information to the electorate.

I’m sure there are plenty of others. Please note that I do not propose adding “any crime” to this list, as I would not want to see someone stopped from being an MP for, say, speeding, but our MPs should pay their taxes without complaint and should be wholly open and truthful with the electorate.

Ending First-Past-The-Post

At the moment, there is a concept of “safe seats” for all parties. This is essentially a seat where an MP can do almost anything and still expect to be re-elected because the electorate in the area will vote for one party or another regardless of behaviour, policies or scandals. This is a consequence of our First-Past-The-Post system, because people are so disenfranchised that they want to vote for the winner to avoid wasting their vote, so they stick with the existing winning candidate purely because so many others around them vote that way.

Doing away with this archaic system would eliminate the concept of safe seats, which would mean that unpopular MPs would be eliminated from the political process by their electorate, increasing the accountability between elections as well as at the ballot days themselves.

Truss and Kwarteng

I haven’t included any of the issues around the Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng abomination. I could of course include that whole premiership (all 44 days or so) as a scandal, but honestly, I didn’t need to!

Hazeena A

Ian, thank you once again for your support. It means a lot.

Thank you so much for [creating this petition] and so amazingly quickly!!!

You did a brilliant job on both the blog and petition. Some of the NHS staff were even impressed with the speed at which you addressed this, and I have had varying positive comments from friends who have read your post.

Hazeena A – Ruislip, Northwood & Pinner Resident

Sheena Y

Having worked with Ian I can say that I found him incredibly transparent and honest which I think would be rare and much needed in today political arena. He is also very clever, direct and a great communicator.

Sheena Y, former co-worker

Andy H

Ian is a very smart individual, but more importantly is honest and truly cares about people.

He is an unselfish individual and would absolutely have the public’s best interests at heart.

Andy H, brother

Luca M

I met Ian a few months ago for the first time and straight away I felt confortable with him and I thought: ” Ok I would trust that guy”.

Luca M, fellow speakers’ club member

Francisco V

Throughout the 12 years I have known Ian, he has always demonstrated to be very bright, kind and upright. I’ve seen all of these attributes in his personal life, for instance, in our sport association he volunteered as treasurer where he improved the overall system and costs as well as championing charitable giving & generous donations. He’ll definitely make a difference in a bigger role in politics.

Francisco V, fellow jū jūtsu instructor and friend

Irene H

You have the moral integrity and high standards in all aspects of the requirements of your potential constituents. You will stand up to injustice and defend those deemed to have had injustice against them. You are committed to environmental change and to look after the less well off in society.

Irene H, mother

Graham C

First and foremost, your personal ethos of kindness and care for others is your top qualification. That you are also highly driven with a need to be productive, and understand very complex matters such as financial systems, makes you stand out.

Graham C, fellow jū jūtsu instructor and friend

Anonymous

You are one of the most principled people that I know. You are committed to making changes that support the most vulnerable in our society and you don’t give up when you know you’re fighting for what’s right.

Anonymous

Helen C

Integrity.
Unlike the rest of us who are disillusioned with the lack of honesty, morals, and the unfair and outdated ‘public schoolboy network’ displayed by this government, you have decided to stand up and make a difference.
Your constituents couldn’t have a better candidate.

Helen C, Aunt

Miles H

Having known Ian for a number of years during which we worked closely as Financial Advisers, I am confident that he would make an excellent MP. Ian is an intelligent man who has the ability to absorb, understand and manage complex information quickly; I have, on many occasions, witnessed him do this whilst retaining the ability to explain it, in a manner which is easy to understand.

I have seen Ian display the courage of his convictions on a professional level, where he has put the clients needs before that of the company and have no doubt he would carry this attitude into public life.

Ian and I have disagreed on politics in the past, but he has always listened carefully to any position and taken time to offer a thoughtful response. If he became an MP I am sure his constituents would benefit from an effective and hard working representative.

Miles H, former co-worker

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Posted on

(Yet) More Conservative Lies

Apparently the Conservatives have released yet another poster filled with lies. As before, I have marked the claims with red crosses to show where there are either factual errors or misleading statements. This doesn’t leave a lot of content on the poster which is both factually accurate and a fair representation of those facts. These Conservative lies make us all worse off, and as a result I wanted to dissect their claims.

I will address each of their claims below under their own headings. Once again, it is disappointing that the Conservatives reach for such outright lies after 12 years of government. Their record is frankly atrocious, and one they should be ashamed of. The only thing they could do as a consequence right now is to call for a general election in the hope of letting someone more competent and less ideologically-driven run the country, as their policies have made life worse for everyone but the ultra-wealthy.

Conservative lies - another poster filled with lies and half-truths.

The Conservative Party’s latest work of fiction.

Saving £900 off energy bills

Energy costs in the UK without the Conservative lies.

What the Energy price cap actually means

This is a genuinely bizarre claim to make. Yes, the government introduced a cap on energy costs, but that same government also presided over unprecedented increases in costs for energy. In fact, the £900 saving mentioned here only partially offsets the increase that we have seen to our household energy bills.

As you can see from the chart here, the expected energy price is due to skyrocket from £1,138 to an estimated £3,615 from next month. Compared to this, an annual saving of £900 is meaningless. On top of that, this annual saving isn’t a gift, it’s merely a deferment of cost to future years, meaning the Conservative “gift” is actually just a debt to be repaid in future years. This is one of the Conservative lies that negatively impacts us all.

Increasing NHS funding

This is an outrageous misrepresentation of the truth. Yes, the Conservatives have technically increased the funding this year, but the reality is that this increase in funding is well behind the increasing costs due to inflation. On top of that, we already know that nurses and paramedics are currently striking for fairer pay, with junior doctors likely to join them in 2023. As such, we know already that the NHS is not being properly funded.

Nurses striking

Nurses striking, courtesy of the BBC

What does £6.5bn look like to the NHS? Well, the annual NHS and social care budget is around £180bn, including care costs. Of that, some £153bn is passed to the NHS. Simplistically, that £6.5bn therefore represents 4.2% of the annual budget. Worse yet, this is spread over 3 years, so the actual annual increase is under 1.5%. Considering the current rate if inflation is likely over 10%, this represents a real loss of value of over 8.5% each year.

Calling this an increase to NHS funding is frankly an insult to our intelligence as voters and to the staff of the NHS currently struggling to make ends meet because of Conservative incompetence.

Recruiting 20,000 police officers

This was a pledge, not an actual delivered target. That said, with three months to go before the deadline, the government has made steps in the right direction, recruiting some 15,000 new officers. Unfortunately for them:

  • This figure was only ever selected because it would undo the damage caused during austerity, where we lost around 20,000 police staff.
  • Of the 15,000 new officers recruited, at least 1,837 have already resigned.

As such, this claim can be restated as “we have nearly undone the damage that we caused earlier during our tenure”. Not exactly something to brag about, in my opinion.

Boosting school budgets

Similar to the NHS claim above, it is useful to look at what this means in real terms. In terms of education funding, the budget is around £116bn, the increase in budget announced by Jeremy Hunt was £2.3bn next year and a further £2.3bn the year after that. For next year, that means the increase in budget is anticipated to be 2.0%, which again represents a huge real-value loss compared to an inflation rate of over 10%.

Summary

Once again, this poster is filled with Conservative lies and misrepresentations despite being pretty short. The fact that this is all they have to show for over a decade in power is genuinely pathetic, and any Conservative supports reading this blog should ask themselves why on Earth they support such blatant incompetence and dishonestly.

For an alternative in the Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner constituency, try me. For all other constituencies, look at your local Liberal Democrat party.

Hazeena A

Ian, thank you once again for your support. It means a lot.

Thank you so much for [creating this petition] and so amazingly quickly!!!

You did a brilliant job on both the blog and petition. Some of the NHS staff were even impressed with the speed at which you addressed this, and I have had varying positive comments from friends who have read your post.

Hazeena A – Ruislip, Northwood & Pinner Resident

Sheena Y

Having worked with Ian I can say that I found him incredibly transparent and honest which I think would be rare and much needed in today political arena. He is also very clever, direct and a great communicator.

Sheena Y, former co-worker

Andy H

Ian is a very smart individual, but more importantly is honest and truly cares about people.

He is an unselfish individual and would absolutely have the public’s best interests at heart.

Andy H, brother

Luca M

I met Ian a few months ago for the first time and straight away I felt confortable with him and I thought: ” Ok I would trust that guy”.

Luca M, fellow speakers’ club member

Francisco V

Throughout the 12 years I have known Ian, he has always demonstrated to be very bright, kind and upright. I’ve seen all of these attributes in his personal life, for instance, in our sport association he volunteered as treasurer where he improved the overall system and costs as well as championing charitable giving & generous donations. He’ll definitely make a difference in a bigger role in politics.

Francisco V, fellow jū jūtsu instructor and friend

Irene H

You have the moral integrity and high standards in all aspects of the requirements of your potential constituents. You will stand up to injustice and defend those deemed to have had injustice against them. You are committed to environmental change and to look after the less well off in society.

Irene H, mother

Graham C

First and foremost, your personal ethos of kindness and care for others is your top qualification. That you are also highly driven with a need to be productive, and understand very complex matters such as financial systems, makes you stand out.

Graham C, fellow jū jūtsu instructor and friend

Anonymous

You are one of the most principled people that I know. You are committed to making changes that support the most vulnerable in our society and you don’t give up when you know you’re fighting for what’s right.

Anonymous

Helen C

Integrity.
Unlike the rest of us who are disillusioned with the lack of honesty, morals, and the unfair and outdated ‘public schoolboy network’ displayed by this government, you have decided to stand up and make a difference.
Your constituents couldn’t have a better candidate.

Helen C, Aunt

Miles H

Having known Ian for a number of years during which we worked closely as Financial Advisers, I am confident that he would make an excellent MP. Ian is an intelligent man who has the ability to absorb, understand and manage complex information quickly; I have, on many occasions, witnessed him do this whilst retaining the ability to explain it, in a manner which is easy to understand.

I have seen Ian display the courage of his convictions on a professional level, where he has put the clients needs before that of the company and have no doubt he would carry this attitude into public life.

Ian and I have disagreed on politics in the past, but he has always listened carefully to any position and taken time to offer a thoughtful response. If he became an MP I am sure his constituents would benefit from an effective and hard working representative.

Miles H, former co-worker

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Posted on

My First Surgery

I know, I know, I’m not an MP yet. Nevertheless, I had my first surgery last week with a couple of potential constituents, S&H. These people thought that the Conservative MP would not listen well to their issues and act with sympathy, so they got in touch with me instead. As I said to them at the time, there is a limited amount I can do before actually getting elected, but still I felt it was a good opportunity to listen to local issues and I am wholly glad that I did.

First I would like to say that these constituents really impressed me with how they talked about issues. I will list the subjects we talked about below in the order that they were raised, but the important thing to note about this order is that the issues encountered by others came first despite the personal impact of the final matter being huge. To my mind this speaks volumes about their character and I am genuinely proud to be asked to help and saddened that there is little I can do at this time beyond making enquiries.

Mount Vernon Catering

Sign for Mount Vernon Hospital, discussed during my first surgery.

Mount Vernon Hospital Sign, courtesy of the Guardian

These constituents live not too far from Mount Vernon Hospital, an NHS hospital specialising in cancer treatments. As such, it is somewhere we hope never to visit as a patient, but one which we are undoubtedly all glad to have around. Neither of these constituents are patients at the hospital, but they do avail themselves of the restaurant from time to time. As part of this, they observed that the cost of food items in the restaurant was extremely high compared to the wholesale cost of the ingredients, with NHS staff still being charged a high price for basic foodstuff.

As this conversation continued, it became clear that they were worried about the impact of the cost of food combined with the long shifts that NHS workers have to endure at relatively low pay. The conclusion that we reached was that we should look after our NHS workers better than we do if we want to make sure that we have a functioning NHS for future generations.

We briefly extended this discussion to include the cost of parking for NHS staff, which I gather has now reached all-time highs following a brief holiday during the pandemic. At the end of our discussion, we agreed that there was relatively little to do at this time in terms of direct action, but that a petition to the government asking them to improve the lives of NHS workers would be appropriate.

I went away and started the following petition, and if you likewise believe that NHS staff should get free parking and low-cost meals, please sign your name to this request to the government.

Sign the petition.

A car park - we also talked about NHS car parking in my first surgery.

A car park. Not the one at Mount Vernon, but probably looks similar.

Food Wastage

A canteen - not the one talked about in my first surgery, but likely similar.

A canteen. Again, not Mount Vernon, but this image was freely available.

We discussed the cost of catering within the NHS, and specifically at Mount Vernon hospital, and the discussion naturally led on to the subject of food wastage. I gather from S&H that the restaurant throws away a large quantity of food at the end of each day, which ultimately goes to landfill. This is, to me, a travesty when there are active food banks in the constituency.

I have therefore made enquiries with the team at Mount Vernon asking whether they have considered the option of sending waste food for distribution within the constituency at the end of each working day.

Boris Johnson

As a brief aside in the middle of our discussion, we chatted about the ongoing case of Boris Johnson and the Committee for Privileges investigation into his alleged misleading statements made to the House while he was Prime Minister (amazingly that was two PMs ago despite resigning only earlier this year). I had invited Blaise Baquiche, Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, to join the conversation. As Blaise is standing for election in Boris Johnson’s own constituency, it seemed like he had a lot to add to this discussion.

Actual picture of Boris Johnson.  NB:  not actually a picture, but instead a cartoon, and not particularly flattering at that.

Actual picture of Boris Johnson*

In short, Blaise mentioned that Partygate was a driving force behind his decision to stand as a candidate as he suffered a major personal loss – his father – during lockdown and was not able to offer personal comfort or host a significant funeral in the very week Johnson partied then lied about it. Eventually Johnson was given a Penalty Charge Notice for his breaches and therefore had to admit at least a partial level of wrongdoing.

Blaise mentioned and I agreed that the Privileges Committee investigation seemed to have stalled, so as a follow up I contacted the Committee and asked for an update on progress so far and an indication of when they would start to hear oral evidence. I will update the blog further when (if) I get a response.

Housing

In my first surgery we talked about the problems caused by black mould.

Black mould example from Freepik

Without question, this is where our discussion got very emotional, and I am so glad that S&H felt able to open up to me on this subject. In essence, their complaint was that rental accommodation does not seem to have minimum standards when it comes to damp or black mould, at least not standards that are actually enforced. Clearly there is also the risk that complaining enough to get action will lead instead to a retaliatory eviction, as no-fault evictions have not yet been banned.

S&H are living in their third rented accommodation of the year, and in the ones in the constituency they have found very significant infestations of black mould caused by significant damp. As black mould has been in the media lately as a contributing cause in the death of a child, this is clearly a concern, and it is clear from both a legal and an ethical perspective that landlords have a responsibility to ensure that such homes are free from invasive mould at the very least.

I have contacted the letting agent on behalf of the residents to find out what their policy is regarding maintenance, but unfortunately this is likely an area where they feel able to hide behind the law, as Conservative lawmakers have simply not done enough to protect the rights of renters.

Summary

My first surgery really reinforced the fact that I am doing the right thing. I want to help others as much as possible, and I genuinely feel that I cannot do enough in my current position. I believe that major changes are needed to the country as a whole, and that those changes should be made in such a way that local problems are lessened.

If you have issues that you would like to talk to me (or Blaise) about, please get in touch. Likewise if you would like to add to any of the issues highlighted above, whether as an offer of help or a suggestion that we didn’t consider, please also get in touch.

* Not actually a picture of Boris Johnson.
Hazeena A

Ian, thank you once again for your support. It means a lot.

Thank you so much for [creating this petition] and so amazingly quickly!!!

You did a brilliant job on both the blog and petition. Some of the NHS staff were even impressed with the speed at which you addressed this, and I have had varying positive comments from friends who have read your post.

Hazeena A – Ruislip, Northwood & Pinner Resident

Sheena Y

Having worked with Ian I can say that I found him incredibly transparent and honest which I think would be rare and much needed in today political arena. He is also very clever, direct and a great communicator.

Sheena Y, former co-worker

Andy H

Ian is a very smart individual, but more importantly is honest and truly cares about people.

He is an unselfish individual and would absolutely have the public’s best interests at heart.

Andy H, brother

Luca M

I met Ian a few months ago for the first time and straight away I felt confortable with him and I thought: ” Ok I would trust that guy”.

Luca M, fellow speakers’ club member

Francisco V

Throughout the 12 years I have known Ian, he has always demonstrated to be very bright, kind and upright. I’ve seen all of these attributes in his personal life, for instance, in our sport association he volunteered as treasurer where he improved the overall system and costs as well as championing charitable giving & generous donations. He’ll definitely make a difference in a bigger role in politics.

Francisco V, fellow jū jūtsu instructor and friend

Irene H

You have the moral integrity and high standards in all aspects of the requirements of your potential constituents. You will stand up to injustice and defend those deemed to have had injustice against them. You are committed to environmental change and to look after the less well off in society.

Irene H, mother

Graham C

First and foremost, your personal ethos of kindness and care for others is your top qualification. That you are also highly driven with a need to be productive, and understand very complex matters such as financial systems, makes you stand out.

Graham C, fellow jū jūtsu instructor and friend

Anonymous

You are one of the most principled people that I know. You are committed to making changes that support the most vulnerable in our society and you don’t give up when you know you’re fighting for what’s right.

Anonymous

Helen C

Integrity.
Unlike the rest of us who are disillusioned with the lack of honesty, morals, and the unfair and outdated ‘public schoolboy network’ displayed by this government, you have decided to stand up and make a difference.
Your constituents couldn’t have a better candidate.

Helen C, Aunt

Miles H

Having known Ian for a number of years during which we worked closely as Financial Advisers, I am confident that he would make an excellent MP. Ian is an intelligent man who has the ability to absorb, understand and manage complex information quickly; I have, on many occasions, witnessed him do this whilst retaining the ability to explain it, in a manner which is easy to understand.

I have seen Ian display the courage of his convictions on a professional level, where he has put the clients needs before that of the company and have no doubt he would carry this attitude into public life.

Ian and I have disagreed on politics in the past, but he has always listened carefully to any position and taken time to offer a thoughtful response. If he became an MP I am sure his constituents would benefit from an effective and hard working representative.

Miles H, former co-worker

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Posted on

A Moan About Mone

A picture of Michelle Mone in the House of Lords, captioned with a summary of what she did during the pandemic.

Lovely poster of Michelle Mone from @pennyamott

I suspect everyone has already heard about Michelle Mone and her alleged involvement with the PPE scandal that has come to light at last. In this case, Michelle Mone, a Tory peer, seems to be inextricably linked to PPE Medpro, a company that, until the pandemic broke out, didn’t exist. The main contention here is that Mone specifically lobbied using the government’s “VIP” lane to get PPE Medpro awarded a contract for providing PPE because they could do so quickly. As such, I thought I would have a Moan about Mone and PPE Medpro.

So far, sounds good – we were in a crisis after all, so why is this a problem?

Well, the problems start to arise when you look at the details.

PPE Medpro Experience

As mentioned above, PPE Medpro was a brand new company. In fact, they had no history whatsoever of manufacturing and sourcing PPE. One would therefore be forgiven for completely discounting them as a potential supplier because they just didn’t have the track record to back up their proposal. One might also be forgiven for taking a look at their proposal and arguing that – despite their lack of track record – they were well placed to provide said equipment.

Value for Money

One of the greatest arguments for government procurement is to be able to show decent value for money for the taxpayer. If PPE Medpro had approached the government with an excellent deal, this would be a good reason to bypass the usual tendering process, as the taxpayer would ultimately be better off.

Medical professional wearing PPE

Example of PPE being worn

In this case, however, the underlying items in the contract were purchased by PPE Medprod for far less than they were then sold on to the government for. In fact, the Guardian reported in March 2022 that the items sold to the UK government for £122m were actually bought for £46m. It is genuinely hard to believe that a new small company would be able to achieve such favourable terms compared to the entire UK government, so that markup of £76m comes across as frankly greedy profit-gouging.

Quality of PPE

The above might be excusable if this particular source represented the best quality PPE known to man. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The gowns making up a good proportion of this order (£122m) were never used, as the quality was deemed to be below acceptable standards for frontline workers. In fact, the government has had to pay more to store these useless items since the provision. You might think that failing to come up to code would be grounds for the contract to be voided and the payment returns, but apparently not. The government is still in mediation with PPE Medpro to get money back for these useless items that were specifically bought at the insistence of a Tory peer.

A Genuine Mistake?

Did Michelle Mone make an honest mistake here? Did she really think that this company was best-placed compared to existing providers of this type of equipment? In short, no, she was not that stupid. Instead it seems she was greedy.

Recent reports show that, of the c. £200m paid to PPE Medpro, some £65m was paid out to Douglas Barrowman, Michelle Mone’s husband. From that, he then made a payment of some £29m into her personal control.

This brings the whole issue to a close in my eyes. In essence, Michelle Mone did not make an honest mistake, she deliberately recommended a firm that she and her family would personally benefit from and since taking taxpayer money has so far refused to give it back despite the products purchased being defective.

In short, she is a great example of why the House of Lords is utterly unfit for purpose. She is entitled to sit there for life and will never be subject to an election, but will have influence over the UK and its finances for years to come. For this reason, part of my personal manifesto is the abolition of the House of Lords*.

* incidentally my goal to abolish the House of Lords predates Kier Starmer’s announcement this week to do the same. However, his plan is to replace the House with an elected body, while my own view is that we should still fill a second chamber with experienced experts, but we should almost completely eliminate their actual political power. This would put the power in the hands of a single elected chamber, with some form of oversight or expertise from a fairly academic chamber with minimal actual power.

Hazeena A

Ian, thank you once again for your support. It means a lot.

Thank you so much for [creating this petition] and so amazingly quickly!!!

You did a brilliant job on both the blog and petition. Some of the NHS staff were even impressed with the speed at which you addressed this, and I have had varying positive comments from friends who have read your post.

Hazeena A – Ruislip, Northwood & Pinner Resident

Sheena Y

Having worked with Ian I can say that I found him incredibly transparent and honest which I think would be rare and much needed in today political arena. He is also very clever, direct and a great communicator.

Sheena Y, former co-worker

Andy H

Ian is a very smart individual, but more importantly is honest and truly cares about people.

He is an unselfish individual and would absolutely have the public’s best interests at heart.

Andy H, brother

Luca M

I met Ian a few months ago for the first time and straight away I felt confortable with him and I thought: ” Ok I would trust that guy”.

Luca M, fellow speakers’ club member

Francisco V

Throughout the 12 years I have known Ian, he has always demonstrated to be very bright, kind and upright. I’ve seen all of these attributes in his personal life, for instance, in our sport association he volunteered as treasurer where he improved the overall system and costs as well as championing charitable giving & generous donations. He’ll definitely make a difference in a bigger role in politics.

Francisco V, fellow jū jūtsu instructor and friend

Irene H

You have the moral integrity and high standards in all aspects of the requirements of your potential constituents. You will stand up to injustice and defend those deemed to have had injustice against them. You are committed to environmental change and to look after the less well off in society.

Irene H, mother

Graham C

First and foremost, your personal ethos of kindness and care for others is your top qualification. That you are also highly driven with a need to be productive, and understand very complex matters such as financial systems, makes you stand out.

Graham C, fellow jū jūtsu instructor and friend

Anonymous

You are one of the most principled people that I know. You are committed to making changes that support the most vulnerable in our society and you don’t give up when you know you’re fighting for what’s right.

Anonymous

Helen C

Integrity.
Unlike the rest of us who are disillusioned with the lack of honesty, morals, and the unfair and outdated ‘public schoolboy network’ displayed by this government, you have decided to stand up and make a difference.
Your constituents couldn’t have a better candidate.

Helen C, Aunt

Miles H

Having known Ian for a number of years during which we worked closely as Financial Advisers, I am confident that he would make an excellent MP. Ian is an intelligent man who has the ability to absorb, understand and manage complex information quickly; I have, on many occasions, witnessed him do this whilst retaining the ability to explain it, in a manner which is easy to understand.

I have seen Ian display the courage of his convictions on a professional level, where he has put the clients needs before that of the company and have no doubt he would carry this attitude into public life.

Ian and I have disagreed on politics in the past, but he has always listened carefully to any position and taken time to offer a thoughtful response. If he became an MP I am sure his constituents would benefit from an effective and hard working representative.

Miles H, former co-worker

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