On your way you stop to give someone a lift but they’re not coming

On your way, you stop to give someone a lift, but they’re not coming. If the reason is they have to work, you want to beg them to bring their work with them, even if it involves driving a bus.By the time I set off for the park, I was simply hoping to beat the 10 on that march for jobs But a student brought everyone from his course Hundreds of council workers came from the Town Hall. The union official from the Post Office led about 500 postal workers across the road into the park. Eventually the crowd was estimated by the local paper at 2,000 It was almost as if it was a terrible mistake. The three of us who had done most to organise it were stunned. We went to the pub and contemplated what you’re supposed to do when 2,000 people turn up. And we must have looked so perplexed, that if anyone who wasn’t on the demonstration had seen us, they’d have thought “oh dear, they must have got less than 10″.Through the Nineties, the free-market values of Thatcher came to be rejected by increasing numbers.

But the irony was that the man in the perfect position to soak up this rejection was Tony Blair, who accepted most of what they’d done. His selling point was that, after so many defeats, he was offering so little that it might just be possible. To put it another way, the root of his success was pessimism.The antidote to pessimism is the understanding that we do make a difference Blair didn’t scrap the poll tax – we did New Labour didn’t end apartheid – we did. Future generations will remember the miners’ strike, but few will remember Michael Heseltine.Most of those who submit to pessimism do so against their instincts Just ask them when they were most inspired.

It may have been during the miners’ strike, or the CND marches, or opposing the poll tax. No one will say, “My most exhilarating moment was when I realised it was unrealistic to propose a higher tax rate for top earners.”There are signs that a new generation is beginning to create a new era of activism. The large number who once felt that excitement but have since abandoned it for the sake of “realism” should remember the passion, close their eyes and say to themselves, “Go on, spoil yourself”.This article is an edited extract from ‘Reasons to be Cheerful’ by Mark Steel, to be published by Scribner UK on 9 April, price £10. Controversy over Tony Blair’s use of political appointees was reignited last night when new figures showed that the Government had spent £767,000 on foreign travel for special advisers. Controversy over Tony Blair’s use of political appointees was reignited last night when new figures showed that the Government had spent £767,000 on foreign travel for special advisers.
A series of written Parliamentary answers, together with a letter from Sir Richard Wilson, the Cabinet Secretary, showed that the advisers had made 557 trips abroad at the taxpayers’ expense.The replies to Andrew Tyrie, the Tory MP for Chichester, also revealed that the Prime Minister had travelled overseas without senior civil servants on at least two Government trips.The statistics were seized on by the Opposition as proof that Downing Street was increasingly reliant upon party political appointees and that civil servants had been sidelined by Labour.According to the written answers, special advisers had travelled to places such as Japan, China, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, India, Pakistan and Johannesburg as well as many European destinations.Alastair Campbell, Mr Blair’s official spokesman, and Jonathan Powell, his chief of staff, feature prominently on foreign visits.In the past year alone, some £179,000 was spent on travel for the advisers in all departments apart from the Treasury. Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, refused to reveal how much the Treasury’s 86 trips had cost.Mr Tyrie, himself a former special adviser in Downing Street under the Tories, said that Prime Ministers had always travelled with senior civil service support. “The fact that [Mr Blair] has now decided to represent the country overseas with only his closest party political appointees as back up is a reflection of the takeover taking place,” he said.However, Downing Street pointed out that Mr Blair was joined on both trips by a private secretary and administrative and support staff.

A package of welfare measures worth £60m designed to stop service personnel leaving the armed forces was unveiled in the Commons yesterday. A package of welfare measures worth £60m designed to stop service personnel leaving the armed forces was unveiled in the Commons yesterday.
Staff on operations or exercises for more than two months will benefit from free telephone calls and e-mails, as well as hot showers and the use of fitness equipment for off-duty relaxation, John Spellar, the Armed Forces minister, said. A British Forces Broadcasting channel would be set up for troops in the Balkans, along with extra Naafi shops, he said.Personnel will have 20 minutes of free phone calls a week, and access to free e-mails to help them keep in touch with their families. “In all, this welfare package will amount to an additional £60m over the next four years,” Mr Spellar told MPs.The measures “have been long required and recognise the pressures our people are under and the contribution they make,” he said.Quentin Davies, a Tory Defence spokesman, said the measures were “recycled announcements” originally made months ago.

He accused the Government of “monumental failure” to achieve armed forces recruitment targets.. Keith Vaz, who is facing the reopening of a formal investigation into his business affairs, has pulled out of one of the most glittering events in the Asian calendar, attended by the Prince of Wales. Keith Vaz, who is facing the reopening of a formal investigation into his business affairs, has pulled out of one of the most glittering events in the Asian calendar, attended by the Prince of Wales.
The embattled minister for Europe was due to attend a fund-raising dinner at the Dorchester hotel, London, attended by Prince Charles and Britain’s most successful Asian businessmen and political figures tonight. The dinner, held in conjunction with the Prince’s Trust, is hosted by G K Noon, an Asian philanthropist who made his fortune from ready-made Indian meals.But, although the dinner for 200 people was still scheduled in Mr Vaz’s office diary last night, its organiser said the minister was now “definitely, definitely not coming.”"I want this function to be a function for a worthy cause,” Mr Noon said “Mr Vaz says he is not coming. He was coming, but he says ‘I have got a lot of work and because of this I cannot come.’ I can assure you that he is not coming.”The Prince’s Trust said the party was a high-profile “Asian event” hosted by Mr Noon as part of the trust’s 25th anniversary celebrations.