Full Speech to ATUC/ASC May Day Event 2021

Below is the full text of my speech to Aberdeen Trades Union Council and Aberdeen Social Centre's joint International Workers' Day (May Day) event on Saturday 1 May 2021.

"Comrades, friends,

"Sasha Brydon, Secretary of Aberdeen Trades Union Council, and Regional President of the North East Scotland College Students’ Association.

"Life for students prior to the pandemic, to put it lightly, was already pretty difficult: the gig economy with its insecure work; substandard student accommodation providers, and worse private landlords; and an education system which viewed students as essentially money pinatas.

"It is often said that Covid-19 has exacerbated many of the inequalities we find in society, the plight of students is no different.

"Students, like many other sections of society, have had an awful year. The Scottish Government essentially forced a postcode lottery with their system of awarding grades, until grassroots school pupils aided by MSPs and others overturned the SQA and Scottish Government, and nearly toppled the Deputy First Minister.

"For pupils who went through the exam fiasco, they were forced on to unsafe university campuses because the institutions didn’t want to forfeit precious student halls income, separating many students from their communities and families for months; and for students who did test positive, or just have to self isolate, they were given shoddy care packages (if you can even call them that) by their institutions or halls providers.

"For College students, many of whom study practical courses such as construction and engineering, such as students at NESCol’s Altens campus in Aberdeen, their programmes of study were hollowed out due to restrictions placed on work within workshops. This places huge insecurity on students who don’t know what they’re going to do for the next academic year, or indeed when the current academic year is going to finish. For College HNC Nursing students they have also had a particularly bad year, as across Scotland they were denied Covid-19 life insurance to go on placements at NHS facilities, whereas HNC Nursing students doing the same level and course at Universities such as RGU didn’t face the same restrictions. This was brought to our attention at the Students’ Association, and we, alongside Colleges Scotland, NUS Scotland and the class reps who came to us were able to force a Scottish Government u-turn benefiting over 2000 students across Scotland. You would think there wouldn’t have been this omission, (at least I hope it was just an omission) we need these dedicated students to staff our health service in years to come.

"Additionally there was a period of disruption due to the (now resolved) national dispute between Colleges Scotland and EIS-FELA. Students at NESCol were quick to organise, and we were one of the first groups of students to voice our support to EIS-FELA within NUS Scotland. Nobody on any side of the dispute wanted the industrial action to take place, but College lecturers were forced into this position by the employers. I’m glad to see this national dispute resolved, with a victory to EIS-FELA to protect the role of the lecturer in further education. There are still a few local disputes ongoing in the central belt at one or two institutions.

"Students as a whole, whether College or University, are victims of a gig economy which relies on predominantly young people, many students have been going to work during the pandemic as retail workers or workers in fast food, including Deliveroo and others. Young people have also been blamed for rises in Covid-19 rates, but people somehow don’t see the link with that.

"Students are also victims of an education system which views them as customers and stakeholders who pay for a service, rather than people who are seeking upskilling, reskilling or pure educational enhancement. Further education receives its funding partly based on the number of students it can ferry through its programme of courses, which forces Colleges to focus on credit targets, and only paying lip-service to student welfare.

"All of this paints a pretty grim picture.

"NUS Scotland during the election has been calling on all parties to support a student guarantee, under the slogan of ‘students deserve better’ which would be:

• The right for every student to access a fully funded education system.
• The right for all students to access a comprehensive student support system.
• The right for all students to receive a safe and inclusive education.
• The right for students to be an integral part of shaping a better world.

"NUS Scotland has been key in securing millions of pounds in extra discretionary funding from the SFC and Scottish Government, and continues to be a key critical friend of the Scottish Government.

"Students, through their democratic representative organisations working nationally, can move mountains."

My Road to Damascus

If anybody has ever said their politics has not changed then they would not be telling the truth. Sometimes people's ideas can change very rapidly, as some would say mine has, but all change is organic. There is usually an underlying reason, as all change is caused by something. My political shift was closer to a conversion, hence the title. The shift has also been spiritual as much as political.

For a little over three years, between December 2016 and March 2020, I was a member of the Communist Party of Britain (CPB). Do I regret it? Much like the late Denis Healey, the former Labour minister and once upon a time Communist, not one bit. The CPB instilled a reverence for inner-party democracy, a completely sound critique of capitalism, and an understanding of the need to build coalitions and win people over by relationship building, including a strong sense of community organising; all of these things have stuck.

I joined the Labour Party in May 2020, after quite a bit of thought. I had been considering leaving the CPB for a while, the democratic centralism was just a bit too centralist for my liking. Another factor which lead to my disillusionment, or alienation, with the CPB was the unrelenting optimism that the doctrine of historical materialism was correct, and that capitalism would by its very nature give way to socialism, and socialism to communism. As Lord Glasman once said, the least true thing anyone has ever said in politics is things can only get better. This was meant as a stab against New Labour, but it works quite well against Communists.

The period of the pandemic has been a very depressing time, but it has meant time to myself for hard introspection, both of my politics and my spirituality.

I have come to realise that there is an inherent radicalism, as well as a deep conservatism within my politics. The radicalism from reading Marx, the conservatism from the experiences in my life and community. Capitalism, with its commodification of human beings, nature and everything in between is something which must be resisted wholeheartedly. Where capitalism's revolutionary nature is praised by Marx, eroding old social ties, the ancient traditions of family and community, that is where I depart with Marx. Any moves to resist the domination of capital must be supported, especially at the most local level; from trades unions, tenants unions, civic society, community groups, political parties and others. The Labour tradition, my conservatism, is not a discriminatory conservatism. It is a conservatism which centres family, work, community, place, obligation to one another, and democracy. This politics is also about reminding us of our common humanity. Much like the allegory of the cave, it took leaving the CPB and proper time for introspection about my politics to realise this inherent conservatism, which caused me to drift into the open arms of Blue Labour, a fairly niche Labour Party pressure group.

I have also thrown off the cold philosophical materialism that was instilled by the CPB. I don't think anyone who has lived through this air of pestilence and death can not believe in some form of spirituality. This is not to say I believe in God, I cannot say I either do or don't. I'd regard myself as an agnostic, culturally Christian and much more open to the spiritual than I once was. I was brought up deeply, coldly atheist, so philosophical materialism came naturally to me. 2020 was the first time I had actively of my own accord read parts of the Bible. My mother and her family are atheists, while my father's parents align with the Protestantse Kerk, although living in Scotland they attend Church of Scotland services. I had been estranged from my Dad's side of the family on and off for many years, however I have recently grown closer, which has only strengthened the spirituality.

I aim to further expand my ideas on various subjects, like the railways for example which I have already began here, but I felt the need to write a brief few paragraphs about my changing politics.

In the meantime, my politics can be summed up in a sentence from the young Benjamin Disraeli: "I am a Conservative to preserve all that is good in our constitution, a Radical to remove all that is bad."

Source: https://twitter.com/blue_labour/status/1222912088529612800

Reverse the Beeching Cuts!

I am on a train again for the first time since before March. Don't worry, I have a genuine reason! I'm on the train from Aberdeen to Edinburgh, and as the train rolls through the Stonehaven and Mearns countryside in the south of Aberdeenshire, with farmland and greenery on one side and the North Sea on the other, I'm reminded of its supreme beauty, something I greatly missed. I wouldn't choose to live anywhere on this planet than Aberdeenshire; with its rolling hills, winding rivers and its threaded connection with working people in its long gone granite industry. Having the majesty of the Cairngorms National Park in our back garden definitely helps, too. Mass transit in the form of buses and trains should be the future. I fully support the campaign to #BringBackBritishRail (https://www.bringbackbritishrail.org/), however I definitely think we should aim for a more local and place-centred railway, rather than rigid bureaucracy managed down in London, involving communities, workforce and customers in the management of the railway in different regions of the country. 

As we enter Stonehaven train station memories come back of the day in August earlier this year when, after heavy rain, a landslip caused the derailment of a train, causing the deaths of two crew, the driver and a conductor, and a passenger on the railway just outside the town. Their names were Brett McCullough, Donald Dinnie and Christopher Stuchbury. May we never forget them. The Sun newspaper must be forever condemned for its shameful headline about the disaster.

We have recently seen the construction of a new railway station in Kintore, rebuillding one of the victims of the Beeching cuts of 1966. I was watching series four of The Crown, and in one of the episodes it showed the Royal train meandering down the Deeside Railway to Balmoral Castle, except this was during the Thatcher era, many years after Beeching. The Deeside Railway ceased to exist after 1966! I definitely think that any sane national rail strategy needs a competent plan to reverse the Beeching cuts in full, and restore rail services to communities across the country, many of which wouldn't exist without the railway in the first place. We also need to ramp up the amount of freight and non-passenger transport on our railways, as a much more environmentally friendly alternative to air, sea or road haulage.

Many of the former railway lines, especially in Aberdeenshire, are now lovely walks, intersecting through the countryside. However the history of these lines should never be forgotten. I remember walking on the old railway line which runs past Kemnay, Monymusk and Alford, long overgrown, the physical railway is hardly there anymore. Another reason for the reopening of these lines is the abysmal transport links between many towns and small villages within Aberdeenshire on the bus.

Kemnay Railway Station, the building no longer exists. Source: http://www.kemnay.info/history/kemnay-railway/

The Crisis of Mental Health and the Need for Proper Investment

Today, Thursday 19th November is International Men's Day. International Men's Day is all about "making a positive difference to the wellbeing and lives of men and boys, raising awareness and/or funds for charities supporting men and boys' wellbeing, and promoting a positive conversation about men, manhood and masculinity." (UK Men's Day).

Bizarrely enough that page hosts a quotation from a former UK Prime Minister, Theresa May, who quite rightly recognises the importance of International Men's Day in highlighting health, suicide rates and the underperformance of boys in education. While she did highlight in her resignation speech the opportunity to put "proper funding for mental health at the heart of a long-term plan." (Pulse, 2019), Masuma Rahim in a Guardian article mentioned that child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) "continue to be woefully underfunded, despite years of promises of extra money." (Rahim, M. 2019). Masuma goes on to say that preventing mental health difficulties require a "public health approach" taking account of societal impacts which may be the underlying cause, noting the rise in foodbanks, changes to the welfare system, and the cutting of Sure Start centres (Rahim, M. 2019). I have no doubt in May's personal advocacy for mental health, however between 2010 and 2015 the government she was a member of cut mental health trusts by 8.25%, equivalent to £598 million (Broomfield, M. 2017), while also implementing further crushing austerity measures in other areas of the public sphere, austerity which continues to this day.

Closer to home in Scotland the Scottish Government has also championed mental health, however like their UK counterpart they are also coming up short, with what the Mental Health Foundation called "plaster solutions" in their response to a previous Scottish Government budget (Mental Health Foundation, 2018). The Mental Health Foundation in this response also highlights the need for preventative measures first and foremost, especially in early years. CAMHS in Scotland is mandated to see people within 18 weeks, however 12 of 14 NHS Scotland Health Boards failed to meet this target, with my local Health Board, NHS Grampian, reporting the worst figures, with 51.2% of people being seen within the 18 week target (Mental Health Today, 2019). This is 48.8% who are not being seen in 18 weeks, which is shocking.

UNISON Scotland highlight the need for proper funding for local government to deliver essential services to communities, including mental health support, as well as a strategy for tackling mental health issues in workplaces, such as "effective workload management schemes, suitable stress risk assessments, mental health action plans and policies." (UNISON Scotland, 2018).

Local authorities, the primary, front line providers of many services which impact our daily lives, need proper funding. The Scottish Government is keen to keep going with its centralisation agenda and starve local government of its resources, but this must be resisted and reversed. We don't just need national and regional plans for mental health and other services, but local plans which take direct account of community implications, alongside full consultation with communities about what they need. The Holyrood elections next year will be vital, and it will be particularly interesting to see the manifestos of the parties. However personally the key manifesto to see will be the Scottish National Party, they have after all been in power for the last 13 years, and look likely to be re-elected with a majority, with services undergoing managed decline. If they gain the majority that they are in my view likely to get there will be less pressure on them from parliament to be accountable for their decision making. We have already seen how they ignore the will of parliament, and that's without a majority.

Mental health waiting list targets, such as CAMHS 18-week target in Scotland, may look great on paper and to managers, however 18 weeks is too long to wait for many, that's if they're even seen within the 18 weeks. We need proper funding for the NHS nationally, but we also need the centralisation reversed, hospitals rebuilt and reopened in the population centres, and local clinics and GPs provided with the resources to give front line, community care and to catch people before they inevitably fall through the cracks otherwise.

In finishing, this was initially meant to be about International Men's Day and not on mental health more generally, but it flowed so I stuck with it. As winter closes in we need to be more vigilant about our own health, keep an eye on others, especially family members, and check up on our friends. This is the first piece of writing I have done in a long time, being too demotivated or plagued by brain fog to actually think of anything to put down let alone sit in front of my laptop to type it up due to eye strain. Over the past few days my mental health has been markedly improving, thanks to taking extra Vitamin D, as well as installing a lamp which emits artificial daylight, however will take a long time to fully 'recover.' My physical fatigue seems to be going, however emotional fatigue will be staying for a while I think.

References:

UK Men's Day. International Men's Day in the UK [Online]. Available at: https://ukmensday.org.uk/ (Accessed: 19 November 2020).

Pulse (2019). May heralds 'proper funding for mental health' in resignation speech [Online]. Available at: https://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/news/politics/may-heralds-proper-funding-for-mental-health-in-resignation-speech/ (Accessed: 19 November 2020).

Rahim, M. (2019) 'Theresa May's 'legacy' on child mental health is one of underfunding and neglect', The Guardian, 18 June [Online]. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/18/theresa-may-legacy-child-mental-health-underfunding-neglect (Accessed: 19 November 2020).

Broomfield, M. (2017) '2 charts show what has happened to mental health under the Conservatives', The Independent, 09 January [Online]. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/mental-health-figures-depression-anxiety-children-tory-government-theresa-may-pledge-end-stigma-funding-support-care-a7517531.html (Accessed 19 November 2020).

Mental Health Foundation (2018). Mental Health Foundation responds to the Scottish Government budget [Online]. Available at: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/news/mental-health-foundation-scotland-responds-scottish-government-budget (Accessed: 19 November 2020).

Mental Health Today (2019). Over 1 in 5 children rejected from mental health services in Scotland [Online]. Available at: https://www.mentalhealthtoday.co.uk/news/children/over-1-in-5-children-rejected-from-mental-health-services-in-scotland (Accessed: 19 November 2020).

UNISON Scotland (2018). Need for mental health action plans as cuts bring pressures [Online]. Available at: https://www.unison-scotland.org/need-for-mental-health-action-plans-as-cuts-bring-pressures/ (Accessed: 19 November 2020).