Regent's Park &
Kensington North
| |
|
Karen Buck MP Regent's Park & Kensington North |
|
Merry Christmas and Happy New YearDecember 2005 How easy it is to let the extraordinary become commonplace. Going into school last week to award prizes for the design of my Christmas card, I was struck anew by the extraordinary diversity of young London. This makes me very hopeful for the future. Schools within which pupils speak 40 or more different languages at home, are achieving and improving with frequently excellent results. Moreover, they do so with an ethos of tolerance and respect which is powerfully moving to see. This is not to underplay the challenges we face, locally and more widely. There is still a very long way to go in the battle to end poverty, for example, despite measures that have lifted around one million children above the poverty line. There is a desperate shortage of affordable housing in inner London. Schools and health services have improved dramatically thanks to investment in staff, buildings and equipment- but not all have improved equally. Diversity and high population turnover require everyone involved in public policy to work extra hard to strengthen our communities. And, of course, the genuine terror threat posed by a tiny minority, such as that which wreaked such carnage in July, places an undeniable pressure on community relations. Yet for all this, the message is a positive and hopeful one, certainly if London’s children are anything to go by. There can be little doubt that London won the Olympics bid in part because of what we represent- a modern city celebrating and drawing strength from diversity. London’s economy, creativity and energy all draw on this reality, and the understanding of this fact helped explain the demonstration of unity this summer. And, as Christmas is a time for hope- positive signs too from an Iraqi election, with a turnout impressive by international standards, let alone after the years of trauma the country has experienced. We can also celebrate progress at the international climate change conference, which holds out the prospect of the most broadly-based commitment yet to tackling global warming. So a Happy Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year to all. It is a privilege to represent you in Parliament and I look forward to continuing to do so in 2006. |
|
| Disclaimer | Copyright | Designed and run by Bassam Mahfouz on behalf of Karen Buck MP. Paid for by RPKN CLP. |
