John Hemming's Web Log

Original Date 26th May 2017 One thing I used to do when I was the Member of Parliament for Yardley was to call together meetings of all of the religious organisations in Yardley as a Yardley multi-faith group.  In many ways it is the creation of informal links between people that makes communication easier even if there is no formal decision making power. Obviously this is something I would intend to do again if the people of Yardley ask me to take on the responsibility of representing them in parliament. It highlights the sort of thing that politicians can do which arises from a leadership role within communities rather than any constitutional position. I have already written in an earlier blog post about the principles of resolving conflict.  It can be summarised as "murdering innocents is wrong". A number of local mosques have issued statements following the atrocity in Manchester and I think it is worth quoting from parts of them. One said that the mosque ...

Candidates in elections tend to find themselves very busy with lots of things to do.  It is, therefore, necessary to prioritise things to ensure that the important things are dealt with. To me the issue of homelessness and rough sleeping is an important issue.  Therefore, when Birmingham's Faith Leaders group contacted me to ask me what I would propose and whether I would work with them to make things better I was pleased to respond with my views and indicate that I would work with them after the election. The Faith Leaders Group (Bishops and other religious leaders in Birmingham) have now sent out their report. Sadly, according to their report,  I was the only candidate for Yardley to respond.  The group in their report said: "Particularly disappointing was the lack of response from some of those candidates seeking re-election as MP for their respective constituencies." It is worth looking at the priorities of my opponent. Interestingly today she has dec...