Jonathan Bishop

Growing businesses, like mine based in Abercynon, are worried about what impact the next government is going to have on our ability to increase the number of people we employ to deliver for our stakeholders.

All parties are currently committed to increasing the minimum wage, which will increase business costs, especially if employers have to pay more national insurance on top.

The Conservatives’ policy not to increase NI seems on the face of it more appealing than that proposed by Labour.

The Tories say they can afford to make their changes to national insurance, but if you look at their statements in detail they can’t. They are based on back-of-an-envelope doubling of Labour’s annual savings of pounds 15bn in only nine months. At the last election, even the Tories themselves said it would take three years to make this amount of savings.

Yes the business leaders in England are right, that the NI increases are a tax on jobs. However, I’m not as foolish as them to believe the Tories are on the side of those wanting to remain in or enter the job market.

We all know their priorities are the wealthiest 3,000 households in Britain, and not those who have to work hard for every penny they have.

People who say they are against affirmative action like all-women-shortlists say the reason is because people should be chosen on merit – but when has anything relying on subjective judgment without full access to and acceptance of the facts been meritocratic?

However, it seems that we are not living in a meritocracy, but an inequitable partisan autocracy. An IPA, as exists in the UK, involves the hierarchies of political parties choosing people not on their ability to do the job they aim to be elected to, but their ability to deceive the electorate into thinking they will always do what they want, and their willingness to, on the contrary, do whatever the party hierarchy wants.

Conversely, an equitable individualistic meritocracy (EIM), as exists with applications to grades of membership with professional bodies, selects people on what they are able to do based on the evidence they have provided through demonstrable experience.

The main difference between the IPA organisations I am a member of, such as the Labour Party and the EIM bodies I am a member of, such as the BCS and IEEE, is simply a matter of objectivity, reliability, and verifiability; the Labour Party doesn’t expect you to provide evidence of your experience, such as through referees, portfolios or certifications like an EIM does, as they base their appointments purely on superficial factors such as whether you support the same opinion as them, whether you are willing to do what you are told by the hierarchy, and all too often, whether you are known to the selection panel.

For instance, I am currently working my way up the grades of the BCS and IEEE. Through increasing my education and experience in the application of IT to business, research and community problems I am ticking the boxes set by these EIM bodies, meaning I will eventually have enough evidence to apply for higher grades of membership. In the Labour Party however, like all IPAs, there is an interview procedure where candidates answer questions that trick them into providing evidence why they should be eliminated and not appointed. They will ask questions such as ‘Would you ever vote against the whip’. If you were honest, and said you would vote with your conscience, this would be reason to eliminate you. In an EIM on the contrary, voting on the basis of your best judgment in line with your competencies is encouraged and in some cases obligatory. For instance, if you were on the board of an IT company and voted in favour of the opinion of the Chairman and you knew it was against the interests of the company, not only could you lose your membership of the EIM but also you right to be a director.

I have a Masters of Laws degree in European Union Law, I have been involved in marketing campaigns to encourage young people to be involved in community arts, I am able to utilise a team of workers so I can more effectively define and meet the objectives of both my organisation and myself, and I am able to communicate my thoughts and listen to others in project meetings, where necessary arguing my personal opinion and at other times representing others’. Surely I should be sitting on a committee in the European Parliament by now, or at least one of my party’s preferred candidates for European political work. But this is not the case, as the Labour Party is not an equitable individualistic meritocracy but an inequitable partisan autocracy. I have experienced it myself when despite providing objective evidence of my abilities only my performance at an interview was taken into account. I have seen other people affected by it, where one of my contemporaries was eliminated from a contest for reasons that had nothing to do with his ability to do the job.

I joined the Labour Party because I thought its ultimate objectives were the fairest. I joined the Labour Party, not to further my own interests, but because on paper it seemed like the party that would best represent my values of fairness. Tony Blair convinced me that it was the party that would put power, wealth and opportunity into the hands of the many and not just the few.
However, I have seen the unacceptable face of the Labour Party, and no matter how much Tony Blair changed the Rule Book, he wasn’t able to change the people in the party. I am a person of great ability, yet with the exception of the Ogmore constituency, wherever I have been in the Labour Party I have been treated like an outcast, someone who was not welcome. I have not been treated with the respect someone of my intellect deserves, nor have I been given the opportunity to use my strengths for the benefit of the party, again, other than in Ogmore.

Democracy means governance by the people, not political parties. Representative democracy means governance by people who reflect the makeup of the country as a whole, and not simply people who meet the prejudices of an IPA organisation. For mean the ideal representative democracy would where institutions are made up of people who are representative of those affected by the issues being discussed, such as parents or teachers, and secondly by people who have the training and competencies required to initiate the change, such as legislator or regulator. The former could be selected based on subjective factors and more suited to reformed IPA organisations (perhaps Equitable Integrated Autocracies – EIAs), and the latter, objective, more suited to existing EIM organisations.

According to my best friend, Mark Beech, whose politics I in no way endorse, today is Namesake Day as part of Celebrate Your Name Week, so I thought I’d join in.

There are a number of other Jonathan Bishops in the world, perhaps too many for my liking, but I thought I’d list them here anyway in the good spirit of the event.

The Reverend Jonathan Bishop, a minister in the Twitterverse, who follows in the footsteps of Vivian Parkinson, who was probably the first minister in the world to blog, using my Llantrisant Online website.

Jonathan Bishop, from Design Interactions at the Royal College of Arts, who is interested in the merging of fiction and reality, and in how the everyday can become more wonderful.

Jon Bishop, an Internet Marketing Specialist at Magicomm. He concentrates on understanding and developing web 2.0 technologies and applications. Clearly he doesn’t have the practical experience of me, who invented the Circle of Friends social networking technology, so will the real Jonathan Bishop please stand up.

Jonathan Bishop, the Co-Owner/Co-CEO of Bishop’s Orchards. Clearly experienced in a different sort of Apple exploitation to me. I wonder if he will follow me and migrate from Apples to something more fruitful!

Jonathan Bishop, the Deputy Headteacher at Broadclyst Primary School. This Jonathan Bishop is currently more known at Microsoft for e-learning than me, but I hope to change that.

Jonathan Bishop, Chief Deputy Director, State Water Resources Control Board California.

John Bishop, a Liverpool stand-up comedian. Apparently he will be performing at the Glee club in Cardiff. He can’t be any worse than any other the other acts I’ve seen there.

Johnathan Bishop, a Network Administrator in the Information Services department of the National Food Service Management Institute.

The late Jonathan Bishop, Professor Emeritus, who helped initiate Cornell University’s first-year writing seminars.

Jonathan Edward Bishop, a digital artist.

John Peale Bishop, an author, poet, and editor, born in 1892 in Charles Town, West Virginia.

Dr Jonathan E. Bishop MD, a clinical Associate Professor at Snohomish Family Medical Center.

“A recent court case found that political manifestos do not ‘create legitimate expectations’ even though there is a body of evidence to suggest politicians keep their promises – should we ban political parties?

That seems to be the logic of the parliamentary committee looking into the effectiveness of homeopathic remedies for treating chronic illnesses. They claim that homeopathic treatments, which have no medicinal qualities beyond placebo, should not be used as a treatment on the NHS because of lack of efficacy.

It is known that practicing a religion can be good for health, because people who do it regularly interact with others, think and reflect on different issues, and are disciplined in their worshipping activities.

As a co-operator I believe in self-help and because of this I believe that if people are managing their chronic illness, however invalid their approach, then this can only be good. Chronic illnesses are incurable, so no medicine will be effective in treating them completely. However, developing daily living patterns, such as eating at certain times, sleeping at certain times, etc. can alleviate some of the comorbidities that occur with them, such as fatigue and depression.

Therefore I would argue that prescribing homeopathic placebos to those who believe in its effectiveness can be effective at providing a disciplined lifestyle to those who would otherwise deteriorate psychologically because of their condition. Similarly, homeopathic hospitals give people individual time and attention that eliminates the despair that accompanies chronic illness and gives people a sense that they are being cared for, which creates a sense of community and solidarity.

I would argue that Atheistic fanatics should stop trying to push their religious viewpoints against alternative medicine on so-called science grounds. They should understand that human beings are not always rational beings who ensure their beliefs are valid and reliable as a scientist should. These fanatics, who are not true scientists in my opinion, should not let their anti-spirituality religious beliefs cloud their judgment about the psychological benefits on patients with chronic illness that alternative medicine brings.

Medical professionals should not be looking for ‘the absolute truth’
when prescribing treatments, but creating a treatment programme that will make the most of the belief system of patients so that they are better able to manage their chronic illness. Such a programme should be based on self-help and solidarity and would be better than the alternative of subjecting the patient to disillusionment and despair for the rest of their lives.”

I was once told this joke about how a Catholic priest was asked by his junior to relook at the ancient manuscripts, where he found the word celibate was actually celebrate! My EU law tutor always said primary legislation overrules secondary legislation, so I will look at the primary legislation on intellectual property.
Article 36 of the EU Treaty states that there can be restrictions the protect property of an industrial and commercial character in individual Member States. This is used as a legal base for laws on intellectual property, such as copyright.

Considering this for a moment would suggest for something to be considered intellectual property it would have to be for commercial or industrial purposes. Therefore it could be argued that photographs taken by family members of relatives for personal use are not of a commercial or industrial character so cannot be copyrighted.

Also, consider the term, ‘intellectual property’ itself. The term would seem to suggest that an element of creativity and craftsmanship went into the creation of such property. This would again suggest that a photograph taken with an amateur camera where the person taking the photograph had no special commercial or industrial training also does not carry any copyright. Perhaps if the creator was to combine the photograph with text, it would then become an intellectual/creative work and would carry copyright if it was for commercial or industrial purposes, but not on its own.

At some point I will look at the EU Treaty article that gives rise to Data Protection, to see whether it is possible for those featured in photographs taken commercially to have the rights to use them, but that is for another day.

Throughout this current election campaigning period the Tories have been trying to triangulate to support co-operatives and my Party, the Co-operative Party, has been arguing that it is the Labour Party over the Tories that best represent the co-op movement.

I’ve never really been a fan of the NUS, believe that students should be part of proper trade unions and student bodies should be part of universities and colleges and co-operate with them rather than have confrontations with them. However, the NUS does what it says on the tin – it is a national union of students, that campaigns for student interests.

The Co-operative Party on the other hand, while ideally being the party that promotes enterprise, empowerment and sustainability, often puts its co-operative ideals second to its relationship with the Labour Party. As a Co-op Party member I have been asked to rebut Tory policy to introduce worker co-operatives in the public sector.

My co-operative values stand above any political association I may be a member of, and although I’m not yet convinced that the majority of Tories genuinely believe in the Co-operative Movement, I also know from experience that many state socialists in the Labour Party do not either, but obviously for different reasons.

Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights states, “Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and to freedom of association with others, including the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.” This is in keeping with the 1st Principle of a co-operative, which is ‘Voluntary and Open Membership’.

If rules on human rights and co-operatives say this, then why is it that the Co-operative Party only allows people to be members of it only if they either are members of the Labour Party or have no other political affiliation. This does not sound very open and co-operative to me. The Co-operative Movement transcends political party boundaries. In fact, rules for co-operatives say they should be autonomous and only enter into agreements that don’t compromise this. I interpret this to mean that the Co-op Party’s relationship shouldn’t compromise its autonomy and mission. If the Tories do become the governing party after the election, I would like to think the Co-operative Party puts the interests of the Co-operative Movement first and opens its membership to Conservatives on the same basis as Labour Party members, and that is that they support co-operative principles and are a member of a co-operative.

I have just returned home from the Otley Arms where I watched Wales put on an exciting second half performance to steal the match from Scotland. An event during the match got me thinking about the rights of the elderly and victims of crime.

During the game an elderly woman went up to this man called James, the same man who two years earlier felt it appropriate to call me a ‘retard’ because I’m not a great conversationalist. She casually said to him ‘My family are part Scottish and part Welsh, I’m hoping for a draw as we’ve got to support all Celts’. She is quite frail and had to get up off her chair to speak to him, and all he did was stand up and walk away closer to the television!

This disgusted me, the way an elder in the community can be shoved to one side and treated like they do not matter. This has been getting to me a lot recently, as I felt my late grandmother had been silenced by those supposed to be caring for her when she was in hospital because they didn’t want to deal with the realities of her condition.

Similarly people who have become victims of crime are expected to ‘get over it’ and ‘move on’, and many other phrases that mean the same thing as ‘shut up’.

I would like to see the remit of and finance for Victim Support and Help the Aged expanded so that they are on a non-for-profit basis able to provide support to their target groups in the form of ‘individual time and attention.’

Someone who has been the victim of a crime is more likely to go on and commit a crime themselves. Vulnerable adults, such as some elderly people, are more likely to be victims of crime than anyone else. Elderly people are the only group in society who can go days without seeing anyone without anyone knowing.

Victims of crime and elderly people, through the groups above, should have a statutory right to individual time and attention. Whether this in in the form of a befriending scheme, where a volunteer will go and speak to an elderly person on a regular basis to stimulate them socially and mentally, or alternative therapies, where a victim of crime will be given counseling or massage sessions that allow them to build trust in another person, I think it is essential we tackle the problem of a large section of society feeling vulnerable, alone and unwanted.

I read in the Western Mail that the Tory Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Newport East said, ‘It’s Labour’s fault for dropping exam standards so every Tom, Dick & Harry goes to Uni’
I know the candidate, Dawn Parry, as she used to attend the same speakers club as me in Cardiff before transferring to the Newport one.
I think she’s wrong for saying that not everyone should be able to go to university, but the sentiment that you should be of calibre to go to university is something that should be aimed for. All too often people leave school unable to write essays, or to have critical and creative thinking abilities. These are the skills that I think are needed for people to have independence of mind and the drive to take on any challenge and see it though. I think with the Welsh Assembly Government’s skills-based curriculum things are moving in the right direction, where it is not what people learn that is important, but how they learn and express it.
It disturbs me that there are generations of people who do not have a decent education or working life; people who know no way of life beyond being on welfare benefits. At present the government stops those in fulltime education claiming benefits, but I think it should be compulsory for anyone claiming money from the State, whether benefits or tax credits to be engaged in further study or work experience. People doing voluntary work could claim Tax Credits instead of other benefits, and those who want to stay on income support or employment and support allowance should have to be taking part in training or a further/higher education course.

I note the draft proposals from the Boundary Commission regarding Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough Council and its impact on my ward of Treforest.

The proposal appears to suggest combining the Treforest ward with the Rhydyfelin wards to create a new three member ward called ‘Treforest’.

I support the creation of multi-member wards as a means of giving voters more choice and more effectively enabling political parties to introduce equality measures such as gender balance.

I think however the boundary commission needs to take into consideration the local situation. The relationship between Treforest and Rhydyfelin is like that between Manchester and Liverpool or Spain and Portugal.

This said, the local Labour Party of which I am a member has merged its Treforest and Rhydyfelin branches and a current councillor for Rhydyfelin was a previous councillor for Treforest. I think it may be more appropriate to name the combined ward ‘Taff Vale’ as a more neutral name because of its location in relation to the River Taff and the fact that the former Taff Vale railway runs through it.

Larger wards I feel is a must in order to move councils away from the parochial politics that has dogged local government in South Wales for centuries. I would like to think that the move towards larger wards could lead to local councils (community and town) covering bigger areas that could double as smaller Assembly constituencies to meet the larger membership of the Welsh Assembly recommended by the Richards Commission. This could also lead to the reduction of the number of local authorities to perhaps reflect the Assembly regional seats or the Wales Spatial Plan areas.

It may be prudent to consider whether these larger local authority areas could also double as multi-member constituencies for the Westminster parliamentary elections. Such a cohesive approach to local and national government boundaries could lead to a US-style town hall feel, where legislators and councilmen/women of the respective levels of government work together to create accountable and effective democratic units.

The Tories plan to make teaching elitist if they are ever elected to government. As a co-operator who believes in choice I think all schools should have only the best teachers and the choice of school should be based on other factors.

All too often choice is too much focussed on the ‘best schools’ with the ‘best teachers’ with the ‘best students’. I’d like to see choice based more on what the school offers, such as whether they provide after school clubs specialising in music, IT, science, etc. or the particular help they are able to offer people with behavioural difficulties, disabilities or other special educational needs.

When people choose a mobile phone they don’t only consider whether their friends recommend it or whether a magazine says it’s the best on the market, but also a number of other factors, such as its features and the applications it runs. Choosing a school should be similar; it should not only be its reputation that is consider, but also whether it offers the experience that meets the needs of the user.