Thursday 27 October 2011

Watch the birth of a new day



From the Herald Express today.................



FRANK SOBEY: Forget the gloom, think positive .Thursday, October 27, 2011 Herald Express

I DON'T know why I start the day listening to the BBC Radio 4 Today programme because it all too often raises my blood pressure to a ridiculous level.

So much so that the other morning I wanted to scream to the harbinger of doom, John Humphrys, that we all know how bad it is but don't need his negative rhetoric early in the day to mercilessly hammer home the message.

Yet still if I am still asleep at 6am it is his highly-paid voice which bounces reality off the bedroom walls and plunges me into the day.

But it does also drives me rapidly from the bed and out of the house with my energetic dog for our daily pilgrimage to the paper shop, since it is my wife that in truth is the Today fan.

Often the wind is off the sea and I really cannot think of a better sensation than the salty air at dawn.

Of course it's not just dear old John who hammers home a message of gloom. David Cameron isn't too far behind with his daily litany of tighten your belts 'cause it's getting worse.

My worry is that both of them either consciously or unconsciously help to develop a feeling of national negativity that might unfortunately become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Sometimes we just really need a positive message to beef up flagging spirits. While we do of course need the news, we don't need a negative spin which feeds the ego of an overpaid presenter at the expense of folk fighting the reality of a new day.

When our affluent political leaders say it's going worse and that we are all in it together it we know that simply isn't true.

Those who have will not be in the same place as those who have not. They never have been.

So even though the days might seem dark that is absolutely no excuse to walk around looking glum or, as I often say, walking around with a face like a slapped kipper!

We need to buoy each other up and look for the positive rather than the negative. We should look for the best in each other and not the worst.

Let's celebrate success and hold a helping hand out when others need support. Don't count the cost or keep a score, just go for it.

Going for it is exactly what Torbay has done with the new £4million-plus Parkfield youth centre on Paignton seafront.

If you have not had a look, then do. I had a tour the other day and was simply blown away. So when people say nothing is happening in Torbay point them in the direction of Parkfield.

As a one-time climber I can tell you the climbing wall is one of the best I have seen. The BMX track is of an international standard and the skate park is simply stunning. There you go John Humphrys, start the day by telling everyone there is a new super-duper facility just opened for young people in Torbay which is breathing new life into the community.

One feature of Parkfield is the fact that all the staff will be Duke of Edinburgh's Award trained, adding to social inclusiveness.

As you doubtless know, you cannot gain a DofE Award without working as a team and helping others. For all those participating there are many older folk helping and that really does offer a brilliant shared social profile, in my opinion.

Now here is something really positive for you all to do when you have the time. At this time of year the sun rises over the sea and if you really really want to feel the energy of life get down to the beach just before dawn.

Sit quietly, wrapped up warmly in a picnic blanket, suck in a lung full of the sea air and watch the birth of a new day. Just do it.

Saturday 15 October 2011

The problem with mixed messages















This is my columnist contribution in the Herald Express 13th October 2011

Too often these days the message is mixed and outcomes curiously confused. Unpacking the rhetoric can be tedious and disorientating. Keep that in mind for the moment.

You see there are, it would seem, things that everyone should do at least once in a lifetime. Famous on the ‘must do list’ might be walking the Camino de Santiago, the Hajj and perhaps a visit to the Wailing Wall. All have a spiritual energy and of course there are doubtless so many others.

Another ‘must do’ with less spiritual energy is to attend a full meeting of Torbay Council! That was exactly what I did a couple of weeks ago and suggest that you might also like to experience that cathartic event. Watching our elected members ‘strut their stuff’ really is quite something. It’s an eclectic mix with a blend of serious stuff and curious comedy.

Each member has a microphone with a red light that flicks on when the civic chairman gives them the floor. The cross party black humour can be tedious but then there are the moments of sheer joy such as a senior member jumping up to second something that hadn’t been proposed, only to be batted into the long grass by the restless chairman!

I was in the sparsely populated public gallery (rows of chairs at the back of the ballroom) with, I think, eight or nine others. My fellow travellers included two young political hopefuls, a former mayoral candidate, two folk I didn’t know and small selection from the Kitsons Top Fifty club.

Now back to those mixed messages. Torbay subscribes to the commissioning model when it comes to local government services. Commissioners are highly paid senior council officers with an annual pay cheque of between £100,000 and £120,000 plus benefits. Part of the commissioning process has been the delegation of services to private companies like the English Riviera Tourist Board, under the direction of CEO Carolyn Custerton, with its own allocated budget to market Torbay.

You could have knocked me over with a fluffy magenta feather duster when during the Council meeting £250,000 was magically snatched out of the reserves for tourist marketing via our mayor and the Torbay Development Agency. That had me scratching my head. Do we now have two agencies marketing tourism?

Hmm. Mixed messages.

Still keeping in step with the tourist theme (must be all that glorious sunshine the other weekend!) I stumble across another mixed message. During Nick Bye’s Mayor’s Vision I followed, via the free cd, the prophetic footprints around Paignton that eventually end up on the harbour. The ‘Vision’ was for a harbour that suddenly became a honey pot for tourist activity. It’s actually quite famous for watersports already. No matter. The whole area is of course, in keeping with the dear old town plan, a conservation area.

You can imagine the surprise just over a year ago when two giant ugly containers landed outside the crab factory where the south quay meets the east quay. The locals, including harbour officials, protested pointlessly to Planning. Added to the summer ambiance is the smell of crab offal and the joy for tourists of watching living crab slaughtered in the open air. This aquatic abattoir is the latest tourist attraction adding a macabre balance to the numerous local eateries. Having said all that I am quite partial to white crab meat with a sprinkling of vinegar and black pepper served on a bed of fresh salad lightly tossed in olive oil!

So here is my thing. We really should say what we mean and really mean what we say. These are confusing times and we are too easily at the mercy of political spin. I know that dear David keeps banging on about us all being in this together but I sense a mixed message. Most of us are certainly in it; but all in it together? Well I am not too sure about that!

When the late summer sun hammered down on Torbay the other weekend it delivered a very clear message: Torbay, the English Riviera / Agatha’s Riviera is a stunningly beautiful place. So let us have a little joined up crystal clear thinking and celebrate what we are lucky enough to have!