Not My Sunday Sermon 4 – Winning & Losing, by Nigel Slack

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This is a bit of a late night piece and a reflection on the fruits of three months of intensive campaigning. Campaigning both for change, through my work on transparency in Sheffield's public affairs, and for the support of that work through my crowdfunding project.

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It's not a long piece because, in the scheme of things, three months is not a lot of time to make an impact on the political stage, but when trying to live on next to no income and extending credit to the limit, three months seems like forever. I guess that's why I've titled it 'Winning & Losing' the impact I've achieved in political terms has definitely been a win, my ability to make this my full time employ however, has failed.

In this aspect I am undoubtedly disappointed, deeply so. I have received support from some amazing people and, perhaps not surprisingly, those who have contributed could be considered those least able, financially, to do so. Those people have my undying and immense gratitude. They are people who understand what I have been trying to achieve, understand why it is important to do it and believed in my ability to deliver the goods. At least, in that, I feel vindicated in attempting the difficult sell, asking people to contribute to a project that gave no profitable return and no new gadget to display as evidence of ones tech savvy or fashion forward knowledge.

I admit to having failed to translate that into a mass appeal. Quite simply not enough people saw or understood what I was trying to do. Those that I did connect with and who took the time to look at what I was doing and listened to the things I managed to do, be they public or press, were able to relate to my concerns over the way decisions in our city are made and the lack of real public engagement in that process. A great deal of support was expressed and appreciation offered but the ability to fund it was often not there. It is there that the root of my disappointment lies.

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Then there are the winning aspects of my last three months. The top of this list may surprise some people but it is the connections I have made with people, both inside local politics and more importantly outside, that share my belief that we can do better. Whether it's been professors from Universities or a 'Doley from Richmond' as he likes to call himself, Council Officers or 'some' Councillors, there are people throughout this city that realise we need to take a long hard look at how we arrange our politics for the future. That the involvement of the public and their support is the only way to legitimise a system that can get fewer and fewer people to the actual ballot box.

Then there are the little victories that come from constant conversations with the cities decision makers. Commitments to transparency in the planning process, the regreening of the Meadowhead roundabout and to opposing TTIP whilst it allows for the privatisation of the NHS.

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The one achievement that will probably have the biggest impact on the transparency of decision making in the city is the latest. Live on Radio Sheffield, Leader of the Council, Julie Dore agreed to support the introduction of Webcasting for council meetings, if it can be done without impacting the city's budget. Why is this such good news? I've already put such a plan to the city's Commercial Director, who sees it as entirely feasible. The political will now matches the public appetite and there should be no more obstacles. Now that is a win worth talking about.

Not my Sunday Sermon 2, by Nigel Slack

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This may become a thing, a Sunday contemplation on the state of the world and our tendency towards 'self' over 'society'. I talked in my last Sunday piece about the attitude amongst so many people today, that if you are not a part of the economic machine, creating wealth for self or others, and the other is preferably somebody paying your wages, then our efforts are not considered worthy or even legitimate.

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This is promulgated by government and media and, to some extent has become part of the narrative by all political parties. It seems they are incapable now of discussing their policies and plans except through the prism of getting the 'workshy' back to work. Economic growth has become the mantra of this neo-liberal religion, whether the world & society can sustain it or not. Dave DeGraw, US economist and author recently commented that there were only enough jobs in America for 50% of the working age population. This means the idea of full employment is a myth that politicians continue to peddle in order to make those who are unemployed or even underemployed (part time workers) appear to be part of the problem.

The real trick for politicians and corporations however, has been their ability to convince many of the rest of society that this is the case. They appeal to our selfishness, our baser instincts to protect our selves and our loved ones from the 'outsider'. We are in an unprecedented period of inequality in this society, where wages for most are stagnant or falling and yet where corporate profits and the fortunes of the richest are continuing to boom. This is not only a problem for those in low paid jobs but for those, until now, relatively secure middle classes and graduates.

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Dr John Goldthorpe, a co-author of the study and Oxford sociologist, said:
“For the first time in a long time, we have got a generation coming through education and into the jobs market whose chances of social advancement are not better than their parents, they are worse.” Guardian 6th November 2014 . Patrick Butler.

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The much vaunted upward mobility of the 1980's is now a frightening 21st century downward mobility. As a result more and more of the sections of society that prided themselves on either 'working class solidarity' or 'middle class social responsibility' are falling into a self oriented protective stance. The result is the labelling of those that fall outside the norms of society as something 'other' and an acceptance of the disassembling of previously supported care structures (for the unemployed, the disabled and the working poor) as necessary, even though they were not the people that caused the crisis of 2008 but the victims of it.

The architects of the crash, bankers, politicians and corporations continue to profit from the crash almost without pause and the majority of the population are now so scared of their fragile employment and income security that they fall into line and hide behind the 'at least it's not me' selfishness that we all have, in some part, within our make up.

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Personally, I will continue my efforts to be, at least partly, outside the system. The prospects for being able to be a full time conscience and watchdog for local politics and decision making is fading fast. Although I have connected with over 2,500 people through my funding campaign, only about 20 have responded with contributions towards my work. If all those I connected with had felt able to give the equivalent of a 'couple of pints and a bag of chips' then I would have busted my target. I continue to make my mark. This week a discussion on Twitter enabled me to make an SCC Cabinet member reconsider their positive stance on the Clegg/Osbourne plans for fake devolution to the Northern cities. This is the sort of thing no-one else is currently doing.

So people, if you were thinking that someone else would contribute, and therefore you weren't really needed, I'm afraid you were wrong, you are all needed. The withdrawal into self and selfishness that all of us are capable of seems just as prevalent in 'social benefit fundraising' as anywhere else. Without your support this campaign will not succeed and what murky decisions will slip by in the half light that remains? Will the few people able to make appearances at Council meetings be able to maintain the pressure? The visits to meetings in Rotherham, Barnsley and even further afield, that are now part of the City Region landscape, will not happen. If we end up with a City Region Mayor, where will they be based and who will be able to hold them to account?

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If we want good governance, we cannot rely on the politicians to provide it alone. We must invest, either our time, something which few people can afford, or money, to support someone who has the time and the skills needed. You have a choice, I hope you will choose to support independent scrutiny for the decision making in the city and region. Visit my campaign page and support my work. If you don't, who will?

Not my Sunday Sermon, by Nigel Slack.

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I considered calling this my Sunday sermon but, being an atheist that would be a little misleading. I also don't plan a long oration on the moral ills of our society or selves. The subject is certainly not theological but it is, I guess, about some of the attitudes and even ethics that have driven us to be more self focussed than society focussed of late.

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The current narrative from government and the media is leading to an attitude amongst many people that any effort that does not produce something, in economic terms, is pointless and therefore not worthy. If you work on something that does not generate greater wealth for yourself, or, if you are not paid by someone to do a job that creates greater wealth for them, you are often considered less worthwhile, as a person, than those that do.

The government would have us believe, ably supported by the media, that Art is now an economy, that the Care Sector is an economy, that Education is an economy (they are supported in that particular myth by Universities that now resemble major corporations rather than seats of learning). Local Councils are manipulated, through shortage of funds, then by incentive payments, to develop only those things that bring 'economic benefit', real or imagined, based on private sector solutions and in ways that further the current economic theories that the market knows best.

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Education, as a market, tells us every child is the same blank slate that can be trained to do anything. This is odd. We know that genetics affect our eye colour, hair colour, skin colour, height, health and even left or right handedness, then why not our brains capacity to learn. Could it be that the private sector doesn't want the education system to produce anyone that may step away from the 'correct' economic narrative? Typically those people that are labelled creatives are told they need to be businessmen too and offered training to make them so. They cannot just be creative and have that fostered by society, they have to make a product that can be sold or exploited by them or someone else.

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Anything non productive is being left in a space where no-one wants to pay for it. Take my own example. Thirty five years of almost constant employment in business, post graduate management education, years of voluntary work in my twenties and thirties and latterly twenty years in a service industry. Now I've identified a role that, not only am I eminently qualified to do but about which I am passionate and which, I believe, is important to Sheffield as an economically challenged city.

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Visit my 'The Public Interest' funding campaign

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It's not a role that can be done through employment or by sponsorship of one organisation. That would compromise the independence that is vital to successfully doing what I do. I'm trying to raise the money to continue my work, full time, through public subscription. People who see what I do or read about what I do tell me it is a vital task in this age of corporate and big money lobbying, because I try to stand up for the public in general. They tell me I should carry on doing what I do because they don't have the time or the skills to do it like I do.

The trouble is, that apart from a few sterling silver souls that have been incredibly generous and contributed to my campaign, most people seem to think someone else will pay for it. Some have even commented that what I do is great but what will come out of it? There's the rub. What I do is not producing a product or any content that is economically exploitable and as such is deemed, by many, as less worthy than getting a 'proper job'.

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I would like to be proved wrong and that people will support socially beneficial ideas, even if a little unorthodox but as someone without the economically approved acceptability of being employed by someone else, I am beginning to doubt it.