It’s election time in Britain and Nick Harris has done a dour and somewhat predictable job in The Independent 22/4/10 in interviewing the three likely contenders for Sports Minister. Perhaps things might have been enlivened a little had he included some questions and answers from the Green and socialist left but that is not the British way. Stick to the status quo of the middle ground, which in reality is not the middle at all, but decidedly to the right; i.e., all three main stream parties, Liberal, Labour and Tory, have adopted the thatcherite, neo-liberal belief that the market is always right.

All three parties were profoundly shocked and stunned by the recent banking collapse that spectacularly underlined that the so called free-market is anything but right (if human beings are to live anything near a half decent life either in the developed world or the rapidly developing world). The main parties are now forced to toy with some very minor reforms in order to try and reign in the finance capitalists that currently run the planet. Such efforts are certain to fail as even Barrack Obama, himself a keen adherent of the free market, is increasingly forced to admit.

Monopoly finance capitalism has an internal logic that forces it to resist and circumnavigate all attempts to control it. Capital inevitably moves to the highest point of return and no amount of national or even international tinkering is able to halt that tendency. The movement of capital simply cannot stop to consider the social implications of its journey. It’s all about the maximization of profit but Brown and Clegg just don’t get it. As for Cameron, he definitely does get it and he and his mates intend to make a handsome killing at the expense of the British workers if they get their hands back on the levers of government. Either way, expect the monopoly capitalist juggernaut to keep on rolling until the next crisis of capital brings the world economy shuddering to a halt again. Only this time I doubt if there will be enough money in the tax-payers pot for another bailout. Fun times ahead!

Anyway, what will the new Sports Minister do when he/she is safely tucked up in Westminster in a few weeks time? Firstly we can be sure there will not be much money around for the victor to splash about on sport. The Olympic corporate Games will have to go on, but after the 2012 fireworks and accompanying jamboree, sport is likely to move near the bottom of the political agenda. As for a grassroots legacy, just forget it. It will be the same old problems: too few sports facilities many of which are run down and well past their sell-by date. Obesity levels will continue to explode in our youth and adult populations, as will youth alienation and all that goes with it. Sport in this country will continue to be something mainly watched on TV and very much the plaything of a few billionaires and their corporate interests. Nick Harris barely touched on these critical issues.

Harris did toy with a couple of potentially probing questions but no follow-up was attempted. The first question asked: What would you do to address the widespread concerns about football club ownership? All three gave stunningly weak answers. The penultimate question asked: What would be your main specific targets and greatest envisaged problems, for the 2012 Olympics? Again, all three made some soft weak-kneed platitudes about an Olympic legacy but not one of them had anything concrete to offer. And that is not surprising because the question is actually far too complex to be answered in a couple of cheap throw-away sound-bites.

The whole question of Olympic legacy and the earlier question of football club ownership are both linked to the wider question of our alienated and decaying communities. Youth crime, declining health levels, poor housing, fractured community relations, and school delinquency are all related and can only be tackled by some serious government joined-up thinking. I suspect some elements in the Labour government over the past thirteen years has understood this, but you can’t tackle these gigantic generational problems seriously while at the same time fighting imperial wars across the globe. The billions spent in trying to secure oil supplies in Iraq and Afghanistan would have to be diverted to the crumbling and alienated housing estates of Britain if we are to make any kind of indent in the post industrial wastelands of 21st century Britain.

The starting place for change must obviously be at the most basic possible point; the local school. This is where the Olympic legacy must start. Every school in the country must open its doors not just in the currently proposed 4 – 6 slot, but from the end of the school day until ten o’clock in the evening every day of the week and including weekends. Every school must be converted into a community centre where a full programme of after school community learning is offered along with a comprehensive range of sports and other recreational activities including dance, music, art and film. Professional sports clubs should be involved at that level both out of self interest and out of community payback. Most football clubs already play at this, but largely in a token capacity. A serious approach would see all professional sports clubs in the country covering, between them, every school in the country. Football in particular, but all professional sporting clubs need to be reconnected to their local communities with the appropriate democratic structures built in. As for professional tennis and cricket, this would be a first for them, for most of them have never cultivated community links preferring instead their elitist links with the playing fields of Harrow and Eton. That explains their inability to compete at an international level. All that must change. Obviously every school cannot provide every sport so a rational borough plan would need to be put together by the local authorities, but the key point is to turn every school into a fully functioning community centre with clear pathways for those who wish to pursue their chosen interest.

This coordinated programme would begin to tackle all aspects of our alienated youth while at the same time creating massive job opportunities including out of school educators, sports coaches, activity leaders, community nurses and community police officers, ancillary staff as well as professional sports men and women of the future. Local businesses must offer evening apprenticeships to train the next generation of skilled workers thus making learning relevant to the millions of young people who currently switch off from the educational path at such an early age. Universities and colleges would need to get involved to create pathways from school to college making it a natural option rather than an elitist one as at present. Safe walking and cycle tracks would need to be constructed to link these revamped community centres to each other and to the main residential areas. Once again, job creating opportunities that hit environmental as well as health targets.

None of this is rocket science yet the obvious has been consigned to the distant future. Nobody would argue against it other than to say we don’t have the resources. But they would be quite wrong about this. The resources are already available but are being squandered through attempting to cure problems rather than prevent the problems at source. To apprehend, charge and then detain a youth offender takes huge resources that would be far better used directly transforming young lives in a constructive direction. Similarly, treating obesity, alcohol and drug abuse and related illnesses costs the NHS hundreds of billions over a generation yet that money could easily be diverted into engaging and preventative programmes at a local level, at the earliest possible age. Of course, some parts of this jigsaw already exist, it only takes vision to pull the pieces together into a coherent whole. But sadly we will not be hearing this type of politics from our three would-be leaders. The Green Party is travelling in the right direction and has some good things to say about healthy and sustainable communities but don’t expect Murdoch and Co to be promoting their policies anytime soon. As for the old socialist left, they have always known that a face to face international showdown with monopoly capitalism will be needed in order to steer society in a more socially constructive direction but their extreme and incurable sectarianism has allowed themselves to become totally marginalised from any meaningful political debate. So for the present we must watch our youth become ever more alienated and disconnected. Endless shopping at the new super mall for those that can afford it and cheap booze and drugs on the street corners for those that can’t. Unemployment, street gangs, petit crime, early teenage pregnancies, detention and imprisonment, and possible a cheap and pointless killing awaits our young people today while our leaders fight illegal and immoral wars. And me, I’m still dreaming of some joined up thinking.
Monday, 28 May 2018 09:42 )