s someone who believes that the head of state should be elected, I will be politely declining King Charles’ invitation to swear an oath of ‘true allegiance’ to him on 6th May.
It’s not that I don’t like the man.
In fact, I’d go so far as to say that I have a deep respect and admiration for his commitment to the many environmental causes that he has used his position to champion and promote over several decades, long before it was considered fashionable to do so, or contentious not to.
I don’t have an issue with his choice of partner, as some do, nor do I sit in judgment on the way in which other members of his family have chosen to behave, either publicly or privately.
I also refuse to hold it against him that he will always be overshadowed by the example of committed public service set by his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
I simply believe that if we must have a new King, he should be swearing allegiance to the people of this country and not the other way round.
While the Coronation weekend provides a welcome opportunity to spend time with family, friends, neighbours and others within our communities, it is also a political event. As such, it should provide the British people with a chance to reflect on how well our political institutions are really serving us.

What still remains
When the gazebos and bunting have all been folded away, we will still be in the middle of a cost of living crisis. There will still be growing wealth and social inequality, the NHS will still be in need of intensive care.
We will still be dangerously unprepared for the climate crisis. A feudal display of deference to an unelected head of state changes none of these things. Rather it legitimises the persistent failure of our political institutions to govern in the interests of the majority, and masks the reality that we really need to talk about modernising our democracy.
Pat Osborne, North Dorset Labour Party

When this issue is published, the local elections on 4th May will have come and gone. Parties will have had their triumphs and disasters. Each will assail us with well-spun explanations for whatever has happened.
Then, blessedly, we can put it all aside for a couple of days and celebrate the coronation of our new King and Queen. If ever there was an institution providing stability, continuity and a force for good, it is the monarchy as we now have it: leading by example, using influence not power, looking for the best in people and communities.
What a strong message for politicians of every hue. Let us have less of being told what to do by an amorphous “centre”, be it local or national.
Let us have less partisanship in power – fine on the stump but put it aside when you get there, eh?
But let us have more exemplary behaviour, more focus on creating the positives of opportunity and fairness, more action that makes our lives happier and healthier.

A little DIY doesn’t hurt
We can all play our part. Just as most of us give something to charity, even if it is only buying a lottery ticket, we all have scope for being better citizens. We can drop less litter, drive with more consideration, behave in public with more decorum and less rudeness. We could use social media with more courtesy. There are any number of things we could do to make the lives of others around us that little bit happier.
There is plenty of scope, too, for taking more active steps to contribute: become a Water Guardian (regular local checking of water quality), join a litter pick or environmental group, become a school reading helper, join the Royal Voluntary Service as a community volunteer, do some voluntary driving. The list is endless. Take a look at The Big Help Out and see the range of possibilities.
It is not only the job of those we elect to make our lives better – we all have a role. But when it comes to public services, government has to be the prime mover and be held accountable.
Take the NHS, dentistry and sewage. How can government fail to act when a vital organisation like the NHS gets into difficulty? It is under-performing against most measures, has very poor employee relations and no thought-through, long-term manpower plan.
How can government have allowed ‘dentist deserts’ to proliferate in the way they have? How can we have frittered away – into private pockets – all that money we have paid for water over so many years and still have raw sewage in our rivers?
But, with our eyes lifted up and our national confidence restored, we could soon put a stop to nurses being cowed and coerced.
We could all show off our great teeth while happily wild swimming.
Why not? Spring is in the air.
Change is in the air.
Mike Chapman,
North Dorset Liberal Democrats

Populism in politics always over-simplifies issues. Effective political change requires active listening across divides, says MP Simon Hoare

Regular readers will know of my suspicions of populism in politics. Not to be confused with being popular (what politician doesn’t seek to be that?), more the simplicity of the black and white of the populists’ prescription.
Populists, by their very world view, only speak to those with whom they agree – or who agree with them. With their self-endorsing echo chamber, if you will. At the same time, they will demonise those with whom they disagree or find disagreeable.
Achieving big political change – making the weather – is not within the armoury of the populist. They are unable to do so because they lack the capacity to reach across the aisle, to extend the hand of friendship and a listening ear.
Such skills are prerequisites to making meaningful progress in often-contested spaces. This was brought home to me at recent Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee hearings.

Beware the 100 percenters
Sir John Major, Sir Tony Blair and former Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern all said that to get to the point where the Good Friday Agreement was possible, people who were sworn and ancient enemies had to sit down and talk – to listen and to respect each point of view and to find the route of pragmatic compromise needed to make progress.
I heard it again in every speech at a recent conference hosted by Queen’s University Belfast, celebrating Agreement 25. Bill and Hilary Clinton made powerful speeches on this issue, as did Senator George Mitchell, who gave up five years of his life in the search for peace in Northern Ireland. George warned against the ‘100 percenters’ – those who can only claim victory when they achieve everything and their opposite number nothing.
I heard it from the President of the EU, who spoke of how the Windsor Framework had been negotiated – through respectful conversations focused on the possible. Perhaps above all I heard it from a range of viewpoints, across the traditions, who all effectively said: ”I knew progress was possible and resolution within touching distance when I found myself speaking to x, y or z – a sworn enemy and opponent.”

Surprising dinner companions
I was a teenager in the 1980s and remember The Troubles clearly, albeit viewed from the safety of South Wales. It’s why I have become so involved with the politics of Northern Ireland – I am committed to playing my small part in ensuring no return to the days of hate and blood. The progress made over the last 25 years was made crystal clear to me in two personal events.
The first was, as an unaccompanied Tory MP, walking down the Falls Road in Belfast. In the past, English politicians would have had to go in armoured cars with heavy security. The second was finding myself sitting next to Gerry Adams at the celebration dinner at Hillsborough Castle. On the political Richter Scale these were two small things; but enormously illuminating of the scale of change that non-populist politics can deliver.

Enemy mine
As the Windsor Framework underscores, pragmatic politics continues to deliver. I shall close with another personal anecdote, if I may. A Loyalist blogger and campaigner did not have me on his Christmas card list. Jamie Bryson saw me as being opposed to everything he holds dear. He has waged a bit of a campaign against me in the media.
Recently we bumped into each other in Belfast. We could have cold shouldered each other, muttering under our breaths as we slipped past.
But, we didn’t. We shook hands. We met for coffee. A presumed ten-minute chat evolved into a two-hour heart-to-heart. He is coming to my Select Committee and we have continued our conversations.
We won’t, we know, agree on everything, but we have agreed to try to follow the advice of those political Titans who led the way with the Belfast Good Friday Agreement. Let us have more of that kind of politics.