Jim Dowd - Primaries for 2015 please!

[Eagle]

Catfordlad.
To be fair to our good MP he probably did not like being accosted whilst waiting to see a Consultant. I can appreciate that.

He does , however , appear before than to have been especially lax in helping you.

I think time for him to hand up his beer mug and leave the commons , of course with the large pension he has built up through a decade of devoted service to the good burghers of West Lewisham and latterly Ponge.....

[leenewham]

So no good reports about our MP so far.

Time for a change.

[catfordlad]

Catfordlad.
To be fair to our good MP he probably did not like being accosted whilst waiting to see a Consultant. I can appreciate that.

He does , however , appear before than to have been especially lax in helping you.

I think time for him to hand up his beer mug and leave the commons , of course with the large pension he has built up through a decade of devoted service to the good burghers of West Lewisham and latterly Ponge.....

I did not see anything wrong in raising my concerns with him in person and as there was a delay of over 60 minutes to see the Consultant I made good use of the time.

I agree time for a change but will the local Labour Party have the guts to give him the boot?

[Tim Lund]

OK - I didn't know of this site when I started this thread:

Comments - 7 Responses on “Lewisham West & Penge”
BigD
Jim Dowd is to stand down at the next election due to ill health. Question is will it be an all women shortlist? That’ll be all three Lewisham seats as AWS!

April 18th, 2013 at 9:57 pmH.Hemmelig
If so, long-serving Sydenham councillor Chris Best might be a favourite.

...

April 26th, 2013 at 2:06 pmAndrea
If it’s Open, who are the local male names likely to be in contention?

It’s too early to say, but looking at male Lewisham Cllrs, the following seems the kind of people who have parliamentary aspirations:

Kevin Bonavia (he stood in Rochford and Southend East: in 2010)
Dan Whittle (director of Unions21)
Damien Egan (stood in Beckenham in 2010 GE and in Weston in 2005)

Liam Curran stood in Beckenham in 2005, I don’t know if he still holds parliamentary ambitions. The other 3 seem younger (looking at their pictures).

April 26th, 2013 at 2:31 pm

As regulars on this Forum will know, Chris Best isn't exactly a favourite of mine, but if there was a primary here, I think she'd walk it. I can't help feeling, though, she'd feel more in control staying as a local councillor.

Interesting times, in any case ...

[catfordlad]

He's not very active in Parliament......

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/jim_do ... _and_penge

Numerology

Has spoken in 15 debates in the last year — below average amongst MPs.

Has received answers to 10 written questions in the last year — below average amongst MPs.

Replied within 2 or 3 weeks to a low number of messages sent via WriteToThem.com during 2008, according to constituents.

Has voted in 69.48% of votes in this Parliament with this affiliation — below average amongst MPs. (From Public Whip)

People have made 1 annotation on this MP’s speeches — below average amongst MPs.

This MP's speeches, in Hansard, are readable by an average 19–20 year old, going by the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score.

[Eagle]

Potential All Lady Shortlist. What a disgrace. This is blatant discrimination. I assume they have to be approved by Unite.

I always assumed Chris B was a gent. Many apologies to all concerned.

Glad he is stepping down. None too soon . Perhaps he ought to retire now so there can be a by election to elect an active MP.

[Tim Lund]

Making the office of Prime Minister a directly elected one would, on the other hand, be a bad thing. This is because it would entrench the inroads of the ghastly modern cult of 'celebrity' into our political system. Instead of choosing between the policies of the different parties, like grown-ups, we would become infantilised - we would be invited to choose a Mummy or Daddy figure, on the basis of how nice we thought they were (i.e. how well they performed on telly.)

If voters knew what sort of people their MPs were, and let this influence how they voted, would that also be an instance of the ghastly modern cult of 'celebrity' operating at a local level? Is it that you don't want parliamentary candidates to have any personality, or that voters should not know about it?

[gerispringer]

Thank goodness he's going. He has been a rubbish MP.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[stuart]

I think the one positive outcome from this thread is our MP uses the NHS and has to wait in line with the rest of us. A little understanding of the life of one's constituents is always invaluable.

I'm uncomfortable with MPs who opt out of state services that most of us have to rely on. That includes education and includes too many Labour members (I'm looking at you Diane A).

Stuart

[Eagle]

I personally use the NHS but am eternally grateful for those who opt out and pay for their own treatment. I saw today about 11% opt out . If they did not another 10% odd on our already huge NHS cost.

I am not saying he is or was a good or bad MP. I did see him actively involved at The Catford Beer Festival about 8 or so years ago , surely that counts for something.

[stuart]

I personally use the NHS but am eternally grateful for those who opt out and pay for their own treatment. I saw today about 11% opt out . If they did not another 10% odd on our already huge NHS cost.

Rubbish - you can't opt out of the NHS. When you get knocked down you get taken to NHS A&E (there is no private A&E). We all pay for that as we should.

When a private hospital fouls up (and surprisingly they do too) where does the patient end up?

What the 11% buys is a place at front of the queue for our NHS trained doctors and nurses. That means 89% get less good care than we could and that the 11% who mostly would be paying higher rates of income tax can try and justify not paying it.

The best way to improve a service is to make decision makers use it.

Stuart

[Eagle]

Stuart

Are you seriously saying all the people who insure and pay for private medicine do not save us any money.

It is the same for private schools.

Of course some private patients get taken to NHS hospitals but they PAY .

[stuart]

Are you seriously saying all the people who insure and pay for private medicine do not save us any money.

Yes - if we took the same money in taxes for the NHS we would have a much better NHS with better care provided on a medical need basis irrespective of wealth. That would deliver a healthier longer lived population. A good thing don't you think?

Stuart

[stuart]

Of course some private patients get taken to NHS hospitals but they PAY .

Do they? I am surprised. They pay for the ambulance? They pay A&E? They pay to have the boobed boob implant jobs removed? I didn't know that. Not many do.

Or is just if they elect to opt out for a private room and private services. That is a private hospital on NHS premises which some may see as the worst possible parasiticism on the NHS.

Stuart