My computer has been stolen… I won’t be able to post for a while

My house was broken into and they took most of the electrical things including my computer and so I won’t be able to post much for a while.

All I can say is that I am thankful to Mr Burglar who kindly unplugged my external hard drive and left it for me.

Solution Focused Politics on Radio 5 Live Tonight at 6pm

For all readers of this blog and who are interested, I will be on Radio 5 Live at 6pm discussing Nick Clegg’s speech with some other Lib Dem members. It is the Drive show and we are supposed to be giving our reaction to the speech so tune in and let me know what you think…

Solution Focused Politics makes 35th in Total Politics Lib Dem Blogs

The results are in for the Total Politics 2011 Lib Dem Blogs and Solution Focused Politics has made it to number 35, which came as a big surprise for me considering it was based on votes. So a big thank you to anyone who voted for this blog, and please get in touch or leave a comment as I didn’t realise I had so many people who would vote for this blog! See here for the list of the top 100 Lib Dem Blogs.

Solution Focused Politics makes LibDemVoice shortlist for Blog of the Year 2011

I was surprised to see that Solution Focused Politics made it onto the shortlist for the 2011 LibDemVoice Blog of the Year Award along with 3 other blogs (Caron’s Musings, The Ramblings of Neil Monnery, Nick Thornsby’s Blog) but very pleased at the same time. It is a privilege to be selected and thank you to anyone who voted for this blog.

The aim of this blog is to try and use solution focused techniques or the solution focused approach to politics and see what happens. Many people may not have heard of the solution focused approach and it may not always be obvious how I have applied it to what I write about, but usually there is a something there linking the two. I have to say that it is not always an easy task and sometimes I do struggle with it and the quality of some of the posts may not always be the same, for which I apologise. I have called for others to get involved and so if there is anyone reading this who knows the solution focused approach and would like to get involved then please do.

For anyone at the conference this weekend then please come down to the Hyatt Hotel for 10pm for the Blog Awards and say hello.

Birmingham Riots: A city shows the country a way forward with amazing scenes of community (disappointing the press)

As I watched the news last night I couldn’t help feeling that there was almost excitement in the news presenters as to what was to happen in Birmingham last night fulled from reports that people were getting messages to amass in Birmingham, race tensions or revenge for the death of 3 men. I wake today to find a very different story and one which shows Birmingham in a very different light. Everyone should be aware of what happened last night in Birmingham as it shows a true community working together.

People gathered on Dudley Road in Winson Green where the 3 men had been killed to hold a vigil. Candles were laid on the ground where they were hit and people held candles in memory of them. Many in the community were represented. Many voices were heard. Some calling for revenge on the man who had done it, the community he was from or the area he came from. Some called for a demonstration, peaceful or otherwise. What was important was that they had a voice and the community responded and they had a collective agreement on the outcome. There was no march, no demonstration, no reprisals. The Guardian has covered some of what was said well here.

Tariq Jahan’s words, the father of one of the three men killed, should be spread around:

Today we stand here to plead with all the youth to remain calm, for our communities to stand united. This is not a race issue. The family has received messages of sympathy and support from all parts of society … I lost my son. Blacks, Asians, whites – we all live in the same community. Why do we have to kill one another? Why are we doing this? Step forward if you want to lose your sons. Otherwise, calm down and go home – please.

This shows that violence is not inevitable. That different communities can not only get along with each other but show the rest of the country a way forward in times of extreme pain and difficulty. I was maddened by Channel 4 news trying to make out that there were race issues in the riots in Birmingham. The response they got was an amazing display of race relations, community cohesion despite differing views, and peaceful ways of managing the communities grief.

I hope this is covered everywhere as we need to the country to see a city leading the way in these difficult times.

Birmingham Riots: No excuses for thugs, can you identify these people? If so report them

As the West Midlands wakes up to more destruction today with riots in West Bromwich and Wolverhampton and 3 dead in Birmingham people are getting very angry. I hear so much crap about why they are doing this and it makes me mad. People need to get a grip and see this for what it really is. Stop using it to peddle your own agenda. Some might be pissed off about the cuts and the economy and they may hate the Tories but that doesn’t mean these people are doing this for the reason they think they are. No one can tell me that children as young as 9 are doing this because of any political reason. If these people who are giving excuses to these thugs actually listened to people who work in these communities and with these people they would understand the reality.

In psychology there is a thing called ‘confirmation bias‘ and ‘attribution error’. Confirmation bias is the reluctance to abandon a pre-formed opinion and for all those who already hate the Government and are angry and the direction the economy is taking will be looking for evidence to back this up. What better way than a seeing a riot as evidence that they all hate the government.

Attribution error  is the common error people make when looking at someone’s behaviour and instead of attributing the behaviour to the context attributing it to personality traits, or in this case their beliefs about the Government or poverty in general. Both of these would suggest that people are getting their reasoning wrong.

A friend of mine wrote on facebook about the riots in Birmingham:

So apparently rioting is the only way for the chav filth to get their message across. So what’s the message? Anyone know?

Forensic psychologist Kay Nooney says

these people aren’t interested in tuition fees. In constituency, it’s most similar to a prison riot: what will happen is that, usually in the segregation unit, nobody will ever know exactly, but a rumour will emanate that someone has been hurt in some way. There will be some form of moral outrage that takes its expression in self-interested revenge. There is no higher purpose, you just have a high volume of people with a history of impulsive behaviour, having a giant adventure.

From a behaviourist point of view then, as pointed out from another friend of mine on facebook talking about the Birmingham Riots:

These riots, it has nothing to do ‘the youth making their voice heard’ as some prof’s and commentators with their heads up… in the clouds are saying, it is just a realisation that 300 people committing 300 simultaneous crimes makes for better odds of getting away with it than one person committing one crime. What you literally have here today is organised crime

I know my fair share of ‘lefties’, I have worked in deprived areas and I can say that the situation here in Birmingham is turning everyone very angry. Nothing makes people more angry than listening to people trying to give them reasons to justify it using academic mental masturbation. The feeling is pretty much summed up by my friend from Northern Ireland:

if this was happening in Belfast or Derry, there’d be tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets to take down these pricks destroying our cities!!! makes me fucking sick these idiots are running riot through our cities!

People have been urged to come out to the City Centre today between 3 and 5pm in protest against the rioters. I am not sure if this is going to come off as I think the West Midlands police think this is a bad idea. The Facebook event was up urging people to do it but it has since been removed. But soon people will be on the streets and then the rioters will be out numbered by ordinary people protecting their communities. But for now if you know any of these people report them to the police:

http://www.west-midlands.police.uk/latest-news/majoroperations/operationview/

Total Politics Blog Awards 2011

This years Total Politics Blog Awards are open for nominations.

If you have enjoyed this blog then please vote for it here: Total Politics Blog Awards 2011

New Page: Recommended

A new page has been added for a chronological order of the posts from Solution Focused Politics that have been recommended by others.