I can’t expect everything – because I can’t always be sure I’m right

By Paul Halsall / @PaulBHalsall

Good on Danny Finkelstein for posting this in The Times.

“Here are a few positive things I think about MPs:

* I think most work very hard, putting in long hours and working weekends. There may be other jobs that are harder, or less well paid, or more inconvenient. But this doesn’t detract from the hard work MPs do.

* I think many now do good community work, and are in touch with their constituents’ difficulties. This is not universal, but it is common.

* I think Britain is a stable, peaceful, democratic society and that MPs play a role in this”.

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The last point is especially important. I have spent a good part of my life abroad, and people here do not know how good we have it here. Of course there are things to get annoyed about, but nothing and nowhere will ever be perfect. Even if my personal political agenda were fully implemented by this or the next government, things would still go wrong. Mainly because I cannot be sure I am absolutely right about things; and even if I am, the law of unintended consequences will guarantee that future problems will arise.

What’s true for me, is true for everyone else.

As to my personal MP – it’s Ivan Lewis (Lab., Bury South). I have met him a number of times, and I probably write to him more than he wishes, but he has unfailingly responded, even when I have raised entirely abstruse points.