PPC Profile: Cath Arakelian

Full Name: Cath Arakelian

Age: 47

From: Born and educated in London. Family in Kidlington, Oxfordshire

PPC for: Chingford and Woodford Green

Selection Result: 16th March 2008. Open Selection with 5 candidates, 3 M and 2F, 80% of first votes went to the two women candidates.

Member of the Labour Party Since: 1992

CV:
Born and raised in Tooting, London. Educated at Furzedown Secondary – now Graveney School in Streatham. I cycled to school, loved the Tooting Lido and went to a Drama group at the newly opened Battersea Arts Centre at Clapham Junction. First degree in Drama at Bristol University, and first job as a peripatetic drama/dance teacher in the Pennines, based in Burnley. 1980s – trainee Theatre Director at the Orange Tree, Richmond. Theatre producer and director in the London fringe, until I started my family and moved to Oxfordshire. Three children and a political life in Oxfordshire from Chair of the Parish Council to working for Andrew Smith, MP in Oxford East. Many careers along the way: sold Encyclopaedia Britannica door-to-door; English Language teacher; Senior Lecturer at Oxford Brookes University, owner/director of SME; wrote textbook for migrant workers; sometime educational consultant in Europe and Australia in intercultural communication skills; mature student at University of Oxford (St Cross college) – M Phil in Migration Studies. Currently director of NewDementiaCare, a consultancy and training company working in care homes in London and Oxfordshire.

I was inspired to get into politics because:
I am the eldest child of a single mum who left her home because of domestic violence. Told by her solicitor that, as she had deserted her husband, “beggars can’t be choosers”, she fought the law and regained our family home. The law changed for women because of her case. We went back home to Tooting after two years of homelessness. I was twelve.

British society is changing, our population is ageing and there are laws that need reform, and others need to be put on the statute book. There is only so much you can do from the grassroots. When I was first a Mum I discovered there were no nursery places in my village because a Tory council had cut them all. I campaigned on that issue. I became the Parish Council Chair. The village was flooded and only the poorer people’s homes were affected. Most of them were without contents insurance. I campaigned for flood defences, which we got, and we achieved a broader victory – that the mental health impact of flooding should be put into the formula for cost-benefit calculations and compensation. And so on. Campaigning does change things.

Also, how we treat vulnerable old people in this country is unjust: I believe the generations must share the wealth of this country more equitably. Since pensions, care and independent living are framed by legislation, if electors want to change the face of old age policy in this country, then I hope they will put me in Parliament so that together we can make it happen.

My main policy interests are:
– Old age policy incuding state pension, social/health care, independence in older age
– Housing
– Migration policy and European policy, including Turkey
– Cooperative, local governance structures in business, civic and social institutions
– Constitutional and electoral reform

3 things that should be in the next Labour manifesto:
Given my interest in policy for older people, I want the next Labour manifesto to include:
1 – A fair state pension system with clear personal contributions throughout a working life.
2 – An immediate reform for current state pensioners over 70 to bring their pensions in line with the minimum wage, and remove pensioner poverty.
3 – A separate NHS for Older People to remove the unjust social care/health care divide. This will relieve local councils of a financial burden and the duty to dignity in care which they are failing to fulfil. This measure is not asking for more resources but better allocation of existing resources across the generations.

I think people should vote for me because:
Labour’s pledge is to provide for the many, not the few. These are Labour’s values in action. There is a pledge card which sets out my personal campaign, called Dignity In Place of Fear:

I, Cath Arakelian, promise to campaign, work and legislate with determination and tenacity, to remove the fear of getting old wherever it appears in law, in society and in our daily lives. I pledge to root out age discrimination and ageism in our society. I pledge to work to establish a basic income for pensioners on which all can live with dignity. I pledge to work to provide social, personal and health care, free without means testing, for those who need it to remain happy and independent.

My pledges follow faithfully in the footsteps of my hero: Nye Bevan, the Labour Housing and Health Minister who built millions of affordable houses in the age of austerity after the Second World War, and was the creator of the first free at point-of-delivery National Health Service. We must study our history to emulate the best and avoid the worst our party has offered this country.

I am an active member of the Cooperative Party. I am Chair of the historic Chingford Town FC which is becoming a community football club owned and run by its supporters through a Supporters Trust. Setting up the Football Club on a viable footing as a Supporters Trust is a service I can offer to the community of Chingford while I am candidate, as a lasting legacy.

AOB:
School Governor for seventeen years of one of the most inspiring primary schools in the country, West Kidlington. Elected Member of Local Involvement Network Stewardship Group in Oxfordshire. I am a member of RSPB, Fawcett Society, Fabian Society, Compass, England Rugby Club, and the Levellers Day Group. I love walking in Britain, amateur film-making, reading biographies, music, film, theatre and arts of all sorts. I holiday in mountains and by beaches in the UK with my family. I am a basic rate taxpayer.