Blog post - how to stop Brexit (in five easy steps)

This article sets out four steps for how we, the people, can help to stop Brexit. I’m writing assuming you’re someone who would lime to stop Brexit, but I hope that this is interesting, regardless of your position on Brexit.

Step One - stop trying to win the argument

The first step might be the most difficult, but telling people that they are wrong won’t convince them of your argument. Labelling ourselves “remainers” and others “Brexiteers” creates a “them and us” environment that makes changing sides more difficult.

When we, as emotional human beings, are told directly that we are wrong, we instinctively react to double down emotionally.

On a base level humans are tribal. It is by our very nature to associate with people we think are like us and in our tribe. And we unite against things which are outside of our tribe. This is normal.

Being told we are wrong gets our backs up. We feel under attack, we become defensive. “If I’m wrong I’m stupid- I’m not stupid, you’re wrong.” We become emotional and irrational. We put the accuser into the “other” tribe.

To solve “Brexit” we will need to come together. Regardless of the outcome we want as individuals, the only way out of the current mess is an agreed compromise.

I don’t want to leave the European Union, but the truth is that some form of Brexit might be the only way forward. Then again- there may be a way forward that satisfies the needs of those who voted to leave while we remain in the European Union. I don’t know, but somewhere along the line, some compromises will need to be made and compromises can only be reached through rational discussion and debate.

Rational thought comes from cooperative problem solving. It is from the safety of our own tribe that we innovate, imagine new solutions and ideas. Humans are better when we work together. The sum is always greater than the parts. But we need the correct environment to behave rationally rather than emotionally. We need to feel that we are in the same tribe.

Fundamentally humans are messy and complicated. People voted for Brexit for whole range of reasons. It is lazy and quite frankly ignorant to label everyone who to leave as “Racist”, or “stupid”, or “gullible” or anything else. If you’re in the habit of labelling people who voted leave I’d strongly urge you to stop, and instead have a listen. You don’t have to agree with them but you will get a better understanding of their views than assuming you can sum up an entire other person, in your head, with a label.

Actually you’d be surprised how many of the reasons people voted to leave you would actually sympathise with. And we know from conflict resolution that it is by finding the things that we agree on that we can start to come together.

For example, I often find that a reason people voted to leave the European Union is because they are concerned about funding for the national health service. Sometimes people worry that immigrants (i.e people outside of their tribe) are using the health service which they, as taxpayers (inside the tribe) are contributing to.

Or they feel that our government is unable to contribute enough money to the national health service (I.e. to look after our tribe) because too much money is going to the European Union (I.e. outside our tribe).

The common ground here of course is that the national health service is good and should be properly funded.

Regardless of how you feel about possible factual flaws in those arguments to leave, they come from a normal human emotional place. Rather than argue with those people about the details behind those arguments, it is actually good enough to agree with those people that the national health service is amazing and that it needs to be adequately funded.

I then also gently introduce the truth that a significant proportion of national health service workers are actually immigrants, often doing lower paid difficult jobs, working really hard to care for British people. The idea is not to convince someone of my conclusions. The idea is to introduce the concept that maybe the people outside the tribe are helping our tribe. The idea is to allow that person to reach their own conclusion that maybe we’re in the same tribe?

I don’t demand that the person who voted to leave tell me that I’m right. It’s nearly impossible to change someone’s mind with one conversation. I just try to reach common ground and gently introduce ideas they will then hopefully think about later.

The other benefit of talking politely and calmly and listening to people who voted to leave, is that they come away less likely to feel that you are in the other “tribe”. Every potential argument, that instead is a civilised conversation as another step out of the current mess we find ourselves in. Little by little. Step by step. Conversation by conversation. With no quick wins.

In essence, winning is not winning an argument. Winning is having a conversation and not having an argument.

 Step Two - tell a friend

Probably seems obvious but if we want to remain in the European Union we need a clear majority of people also to want to remain in the European Union. There are two groups of people who need engaging - those who voted leave and those who just don’t care anymore.

Lots of people voted to leave - engaging with people who voted to leave is important. To form a clear majority to remain some of those people will need to support, or at least not oppose, remaining in the European Union.

A huge number of people are still apathetic about Brexit. They might not understand the implications or they might just not care. And it’s not difficult to see why when you see ongoing immature arguments between politicians who often aren’t always saying what they believe but are saying what they think the public want to hear in order to try to be as popular as possible with their tribe of potential voters. All those politicians arguing to a back drop of not much actually happening.

For many people, the Brexit argument is drowned out by their actual life. Picking the kids up from school. Working out what to cook for dinner. Getting into the office. That big task to do at work.

Point being, to stop Brexit we need to reach both groups of people. We need to engage with people who voted to leave and we need to engage with people who have just tuned it all out.

What we need to tell those people is what’s happening, and what that means for their lives.

Reasons why Brexit would be bad are for another post (and can easily be found by googling “why is Brexit bad?”)

You can also find a compelling argument against Brexit made by Pindex (and narrated by Stephen Fry) talking about the motivations of big business for Brexit.

To get informed about what’s going on in terms of Brexit, the YouTube channel TLDR News provides fairly objective updates.

Also, I always recommend joining Rob Blackie’s email subscription and Mark Pack’s Liberal Democrat Newswire. Both Rob and Mark provide regular updates and information about Brexit, as well as lots of other related and interesting content.

Step Three - vote at every opportunity

Sounds obvious, but vote for what you believe in. The Liberal Democrats are squarely in favour of remain, so they should probably be your first consideration.

It is worth looking at who you are voting for in each election to identify candidates who also are in favour of remain. For example, the Green Party are also pro remain, and in some seats (like Brighton Pavilion) are most likely to win.

That said, I personally don’t vote tactically. I vote for what I believe in. For too long we have allowed ourselves to be bullied into voting for parties that we don’t actually want for fear of the other party that we reallydon’t want winning. It is much better in my view, to vote for what you believe in, and to encourage others to do the same.

At every possible democratic opportunity vote for remain. At the European elections, in general elections, in local elections.

Every time a remain candidate wins, there is more momentum for the whole remain movement.

Step Four - write letters and emails

It is always worth writing to your elected representatives. A general rule of thumb that a lot of members of parliament use is that for every one letter received roughly 1000 of their constituents also have the same opinion. If you believe in remain, and even better if you have direct examples of how you will be negatively affected by Brexit, then you should tell your Member of Parliament, member of the European Parliament, and even your local councillors.

Most politicians want to be re-elected and therefore regardless of political ideology, will take seriously the views of their constituents. Even ardent leave supporting politicians will take notice if they’re bombarded with letters from their constituents.

They work for you is a brilliant website that can help you find and contact your elected representatives.

Step Five - meet with like minded people

As stated above the Liberal Democrats are squarely in favour of remain. You will find like-minded remain supporters at the many Lib Dem social events. Your local area will likely have a Lib Dem Facebook page. You can also find heaps more information at the Liberal Democrat website.

The Liberal Democrat’s membership has now exceeded 100,000 members and is actually larger than the Conservative party membership.

Meeting like minded people is a great way to keep up momentum - almost everyone would agree that Brexit can be dry and depressing in equal measures. With some of the political antics going on I often don’t know whether to laugh or cry. When I’m with other people we usually laugh.

A second benefit of meeting other people who want to the UK to remain in the European Union is the free exchange of ideas. Humans are better when we work together. We specialise, divide tasks and act more efficiently. The more ideas that are shared the more strokes of genius that can be employed.

Thirdly - it’s just nice to meet nice people. The Liberal Democrats have a reputation for being friendly easy going types for a reason. In the many years of being a liberal political activist I can genuinely say that I’ve never disliked a Liberal Democrat I’ve met.

Balanced Scorecards

TL;DR

A balanced scorecard is a group of KPIs that try to provide a holistic view of a businesses, typically from four perspectives: financial, customer, process, learning and growth.

What is a balanced scorecard, when and how to use it?

Typically a balanced scorecard will be a report, issued to the senior management and/or board members of a company. Usually there is a one page summary divided equally between the four perspectives: financial, customer, process, learning and growth. Each perspective will be represented by key performance indicators and often trends are depicted with graphs and simple diagrams. Some balanced scorecard reports may include further explanation and context in accompanying pages. The scorecard may be updated weekly, monthly or quarterly. As these tend to be more strategic in nature, you often find the reporting will align to the frequency of the company’s board meetings.

Benefits of a balanced scorecard?

Structured reporting covering the whole breadth of a company allows decision making to be supported by evidence. Weak areas or risks are more likely to be identified by the organisations leadership who have the authority to implement remedial actions. Similarly, opportunities or strengths can be identified and exploited, enhanced or replicated.

Where did the balanced scorecard come from?

The origin of the balanced scorecard is from the book “the balanced scorecard: you can’t drive a car solely relying on a rear view mirror” by Robert S Kaplan. Essentially the innovation was to move from company performance assessments being dominated by financial accounting which tend to be retrospective. Kaplan and his colleague David Norton argued that success should be defined by a balanced set of quantifiable goals that represent past, current and future performance for all areas of a company.

More Police, Less Politics

TL;DR

The police don’t get to chose which laws they enforce, that’s the job of our elected representatives in parliament.

Some senior police officials have recently been complaining about having to enforce the law when it comes to “hate crime” or “sexual harassment” because they’re worried that they can’t enforce the law on other “more serious crimes”.

1. This is a totally unhelpful distraction from the real issue: that the police don’t have the resources to do what we have asked of them.

2. The police don’t get to choose which laws they enforce. Parliaments job is to create the law. The police must enforce that law.

Longer

We still live in a structurally racist and sexist society. While it might be uncomfortable to hear- the truth is that if you are a woman in this country, you will find it harder in life. Not due to decisions that you have made, but because of disadvantages you will experience only because you’re a woman. And similarly, if you are a person of colour, you will experience challenges in life, not due to the fault of your actions, but because of disadvantages solely related to your ethnicity.

I know that can be challenging to understand for people who don’t have to deal with sexism or racism. Anticipating that, 1) don’t just take my word for it, look at the statistics and academic research on racial and sexual biases. 2) Remember- just because you haven’t experienced it, it doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Just because you’re not a racist/sexist, it doesn’t mean that racism and sexism aren’t real.

The point is, our police are part of our society and therefore part of our social structure that includes repression and discrimination. And while most individuals are good- it is the case that the behaviours of individual police officers force will be defined by the context of the society we live in.

So it’s probably good that the police DON’T get to decide which laws to enforce- because whether conscious or not, the police will mirror attitudes in society. Which is precisely how you end up with police officers pulling over black men driving fancy cars “because it didn’t look right”. 

It is our parliament- the representatives of us, the people- that has decided that we, as a society want to do something about racism and sexism. So our parliament made laws to combat it.

Now whether the police like those laws or not, it is their job to enforce the law. So if our parliament says that threatening a woman with sexual violence, while she’s simply walking down the street trying to live her life, is a crime- then the police should take it seriously and enforce the law. 

And you know that the kind of people who commit hate crimes are typically the kind of people who are emboldened by getting away with said hate crime and go on to commit what these senior police officers deem to be “more serious crimes”. 

Or another way of putting it, the guy who threatens to punch black people on the nose for being black, at some point is likely to punch a black person on the nose for being black. Similarly, the guy who threatens sexual violence at strangers on the street is more likely to go on to commit sexual violence.

Solution 1: Society needs to be less racist and sexist

This sounds somewhat daunting taken as a whole, so don’t take it as a whole; take it as an individual. What we can do as individuals is connect with each other. Have a conversation with someone who is different to you. Lean into the good in humanity. Empathise. Be open to the experience of others and you will enrich your own experience.

The things that we have in common are far greater than the things that make us different. And when we connect with people who are different, we break down our preconceptions that are so often based on negative stereotypes. It is irrational, but very normal, to fear people you don’t know or understand. Our rational selves can easily overcome this, by simply having a conversation.

Solution 2: More resources for the police

The other solution is that our police need more resources. More money alone isn’t a solution: lack of money certainly is a problem.

our politicians have done well to introduce progressive laws. Our politicians need to do even better and fund the police to be able to enforce those laws.

And I’m pretty sure that we have enough politicians. The police, should not try to do the job of our parliament petitioning to reduce and redefine their duties. The police can be transparent about the adequate resources they need to deliver all of their duties. Other than that police should do policing and should leave it to politicians to do politics.

Things I’ve Learnt from standing in a local election (2 of 3)

This series of posts (#Leggatts2018) is based on my reflections after standing for the Liberal Democrats in Leggatts in the May 2018 Watford Borough Council Elections.

TL;DR

• Politics is messy, complicated and uncertain

• Politics is a bit like football

• Uncertainty can be good (even if it feels uncomfortable)

Candidacy

I was the Liberal Democrats Leggatts Candidate in the May 2018 Watford Borough Council Elections. I stood primarily because I’m a passionate liberal. I believe that all humans have equal value, that communities are better when they work together, and that individuals should be free. (Liberty, Equality, Community). This was a fantastic opportunity to fight for those values and to give back to the community in which I live.

Politics is messy, complicated and uncertain

I think from the outside, it’s easy to assume that political organisations are slick, professional and deliberate. We might imagine all politics is like a US presidential election – with small armies of data scientists – feeding highly paid PR consultants – to create word perfect messaging – distributed to masses of journalists and flashing cameras…

I wasn’t totally naive to politics before standing. I’ve been a Lib Dem for over 10 years. I was a local party activist (in Exeter) prior to the coalition government, and I’ve been back involved since moving to Watford.

I was however surprised by the lack of certainty being the candidate in the campaign. Focus and messaging was dynamic. Direction and guidance was always friendly, mostly positive, sometimes conflicting, but rarely consistent.

This has been helpful for me to learn something about myself. I already knew that I preferred to be leading or following: ‘In control or in a plan’. I wasn’t totally ‘in control’: because I had to align with the party. And I wasn’t  totally ‘in a plan’: because the plan was fluid and dynamic.

Ultimately, what I learnt is that too much change makes me feel ‘out of control’ – and when this happened I found it to be uncomfortable.

Politics is a bit like football

The best analogy I’ve heard about this was shared with me by my good friend Ralph comparing political parties to football teams.

A party leader is a lot like a team manager. And individual politicians are like players. Voters are like fans. And the club staff are like the party volunteers and activists.

The Manager / Party Leader

The manager tries to set out the game plan – to position players and set out how to achieve success. The manager can’t control the fundamental rules of the game or the realities on the ground. During the heat of the game none of her players will really listen to the manager. They will just chase and react to the ball. The Manager will stand on the side lines and shout – and occasionally the camera will pan to them pacing around their small white box. But ultimately, when the game starts, it is up to the players to coordinate with each other, to play to the crowd and to win.

The Players / Politicians

Some of the players will score own goals. Some will hog the ball and try and do it alone. Some will get into weirdly specific grudge matches with other players. Ultimately, the players have to thrive in an inherently uncertain fast paced and constantly changing game. There are strategies and positions. There are relatively safe sets and relatively stressful positions. But when it comes down to it, there is no escaping that the game/election is uncertain and dynamic.

The Fans / Voters

Aside from the occasional streaker, the fans don’t get directly involved in play. But the environment the fans create will have a huge impact on the game. The fans create the pressure which influences everything from player performance, to the biases of the referee. Without the fans there is no football – and yet the fans have the least influence on the game. It takes enormous coordinated and persistent effort for the fans of a club to change the decisions of the club’s owners – and usually the only change that can be driven is a change of manager.

It’s also worth noting that although lots of people like football, a lot of people don’t. Maybe half of the population will follow the leagues but very small segment of the population will turn up to matches.

Club staff / volunteers and activists

An important thing I’ve been thinking about, is that there are roles in both political parties and football teams. The nutritionist has a plan – and individual matches don’t really disturb that plan. If the other team score a goal, the manager and the players will be thinking through the strategy of their team and the other team, how to change and adapt, how to respond before the end of the match. The nutritionist will care about all this, and will likely have opinions – but each player’s nutrition plans are unlikely to change.

This isn’t me declaring myself out from trying to get voted in as a politician. I guess I’m just recognising in the same way many aspiring footballers fail to make it professional but still follow their love of the game by becoming sports physiotherapists and nutritionists, I wasn’t elected as a politician but I can still follow my love of humanity and politics by continuing as a political activist. And hopefully in the future I’ll get another shot!

Uncertainty can be good (even if it feels uncomfortable)

Through the experience of running, I noticed that some people thrive on uncertainty. If things can change easily, that allows for mistakes and trial and error. If things are allowed to change nothing needs to be perfect it just needs to be good enough to last until the next change.

Additionally, a more fluid plan will offer an individual more ability to influence. Suggestions and decisions can be made with much less anxiety about being held to account. If you know things are changing a lot you only need to offer advice that’s relevant for that given moment.

I would also couple the utility of uncertainty with the increasing significance of digital campaigning. With a digital campaign it is relatively cheap and quick to put out a set of messages, assess the performance of each message and then do more of the better performing messages. I’ve learnt an awful lot from my friend Rob Blackie who has written extensively on digital strategy. Check out his site here: robblackie.com

Things I’ve Learnt from standing in a local election (1 of 3)

This series of posts (#Leggatts2018) is based on my reflections after standing for the Liberal Democrats in Leggatts in the May 2018 Watford Borough Council Elections.

TL;DR

• I didn’t win (but I did okay)

• I learnt a lot, and had fun, standing in a local election

Candidacy:

I was the Liberal Democrats Leggatts Candidate in the May 2018 Watford Borough Council Elections.

I stood primarily because I’m a passionate liberal. I believe that all humans have equal value, that communities are better when they work together, and that individuals should be free. (Liberty, Equality, Community). This was a fantastic opportunity to fight for those values and to give back to the community in which I live.

I didn’t win (but I did okay)

I came in second place, receiving just over 700 liberal democrat votes against labour’s 1000. As a first time candidate I wasn’t standing in a target seat, and this result was higher than we had predicted before the election.

While I obviously wanted to win, this was a good result for the party. In the context of the wider Watford Election the Liberal Democrats won the Mayoralty and gained a seat from Labour, holding all others. The council is led by the Liberal democrats who hold 26 seats out of a total of 36.

I think my campaign went well due to; clear messaging on why I was standing; a robust literature campaign delivering with monthly leaflets (by our outstanding Watford campaigns team); and a robust online campaign which I coordinated with door to door canvassing.

I had 3 basic messages during the campaign:

1. I lived locally to where I was standing.

2. My professional experience is relevant and useful.

3. I wanted to be a councillor for everyone.

Traffic and transportation is a significant issue in North Watford so it was very helpful have significant professional experience in this area.

I learnt a lot, and had fun, standing in a local election

I learnt a lot about myself, politics and my neighbours.

The experience helped me to recognise my own privileges in life: the advantages I’ve had that other people, through no fault of their own, have not.

I am thankful for; my super awesome wife; my supportive family; my education (which my mum paid for), the opportunities I’ve had to work, travel and live abroad.

Talking about thanks – I have to specifically thank Peter Taylor, Ian Stotesbury, Ian Port, Robbie Laird, Amanda Grimestone, Steven Giles Medhurst for their support during the campaign. There are many residents who I can’t thank by name (GDPR) but were unbelievably supportive and encouraging.

Which is one of the other things I learnt: Watford is full of lovely, fair minded people who care about where they live.

Liberals instinctively fear “the tyranny of the majority” and at a national level it seems that popularism is on the rise. From my experience, Watford does not seem to be following this trend, instead continuing to follow sensible, pragmatic, fair minded politics.

Another thing to mention is that I didn’t experience any direct racism. The only time immigration was raised it was about legitimate concerns to do with availability of social housing. The only frustrations about multiculturalism were that people wanted to engage more with their community (not less). I’m sure racism (and unconscious bias) exists – but I didn’t experience it.

Last but, not least, standing was fun! Talking and meeting my neighbours was a positive experience. Lib Dem’s live by the values they believe in – so the local party and volunteers were warm, open, and accepting. The buzz and energy during action days and on election day itself is electric. Tens of volunteers all coming together focused on the same objective. By the end of the election period there was a huge sense of camaraderie. It was a fantastic experience and I am really grateful for having had the opportunity to be a part of it.