http://martinbell.org The Expenses Scandal and How to Save Our Democracy, Published by Icon Books, October 2009 Sat, 23 May 2009 12:23:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 http://martinbell.org/about/comment-page-1#comment-3 Matthew Macan Sat, 23 May 2009 12:23:35 +0000 http://martinbell.org/?page_id=2#comment-3 To Martin Bell Martin I have worked all my life in business ,often with a sense of guilt that I have been fortunate to be successful and to have enjoyed myself working hard. That guilt resulted in me wanting to pay back to society much of what I had learned in my career , integrity and leadership and the excitement of challenge. For the last 12 years I have chaired several state schools here in Exeter ,in the poorest and most deprived part of the city .Yes, Exeter does ,like all cities ,have pockets of severe deprivation. I have enjoyed that challenge more than I care to admit and the personal satisfaction of helping organizations be more effective and change peoples lives, is intoxicating. The more you do , the more you are asked to do . People ask me why ,how can I commit so much time and take on such battles . The answer is simple ,it matters ,people deserve to be given as much help as possible in fulfilling their potential and I enjoy it . Strangely it is the journey that matters to us all , not arriving at the destination, not achieving a specific goal ,which is often anti-climatic when achieved . Have you felt this ? So , continuing to battle on in education , sending my own children to those 'bog standard comprehensives' , seeing them achieve so much with their peers, confirms to me that society has so much good to offer . However it is often under threat not by individuals ,not even by religion or terrorism but by poor leadership in politicians . There are many good politicians however we have a political system that is more interested in protecting the power of the executive than in engaging in true debate. I have seen that at first hand . So , if you feel this country needs more individuals who would like to help change our system for the better then I would like to help in anyway I can . I need this like a hole in the head but at present ,the situation is dire . I am a dogged fighter who needs a challenge and ultimately believe that there is good that comes from every crisis....let it not be public indifference which will lead to a poorer society. Thank you for listening to me Regards Matthew Macan To Martin Bell
Martin
I have worked all my life in business ,often with a sense of guilt that I have been fortunate to be successful and to have enjoyed myself working hard. That guilt resulted in me wanting to pay back to society much of what I had learned in my career , integrity and leadership and the excitement of challenge.
For the last 12 years I have chaired several state schools here in Exeter ,in the poorest and most deprived part of the city .Yes, Exeter does ,like all cities ,have pockets of severe deprivation. I have enjoyed that challenge more than I care to admit and the personal satisfaction of helping organizations be more effective and change peoples lives, is intoxicating. The more you do , the more you are asked to do . People ask me why ,how can I commit so much time and take on such battles . The answer is simple ,it matters ,people deserve to be given as much help as possible in fulfilling their potential and I enjoy it .
Strangely it is the journey that matters to us all , not arriving at the destination, not achieving a specific goal ,which is often anti-climatic when achieved . Have you felt this ?
So , continuing to battle on in education , sending my own children to those ‘bog standard comprehensives’ , seeing them achieve so much with their peers, confirms to me that society has so much good to offer . However it is often under threat not by individuals ,not even by religion or terrorism but by poor leadership in politicians . There are many good politicians however we have a political system that is more interested in protecting the power of the executive than in engaging in true debate. I have seen that at first hand .
So , if you feel this country needs more individuals who would like to help change our system for the better then I would like to help in anyway I can .
I need this like a hole in the head but at present ,the situation is dire . I am a dogged fighter who needs a challenge and ultimately believe that there is good that comes from every crisis….let it not be public indifference which will lead to a poorer society.
Thank you for listening to me
Regards
Matthew Macan

]]> http://martinbell.org/about/comment-page-1#comment-2 mikebj Fri, 15 May 2009 16:25:43 +0000 http://martinbell.org/?page_id=2#comment-2 Hi Martin Bell, Why don't you re-enter the political scene. We need a NEW, CLEAN Party I'm sure you would get backing to field candidates in all the seats where the 3 main parties have been abusing the expenses system. The ones on BBC Question Time (BBC1) looked like rabbits caught in the glare of a car's headlights in a country lane!!! Regards, Mike Hi Martin Bell,
Why don’t you re-enter the political scene.
We need a NEW, CLEAN Party
I’m sure you would get backing to field candidates in all the seats where the 3 main parties have been abusing the expenses system.
The ones on BBC Question Time (BBC1) looked like rabbits caught in the glare of a car’s headlights in a country lane!!!
Regards,
Mike

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