(thanks to Justine Kibler for this photo)
Here is the speech I delivered to them as part of the festivities:
Thank you for inviting me to this ‘Big Commonwealth Lunch’. I am honoured to be here to represent the Town and continue my quest to do what I can to build stronger and stronger links between all who study, live, work, visit and play in Buckingham. We have so much to learn from each other. We have so much that we achieve together.
We meet at the same time as the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London. When I raised the Commonwealth Flag on 12 March, I read out this, The Commonwealth Affirmation:
“Joining together as members of one worldwide Commonwealth community, and valuing the personal dignity and worth of every citizen, we raise this flag as a symbol of the ties of kinship and affinity that we cherish.
We draw inspiration from our diversity, and the opportunities for working together, as a rich source of wisdom and a powerful influence for good in the world.
We affirm our commitment to upholding the values set out in the Commonwealth Charter, to serving one another in a spirit of respect and understanding, and to advancing development, democracy and cooperation locally, nationally and internationally.”
There are some very important words and phrases in that affirmation that I want to link to our Town of Buckingham and the theme of my Mayoralty.
When I became Mayor last May I said that would make ‘ambition’ the theme of my year as Mayor. I chose this theme because I believe we should all be working for a world in which everyone (and I mean everyone!) has dreams and ambitions and the wherewithal to achieve those. Throughout these last few months I have been looking for all ways to support, nurture, celebrate and rejoice in the dreams and ambitions that people in Buckingham have, or even maybe are just beginning to cradle.
Ambitions and dreams are fragile things and they can be so easily crushed rather than helped to fly.
And this is where the words of the Commonwealth Affirmation come in for me. Unless we each value “the personal dignity and worth of every citizen” in every word we say and every action we take, then there is every chance that person will feel diminished, and worse bullied and oppressed. Only when we serve “one another in a spirit of respect and understanding” do we actively help create the wherewithal for people to use to shape and realise their dreams and ambitions.
Indeed I would contend that by serving others, we serve ourselves: we help ourselves achieve our dreams and ambitions by helping others to do so.
We don’t just live in interesting times, we currently live in febrile and tempestuous times where, perhaps stoked by social media, people find all manner of ways to oppress and bully others. But as we have learnt in recent days regarding the human stories that have come to be called the Windrush affairs, such oppression and bullying can happen with legislation too. And let us not forget how the casual remark can, even without malicious intent, can devastate another person. Sometimes, it is even the absence of a remark…
Some years ago, I was chosen to buddy a black American police officer from Seattle who was visiting the UK on scholarship. We are still in touch and exchange Christmas cards. One weekend during her secondment, Fabienne came back to my home in Oxford to meet my wife and family. As we climbed into my car after alighting from the coach, Fabienne said to me “did you notice how the bus driver said goodbye to everyone who got off the coach, except me?” And of course, I had not noticed this. But I have never forgotten her remark.
And another few years ago, another good friend of mine, who has since died sadly, told me about the research that she and her partner were doing into anti-discriminatory practice. And she enlightened me with a concept that has remained deeply with me: “there can be no hierarchy of discrimination because that adds even more discrimination to discrimination”.
But let me try and bring all this together.
I believe we all have a responsibility to help create a world (a country, a town, a community, a family) in which everyone gets to be an author of their own lives, shaping and imagining ambitions, and having the wherewithal to achieve those. A big chunk of that wherewithal are the opportunities provided by good education (and you have lots of it here of course!), community safety, economic prosperity and good all round health. Some of these happen naturally or by dint of individual action, and some the State, on our behalf, puts in place for us.
But a huge part of the wherewithal includes our cultural and political milieu as well. And we all have a part to play in that, in terms of how we treat each other, and what government policies we support or allow to continue. In my view, we cannot allow ourselves to use language, take action or support policies (wittingly or unwittingly) that discriminate against any of the ‘protected characteristics’ (as defined in the UK Equality Act 2010) which are: age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation or marriage/civil partnership.
It is, I believe, our job (to cite the Commonwealth Affirmation again) to serve “one another in a spirit of respect and understanding”. When we are actively “valuing the personal dignity and worth of every citizen” we are helping to create a world in which everyone can nurture their dreams and ambitions, achieve them and become true authors of their own destiny (and not walk on parts in other people’s stories).
And we can do that in so many different ways. From my links with the University, I know that many students are already actively involved in the Town in a whole variety of ways and likewise many residents are involved with the University too.
Many people are already building our commonwealth of Buckingham and it is wonderful to be a part of that. Thank you for being a part of that. Let’s see what more we can do together!
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