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" When I first came into parliament, there was, on average, a by-election every three months - due not to MPs bailing out, but because of the death rate. "
David Blunkett
Because
Average
Three
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" If you don't create a sense of order and stability, if people do not feel secure, then progressive politics is dead. That is a fact of history. The right has always emerged supreme when destabilisation and insecurity prevail. "
David Blunkett
Politics
History
Insecurity
" As education and employment secretary in 1997, I inherited hundreds of schools where the roofs leaked, the windows rattled, and they relied entirely on outside toilets. "
David Blunkett
Outside
Employment
Education
" I love the walk although my security team weren't too sure to begin with but I was anxious to be able to lead a near normal life. Whilst walking I do get the chance to meet people and keep in touch. "
David Blunkett
Walk
Team
People
" I've been fortunate when in government to have a car at my disposal, which takes away the nightmare of getting a taxi. "
David Blunkett
Government
Car
Been
" I am nothing if not a loyalist. After 46 years in the Labour party, I've grown weary of the cry: 'If only we had a new, shining, revamped leader, all would be well.' "
David Blunkett
Cry
Party
Nothing
" I should have been a Trappist monk. "
David Blunkett
Monk
Should
Been
" If surveillance infiltrates our homes and personal relationships, that is a gross breach of our human and civil rights. "
David Blunkett
Relationships
Personal
Human
" Crucially, I'd like to thank Labour party members up and down the country for sticking with us. For their active citizenship, their willingness to engage in our democracy, and for being there at the cutting edge of making our democracy work. "
David Blunkett
Citizenship
Democracy
Work
" There are some really good experiments with the youth offending service, joining up youth offending teams with the youth justice board, and good local authority and primary care trusts working together. "
David Blunkett
Working Together
Justice
Service
" What is it that unites, on the left of British politics, George Orwell, Billy Bragg, Gordon Brown and myself? An understanding that identity and a sense of belonging need to be linked to our commitment to nationhood and a modern form of patriotism. "
David Blunkett
Politics
Identity
Patriotism
" Politics is about the participation and engagement of the wider citizenry - to miss that point would doom us to irrelevance. "
David Blunkett
Point
Miss
Us
" And we think that our citizens and yours would be very angry if they thought that we hadn't taken every possible step for prevention and then for joint action in the likelihood of those who threaten our lives and our well- being, taking action at the same time. "
David Blunkett
Step
Angry
Think
" Faith in technocrats over politicians is not a trend from which Britain is exempt. "
David Blunkett
Faith
Trend
Which
" The democratic state can sometimes abuse its power as much as those who seek to destroy it abuse fundamental rights and democratic practices. "
David Blunkett
Abuse
Rights
Destroy
" Let's not allow the voice of the people to be overwhelmed by the siren song of those who opposed regulation, who demanded that government should stand aside and let finance and business run the show. "
David Blunkett
People
Business
Government
" Throughout my political life, I've not been a stranger to controversy. "
David Blunkett
Political
Stranger
Life
" We need to build on what we know works - local oversight of schools to keep a check on performance, timely interventions in schools to support those at risk of failing, and partnerships between schools to help each one to improve. "
David Blunkett
Support
Partnerships
Performance
" Changes to parliamentary procedure won't transform the lives of the people whom I represent. Decentralising, devolving decision-making and renewing civil society will. "
David Blunkett
Civil
People
Society
" I was affected by the harshness of government, the reality of 16-hour days, and the pressures of modern communications. "
David Blunkett
Modern
Days
Reality
" We have a media that presents every politician as being as bad as the next. There is no distinguishing between one good idea or another; no explanation of why constitutional change should be uppermost in the minds of the people I represent. "
David Blunkett
Media
Minds
Bad
" Being an MP is not a desperately hard life, like going down the pit or working in the steelworks - with which I am all too familiar, having been brought up in the city of Sheffield; and it certainly isn't badly paid compared with any of my constituents. "
David Blunkett
City
Working
Life
" If, in the name of liberty, we allow individuals to act in a way that damages the wellbeing of the whole, it will inevitably mean the breakdown of mutuality, thereby changing the very nature of our society. "
David Blunkett
Name
Nature
Society
" It is certainly true that as we grow older, our need for healthcare also grows. It is also true that those who have lived their lives in the most difficult circumstances and experienced the most exhausting and challenging work places need healthcare the most. "
David Blunkett
Healthcare
Need
True
" Judy, we think that since the 11th of September, 2001, we've faced a similar heightened threat level. And we've been enhancing both the exchange of intelligence and security information and the assessment of that information, because that's the crucial element. "
David Blunkett
Information
Think
Level
" In primary schools, I set two main objectives - to cut infant class sizes and improve literacy and numeracy. "
David Blunkett
Class
Sizes
Literacy
" Speaking for the nation as a whole entails understanding and feeling the pain, as well as understanding the aspiration of the different cultural, social and political make-up of the nation. "
David Blunkett
Feeling
Pain
Understanding
" If I pleaded guilty to a mistake while I was home secretary, it wasn't that I didn't get tough - my God, I put immigration and security officials on French soil for the first time. "
David Blunkett
God
Time
Tough
" Parents don't believe that lifting life-chances in one school means reducing them in another. "
David Blunkett
Believe
Parents
Them
" We've got to get back to old-fashioned politics that's in touch with the people we seek to represent and to avoid self-inflicted wounds. "
David Blunkett
Got
Politics
People
" Strengthening our identity is one way of reinforcing people's confidence and sense of citizenship and well-being. "
David Blunkett
Confidence
People
Well-Being