#heavy on the 'illegal protests with no plan--only a time and location--are to be heavily scrutinized'

[tqtheater]

Recent editorials from Texas newspapers

Here are excerpts from recent editorials in Texas newspapers:

San Antonio Express-News. March 26, 2018.

Downtown San Antonio is a jewel, and a recent federal historic designation should help keep it that way.

Here’s the news: The National Park Service has designated downtown as a federal historic district. The district includes more than 200 buildings and properties, including 37 already listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Never miss a local story.

Sign up today for unlimited digital access to our website, apps, the digital newspaper and more.

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Here’s what it means: Properties in the district are eligible for federal tax credits equal to 45 percent of renovation costs. That’s a huge financial benefit for restoring and maintaining significant history in our community. Think of the 2015 renovation of the St. Anthony Hotel as a good example of what’s possible. But this designation creates much-needed continuity.

We must admit to occasional walks across the district on brilliant and sunny days, pausing to admire the stunning details of the Scottish Rite Cathedral, replica of a Greek temple; the ornate details in the facades of the Southwestern Bell Building and the Emily Morgan Hotel; and many other displays of architectural inspiration.

Downtown San Antonio is packed with wondrous architecture.

When we talk about downtown, the focus is often on the new — development at The Pearl or in Southtown; revival of the San Pedro Creek; the symbolic shimmer of the new Frost Bank Tower; the tension created with new high-end housing and an obvious need for affordability.

But this designation, thanks to the work of the city’s Office of Historic Preservation, will help preserve our rich and layered architectural history. As the city continues to move forward, its residents will always be able to look back.

___

Houston Chronicle. March 26, 2018.

Those pesky teachers are at it again.

First they balk at the idea of packing heat in their classrooms. Now they have the audacity to encourage each other to vote.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton apparently has some time on his hands, even though he’s fighting security fraud charges that could send him to prison for the rest of his life. His office has launched a fishing expedition against school administrators he suspects of "illegal electioneering."

The Texas Tribune reports the AG’s office sent open records requests to more than a dozen school districts, demanding copies of communications about voting in Texas primaries. Some of those districts also got slapped with cease and desist letters telling them to stop using taxpayer money to advocate for political candidates.

What we have here is the latest salvo in a battle between right-wing activists and school administrators encouraging teachers to vote. Educators across Texas are justifiably upset with Republican elected officials who’ve slashed school funding and failed to fix our broken school finance system. So anything that drives more teachers to the polls presumably would hurt GOP candidates on the ballot.

That’s what prompted the influential conservative group Empower Texans to launch a social media campaign encouraging teachers to snitch on educators engaging in electioneering. That’s also what led state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, to ask for an attorney general’s opinion saying that school districts shouldn’t incentivize voting by driving students and teachers to polling places.

No doubt a couple of administrators have stepped over the line. One superintendent posted a video encouraging teachers "to let the Texas Legislature know you’ve had enough." In at least two other districts, educators wrote questionable comments on official social media accounts; they didn’t name any politicians’ names, but they left no doubt they weren’t very happy with elected officials who’ve been cutting funding for public education.

Still, those examples don’t justify the attorney general’s office wasting a lot of time and energy trolling for superintendents and principals urging teachers to cast ballots. And let’s face it, there’s no doubt this heavy-handed action will serve the partisan purpose of discouraging school administrators from engaging in legitimate get-out-the-vote efforts.

This is the sort of behavior that threatens to stigmatize Texas Republicans as enemies of public education. Unless it wants to alienate a generation of Texas parents, the GOP doesn’t want to get stuck with that brand.

Our attorney general has more important job duties. This partisan battle against public school educators needs to come to an end.

___

The Dallas Morning News. March 26, 2018.

After a deadly house explosion in northwest Dallas, Atmos Energy is facing two substantial repair jobs: Not only must it replace problematic pipes carrying natural gas but it also must improve communication lines with all its consumers.

Twelve-year-old Linda "Michellita" Rogers died Feb. 23 when her home was blown off its foundation. Since that tragedy, we’ve asked many questions of Atmos officials — on behalf of North Texas residents — regarding the safety of natural gas service.

Assurances from Atmos lean heavily on the several billion dollars it has invested in infrastructure since 2005 and its plans to spend more. Company executives also point to the safety regulations under which they operate and the training of field personnel.

Yet it’s understandable if residents don’t feel completely at ease, especially given Dallas Morning News investigative reporting that exposed new concerns.

Atmos officials who met with us last week were adamant that the company had no way to know the danger the Midway Hollow neighborhood potentially faced. They brought with them a consultant with expertise in civil engineering and geology who explained how heavy rains and unique soil composition created a "sudden and unexplainable" problem.

But in a preliminary report Friday, the National Transportation Safety Board said Atmos became aware of gas leaks in the neighborhood Jan. 1 and had made various repairs.

Records obtained by The News show that at least one emergency repair was ordered in January after Atmos found a leak in the alley behind Linda Rogers’ home. The company says that problem, which it described as non-hazardous, was repaired by Jan. 29. Additionally, gas-related house fires were reported nearby on Feb. 21 and 22.

Among The News’ other findings is that Atmos can take weeks or even months to fully repair the most dangerous types of gas leaks. Company leaders insist they take action immediately to eliminate any potential danger.

Atmos says it wants to be more open with customers and, as part of that effort, released a map last week that generally shows where steel, cast iron and plastic pipelines are located in Dallas.

The company says it has replaced 400 miles of cast iron pipes — generally the oldest in the system — in North Texas and plans to replace the remaining 400 miles.

While plastic pipes are the preferred choice, Atmos maintains the steel ones are safe. Yet in 2010 the Texas Railroad Commission considered requiring gas utilities to replace all steel lines following several North Texas explosions.

When asked about the decades-long timeline for replacing steel pipes, here was Atmos’ response: "Is it fast enough?" CEO Michael Haefner said. "That’s a good debate to have."

Answers like that are unnerving. As Atmos finishes the replacement of the entire gas distribution system in Midway Hollow, it needs to dig deeper to determine how best to restore consumer confidence.

Perhaps that’s a full accounting on its website of work being performed throughout the system or better explanations of what technicians finds during service calls. But giving customers the full facts is the next step in Atmos’ pledge for greater transparency and improved communication.

___

Amarillo Globe-News. March 27, 2018.

Amarillo was part of the #marchforourlives event Saturday, a nationally organized demonstration/protest (depending on perspective) in support of increased gun control measures following a mass shooting at a high school in Florida.

Here is what Nell Newton, a minister at Amarillo Unitarian Universalist Fellowship who participated in Amarillo’s march, had to say regarding the event, "I wanted to support our youth because our youth are really seeing that things are not safe. Our youth are wondering what happened? Why did the adults not work to keep them safe?" (Amarillo takes part in the national conversation, March 24, amarillo.com.)

It is a valid question — why did the adults not work the keep kids safe?

This is a question that has many answers — if the question is looked at logically and not from a one-sided perspective.

For example, more gun laws and regulations will not change the fact that school administrators and officials failed to adequately address or respond to the myriad of problems and issues displayed by the shooter, at least in the case of the aforementioned Florida school shooting.

Syndicated columnist Ann Coulter has detailed mistakes made by school administration, most recently in a column in Amarillo Globe-News. (Coulter: Make Dems run on ‘school to prison pipeline’, March 19, amarillo.com.) We doubt many of the young people who participated in a #marchforourlives event (especially in Amarillo) are aware of this failure by the school, especially since many in national media have ignored these facts because they do not fit the gun control agenda.

And the constant blame of the National Rifle Association is tiresome and illogical.

According to www.opensecrets.org, the NRA ranked 154th out of 3,798 entities in 2016 in terms of money spent on lobbying, and No. 490 of 18,910 in contributions.

Follow the money — the political influence of the NRA is overrated, which is supported by the numbers, if one bothers to look.

Are some politicians fervently in favor of the Second Amendment? Yes, but this fact has more to do with politicians doing what is necessary to reflect what the voters back home want and support rather than a special interest group which ranked 490th in terms of contributions in 2016.

Young people need to understand that the gun used to commit death and carnage is often the final step in a descent into crime, evil and insanity – a fall that far too often can and should be noticed before a person legally or illegally obtains a gun.

___

Victoria Advocate. March 27, 2018.

The Victoria city and county officials have released a copy of the 929-page emergency plan.

The plan is designed to be the official handbook of how to be prepared for and respond to emergencies ranging from floods to hazardous material spills to nuclear cite crisis and natural disasters such as hurricanes.

The plan has been held so close to the vest of select officials for many years that even elected officials were not privy to the information until recently when city Councilmember Jeff Bauknight asked for a copy of the plan so he could have informed answers when the public needed information.

The Advocate also asked for a copy of the plan in early December, but was told no because it contained confidential material. But after learning other counties have posted their plans online, local officials changed their minds and agreed to release it after information they deemed confidential was redacted.

The plan is on the website now for anyone to read, the way it should have been all along.

Releasing the emergency plan is the right step. At the very least, the public can now get more informed, involved and better prepared.

It will allow the public an opportunity to volunteer to be a part of the committees the plan calls for to be set up prior to disasters.

It will help all in city and county governments be prepared for the next disaster when it happens.

We are doubtful many will take the time to read all 929 pages of the plan. To say it is not light reading is fairly accurate. But it is divided into sections that allow the public to pick sections that interest them.

Unfortunately at this time the plan is only a document online and not interactive and not searchable by topic. It does contain a two-page table of contents at the beginning of the plan.

As the emergency management officials begin working on the new plan, it is important for all to include lessons learned from Hurricane Harvey and other disasters so preparation for the recovery is already in place before the disaster.

A good example of the city doing this was pre-contracting for debris removal, which meant the contractor was in town soon after it was safe for workers to begin to clear the debris.

This also locked in the city on a set cost and expectations for the contractor, cutting out needless lost time to negotiate after the disaster.

The city is also taking the right steps now by having a consultant look at its water supply needs so it can be prepared with the right equipment to keep the water supply running to the city.

While we applaud the city for taking these steps, we question why they did not do a full damage assessment for private property. It is not credible to say the assessment was not needed because the federal disaster declaration had been granted.

This information would have greatly helped not only the city, but also nonprofits and recovery groups to know how badly the city was damaged and where the needs are for helping in the recovery.

We are also concerned that required parts of the plan were not followed. It appears the preparation for this storm was not carried out months beforehand.

Plans are developed for reasons — to be used and referred to so everyone is fully prepared when a disaster hits — not to sit on a shelf, never to be looked at until the disaster hits. Preparation takes time and energy, but if it is done properly, it will save time and energy after the disaster when time and organization are crucial.

As officials work to update this plan, hopefully this spring before the June 1 start of hurricane season, let’s hope all the planners take the past year’s experience to heart and make a plan that will work, including developing committees that will help the emergency operations be prepared and organized.

The public needs to be part of the planning as well, so we will have a better informed community that can pull together to successfully recover from a disaster no matter the level.

Source Article

The post Recent editorials from Texas newspapers appeared first on TQTHEATER.

Learn More: http://www.tqtheater.com/recent-editorials-from-texas-newspapers/

[eaglesviewart]

Recent editorials from Texas newspapers

Here are excerpts from recent editorials in Texas newspapers:

San Antonio Express-News. March 26, 2018.

Downtown San Antonio is a jewel, and a recent federal historic designation should help keep it that way.

Here’s the news: The National Park Service has designated downtown as a federal historic district. The district includes more than 200 buildings and properties, including 37 already listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Never miss a local story.

Sign up today for unlimited digital access to our website, apps, the digital newspaper and more.

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Here’s what it means: Properties in the district are eligible for federal tax credits equal to 45 percent of renovation costs. That’s a huge financial benefit for restoring and maintaining significant history in our community. Think of the 2015 renovation of the St. Anthony Hotel as a good example of what’s possible. But this designation creates much-needed continuity.

We must admit to occasional walks across the district on brilliant and sunny days, pausing to admire the stunning details of the Scottish Rite Cathedral, replica of a Greek temple; the ornate details in the facades of the Southwestern Bell Building and the Emily Morgan Hotel; and many other displays of architectural inspiration.

Downtown San Antonio is packed with wondrous architecture.

When we talk about downtown, the focus is often on the new — development at The Pearl or in Southtown; revival of the San Pedro Creek; the symbolic shimmer of the new Frost Bank Tower; the tension created with new high-end housing and an obvious need for affordability.

But this designation, thanks to the work of the city’s Office of Historic Preservation, will help preserve our rich and layered architectural history. As the city continues to move forward, its residents will always be able to look back.

___

Houston Chronicle. March 26, 2018.

Those pesky teachers are at it again.

First they balk at the idea of packing heat in their classrooms. Now they have the audacity to encourage each other to vote.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton apparently has some time on his hands, even though he’s fighting security fraud charges that could send him to prison for the rest of his life. His office has launched a fishing expedition against school administrators he suspects of "illegal electioneering."

The Texas Tribune reports the AG’s office sent open records requests to more than a dozen school districts, demanding copies of communications about voting in Texas primaries. Some of those districts also got slapped with cease and desist letters telling them to stop using taxpayer money to advocate for political candidates.

What we have here is the latest salvo in a battle between right-wing activists and school administrators encouraging teachers to vote. Educators across Texas are justifiably upset with Republican elected officials who’ve slashed school funding and failed to fix our broken school finance system. So anything that drives more teachers to the polls presumably would hurt GOP candidates on the ballot.

That’s what prompted the influential conservative group Empower Texans to launch a social media campaign encouraging teachers to snitch on educators engaging in electioneering. That’s also what led state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, to ask for an attorney general’s opinion saying that school districts shouldn’t incentivize voting by driving students and teachers to polling places.

No doubt a couple of administrators have stepped over the line. One superintendent posted a video encouraging teachers "to let the Texas Legislature know you’ve had enough." In at least two other districts, educators wrote questionable comments on official social media accounts; they didn’t name any politicians’ names, but they left no doubt they weren’t very happy with elected officials who’ve been cutting funding for public education.

Still, those examples don’t justify the attorney general’s office wasting a lot of time and energy trolling for superintendents and principals urging teachers to cast ballots. And let’s face it, there’s no doubt this heavy-handed action will serve the partisan purpose of discouraging school administrators from engaging in legitimate get-out-the-vote efforts.

This is the sort of behavior that threatens to stigmatize Texas Republicans as enemies of public education. Unless it wants to alienate a generation of Texas parents, the GOP doesn’t want to get stuck with that brand.

Our attorney general has more important job duties. This partisan battle against public school educators needs to come to an end.

___

The Dallas Morning News. March 26, 2018.

After a deadly house explosion in northwest Dallas, Atmos Energy is facing two substantial repair jobs: Not only must it replace problematic pipes carrying natural gas but it also must improve communication lines with all its consumers.

Twelve-year-old Linda "Michellita" Rogers died Feb. 23 when her home was blown off its foundation. Since that tragedy, we’ve asked many questions of Atmos officials — on behalf of North Texas residents — regarding the safety of natural gas service.

Assurances from Atmos lean heavily on the several billion dollars it has invested in infrastructure since 2005 and its plans to spend more. Company executives also point to the safety regulations under which they operate and the training of field personnel.

Yet it’s understandable if residents don’t feel completely at ease, especially given Dallas Morning News investigative reporting that exposed new concerns.

Atmos officials who met with us last week were adamant that the company had no way to know the danger the Midway Hollow neighborhood potentially faced. They brought with them a consultant with expertise in civil engineering and geology who explained how heavy rains and unique soil composition created a "sudden and unexplainable" problem.

But in a preliminary report Friday, the National Transportation Safety Board said Atmos became aware of gas leaks in the neighborhood Jan. 1 and had made various repairs.

Records obtained by The News show that at least one emergency repair was ordered in January after Atmos found a leak in the alley behind Linda Rogers’ home. The company says that problem, which it described as non-hazardous, was repaired by Jan. 29. Additionally, gas-related house fires were reported nearby on Feb. 21 and 22.

Among The News’ other findings is that Atmos can take weeks or even months to fully repair the most dangerous types of gas leaks. Company leaders insist they take action immediately to eliminate any potential danger.

Atmos says it wants to be more open with customers and, as part of that effort, released a map last week that generally shows where steel, cast iron and plastic pipelines are located in Dallas.

The company says it has replaced 400 miles of cast iron pipes — generally the oldest in the system — in North Texas and plans to replace the remaining 400 miles.

While plastic pipes are the preferred choice, Atmos maintains the steel ones are safe. Yet in 2010 the Texas Railroad Commission considered requiring gas utilities to replace all steel lines following several North Texas explosions.

When asked about the decades-long timeline for replacing steel pipes, here was Atmos’ response: "Is it fast enough?" CEO Michael Haefner said. "That’s a good debate to have."

Answers like that are unnerving. As Atmos finishes the replacement of the entire gas distribution system in Midway Hollow, it needs to dig deeper to determine how best to restore consumer confidence.

Perhaps that’s a full accounting on its website of work being performed throughout the system or better explanations of what technicians finds during service calls. But giving customers the full facts is the next step in Atmos’ pledge for greater transparency and improved communication.

___

Amarillo Globe-News. March 27, 2018.

Amarillo was part of the #marchforourlives event Saturday, a nationally organized demonstration/protest (depending on perspective) in support of increased gun control measures following a mass shooting at a high school in Florida.

Here is what Nell Newton, a minister at Amarillo Unitarian Universalist Fellowship who participated in Amarillo’s march, had to say regarding the event, "I wanted to support our youth because our youth are really seeing that things are not safe. Our youth are wondering what happened? Why did the adults not work to keep them safe?" (Amarillo takes part in the national conversation, March 24, amarillo.com.)

It is a valid question — why did the adults not work the keep kids safe?

This is a question that has many answers — if the question is looked at logically and not from a one-sided perspective.

For example, more gun laws and regulations will not change the fact that school administrators and officials failed to adequately address or respond to the myriad of problems and issues displayed by the shooter, at least in the case of the aforementioned Florida school shooting.

Syndicated columnist Ann Coulter has detailed mistakes made by school administration, most recently in a column in Amarillo Globe-News. (Coulter: Make Dems run on ‘school to prison pipeline’, March 19, amarillo.com.) We doubt many of the young people who participated in a #marchforourlives event (especially in Amarillo) are aware of this failure by the school, especially since many in national media have ignored these facts because they do not fit the gun control agenda.

And the constant blame of the National Rifle Association is tiresome and illogical.

According to www.opensecrets.org, the NRA ranked 154th out of 3,798 entities in 2016 in terms of money spent on lobbying, and No. 490 of 18,910 in contributions.

Follow the money — the political influence of the NRA is overrated, which is supported by the numbers, if one bothers to look.

Are some politicians fervently in favor of the Second Amendment? Yes, but this fact has more to do with politicians doing what is necessary to reflect what the voters back home want and support rather than a special interest group which ranked 490th in terms of contributions in 2016.

Young people need to understand that the gun used to commit death and carnage is often the final step in a descent into crime, evil and insanity – a fall that far too often can and should be noticed before a person legally or illegally obtains a gun.

___

Victoria Advocate. March 27, 2018.

The Victoria city and county officials have released a copy of the 929-page emergency plan.

The plan is designed to be the official handbook of how to be prepared for and respond to emergencies ranging from floods to hazardous material spills to nuclear cite crisis and natural disasters such as hurricanes.

The plan has been held so close to the vest of select officials for many years that even elected officials were not privy to the information until recently when city Councilmember Jeff Bauknight asked for a copy of the plan so he could have informed answers when the public needed information.

The Advocate also asked for a copy of the plan in early December, but was told no because it contained confidential material. But after learning other counties have posted their plans online, local officials changed their minds and agreed to release it after information they deemed confidential was redacted.

The plan is on the website now for anyone to read, the way it should have been all along.

Releasing the emergency plan is the right step. At the very least, the public can now get more informed, involved and better prepared.

It will allow the public an opportunity to volunteer to be a part of the committees the plan calls for to be set up prior to disasters.

It will help all in city and county governments be prepared for the next disaster when it happens.

We are doubtful many will take the time to read all 929 pages of the plan. To say it is not light reading is fairly accurate. But it is divided into sections that allow the public to pick sections that interest them.

Unfortunately at this time the plan is only a document online and not interactive and not searchable by topic. It does contain a two-page table of contents at the beginning of the plan.

As the emergency management officials begin working on the new plan, it is important for all to include lessons learned from Hurricane Harvey and other disasters so preparation for the recovery is already in place before the disaster.

A good example of the city doing this was pre-contracting for debris removal, which meant the contractor was in town soon after it was safe for workers to begin to clear the debris.

This also locked in the city on a set cost and expectations for the contractor, cutting out needless lost time to negotiate after the disaster.

The city is also taking the right steps now by having a consultant look at its water supply needs so it can be prepared with the right equipment to keep the water supply running to the city.

While we applaud the city for taking these steps, we question why they did not do a full damage assessment for private property. It is not credible to say the assessment was not needed because the federal disaster declaration had been granted.

This information would have greatly helped not only the city, but also nonprofits and recovery groups to know how badly the city was damaged and where the needs are for helping in the recovery.

We are also concerned that required parts of the plan were not followed. It appears the preparation for this storm was not carried out months beforehand.

Plans are developed for reasons — to be used and referred to so everyone is fully prepared when a disaster hits — not to sit on a shelf, never to be looked at until the disaster hits. Preparation takes time and energy, but if it is done properly, it will save time and energy after the disaster when time and organization are crucial.

As officials work to update this plan, hopefully this spring before the June 1 start of hurricane season, let’s hope all the planners take the past year’s experience to heart and make a plan that will work, including developing committees that will help the emergency operations be prepared and organized.

The public needs to be part of the planning as well, so we will have a better informed community that can pull together to successfully recover from a disaster no matter the level.

Source Article

Read More At: http://www.eaglesviewart.com/recent-editorials-from-texas-newspapers/

[dontvoteconservative]

Episode 5: Wrong, Unstable Leadership

The Conservatives have thus far attempted to make the upcoming election on June 8th about one thing: leadership (perhaps you’ve noticed their new slogan?). When I began this blog it was because I wanted to stress that there were far more numerous issues at stake, domestically and otherwise, including the Tories’ record on the economy, education, the environment and civil rights. I do have further topics to explore, but since Theresa May seems to regard leadership as the only factor of this election (and I will concede it is one factor), it seems only fair to scrutinise her own.

The problem with a term like ‘leadership’ is that it’s incredibly vague; there are tons of different and often contradictory definitions. For me, it mostly entails setting a good example for others to follow, being the change you want to see, what you might call leading from the front; Martin Luther King spearheaded nonviolent protest in 1960s America, or for a more contemporary example, sporting captains such as Martin Johnson, Steven Gerrard and Michael Vaughan were lauded for their ability to lead by example and improve the performance of those around them through their determination and ability. That’s what I’ll be keeping in mind as I look at the record of May over the last year.

In Theresa May’s inaugural address as Prime Minister in July 2016, she rattled off a list of promises to the UK public. The whole thing is worth reading, but can roughly be summed up by the following:

‘The government I lead will be driven not by the interests of the privileged few, but by yours….When it comes to taxes, we’ll prioritise not the wealthy, but you. When it comes to opportunity, we won’t entrench the advantages of the fortunate few, we will do everything we can to help anybody, whatever your background, to go as far as your talents will take you’

Nothing to contend with there, most people would hopefully agree. But how have actions before and since stacked up against those pledges, and has May set that example for her ministers, MPs and the public to follow?

One of May’s flagship policies has been the return of widespread grammar schools, announcing in September 2016 that ‘This is about being unapologetic for our belief in social mobility and making this country a true meritocracy – a country that works for everyone’. Despite this, as I mentioned in my education blog, grammar schools have been widely and repeatedly shown to decrease social mobility, not the opposite as claimed. The Institute for Fiscal Studies’ report concluded (emphasis mine):

‘Grammar schools therefore seem to offer an opportunity to improve and stretch the brightest pupils, but seem likely to come at the cost of increasing inequality’

In addition to the grammars themselves creating greater inequality, it also found that children from wealthier families would be more likely to attend them. This is hardly surprising, as these families have the means to fund private tuition, often specifically aimed at passing the entrance exam. Despite May’s promise upon becoming PM, she immediately took the chance to introduce proposals that would ‘entrench the advantages of the fortunate few’.

And so onto taxes. In May’s first spring budget in March 2017, Chancellor Philip Hammond announced that National Insurance contributions would be increasing for the self-employed, an announcement that was met with derision and heavy criticism, in view of the 2015 manifesto commitment that the Conservatives would do no such thing. It was a move apparently even ridiculed by David Cameron, and the Tories were forced to abandon the plans as a result of the opposition both from the public and the opposition in the House of Commons.

By comparison, in the same budget, Hammond announced reductions in corporation tax, which had already decreased by 28% to 20% under his predecessor, George Osborne. Corporation tax is now set to drop to 17% by 2020, even though a PWC poll showed that businesses themselves were concerned about the effects of increasingly lower corporation tax on public trust. There also appeared to be no appetite to reverse the cuts to capital gains tax introduced under Cameron and Osborne in 2016, or in VAT introduced in 2010. Once again, this seemed in stark contrast to May’s promise that ‘when it comes to taxes, we’ll prioritise not the wealthy, but you’. 

By my own definition, I think the above illustrates a lack of leadership. But perhaps leadership is a matter of strength, of being willing to face challenges head on, or have difficult conversations. Yet May would not publicly speak out against Donald Trump’s infamous and illegal ‘travel ban’. Nor would she, on a visit to Saudi Arabia, condemn the human rights abuses being committed in Yemen; abuses which the UK has been complicit in through their continued arms sales to the Saudis.

The leaders of opposition parties spoke directly and candidly, with Jeremy Corbyn writing to Theresa May asking her to withdraw the invitation of a state visit to Donald Trump until the travel ban was lifted. Can’t the supposed leader of our nation bring herself to say that these things are wrong?

But maybe leadership is a question of expertise and competence? The recent leaked account of May’s dinner with Jean-Claude Juncker at Downing Street was terrifying, the extent of the Prime Minister’s cluelessness stripped bare, with even basic concepts about the future of Britain’s partnership with the EU having to be explained to May, who ‘seemed surprised’. She has also developed a reputation of avoiding questions whether at PMQs, in TV interviews, or from the public. The following is a genuine exchange from Prime Minister’s Questions; would somebody with expertise and competence (or indeed, the support of any experts) answer this way?

Corbyn: I wonder if it is possible for her this morning, within the quiet confines of this House, to name any educational experts who back her proposals on new grammar schools and more selection?

May:I am glad that the right hon. Gentleman has raised the issue of education, because it enables me to point out that over the past six years, we have seen 1.4 million more children in good or outstanding schools. That is because of the changes that this Government introduced: free schools and academies, head teachers being put in charge of schools, and more choice for parents. I note that the right hon. Gentleman has opposed all those changes.

Finally, surely it is true that great leaders do not seek to shut down criticism or dissent, or avoid scrutiny; we all know what kinds of leaders do that, don’t we? And yet, Theresa May’s election campaign thus far has been characterised above all by being heavily stage managed, protected and away from public or opposition questions. I don’t need to lean on the refusal to engage in televised debates against other party leaders, which the Conservatives have called a waste of time; I don’t remember the same level of opposition to them when David Cameron (who for all his faults could think on his feet, had tremendous powers of recall and didn’t shy away from public appearances) participated in them.

Every public appearance made by May ‘on the road’ appears to be orchestrated, with Tory councillors and activists bussed in to provide photos of adoring crowds. Tales of local press being banned from press conferences, meetings being held in obscure locations away from the public gaze, members of the public being told not to ask critical questions, and Theresa May avoiding the public at all costs have been commonplace (the campaign began just two weeks ago!) and are extremely sinister. May’s excuse for avoiding televised debates was that she preferred to get out and meet voters – outside of Tory diehards, it appears that she has spent most of her time hiding from them.

There is an option I’ve left out; that leadership is an ability to get others to follow you. Theresa May has perhaps done this; I’ll certainly concede that the Tories (assisted by the largely right wing press) are good at keeping their internal spats lower key, by comparison to Labour at least. But we know that many Tory MPs, including Theresa May herself, were vocal about the need for the UK to stay within the EU. And while the party may be mostly presenting a united front in the wake of the referendum, content to let Labour air their laundry publicly, it seems self evident that the same pro/anti EU divide that existed before June 2016 must still exist now; the parameters of that disagreement have simply shifted.

Besides which, if that is the definition, then I don’t think it can be called a good thing in and of itself. Many leaders, from Caesar to Stalin to Kennedy to Blair, have been able to command loyalty and the support of millions of followers; the ways they do this, and the things they use that position for, vary. Is there much evidence that May intends to use this for the betterment of the majority of the UK people, or of a tiny minority? Will she encourage openness and scrutiny, or will she (and her friends in the press like Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre) try to suppress any dissenting opinion, by referring to such dissidents as ‘saboteurs’ to be 'crushed’, or 'enemies of the people’, for example?

What defines leadership is ultimately open to debate; perhaps it would help if May herself elaborated on what it means to her. But to Theresa May, it can’t mean trustworthiness, or an example to be set and followed. It can’t mean courageously challenging our allies as well as our enemies on issues of ethics. It can’t mean having a high level of expertise and comprehension of the challenges faced by the nation. And it can’t mean welcoming scrutiny and defending her record and decisions to the general public and the opposition. If any, some, or all of those things are important to you in the leader of your country, don’t vote Conservative. #dvc