They are afraid even to attend a public meeting with anybody standing up for St. George’s and instead send minions on their behalf because they can’t handle the real world outside the council chamber. That’s the sort of spineless behaviour that justifies the low esteem in which they are held by large swathes of the ordinary Salford populace.

Though the Tories are presently out of power in Salford it is clear that only they are a beacon of hope, a ray of light breaking through the darkness of the Labour shroud which has benighted and impoverished the city for so long. I look forward to the day when Lindley, not Merry, will lead Salford Council and mark my words that day will come, for Labour’s days of dominance are numbered and will diminish henceforth with each passing election.

Even in Salford - despite the ‘apathy’ - there comes a time when the people rise up and say “Enough is Enough!” I believe in miracles, I know they happen every day; I will join with many to applaud the final demise of the Labour beast on the appointed day when the Conservative Party receives from the electorate the keys to the city, and the previous stewards are dismissed to depart in shameful disarray for the wilderness assigned them.