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Walkden Remembrance Sunday Parade

Published on November 7, 2008 in Walkden. 0 Comments

This coming Sunday, November 9th, is Remembrance Sunday. I’ve had a few questions about the parade in Walkden so I thought I’d post the details here for information.

Details of the Remembrance Parade and Service in Walkden are as follows:

Assembly is 9.30am at the Royal British Legion HQ, Wilfred Road, Walkden. Service in St. Paul’s Church, Manchester Road at 10.00 am followed by wreath laying at the Cenotaph in Parr Fold Park at 11.00 am.

There are parades and services across the City on Sunday. You can find more information about Remembrance Sunday across the City of Salford on the Council website.

Salford Pink Rink Numbers Don’t Add Up

Published on November 6, 2008 in Salford. 36 Comments

Some local residents may already have seen the coverage in today’s Advertiser and Manchester Evening News about last year’s Pink Ice Rink fiasco. The operators North West Funfairs haven’t paid a £65000 bill to the Council and yet have been hired again for Bonfire Night at Buile Hill Park and given five years to repay the money.

Even more scandalous is the proposed cost of bringing the Pink Rink back for 2008. This was approved by Council Leader John Merry at his briefing on Monday, and the cost to the local taxpayer is obscene.

The total cost of bringing the Pink Rink back to Salford Civic Centre is a staggering £185087. The report suggests that this can be partly offset by sponsorship (£28000) and ticket sales (£37000) which leaves a shortfall of £119587 which will need to be picked up by the Council taxpayer.

In addition, the £28000 sponsorship money includes a pledge of £10000 from Urban Vision which is partly owned by the Council; the Council is effectively sponsoring itself which seems absolutely ludicrous. It’s even more unbelievable when Urban Vision reported a huge deficit in their budget to the Budget Scrutiny Committee only yesterday.

Councillor Merry also in the process of seeking sponsorship from Salix Homes which is 100% owned by Salford City Council. The other agreed sponsors are the Primary Care Trust and Greater Manchester Police Authority so the entirely of the £28000 sponsorship will be picked up by the taxpayer one way or another.

So between the budget shortfall and the “sponsorship” the total cost to the Salford taxpayer of the ice rink will be £147587 which is an obscene amount of money. I’ve no objection in principle to the ice rink but the costs would seem to far outweigh the benefits.

Hazel Blears On Blogging 2

Published on November 6, 2008 in National Comment and Salford. 0 Comments

I’ve just been struck by the irony of Hazel Blears criticising blogging when her own District Labour Party have, um, a WordPress blog. Seems the list of Blears hypocrisy in my previous post was far from complete!

Of course, as I’ve pointed out before the Salford Labour website hasn’t actually been updated since June 23rd (136 days and counting) so that’s another fine example of Hazel’s community engagement! What a prize hypocrite she is - poor show.

Hazel Blears On Blogging

Published on November 6, 2008 in National Comment and Salford. 1 Comment

I started writing this post with the intention of responding to the daft comments Salford MP Hazel Blears has made about blogging, but truth be told I’m still dumbstruck by the sheer gall of it that I’m not entirely sure what to say.

This is the same Hazel Blears who supported the closure of Hope Hospital Maternity Unit in Parliament while claiming to oppose it on the streets of Salford. This is the same Hazel Blears who voted in favour of closing Post Offices in Parliament but protested against their closure to local residents in her constituency. This is the same Hazel Blears who lectures on the lack of ethnic minority representation in local government despite her own CLP having an absymal track record. This is the same Hazel Blears who tries to take the moral high ground but sends her minions out to play childish stunts on other politicians. This is the same Hazel Blears who lectures us on political cynicism and yet patronising tries to bribe her own voters with doughnuts.

Hazel, you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. For someone with your track record to be getting on a high horse about encouraging cynicism is breathtaking hypocrisy of the very highest order.

This website isn’t perfect - far from it - but I hope that it manages to inform and engage local residents in Walkden and across Salford in the political process. I hope it gives the local community some of the information which will allow local people to actually make a difference in their area. Sure, I make comments on national issues and I don’t shy away from making critical posts - like this one - when I feel they are justified, but on the whole blogs like this one are here to engage the public with the political process, not to detach them from it.

UPDATE: Cllr Steve Cooke has made an excellent post on the same subject.

Almost All Over

Published on November 5, 2008 in Miscellaneous. 3 Comments

Well, it’s 3.15am and barring a spectacular collapse that even Devon Loch couldn’t conceive it looks like Barack Obama will become the next President of the United States of America. It’s been interesting to watch all the events unfold and I think I’m going to stay up until Obama hits the magic 270. Not sure I’ve got the energy left to keep blogging - it’s been a long day all round - so I shall bid any readers who have made it up this late farewell for the night and I’ll update at some point after the sun comes up!

Indecision 2008

Published on November 4, 2008 in Miscellaneous. 1 Comment

If you get bored of the mainstream coverage tonight, Comedy Central’s Indecision 2008 blog comes highly recommended. Currently staying out of a friendly argument about whether to watch CNN or Sky News…

Election Night Blog 1

Published on November 4, 2008 in Miscellaneous. 0 Comments

Greetings from the Manchester Conservatives election night HQ, live from the Green Quarter!

A quick straw poll reveals that those present are fairly evenly split in terms of whom they want to win - 5 McCain supporters, 4 Obama backers (including me) and 1 who isn’t really that bothered either way.

I’ll try to make a couple of updates through the night but no promises. David Ottewell is holding the fort for Manchester bloggers and is live blogging through the night.

If I Had A Vote Today, It Would Be For Obama

Published on November 4, 2008 in Miscellaneous and National Comment. 1 Comment

Earlier in the year, I spent a weekend in the east end of Glasgow campaigning for Davena Rankin in the Glasgow East by-election. I’ve tried to get to all the by-elections - it’s a good chance to see how politics affects local communities in different parts of the country - but unfortunately Thursday’s by-election in Glenrothes has been a journey too far and I’ve just not had the time to spend a weekend there. I wish our candidate Maurice Golden all the best for a good result.

Of course with the greatest respect to all the candidates in Fife in what is a genuinely important by-election, the eyes of the world will not be on Glenrothes this week but rather across the Atlantic as the United States of America chooses a new President. I don’t of course have a vote, and my opinion rightly counts for nowt in a US election, but if I was given the opportunity to cast a ballot in today’s Presidential election it would be for Barack Obama.

I don’t believe you can transpose British politicians into the US system and I certainly don’t subscribe to the view that as the right-of-centre grouping in British politics Conservatives should find a natural home in the Republican Party. Indeed I find I have little in common with what seems from afar to be a pork-barrelling, big spending, socially conservative Republican Party. I would have preferred Kerry in 2004 and Gore in 2000 and I prefer Obama here in 2008.

Of course, the important thing from a British perspective is that our Government is able to working constructively with whoever gets sworn into the White House on inauguration day in January. I am sure that Britain will work well with either candidate - although Sarah Palin leaves me cold - but that won’t stop me raising a glass to Barack Obama if he can pull off a historic victory today.

Scrutiny Make The Right Decision

Published on November 3, 2008 in Salford. 2 Comments

Good news for Council taxpayers this afternoon - as I flagged up earlier today, the Strategy & Regeneration Scrutiny Committee voted overwhelmingly to reject the Leader’s decision to massively increase spending on the Council’s in-house magazine LIFE In Salford.

Documents made available during the call-in process also revealed that the total proposed cost of the expanded magazine will not be £174804 as reported by the Council but actually far higher - the published costs did not include any provision for staffing. Presumably Councillor Merry thinks that the magazine articles commission and write themselves!

I’m really pleased that the Scrutiny Committee has taken the decision to refer this bad decision back to the Leader for him to reconsider. If he is not prepared to change his mind then the matter is likely to be debated at Full Council.

Magazine Call-In Upheld

Published on November 3, 2008 in Salford. 0 Comments

The Strategy & Regeneration Scrutiny Committee have upheld the call-in on the decision to massively increase spending on LIFE In Salford magazine. This means that the decision has been sent back to the Council Leader for reconsideration. Good news - more later.