On Thursday there is a by-election for an IW Council vacancy in the Mount Joy ward in Newport. The Labour candidate STEVE COOPER is a resident of Ventnor, but if that is important to you you should also know that he works in Newport at the IW College and has many connections in our town.
Island Labour didn't ask him to be our candidate because we were desperate, as theTories seem to have been judging by their campaign literature. We selected him as candidate because we know what an excellent councillor he would be for local people.
I hope that he does well on Thursday and is able to join the most effective opposition Group at County Hall.
(posted and published by Geoff Lumley on behalf of Steve Cooper, both c/o 30 Fairlee Road, Newport, IW)
23 comments:
You just don't get it do you Geoff? People have had enough of Labour. The war, the spin, the lies the economic meltdown.
This bloke should find something else to do if he wants to make a (welcome) contribution.
And they want cheesy Cameron and the rest of his Eton boys with their vacuous inanities ? You really must be totally dim and deluded. Lets see what happens at the next general election
People know that Tories have always lied, just like they do here on the island at County Hall. They also remember 1992, when the economy last melted down, or the deliberate crushing of manufacturing by the Thatcher beast in 1981-2, or the 3-day week under Heath.
And as for spin. Isn't that what cheesy Cameron started off as working for the guy out of the Addams Family who had no regrets.
Yeah, let's see what happens when Gordon has the guts to call an election. If he ever does have the balls to do it.
I must send a cheque to Labour, then I can get whatever I want. Passports, mortgages, fag adverts on racing cars blah blah
Two words of wisdom from this Tory cretin-"blah blah". The Tory party - appropriately named after Irish bandits.
Will the Labour-supporting contributors acknowledge that the last time the Conservatives got into power they had to clear up the economic mess that Labour created (and it looks like it's going to happen again)?
Will the Conservative-supporting contributors acknowledge that the last Conservative administration made mistakes?
What I want to know is who is going to take this country and pull it back into shape? From where I sit I don't see that prospect standing a chance no matter who gets into power next.
The European venture is starting to show cracks over savings guarantees. Let's hope it collapses and, after the chaos, we can start again. Think of what we could do with the money we would save and what we could do for our own. No more impotent anger at the corrupt excesses of the European gravy train. Perhaps someone would then deal with the excesses at Westminster.
Despairing Realist.
By the way Councillor Lumley I am not a Liberal, I think politics stink, I am just so angry and in despair. I have never in my life felt like this and I blame both the main parties but I blame Blair and Brown the most, they have done more damage than all the others put together.
D.R.
Lots of sense here, sadly those who see only what they wish to see cannot change their minds.
Bring on the election, at least then we'd have hope. Let's face it they way things are with up to 2 million of us likely to be unemployed in a year from now we have little else but hope.
Good luck to Mr Cooper. With the Tories in apparent disagreement over their candidate, and Liberal councillors either absent or just silent, he could only be an improvement at County Hall.
Real Labour people will not just slink away into the night, however unpopular the government may be. Some here repeat the myths of Tory governments coming in to clear up after profligate Labour. It's just propaganda, frankly. It wasn't Labour who were behind Black Wednesday; who flogged off council housing, and the public utilities, leaving us with the profit motive governing, together with security of supply, the price of gas and electricity. Macmillan called it "selling the family silver", and it was. It isn't Labour that has been gambling on the stock market, & short selling, either.
The Daily Mail is a poor guide to political reality.
But not quite so poor as some of our anonymous contributors to this website.....
Dear Dear Robert, Its not the Tories who have saddled the country with nearly £100 BILLION in DEBT through wasteful spending (sorry INVESTMENT!) on supporting the public sector and handouts to the workshy. The NHS is still as poor as it was under the Tories despite £BILLIONS being poored into it. My wife recently had to wait three months for an EMERGENCY appointment. Even the Consultant and his nurse admitted that the system was Cr*p and getting worse! The world banks have stated that the UK is the worst placed country to deal with the economic crisis because of Gordo's incompetence as Chancellor, and now we have him (unelected) as an incompetent prime minister. If he had an B**ls he would resign, but that would stop the gravy train for the unemployable Labour MP's
Is that dear, dear Robert, or "dear dear, Robert!"?
Either way: I agree with you that spending and investment are not the same thing. I do not agree that handouts to the workshy is a fair summary of government policy, especially given the attack on incapacity benefit. Although if you think that any, all or most of them are workshy, you might just remember who pushed a lot of ex-miners, for example, on to ICB when the pits were run down, because it made the unemployment figures look better & there were no alternative jobs. Clue: it wasn't Labour.
And I did warn you about the Daily Mail, now didn't I? Not a reliable organ from which to draw sustenance.
Yes, the Blair/Brown boom was built on personal and national debt, and is now collapsing, if it hasn't collapsed. I know all too much about that, frankly, as my creditors would affirm. I do not pretend that everything in the garden is rosy - I'm not quite mad yet. All I have contended is that it's wrong to assume that governments, any governments, have that much control over economic circumstances; and I believe New Labour did pretend that it could manage capitalism better than the capitalists. Not the first time that mistake has been made and won't be the last.
If you look around the world, which doubtless you do, you'll see the whole of it is in crisis, and it stems from the US. Why? Because the US is nowadays the centre of world capitalism. What can Brown, Cameron, you or I do to correct it? Just about b. all.
Incidentally, this unelected PM stuff is a red herring (pale pink, anyway): it's something else that has happened before, because the British system elects parties to run the country not individuals. And I don't say that this is a good system, any more than I say that capitalism is a bad one just because it's prone to recurrent crisis. I just observe, that's all.
And I still think Mr Cooper will be good news on IWC.
Had you thought about starting your own blog under your own name Mr Jones?
Don't tell me that Geoff Lumley has given up, or is he just having a break, leaving you to deputise?
Perhaps you can answer a question. Leaving aside the current economic problems in the financial sector and supposing I accept your argument that Labour are the party to get us out of this mess.
The thing which worries many, if not the majority, of people is rampant immigration and the rapidly changing face of Britain.
How do you suggest Labour tackles that question? Do you think that it is something which needs urgent attention and do you think that, if it continues, there will be increasing instances of street violence from all directions?
The dole queues are lengthening and open immigration continues. Talk about shafting your own people, I bet there are still thousands of ww2 veterans still alive who feel betrayed and wonder why they bothered.
No, I haven't given up. I just don't sit around all day monitoring and responding to the comments on my blog from people who are too gutless to name themselves. I am trying to make a contribution out in the real world
I am delighted that Robert Jones is now commenting regularly under his real name, and knocking down the myths in your comments.
I would also suggest that you are a total hypocrite to suggest that he start his own blog for doing so. Why don't you set your own up then ?
Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit. Don't call me gutless, just because you can't get your own way. You have no way of knowing how much of a contribution I make in the real world, so to imply that I don't is silly and cowardly.
Am I a hypocrite for suggesting that Mr Jones starts his own blog, just because I don't? No wonder you don't see the hypocrisy within your party, the phrase 'loony left' comes to mind. Your reactions are a little extreme. Calm down or you'll make yourself ill, then there would only be one of you at County Hall (unless Mr Cooper gets lucky).
I, too, am glad that Mr Jones is contributing, not sure about the knocking down of the myths though. That's a bit of wishful thinking on your part.
By the way, still waiting for answers.
Good luck to Steve Cooper, County Hall needs a shaking up and more opposition.
How does he stand on schools reorganisation?
Like Geoff, Deborah and the rest of Island Labour he is committed to improving standards and not obsessed by systems. He would have voted AGAINST the proposed changes at the 19 March 2008 Full Council. That is what Island Labour said in 2005 and what it still says. Its called keeping your word.
We all know that David Pugh is the biggest liar and hypocrite in politics on the Island. Labour, Liberal and Conservative voters alike want to see the back of him and his cronies.
Tories or Kippers Two faced bastards with no guts. Geoff why is it when you post a topic on the local council and what genital manipulators they are the Tory hacks can only retort with inane remarks about the government.
See, no-one actually changes their opinion here. This blog is a waste of time, so bad even Geoff doesn't read it often.
Do you actually understand what a personal weblog is ? Its NOT a discussion forum for people like you to exhibit their stupidity. For that try the IW Council Forum or such like. A personal blog is a vehicle for the owner to communicate with those using the internet who are interested and perhaps sympathetic. Most don't allow free comments, Geoff does. I would suggest to him that he withdraws that to stop your inane and tiresome interventions. Geoff's a Labour councillor. Do you seriously expect him to convert to supporting the Tories here ? If you so you are more ignorant that you appear to be.
Thank you JR. Prat.
No time at present for blogging, prefer to infest other people's. And immigration is an old chestnut in this economic context: I know the IW is only a tiny part of the whole country, but we've had high unemployment and low wages for decades, without any significant immigration, unless you count the retired. If there are jobs we won't do, people will come who will do them; it's always been the case. I don't like divide and rule; blaming the "workshy", the "scrounger", the immigrant - the Jews? - for a country's problems is, apart from anything else, daft. And there are one or two other words for it. I have a lot to do with the hospital these days; without immigrants, actively recruited from, eg, the Philipines, we should have a severe shortage of trained and competent staff.
I think the human species as a whole is overpopulating the world, but that's another debate.
Anon at 7.49: THEN GET CLLR LUMLEY TO WITHDRAW THE COMMENT FACILITY JUST STOP INDULGING IN FACILE REMARKS WHICH ARE THE EQUIVALENT OF PLAYGROUND NERRNERRNENERRNERRS.
Perhaps he doesn't want to and he prefers discussion which is sometimes less than useful to no discussion at all.
If he did withdraw it then we would know that the blog is largely to massage his ego but at least he is putting his name to it. He is at liberty to moderate comments if he so chooses.
Robert you put me to shame ! You have far more patience than I for these anonymous contributers. You are very welcome - though I don't always agree with you.
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