Manchester shows how to Keep Calm and Carry On

I spent a very happy three years in Manchester in my younger days, studying at the University. It is a marvellous, vibrant city and its residents are the sort of people you can quite easily describe as the salt of the earth.

But last night, for the third time in recent memory, Manchester was targeted by terrorists.

In December 1992, 65 people were injured when the IRA detonated two car bombs, one on Parsonage Gardens and the second on Cateaton Street. Then in 1996 the IRA detonated a 3,300 lb truck bomb on Corporation Street. The biggest bomb detonated in Great Britain since World War II,  it targeted the city's infrastructure and economy and caused devastating damage, estimated by insurers at £700 million (£1.2 billion as of 2017), injuring over 200 people.

At the time of writing, no group has claimed responsibility for the horrific suicide attack at the Manchester Arena - quite sickly aimed at young people and their parents. 22 victims were killed, including children and 59 injured.

What sort of sick ideology deliberately targets young people?

Manchester was hit hard during August and September 1940 during the Manchester Blitz of World War II. The city came through and rebuilt, and life carried on.

Again, after the Corporation Street truck bomb in 1996, that part of the city was rebuilt and once again life carried on.

Watching the news coverage from Manchester this morning, it is obvious that the city is traumatised, shaken and bloodied, but people are carrying on as normal, going about their daily business. This in itself is the best message to send to those who would seek to disrupt our way of life my means of terror - we will not be cowed, we will not change our way of life, we will keep calm, we will carry on,  YOU WILL NOT WIN.

For those who died -  

Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescant in pace.

Once More Unto The Breach

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more. "

 So our Prime Minister, Theresa May, has called  a snap General Election for Thursday 8th June. Given that the Conservative Party has, since the beginning of this year, consistently been between 15 and 20 percentage points ahead of Labour in the opinion polls (though we all remember how utterly wrong they were two years ago), most of the media and the bookies are almost certain of a Conservative landslide.

Certain sections of the media, social media and political people are excoriating Mrs May, describing her action in going to the country as "political opportunism".  I've been looking back and I certainly haven't found any record of Harold Wilson being criticised in this manner when he called the 1966 General Election in order to increase his small majority, nor again in 1974 when he called the second General Election of that year for the October.

However, as any  psephologist will tell you, the opinion polls 50 days from an election can not be relied upon, even though they historically over-rate Labour's support at that particular point in time.

Politics, and elections in particular, are funny old things, and have the habit of springing some massive surprises on everyone. Indeed, nobody was predicting a Conservative majority in 2015. For that reason, and I believe that reason alone, every single Conservative vote will have to be fought for, and I will most certainly be playing my part to ensure that the good people of Bedford and Kempston return Richard Fuller, who has been our excellent, hard-working Member of Parliament since 2010, to Westminster on June 8th.

Just in terms of conversations I have had with friends on all sides of the political compass, the country is looking for a Prime Minister who will provide the strong, stable leadership that will be needed when entering into the Brexit negotiations. A Prime Minister who is going to stick to their guns and get the best possible outcome for the country - even if that does mean walking away and reverting to WTO rules.

One does not go into any sort of negotiation having first of all played all of one's trump cards before the hand has even been dealt. Those with whom our next Prime Minister will be negotiating are all tough players and if our Prime Minister walks into the talks with one or both hands tied behind their back, you can be sure as eggs are eggs that the EU side will have the PM for breakfast, lunch and dinner, chew them up and spit them out into the middle of the English Channel.

For me, the choice is clear. There is only one person who is going to be able to conduct the Brexit negotiations and steer the country through the potentially choppy waters of the next few years - Theresa May.

A clear choice between strong, stable leadership from someone who has a mandate from the country, or Comrade Corbyn and his Coalition of Chaos where the Scots Nits are calling all the shots.

A friend said to me of Comrade Jezza the other day:

 "I wouldn't trust him to sit the right way round on a toilet seat"

and another

"I feel so sorry for the village that he's depriving of its idiot".

So, fellow Conservatives - we can't take a single vote for granted. We know that the campaign is going to be short and dirty - but we're ready.

Let's all seize the task in hand - Get Out The Vote!

Ask a stupid question... What do you get?

As the title says....

Those who know me will know that over the last few years I have been living with mental health problems.  These are not something that will go away instantly, they will be with me for the rest of my life.

Back in August this year I was finally persuaded that I needed to put in an application for Disability Living Allowance - not only on the grounds of my mental health issues, but also because I have been having mobility problems that have become increasingly worse over time.

Well, today I was visited by an "Approved Healthcare Professional" from Atos Healthcare, the company contracted to the Department for Work and Pensions to carry out a medical examination.  I have previously come across these "approved healthcare professionals" when I have had to have similar assessments for Employment and Support Allowance, and I have to admit that my opinion of them is somewhat jaded.  Those who know me closely will know exactly why.

During the course of the assessment I was asked the following questions, which form part of what is known clinically as the "mini mental state assessment" - which is normally used to assess for dementia and Alzheimers.  As far as I know, I have neither of these.. but do read on.

Question 1: Do you know what day it is?

Answer:  Yes, its Saturday 1st December.

Question 2:  Do you know who the Prime Minister is?

Answer: Yes, but unfortunately it isn't Margaret Thatcher any more.

(At this point I got looked at sideways and an eyebrow rather raised)

Question 3: Can you count backwards from 100 for me in sevens?

Answer: No, I have never been any good at mathematics, I'd need a calculator to do that.

(Eyebrow raised a little more)

Question 4: Can you spell world backwards?

Answer: W - O - R - L - D - B - A - C - K - W - A - R - D - S

Response: No, can you spell the word "World" starting from the end and working backwards.

My response I don't see why I'd need to and I don't have fecking Alzheimers, you know.

Then the pen started twitching over the box on the form and I could swear I saw the words "Possible Tourettes" written down...

Like I said, Ask a stupid question, what do you get?

Well.... its taken a while!

But in about ten days time I will be travelling across the water to the beautiful island of Ireland, to stay with my friends Michael and Andrew for the weekend of Belfast Pride.  Not my first time travelling to Northern Ireland - I spent a few days there several years ago for work, and about all I saw was the drive from Belfast City Airport to Londonderry/Derry and back (but out in the countryside, wow!!!).

So it will be nice to see something of the City itself (hint hint!) and even better to have the opportunity to call on a very old family friend who was one of my late Mum's Bridesmaids and who I only recollect from photos of me (as a very young baby) and then from her coming over for our celebrations for Mum and Dad's 30th Wedding Anniversary in 1994.

It's something I'm looking forward to with great anticipation - I'm going by coach from Milton Keynes, overnight, and then the ferry from Cairnryan to Belfast at sparrow's wotsit in the early morning but what's life without a challenge? A few good books and the iPod to keep me going, its all part of the fun!

Michael has already blogged about the preparations for my visit - but just so long as there's a sofa for me to put the sleeping bag on and I don't fall over the books on the stairs, don't worry about the 'Elf 'n' Safetee jobsworths... :)

On the Friday and Saturday evenings I'm really looking forward to the Faith and Pride events at St George's; Fifteen Minutes with Christ - fifteen minutes of quiet reflection, prayer and meditation during all the hustle and bustle of Pride, reassuring ourselves that being Gay and Christian (in my case Catholic) are not incompatible.

Objections start rolling in

A couple of weeks ago, Bedford Borough Council published the planning applications for change of use and conversion of the Civic Theatre to a "Council One Stop Shop".  The Theatres Trust has objected in the strongest possible terms:

"The Trust objects to the change of use of the Bedford Civic Theatre to a new borough council ‘One-Stop-Shop’ facility because a valuable theatre facility will be lost and there is no replacement provision provided within the catchment area. We were disappointed to receive this application, which proposes the demolition of all the theatrical facilities, despite our objections at the pre-application stage. Although we are pleased that the applicants will retain the existing theatre shell, and we appreciate the gesture to retain the proscenium arch and first floor gallery within the new design, we cannot support the loss of the stage and associated wings without a clear understanding of theatrical needs of Bedford, nor any reasoned justification for the loss of the theatre as a cultural asset."

The document goes on to say:

"In your Development Plan Document, Core Strategy and Rural Issues Plan dated April 2008 one of the Plan Objectives 14 (page14) is to ‘Protect and enhance the Borough’s built, cultural and community assets’ as a ‘destination for cultural tourism’. Policy CP2, Sustainable Development Principles, states that the development and use of land will ensure that (vi) ‘important cultural features are protected’. Furthermore, we note that objective (6) of the Milton Keynes & South Midlands Sub-Regional Strategy aims to ‘create sustainable communities by ensuring that economic, environmental, social and cultural infrastructure needs are met’ and that a key priority for Bedford is to ‘Revitalise the town centre of Bedford and enhancing retail, cultural and leisure facilities.’ We therefore fail to see how the loss of the Bedford Civic Theatre without alternative provision in the catchment area can be justified or meet the aspirations and ambitions within your Core Strategy."

A pretty damning vindication of what the Campaign to Save the Civic Theatre has been saying all along.  The full document will soon be available on the Theatres Trust Website in due course.

Its not often I come over all Daily Mail but .....

Watching the events of the last three evenings has left me sickened and totally disgusted with the behaviour of a minority of thugs.


Witness the young masked yob interviewed on Sky News who took great delight in swearing live on air, and when asked why he was engaging in the violence replied "because I can".  He admitted that he had gone into the City Centre of Manchester just to take part in the "riot" and thuggery.


What has annoyed me even more has been the reaction of some of the bleeding heart woolly liberals who are trying to make excuses for this lawlessness by trying to put the blame onto government cuts.  Trying to claim that it is all down to the fact that these poor lambs have nothing to do because youth centres and what have you are having to close down because funding is apparently being cut.


Complete and utter nonsense.  There is no excuse at all for smashing up a shop and making off with a 50" plasma TV under your arm.  There is no excuse at all for torching somebody's business premises, robbing them of their livelihood.  My heart went out to the family in Croydon who's furniture business - in existence for 140 years - which had survived two World Wars, the Great Depression of the 1930s and the recession in the 80s only to be totally destroyed by mindless arsonist criminals.


To quote my buddy Scott: "I left School with ZERO exams; I done alright for myself but I dont go looting and blaming the 'system' for the things I aint got.. I just work harder..."


At a guess I would say that the majority of the young scrotes are the offspring of parents who were at school when the rot began to set in in the mid 80s - I refer of course to the time when thanks to the interference of Brussels and the efforts of a load of bleeding heart liberals teachers lost the main tool of keeping discipline in school - namely the cane.


From that point on, kids knew that teachers couldn't touch them - without running the risk of being done for assault.  We are now reaping the seeds of that whirlwind where we have a breed of feral youths who think they can do what they like, where they like and when they like


The Police need to have their hands untied - all too often when they appear to be standing around watching trouble kick off, they are bound by the damned "Health and Safety Rules" and having to carry out umpteen risk assessments - time to get rid and let the Police get on and do their job without them being hidebound by ridiculous red tape.


We also need to get rid of the attitude that we don't carry out our Policing in a certain way.  The Police should have access to the fullest possible range of tools to assist them and if that means baton rounds, plastic/rubber bullets, water cannon and so on then so be it.


Time as well for more effective penalties - particularly against the feral kids.  ASBOs were a waste of space, more often than not they were seen as a "badge of honour", with young thugs competing against each other to collect as many as they could.  Fines, tagging, Police Cautions and whatever are ineffective.


Our Magistrates and Judiciary need to be able to deliver a short, sharp shock to these feral thugs.  Obviously, nobody is going to have the balls to stick two fingers up to the ECHR and bring back the birch but I think it needs to happen.  Before the Isle of Man was forced to give up the punishment in 1983, nobody ever went back for a second dose or reoffended as an adult.


Borstal Training submitted young offenders to a strict disciplinary regime - which is exactly what most of these feral young thugs need.


And while we're at it, maybe a stint of proper National Service wouldn't do them any harm either.


Like I said, its not often I come over all Daily Mail but .....

Another Election Over

And although nationally it was a good day for the Conservatives and a very bad one for the LibDems, for some reason Bedford saw fit to reverse that trend with the Mayoral Election.  In Bedford the Conservatives gained 5 seats and the three main parties are now on an equal split of 12 Councillors each with 4 Independents.

To my utter surprise - and horror - Dave Hodgson managed to get himself re-elected Mayor of Bedford.  When we thought that the Civic Theatre would be safe, it isn't so now the battle has to start afresh.

Now wouldn't it be great if the Conservative and Labour Groups on the Council could come to some sort of arrangement to provide some proper opposition to Hodgson?  Somehow I don't think that's going to happen, do you?