Anti-BNP day of action in Neath, Wales.

Peter Hain, MP has organised a mass Anti-BNP protest and day of action in Neath, Wales.

BNP activists could not bear to miss out so they went along to bear witness to the ‘Mass’ of the protest.

I have included the video for your pleasure.

Technorati Tags: bnp,british national party,wales,neath,anti bnp,mass protest,day of action

Bedworth – Offer withdrawn for former St Margaret’s school site.

“The Church of the Latter Day Saints have withdrawn their offer for the Warwickshire County Council-owned land in Bedworth, where St Margaret's School once stood.

Better known as the Mormons, they are believed to have had plans to build a temple on the site that borders the George Street Ringway in the heart of the town, but have had second thoughts”.

read full report on the Nuneaton News website.

I was never fully happy about this site being used for a place of worship.  I will not pontificate on the virtues of different religions.  The location is the issue for me.  Right on the small ring road in the centre of Bedworth.  This site is quite sizeable and, I should imagine, quite attractive to potential retail investors once such things pick up again.

I do not believe that Warwickshire County Council should be in too much of a rush to offload this site.  The people of Bedworth want to see some benefit from the disposal of the site, not just see a fat cheque winging its way into the county coffers.

Technorati Tags: bedworth,town centre,warwickshire county council

North Warwickshire By-Election

Councillor Barry Beeson passed away on Friday, December 12 and tributes flooded in from colleagues.  See full report from Nuneaton News website.

This presents a wonderful opportunity for the local British National Party group to contest the resultant by-election.

I would encourage any BNP members who are reading this to contact their organisers for contact details if they can in any way help us in this campaign.

Technorati Tags: atherstone,by election,north warwickshire,british national party

Camp Hill Opportunities Centre - update

I am pleased to report that in response to the e-mail below I have received a reply from Cllr Chris Saint of Warwickshire County Council.  Cllr Saint is a Cabinet member from Warwickshire County Council so hopefully he knows what he is talking about.

No closure

The good news is that the closure is now not going to happen.  The actual budget meeting takes place on Tuesday 3rd February where details will be confirmed.

I am sincerely keeping my fingers crossed though I am cynical enough to not totally believe it until after the meeting.

Technorati Tags: camp hill opportunities centre,warwickshire county council

You will sleep easy tonight!

This gem from Phil Woolas, Border and Immigration minister.  Published today in The Daily Mail, letters section.

Where are the Albanians?

There is no evidence that there are large numbers of Albanian criminals living unchecked in the UK.  There are seven Albanian extradition requests before our courts and only a fraction of the Albanian names referred to British law enforcement agencies have been found in the UK.  Those who are here are placed on watch lists and on the police national computer – and are removed at the earliest opportunity.

We now have one of the strongest borders in the world, which has made it tougher than ever for people to enter the UK illegally. 

Every visa applicant is fingerprinted and has their biometric details checked against our databases before they even step on a plane.  And we are determined to remove a persons citizenship if they have obtained it through fraudulent means.

You will feel safer now won’t you boys and girls?

Tax Return Time

It is that time of year again and I am sorting out the receipts and entering figures in boxes on a spreadsheet in preparation for filling out my tax return online.

Being self employed has its positive aspects but this is not one of them.  Figures are down on last year.  When I see the figures that I have so far for the current financial year even these look like a panacea.

Still I must not grumble.  There are many out there worse off than me.

Forecourt prices up 3p per Litre in less than two weeks.

Have you noticed the way that forecourt prices have started to rise again and no-one is saying anything about it.

Filling stations all over Nuneaton have raised their prices by 3p per litre without any justification that I can discover and no murmur from any quarter.

You can check out the world oil price for yourself at Oil-Price.net where you can clearly see on their graph that prices have averaged out at a little over forty dollars per barrel.  Whereas Channel News Asia reveals that: -

“New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for March delivery, added 58 cents from its closing price on Tuesday to 42.16 dollars per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange”.

“Brent North Sea crude for March rose 1.17 dollars to 44.90 dollars on London's InterContinental Exchange”.

This means that international oil prices have recently risen to this low average price.  So where was the cheap petrol then?  Or am I too cynical in accusing them of profiteering?

Manor Park Community School – Nuneaton.

I cannot help thinking about Manor Park Community School and Specialist Arts College this morning.

We all accept that the number of school places required will never be constant but closing down a school which is the rising star of education locally seems crazy to me.  Especially when you take into account the difficulty for some in getting to the alternatives.

What will happen to the site?  High density housing seems most likely if history tells us anything.  More small housing boxes for people to be miserable in and increase the already high traffic volumes.

I have done all that I can so far on this.  I voted against the closure in the Council Chamber of course.  We all did.  I have written in support of the school to anyone I can think of who may make a difference.

Technorati Tags: manor park community school

A good start to the day.

I stepped onto the scales again today and I am now down to 18st 5lbs.  Not that good but 5lb better than when I wrote Who ate all the pies?

Camp Hill Opportunities Centre – update.

I have contacted organisations such as The Police Community Support Officers, North Warwickshire and Hinckley College, and the Opportunities Centre itself of course to collect the information which I needed to compose the following e-mail to County Councillor Chris Saint.  This gentleman is the relevant portfolio holder on Warwickshire County Council and on Tuesday 3rd February he and his colleagues will decide the fate of the Opportunities centre.

     “Dear Cllr Saint,

     I am writing to you in my capacity as a Councillor with Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council.  I am deeply concerned at the possibility that the Opportunities Centre based on the Pool Road Industrial Estate in Camp Hill, Nuneaton could have its funding withdrawn.  Indeed the closure notices have already been given to students causing much confusion, concern and upset.

     I have visited Nigel Bond, the centre manager, and was surprised to find out exactly how many courses and activities the Opportunities Centre provides.  The Opportunities Centre in Nuneaton, which has been running for five years, offering retraining schemes and vocational qualifications in CLAIT and CLAIT PLUS (Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations) and also ECDL (euro computer driving licence run by the British Computer Society).  The Nova (New Opportunities for Vocational Access) construction programme is also hosted by the Centre for the college which allows for years 10 & 11 students to learn aspects of construction.  CHEERS and Connexions are used to provide advice and guidance sessions to enable them to access further training or employment.  As well as all this there is a well developed facility for training disabled people in ways to be more independent within the home, therefore reducing their dependency upon others, which often results in less dependency on carers and the budget of Social Services.

     The list of qualifications above is not exhaustive and is a little cold for my liking.  It does nothing to explain how the Opportunities Centre fits into the wider community and how its removal would impact upon the future of many areas of local life.  It is not just the quality or quantity of the skills that are being achieved but the sections of society which are actively being engaged.  Councillor if you have not already done so I urge you to consider the following.  If the training at the Opportunities Centre is removed, exactly what will become of these people?

     For example: - Much work is done with hard to reach youngsters within education.  Identified by the schools as being ‘on the edge’ behaviourally they are sent along to try a course as something different to re-engage them.  This practical training is the way forward for many youngsters and is used very successfully across the year 9, 10 & 11 age group.  Not always into the construction or computer fields.  Often they find out what they do not want to do which can motivate them to think about what they do want to do.  A sense of self worth, pride and belonging within a group which working in this environment is conducive to engages their minds in a way that school has not been able to achieve.  When returned to the school environment feedback from the staff is virtually always that the pupils are more ‘switched on’ and ‘receptive’ where previously this had not been the case.

     I have checked with the North Warwickshire and Hinckley College simply by ringing reception and they can provide up to ninety pupils with construction training of this type on a structured one year course.  As an educational service provider they have their own boxes to tick and will cherry pick the best applicants from the pile.  I am not knocking them for that.  The Opportunities Centre takes on people who may take up to three years to complete one of these courses but at least when they have finished they have a professional qualification which they can take forward and take their place as confident contributing members of society.  This has to be far better than thinking that they are useless and relying upon state benefits exclusively..

     I could go on and on with examples but feel that I have made my point.  Neither myself, Nigel Bond, nor the reception staff at the college can think of anywhere else with either the space, time or being honest the wish to provide these essential services.

     The centre is perfectly located in Nuneaton near an axis with Kingswood, Barpool and Camp Hill wards and with Abbey Green ward in close proximity.  These names will be familiar to you sir as wards which regularly come up in super output areas for benefit dependency, health inequalities, transport issues, educational development and crime.  Wards which are doubtlessly amongst the most deprived in Warwickshire.  All of these are areas which are impacted upon positively by the Opportunities Centre in one way or another.  The centre takes people from South Leicestershire, North Warwickshire and the Nuneaton and Bedworth area of course.

     I have contacted a couple of P.C.S.O’s in the area (stopped them on the street to be honest) and they told me that there is a motorcycle course provided which is aimed at 14-16 year olds to provide maintenance, theory and practical sessions the ultimate aim being that it contributes to reducing nuisance riding within the local area.  Their opinion was that this is working.

     Please forgive me for being thorough in my report Councillor.  I care passionately about the prospects of all of the people which I am sure is a view that you would share and I seek to do justice to this cause.

     I have checked on the Warwickshire County Council website and cannot find sufficient committee information to be able to ascertain exactly who will be on the panel at the budget meeting on the 3^rd February.  Unfortunately due to another very important engagement in Nuneaton Council House I cannot attend to speak personally.  Under the circumstances I would like to request that this e-mail is printed and submitted to the panel on my behalf.  If this request is not possible I, together with the manager, staff, and pupils at the Opportunities Centre would be grateful if you could forward this e-mail to the other members so that they can have the opportunity to see my concerns for themselves.

     I leave you I hope with much to think about,

     Cllr Martyn Findley

     Barpool ward, Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council.”

Hopefully this will do some good.  If any of you do read this blog I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people who have e-mailed me directly on this subject.  The opportunities Centre really is close to the hearts of many people.

Technorati Tags: camp hill opportunities centre,warwickshire county council,nuneaton and bedworth borough council,north warwickshire,nuneaton,kingswood,camp hill,barpool ward,abbey green

Nuneaton, Bedworth and North Warwickshire Group BNP meeting 26th January 2008

This was a well attended meeting and it was a pleasure to see more new members and supporters in attendance.

The organisers report always starts of course and Alwyn Deacon brought us up to date on some internal developments and also the forthcoming County and European elections.

The guest speaker was the South Shropshire organiser who I felt gave a very inspirational speech.  Dabbling in philosophy, but not long enough to lose the mortals amongst us, he reminded us that we must all show resolve and make a commitment to changing that which we do not like about this country.

The collection was healthy and I know for a fact that after his update our leafleting coordinator was taking note of volunteers.  Excellent!

Afterwards there was much discussion between new and existing members.  Exactly what we need both to continue with our growth and to spread our message.

Technorati Tags: nuneaton,bedworth,north warwickshire,british national party,bnp meeting

May the saints preserve us!

This is just one of those mornings that any driving instructor, or professional driver for that matter, will recognize.

I feel as if every idiot in town has either driven in front of, or walked across, the front of my car this morning.  Sheer madness!

The title says it all.

Camp Hill Opportunities Centre – Construction and I.C.T Training and Skills

I have been appalled to see that the funding from Warwickshire County Council for this noteworthy community training and skills organisation is to be revoked.  A notice of closure has been issued and personally, along with everyone else, this is the first that I heard about it.

I visited the Centre yesterday to talk with the Centre Manager Nigel Bond and I assure you, as I assured him, that I shall do everything that I am able to safeguard the future of the worthy cause.

More on this later….. much to do.

Technorati Tags: camp hill,warwickshire county council,community training,camp hill opportunities centre

Petition – Kingswood Road

Over this past weekend I have spent plenty of time on Kingswood Road working on a petition.  For those of you who do not know Kingswood Road it is not in my ward.  I am the ward councillor for the Barpool ward area in Nuneaton.

However.  When residents approached me with maintenance problems last summer I did not even consider saying no to them.  They have been trying for years to get someone to take up their cause and basically get the maintenance tasks done that other areas take for granted.  They have two ward councillors of their own and two County Councillors of course.

We are not talking special treatment here.  The roads are potholed and the surfaces generally are in disrepair.  Road markings have almost totally worn away or are missing where the road surface has worn away.  Lamp posts are either not working at all or work twenty four hours per day.  All the responsibility of Warwickshire County Council.

The lamp posts burning twenty four hours a day is a constant reminder to them that their Council Tax money, though being collected thank you very much, is not being spent on maintaining their area.

i was first approached last summer and though I have made representations through the official reporting mechanism nothing has been forthcoming.

Hopefully a petition and a bit of coverage in the local newspaper telling the whole town how bad things are will stir something up a bit.

Worth a try anyway don’t you think?

Technorati Tags: barpool ward,nuneaton,petition,kingswood,warwickshire county council

Election update - Bexley

I have received a text from the East Midlands Elections Officer Wayne McDermott who informs me that the BNP has had a near miss in the Bexley bye-election in London.

The result was: -

Conservative	798
British National Party	790
Labour	700
Liberal Democrats	564
English Democrats	128

Very well done indeed to our candidate Michael Barnbrook and the elections team who so very nearly secured the seat.

I know how nail biting these count nights can be when it is close.  Two recounts!

On a personal note I find the English Democrats quite frustrating, as I know do others within the British National Party.  It is perfectly clear that without their involvement out candidate would now be a Councillor.

If anyone who reads this has previously voted for or thinks that they may vote for the English democrats in the future I would like to draw your attention to their own website where they are happy to crow that they have kept out the BNP.  Keeping out the BNP is their first reason for existence.  Their second apparently is to insult other candidates.  If you have the stomach for their bilious drivel then please feel free to follow the link in the text above.

From a local point of view Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council would now be enjoying the services of at least three BNP councillors because our very own Alwyn Deacon would most certainly have been elected at the last round of elections to the Bede ward of Bedworth.

Technorati Tags: british national party,by election,bedworth,bede ward,bnp

Overview Joint Scrutiny Commission meeting 22nd January 2009

Last nights Overview Joint Scrutiny Commission was not one that members of the public would have enjoyed attending unless they are ‘in to’ committee organisation and portfolio structures.

Maybe not interesting to the public but very important indeed in making sure that the decisions of the controlling Conservative cabinet of Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council are scrutinised as thoroughly as possible.  Something that the British National Party is very keen on!

After some debate proposals were finalised that I believe will further improve the scrutiny role to the benefit of all in the Borough.

Amen to that!

Technorati Tags: overview joint scrutiny commission,nuneaton and bedworth borough council,british national party

I.T. problem resolved

I am pleased to be able to say that the I.T. problems that I have been experiencing with regards to my Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council e-mail address have been sorted out.  It should no longer be a semi lottery as to whether or not I receive that which is sent to me.

Council officers came out today and installed the necessary hardware.  I also have access to the council’s own intranet.  This is a most welcome addition to my research capabilities.

Mental Health Care provision for Nuneaton, Bedworth and North Warwickshire. I.T problem sorted, general sad feeling.

Lots of ward work today and a trip confirmed to see and find out more about mental health care facilities.  It is quite possible if the NHS has its own way that some mental health care places will be removed from the Borough.  Instead users of the centre will have to travel to Coventry to use their ‘bought in’ services.

Not if I can do anything about it they won’t!  Mental Health Care provision is incredibly important to any town.  I will not see ours removed quietly.

My I.T problem seems to be resolved.

The I.T department are coming around in the morning with my equipment to set it up for me and show me how it works.

I shall now be able to access directly my council e-mail address so my e-mails should not go missing.  I will also be able to use our own intranet called CLIP.  A fabulous resource so I am told.  I am looking forward to finding out!

I cannot help feeling a little sad today.

For years I have kept abreast with financial news.  A bit of an economic geek I suppose.  I do not believe for a second that most people really understand the ramifications of the present situation, or if they understand how long it will take us to pay off all of the debt.  Decades I believe.  If the worst happens then we become a basket case economy like some of the South American ones have been.  They still are not great.

I looked at the children today and wondered if they will forgive our generation for what we have let them in for.  At least Debbie and I can look back and say that we tried to give people the alternative.

Technorati Tags: mental health care,nuneaton,bedworth,north warwickshire

Home Education – Education Otherwise

I have rejoined the home education information, experience sharing and advice service known as Education Otherwise. The information pack, car sticker, membership cards, bulletin and all sorts of other useful bits arrived today.

We have formerly been members of Education Otherwise when we first started at home education. The advice and friendship which greets members from every page of the thick monthly bulletin is invaluable. After a while though once our confidence had increased we let our membership lapse.

Already we have both had a smile at the stories and experiences in the bulletin. One of our children has sent off for details of pen pals and the world feels a slightly better place to be.

If there are any budding home education families out there who are looking for information I can think of nowhere better to refer them to than Education Otherwise.

Technorati Tags: home education,education otherwise

Standards Committee, 20th January 2009

Last night I attended a Standards Committee meeting at Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council.

The agenda was a one item affair. A report by two councillors from the controlling conservative group about the standards expected from members with regards to their use of the new IT equipment when it is rolled out. This will not be until the evaluation period is completed and reported upon but it is obviously the correct things to do to get the standards agreed and set up in advance, training given where necessary, so then all should be ready to go when the computers come. We will see.

There were a few minor modifications made with some good points coming from the floor. Some of them from me of course. I do find it difficult to keep my mouth shut. Not helped by the fact that I do not try of course. I was not elected to be quiet after all.

I should have attended the first Locality Working Meeting last night an hour or so after getting home from the standards meeting. Unfortunately when I returned home Debbie was seriously poorly and it would have been completely unreasonable to bugger off and leave her with four children to look after while I swan off to another meeting. Please forgive my non attendance but when duty calls! I did telephone a fellow councillor who was going and asked that he put my apologies in at the meeting.

Technorati Tags: nuneaton and bedworth borough council,standards committee,locality working

The Nuneaton Civic Society

Every now and again as a Borough Councillor I receive in the mail something of outstanding interest outside of the normal Council agendas for and minutes of meetings.  Today is one such day.

The Nuneaton Civic Society has sent to Councillors not only their latest newsletter but a set of six beautifully produced heritage leaflets covering the older areas of the town.  Abbey Green, Attleborough, Camp Hill, The Hamlet of Griff and the surrounding area, Stockingford and Weddington.

Each heritage leaflet describes people and places, transport links, industrial and geographical information.  Each has been eloquently written and provided an unputdownable (the spell checker will not like that one) read.

Full credit must be given to The Nuneaton Civic Society for the new Heritage Boards that have appeared around the town.  Funded by a Heritage Lottery Fund grant they are a worthwhile and informative addition to their sites in the borough.

Technorati Tags: stockingford,councillor,nuneaton civic society

Legalise all drugs, says Green Party MEP

He was not the first Green Party member to come up with this idea and he will almost certainly not be the last.

“Euro-MP Chris Davies has called for all illegal drugs to be made available for purchase under a system of government licensing and regulation”.

His call was published in August 2008 on the Rochdale Online website.  Any such system would be unpopular and never work.  There is no way that any government is going to supply heroin etcetera.

The author of the comment at the bottom of the page seems to have a clearer grasp of reality than the MEP.  Wonder what he does for a living?

Chris Davies certainly believes in practicing what he preaches if this report on the BBC News website is to be believed.

Technorati Tags: green party,legalise drugs,mep

Are the West Midlands Police alleviating the credit crunch?

If anyone in the West Midlands in the past few days has been wondering where the police are then I may be able to provide the answer.

I have covered the motorway network of the West Midlands reasonably extensively in the past few days and the number of police vehicles, both marked and unmarked, that I have seen has been quite astounding.

All of them pulled up on the hard shoulder behind a motorist.  I suspect a few pounds have been generated by all of those speeding fines.

Technorati Tags: west midlands,police,credit crunch

Locality Working replaces P.A.C.T meetings

Partners And Communities Together Meetings are being phased out in Warwickshire and replaced with Locality Working.  I have heard about this in many meetings and the future does look better because of it.

P.A.C.T meetings were attended by Councillors, both Borough and County, and representatives of the Police Service.  Priorities were assigned on a voting system so if communities came en mass about their particular local concern then that was guaranteed to be the priority.  A smaller group or single person could have had a very valid problem which could have been resolved but would not have been.

I believe that Locality Working will be a better solution to the problems of the local communities.  The areas covered will be larger.  The Locality Working meeting that I shall be attending will cover the Arbury, Barpool and Kingswood wards of Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council.  This is significantly larger than the previous area.  This increase is necessary to justify the extra resources which are being put into the meetings by the authorities.  The Police Service, Councillors from Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council and Warwickshire County Council will still be there.  Senior officers from both Nuneaton and Bedworth and Warwickshire County Councils will also be present as will a representative from the Primary Care Trust.

As problems are brought forward by members of the public it is far more likely that the information will be given directly to the people who need to action it rather than going via Councillors who may or may not get it to the right place.  The central aim is that rather than targeting priorities, which have always ended up being Police priorities, problems from smaller groups and individuals will also be resolved.

I wholeheartedly support this new format because I am in the fortunate position of having seen first hand the commitment to making it work on the faces of senior officers from both the Borough and County Councils.  Police support has always been good and the adition of the Primary Care Trust can only be a good thing.

Technorati Tags: locality working,nuneaton and bedworth borough council,warwickshire county council,p.a.c.t,kingswood,arbury,barpool ward

Anti-White discrimination in Manchester

If there is one thing that never ceases to amaze me it is the stupidity of the people who currently rule this country.

The British National Party does not believe in discrimination. We would close the doors to further immigration because we believe that this country is full but we do not promote any form of discrimination between people who are already here.

The same cannot be said for the cabal of politicians who run this country. In Manchester the City Council is running a jobs fair, fair enough, which offers free workshops giving advice on how to get jobs and several employers will be present.

Whites not allowed though!

This jobs fair is exclusively for Black and Minority Ethnic Communities. Details of Anti-White Discrimination.

Now there has never, as far as I am aware, been such an event in Nuneaton and Bedworth. If there were your local BNP Councillors would certainly speak out against it. We also expect to be the only politicians who would!

Maybe the good people of Manchester might like to think about that before polling day.

Technorati Tags: anti-white,discrimination,manchester,british national party,nuneaton,bedworth,bnp,councillor

Not a level playing field at Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council

Cllr Darren Haywood and myself were elected as British National Party Councillors onto Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council on May 1st 2008.  The date as I write is 15th January 2009.

We still do not have access to either our e-mail inboxes or CLIP.  Now CLIP you will never have heard of because it is an in house information system which is available to officers and members of Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council.  It contains very useful information and other members have told me that it is their most used internet resource when searching for information.  Shame that we cannot access it then.

We have been very patient.  We have managed with our official inboxes used only as forwarding addresses to our personal e-mails.  The obvious catch here is that the ‘from’ section of every e-mail is ‘from’ me, no matter where it originated.  Inconvenient when it comes to replying I am sure you will agree.  All e-mails that I send have to be from my personal address.  This has led in the past to members of the public ringing me up to check that it was indeed me who sent them a particular e-mail.

I am aware that there is a technology review going on.  I have complained in the past and showed understanding when offered reasons why equipment cannot be offered to us at the moment.

Enough is enough.  I am going on the offensive now starting at the top.  The current situation can continue no longer.

I will keep you up to date with developments.

Technorati Tags: nuneaton and bedworth borough council,british national party

It has been a strange old day.

I have not had any driving lessons today.  There is a slump in business across the driving instruction industry so if you are thinking about taking up the offer of £30,000 plus car on one of those glossy adverts do think again.

I have however not been idle.  being a British National Party Councillor, family man, home educator and student does tend to fill in the gaps.

Addressing a growing pile of paperwork started the day.  Councils do create the stuff and after a while well.  Suffice it to say that if the stack that needed sorting had fallen on the youngest there could have been problems.  That fair sized stack of paper has been severely trimmed.

The Boundary Mills shop in the Black Country is not my favourite place to be.  Debbie however thinks differently and it is not my place to argue.  The place was packed!  If the endless scraping of coat hangers from and on to hollow clothes racking was music then that place would be number one in the charts this week.

This afternoon I have been sorting through a stack of old e-mails from the Council.  I am not very happy about this and will deal in more depth in the next post.

Maths was the subject of choice for the evening study session.  My brain aches now so after a bath I thought I would write to you.

God bless.

Ethnic minorities only!

Staffordshire County Council have today advertised a job as an ‘Arts and Museum Trainee’ in the local newspaper for Black and Ethnic Minority applicants only.

People from ethnic minorities apparently are under represented in the museum and gallery workforce.

Renaissance West Midlands is supporting diversity in the workforce by funding 24 week work placements throughout the West Midlands Region.

Discrimination is indeed institutionalised!

My feelings on this matter will be pretty obvious and shared I am sure by a great many.  The best candidate for the job should prevail.  In these times of economic hardship it is particularly sickening to see such racism at work.

Technorati Tags: ethnic minorities,diversity,west midlands,racism

Fire Service Regionalisation.

“Firefighters jobs could be sensationally scrapped at Bedworth and Atherstone Fire Stations”

According to the front page of the Heartland Evening News.  Story viewable here

To those in the know this is nothing new.  At the Bede by election in Bedworth in 2007 the British National Party was campaigning on a platform of maintaining the Fire Services instead of cutting or merging them.

The option of sharing the fire station at Nuneaton or building a new station on the Bermuda industrial estate for the two towns to share will not be acceptable to the people of either Nuneaton or Bedworth.

It cannot be acceptable to cut emergency services cover on economic grounds.  The risk of fire is not lessened by an economic decline.  I shall certainly be opposing the plans.

In operation since October 1958 the fire service has served Bedworth well from its Park Road base.  With some luck and hard work this will continue.

Technorati Tags: fire service,nuneaton and bedworth borough council,bedworth,atherstone,british national party,by election,emergency services

Social Scrutiny Panel meeting, 13th Jan 2008

Several good things came from this meeting of the Social Scrutiny Panel. Four service plans were looked at, Housing, Health, Communities and Benefits. I shall break those down for the interested below.

The development of adult mental health services in North Warwickshire was discussed. A way forward was agreed and visits to two sites are being arranged for fact finding purposes.

Information also came to light that a number of nuisance motorbikes have been crushed and offenders prosecuted. I knew nothing of this and am chasing to be kept regularly up to date on such things so that through this blog and my Barpool Quarterly Bulletin, which is delivered through your door if you live in the Barpool ward, I can update the public who when all said and done need to know that someone is doing something on their behalf.

Housing: -

Good questions were put forward concerning the maintenance of sheltered housing throughout the borough. Concerns were raised about community engagement and hard to reach groups. Empty properties within the borough are being brought into use but more work is necessary on this.

Health: -

There was cross party agreement that funding should be supported for the Healthy Living Network. The second air quality management area in the borough should be taken forward in the public interest when studies are concluded. Recommendation was also made to cabinet to target Passport to Leisure charges in the budget to encourage people from poorer areas to access healthy exercise which they are currently prohibited from by the cost.

Communities: -

Locality Working is due to take the place of P.A.C.T meetings starting in the next couple of weeks. The new style of meetings will cover larger geographical areas and include officers from both Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council and Warwickshire County Council. The Police Service will of course be in attendance and in time the Primary Care Trust will also be represented. I believe, and I am far from alone in this, that the new format for the meeting will help the concerns of the few to be dealt with instead of operating on a priorities basis which only helped the needs of the majority.

The new style Locality Working meetings will only work if the public attend. Please, please, please attend your nearest Locality Working meeting. Details will be publicised in the local press over the coming weeks.

A.S.B.O’s can be an emotive topic on any street corner. Lots of people would like to see naming and shaming of offenders. Moves are in place to allow this to happen locally. The exact format is not yet decided but it should be happening soon.

Benefits: -

As an authority we are always concerned that people do claim the benefits to which they are entitled because it is a major quality of life issue that peoples basic needs are met. Prevention and detection of fraud was also discussed.

Technorati Tags: social scrutiny panel,meeting,nuneaton and bedworth borough council,warwickshire county council,barpool ward,mental health,north warwickshire

DO NOT let the bailiffs in!

For obvious reasons I cannot divulge personal details on a blog but it is heartbreaking the cases where people are coming forward to me with their experiences with various bailiffs.

Nobody is happy to have their debt passed on to bailiffs. When the bailiffs call unexpectedly, or even after pre-arranging an appointment, what could be better than them asking to, “pop in for a quick chat”, after first reassuring you that nothing is wrong and they just want to make sure that you are comfortable with the details of the agreement. If something needs signing, go outside to do it.

DO NOT let the bailiffs across the threshold of your property for any reason no matter how innocent.

“May I just use the loo?”

NO

“Can I just pop inside out of the rain while we talk?”

NO

Once the bailiffs have crossed the threshold, no matter how tenuous the reason, they have the right to enter the property again and seize goods to the value of the debt. If you have let them in before then they are allowed to break in if necessary to gain access.

For advice on how to deal with bailiffs please refer to the website of The UK Insolvency Helpline and the WhatPRICE guide to bailiff debt.

If you think that debt of yours may be referred to bailiffs then please read these guides now.

Technorati Tags: bailiffs

Who ate all the pies and the chocolate, and the cakes and the …..?

Well in honesty it was probably me.  I have been on the scales and I now weigh 18st 10lbs!  This means that I have put on 12lbs over Christmas…..  This has got to come off!

I am now using ‘Windows Live Writer’ to post to this blog.  It is easier to use than the Blogspot software and quicker too.  I only installed the Live Writer software this afternoon but the user interface is just so much easier to use.

Technorati tags are a new feature as you can see at the bottom of this post and the one below.  Over time this should enable these posts to be seen by more people who may be interested in the content.  Who knows?

I will be adding links etcetera down the side over time but for now this is it.

This article about fly tipping interested me today.  Fly tippers are the scourge of the countryside and when caught should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Technorati Tags: windows live writer,technorati,fly tipping,countryside

Northampton BNP meeting

Last night I had the privilege of being the guest speaker at the Northampton meeting of the British National Party.

Now I must admit, and this will come as no surprise to anyone who has seen me do it, that I do enjoy giving a speech. Last night was no different. I gave a speech which began with a bit about me as I am not an East Midlands Councillor. I started on activism, moving through being a candidate and into being a Councillor.

The two main parts of the job are Council work, both on committees and in the chamber, and ward work which can vary both in content and urgency. In with this lot I covered press coverage, community organisations, dealing with Council Officers and of course the general public, who are the main point when all is said and done.

My favourite part of any speech is the question and answer session at the end. You never know what is coming! I was not disappointed. The quality of the questions backed up my opinion of the high calibre of people in the room. At the end the organiser had to call time with hands still in the air.

All in all a very satisfactory evening.

Technorati Tags: northampton,bnp meeting,british national party,speech

BNP West Midlands Regional Meeting

Well folks today I had the privilige of attending the West Midlands Regional BNP Meeting. Simon Darby led a very interesting meeting with additional speeches by Richard Lumby and Alwyn Deacon.

The very positive buzz about the British National Party at the moment is amazing. There is no doubt at all in anyones mind that we are on the up and there are so many positive things either going on right now or forthcoming that I would love to share but cannot really be put out in the public domain.

Exciting times indeed for the British National Party.

Could you be a Councillor for the BNP?

I nipped out for cooked batches from an excellent batch wagon on the Bermuda Industrial Estate this morning. The temperature on the radout in the car was -3 degrees. Brrr! Excellent batches though, well received by the family when I returned.

I do get asked by British National Party members how hard it is to be a BNP Councillor. "Could I do it", or even worse,"I don't think I could do it", are things that I hear said often. I have looked up this video from YouTube in which Nick Griffin tackles the question very well.



Locally speaking the two main parties do indeed have a few key councillors whom the remainder copy. Votes are decided in advance and block voting is normal. Heads are frequently seen laid back on headrests instead of even listening to, never mind taking part in debate.

I am speaking in Northampton tomorrow evening so if any readers are in attendance I look forward to talking to you there.

Home Education

I cannot believe that my first full week back at work after Christmas has gone so fast. A click of the fingers seemingly and it is Friday night.

This week we did an educational revue of the progress of our two home educated children. Both I am pleased to say are doing very well and enjoying the experience.

All children are individuals and as such have their own favourite subjects. For all subjects from the national curriculum (if you decide to do it) I would personally recommend CGP Books as a source for reading material. The topics are covered extensively, the diagrams are clear, relevant and simple to understand and the authors understand the value of a sense of humour. The Key Stage Two and Three books for certain are spot on educational materials and good value for money.

Home education is not everyones cup of tea but if it is a step that you are considering taking then you should take a look at the Education Otherwise website. Answers to some of the most common questions can be found here plus in depth information regarding the legal position.

This is a good organisation for prospective home educators to join. The monthly information that you receive keeps you up to date on all of the latest issues surrounding home education and much more besides.

Recycling story published

A welcome start to the morning. A trip to the local newsagent for the daily papers and low and behold my rant which I shared with you about the recycling being left for too long in the town centre two posts down has been published.

If you are of a mind you can see the story online here!

Resillient allotmenteers, business grumbles and congratulations to the town centre manager.

Nine 'O' clock this morning saw me meeting with a group of quite rightly disgruntled allotment holders. I was contacted by one of their number whom I have had the pleasure of helping before. I heard that their allotments have been attacked six times in the last three weeks. Greenhouses smashed up, sheds broken into with crowbars and a sledge hammer with one shed raised to the ground. Tools and anything of any value however small were stolen.

Determined not to be beaten the allotmenteers have taken action by spending hundreds of pounds of their own money on extra locks and are seeking to weld up the most troublesome access to their allotment site. I left the meeting with plenty of guidance notes and some firm ideas of what I can help them to achieve. Contact details firmly stored and with my enquiries now underway I look forward to being able to contact them with good news. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Their spirit clearly unbroken I left the allotmenteers to continue their meeting. I left with the opinion that this is a resilient group of people who will not be put off with mindless vandalism and theft but neither will they put up with it!

This is not a good time to be a driving instructor. When I qualified a good few years ago now there was something over twenty thousand instructors in Great Britain. Now the ranks are swollen to more than forty thousand. Now I readily admit that through their immigration policy the government has done everything it possibly can to help me out here but the maths does not add up for me. Double the number of instructors in a market place means that there is less work to go around. Be warned if you are thinking of answering a glossy advert.

On the Heartland Evening News site here I see that the town centre manager has announced that Nuneaton town centre will be the first in the country to host a new information system. Congratulations are due to the town centre team. Only time will tell how good it will be but the retail centre is very important to Nuneaton. All improvements welcome.

We are told by statisticians that prices have come down by 2.4% over the last twelve months. Since they choose what to include in their index this may be the case. Even they have to admit however that food prices stubbornly continue to rise. You will have noticed that we live on an island that only produces 30% of its own food and that our currency has been effectively devalued by at least 20% over recent months. This means that over the next few months as these factors creep onto the shelves the price of food can only continue to rise. How stupid do they think we are?

After my moan about the mess at the recycling point in yesterdays post I sent off an article along with photographs to the newspapers. It may or may not be printed but today I noticed that the mess between the containers has been cleared away but the containers themselves have still not been emptied. Has there been a telephone call made or am I too cynical in spotting the co-incidence?

Lightbulbs and Recycling.

A cold start to the day but there are worse things in the world.

I believe in freedom of choice and all that but have you tried buying a lightbulb lately? If you would like one of the old fashioned ones then you are out of luck. Shops are no longer ordering them. Instead you will have to get used to these new low energy bulbs. They start up slower and the light that they give off is not as pleasant. People who suffer mood changes or depression from a lack of light are not going to be happy at all.

"The Government has decreed that fluorescent light bulbs which, if broken, must have all shards placed in sealed containers and which cannot be vacuumed up for fear of household mercury poisoning, will replace all incandescent light bulbs within two years.

Shoppers who have recently been looking for traditional 100 watt light bulbs might have noticed that they have disappeared almost overnight. This is no coincidence. They have been almost secretly phased out in terms of a little-known government plan, launched by Gordon Brown in 2007, to push people into buying fluorescent bulbs. This decision followed the government’s signing up to a European Union decision to ban the light bulbs.

Under the ban, retailers have already stopped stocking 150 watt bulbs and agreed to stop replenishing stocks of 100 watt and 75 watt bulbs at the start of 2009.

By 2010 60 watt bulbs will start to be phased out and all incandescent bulbs will be banned by 2012."

Read the full story here

On a trip into Nuneaton town centre today I could not help but notice the following scene at the recycling containers on the Co-op car park.

The cardboard and paper recycling containers, as you can plainly see from the photograph, cannot cope with the demand. Or is this the case? To my certain knowledge this situation has existed for over a week already.

We have all seen in the newspapers recently that the market for recycled materials, paper and cardboard in particular, has reduced significantly. Is what we see here caused by an increase in the amount recycled or a reduction in the interest of the recycling company in collecting it because they have a stockpile anyway?

Everyone will agree that on many levels recycling is good for everyone. My point here is that the recycling is done on a contractual basis. Companies are very keen to fulfil their obligations when there is a profit to be made. Shareholders are all very prepared to extract their profits from recycling but a contract of this type surely comes with a level of civil responsibility. Whether they are having to store this material or not is no concern of ours. When there are large profits to be made they never offer us any money back do they so they should still be emptying the containers on a regular basis instead of leaving us with this eyesore.

Technorati Tags: excess packaging,environment,business,cleanup,lightbulbs

Happy New Year!

 

 

May I wish one and all a happy new year! This is my first blog entry ever and I wanted to start on a positive note. It may be nearly a week late but hey, I am not going to start being pedantic now.

The Christmas/New Year season is always a highlight of the year for us and this year was no exception. On New Years Eve we all stopped up as we do every year to see Jules Holland with his 'Hootananny'. The televised fireworks display incorporating the 'London Eye' never fails to impress. The French however have an entirely different annual fireworks display as you can see by visiting http://bnp.org.uk/2009/01/immigrants-in-france-see-in-new-year-with-1147-car-arsons/. None of our main news outlets want to carry this story for some reason. Maybe you have some idea why.

I was disappointed but not surprised to be told that the brand new Skatepark in the Stockingford rec. has been daubed with so called 'Tags' already. There is no 'crime or art' question in my mind. Such tagging is an assault on the eyeballs of all legitimate users of the park. I am afraid that this tagging phenomena will not be stopped until someone makes parents responsible for the crimes of their children. Some hope of that!

I feel that I have a vested interest in this skatepark and not just because my children will play on it. Before being elected as a Borough Councillor I applied for and secured £46,000 of the finance for the project. Since being elected I have spent much time asking questions and pushing on behalf of the Stockingford Residents Association to see that this skatepark did actually get built. The skatepark is just one part of a masterplan for which Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council has paid £10,000 and not as yet adopted! I am still pushing for this to be adopted.

 

Technorati Tags: stockingford,skateboard park,graffiti,masterplan,christmas,new year,nuneaton and bedworth borough council