Curly's Corner Shop, the blog!

Red faces over possible school closure

Karen Pemberton, the council’s assistant head of service for schools organisation, has further angered parents already firmly opposed to the plan with her admission that she’s never even been to Oakleigh Gardens.

Speaking at a Whitburn, Cleadon and Boldon community area forum meeting, she said: “I’ve not actually visited the school, but I hear it needs an update.”

As the wonderful David Coleman might have commented — that’s quite extraordinary! She may as well have said “I never went to school, so perhaps I do need an educational update”.

It also begs a further question to be answered by South Tyneside councillor Jimmy Foreman – just how extensive are the consultations? Don’t they involve senior officers meeting with the service users, or are the opinions gathered by minions lower down the chain of command before being suitably processed, sanitised, and made to fit?

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Via Conservative Home

[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7RQ0vXomKg&fmt=]

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Cleadon Village councillor to be Conservative Candidate for Jarrow

+++Breaking+++

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The man who saved more lives than any other person who ever lived.

Via the Adam Smith Institute

Beloved by many in the countries whose lives he saved, the Nobel Peace Prize winner lost favour among many in the West as politics trumped science and the environmental cause turned in on itself. It is beyond a travesty that so many environmentalists have retarded the progress that technology offers for feeding the world. Their lobbying of the Ford Foundation and World Bank to shun Mr Borlaug’s work is a stain upon the environmentalist movement.

Mr Borlaug never gave in to their questionable priorities, and these and other institutions could learn a great deal from his courage and commitment to the evidence. In a rare reply to the armchair environmentalists who criticized his work, he retorted:

They’ve never experienced the physical sensation of hunger. If they lived just one month amid the misery of the developing world, as I have for 50 years, they’d be crying out for tractors and fertilizer and irrigation canals, and be outraged that fashionable elitists were trying to deny them these things.

He died of cancer complications on Saturday at the age of 95 and has been accredited with saving the lives of more than 245m people worldwide.

Now we chop down rainforests to grow grain to make biodiesel – progress?

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According to Cllr. Khan he is looking for a new sign to be displayed outside of his shop at Westoe, South Shields following the by election victory of the South Tyneside Independent Alliance candidate Allen Branley. Instead of the gaudy distracting billboard that must surely have been a safety issue for motorists approaching the right hand turn at the top of Westoe Road, can I suggest he invests in one these new fangled electronic message displays, they don’t take up much room and will hang in his shop window without hiding the merchandise.

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Headline in Saturday’s newspaper.

Just a little propaganda from The Independent heralding the end of the world as man made global warming destroys the Arctic and mankind – or not, as the case might be.

It has been one of the elusive goals of seafaring nations almost since the beginnings of waterborne trade, but for nearly 500 years the idea has been dismissed as an impossible dream. Now, as a result of global warming, the dream is about to come true.

The North East passage has miraculously opened up for commercial shipping according to The Independent, because of global warming, yet according to Wikipedia the Russians have been sailing ships along the route since the 17th. Century! Between them EU Referendum and An Englishman’s Castle completely debunk this nonsense propagated by a national newspaper who cannot even be bothered to check the facts!

A few weeks ago at South Shields Town Hall I was speaking to some veterans of the Russian convoys during WWll who regularly sailed to Archangel and Murmansk all year round with the help of ice breakers, how was the sea warm enough to allow that then? The Independent states:

Russian maritime officials are now hoping that the feat will result in an “Arctic Rush” with the northern sea route becoming a viable summer competitor to the Suez and Panama canals. They have offered to cut ice-breaker fees in the North-east Passage to encourage major shipping companies to start using it.

Oh so they still need ice breakers then, just that the fees for their use might be reduced!

Is it any wonder that there are so many people who are sceptical about the claims made on behalf of the man made climate change camp?

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Out and about.

Enjoyed the weekend trying to visit some of the places not normally freely accessible to families with children as Tyne Wear Heritage Open Days gave us opportunities again, managed to take the children for a good tour around St. Mary’s Lighthouse and island off Whitley Bay, Souter Lighthouse in South Shields, and an interesting afternoon in Bede’s World in Jarrow yesterday. Interesting, in as much as  they’ve probably never had so many visitors in a single day, which shows the value of removing the entrance fees to allow people to get a taste of the place, interesting also to note that whilst some of the buildings presented as huts built in the style and manner as those used in medieval times (thatched and coated in mud and with earthen floors, are actually constructed around steel frames!)

Also photographed a wedding party in South Shields South Marine Park on Saturday and cannot think of a better location for some outdoor wedding shoots in our town, the area around the terrace and bandstand at the top of the park makes some perfect backdrops for the happy day, surprised that the council hasn’t given it a special licence to allow civil weddings to take place there, I’m sure there would be a demand in the summer which could be met with a small marquee or large gazebo (just a thought). The great pity was the weather – far too bright and sunny! A bit of a nightmare to get exacting exposures that were not too contrasty or needed balancing with some fill flash, but it looks like they turned out OK in the end, I’d show you some examples but I think it’s only fair to let the bride and groom see them first.

Caught bits and pieces of Sunderland’s match against Hull City on the radio and was delighted with the thumping that was meted out to Hull, but had to feel just a little sorry for South Shields born Phil Brown, the Tiger’s manager, he cannot have been expecting such a terrific performance from his boyhood favourites. To be sitting in joint sixth place with Liverpool on Saturday night must have felt very satisfying for Sunderland supporters everywhere.

What is less satisfactory is the inevitable inquests in the aftermath of the Westoe by election in South Shields, Karen Allen the Conservative candidate for the general election mirrors what I and others felt about the ability of the local Association to capitalise on others’ misfortunes:

The bulk of the vote Branley haemorrhaged went to the BNP, Lib Dem and Real Independent, with our Conservative candidate and Association Chairman gaining only a 3.2% swing. I think we have to be real in accepting this says a lot about the work the Conservative Party needs to do in the North East.

We should also acknowledge it shows the disenchantment the electorate surely has towards the Government – Labour with the basis of its existing councillors and indeed council leader, should have been enable to scoop up the Independent vote in the ward; but they failed to do this.

We need to capitalise on the dwindling Labour support in South Shields and show Conservatives can offer what the other parties cannot. We must not turn away votes.

Only two teams made a good fist of canvassing the ward, you cannot get your message across without talking to the voters, and you cannot achieve that without knocking on doors, inevitably the result went the way of the team that had the combination of the greatest hunger for success and the greater expenditure before the election was called.
Still overlooking restructural and decorative works at home so posts may be a bit thin on the ground this week, and sometime in the near future this PC will have to be disconnected from the internet and relocated in a different room, so I may be away fro a couple of days.

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Quarter of adults in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland expected to be vetted by new agency.

The Independent Safeguarding Authority, an Orwellian name if I’ve ever heard one, should start by vetting Children’s Minister Delyth Morgan to determine whether or not she is a safe person to be introducing or supervising legislation in this country as we move ever closer to an age where we are all deemed guilty until proven innocent. She also needs vetting on her suitability to give a straight answer to a straight question, as demonstrated in her interview with John Humphries on BBC Radio yesterday, you can listen to the interview here.

The setting up of the Independent Safeguarding Authority will destroy the level of trust, that perilously hangs by a thread, between children and adults and between adults and voluntary organisations. It will set in train a theme, a mindset, that says adults are not to be trusted to come into contact with children, adults are a threat, male adults are all sexual predators, and you must all consider yourselves guilty until you can prove your innocence and worthiness to some mandarins operating a “safeguarding scheme” on behalf of the state.  With the threat of huge fines for those who dare to volunteer to help the scouts or the swimming club without the regulation CRB check and the certificate of registration. A registration will cost you £64 if you are a paid member of staff  who has contact with children, volunteers can register for free but will still need to pay for a CRB check, failure to register or failure to notify any change of circumstances could lead to you being fined up to £5000!

This incipient piece of totalitarianism will ensure that all adults are effectively viewed as potential paedophiles, and everyone must prove their innocence, it is totally bizarre, and begs all sorts of questions about how Delyth Morgan wants our relationships with children and teenagers to develop. One suspects that someone somewhere still sees the Girl Guides, the Scouts, the Boys Brigade, the local youth club, the seven a side football team, the Duke of Edinburgh Awards, the creche, the nursery, and our schools as worthwhile enterprises for our children to be involved in, that exercise and physical fitness is a pre-requisite to good health, but how are these bodies going to cope without a high level of volunteer adults to assist them? Who wants to take the risk and the added expense of being added to another huge database held by a state which gives scant disregard to personal digital security? Who now wants to bow their knee and submit to state intrusion just because they agree to walk three or four children to school every morning?

All of this, Ms. Morgan tells us, is to prevent another Soham type murder, oh really? Didn’t Huntley once pass through the hands of another police force who then failed to pass on information to others? No. no. this is another building block that could be used in the hands of an unscrupulous future government to build a totalitarian fascist state, Labour are good at this, they keep doing things to make us safe, keep building databases for our protection, keep tinkering around the edges of legislation to prevent terrorism. All the while a little more of our long confidence in our own beliefs about freedom, personal responsibility, and civil rights, is chipped away until the state owns and controls most of our daily lives.

The Independent Safeguarding Authority will not in any way prevent sexual predators from harming children, the vast majority of these people are close family members living in the family home, but it will ultimately change the way we view each other. If you are a teenager, you will be seen as feral, threatening, violent, and a petty criminal by adults. Children and teenagers will view adults as people not to be trusted, approached, or communicated with, and adults who hold state registration certificates will view other adults as people not safe to be around children.

It won’t be long before before you will be asked to produce a validated certificate before you are allowed to give birth (and then sign another document giving your permission for DNA samples to be taken from the baby)!

Oh, and by the way, this new vetting and barring scheme will cost around £200m pounds to set up and create 1,450 jobs down the road in the marginal Labour seat of Alan Milburn in Darlington.

Related posts

Charlotte Gore has a “plan” for our ultimate safety.

Sub Rosa invites you to join a Facebook protest group.

Trixy asks Morgan to just answer the effing question in a far more eloquent manner than I could have.

(You will note that I have chosen the views of women, rather than men).

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FA delegates in the north-east to assess bid facilities

The region’s economy could attract as much as £50m investment if its major cities are chosen as hosts for the 2018 World Cup, it was claimed yesterday.

Andrew Dixon, chief executive of the Newcastle-Gateshead Initiative, said: “We estimate that only so many people will be able to get into the stadiums but thousands more will travel over for the atmosphere.

“There will be lasting benefits for the region.

“For Newcastle, Gateshead and Sunderland to host the World Cup would be fantastic.”

The delegates will today visit St James’ Park, the Baltic, The Sage Gateshead and Tyneside hotels, and also study the region’s transport infrastructure to see if it could withstand a massive influx of visitors.

South Shields may now struggle to make it’s voice heard seeing as the Independent Alliance led protests have closed out the possibility of a four star hotel development on our sea front, along with the Save Our Seafront campaign team they have contributed to the dropping of a plan by South Tyneside Borough Council to allow Tavistock to develop a luxury four star hotel at the Gypsies Green site in South Shields. Although Tavistock may have had difficulty in raising sufficient finance to go ahead with the proposal there was nothing to suggest that other developers may not have been interested in taking up the idea, particularly if the World Cup comes to the region.

Can you imagine if Sunderland’s bid to host World Cup 2018 games, or Newcastle/Gateshead’s bid are successful just how much we may have benefited? Can you imagine, if we had had the necessary facilities to house one of the participating teams, perhaps Brazil, Argentina, or Spain, in South Shields, and be able to see them working out on the beach or perhaps training on The Leas, how much the event would bring in terms of revenue for local businesses and our local economy in general? Can you imagine a huge influx of foreign visitors with cash to spend? Can you imagine a giant screen in the Market Place with a party atmosphere on game days with maybe Dutch or Portugese or Australian fans enjoying our legendary hospitality? It hardly needs thinking about.

However, all may not be lost, the newly re-elected councillor for the Westoe ward may just be able to come to the rescue, back in 2003 Allen Branley and his partner Alan Mordain through their development vehicle Branmore Investments bought up a huge slice of South Shields riverside at a time when most property investors were pooing on the idea of making a profit out of the remnants of  British Shipbuilders’ land when the company went into administration. Branmore took the leap and snapped it up at auction for what was rumoured to be a little more than £2m, but less than £3m, this was a wise entrepreneurial move at a time when others were reticent to redevelop and rejuvenate the riverside landscape, nine years ago the developed end value was estimated to be worth around £200m.

Branmore have ambitious plans for the area, which this blogger hopes to see come to fruition, an outline planning application was made to South Tyneside Council in 2003 which included luxury homes, offices, shops, restaurant and leisure facilities plus a hotel. A hotel? Yes, a hotel, which is exactly what we need, and even more so if a World Cup bid finds favour with the FA this week.

The scheme will be handled in four phases. In the first phase, luxury serviced flats similar to those in London Docklands will be developed on a river frontage alongside newly built retail and leisure facilities geared towards busy professional people. A restored dock will be a central feature, and there is also talk of floating restaurants.

Phase two makes provision for more homes, retail and possibly offices, while phase three will involve the construction of an eye-catching residential tower with shops on low-rise wings.

The final phase will accommodate a hotel complex with conference facilities, a marina and shops. Mordain says they are pitching the hotel at the four-star market and that two hotel operators have already shown an interest. They also hope the Magistrates Court next door will attract local accountants and solicitors firms to the office space.

It is this final phase which is of most interest, and one hopes that when Mr. Branley returns to South Shields that he will turn his mind to pressing forward with his ideas along with his partner Mr. Mordain, 2018 is not that far away and if the north east is to reap the financial benefits and put itself on the map then South Shields really does not want to miss out. As far as I am aware no firm plans have been submitted by Branmore Investments yet to go ahead with the four star hotel development, but one lives in hope that progress towards it is being made.

One also lives in hope that his party colleagues on South Tyneside Council will not behave like Luddites again, and give the development the support it deserves, we don’t need to be blind to the possibilities and benefits that these types of facilities could bring to the town. The economic spin offs reach deep into the local community, there are construction jobs to be had, secure employment in the future at the riverside, long term contracts for local suppliers, and the prospect of additional visitors and tourists would bode well for other owners of accommodation in the town and also boost our retail sector.

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Indies cock a hoop

A triumph of propaganda over facts say I as the South Tyneside Independent Alliance candidate Allen Branley wins the by election in Westoe ward, South Shields for the vacant seat on South Tyneside Council.

• Allen Branley (Independent Alliance)  694
• Alan West (Labour)  567
• Tony Dailly (Conservative)  320
• Les Lovelock (BNP) 266
• William Troupe (Lib-Dem) 225
• David Wood (Real Independent)  194

The winning candidate, Cllr. Allen Branley was NOT AT THE COUNT where he polled only a third of the votes that he received last time, in fact the strong rumours relayed to me (as yet unconfirmed) suggest that he was celebrating his victory with a glass of his favoured vin de pays somewhere else, perhaps he didn’t share the optimism and confidence shown by some of his colleagues.

The Alliance Independent group will be cock a hoop that their most expensive election campaign so far has resulted in a win over Labour, who at a time when the national polls suggest that everything was going against them managed to reduce the Branley majority massively  from 1259 to 127. The Tories, who ought to have capitalised on the government’s misfortunes managed only to marginally improve their vote from 293 to 320 on a much reduced turn out, an embarrassing result in the circumstances, but they never looked like wanting to add to the three seats that they hold on South Tyneside Council – thankfully they pushed the BNP into fourth place (as the Anti-Fascists demonstrated outside of the town hall). The Lib-Dems look hapless outside of their stronghold in Hebburn and the Real Independent was only there to make up the numbers.

All in all a disappointing result which sees a man returned to a council that he has been thrown off twice in the past for his failure to attend meetings, but hey this is a democracy and we have to respect the judgement of the electorate irrespective of how strange it might look to some of us some of the time.

Update

Today’s Shields Gazette reports, and I am happy to point out, that Cllr. Branley is in Scotland visiting his ill father, not in some other place as some had suggested to me. However I had received these suggestions from a number of varied sources yesterday evening. both political and non political, seems rumours spread like wildfire eh?

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