Curly's Corner Shop, the blog!

Twitter revelation could help Ryan Giggs

I know we have only briefly skirted around this issue in South Tyneside in the pages of this blog, but I fear that the jubilatory tweets of one of our South Shields councillors may be a little misplaced. His campaign to gain wider publicity for his argument may be gaining ground but the “spin” imparted by respected journalists appears to give the story a new twist.

Following news released in the past week that Twitter (certainly its European division) would be complying with legal based requests for user information, there must have been thousands of concerned users who tweeted Ryan Giggs name, taking a sharp intake of breath. Giggs lawyers may now see a way of gaining some information about who leaked his name on Twitter.

Tony Wang, the company’s head of European operations, warned last week that it would not seek to protect users’ confidential information when legally required to hand it over.

He said the most the company could do was to inform users before it released their details, to give them a chance to challenge the rulings in court.

Both news outlets tie the two stories together linking the Ryan Giggs mass disobedience issue with the Monkey business here in South Tyneside, in one fell swoop/spin the alleged owners of the five Twitter accounts involved here have been tarnished with the broad brush of  law breaking or contempt of court, whilst the plaintiffs are made to look like the good guys.

Oops!

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Local Conservative gets down where it matters

He’s like Sir Alex Ferguson, well beaten but willing to learn from the experience.

I have to say I’m impressed by this early indication from Mr. Ali Hayder of his desire to get involved in grassroots issues, he has taken onboard some the advice dispensed from this blog in the run up to the 2011 local government elections in South Tyneside and decided that the long run up to the next big match up starts now. There is a lesson here for all of the defeated Conservative candidates at the start of this month that if they want to improve the prospects of Tories in twelve months time then they need to be out and about in their communities building up a base of support and involving local residents in small campaigns that make a difference to their own lives. It is NOT rocket science!

All candidates will have heard mumbles and grumbles IF they were taking the time to knock on doors and speak to people during the election campaign, and just as the wily Sir Alex Ferguson will ring some changes very shortly then so should our two local Conservative Associations in Jarrow and South Shields. It ought not be too difficult to find a dozen members of the public willing to join the party if they see that a representative is publicly involved in pressing those issues that matter to them. All it then needs is for each new party member to sign up an additional two friends or relatives and before you know it you could have increased the membership to around a hundred in a ward! Now think what could be achieved if just 25% of them were willing to help distribute literature at election time, they need only work in their own street or a couple around them.

I take my hat off to Mr. Hayder, the former business owner is using his time profitably and impressing upon people that local Conservatives have a role in the community and that he has every intention of engaging with them on a long term basis to improve the relationship between themselves and the party. It is important that the people of South Shields and Jarrow get to see that Conservative activists look and sound exactly like any other neighbour in their street and feel the same angst about the issues that concern each other, the party needs to show that it is NOT made up solely of Eton educated plummy sounding “toffs” as depicted by its opponents, it is simply not the case!

Keep at it Mr. Hayder and shout the message loud and clear at your party meetings that Tories need to be out campaigning all year round!

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Good politicians can normally sense the public mood.

Even down at local levels here in South Shields and the wider South Tyneside the more astute political operators tend to have good feel for the public mood, a councillor who is regularly in close contact with his/her constituents develops a great listening ability and acquires the sort of empathy required to know when, how, where and why to make the big decisions. Those who have enjoyed a long welcome with repeated election victories tend to know why they have proved popular and also recognise exactly when they may have become unpopular and risked the wrath of electors.

One such politician was the former leader of South Tyneside Council Paul Waggott, who after a series of miscalculations at least foresaw the change in public mood in his own Fellgate and Hedworth ward as well as within his own local Labour Party, he instinctively knew that the time was right to withdraw from public service. Having made and stuck to his decision he was able to retire from the arena with some honour and dignity, earning the praise of his party colleagues and the wider community after years of public service.

There have been others whose ears have not been so finely tuned in to public opinion and failed to see that after losing the larger part of a sizeable majority that the writing was on the wall, and that their prolonged stay at the crease was not exactly helping to score runs for their team mates. Those who failed to attend the minimum required amount of meetings in South Shields Town Hall come to mind, the late Harry Richardson was removed from the council in the late 1970s and both Mr. and Mrs. Branley suffered the same fates more recently, voters took their revenge by slashing their respective majorities. However Cllr. J. Branley, in particular, does  have a good ear, and I’d be very surprised if she is not working hard to persuade the people of Westoe ward that she is still the right sort of councillor to represent them, time and her antennae, will tell her whether or not to seek re-election at the end of her term.

All of this leads me to question the decision taken by the independent councillor David Potts to carry on as a sitting councillor for Cleadon and East Boldon. It was almost five months ago that he announced his intentions to resign from the Conservative Party and from South Tyneside Council, yesterday we learned that he had rescinded his decision to resign his seat and that he intends to carry on as a ward councillor, yet only five days ago writing in this blog Cllr. Potts declared that he was undecided about his future:

“Hi Curly. I really haven’t decided yet. I guess that for some of those who dislike me it must feel like life is full of disappointments.”

He went on to complain about Jarrow Conservative Association’s record of failure and also opined that they have

“some of the most odious people I have ever had the misfortune to meet. It was a daily battle trying to deal with the morons.”

Having originally resigned from the party after calling South Shields’ Labour MP David Miliband a w***er Potts admitted that his condition led him to say “nasty” things that he later regretted. Following his “resignation” other councillors from all sides of the political spectrum wished him well with his recovery and looked for an improvement in his personal condition, Cllr. Iain Malcolm the Labour Leader of South Tyneside Council expressed the hope that one day Cllr. Potts might once more have a contribution to make to political life in the borough, however, I do not believe that any of them envisaged that the contribution might come so soon.

A brief cursory look at the comments appended to the Shields Gazette report indicates that the public mood is not wholly receptive to Cllr. Potts’ decision, and many who I have spoken to over the past 24 hours reflect this mood, admittedly NONE of them live in the Cleadon Village and East Boldon ward. David asserts that he has fair support within the ward:

“I had every intention of resigning, but after the Gazette’s story I was inundated with calls to stay on. I have been deeply humbled by the hundreds of telephone calls and letters of support I have received from residents and business people.”

Perhaps he would care to provide Miss Ward with some of these tetimonials for publication.

I am not personally sure that his judgement on this issue has reflected wider public opinion, nor will it have taken into account the reactions of his former colleagues in the Jarrow Conservative Association, who have yet to make a public statement, but I would urge David to carefully consider his future over the coming three years before coming to any decision to seek re-election, he will not need reminding that he lost a great deal of his previous majority in 2010 and was fortunate to scrape home past Labour’s Joan Atkinson. I would urge him to consider the views of Conservative voters in the ward and decide NOT to stand against any official Conservative candidate in the future, we are now left with only one Tory councillor within the borough and it would be a tragedy to see the party wiped from the political map of South Tyneside, and it would damaged David’s personal esteem further if he put himself in the firing line for opprobrium from the electors of Cleadon Village and East Boldon.

Much as I liked Cllr. Potts’ combative style in the council chamber and his media presence, I have to ask if the recent events in his journey have damaged his political antennae?

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A true champion of the north-east

I was saddened to read recently of the death of Lord Elliott of Morpeth, or Bill Elliott as he wished to remind us, he passed away four days ago at the grand age of 90 and for 25 years was the Member of Parliament for Newcastle North, a reminder that we DO NOT necessarily always elect Labour MPs in this part of the world.

Even  though during those years between 1957 and 1983 Labour still held the majority of seats up here, Conservatives were returned in Tynemouth, Newcastle North, Berwick, Hexham, and Stockton and their members included the likes of Harold MacMillan, Geoffrey Ripon, Bill Elliott, Dame Irene Ward, and Neville Trotter who were all seen as indefatigable champions for this corner of England. No matter what their background they stood their ground against a line of Prime Ministers or civil servants whenever they saw a threat to the livelihood of thier constituents and this region.

Lord Elliott was essentially a farmer before becoming involved in Conservative Party politics and first tested the waters with two  election defeats in Morpeth, his home territory before winning Newcastle North in 1957, I remember that he was quite a regular visitor to South Shields and was generally an affable and fun bloke to be around. As President of the Northern Area Conservative Party he tirelessly worked to improve the condition of local Conservative Associations throughout the north of England, and as a great friend of South Shields GP John McKie often attended meetings and fund raising events for the party here.

I have a particular memory of his work promoting politics amongst younger people when he held a fund raising event at his family home just off the A1 at Seaton Burn in 1978 as the party geared itself up for Margaret Thatcher’s first election victory. Having advertised a “barbecue and disco” throughout the branches of the Young Conservatives he extended it by selling tickets to anyone between the ages of 18 and 35 who were interested in attending, security considerations were not high on the agenda in those days. He had Newcastle and Sunderland decorated with posters promoting the event and bought advertising space on Radio Metro, it promised to be quite an evening! A few of us in South Shields bought tickets and our non drinking drivers headed north through the Tyne Tunnel to join about  500 guests who partied into the night with calypso music from a steel band and a disco presented by Metro Radio’s Bill Steele,  we also  found Bill Elliott flipping his home made burgers on the barbecue and helping out behind the bar, he was in his element! He had this easy going manner which made conversation a pleasure and an ability to communicate at any level, he was certainly just like most Geordies who loved a chinwag, and this was his way of raising much needed cash to be shared around constituencies like South Shields and Jarrow who found fund raising a little tougher than others.

Having already spent twenty years as one of Newcastle’s MPs he had a wide circle of friends throughout the north-east and hardly ever turned down an invitation to visit a constituency associaton to lend his organisational support. Nor did he restrict his activities to his own constituency, early in his political career he found success in helping a young lad from Jarrow:

Elliott reached the Commons in March 1957 at a further by-election, caused by the elevation of Gwilym Lloyd George, the former Home Secretary, to the peerage as Lord Tenby. The contest at Newcastle North was trickier than it looked because the Conservative association had split in 1950 over the choice of Lloyd George, and a former lord mayor threatened to stand as a Liberal. In the event, Elliott took the seat in a straight fight with Labour.

Almost at once, Macmillan handed Elliott a chance to score some runs. A 17-year-old man, Derek Wiscombe, from Jarrow, had applied for a licence to carry furniture and building materials, planning to trade in his pony and cart for a lorry once he passed his driving test. Local hauliers, and the state-owned Pickfords, objected and the application was rejected.

Macmillan read the story in the papers, sounded off about “tyrannical bureaucracy” and suggested that Elliott, who had experience of haulage as a farmer, set up a fund to get Wiscombe a lorry and teach him to drive. Elliott helped with his next application, and Wiscombe was granted a licence to carry furniture, on a lorry with L plates; a rival handed over some business as a “free gift”. Macmillan closed the file with the single word: “Good.”

Unfortunately, and despite the great results for the Conservatives in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, those constituencies which were not already Conservative seats or marginals failed to build upon the frameworks put in place by Bill Elliott and developed by the professional agents in Newcastle and their organisational strength is as bad now as it was then.

Bill Elliott was a force for good in the north east, he had pride in our region and sought to prevent it becoming a backwater passed over by Westminster and Whitehall, he carried our standard in Parliament and abroad as promoted our region and our workforce, even during the hardships endured as our heavy industries declined, even though his majority continued to fall as the boundaries of Newcastle North were constantly changed, and in 1983 it was to disappear from the map completely, he turned down the offer of a safer seat.

He will be sadly missed.

Full obituary in the Daily Telegraph.

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John Hemming MP challenges super injunction by naming Ryan Giggs in House of Commons

How does the government really intend to deal with the issues that these super injunctions have thrown up?

With “contempt” being shown by many thousands across the UK and the rest of the world, The Scottish Sunday Herald publishing Gigg’s picture on its front page yesterday, and now every newspaper, the BBC and other media outlets rightly reporting the proceedings in Parliament, the law has really been made to look an “ass”. Any law which does not have the popular consent required to legitimise it, or which fails to be adjusted in line with the national character, must be seen as a bad law. Let us be clear, nobody is denying that there are good uses for injunctions which prevent certain actions, but there must be clarity, openness, honesty and transparency, the courts must be open in the majority of cases for the press to report freely. A “super injunction” is little more than a gagging order sought by those with very deep pockets, who now look increasingly silly as they enrich certain legal firms in the sure knowledge that they and the courts have no power at all to stop people openly gossiping. Our journalists, newspapers and broadcast media deserve to be able to report freely, we are NOT supposedly living in state controlled conditions just yet!

Dominic Grieve’s response to John Hemming’s question was as flaccid and powerless as the decisions made in the High Court, the government’s Law Officers need to find a far more responsive approach which fits with what a modern society requires.

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Newcastle scrapyard fire seen from West Park, South Shields

Perceptions and/or deceptions

I had some pictures to drop off and was just driving back into South Shields town centre when I spotted the huge pall of smoke rising into the sky

“somewhere down by the river or Town Hall”, I told Mrs. Curly.

As we approached the Town Hall I thought that it was rather a lot of smoke, perhaps they were burning a load of old rubbish leaflets belonging to the Independent Alliance or even the mystical missing ballot boxes, but no, my perceptions were wrong again, it was definitely down by the river, this time I plumped for Aker McNulty’s yard. Wrong again, as we got down to Commercial Road I knew it had been a deception.

“The wood yards at Tyne Dock” Mrs. Curly suggested,

yet as we drove along the Jarrow Road it was plain that her perceptions were wrong too, by now the plumes of smoke had begun to resemble one of those monstrous tornadoes that rip through the mid west of America. There was an acrid burning smell permeating through the car as we headed towards Victoria Road and from Jarrow it was plain to see that there was a large fire in……….Wallsend, yes, it must be Wallsend.

Did a drop in Hebburn and decided that this fire was not going to deceive me again so we headed for the Riverside Park and it was obvious from the marina that this enormous conflagration was taking place somewhere in either Walker or Byker, (click the thumbnail below for a larger view). By then I had tuned to BBC Radio Newcastle to discover the truth, yes the sheer size of this fire had played tricks with our perceptions and deceived us both, apparently the plume of smoke, now rising some 500 feet into the air, could be seen by listeners as far away as Redcar, Hartlepool, Durham, Alnwick, and the Farne Islands! Another media event not to be missed today, with all sorts of misinformation fed into the mix.

Which reminds me, Andy Hughes, a reporter for the Newcastle Journal and Chronicle had another story published today (was it perhaps based on old  rumours?) , which apparently went up in smoke -  at least in their internet editions – “independent” Cllr. Potts appears to be pleased that that one has ended up as ashes, but the embers remain and his detractors at least want to see the end of another deception, that of announcing his resignation, but….err……not just yet.

My nostrils tell me that there is a smouldering fire burning beneath the Conservatives in the Jarrow constituency and it should have been extinguished some time ago, left untended, these fires can suddenly blow up in your face again!

I think this may also have been the “big one” that someone wanted to drop into my ear on Tuesday, you just never know with the amount of misinformation that floats around in South Tyneside…….

Now, I thought I linked those two together rather neatly!

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New opposition group – whose idea was this?

So South Tyneside Council revealed it had a new “official” opposition yesterday, with a new group leader Cllr. Steve Harrison (Fellgate and Hedworth), it includes two Progressives, one Conservative, one Liberal Democrat, two Real Independents, and two other independents, it does NOT include Cllrs. Geraldine White or David Potts and its formation ensures fewer committee seats for the South Tyneside Independent Alliance.

Either the new group of eight has some highly motivated and astute mathematicians and movers amongst its membership, or on the other hand, people who are very receptive to new imaginative ideas! Their spokesman is likely to be South Shields Cllr. George Elsom (Cleadon Park) rather than their leader who tells us that there are no formal agreements, arrangements, meetings, or structure!

My big question is, who proposed this grouping?

“Astute” is a word not to be bandied about with gay abandon. Your whispers or hints (including reasons for Cllr. White’s departure from the Independent Alliance) can easily be left using the Contact page!

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Mayor Jim Sewell and his family

A pictorial essay of making a Mayor

As promised here are a few pictures from yesterday’s meeting of South Tyneside District Council (you can click on them all to see larger versions), they show the new Mayor Cllr. Jim Sewell and his wife Rose Marie welcoming members of their family to the event and also Deputy Mayor Cllr. Eileen Leask and her husband Peter.

I am aware too that some readers may never have been inside South Shields Town Hall to see the magnificent craftsmanship that went into creating one of the best public buildings in the north of England, these pictures show the ante room to the council chamber and the interior of the Mayor’s Parlour with their lavish panels of English oak and decorative plaster ceilings.

You will see the new Mayor nervously preparing himself for his first meeting in the chair, his family beginning to arrive and familiarise themselves with the surroundings, the “official” photographer at work, the outgoing Mayoress Alma Piggott receiving a bouquet, the new Mayor relaxing with his wife in the Mayor’s Parlour, and the new Deputy Mayor relaxing after the meeting.

My thanks go to Cllr. Sewell for inviting me along to take these pictures to share with you, and I wish him great success during his year as Mayor of South Tyneside.

If you would like to see a few more “stylish” editions of these pictures, I’ll publishing them in South Shields Daily Pictures over the next week or so.

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Full house!

I’m not the only one who had a busy day, our newly elected councillors in South Tyneside were in South Shields Town Hall for the Annual Meeting of the borough council, it must have been nerve racking and a little tense for the newcomers, it is always a big occasion as a new Mayor and Deputy Mayor are installed and new committee chairs are announced. I was asked by Cllr, Jim Sewell to  take some pictures of himself, his wife, and close family as he enjoys the honour of becoming the first citizen of the borough, I was flattered and a bit awestruck by the size of Jim’s extended family. I was hoping to grab some relaxing shots of himself and his family in the Mayor’s Parlour, but looking at the size of his guest list I think they would easily have filled the Town Hall forecourt!

I can imagine that the Annual Meeting is a day filled with pride for a new Mayor and Mayoress, indeed many former Mayors have told me of the trepidation that they felt upon facing chairing their first meeting, Jim was no different, although he appeared calm and relaxed in the ante room an hour before the meeting he was actually worried sick that some of his travelling relatives might not arrive on time for the start of the meeting. I wished that I could have stayed but needed to be in two places at once today, so had to dash away and return later for more pictures. It gives me the opportunity of showing off our new Mayor to the world (I do like to promote our corner of Tyneside) and I’ll give you all a look at his family with a bit of a picture special tomorrow.

Like the State Opening of Parliament, our Annual Meeting is getting to be a bit of a fashion event with some snazzy dressing up going on, Cllr. John McCabe again arrived in full Scottish costume minus the bagpipes, Cllr. Anne Walsh looked like she was ready to fly off to Dublin to meet the Queen,  Cllr. “longlegs” Welsh was looking very chic in a stylish catwalk creation, and Deputy Mayor Eilleen Leesk’s husband Peter had found a tie fashioned from the flock wallpaper of his favourite restaurant to go with his smart grey suit. I dressed in pink……oops!

As is normal on these days, the new Mayor holds a Civic reception after the meeting with a buffet and refreshments for the many guests who had travelled from all parts of the country to join him and wish him well for the forthcoming year, and also, as is usual, some of those councillors who happily spend the rest of the year publishing newsletters bemoaning how much of our money other councillors spend on “refreshments” were seen to be sauntering around (you guessed it) wine glass in hand enjoying the refreshments!

Good to see veteran Progressive councillor Jimmy Capstick too, glad he’s out and about with a decent healthy colour in his cheeks, and happy that he’s slowly getting over his recent illness.

Also had a few nudges and whispers from some, and the promise of big news from another, I wonder that could be all about?

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Is an hotel option still on?

Interesting piece in the Shields Gazette which looks at the options available for prospective buyers or lessees of the former C J Garland call centre near Comical Corner on the riverside in South Shields, which helped me to recall this post from May of last year.

Estate agents King Sturge and Sanderson Weatherall are working together to either sell or rent the property, and say they are prepared to listen to sensible offers, rather than setting a fixed price. David Jackson, of Sanderson Weatherall, said: “We’ve had a good level of interest so far, and this is very much a work in progress.

“We’ve had a mixture of enquiries. Most of the interest is coming from the office sector, but it has also been looked at from a residential perspective.

“It is fully equipped as a call centre, and it also has potential for use as a hotel.”

He added: “At present, we have not had any offers that are at the level that is acceptable, but we remain very positive that we will find a suitable user for the building.”

I still keep seeing quite a good prospective hotel down there in the model of Travelodge rather than a more upmarket operation, however some of the other ideas that I floated at the time might still be runners, particularly office space with restaurant and/or convenience shops on the ground floor (there is a good market of customers just yards away). Speaking to residents during the recent election campaign brought the response that South Tyneside Council did not need to build the new BT South Tyneside HQ at Harton Staithes when this former call centre was available and standing empty, however it is too late to think this way, plans for the BT building needed to be formalised and put in place long before C J Garland announced their own demise.

I no longer see the Maritime Museum idea as having legs, especially during times of economic constraint, it is a pity, but a stark reality, the site still has enormous potential to provide new employment opportunities, so what would local people really want to see, and how could they influence the outcome?

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