Curly's Corner Shop, the blog!

Why all of the big fuss?

I cannot understand why the decision of South Tyneside Council to demolish Wouldhave House in the Market Place, South Shields has caused such verbose reaction amongst some of the regular readers of The Shields Gazette (from whom I link to this picture). It is an eyesore, it belongs in a bygone era when buildings needed to be erected quickly and cheaply after wartime damage, function was of far more importance than style or context, and for many years two sides of our Market Place have looked distinctly “out of place”. It’s architecture resembles post war East Germany and we were left with buildings that one could not in all honestly be proud of, but they served a purpose.

The regeneration of the riverside and the Rekendyke Ward has been something that this council of ours, and this blog, have been talking about for at least four years now, and only recently are we starting to see some solid forms rising on land that has been under-used, I actually believe that many of us will eventually get to like the design of the new BT South Tyneside HQ on Harton Staithes, its overall shape evokes the history of the river and its strong links to shipbuilding and repair, especially being so close to docks that once thrived with activity. Its two triangular shaped frontages resemble two giant hulls and point in the general direction of the two docks , Brigham and Cowans and Middle Dock, which operated nearby. We also have a new supermarket in Coronation Street which sympathetically matches the designs of new shops in Waterloo Square and the BT building (many square panels of glass.)

Houses are in the process of being constructed opposite the site of the old Eureka public house in Frederick Street, and much land has been cleared ready for development along the riverside former site of Middle Docks and the former site of Plessey/Circatex. It is good to see, at last, that some progress is being seen to be made, one constant criticism I have made of South Tyneside Labour Council has been its ability to drag its feet on town development, although I must concede in this case that many parcels of land needed to be bought up to make available for developers and this does take some time.

I wonder how many of the verbose critics in the local paper took the time to involve themselves in the consultations which began in 2007 and offered some views or opinions as to how they wanted the future shape of South Shields to evolve?  I wonder too if the constant shrill calls for free car parking are really the answer that we all seek to regenerating the borough’s economic viability and our ability to attract and retain visitors, I think that we have already proven that our parking charges are modest in comparison with our neighbours and that new pay and display areas are not succeeding in turning visitors away! You won’t find hundreds of free car parks in North Shields or Tynemouth, but the shops are still there!

For a while, as Janis Blower rightly asserts, we will have another wide open vista of the riverside which people will be reluctant to lose, but lose it we must! We must hope to find a developer who can create a modern scheme with a traditional background that should include retail units, cafes and restaurants, pubs, and commercial opportunities above and around. For those of you who have visited Hartlepool Marina, I hope you were impressed by the presentation of shops and hotel on the seaward side, I think it is a smart development with its iron palisade and glass covering, attractive enough for a visitor to take an interest in and filled with a good variety of outlets, I honestly could live with something like that on one (or even two) sides of our Market Place. However, what is vitally important to attract the right developer is that the land is available, serviced, and ready to build upon, there is little sense in leaving the north side of the Market Place as it is, it will not attract interest and postponing demolition will only increase the cost needlessly.

Lets get it down while we can, and be determined not to place a car park on it!

What form of development would readers like to see on the north side of South Shields Market Place?

Do readers believe that free parking is the answer to our many problems?

How best should South Tyneside prepare for an eventual upturn in the local economy?

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Any sightings, please pass on to William Hague.

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Which have nothing to do with music or Chelsea!

Apologies for the recent lack of posts in here, I’m going through another of those inexplicable periods that stifles creativity, optimism, the will to write, and a slight depression. Much of it has been brought about by seeing rioters locked away without any real efforts to have them clean up their communities (I knew things were heading in the wrong direction) too many doctors were producing a diagnosis and then prescribing entirely the wrong medicine, the illness will not be cured. Heard a really interesting interview on BBC Radio 5 Live yesterday evening with a former policeman in Glasgow who is now involved in a project to reduce violent crime and gangland culture which has had startling results over the past year, shame it isn’t available as a podcast for you to hear. The crux of his solutions was to offer a stark choice between punishment and reform coupled with multi-partnership early intervention schemes starting with parenting classes and advice centres which put great emphasis on the first three years of life helping (mainly) single parents to introduce empathy, consideration, a realisation of the consequences of poor behaviour, and its effects upon others around you. The scheme also involves parents and teachers working together to reintroduce discipline at school and in the home for children between four and fourteen with rewards for good behaviour and reductions in privileges for poor behaviour. Those who do make the choice to join gangs and enter into a life of criminality in their teens are warned of the “zero tolerance” attitude that their local police will take going right down to the point of possible eviction from social housing, chasing down their mothers if they don’t have a TV Licence, chasing down the family if their car is not taxed, chasing down those who are in arrears with council tax, in other words the police promise to be “in their faces” all day long. Local courts are encouraged to hand down more community sentences which see offenders making real reparations for the damage that they may have caused, they get to meet victims of crime and experience the horrors and fears that many carry with them for life.  On the other hand, if they choose not to display criminal behaviour they will be offered places in schemes which channel their energies in better ways such as football teams, youth groups, apprenticeships, art classes, special interest groups that teach music, video editing, video game programming, all the things that modern teenagers would probably love to do.

Unfortunately such schemes can be costly to run, but economically make good long term sense, particularly if re-offending rates begin to collapse, and they have in Glasgow, no wonder that the Strathclyde Chief Constable is one of the favourites to take over at the Met.

Then to cap off a bad week, the politicians in their wisdom decided that everything was more or less solved so they took off on holiday again!

If that wasn’t bad enough to give you the blues, I don’t what is.

As a typical South Shields football supporting lad I was looking forward to yesterday’s derby match between Sunderland and Newcastle, but now working every Saturday prevents me from going to the Stadium of Light to watch Sunderland, (my visits will have to be restricted to Sunday and mid week games now), but two sessions in front of the box watching Match of the Day have simply added to my depression, two games against Liverpool and The Mags should have netted six points if only our strikers could hit the bloody target! I fear a week of solid ribbing from the black and white half of this town. At least yesterday’s game appears to have been trouble free with only 21 arrests at the ground, which is pretty good from a capacity crowd!

So……….hoping that a bit of cricket this weekend will cheer us all up as England try their hardest to secure a test series whitewash of India, two days left to bowl them out twice for a humiliating innings defeat, at least we can say we’re champions at something! For those poor folk who cannot, or would not, dream of paying for a Sky subscription there’s  always Test Match Special on BBC Radio, probably the best tonic for the blues and depressions, even without the venerable “Johnners” there are enough characters to give you a laugh, I leave you (for now) with this little classic!

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Ill considered words and gestures ramping up repression

It’s OK talking and acting tough if you are getting results that matter to the rest of us, but David Cameron’s performance in the House of Commons yesterday, whilst good for his own authority as PM, does not portend well if he actually means what he says.

The overall impression that Cameron saved the country from burning down by returning from holiday early might look great to some but there is a lot of discomfort behind the headlines. Talking of tracking down and punishing the rioters would be fine if that is what he actually meant, the courts so far have sent out very mixed signals with some lenient sentences and some heavier sentences, but what is apparent is the lust of ordinary people up and down the country to lock young people away and throw away the key. Cameron latched on to this as he abandoned his “hug a hoodie” attitude promising jail terms for those convicted of involvement in the riots and looting, yet surely what we really need to see is armies of strictly supervised young people working at least 40 hours per week in their communities putting right the damage that they have caused. Surely this will have more productive long term benefits than locking them away for foolishly stealing bottled water, in six months some of them may even be on their way towards learning a skill or a trade!

Cameron talked of legislating to increase the sentences available to magistrates, instead of thinking about toughening up referral orders where offenders may only be required to work a few hours per week in the community, and what did he mean by a review of dispersal rules to give a “wider power of curfew”? Something which perhaps might be a terrible burden on the innocent and unaffected. He made pretty overt and open criticism of the Met Police’s failure to deal with the initial outbreak of violence in Tottenham, perhaps unfairly without first praising the bravery of the individual officers who faced that first unruly mob, and it is already coming back to bite him as sections of the police feel rather slighted and Sir Hugh Orde rounded on politicians and the Home Secretary in particular.

On taking office as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher immediately had the police on side with a 40% pay increase, David Cameron does not have that advantage, he faced increasing frustration in the House of Commons yesterday over future police budgets and this argument is now spreading into the wider public forum, his only counter balance is to offer more powers to the police which always carries the risk of repressive policy which does not convey the “consensual policing” that many regard as the cornerstone of British law enforcement. Talking of closing down or restricting the services of certain social networking sites is dangerous and unnecessary,  it is not the services at fault it is the users. Conservative MP Louise Mensch has waded in with this:

“Common sense. If riot info and fear is spreading by Facebook & Twitter, shut them off for an hour or two, then restore. World won’t implode,”

Yet we baulk at the suggestions that other countries such as Burma, Saudi Arabia, Iran, or China take such oppressive action to censor the internet, those few small hours certainly would represent the thin end of the wedge and lead us down a darker path! Paradoxically it might even prevent the emergence of real community spirit evidence by the “broom army” in London. The whole concept of censorship and the choking of information is not something that I welcome, it is inherently not the British way and will damage good journalism (and yes we have to acknowledge that some of the news coverage fed the ambitions of the rioting crowds for a couple of days) resourceful journalist made very good use of Twitter to get around London, Manchester, and Birmingham to cover events and some of their stories and pictures have led to the identification of suspects and consequent arrests.

So we heard a few knee jerk reactions yesterday, the dust is settling, the politicians can resume their holidays, the magistrates will continue to confound, but has this emergency session of Parliament really changed the game? Well, yes it did a little, but not for the common good.

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Standard issue Met Police baton

This is the standard Met issue Arnold baton, I don’t think it has seen a lot of use over the past couple of days, and while plenty of commentators are advocating the use of water canon and armoured vehicles, and even suggesting an imposed curfew (which hurts the innocent law abiding citizen) perhaps we ought to allow the police in London to use what they already have.

For too long now we have treat the feral youths of our capital and other large cities with kid gloves, mollycoddled them at the breast of the mother state, nurtured them with welfare handouts, protected them with Elf ‘n ‘safety concerns, awarded them ASBO badges, Nike shoes, Adidas track suits and hoodies, gold bling, PS3s, Black berries and McDonald’s burgers. Whenever they come into contact with the law they get another caution until after a score of them they face a magistrate and get told to do some community service which is then never carried out, instead they return to do service for the gang scoring a few more deals, and earning a crust by caching knives and “nines” for those hiding further up the drug supply chain. They pay no attention to mother and often do not even know who father is, teachers are only there to be abused or stabbed, and life is no good to them unless they have a 42 inch plasma screen to play Battlefield 3 on. Thuggery is just part and parcel of their street “culture”, it’s a tough life out there man!

Meanwhile the rest of us go to work, strive to make an honest living, pay our taxes to provide more and more “services” for those who refuse to contribute a penny towards them, and over the last three days we have seen the results of our work. Didn’t they thank us for our largesse in the most generous fashion, looting and burning, killing off businesses, scaring people with their insane violence, making some folks homeless, and challenging authority in the most horrible manner imaginable. Perhaps they don’t feel included in our society because they have contributed nothing towards it, but they want, they want, and want more, and even more if it comes freely!

Where the hell did we go wrong? (oops, I think I answered that above.)

David Cameron’s return from holiday makes the riots look even more like a crisis, but at least the recall of Parliament might tie all of our political leaders into a unified deal on how to police the streets, we might hear less of the silly arguments about social conditions, deprivation, joblessness, economic cuts etc. They may be a very small factor, but the overwhelming factor is lawlessness, thuggery, robbery, and violence that has little at all to do with the shooting of Mark Duggan now. It is all about grabbing as much as you can, knowing that the police may be stretched to the limits, it is all about acquiring new status symbols which they feel “entitled” to have.

My hope is that whatever violence ensues around the country tonight or tomorrow will be met by a much stiffer and robust response from the police who are charged with protecting life and property, being overwhelmed by numbers may not be the fullest answer, but it will help them, their foes are not in the business of respecting authority, they might only respect those who stand up to them. Therefore I hope that the Met take advantage of the polycarbonate Arnold baton that they carry, and make bloody good use of it, and perhaps avail themselves of a few plastic baton rounds to cause a little pain and suffering. These riots must be quelled quickly and effectively, the youths must not be allowed to develop guerilla tactics, they do not have a cause to rally to any longer other than sheer greed. Let them be dragged kicking and screaming off the streets of our cities, they must not be allowed to think they own those streets.

And finally, let’s not make the mistake of locking them away for a few weeks at Her Majesty’s pleasure where they will only learn new tricks, they should be physically forced to go out strictly supervised into their communities to put right the damage that they have caused. They should be made to understand the effects of their hideous actions, feel some pain and suffering of their own, they should be kept away from their Blackberries, PS3s, XBoxes, laptops, iPods and iPads, kept away from their fellow gang members and made to stay with mother for twelve hours each night. Mother should be made to forfeit a heavy long term fine too, clearly she doesn’t understand the responsibilities of parenthood!

The events of the last few nights have angered and embarrassed me as an Englishman, so much that it has constrained my libertarian tendency for now, come on what rights without responsibilities do these teenage thugs think they have!

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Beach Road, South Shields 16:45 17th. August 2011

THE introduction of pay and display parking meters near South Marine Park in South Shields will deter visitors coming to the town, critics have claimed……..

Coun Ahmed Khan, Independent Alliance representative for Beacon and Bents, has claimed parking charges were becoming a “cash cow” for the council and predicted that the cost of the residents’ parking permit would spiral year on year.

He said: “The top and bottom is that there is no such thing as a rationalised parking strategy.

“This is purely about one thing, and one thing only, that’s generating extra revenue for the council.

“Increasingly, motorists are being taxed in all kind of ways and it’s becoming obvious that they are, in effect, cash cows, that the council feels can be milked for every last drop.

“This scheme is just the tip of the iceberg. In the next two or three years we are going to see a plethora of these type of schemes, introduced whether or not residents or businesses want them.”

Nice to see that Cllr. Khan is agreeing with me on at least one thing, however I do disagree that these schemes will kill off the town or deter visitors, I took this picture less than an hour ago, it has been a fairly dreary grey and damp Monday in the middle of August with no great reason to be visiting South Shields. Yet, as this picture clearly demonstrates there are only three spaces left available at the end of the afternoon, people are obviously using these spaces and happily (well, perhaps grudgingly) paying for them, even at this late stage of the afternoon usage of these parking spaces is very much as you would normally find on a Monday. Drivers have not been deterred!

We are still generating visitors to the town centre and generating needed revenue, however as the world stares down the gun barrel of economic disaster caused by the building of debt mountains by ever profligate governments, shouldn’t we be looking at every possible way to stop our spending instead of squeezing more money from the people at the bottom of the pile, we are after all the ones you will increasingly rely upon to provide the Holy Grail of economic growth!

The other bi-product generated by this move is the self publicity for a man named as the defendant in a USA court over a pretty unsavoury business, a man who so far has failed to propose any sensible or useful policies that may help South Tyneside Council out during the current economic crisis, and as far as we are aware has failed to make a single policy proposal that has been accepted and could be said to “have made a difference”.

Own goals do not come cheaply.

:: :: :: ::

The gullible and ill informed South Tynesiders willingly sign a petition.

Despite a plethora of ramblings and ill advised comment against his detractors, and there are many, Cllr. David Potts the independent former Conservative councillor for Cleadon Village and East Boldon makes some cogent and lucid observations on his Twitter account about Mr. John Robertson and the petition that he is to present to South Tyneside  Council objecting to the use of tax payer’s cash to legally investigate the alleged author(s) of the Mr. Monkey blog and other internet titles.

Although sadly not available to read online, in a recent Shields Gazette article the bankrupt Mr. Robertson makes more protestations about the affair and the cost so far to council tax payers, and to back up his claims he has produced a petition with hundreds of names of gullible poorly informed South Tyneside people which the council “will consider in due course”. How many of those people are aware of Mr. Robertson’s open and tangible distaste for anything linked to South Tyneside Council is open to question. As is their level of familiarity with his suspended jail sentence for causing £160000 worth of criminal damage to our assets in the course of his dispute with the council, damage which his insurer will have to cover and which will ensure that law abiding drivers will continue to be hit with high premiums! How much do they know of the legal costs expended on their behalf to seek reparations for the criminal behaviour of Mr. Robertson? One wonders also at the level of quality information that Mr. Robertson provided the petitioners about the type of vile, disgusting, personal, and potentially libellous comments published by the author(s) of the range of blogs still left lying around the internet for all to see. Would a petitioner be pleased to find out, for instance, that a relative of theirs may have been painted to be a predatory paedophile and a danger to children simply for photographing public events in the borough? Just one of the type of dangerous, demeaning, and damaging comments aimed at individuals in South Tyneside

As ever with all of those people interconnected with the South Tyneside Independent Alliance, and Mr. Robertson was NOT one of their candidates in last May’s elections, there is a veritable wall of silence regarding the aforementioned type of comments, – no condemnation, no refutations or rebuttals, simply “no comment”, – it is a familiar pattern. Mr. Robertson is another who can add his name to the roll of those with nothing to say on the vilifications. It gives the impression that they are in total denial, as though all of their supporters never flocked to those places, treating them like a semi-official party website.

Yet still we see Mr. Robertson having the brass neck and sheer gall to produce this petition, and to rub salt into the wounds of those personally damaged by the rogue anonymous bloggers he comments on a Shields Gazette article penning himself as “Mr. Monkey”

:: :: :: ::

South Tyneside Council to increase parking revenue in South Shields?

Now that “pay and display” parking is to become the norm in the bottom end of Beach Road South Shields, and despite the protestations or plans of Eric Pickles to end the “war against motorists”, I predict that South Tyneside Council will within a matter of the next two years extend the areas over which it can charge motorists to park in the town. We have already discovered that our parking charges are reasonably economic compared to other tourist haunts in the north-east, so I see an opportunity for our Labour councillors to increase revenue by extending the pay and display areas just as soon as they think it is opportune to do so.

Extra revenue is always welcome to a local authority, and if it is gathered in places where there is a captive market and they can claim that they are attempting to reduce vehicle congestion, then why won’t they? I predict that Bents Park Road, Seafield Terrace, Lawe Road, and even Ocean Road will get to see the familiar machines and more “enforcement officers” all in the due course of time.

It will be a war against Eric Pickles!

:: :: :: ::