Miliband resisting calls

Gordon is the right leader etc.

Just as I speculated on 5th. May, South Shields MP and Foreign Secretary David Miliband is resisting calls to join a fratricidal destruction of the Labour Party and an assassination of Gordon Brown. Guido reads between the lines of Miliband’s appearance on Newsnight yesterday and concludes that the knife is in Miliband’s pocket but it will not come out until the day after the next election, a la Heseltine.

I hope they don’t have a night watchman lined up for use between now and then.

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Silly season underway?

Signing speculations before season ends

Right so we already know that Roy Keane is planning a clearout of the deadwood at the Stadium of Light this summer, players who have a contract that ends this season will not be offered a new one, and that includes people like Andrew Cole (wanted at Burnley), Dwight Yorke (wants to stay as a coach), Stanislav Varga, Stephen Wright and Ian Harte. Peter Hartley, Gavin Donoghue, Billy Dennehy and Jake Richardson - all first-year professionals at Sunderland - are also due to leave the club in June.

There are also question marks over the futures of Graham Kavanagh, Greg Halford and Russell Anderson (wanted by Plymouth Argyle), and I’m sure that Keane will also be prepared to listen to offers on Michael Chopra, Darryl Murphy, Ross Wallace, Anthony Stokes, Danny Higginbotham, and Dickson Etuhu.

However, the silly season seems to be underway before we have got the final game kicked off! It starts with goalkeeper Craig Gordon suggesting that Sunderland might beat Arsenal on Sunday so perhaps I’ll be looking for flying pigs on Sunday afternoon. Unless Nyron Nosworthy has a sudden return to top form alongside Johnny Evans then the chances are that Arsenal, despite having nothing to play for, will entertain the Miliband family crowds and run out eventual winners. If Craig is fortunate to be right I’ll be overjoyed, and show my arse in Binns window!

The rumour mill is already turning with stories linking the Black Cats with another bid for Uruguayan Diego Forlan currently with Atletico Madrid where he has scored 19 goals in 43 appearances this season. The next striker to arouse the interest of the press is West Ham’s 25 year old Carlton Cole, although somehow I don’t think that £2m would be enough to tempt the Irons to part with the England under 21 player. With only six goals from 25 appearances this season I don’t think he’ll really add much value to a Sunderland squad looking for some real quality.

While I’m here I’ve just been informed of the emergence of a new website which carries thousands of football fan’s favourite chants, Fanschants.com has put together a huge collection of recordings from clubs and terraces around the leagues in the UK and has made them available to either listen to or download as .mp3s and ringtones. These are ideal for those people who like and are able to use this facility as a ringtone for their mobile phone. You can listen to or download Sunderland songs and chants, including some of the older ones from Roker Park here.

Perhaps Iain Dale would like to be “Forever blowing bubbles” out of his tinkly phone, or Bob Piper might like to recall “When I was just a little boy”, and Dizzy’s phone could blurt out the “Banks of the Royal Blue Mersey”.

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What a waste

Britain throws away £10bn of food every year

It’s the talking point of the morning, Dizzy Thinks picked it up at an early hour and Victoria Derbyshire is debating it on Radio 5 Live right now, after this article appeared in today’s Independent.

Each day, according to the government-backed report, Britons throw away 4.4 million apples, 1.6 million bananas, 1.3 million yoghurt pots, 660,000 eggs, 550,000 chickens, 300,000 packs of crisps and 440,000 ready meals. And for the first time government researchers have established that most of the food waste is made up of completely untouched food products – whole chickens and chocolate gateaux that lie uneaten in cupboards and fridges before being discarded.

The roll call of daily waste costs an average home more than £420 a year but for a family with children the annual cost rises to £610.

The Environment minister, Joan Ruddock, said:

“These findings are staggering in their own right, but at a time when global food shortages are in the headlines this kind of wastefulness becomes even more shocking. This is costing consumers three times over. Not only do they pay hard-earned money for food they don’t eat, there is also the cost of dealing with the waste this creates. And there are climate- change costs to all of us of growing, processing, packaging, transporting and refrigerating food that only ends up in the bin. Preventing waste in the first place has to remain a top priority.”

Dizzy sees a law of unintended consequences as the nanny state tells us to get rid of food that is near, on, or past it’s use by date, and wonders if the Independent would scream the same big headlines if it were found out that we were consuming food that carried the slightest risk that it was “going off”. Derbyshire’s programme is carrying the full gamut of opinions from those calling us all greedy, even though we are going through a period of world food shortages and price rises, and those who call themselves “freegans” existing on a diet of food thrown out by others (yes there are such people in Britain who eat quite healthily by this method.) The anti consumerist/corporatist lobby isw also in there too blaming the supermarkets - it’s all their fault that we make the decisions that we do about food.

One of the best quotes that I heard this morning came from a “freegan” on the radio;

“There’s more than enough to cater for our needs, but not enough to cater for our greed”.

And this perhaps is the point that Dizzy misses, we make poor choices and our decisions are not rational when it comes to food shopping, sure supermarkets have tried and tested methods of promoting products (buy one get one free, buy a pack of six at a discounted rate etc.) but too many people have a lifestyle that dictates one big weekly shop instead of perhaps shopping a little more often and only buying what we essentially need. We are all prone to falling for the impulse purchase as we wander around the supermarkets filling our trolley to capacity, and they do make a point of putting the big promotional deals on gondola ends where we are more likely to see them. On those special occasions during the year such as Christmas and Easter we go out and behave as though we imagine the shops will be closed for a week, when in most cases the supermarkets will be closed for no more than a day or too whils your local shops will probably remain open. Without doubt I have seen families shopping in Asda and Tesco in South Shields filling three or four trollies at these times of year knowing full well that the contents of one of those trollies will be wasted as the food “goes off” before we have a chance to eat it.

It all seems rather mad!

I cannot agree with those who blame the supermarkets for this behaviour, it’s our choice yet we don’t tend to make the right choice, and I accept Dizzy’s point that we even make the wrong choices once we get the food home and into the fridge. Supermarkets have got much better at managing their own waste, food which is nearing it’s sell by date is often reduced to move it off the shelf quicker, there is no advantage to them in filling their skips with waste food (they pay a high price for having their waste collected so they like to cut the costs here too.) Smaller outlets and local shops also have mechanisms in place to reduce the amount of waste they produce, I like to recall the name used by one of my former work colleagues who describes a shop in Frederick Street, South Shields as “second hand Greggs”, it may sound disrespectful but the company is using this one outlet to sell off it’s products at discounted rates simply because they are now 24 hours old, but at least they are not throwing it all away. Others have arrangements to have food waste collected and reprocessed and recycled as animal feeds, again to prevent waste collection charges and as a positive measure to reduce landfill.

So business and retailers are doing their bit, it is the consumer who is failing to recognise the consequences of their own poor choices and decisions that results in such a mountain of waste, yet it need not be so. My mother made a virtue of using left overs to make a second nutritional meal for the family, my father even recycled chicken bones to make soups, and by consuming little and more often we are likely to buy only the things we really need rather than over indulging our fantasies about what we can actually eat in a week.

It may not help the “freegans” if we waste less, it may not help Tesco if we buy less, but hey it might help the family budget as food prices rise and shortages become more apparent. Market, price, supply, and demand, more often than not help to even things out, that’s the beauty of Adam Smith’s invisible hand.

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In a hole……….

………..but still digging!

The Times has the results of a poll today which shows that more than 50% of Labour supporters want Gordon Brown to go, more alarming for his government is the feeling that a Cabinet reshuffle will not improve Labour’s chances, without doubt the Prime Minister is in a deep hole, yet he carries on digging!

“Da Fink” has an interesting post in the same newspaper with advice from “someone” who worked inside the Major government between late 1995 and 1997, they outline ten things that Brown should now expect. (Some wonderful comments in there)

An added extra that ought to have been included - expect old decisions to come back and bite you in the bum (while you are bent double still digging).

However, don’t expect to read any stories of Brown tucking his shirt tails into his underpants, or of having an affair with Margaret Beckett!

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New South Tyneside Blog

The Chief Whip

A new politically non-aligned blogger has taken his place amongst the small group of us in South Tyneside, with it’s focus firmly set on the day to day business of South Tyneside Council and it’s personalities, The Chief Whip offers an informative insight to local politics and aims to complement local blog activity rather than rival it. The first prediction that The Chief Whip makes is that Cllr. Michael Claire will become the new Leader of South Tyneside Council with Iain Malcolm remaining as Deputy Leader (because of other work commitments.)

I’m adding the Chief Whip to the side bar.

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Labour wakes up

Labour Home has come back to life

After lying dormant for a couple of days Labour Home has stirred itself back to life with an announcement that Gwyneth Dunwoody’s daughter Tamsin will contest the Crew and Nantwich by election, another post urges members not to contemplate a change in leadership, whilst a third inexplicably spreads the rumours that Jack Straw and David Miliband are considering leadership bids.

They seem to be in a right old spin!

Things seem very quiet on the South Tyneside front as the Labour Party prepares to crown a new leader here, but at least they knew what to expect last Thursday.

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London liberated!

Boris wins!

Boris Johnson delivered the coup de grace as the Conservative sweep across the country culminated in a stunning and comprehensive massacre for Gordon Brown’s Labour Party in the nation’s capital. The former journalist and Spectator Editor made a gracious acceptance speech even thanking “Red Ken” Livingstone for his contribution to London’s affairs, Tim Montgomery at Conservative Home was not too impressed;

ConservativeHome doesn’t share Boris Johnson’s generous assessment of Ken Livingstone although we respect Boris for being kind in victory. As Mayor, Ken Livingstone cuddled up to some of the world’s most odious dictators - including Chavez and Castro - and also invited Islamic extremists to London - notably Yusuf al-Qaradawi. He was an embarrassment to London and we are delighted he is no longer the Mayor of our capital city. Muslim supremacists have lost their greatest western political ally. Over on the Platform, Paul Goodman MP looks at how Muslim extremists attempted to keep Livingstone in office and how moderate, mainstream Muslims are increasingly playing a role in the Conservative Party.

Oh well, at least Londoners have been liberated from all of that political posturing, but I bet they’ll still be lumbered with the dreaded congestion charges for a long time yet.
What puzzled me about London, the world’s financial centre and one of the foremost modern cities on the planet, was that it staged an election which took for ever to produce the result! Apparently counting machines were used and the result came through at almost midnight yesterday, yet at general elections they can get a result in a few hours!

I’ve just been listening to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith being sent down interviewed on Radio 5 Live, and for about the sixth time in the last 24 hours I’ve heard a government minister bleating away about examining Conservative policies a bit more closely, and listening to people outside of Westminster. If I hear these words trotted out once more I’ll scream! Why do they  have to make it so obvious that they’ve all received the same bloody briefing sheet, they are still treating us with contempt!

For the record Jacqui, the electorate are not telling Labour that you need to listen and that we’d like you to put right all of the problems that we face right now such as increased living costs, increased energy bills, increased fuel prices, uncontrolled immigration, falling house prices, increased council taxes, increased food prices, punitive taxes for the low paid, stolen pensions, two wars, and numerous failed promises. You have had eleven years to put these things right and you have failed,no amount of messages about Gordon Brown being a “serious politician” is going to change things now, the message that the electorate is sending to Labour is that we’ve had enough of you, had enough of Gordon Brown after only eleven months, and that it’s time to GO!

Brown’s stock is so heavily damaged after Thursday’s massacre that it cannot recover over the next two years, these wounds will prove to be fatal, the momentum has irreversibly changed and unless the Labour Party sees sense and replaces it’s unelected leader it faces another long period in opposition after the next election (which it will lose in any case.)

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Election night live blog

00:32 Conservatives have taken five seats from Labour in Sunderland - yes you read that right, five seats! If only they could get properly organised in South Tyneside.

In Sunderland they stood under the name “Local Conservatives”, biggest surprise is taking two wards in Washington, higher turnout in Conservative seats than Labour seats.

00:47 Guido has a live chat it’s err “interesting”

00:51 Conservative Home’s live blog reports that one of the Conservative gains in Sunderland moved the candidate from third to first place in the ward.

00:56 High turnout (44.6%) in Horsley Hill, where Arthur Meeks is defending for Labour in South Tyneside.

00:58 Labour lose Horsley Hill in South Tyneside to Independent Gordon Finch (former Progressive) 141 majority for Finch, unexpected result?

01:09 Tories now quarter of the way towards gaining 200 seats nationally.

01:16 44.6% turnout in Horsley Hill, if this is replicated in Beacon and Bents it will not bode well for defending Labour councillor John Wood.

01:17 Recount in Harton ward of South Tyneside, Jimmy Capstick(Progressive) in a spot of bother, Neil Maxwell (Labour) hoping to make a political comeback for Labour

01:22 41.5% turnout in Fellgate and Hedworth (South Tyneside) where Labour’s Leader Paul Waggott is defending

01:23 Five South Tyneside wards report turnouts of over 40%, Labour ought to be cautious, traditionally these numbers do not favour good results for them.

01:28 Huge 48% turnout in Cleadon Village and East Boldon (South Tyneside) expect a strong result for Conservative Jeff Milburn.

01:29 Capstick (Progressive) holds Harton ward (South Tyneside) by only three votes, Tory beaten into fourth place by BNP

01:29 Ahmed Khan takes Beacon and Bents (South Tyneside) for Independents by more than 400 votes from sitting Labour councillor, and former Mayor, John Wood. Conservative again beaten by BNP.

01:43 Independents gain another seat from Labour in South Tyneside, John Hodgson (a former Labour councillor) wins in Monkton ward defeating Labour’s Terry Fairley by 109.

01:46 Independent Allen Branley holds Westoe ward (South Tyneside) by huge margin over Fay Cunningham for Labour. (1259 majority)

01:52 Conservative have now nett gains of over 100 seats nationally.

01:55 Harton result has been removed from council website, is there another recount?

01:58 How much money has Ahmed Khan spent? I did warn he was determined to win!

02:00 South Tyneside’s Labour Leader has lost his seat in Fellgate and Hedworth to former Labour councillor Geraldine White (122 majority for the Independent.) It was predicted.

02:01 Cllr. Iain Malcolm to take over as Labour Group Leader on South Tyneside Council?

02:03 Joanne Bell holds Boldon Colliery (South Tyneside for Labour.

02:04 Joe Abbott (Lib-Dem) holds Hebburn North in South Tyneside.

02:06 John McCabe (Labour) holds Hebburn South in South Tyneside

02:09 Comfortable hold for Labour’s Ed Malcolm in Simonside and Rekendyke, South Tyneside

02:10 Labour Mayor Tracey Dixon holds Whitburn and Marsden, Fiona Milburn turns in a creditable performance for the Conservatives (if only Harry had stood again.)

02:11 Terry Haram holds Whiteleas for the Real Independents against a very strong challenge from Labour’s Doreen Purvis, (majority is down to only 70 votes.)

02:17 Veteran Labour councillor Tom Hanson beats off challenge from South Tyneside Independents in Bede ward

02:19 Jim Perry (Labour) wins from BNP in Primrose ward, another poor result for the Conservatives in South Tyneside

02:25 Jeff Milburn (Conservative) holds Cleadon Village and East Boldon with almost 38% of the vote.

02:26 Still waiting to see if Progressives have held West Park

02:29 Heart attack time for Labour in Biddick Hall and All Saints! Anne Walsh holds the seat for Labour with only ten votes to spare from Independent Steve Pattison!

02:30 Alex Donaldson holds Cleadon Park, South Tyneside for Labour, majority reduced to 113 over Independent.

02:33 Enid Hetherington holds West Park, South Tyneside for the Progressives.

02:35 Make up of South Tyneside Council is now: Labour 31 seats, Independent Alliance 12 seats, Progressives 5 seats, Conservatives 3 seats, Lib-Dems 3 seats. Labour has had a bad night losing four seats to the “hard left” Independents (Horsley Hill, Beacon and Bents, Fellgate and Hedworth, and Monkton.) The Conservatives have had a lacklustre performance here too, apart from Cleadon Village and East Boldon, and Whitburn and Marsden. Their neighbours elsewhere in the north-east have fared better. The Independents have done really well on the back of strong negative campaigning which in some wards was reduced down to the personal levels. Electoral turnout was highest in those wards which swung against Labour in seats which they held last year. Only John McCabe bucked that trend.

02:51 It is now 22 years since Labour did not have a majority in South Tyneside

02:56 Still waiting for results from North Tyneside where the Conservatives need only three gains to take control.

03:04 Conservatives have won control in Bury, one of their target councils. Labour’s share of the vote nationally looks like it has fallen to 25%, Conservatives projected at 44%, Sky News projects a Conservative majority of over 160 seats if a general election had been held yesterday. Looks like Boris will kick Ken Livingstone out of the Mayor’s office in London too. Ed Miliband says results so far for Labour are “disappointing”.

03:20 BBC are reporting the worst Labour results for 40 years, are they sure they want to hang on to Gordon Brown?

I’m off to bed now, the Lib-Dems aren’t dong too well either, Calamity Clegg’s leadership has not improved their results at all, they’ve even lost control of Liverpool.

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March review

A record month for readers! (But take a pinch of salt)

March saw the greatest number of unique visitors to this blog ever!, it also saw one particular post shoot to the top of the charts for the greatest number of page loads ever! (An astonishing 21,058 page loads.) The 38,930 unique visitors represented a 90% increase in readership but should be taken with a large pinch of salt as 9,495 came from one source to mainly read one post. Click the thumbnail to see the chart.

This one link from Boing Boing proved the power of the internet in disseminating a story, which went on to be featured by the BBC on it’s website, Breakfast News, and Amateur Photographer magazine, and it is currently being debated on many forums around the world. It has certainly helped raise the profile of the rights of UK photographers and the EDM tabled by Austin Mitchell MP. The traffic from Boing Boing was overwhelming and the ‘event’ lasted five days before things settled down and returned to normal!

Just remembered, here’s a video clip of the BBC Breakfast programme that they wanted me to appear on.

Top Ten Corner Shop Posts for March (ranked by pageload)

• Sex pictures shock!
• The biggest political turncoat in Britain?
• Max Mosley should quit
• “Women enjoy sex, so rape cannot be such a terrible physical ordeal”
• Banksy CCTV
• 10p beer mat
• Miliband on photography
• Chinese troops in Zimbabwe
• Comedy duo
• Racist?

Top ten referrers during March

• Boing Boing
• Iain Dale’s Diary
• Labour in South Shields
• Rossinisbird
• Bob Piper
• Global Voices
• Recess Monkey
• Guido Fawkes
• Ball Reviews
• Nick Robinson’s Newslog

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Et tu Brute

I come to praise Caesar not to bury him!

Back on the 13th. April I asked whether David Miliband, the South Shields MP and Foreign Secretary, had the killer instinct;

But most importantly, does Miliband have a killer instinct, does he know the feel of the cold boned handle of the knife pointed towards his bosses back? He had a chance when Blair hot footed it towards the piles of cash, but he failed to take it.

Is it now possible that after seeing Labour’s position in the polls continuing to deteriorate, that Miliband has now joined those Labour MPs who have had a whiff of the Prime Minister’s blood, and that his wiry fingers are now entwined around the handle of that knife?

Journalist Shane Greer picks his way through the code and spin in Miliband’s statement yesterday and suggests that the South Shields MP may indeed be requiring us to read between the lines.

But then again maybe Miliband senses a change in the wind. Let’s not forget that a leadership challenge from Miliband was not out of the question in the spring of last year when Brown’s strength was beyond question; now that Brown is in a position of great weakness why wouldn’t Miliband revisit the prospect of leadership?

With Lord “cashpoint” Levy suggesting that Tony Blair viewed Gordon Brown as a loser in a contest against David Cameron, it is entirely possible that a round of knife sharpening is now taking place.

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