Yesterday Wiltshire Council published an “update” on the lane closure on Northgate Street in Devizes as the fire which caused it reaches its first anniversary. Only, it’s more a “reminder” than an “update!”
It begins, “the fire, in November 2024, caused significant damage to the Grade II-listed property and since then the council has had to install a single lane closure to keep people safe. The council recognises the inconvenience this is causing and is committed to reopening the road as soon as possible.” Yeah, knew that bit already.
It continued justifiable, stating “the council has no legal powers to compel the building owner to take further action.” Then the Deputy Leader of Wiltshire Council, Mel Jacob, said how frustrating it all was, and how they were “keen to get the road reopened as soon as we can.” Knew that bit as well.
Fair enough, red tape and all that baloney I get, but the remainder of the information simply says what an inconvenience it’s been, and its impact on the community; who knew that bit?!
It suggests they’re in talks, but pledges “more positive news on the road early in the new year.” If the word “update” needs replacing with “reminder,” the word “more” here should be swapped out for “some,” for as of yet it seems there isn’t any news about it at all, let alone “positive” news; just some chatting, possibly over tea and cake. You’ve got a new bus shelter, be happy!
But hey, even if I cannot confirm about the tea and cake, it’s 14 sleeps until Santa, so let’s keep our glasses half-full, and hope he miraculously brings a resolution in his sack. For there’s been a few advantages, such as free town centre parking for the most daring and cheeky!
And think of it this way, the serious risk of turning right into Station Road from the mini-roundabout has been lessened by its more consistent usage; it seems now the occasional driver coming from the town direction acknowledges it as a roundabout, actually observes and obeys that technical hitch in the highway code known to others as “the right of way!”
Before all this a right turn there was a white-knuckle ride only for the daredevil stuntman or those on the school run; there were more bumps there than on the road to Potterne.
But one roundabout up into town, immortalised as “The Brewery Roundabout,” has been a fascinating study into levels of human kindness in Devizes. As whilst drivers can exit the Market Place there, there’s no traffic crossing the roundabout in which to allow them their right of way. At peak times this can be challenging and a smidgen annoying. My last count of human kindness, as traffic flows at a snail’s pace from the congested New Park Street, was a fantastic new record of eighteen inconsiderate to one thoughtful driver!
Those in the know about levels of human kindness in Devizes will nip down the Station Road junction from the Market Place, if they wish to ever exit the town westward, and being this road is narrow with parking spaces, it’s become a two-way rat run, whereby the 20mph limit is considered only for “snowflakes.”
All of which could’ve been avoided if there was a thing called “planning,” whereby Station Road could’ve been reduced to one way coming out of the Market Place, and the single lane from the Brewery roundabout was used for coming into the Market Place. But no worries, because Wiltshire Council are talking about it. It’s not progress, is it? It’s more like poking a dead dog with a stick, hoping it might get up and run.
The only good to have come from Wiltshire having a Police Crime Commissioner was proof The Conservatives used their power to reward their elite bum chums and family with overpaid, high power and often completely unnecessary penpushing jobs….
A Devizes Conservative town councillor once told me if I “get the chance to interview Philip (Wilkinson) you should take it. He is a good man and has huge respect for Mike (Rees) and sympathy that he has had to refinance due to the previous election.”
I never had the chance, neither did I want the chance or chase it up, worrying it wouldn’t end well. I did once chat online with the predecessor candidate, Jonathan Seed, and that was enough talking to selfish entitled Tories for one lifetime.
Seedy revealed,“nobody has wanted to talk about hunting other than trolls online.” This opened a closet of unfortunate skeletons for him, which began with the speculation as a convicted illegal huntsmaster he only wanted the position to encourage police to turn a blind eye to hunting, and ended with the national press unearthing lots of other unpleasant facts about his past, such as his drink driving offences.
The fact that despite the controversy he still won the election was proof at the time that if you put a blue rosette on Satan’s pet pig they’d have won. His post-election disqualification caused the Wiltshire taxpayers four million pounds for a re-election, yet still didn’t upset the blind Tory voters; second time unlucky, his Conservative assessor Phillip Wilkinson won too. This was my reasoning, alongside the cascade of national scandals like Partygate, for not wishing to platform another Conservative. I believe and stand by my thought that it’s justifiable on those terms.
The fact others drew Phillip into question on his thoughts around hunting, and despite not admittedly hunting himself, he supported hunting, attended hunt balls, and set about unfairly lambasting anti-hunt organisations caused not only the brushing under the carpet of allegations police officers were turning a blind eye to hunter’s violent attacks on protesters at the Boxing Day hunt in Lacock, and furthermore, other officers proved to be active members of hunt organisations, but also reasoning for my suspicions he was not the “good man” the councillor suggested he was. Entitled, yes, good, I’m afraid not.
“Philip should have been the candidate last time and wasn’t, it’s a mistake but it can’t be changed. We have to move on and make sure people get a fair choice,” reckoned the Councillor who banned anyone merely uttering the name Mike Rees, the independent candidate for the PCC, on the Facebook group he admins. Though, Mike suffered much further from the propaganda machine, excluding him from volunteering to administer lateral flow Covid tests because it was believed to be political point-scoring, when Mike runs a boxing club to engage youths, a charity for children with cancer, and while Seedy was throwing out campaign leaflets funded by the Conservative Party, Mike was delivering food packages for homeless charity Devizes OpenDoors.
Hum, we do not “have” to move on at all in my opinion. The Councillor might’ve wished to, so these suspicious affairs could be archived into a filing cabinet in a dark backroom, bulging with other inconsistencies and matters of outrageous behaviour from the circus of thieves he backs. Rather we should rather dwell on the notion that it cost us four million quid, only for the end result being not so far from the original outcome, and now it’s to be scrapped anyway. What a terrible misuse of public spending.
An ex-military man, Phillip Wilkinson’s entire aptitude and ethos was unsuitably hostile for a civil role which surely requires creating a bond between police and the public, and initialising trust in the force with the public. His reactionary replies to criticism on his Facebook page led him to lie about other candidates, silence the critics, claim absurd notions as facts, such as the time he stated unemployment was a choice, and at one point he even boasted about shooting people; the latter, while in the official line of duty, still isn’t a good look for the civil service.
False!
His angle on the PCC role was to marginalise us, attack groups he took a personal dislike to, and militarise the force; noted as failures by the communities he was supposed to have served. Mike’s vision for the role was hands-on, telling me, “If you’ve got a demoralised police force, it doesn’t matter what policies and procedures people are coming up with, nothing’s going to work. You’ve got to sort your workforce out first, and get them to follow you, be inspired by you.”
Liberal Democrat candidate Liz Webster said Mike was “going for the wrong job!” And if Phillip’s interpretation of the role matched the job description, it was a political position rather than being active in the police, she was perhaps right. Philip served to be an overpaid government puppet, rock up to formal occasions, state the obvious, ramble on about how something had to be done about an issue, and retired to the kind of salary officers like PC Nicola Crabbe, who disarmed a knife-wielding attacker and dived into the canal to rescue a person in distress, could only imagine. A medal of bravery doesn’t put caviar on the table, Wilko!
Talking many times to Mike, I couldn’t imagine sympathy was what he wanted or needed. In fact he was adamant the PCC role was not needed and their salary could be better spent elsewhere in the force. Something the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has realised, and motioned to scrap the position, freeing up an extra £20m to fund front-line policing. If we had a government which knew the difference between a protester and a terrorist, I might have faith the money would be distributed to the appropriate channels. Finger’s crossed.
But Phillip went bleating to Tory-biased BBC Wiltshire, crying, “It’s going to mean a less effective, less efficient and more politicised police force.” If his paradoxical belief taking away a political role in the police force would somehow politicise it isn’t proof he was clutching at straws, there’s a taste of irony in his consistent splatters about how much he required a higher budget to police Wiltshire, when Rees contradicted this with the notion it’s not about what’s budgeted but how it is spent. And unnecessarily spending a whooping chunk of it for a bloke to wander around the county like royalty, idly vowing to solve this problem or that, surely would have the opposite effect?!
Much ado about nothing. So, cheerio Wilko.
It’s no great revelation that his bygone strategies failed in the past, ergo, held no clout nowadays either. Seeking to punish individual drug dealers, for example, only leaves a gap in their turf another will step into, and isn’t really solving the bigger issue of getting drugs off our streets. We could debate if more radical moves need taking, but he was too stuck in the mud to ever take heed. Wilko was out of touch, whereas officers are on our streets witnessing and dealing with crime, and their opinions should count.
His attacks on youths tarnished them with the same brush, when that simply isn’t true, is counterproductive, and matches the troubles we were victimised for when we were younger. Then, hypocritically, he grabbed a photo opportunity last week at the newly opened Devizes Area Youth Lounge, where he immediately accentuated youth crime, suggesting anti-social behaviour was done only by youths and this would prevent them “hanging around the streets and getting into trouble.” Far from the actual notion the centre was created to give all youths a space to socialise for the sake of their wellbeing and mental health.
With polarised views from people like him at the top of the hierarchy, at a time of financial instability and hyperinflation, conveniently caused by the party he backs, rebellious attitudes and crime will surely only worsen, by people of any age.
Youth programs will attract only those who wish to pursue them, and they tend not to be those troublemakers he cited. You cannot stop them, but you can reduce the peer-pressure and turn their petty crimes away from being a spectator sport, by providing safe spaces for those affected by them. Youths are not only the criminals but more often than not the victims of them too, and that was something sadly overlooked in Wilkinson’s wonky thought process, and the reason I salute the notion to rid ourselves of these unnecessary and pompous roles of Police Crime Commissioners.
Does that make sense to you?! I wish Wilko well, and say cheerio. I’m certain his pension will not see him walking those dangerous streets paved with wayward youths, and he’ll still be able to enjoy luxurious banquets with his fox-hunting chums.
Dunno bout you, but I’ve still not gotten over the horror a majority in Marlborough blindly voted him in. Or even that he doesn’t believe women have the right to decide what to do with their own bodies, but after Clactonising his Wiltshire constituency despite their unwillingness to join the Black Shirts, their reborn fascist MP Danny Kruger really has done gone blown his mental head gasket on a journey to Lala Land’s Reform office this time. And it’s at boiling point over an imaginary religion, which, according to him, is too woke to even be classified as woke…..swear me in, if it triggers this contemporary King Ethelbert…..
Mushroom season in Marlborough always finds a few oddballs taking in tongues, but straightjackets on standby, as this goes way beyond reasonable psychedelic intoxication and reverts us back to Anglo-Saxons.
Days after daring Danny Dog posted a letter of heartfelt baloney to his constitutes, pleading they follow him like Jesus’ selfless plea in Matthew 16:24, to “deny themselves and take up their cross daily,” regardless of his political treachery, whilst he plans to lick faeces off the backside of Nigel Faragührer and deport all three of Marlborough’s dark skinned residents, his address to Parliament from July, or more like preach, has resurfaced on social media. Merging politics with religion, the bizarre result is a speech so far removed from reality it’s virtually sci-fi.
Largely for Islamophobia succour his waffle begins by denouncing secularist separation of church and state, praising The House of Commons for taking their prayers in earnest, and big-ups Henry VIII expressing rather obviously, “our democracy is founded on Christian faith.”
Only since 1534, I might add. Prior, we had various ancient philosophies blanket-termed Paganism, which Christianity crushed in the Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England in the 6th century, and herein lies the most bizarre segment of his rant.
Not before grandstanding his horror at the recent bill decriminalizing abortion, he audaciously quotes John Lennon’s Imagine, forgoing The Beatles claimed they were “more popular than Jesus,” and lambasts any freedom for welcoming other religions or philosophies as “ugly and aggressive new threats,” claiming “all politics is religious, and in abandoning one religion we simply create a space for others to move into.”
Here he cites the first, “there are two religions moving into the space from which Christianity has been ejected, and one is Islam.” But the following paragraph concerning the apparent second, his fictitious nightmare, is the real eye-opener to a loony climax.
Danny Kruger said, “It is the other religion that worries me even more. This other religion is a hybrid of old and new ideas, and it does not have a proper name. I do not think that “woke” does justice to its seriousness. It is a combination of ancient paganism, Christian heresies and the cult of modernism, all mashed up into a deeply mistaken and deeply dangerous ideology of power that is hostile to the essential objects of our affections and our loyalties: families, communities and nations. It is explicitly and most passionately hostile to Christianity as the wellspring of the west. That religion, unlike Islam, must simply be destroyed, at least as a public doctrine. It must be banished from public life—from schools and universities, and from businesses and public services. It needs to be sent back to the fringes of eccentricity, like the modern druids who invest Stonehenge in my constituency with a theology that is seen as mad but harmless because its followers are so few and no one serious takes them seriously.”
Wha?! Is it? Erm, oh…he forgot Jedi.Yew’ve garn flipped shagger, gurt quanked ‘n’ all-a-huh! Not that he’d understand what that means because he’s spent less time in Wiltshire than Anakin Skywalker. He’s turned to the darkside too.
Without getting all history teacher on you, let’s add some logic to this tomfoolery with a basic timeline. For 949,509 out of the 950,000 years humans have inhabited Britain they’ve been content looking to the natural elements, the earth, moon and sun, and gradually forming understandings surrounding their interconnectedness to it.
And from the pandemic through to the science of the climate emergency, we realise their basic concepts of their interconnectedness with nature was more bang on the money than the idea some bearded bloke living in the clouds with a frisbee above his head sculpted mankind from clay, and a woman is just their rib. And, in fact it was most likely our conviction in the cloud cuckoo land stories of organised religions which divided us from nature and created our impending extinction.
But our Danny boy couldn’t fathom this because he’s now aligned to a company disguised as a political party which, despite proof, claims it’s all a hoax and we should give up at least trying to lessen the impact. What a silly sausage who’s taken his constituents headlong into the casserole whether they wanted to, or not.
When the real truth is, if there’s anything ambiguous or speculative about the beliefs or practices of modern paganism it’s because Christianity forcibly obliterated the origins, or twisted them to suit their own narrative…unless you believe Easter eggs are the body of Christ?!
But the bottom line is, there isn’t a religion, culture or movement anywhere which attempts to undermine or conquer Christianity in the UK. All, just like Christianity, promote peace, understanding and unity. It’s only in the wonky minds of extremism which seeks to suggest one who doesn’t support their faith is therefore an enemy.
To condone the destruction of someone else’s belief as Danny has done here is extremist, oppressive and certainly not in any way, Christian. Marlborough is now default facism, and that is the disgrace and crying shame their residents must deal with, protest and take to the polling stations, if Reform snipers aren’t picking them off by then.
Following the excitement and success of the first meeting of ‘Your Party’ in Swindon, a second meeting has been arranged for 18th September 7.30 – 9.30pm at Broadgreen Community Centre…..
Almost double the expected amount of people attended the first meeting. There was so much to discuss and the organisers ensured that everyone had an opportunity to share their thoughts. This resulted in the last session on the agenda being pushed over to the next meeting.
Ed Colton, one of the organisers said “We ran out of time because so many people had so much to say! For anyone who missed the first meeting, we’ll be giving a short presentation of what happened, what people’s main concerns were, and what local issues were most pressing. Then we’ll continue where we left off. This next session is all about filling roles, deciding on local actions and discovering the skills, experience and connections people have, to build ‘Your Party’ and become part of the landscape in our communities.”
At the first meeting, cards of welcome were signed for asylum seekers in Swindon, which were delivered the week after. This act of humanity, solidarity and friendship has prompted the group to organise a collection of sweets and fruit for them. Please bring a small gift along to the meeting if you are able.
The excitement and hope generated by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana announcing a new political party has reached Swindon…..
A broad range of people have been keenly messaging and talking to each other and have decided to work together with everyone who supports this new party, to have a marked and positive presence in the Swindon community.
Local activists, charity workers, union members and individuals have announced a meeting to be held at Broadgreen Community Centre on Thursday 28th August 7.30pm to 9.30pm.
Jamie, a local charity worker said ‘We are building a movement embedded in our community. We want to hear from everyone; what are your main concerns, do you want our NHS to be properly funded, do you want energy, mail, rail, water, and other infrastructure nationalised, do you want to see council houses being built? Come along to our meeting, where everyone will have the opportunity to share their thoughts and ideas.’
Nationally, over 700,000 people have signed up to the party with no name! At present, the working name is ‘Your Party’ but the permanent name will be decided by people at the inaugural conference later in the year.
A statement on the Your Party website says, ‘It’s time for a new kind of political party. One that belongs to you. The system is rigged. The system is rigged when 4.5 million children live in poverty in the sixth richest country in the world. The system is rigged when giant corporations make a fortune from rising bills. The system is rigged when this government says there is no money for the poor, but billions for war. We cannot accept these injustices – and neither should you. We will only fix the crises in our society with mass redistribution of wealth and power. That means taxing the very richest in our society. That means an NHS free of privatisation and bringing energy, water, rail and mail into public ownership. That means investing in a massive council-house building programme. That means standing up to fossil fuel giants putting their profits before our planet. Meanwhile, millions of people are horrified by the government’s shameful complicity in genocide. We believe in the radical idea that all human life has equal value. That is why we defend the right to protest for Palestine. That is why we demand an end to all arms sales to Israel. And that is why we will carry on campaigning for the only path to peace: a free and independent Palestine.’
In an interview with Tribune Magazine, Jeremy Corbyn said, ‘By the end of the year we want to come together at an inaugural conference to decide the direction of our party and what it stands for, but this conference will not come out of the blue. It will be the product of a series of deliberative meetings up and down the country. More than just rallies, these meetings will be an opportunity for communities, social movements, and trade unions to come together to discuss the key questions facing the future of our party and our country. These meetings will generate fierce debates, I’m sure, and that’s good. That’s what democracy is for.’
Jamie said, ‘Let’s reignite the hope, energy and socialist dialogue that we had in 2017 when thousands of people, especially young people, flocked to hear Jeremy Corbyn speak about the things that really matter to us! After all, it’s predominantly the younger generation who are suffering from the catastrophic decisions made by politicians for years, although people with disabilities, pensioners, WASPI women, asylum seekers, migrants and minority groups are feeling the brunt too. If you’re interested in getting involved, want to help build this community movement that addresses our day to day concerns, and make a positive difference to so many people, come along to the meeting, join our Facebook and WhatsApp groups. Meet others who are interested and have your say!’
Swindon Palestine Solidarity will be hosting a summer fete on Saturday 23rd August, at 12.30pm – 3.30pm. They need volunteers from 11am – 4 pm. at The Broadgreen Community Centre, Salisbury St, Swindon SN1 2AN….
Bring the family to float a boat for Gaza, send a postcard to Gaza, or play ring toss, ball toss, or knock down alley, knocking down injustice one throw at a time! There will be food, Palestinian embroidery, Arabic calligraphy, face painting, and henna. Have a go at tumbling the apartheid wall or on the watermelon shy!
Funds are being raised to send Swindon Palestine Solidarity delegate Liaquth Ali as a volunteer, joining the A thousand Madleens to Gaza flotilla.
In response to the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the ongoing illegal siege imposed by Israel, a historical global initiative – The 1000 Flotilla: Call to break the siege – is being launched to mobilise an unprecedented international civil fleet to challenge the maritime blockade and deliver life-saving aid directly to the besieged people of Gaza.
This initiative calls upon civil society, humanitarian organisations, trade unions, faith-based movements, maritime workers and peace loving individuals from every continent to contribute ships, crews, medical supplies, food and solidarity.
The aim is to assemble a thousand vessels, symbolic of the global unity and determination, to peacefully defy the blockade and demand an immediate end to the collective punishment of over two million Palestinians.
Liaquth Ali said, “I’ve decided to join the flotilla because I believe this could be Gaza’s last chance at survival. If we don’t act boldly and urgently, the suffering will only spread, and the West Bank could be next. I can’t sit back while children are bombed and starved, but I’ve also seen hope, our Swindon community and people across the UK rising with courage and solidarity. The world is waking up. Now is the time for action. Every bit of support matters.”
A recent protest by Doctors Against Genocide said, “We are living through a catastrophe unlike any in history. 90% of Gaza’s population has now reached stage 5 malnutrition, the most severe and deadly level. At this stage many cannot be saved.”
Lynn Boylan Member of the European Parliament said “For me, the deep frustration is that the EU has had ample opportunity to do the right thing and they have failed to do that. They have failed to take a single action against Israel. They have a list of actions that they could do, and they are not doing a single one. I hope that they witness, through this flotilla, through the people power, through the mobilisation of people on the streets, that they are on the wrong side of history. They should implement every single item on that list: no trade with Israel, a two way arms embargo, sanctions on the Israeli government, and upholding the ICC arrest warrants.“
Swindon Palestine Solidarity continues to call for a ceasefire in Gaza and for aid to be allowed to enter Gaza…..
Their three recent roadside sign actions generated a lot of positive responses. It’s an effective way to keep people talking about what is happening in Gaza and these actions will be one of the many ways that SPS will continue to campaign.
On Thursday 12th June from 6 – 9pm, people can join us for Stitched in Solidarity, a free sewing workshop at the Bangladesh Centre, County Road, SN1 2EW. Participants can stitch a leaf with their messages of solidarity, or just add their name. The leaves will be added to the large olive tree on the banner, which will be used in protests and public exhibitions. This is a great way for people to add their voices, especially for those who can’t attend protests, but want to be a part of the movement. A free place can be reserved on Eventbrite – Stitched in Solidarity or by emailing info@swindonpalestinesolidarity.org
SPS has called for a local march in Swindon on Saturday 14th June at 1.30pm starting at Regent Circus.
A spokesperson said, ‘The narrative from politicians and journalists is shifting. It’s really important to keep up the pressure and to let them know that we want the people of Gaza to have the food, water, shelter and medical aid that they need. Thousands of them are in immediate danger of starving to death. We demand a ceasefire. Our government should not be sending arms. We previously had 1000 people protesting in Swindon and want the next local protest to be even bigger. We are being joined by members of the local mosques, so let’s show our solidarity with the Palestinian people.’
A coach has been booked to take supporters to the next London protest on 21st June. Leaving Swindon at 8am, and returning at approximately 7.30pm.
The spokesperson said ‘There were over 500,000 people at the last national protest for Palestine in London. It was noticeable that directly after that march was when the narrative about the plight of the Palestinians started to change. The next London march needs to be even bigger.’
To reserve a seat on the coach, go to Eventbrite – SPS Coach to national protest 21 June from Swindon – or email info@swindonpalestinesolidarity.org There is a charge of £13.70 per person, but people can donate more to help cover the subsidised seats. Please contact Swindon Palestine Solidarity if you want to come but can’t afford a seat.
‘We know there is a lot of support for Palestine in Swindon. Hundreds of people have honked their horns and put their thumbs up during our roadside actions. If you aren’t already involved in anything to show support for the people of Palestine, why not come along to a march, either locally or nationally. If marching isn’t for you, you can join the stitching event or a roadside sign action, follow us on social media, join our WhatsApp groups, help fundraise or organise, come to a film night or talk. You can see, sign and share articles, petitions and actions. It all puts the pressure on for the positive changes so many of us want to see. Our charity quiz and meal last week raised over £900 for GINA (Gaza Infant Nutrition Alliance) which works to establish a continuous milk supply and education for breastfeeding support where it is most needed. Starving mothers are struggling to keep their newborn babies alive. There are so many ways to get involved, we urge everyone to ‘DO SOMETHING!’
If Whitney Houston set a benchmark for female vocalists many did before her too, but while others were influenced by them, they never felt obliged to attain a sound precisely mimicking them, as, it seems to me, many modern female singers striving for pop success do with Whitney’s. And when they do, it sounds, well, manufactured and impassive. A Liverpudlian now residing in Bristol, Hannah Rose Platt releases a concept album tomorrow, Fragile Creatures, of which I’d compare more to like of Kate Bush, whereby Hannah can weave beautiful tapestries, adapting her voice to reflect the sentiment of her narrative, mood and style of the track; and there’s a lot going on in Fragile Creatures….
It is undoubtedly a concept album, anatomising the complex relationship between women and medicine throughout history. It explores how antiquated myths and misconceptions in the pursuit of science have impacted female health, while creating countless injustices and inequalities. If this comes across sounding more akin to a poignant lecture, Hannah Rose Platt shifts between a collection of musical influences to imprint her wisdom, causing Fragile Creatures to be an altering and compelling journey of prowess and refinement.
It opens introductorily with a spoken word sample of Helen Andelin’s Fascinating Womanhood, a controversial sixties manual encouraging women to uphold their conventional marital role. Ataraxia is as calming as the meaning of its Greek philosophical title, ambiently floating over an acoustic guitar riff and drumbeat, musically reflecting on Diazepam-flavoured tranquillity, as if conformity to the sample will land us all in a world to make Aldous Huxley quiver. In this, Hannah’s voice is bitter, eerie, to convey the point.
But by the second tune, Curious Mixture, a drifting acoustic vibe, Hannah’s voice is as silky and smooth as Kylie, which shifts to a sharper more indie-punk feel as the songs progress. There’s a definite Bristol trip hop scene there too, causing me to consider Portishead as an influence. By the fourth tune we’re blessed with the most gorgeous ballad to Mary Magdalene, reminding me of Daisy Chapman’s folk angle. It’s at this conjunction I realise Hannah is reciting her deepest thoughts and observations on the theme, historically, and they’re gender ecumenical rather than bitter stabs of feminist vendetta. I didn’t feel under attack as a guy listening to this, provided I ponder the meanings Hannah so poignantly expresses.
This is eleven tracks strong, melding myths of pseudoscience, superstition and patriarchy with medicine and chronicles of the resilient and defiant women who unyieldingly fought for equality and autonomy. At times it’s Kate Bush vocalising for Massive Attack, as is the tune The Yellow Wallpaper, at others, such as La Grande Hysterie, it’s a contemporary Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill covered by Siouxsie and the Banshees. It ends playfully like musical theatre, but penultimately is horrific and beautiful in equal measure.
The album is a themed anthology. Each song has its own narrative, weaving into each other. From the tale of Anne Greene, accused of infanticide under the Concealment of Birth of Bastards Act, and pardoned after being revived from hanging to reflections on the health gap that lingers to this day. There’s so much more I still need to discover exploring its sheer brilliance as a concept and how the music compliments it.
Hannah explains the concept, “This record is both an offering and a tribute to female pioneers in medicine; and an endeavour to honour, and give voice to, the unsung heroines in the history of our health. What struck me most during the research and creation of this album was the deeply ingrained, sinister nature of myth and misconception surrounding women’s health, and the harmful, cyclical dismissal of experiences; decade after decade, century after century, often reinforced by outdated and dangerous practices. My hope is that listeners will not only be intrigued by these stories but also inspired to dig deeper and empowered to challenge the systems that have long ignored or misrepresented women’s voices, as this dismissal remains so prevalent today.”
At this I could agreeably sigh, like any poignant art which usually preaches to the converted those who really need to take heed of its message will likely overlook it. Nevertheless, if others cite Fragile Creatures as the work of an upcoming artist, I’d favour to compare the depth and production of this fantastic album to Dark Side of the Moon. And with that the right audience might spare its lesson a thought. A high but deserved accolade, in considering it took Pink Floyd seven albums to accomplish this magnum opus, when this is Hannah Rose Platt’s second; what comes next will be astounding because Fragile Creatures is a sublime keeper.
The advance single Curious Mixture is out now.Full album is released tomorrow (April 25th) via Xtra Mile Recordings and mastered at Abbey Road, with production and playing from Ed Harcourt. Launch party is Friday 25th at Rough Trade, Bristol.
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Melksham & Devizes Conservatives released a statement on the 7th April explaining an internal audit revealed one of their candidates was “not qualified by residence as they believed they were,” and claimed it was a “genuine mistake.” Devizes residents have gathered on social media to express their concerns that electoral law has been broken and the affair is quietly being pushed under the carpet….
Conservative candidate Sarah Batchelor moved to the area in July last year, to take over as management of the Crown Inn in Bishops Cannings and therefore has not been resident in the area or on the electoral roll for the legal minimum requirement of twelve months to apply for a councillor role. Melksham & Devizes Conservatives said in their statement they have informed the Electoral Registration Officer and the candidate will “take no part in the campaign process nor take up their seat if elected.”
But residents are angered by both the belief this was not a genuine mistake as claimed, is an incident in which media attention is deliberately being avoided, and hypocritical when Melksham & Devizes Conservatives caused a major outcry at a local by-election, when a Devizes Guardian candidate accidentally breached election law. Another sour point was that the Melksham & Devizes Conservatives make no attempt to apologise for the mistake and any potential cost to the taxpayer if a reelection is necessary in the process which will follow. “You’d thought they’d have learnt after the PCC debacle a few years back,” the original poster stated, “is this what you want from local councillors?”
Announced on the MDCA X account, because everyone looks there!!!
“The qualifications and rules are clearly stated on the form, and an individual knows if they meet them or not,” one resident pointed out on the Facebook group, Devizes Issue (But Better,) where the debate is causing a storm. “If the individual completed the forms,” they continued, “they have falsified an application. If someone else completed them on their behalf – they have not carried out due diligence or have ignored the clear rules. So which is it?”
The group were informed by former Labour councillor Noel Woolrych that “this is actually a police matter and is in their hands. However, I least believe that the name will still appear on the ballot paper as they had already been printed.” This raises the issue if she will be replaced, and as another commenter stated, “even though the election will still go ahead and the Conservatives have distanced themselves from the candidate, her presence on the ballot could still influence the outcome. Votes cast for her could impact the overall vote share and potentially alter the result, even if she’s not officially endorsed. That in itself raises concerns about fairness and electoral integrity.”
Sarah Batchelor (far right) pictured with other Conservative hopefuls, including Jordan Overton
A reliable source informed us these forms will have been checked prior to submission by Conservative Wiltshire Councillor Iain Wallis, who also controversially runs another Facebook group, Devizes Issues. It is a fact that this councillor is head of promoting all Conservative candidates for Devizes South. Sensitive enough to question the overall honesty of the Melksham & Devizes Conservatives it appears then, that the issue here has been deliberately avoided on said group, and elsewhere by Melksham & Devizes Conservatives, despite Councillor Wallis creating his own storm in a teacup at a by-election last year when a Devizes East Guardian candidate made a minor omission on a leaflet, falsely claiming the candidate had been arrested.
“I see it as fraud on both parties,” another resident said, “First party being the person who completed the forms and stated in the declaration that they are correct knowing they are false. Second, the political party who vetted the form knowingly didn’t complete the due diligence process to ensure that their candidate was lawful and correct.”
Again, we suspect the desperate local Conservatives are playing dirty for this local election, as they do for national politics, yet clearly claiming on their social media posts they are “local people with the community as our focus, with no central party control and our focus is not on national politics,” to divide themselves with the downfall nationally of their party. Yet, we discover them clearly using national party funds to campaign, and boy, they certainly are influenced by their national party tactics!
And that’s the truth, dammit!!
On a banner produced by the Devizes Conservatives it is claimed what makes candidate Iain Wallis “stand out” is that he “believes that every resident should feel their voice is heard.” Shamefully laughable considering this debate has to appear on groups he does not administrate and will no doubt be excluded from his own popular Facebook group. A group which has seen opposition candidates, councillors, support groups, upstanding citizens and charity organisations, and anyone who dares to challenge his opinion with a differing one be rewarded with lifetime bans.
We also find ourselves in said club of “disregarded dissidents,” for stating the facts, are proud to say it has been this way for a long time, and consider it a badge of honour!
Although, I strongly suspect, as it has been in past times when we have been caused to be critical of Devizes Conservatives, Mr Wallis will bleat like a hurt lamb, hold up a victim card, claiming all manner of falsehoods that we are attacking him personally. This simply isn’t true, and never has been. We only intend to highlight scoops that, for some strange reason, no one else is willing to risk their backhanders or potential advertising revenue to cover with the clarity needed to expose fraudulent candidates, which this is clearly as a case of. Is it my fault the same name appears to crop up each time? A case I rest there.
As the original post creator asked the group, “is this what you want from local councillors?”
While world leaders have a slagging match over world war three, let’s have a Sunday roast about the state of our roads, shall we?! Because, let’s face facts, if any roads get a plaster on their war wound it’s not for your safety, it’s for political point scoring. Not a council election coming up by any chance, is there; asking for a friend?!
It’s the hot topic for the public, fed up to the back teeth of bouncing along a lunar landscape, wheel trims flying off in random directions, and deciding whether to shave a wind-mirror from oncoming traffic or delve into a bottomless pit of hell. As a result it’s also one which candidates with or without a seat have focussed on. The problem remains, sorting the reality of humble promises from prospective councillors, from the hyperbole spewing from the desperation of existing ones. But either way, their dedication to national political parties encourages them to fight this out with the same gusto and ethos as national politics, and that’s usually dirty and dishonest.
Hopeful candidates like Taylor Wright, Liberal Democrat candidate for Devizes East was bang on the money when he said, “we heard that potholes were just part of pothole season, as if dangerous roads are something we should simply expect. Now, the explanation has shifted to residents being confused about the works taking place. But the reality is clear, people aren’t confused, they’re frustrated. Windsor Drive has been in an unacceptable state for far too long, with potholes making it a daily challenge for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians alike. Calling this frustration “confusion” risks downplaying a very real and serious issue. Rather than shifting explanations, we should be asking why roads like this are allowed to deteriorate so badly in the first place. Devizes deserve safe, well maintained roads, not short-term fixes and new excuses.”
Declan Boore, Liberal Democrat candidate for Devizes South added, “residents have told us loud and clear; roads in disrepair, housing challenges, and the need for stronger local services. We’re not just taking notes, we’re taking action. This campaign is about delivering real change for our communities.”
Such posts on their individual Facebook pages were indirectly criticised by Devizes North Conservative Councillor Iain Wallis, who uses his more general Facebook group, Devizes Issues, strictly censored by himself to keep atop the discussion and delete any opposing views. He lambasted such pledges, stating, “We know the roads aren’t perfect, they never will be. Any candidate in the upcoming election who says otherwise either doesn’t understand the issues, or is trying to mislead. While candidates can say what they like to pull at heartstrings and play on legitimate concerns we have, I will keep doing my best to get to the bottom of the real issues and bring you answers from Highways.” He continued to compare the immense cost needed to repair the roads to the funds available as a justification, and praised the recent investment. He said “bottom” too, tee-hee.
This Conservative claptrap is all a bit Theresa May’s “magic money tree,” isn’t it? The county can find £2.5 billion to propose building a completely unnecessary and permanently damaging tunnel underneath Stonehenge, but ask them to please cover up a few holes in Windsor Drive and they’re suddenly brassic!
Lavington Conservative Councillor Dominic Munnsalsogot wet knickers about the new bobcats, declaring, “Lasting repairs brought about by Wiltshire Council’s £22 million extra investment in our road network and the machinations of our bobcat machines are making a big and visible difference across the county. Bobcats are capable of repairing up to 200 square metres a day – that’s a lot of potholes!”
Humm, that is, lots of potholes; Bobcat the Builder! Can he fix it? Yes, apparently he can, and not a minute too late (election is May.) But surely The Munnster cued that the time is overdue to address the elephant in the room; why are there so many potholes in the first sodding place?! Who’s job is it to highlight the issues to Highways and push things forward?!
We sang the Munnster’s praises upon announcing improvements to the dire and dangerous Black Dog crossroads, seven months ago, yet absolutely nothing has been physically done; just you know, an example to his dedication. If hardworking Munns concentrated on the issue rather than weaponizing the declaration to fire at his opposition we may be some way into carrying the work out by now. The campaign has been ongoing for decades; face it, he simply signed it off and claimed the credit, true Tory stylee. Stating it wouldn’t have been done if the councillor was of any opposition party is hearsay he portrayed as fact, and his downside; no one can say for sure unless the opposing councillor is given an opportunity to.
If I’ve used this analogy before it seems to get directed to a brick wall; if you leave the washing up in the sink, you eventually run out of plates, and you have a much bigger task to address, or eat off the floor like a dog! For the existing councillors can patronise their assurances, they can waffle on social media each time a pothole is shabbily pasted over, but the fact remains the same, Wiltshire Council have seriously neglected road repairs for so many years, the slight problem has amounted to a county-wide embarrassment, and we are the plateless, being treated like dogs.
I’ve been to other counties, some worse than others, but none seem as bad as here. How do they do it? Maybe they didn’t neglect them to begin with, just, you know, a thought. In a 2023 National FOI request into road maintenance repair times, out of the bottom ten, Wiltshire ranked five. 5,565 potholes were reported, the longest fix time was 453 days. The long term damage to vehicles is incalculable and unreportable. Report a pothole on my wilts app they hail their triumph, in the singular! There’s a multitude of ‘em every damn ten centimetres down every single road in the county, and you expect me to fill out a form for each one individually?! Ain’t nobody time fer ‘dat!!
Councillors gather around a repaired pothole to take credit, generally one they live nearby. The only way to live on a pothole-free road in Wiltshire is to move to a house neighbouring a Wiltshire Councillor! It’s a photo-opportunity to post to social media, expecting praise for their drop in the ocean, like showing mummy a picture they drew. They don’t need a medal or flattery, and don’t be manipulated by their propaganda. That. Is. Their. Job! We pay them for this, and if they’d been proactive it wouldn’t have amounted to such the momentous disaster they’re expecting gold stars for patching up.
“The blight of potholes and crumbling road surfaces in Devizes has become untenable, not only is it having an effect on road safety, it is hitting road-users in the pocket,” head of Devizes Guardians, Jonathan Hunter expressed. “The Devizes community expects a far better deal, as opposed to the haphazard and reactive approach to repairs, which is having a crippling impact on the town.”
“Residents want to see Wiltshire Council demonstrate clear leadership with a targeted and sustainable roads programme, as opposed to blaming the state of the roads on the so-called pothole season and relying on road users to pull-up in their vehicles and report every pothole, as a primary solution,” Jonathan continued; he goes on worse than I, but stick with it!
“Devizes expects and deserves a better deal for the town, with Wiltshire Council listening to the community, in harmony with a repair programme that uses quality and sustainable materials, alongside a rolling maintenance program. Instead, and unfortunately, we have local Wiltshire councillors taking to social media to suggest that the good folk of Devizes ‘believe in unicorns’ when it comes to road quality expectations, this approach completely trivialises the pothole epidemic that has sadly become a reality in Devizes.” In which Jonathan is referring to an outrageous post (few of them aren’t) made by our omnipresent hero Councillor Iain Wallis, whereby he slammed the voting population of Devizes for their complaints, and for any who might take heed of the pledges of the opposition, in favour of praising Wiltshire Councillors for their efforts, and said, “believing in unicorns isn’t going to do it.”
Neither is believing in Tory councillors, Boss Hogg. I reserve my freedom of speech, not to provoke, merely to add for satirical effect, you understand?! “Roscoe, arrest them there Duke boys, yeee hawlll!”
If I take the issue out of context, and place it within my own labour, you’ll see how ludicrous it is. Imagine I hadn’t delivered any milk for a whole year, and suddenly I drop two pints of out-of-date sludge off at old Mrs Perkins’ house, take a selfie at said location, post it on social media declaring how I’m delivering the milk, ban anyone who dares to point out my hypocrisy, and delete their comment so I get the final say; I delivered the milk, here I am doing it, if Keir Starmer was delivering the milk, you’d get nothing but rainbow oatmilk and think yourself lucky!!
You wouldn’t stand for it, would you? You’d tell me, sorry, but you’ve found another supplier. Yeah, he might not be as sexy and brash as me, that’s understandable, but at least he’s doing what you paid him to do. Maybe that’s what you must also do come election time.
For the latest in this verbal battle goes beyond debate and into the spread of misinformation, and surely acts as justification for my last paragraph, with perhaps the exception of declaring myself sexier than my successor. On Road repairs, Councillor Iain Wallis threw the teddies from his pram, calling out opposition candidates for “irresponsible posting trying to wind people up and get a few votes!”
Ah, anotherscathing post in which Mr Wallis lambasted who he claimed are the ringleaders as “parties who don’t even stand for Wiltshire Council or do stand but don’t live in Devizes and are not part of the community!” It was a shocking Facebook post implying if you do not stand for Wiltshire Council or you do not live here your view is void and invalid; way to go to win over popular opinion; right out of the Royston Vasey political rulebook.
Shame anyone who dares criticise it on his biassed platform akin to the Daily Express on steroids, will be axed and left complaining to uncaring gammons on the alternative Devizes Issues (but better) group, which exists only for spreading hateful prejudice anyway.
“This type of electioneering does nothing for good community relations and unity, it completely trivialises the dire road situation in Devizes,” Jonathan Hunter reacted, Devizes Guardian not standing therefore with a invalid opinion according to Mr Wallis! “Community campaigners are not ‘ring leaders,’ they are local people who are prepared to stand up for residents. It’s very disappointing that candidates are prepared to stoop to these levels and spread misinformation.”
“I take full responsibility for standing up for residents, and will always own my efforts as we support and work alongside the many local people for a better roads deal for Devizes.This is not electioneering, it’s simply standing up for our community, by calling out years of under investment and lack of listening from those who are elected to represent the folk of Wiltshire.”
“I have been campaigning for a better roads deal for many years, therefore to read a widely shared politically motivated statement, describing all those who are standing up for residents as “ring leaders” is completely unfair, patently wrong, and is an absolute disgrace. This type of behaviour completely trivialises local issues, seeks to drive division and puts the personal interests and ambitions of those seeking election above what really matters, which is community unity and respect for each other.” And you’ve got to admit if you follow the Devizes Issues Facebook group or you’ve been kicked out, Jonathan has a point, and what they are being fed there really is one-sided, opinionated and quite frankly, Trump ethics within a local community, and do we really need this?
I urge all standing councillors to quit backstabbing and get on with the job we pay you to do. Else, urge voters to take heed and give a chance to, not those with broken promises being spiteful at those airing popular opinion, but rather those fresh-faced candidates willing to take them on. That, to me, makes more sense than flogging a dead horse which clearly hasn’t delivered, and of whom occupy most of their time playing the blame game, insulting and censoring anyone who feels it necessary to express their frustrations on the issue, because clearly it is frustrating and counterproductive; all the council has to do is fix a darn pothole, storm in a teacup!!
I caught up with an excited Jonathan Hunter, leader of Devizes Town Council’s independent party The Guardians, and local loyal youth worker Steve Dewar to rap about an imminent youth centre coming to Sidmouth Street in Devizes….
I was aware Jonathan swore to create a youth project in town some years ago and was engaging with teenagers, researching what their expectations of such a place might contain.
“This is all part of a speech I made in council years ago,” he told me, “Asking the council to support three objectives, which were civic recognition for young people, to put them on equal standing to all the other recognitions we do in the annual civic awards, which we now do and that’s brilliant. The second was a street engagement program where we work with disenfranchised young people, on the streets, through an outreach team.”
“It’s taken four years to get the premises,” he continued. “The council have decided to redeploy what was an old bed shop. What it does is gets to the youth right in the middle of town, gives them their own café.”
If like me, your memories of youth clubs are dubious, based on the out of touch approach of our elders at the time, I was keen to discover how much of the project will be created by youths themselves. “The vison is that they get to run it and be integral rather than a bunch of older people meaning well but not necessarily understanding all the issues and concerns young people have,” Jonathan replied. “It’s going to be brilliant!”
He used the word “brilliant” numerous times, our own version of Paul Whitehouse’s Fast Show character, Brilliant Kid, right here on our town council!! But are we to overcome the stigma of said youth clubs of the past which tended to not engage the youth who might need it most?
“Absolutely,” Jonathan responded with his constant air of enthusiasm, “I’m really focussed on that, taking a collaborative approach with different people, with Steve Dewar, who inspired me five years ago to stand. Steve spoke of a ‘missing piece in a jigsaw’ with youth provision. I just wanted to go and bat for young people, and doing what’s right for the community rather than a political party or any ideological stuff, and make things happen that way, which I’m glad we can.”
I couldn’t think of a better local youth worker than Steve Dewar to be involved in this project, but as the sole-creator of a mobile youth charity and his mobile Youth Pop-Up Café travelling the county providing leisure facilities to youth, I was concerned his involvement with the youth centre would reduce usage of the pop-up café project. “We, as a charity haven’t had any financial provision for staffing the centre, that would be perhaps an independent youth worker,” Steve explained, “or someone employed by the council, to man it. The challenge we have as a small charity is we’re also committed to supporting young people in schools, through detached youth work, and there’s only me in this area and a few volunteers.”
“It is a constant battle and challenge, and is nationally, to reinvest back into youth workers as a vocation, to give it the time and professionalism that we think it deserves,” Steve expressed. “Unfortunately cuts to services has removed a lot of that peoplepower, to be able to commit to it. As much as I would love to give more time to it, as I certainly have a heart and vision for it, that needs to align with our other projects.”
“For me the challenge will always be an applicate to Wiltshire council, town councils that a centre-based provision isn’t a quick fix and isn’t a one-size fits all. It must compliment and work alongside with detached youth work, such as our pop-up van, schools-based work, and uniformed organisations, other charities. It must be a part of that. The Pop-Up Youth Cafe has had its busiest year, and we’re in the process of converting another van, to be able to respond to more needs across the county. Obviously, I want to see all these elements of youth work flourish.”
Jonathan informed me there would be three floors, the ground floor as a youth space “where they can congregate with a coffee bar or whatever they want to put in. They can hang out and discuss things in a safe space and enjoy each other’s company, without the cost of a coffee in a regular place.”
Plans for the first floor is “an aspirational hub, where different youth agencies can come together and work direct and deliver their visions. The top floor we’d love to se it going to an external educational provider which works with young people who might be disenfranchised from normal education, that are getting bused or taxied around the county access basic maths and English, to have something more local, which is sits far better for these local young people who have slipped through.”
Current town Mayor and councillor Ian Hopkins has also been working towards the project. Jonathan furthered, “also, what we’ve done in conjunction with this is, Ian Hopkins and I, are building a relationship with Devizes School, which is going well. We had a forum last week with the head and a selection of students. They’re really interested in this; they want to be involved and take a lead and be part of it.”
“What was brilliant was, when we met with the school, one of the students… these young people are so eloquent, articulate and knowledgeable, I was massively inspired by them… one of them said, ‘we need to help the parents too,’ because there are parents out there who are looking after and struggling to help teenagers growing up. It’s not an easy task, and some parents out there could probably do with some support; that came from the young people, that wasn’t our suggestion, so there’s possibilities on the top floor to develop a meeting place for parents to come together and share ideas and concerns.”
On youth engaging with the project, Steve added, “if we were doing it without them, we’ve missed the point. That’s why I’ve advocated several our local councillors to engage with young people and working in better partnerships with school staff so young people are involved, on the grounds on training.” He exampled a girl today who had been helping him create posters to go up in the youth space as they develop it, to let people know to ‘watch this space.’ “And we spoke about what she thinks the teenagers need and want.”
“Results of the school survey was young people would like safe places to go,” Steve explained, “and safe people to be able to speak to, and that’s nothing new, it’s been the case for years, and is certainly true in Devizes. Yet we’ve not been able to respond to them. That’s why I’m so chuffed, pleased, stoked, that hopefully Devizes… well, that this is the start of the journey which is starting to respond to that.”
“I’m really encouraged,” Jonathan said, “and we’ve got some seeds running through the area board, but I want to attract some funders to be able to run it, and for it to be successful and sustainable for years to come.”
I thought out loud, that the previous youth club in Devizes being attached to the school may have been viewed a hindrance and rather off-putting to the youth, whereas this, regardless of the school’s keen involvement, is geographically separate from it.
“Yes,” Jonathan agreed, “Bang in the centre of town! And what we’re looking at next is a brand, there’s a provisional name that we’ve given it, but young people are examining different kind branding and names, to give it the right kind of profile as well, and that’s with them. I think they should be the architects of that, and how they want it to develop. It’s just a great breakthrough, more to do, and talking with Steve and Ian, we want this to be super sustainable, and we want it to run itself.”
“I’m looking for this to have a halo effect,” Jonathan said, “maybe the minority of young people who find themselves disenfranchised and don’t have the infrastructure that some can enjoy, or maybe they don’t have good role models, they might look at this place and think I’d rather be there in a positive environment than be caught up in anti-social behaviour.”
Steve spoke fondly of a new national youth program, discussing a coloration of a lack of youth services has resulted in a trend of anti-social behaviour, “and those links as to how we, as communities, invest in our young people positively, goes in line with those elements to society which will take advantage of our young people,” he explained. “So, doing nothing, to me, isn’t an option, and that’s why I’m pleased the town and county council and other local organisations, hopefully local businesses as well, will get onboard with insuring that Devizes has the pullies to develop youth work provision.”
On the matter of a prospective opening date, Jonathan estimated, “the work is underway, we’re aiming for spring, an aspirational date. It’s all about working together, and I was really encouraged by MP Brian Matthew’s support, he recognises there’s a void of this kind of activity, which we’re aiming to fill.”
It all sounds amazing, certainly far better than my memories of a youth club, where you’d discover the most diluted orange squash known to mankind, in a drafty scout hall, and two kids playing on an undersized snooker table, while an aged vicar snored on a broken wooden chair in the corner! It’s all too late to save me, but good news for those just slightly younger than me! That, thanks to the organisers of this project, the youth are positively encouraged to engage with inputting what they want to get from the project.
The simple answer is yes, very concerned. Following the publication of an article in Melksham News’s last issue questioning the council’s public notice policy, Wiltshire Council has refused to engage with Melksham News, effectively censoring the newspaper. This disgraceful decision could undermine local press freedom, accountability and local democracy…..
Melksham News, part of the Wiltshire Publications Group, has served their community with integrity, providing factual reporting and holding public institutions accountable for over forty years. However, when recently it reported on criticism of the council for its policy of only using paid-for newspapers to advertise public notices, including the concerns raised by some councillors and the local MP after a motion to debate the issue was denied, Wiltshire Council halted all communications with the newspaper, declining to send press releases or respond to any enquiries. Is this Wiltshire, or North Korea?!
Melksham News claims it has received written confirmation from Wiltshire Council stating they do not feel able to engage with the publication. In a statement from Wiltshire Publications on behalf of Melksham News, they stated, “We are aware of a statement from Cllr Richard Clewer, leader of Wiltshire Council, in the press that raises concerns about our reporting and our supposed ‘campaign’ against Wiltshire Council.”
“In his statement, Cllr Clewer accuses Wiltshire Publications of running an ongoing campaign over the past two years to pressure the council into advertising statutory notices with us. He also claims that we have continued to present a negative narrative because the council has chosen not to advertise with us.”
“We feel these accusations are inaccurate and misrepresent our intentions. We have written only one article on the matter of public notices, published in our issue on 10th October. This followed the council chair’s decision not to consider a motion from Cllr Jon Hubbard. We categorically deny the claims of an ongoing campaign lasting over two years. The issue of public notices was first raised with the council in September 2023, and we have published only this one article on the subject since then. To characterise this as an ongoing campaign is both misleading and unfounded.”
“The matter of public notice policy concerns taxpayers’ money and public access to information. Our role is to ensure that the public is well-informed, especially on issues of transparency and public spending. Any suggestion that we are highlighting these issues for personal gain is not only inaccurate but entirely inappropriate.”
The statement from Melksham News continues, claiming Cllr Clewer stated their reporting has not been impartial. “It is unfair to accuse us of impartiality based on a single article, especially one that was grounded in data obtained via Freedom of Information requests and included a response from the council,” they said. “We do not feel it is the role of a statutory body to judge our editorial decisions. Editorial independence is essential to a free press, and it allows us to hold public institutions accountable. Our responsibility is to the public and presenting information based on fact. By refusing to engage with local media over a single article, the council’s actions undermine the principles of press freedom and open dialogue, which are essential to ensuring accountability and transparency in public institutions.”
Melksham News stated it stands by their reporting, remaining committed, “to informing our readers in an accurate and fair manner, ensuring that the community has access to the information it needs to hold its elected officials to account.” And here at Devizine, we stand by them too, believing we all should. On the last few occasions we’ve published anything about Wiltshire Council it was in support of their recent actions; the extension of the bus timetables, permission for a graffiti wall in Melksham; all pragmatic motions which proves when the council get it right it will be reported positively, even by us!! It is a shame then, to have to spoil the run with this, but silencing constructive criticism is deeply concerning to democracy.
In the midst of the past government’s ‘circus of thievery,’ we are surely all aware of press corruption, undermining press freedom at Conservative conferences and refusing entry to them, and the manipulation of the media to promote their ethos and obliterate opposing opinions. Most of us studied modern history and what happened in 1920’s Germany, don’t make me spell it out. And we’ve even seen this on a local level via unscrupulous control of social media groups by power-tripping councillors, but we’ve yet to realise this is happening to official media groups channelled by the county council, until now.
The shocking fact one lone keyboard warrior’s comment on Melksham News’ original Facebook post ludicrously pointed the finger at Prime Minister Keir Starmer, suggesting, “they are doing what Kier Starmer has told them to do as he doesn’t want the truth coming out so he is censoring all news and negative comments and newspapers telling the truth,” is proof enough, I believe, of how deeply the effect of misinformation is ingrained into forming public opinion and causing hysteria with a false narrative; that an a better education system!
How anyone could link this issue with the new Labour government when there’s not a red tie in sight at Wiltshire Council is beyond belief. It retains a Conservative majority and the leader of Wiltshire Council, Richard Clewer, the councillor enforcing this infringement of the common law of freedom of expression is a Conservative too. Yet it is worrying evidence that we need a rebalance in media bias; people believe this shit!! Hey, I stubbed my toe on the wheel of my sofa this morning. It’s blatantly obvious what’s happened here; Keir Starmer broke into my house, and moved my sofa a quarter of an inch to the left!
I shouldn’t joke, this would be propaganda on an Orwellian level if it wasn’t laughably from a Council boasting being named as the seventh-best council in England in the latest IMPOWER Index, judged by how efficiently it delivers core services in relation to their budgets, as I dangerously bounce over the umpteenth pothole pondering if I should follow up on bias and braggart press releases like this! Someone needs to inform Cllr Clewer we have only left the European Union, Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights still stands in British law, giving us the right to freedom of expression. A right I will exercise, cheers me dears!
The newspaper’s operations manager, Joe McCann said, “local newspapers like ours are essential for holding public bodies to account and ensuring transparency in local government. By cutting off communication, the council is evading scrutiny and potentially controlling the flow of information, which is not just a concern for us as journalists but for the public as well.” Melksham News’s statement suggests similar; “This sets a dangerous precedent, where councils can silence critical voices instead of addressing legitimate concerns, ultimately undermining local democracy. This is an unprecedented move for a local council.”
Wiltshire Councillor Jon Hubbard, who represents Melksham South ward said, “I am deeply concerned and disappointed by the recent correspondence sent to Melksham Independent News, stating that Wiltshire Council will no longer correspond with the newspaper until they approve of the coverage provided. This kind of stance sets a dangerous precedent and threatens the principles of a free and independent press, which plays a vital role in holding local government to account. I sincerely hope that this decision is not politically motivated, as it would undermine the trust between the council and the residents it serves.”
“The press should never be expected to tailor their coverage to meet the approval of those in power—it is their duty to provide fair and accurate reporting to the community. I call on Wiltshire Council to explain why such a step has been deemed necessary and to reaffirm its commitment to transparency, openness, and constructive engagement with all media outlets. Our community deserves nothing less.”
Emma Meese, director at the Independent Community News Network (ICNN), who represents the independent press community, added, “The role of a journalist has always been to scrutinise and provide news that is in the public interest. It is concerning when a local authority decides it will not engage with the largest news provider in the area, for calling it out on its actions. We have to question the motive behind this decision by Wiltshire Council to try and control the narrative.”
Allow me then to speculate, we are, quite simply, face-to-face with a county council desperately clinging onto a dying Conservative philosophy and running scared till the point it fears constructive criticism. Yet by attempting to silence it makes the dangerous assumption we are foolish enough not to conclude from this that they’ve something to hide, and are doing so via manipulation of the media. Either that, or they really did send Keir Starmer to stealthily shift my sofa quarter of an inch to the right causing me to be unnecessarily tetchy this afternoon. Now, excuse me while I go shout at some Gen Zers vaping in the park like the level-headed indoctrinated boomer the mainstream media has convinced me to be!!!
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Here comes another slice of tree through my letterbox, I receive two or three per day, all from the Conservatives; I love the overkill of desperation in the morning! This time, apparently, Keir Starmer wants me to vote Lib Dem, yesterday it he wanted me to vote Reform; just what does Keir Starmer want me to do?!
The answer to this cannot be found on a publicity pamphlet from his opposition, and the audacity of the author of it to assume we’re foolish enough to think that it could is an insult to our intelligence, and one damn good reason not to vote Conservative, amidst a kazillion others. No, I’m having a cuppa again, this time with our Labour candidate Kerry Postlewhite.
It was the chat I was most anxious about, as my belief as working class the Labour Party is the party for me, seems contradictory to modern assumption which sees our poorest voting blue, ignorant to how they’re shafting them, and this postulation there’s turmoil in Labour dividing them between the leftwing opinion of Corbyn and the middle-ground of Starmer. I questioned Kerry of the latter, but she denied such matter, assuring me, “I’m not sure the Labour Party is divided. I think it’s quite clear we’re all united behind Keir Starmer, our shadow cabinet and our programme for government. I’ve been a member of the Labour Party for a long time, and I think the sense of unity and the sense of purpose is strong this time because we know what the last fourteen years has meant to ordinary families, to working families, and it is our duty to unite. It isn’t about leaning into the left or right, it’s about leaning into where the British people are and the change they need right now. And I think that’s exactly where we are now.”
Oh dear, have even I succumbed to the propaganda machine of Tory cronies?!
“I think the results that two general elections showed you, that the programme the Labour Party and Jeremy Corbyn was offering to ordinary working people then was not the programme they were prepared to support.” I supposed she was right, even if I thought he was fab and groovy!!
You should note this interview took place before the hustings in Devizes, where the mighty clashed, and Noel’s camcorder flashed! Whilst I salute Noel and the organisers, I favour to chat, and get to know them on an individual basis, therefore while these transcripts are lengthy, they’re insightful and worth persevering with should you wish to really get an in-depth angle on who you’re voting for. And there’s the thing, Kerry instantly quashed my anxiety, and her charismatic persona made me feel I was gassing with an old friend.
We spoke casually for longer than the others because Kerry had ordered food to fuel her busy day on the campaign trail, and I waited for her to finish. She had sat downstairs for this, though I requested we move upstairs where it is quieter. Assisting her with her coat and clipboard broke the ice and stood us on an even level I only teetered on with Brian. Though he was professional till the end, and magnified the perfect host with interesting anecdotes, Kerry would do similar once we got down to business, such was skill in her demeanour to switch between expertise and friendliness. Clearly, Labour have not just posted any ol’ oddball into the job, to fill a lost cause in this historically Tory haven, and Labour is far from a helpless wounded animal as the opposition may have you believe.
It was something in informal chatting afterwards which really won it for me, wondering why Kerry didn’t bring this up before. We were dismissing this delusional, tarnishing with the same brush idea Gen Z were demonic hooligans, and I mentioned my view on lowering the voting age. Kerry delighted by informing me it was in Labour’s manifesto to lower it to sixteen. While it matters nothing to me personally, being in my fifties, I’m not such a grumpy old fart to be ignorant giving youth a say on how the country is managed is far fairer than not and sending them off for slave labour camouflaged as National Service.
In our chat with Brian last Tuesday, I said if he could win this it would be as historical as the Battle of Roundway, being the last time the Conservatives lost this seat was to a Liberal in 1923, but if Kerry wins, it would be greater in significance, being no Labour candidate has ever won here. I asked Kerry how she felt about the possibility, giving her multiple choices of extreme optimism, excitement, dread, or something else!
“I guess a mixture,” Kerry said. “How amazing would it be. It’s a new constituency, so it’s an opportunity for a fresh start and a new Member of Parliament. It will be an uphill fight, but we’ve been out, talking to people, and one of the things we are hearing repeatedly is people who have always voted Conservative and never done anything else here are not prepared to do it again because of everything that’s happened over the last fourteen years, the last five years in particular, I think.”
“So it’s up to us, I guess, to convince them they can place their trust in the Labour Party for the first time in this area, and that we are offering change in a way that is meaningful to them and their lives and their families, and it will be different from everything they’re now turning their backs on, so that is exciting. It’s also quite humbling, because we’re not in a situation where we’re able to take anything for granted. We do have to go out and really win those votes.”
“There was a report published yesterday, I think, which we’re talking about on the radio this morning, about general mistrust in politics. I think this is a real opportunity to win back that trust. It’s going to be a slow process, and people are going to have to see you walk the walk, not just talking the talk. And I think for me, a lot of it is genuinely listening to people and not making assumptions that everybody who lives in the Melksham and Devizes constituency is a Conservative, or thinks in one way, or votes in one way; genuinely listening to them, meeting them where they are and hearing their stories and experiences, and connecting those to politics, policies and the way forward.”
Kerry talked on a different approach to the current, thankfully, comparable to her ten years in the European Parliament, “where people with different political parties and political families, different beliefs must work together to make the best law; there isn’t an inbuilt majority, that’s the nature of the beast. You must find common ground and you have to work together to find the best solution, because it is divided by countries, languages and all sorts of different interests. I think that’s even more important here, in an area that traditionally has supported one party. It’s not about saying you’re different. We’re different. It’s about saying we find common ground and do politics differently.”
Modernising Westminster, “maturing it in a progressive way,” Kerry continued onto, transforming the House of Lords, ridding it of “archaic barriers, that literally put people on one side of the room and on the other side of the room, and chat to each other. I don’t think that’s how people want politics done. I think they want it done in a grownup mature and cooperative way; the way that we solve problems at work or in life, you know?”
“We work together to find solutions and I find that an exciting way of doing things. I’m excited by this, which isn’t a manifesto, this is my personal view. I’m really excited by some of the experiments which have happened with citizens assemblies, so bringing representative groups of people together in communities to find solutions to local problems and talk them out. How are we going to further the agricultural industry in our area, for example, how are we going to make sure this housing development works for us, the community, how are we going to mitigate climate change, and doing such together with representatives of the people is what excites me; a new way, I think, that fits in the never having had a Labour MP here. It’s how we could be in different scenarios, so let’s use that different scenario to do our politics differently.”
See? I like Kerry, surely even the most traditional locals cannot deny we’re overdue a change. I asked Kerry how she felt about the Devizes-Melksham Primary, and the strategically voting ideal they promote.
“I think maybe let’s separate the two things. The idea of the Devizes-Melksham Primary, I would always welcome active citizens who want to organise themselves, who want to get involved in local democracy and have a say over local democracy, that’s fantastic. We need more active citizens. So the concept of having an organisation like the Primary I think is laudable. When it comes to strategically voting or tactically voting, I think people must vote in the way that they think is right for them, for their families and for their communities, and that should be the deciding factor.”
“Personally, I think there’s a strong case for looking at our electoral system, so people don’t have to make those decisions about what to do, So that every individual’s vote counts whatever the electoral geography. Because everything that has happened over the last fourteen years, because of the situation that this country is now in where nothing works, literally everything is broken and we have volunteers and communities like this one holding vital services together means it is a once in a generational election, and when it is a once in a generation election, you do have to vote with your head and your heart and put your cross in the box for the person and the party that you think is going to represent you best at Westminster. And play a part in shaping laws so that they work for small towns and rural communities and people here have a have a voice in shaping those laws, and, I think, that’s another reason why Westminster needs modernising. One of the things that I do professionally is work to influence laws, most recently in animal welfare, and it’s an arcane process at Westminster. It’s not transparent.”
I likened it to the bickering brawl of a school playground. Kerry referred to the pros and cons of having “the mother of all Parliaments,” and told me how she volunteered in Zambia for several years, comparing their government to ours for being stuck in the past, exampling “the adversarial set of the building to the chanting at prime ministers questions, to the way in which bill committees work, for example, where only a number of amendments are accepted by the speaker, the committee reflects the proportions of Parliament and it’s therefore the Minister and the bill committee and the Government of the day that decides whether an amendment is accepted or not, goes through or not, to trooping through two lobbies to decide how you vote. I think there are a lot of things that could be done to modernise Parliament to make it more accessible to the electorate, to make it more transparent and more accountable and more fit for purpose.”
Never say never was the approach of the last Labour candidate Rachel’s hopes of winning here, and Kerry agreed. “I think the thing that really stands out in in this election in this area, is we put our faith and we have always put our faith and our families have always put their faith in the Conservative Party but that has been abused, and we cannot, and will not do that again. I think I must demonstrate that the Labour Party will deliver for areas like this one and deserve those votes. One of the problems with strategic tactical voting issue is that, for me, it almost becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. So if people do that one time, they do it the next time, the next time, and they never then have the opportunity to allow themselves to change and vote for the other.”
Kerry was born in the North-East of England and moved to Trowbridge at primary school age. She studied in Yorkshire after living just over the border in Somerset, took a job in local government in London and worked in education. She moved to Brussels to work in the European Parliament, then went over to Zambia to volunteer with an NGO, coming back again to Radstock for family needs Kerry and her partner now live near Ross-on-Wye but she has many family connections here. She talked about one of her earliest smelly memories of the Harris Bacon factory in Calne when she spent summer holidays with family there! I ask this question to all because Danny Kruger being hoisted in for the Conservatives never bode well with locals, and him never relocating here doubled it. I think people like to know the MP has local connections, and Kerry said that if she won the seat she would of course move here. But what of local policies? The health centre cropped up again.
Just as with Catherine and Brian, the failing of local health infrastructure, the closing of the hospital in Devizes, and improving the lack of facilities at the new health centre was high on their election pledges. “There did used to be A&E, and beds for the elderly, but all of that has now gone; you must make a journey to Chippenham, Swindon, or Bath and the time that takes, a difficult bus journey, particularly for older people and the cost too. The fact that if you are then hospitalised, you are a long way away from family and friends. So I think that would have to be a huge priority for me. And I’m quite excited by the fact the Labour Shadow Health Secretary was talking about community-based healthcare, be that physical health or mental healthcare, and I think this is a huge priority for this community, to make sure we have this kind of provision, that it’s more accessible, particularly for the elderly.”
Prime time to play devil’s advocate in line with the common criticisms of Labour, how do we how do we fund more money for the NHS? “The Labour Party has been clear that there are no plans to raise taxes for working people and that the money will be found in a range of ways. For our immediate priorities of cutting waiting lists, doubling cancer scanners, a dentistry recovery plan and the return of the family doctor we’re going to make sure that those with the broadest shoulders, non-doms for example, pay. We are going to stabilise and grow the economy to invest in public services. So, for example, for Great British Energy, we will put in place a windfall tax on fossil fuel companies who’ve been looking at huge profits whilst our bills have been skyrocketing over the past years, so we can get clean power and lower bills. One of the things we’ve been clear about is that we’re talking about a decade of national renewal; none of these problems are going to be solved overnight because of the situation we’re inheriting, which economically is not great.”
And education, I asked, which is where our chat will end, but progressed unofficially onto this voting age reduction I mentioned at the start. I put it to Kerry that the education system in the same place as the NHS, it needs an overview, a review.
“I think we need to do both, so we need to make sure that we’re retaining the teachers that we have, but one of the things that we have committed to in our first six steps is to introduce 6,500 new teachers, particularly in those subjects that currently are seeing insufficient numbers of teachers in those STEM subjects, for example, and hopefully the recruitment of those new teachers will help to support those existing teachers who currently are being spread too thinly. I think the other thing that is exciting is our commitment to broaden education the curriculum, so it’s fit for the 21st century, looking at some of those modern skills children need. Look also at the cultural industries, so the cultural industries are a major engine of economic growth in the UK, our curriculum needs to reflect those things.”
My annoyance flared with the current conservative system whereby schools are being run like businesses and I welcomed such a consultation, hoping to unify and implement a national system of equality in schools. But in this, a change in our methods in general, with Labour, will we be moving away from privatisation?
“We have committed to a new rail system, so when current franchises expire or if the companies are in breach of contract, we have said that they will now come into a new arm’s length public national rail body that will run our rail services in a way that works for passengers and taxpayers
I didn’t want to talk about poo in our rivers, fun as it might be, people were eating their lunch, but while it may be scatological subject of mirth, it’s also a nail in the coffin for Tories. Does this include water companies as well?
“So for water companies,” Kerry expressed, “it’s an outrage that they have been able to dump sewage in our waterways and jeopardise health and environment. The figures here are appalling. Under Labour, the situation will be, not paying bonuses to chiefs of water companies where it’s been shown that they have broken their terms and there is pollution going into our waterways. We will also strengthen the regulator and give it real teeth to fight back, on behalf of the public to make sure we clean up our rivers and our waterways.”
Kerry’s answers were defined by professionalism despite her capability of making you feel she was honest, earnest and pleasant. This doesn’t help my dilemma of where to put my cross, being Brian and Catherine I also liked. But one thing I’m certain of, a vote for either one of these candidates is a vote well spent. As for the strategic vote against the voting with your heart debate, I think it’s not so important now, because whichever way you decide, in either of these three candidates we will have a fine MP prepared to embrace honest and necessary change.
I thank Kerry for her valuable time to chat with me and wish her all the best in what could be an exciting, interesting and historic election, especially locally.
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You know I’m a lady’s man but nestled between chats with Green Party candidate Catherine and our forthcoming one with Kerry of Labour, I’m with the Liberal Democrat candidate for Melksham-Devizes, Brian Mathew. So no flirting this time, straight political chat!
Obviously not as handsome as me, but Brian is one wise gent with a fascinating backstory, and he’s highly likely to be our MP! He can talk for England, but rather than Fishy Rishi’s desperately inane whimpering, everything he said warmed me to the idea of putting my cross in the yellow box. It was intelligent, reflective and held an air of compassion.
Fresh from a previous interview where he expressed their questions were rather standard, he was off waffling policies like a greyhound out of the trap before I even poured the milk into my tea! Imagine his surprise when I interjected, “so, question one; you’re going to win this, right?!”
“Well, it would be amazing if I did, wouldn’t it? Yeah!” was his response, perhaps wishing he’d gone on Newsnight instead. I didn’t waiver, continuing with the thought it would be as historical as the Battle of Roundway! Brian believed there was a previous Liberal who won; story checks out, albeit the last time Conservatives lost the original Devizes constituency it was to a Liberal called Eric MacFadyen, in 1923!
Clearly there’s work to be done, but after a few minutes I was convinced, Brian was the chap to do it, and he added the fact this was a new constituency. “I mean whereas in the past it was one Devizes and the hinterland to the East, now it’s the West, stretching all the way to Box and Colerne,” he said, “which is where I’m butcher councillor, down to Bradford-on-Avon, which is pretty solidly Lib Dem across to Melksham where we’ve won the last five town council elections, and then over to here and the Lavingtons.”
He discredited my suspicions it was a Tory strategic moving of the goalposts. “The Boundary Commission are independent, right? So their priority is to get every constituency in the UK to have the same number of people. You know, seventy-odd thousand. So that’s why they’ve done this shift.” But is Brian happy with it?
“I was to start with. Everyone was up in arms in Box, thinking ‘we don’t want to lose where we were.’ In that neck of the woods, of course, they see themselves as part of the Cotswolds, which they are, but now I’ve got selected, I’m rather enjoying this new constituency. In fact, I’ve never had so much fun in an election! Hope I’m allowed to say that?! But seriously, I’ve stood several times before; first in 2010, againstLiam Fox in North Somerset.”
He continued, “after that I disappeared and went back to what I do for a living.” Brian is an engineer, and he told me about running Water Aid in Tanzania, “but they wanted someone to help with their programme in East Timor, so I went for a year and a half, and it was just delightful.”
A lengthy yet fascinating story he relayed, about putting in water schemes through the mountains with World Vision, their ongoing political struggles, their brief independence and invasion by Indonesia, and how he returned to see how the project had helped the mountain farmers there. “People would walk down into the valley,” he informed, “it was usually the children and mothers who would do this, and then walk all the back way up carrying water on their heads, which was usually filthy, and they’d end up with kids with diarrhoea and all kinds. We were putting in water supplies through the mountains to reach communities that had never had a tap before. And what was lovely was going back there six months later and talking with one of the farmers.”
If my intentions of these chats are informal, with a focus on the candidates rather than the national politics you can read anywhere, I hadn’t suspected such an engaging and inspiring background, and it confirmed Brian was altruistic and respectable. Ergo, towards the end of our chat, when I asked him for his thoughts on a ceasefire in Palestine, here was chap who knows oppression and genocide firsthand. As an undergraduate Brian took a year out, to research herb and spice production in Egypt and Israel, the latter he resided in. “A lot of the time I was based on a kibbutz close to Gaza, which was attacked on October the 7th last year. I knew the families and the children that were murdered.”
Moving onto local affairs, healthcare was at the forefront. Brian is on Wiltshire Council, “although we haven’t run Wiltshire Council because we’ve been the minority,” he expressed, “we’ve been the opposition, we’ve been the tail that wags the Tory dog. So we we’ve come up with promising ideas; that’s the day job! This morning I was in Colerne, trying to sort out the problems with the surgery. I’ve collected the last of the signatures for the petition and this is to save a surgery up there. The doctors have been getting less and less money, and the costs have been going up and up. So they’re now faced with the horrible prospect of having to close one of their surgeries. But to show how committed they are, they have foregone two months’ worth of salary. They’ve not taken the money to keep the surgeries open. Now this is wrong, and this is a big part of the manifesto pledge,helping rural surgeries, and this is a rural area.”
The facilities in both Melksham and Devizes are hot on every candidate’s agenda. “The Melksham hospital has been closed. It’s now certainly been turned into houses. In Melksham a hospital is still there, but essentially what it’s become is an outreach place for mental health services for Oxford. You’ve got a rather ridiculous situation where people are turning up at the hospital, sometimes with quite bad injuries and expect them to be treated and they there’s no one to help them. So what I would like to see is an injuries unit.” I’m going to throw in the ‘how do we fund it curveball!’
“Our manifesto means new spending around 28 billion on areas, health, education, housing, child poverty, and reversing cuts to the army and aid. So that’s what we want to do. And we said we would raise 28 billion through measures such as reversing the cuts to tax on banks. The banks have benefited the tune of something like 50 billion, right? We’re talking about four billion of that, please. But it’s not everything, taxing oil and gas firms, and that’s really to look at the issue of dealing with the changing way people deal with energy. So it’s a one-off tax on them.”
Brian also spoke of taxing social media. “Specifically we’d like to see a mental health expert in every school. Look at the harm that social media does to kids,” and frequent flyers too, “basically, to encourage people not to fly so much. And reforming capital gains tax.”
As with the Greens, eating the rich might force multinational companies to move away, I put to Brian, and thought it was tremendously conservative for me! He used a comparison to post Second World War relationships between employer and employee, and today’s. “The differential between them, was something like ten times. You look at the amount bosses are getting paid now and it’s just ridiculous. So you’re talking about thousands of times more than the people at the bottom; you know that’s all wrong. And when you’ve got a situation like that, it’s wrong for society. It’s not healthy. So I don’t have a problem with seeing that.”
I point out my socialist trait to my daughter, that there’s enough money to go around, it’s the unjust distribution of it. “Yeah,” Brian replied, “absolutely.” It was all going so well, then I put my foot in it with the B-word, and my teapot was empty! If we’ve become right and left-wing extremities, Brexit has driven the divide, and perhaps middle-road Liberal unity is what’s required. “Yeah,” Brian said, “there’s a lovely phrase which I really like, and that is when will people realise that the leftwing and the right-wing belong to the same bird? We are one society and can’t be divided. We have been divided, and then you mentioned Brexit, and what a horrible thing it was, you know, in terms of the way it’s absolutely driven a knife through the middle of us.”
Brexit stance surely divides Liberal from Conservative, and while there’s another far-right option with Reform, I’d consider dangerous, does Brian think they’ll take a certain number of Conservative voters? “On the issue of Conservative voters, what we are finding is a general disgust amongst people who traditionally always voted Conservative.” He highlighted the PPE scandal. “People were making hand over fist money within the government. Those things stick in the throat of decent people. And I think because of that, we’re now seeing a lot of Conservatives flipping to us, and they are doing it in the way that a smoker who gives up smoking becomes evangelical about it. It’s wonderful. It’s quite something to see!”
And Brexit? “We’re a pro-European party, right? We are Europeans whether we it or not, and that’s a fact. Personally, I think Brexit was a was a mistake, but it’s happened. It created horrible divisions in society, but we must work our way forward. Farmers now are faced with a situation where they can’t export to Europe. our manufacturers can’t export to Europe. Our food processors can’t export to Europe. That is just ridiculous. And at the same time, well, the government has kind of been allowing a lot of stuff from Europe to come through. And now they’re starting to tighten up. On that, we’re not with them. These are our friends, and we should be trading with them.”
Strategic voting to get the Tories out, we talked on next. Is every goal a goal to Brian, or does he prefer voters to vote with who they support?
“It’s not good for this country to have them there anymore,” he said of the ruling party. “But the only way for that to happen essentially, is for people to pull together in this constituency, that means you’ve got look at the whole of Wiltshire, right? Look where the Wiltshire councillors are. You’ve got three Labour councillors in Salisbury: that’s it. If Labour was so popular across the whole county, you’d find them all over the place, but you only find them in Salisbury, and of course in Swindon, which is in its own borough.”
Again, the idea of coalition felt alien. “The problem with coalitions generally, and you can see this right across Europe, is wherever you’ve got a big party and a small party, the small party is the one that gets the blame.” Dammit, I brought up Nick Clegg, now I’m never getting the next bus home!
“Totally. And we were destroyed. A lot depends on the amount of influence that we’ll have. If we managed to win enough seats and we form, if you like, the bridge between in the middle, then we might have something called confidence and supply, which means we will vote with the government when we agree with the government. And we will vote against them when we don’t agree. But it would also mean that we wouldn’t have any cabinet ministers. Then you’ve got collective responsibility, and then you end up with horrible battles going on within government. And apparently that’s what happened when we were in bed with the Tories. There were arguments every day.”
Trying to turn the tide back local, Brian told me about a project he was proud as a councillor to have achieved, called Shared Lives. “It’s adoption for adults,” he explained, “specifically for adult social care that could be for retired people, or people with learning difficulties. Adult social care is the one of the biggest things that we all spend our Council tax on. It’s not the roads, it’s not other things, it’s adult social care and indeed, social care for kids as well. That is a massive part of what Wiltshire Council does now. So the idea behind Shared Lives is that a couple of carers can take them into their home, and they get paid by the Council.”
Although Brian would and could talk politics in layman’s terms, and had a convincing argument in each case, it was throughout our chat I felt he favoured discussing these varied and often extreme projects and charity-based motions he both supported and actively engaged in. We rapped Universal Credit, how they’d like to see proportional representation, and how he didn’t think a PCC was needed, though he praised Wilkinson for targeting hair coursing. Housing, well, that’s another story.
“What we’re saying is increasing new homes to 380,000 new homes a year and including in that is 150,000 social homes a year, through new garden cities and community LED developments. We’re talking about banning no fault evictions. Making three-year tenancies a default. And creating a National Register of licenced landlords. So we want to see where people do have a landlord. The landlord doesn’t treat them badly.” Young people getting on the ladder, right to buy, got us onto Margaret Thatcher, Pandora’s boxers!
Yet it was a surprisingly brief hurdle, Brian saying she “got” climate change, and thus I could swiftly move onto this. Brain wrote the motion which got Wiltshire Council to acknowledge the climate emergency. Against the sewage leakage scandal, he acknowledged but also praised Wessex Water for installation of “a massive tank system for example, brought from Maven. So that means that, when you’ve got heavy rainfall, when water is going into the sewer, it’s held in the tank before, and gets processed and then it goes into the river.”
He was up on environmental issues, had worked with Wilshire Climate Alliance, and even Extinction Rebellion, I even liked his take on education reform. Brian slipped on nothing, I could’ve thrown a banana skin under his loafers, and he’d probably glide around it telling me a story of how he once saved a jungle of monkeys from deforestation!
School trusts need a kick into touch, it’s ludicrous to even call them Trusts, and yet again, Brian had a supportive take on how to solve the issue, but not without mentioning, “when I worked in Zimbabwe, I remember visiting a school in the Eastern Highlands that was supported by German Stiftung, which was an Education Foundation……!!” I wondered when the last bus home was, but was kind of in awe of the guy, and found his stories relevant and fascinating. Brian has the experience and compassion to walk into an MP role like Heston Blumenthal could a job in McDonalds, it’s just a case of putting your faith in a middle-road party amidst the pandemonium of a divided country and a government corrupt to the core, which people here are still putting up posters for!
That said, I’m remain in a dilemma, and I’ve got Labour’s hopeful, Kerry Postlewhite to chat with next, which incidentally, I’ve already done, and I really liked her too; I’m such a suck-up! Still, a consensus of a “who do we vote for” Facebook debate on a rare freedom of expression Devizes group, suggested they were all the same “shit.” I beg to differ, now I’ve had the honour of chatting with them personally. A vote for either Brian, Kerry or Catherine is a vote well spent; deciding on which one is the trickiest part.
It’s nice to hear when our features attract attention. Salisbury’s Radio Odstock picked up on our interview with Devizes band Burn the Midnight Oil and…
In thanking everyone who supported this year’s Wiltshire Music Awards, Eddie Prestidge of Stone Circle Music Events revealed his intentions of continuing with the awards…
Featured Image: Lillie Eiger Frome Festival is launching its ‘25 for 25’ fundraising campaign with a very special concert featuring three locally based acts: Tom Moth – best known…
I’ve got some gorgeous vocal harmonies currently floating into my ears, as The Lost Trades release their first single since the replacement of Tamsin Quin…
Rolling out a Barrelhouse of fun, you can have blues on the run, tomorrow (7th November) when Marlborough’s finest groovy vintage blues virtuosos Barrelhouse release…
Over the coming weeks I’m having cuppas with candidates of the Melksham-Devizes constituency crazy enough to indulge my political ignorance and endure my inane waffling; it’s funnier this way! First under my spotlight is Catherine Read, standing for the Greens….
Bulked with other scoops the night before I was short of time to put in any research. Luckily Krishnan grilled Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay on Channel 4, which inspired! Steadfast in New Society I planned to be ruthless like Krishnan, but it turned out Catherine is such a friendly person I couldn’t bring myself to! At one point I whimpered I was playing Devil’s advocate, to which she replied, “oh, was you? I thought it was a perfectly reasonable question!”
Not the guts to be Paxman, I love the Greens, with their radically leftwing ideas and knitted jerseys, but fear their popularity is dwindled, not only by the misconception they’re a one trick pony, but also by those who, whilst accepting the importance of climate change, or not, might not sway so far left: truckloads of ‘em around ‘ere!
There’s an angle I must ask in line with the Melksham-Devizes Primary’s strategic voting idea, if Catherine understood the dilemma some feel a vote for a party lesser in popularity like the Greens is dividing the votes against Conservatives.
“I can understand why people might worry and why they might want to get the Conservatives out,” Catherine told me. “But from all polls across the country, we’re thinking it’s going to be a Labour government. I know here we’re a very conservative county, and even if Michelle Donelan did get in, she’s not in power. She’s just going to be a backbench MP with no influence at all. So what’s important is we get the votes to put pressure on who’s next in, to say, look, a lot of people voted Green because they are concerned about the environment, and that will send a message to the Labour government then as well.”
Story checks out nationally, according to the MRP the Greens are predicted to keep seats in Brighton, and Bristol Central, with 50% of the vote, and it shows Greens coming second in 46 Labour seats, which puts them in position to apply pressure on Labour. But this is not a Labour safe seat by any stretch of the imagination.
“I also think if you look at the percentage vote for the Greens it isn’t that high, where is that really going to make a difference? So I’m saying to everyone, vote for whichever party represents your values, because, you know the Conservatives aren’t going to be in, so this is your opportunity. And I would also ask; why vote for a different party which you don’t really like or want, and by doing that there is money attached to votes? I’m not sure whether a lot of people are aware of this. It’s called short money. What happens is it’s given to the opposition parties, and the amount they get is dependent on the amount of votes they get. Being optimistic here, if we get four Green MPs, we get money to help them through their parliamentary staff and produce policies. But that’s dependent on the amount of votes they get, so I would appeal to any Green voters not to give your vote and your money to a different party that you don’t agree with and try to support the Green Party.”
Catherine explained they were hopeful for at least four MPs in Parliament, mentioning Bristol and Brighton, but also Waveney Valley and one in Herefordshire. “I’m certain Waveney Valleyis between Greens and Conservative; they’re like us over there. It’s rural, and very farming,” she clarified. “I think what’s driving it is protecting the local environment and nature, and farming as well. The Greens stand up for farming.” Catherine continued to tell me about local butterfly camps and tree and hedge planting projects on Morgan’s Hill. “It’s great; you meet people out there and they’re not necessarily from the Green Party, just people who are concerned about their environment.”
And while inevitably the conversation will turn to national politics, I prioritise local issues and getting to know the candidates on a personal level.
Catherine has lived in Bromham for over twenty-five years and worked at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon. Her only political background is parish council level, but hey, Liz Truss read philosophy, politics and economics at Merton College, Oxford, was the president of the Oxford University Liberal Democrats, and look how that panned out!
I take people at face-value, it’s not the party nor the policies, it’s the expression of excitement when Catherine told me about submitting her nomination papers the day before, “and our Chippenham candidates’ going today,” she furthered. “We cover three or four constituencies, and then there’s the other two of the South, West and Salisbury. I believe they’re putting up candidates across Wiltshire. It was the Green Party’s ambition, to stand candidates everywhere.”
Surely such excitement transfers to motivation, to perform an honest job? Though, I asked what I will ask them all; “in a sentence, why should we vote for you?”
“I care about people, and I want to make people’s life better, basically. And I would put, climate change is what drives me to be in this position now.” Caring about people? A politician?! Now that’s a looney leftie concept beyond our fathoming around these sewage infested backwaters where we’d sooner just vote for the ‘circus of thieves’ with a blue rosette (enter winking emoji!) Yet the answer felt sincere, as everything Catherine said did. So we talked about her association with climate groups like Sustainable Devizes and Wiltshire Climate Alliance.
“They aren’t political at all, but I’m a member of them personally. They are great, they raise awareness and do good things. It’s good to be involved in your community to try and make it better, more sustainable,” Catherine said, enticing us to rap about the Sustainability Fair and pedestrianisation of the Market Place, Catherine said, “it doesn’t have to be a carpark, we can do something great with the space; that was the idea behind the fair.” Leading me to waffle about the boater band Devil’s Doorstep who played, but it allowed us to roll the chat into cycling and public transport, as they came up from the canal on bicycles, somehow carrying their recycled washtub bass!
Obviously, Catherine, a keen cyclist herself, was keen to see environmental improvements such as a better public transport system, cycle lanes, et al, but she also talked on enhancements at Green Lane’s Health Centre. “I’m passionate about the NHS. Devizes had the hospital, that hospital was lovely, and convenient, so you didn’t have to travel too far, and I think everybody misses that. So they put in a replacement, the health centre. It’s an environmentally friendly building. It doesn’t have a lot of things that a hospital has. It doesn’t have A&E or any wards. You can’t do a walk in service. We don’t think it’s offering as much to people that it could. Because if you need minor injuries, you go to Chippenham. I think people like community hospitals, but we don’t have a good transport system. It’s not easy for people to get to these places. I think you need to bring it into the communities.”
This is not going the callous way I planned so I told a story about a neighbour of a customer of mine who, one spring morning when the temperature had dropped, suggested with a shiver it was cold, and jested, “so much for all that bloody global warming rubbish!” It’s alarming, his thinking being just because it’s colder today in his village, a pinprick on the world map, climate change is a hoax, not forgoing we don’t refer to it as global warming anymore, it’s climate change! It’s not such an uncommon jest, but my point was, if Greens want in, least be able to persuade government on environmental issues, how do we go about convincing people with this mentality, how do we get this guy onboard with a leftist philosophy he’s not going to warm to?
“So they think what’s in it for him?” Catherine asked, talking environmental and social justice in one. “Obviously we want to reduce global heating or cooling because it’s overheating the planet. We want to reduce carbon, so maybe we put solar panels, insulate homes, because it reduces the amount of carbon energy they’re using. But that has a knock-on benefit for them, because they’re saving money, you know, they’re literally getting free electricity when the sun shines. If you insulate it, they’re going to get warmer homes as well.”
“It is strange,” Catherine replied to my rant about doughnuts who think it’s a hoax. “But when I’m trying to make things better anyway, so if somebody believes it was made-up, we’re only trying to make their life better. We’re trying to reduce the pollution and we’re trying to keep their homes, homes warm. They’re going to benefit from that. You know, we want to increase public transport too, and make it cheap.”
The Green Party are due to release their manifesto on the 14th of June, and like other party’s promises, it will bait the question how we will pay for these initiatives, the ones of the Greens being radical, like a national wage. With higher taxes? It seems the Greens think it’s all about eat the rich.
“A universal basic income, so everybody gets a set amount every year,” Catherine confirmed, “can help with poverty, because everyone’s getting an income, young people don’t even get the minimum wage. These things they will help everybody who’s really struggling now, and what they’re saying is,tax the wealthiest people. We’re not talking middle-class, we’re talking the top 1%, if that, you know, so it’s not going to affect us. This tax is just coming from those that can really afford it.”
I’m with this, there’s enough money to go around, it’s the unjust distribution of it, especially when it comes to taxes and the misuse of public spending. But common immediate reaction to the Green Party is they’re just going to whack our taxes up, and how do you convince folk otherwise?
“We’re not whacking up tax, we put tax on the richest people.” Catherine reaffirmed. “The reason we don’t seem to get services that work is, where does all that money go? That’s a question to be asked. We’ve paid our taxes. And like you say, the tax burden is the highest. But where has it all gone? And I think we’ve seen an example of why.” Catherine went onto example the PPE contract scandal during the pandemic. “It seems to me they don’t have any balances, any value for money, and we have the scandals with Lady Michelle Mone, and you know that I was quite upset and angry about all that, because that was our money. That should have gone into NHS services and protecting us, and it was an excuse to literally give away our money. It’s just not being put back into our public services. It’s being put into different things, and I think that’s the problem. I think that’s what needs to be addressed.”
And that’s where we are. While environmental issues should so obviously be top priority, though rarely are in other manifestos and folk’s day-to-day minds, and I vow never to be that spanner calling it all a hoax just because it’s a bit chilly today, I’m willing to consider the Greens and love what they say, but my fear their other policies are either vague or too radical for the majority will affect my vote being lost from the beloved ethos of getting the Tories out.
Lovely as our chat was, and interesting, it hasn’t helped my dilemma of what box to put my cross, it’s just reaffirmed my affection for the Green Party, and my prayers the others standing will have an eye on environmental issues too rather than just perfidious piffle; Lib Dem’s Brian Matthew is up next, we’ll see what he has to say on it!
The key, I think, is a coalition with Greens, to put the cat among the pigeons. But in the past election I found every time I mention coalitions to prospective MPs of yellow and red, they pull the expression of looking into the eyes of Medusa! Catherine though seemed keen on the idea, or at least to work with other parties. “I think they would work with the government on topics that we agreed we had common ground on.” Catherine said. “But I don’t think they would commit to supporting everything that the Labour government say, because obviously there’s differences. So I think where there’s overlap, yes, they probably would. But I can’t speak for the National Party, that’s just my opinion. I’m fairly new to politics. I think working with your community is what it’s about. I don’t think it’s about bashing heads all the time; it’s about just doing the best.”
It was a lovely chat, and I am thankful to Catherine Reed for her time; she’s an inspirational person, and as she said, if you’ve faith in the Greens, which you should, consider not giving your vote to someone you don’t fully agree with.
Have you had “the visit” yet? Your local councillor house-calling hand-in-hand with Conservative candidate Michelle Donelan? I have. At least it broke up my busy day with lighthearted banter! You know, by publishing their adventures in pestering on Facebook, they’re verging on breaking electoral rules, right?
Despite my pacifism means my assault would only have been verbal, I had to get the better half to face the candidate who cost the taxpayer £34,000 for her personal court case whilst using her position to insure her partner and their father profited from the pandemic, because I couldn’t be trusted, holding an electric hedge trimmer and all!
The leaflet was refused with an expression of surprise. It was surprising all round, in fact. I was surprised at the audacity to shamelessly parade the streets begging for votes; canvassing they call it, desperation I call it!
They were surprised upon my reply to their comment that it was “a nice day for it,” which was, “yes, when you get back perhaps you could pay back some of the money you stole!” Michelle’s expression was one of sucking a lemon, as she hurried to harass the next-door neighbour instead, without much fortune. And I, in turn, was surprised the backup was our own councillor who I like and trusted. But, if they come to your house begging for votes in this way, they are possibly breaking electoral rules, when such ventures are published, as they have been on Michelle Donelan’s own Facebook page. (It’s all cool, I was booted off her page for appealing against genocide, ages ago!)
On “prohibition of political publicity,” a Government Act 1986, which you can view for yourself at Legislation.gov.uk, it states “(1)A local authority shall not publish[F1, or arrange for the publication of,] any material which, in whole or in part, appears to be designed to affect public support for a political party.”
Yet, here they are, doing it. “Reels” are the deal, short videos to you or me, and Michelle has smattered her Facebook page with Wiltshire Conservative Councillor and Conservative Town Councillor endorsements. It doesn’t matter how many emojis you use to make it feel fun, this is still published matter, it is undemocratic and it borders on breaking electoral law.
Those who we know of who rallied the cause, at least those reels currently active online are Cllr Maria Hoult, Devizes South Town Councillor, Cllr Laura Mayes Wiltshire Councillor for Bromham & Rowde, Cllr Jack Oatley Wiltshire Councillor for Melksham Forest, Cllr Brian Burchfield of Colerne, Cllr Johnny Kidney Wiltshire Councillor for Winsley & Westwood, and Cllr Nick Holder for Bowerhill.
UPDATE: Our sources though have been informed by a spokesperson for Wiltshire Police, and after a thorough investigation with senior people in the electoral commission they have found “no wrongdoing.” This is because it was not published on a Wiltshire Council platform. The conclusion of their investigation is that we must apologise for our mistake when stating it was unlawful, and we have edited this out with fairness. Still, to us the internal ethics of attempting to influence the electorate is unfair on opposition parties.
It seems they are so confident they will not be exposed by local media for flaunting electoral law in this way, they will brazenly publish such material unashamedly. We will be chatting to the candidates for alternative options over the coming weeks, so you can make your own mind up without the persuasion of “your local councillors,” so stay tuned!
Oh, and the hedge looks great now, thanks for asking; just shaved a little off the top and sides!
by Ian Diddamsimages by Ben Swann and Ian Diddams Self-appointed “Morose” Mark Harrison was once again on totally top form at Komedia last Sunday entertaining…
Wiltshire Council confirmed Blue Badge holders can park freely in council-operated car parks again, following a vote at the Full Council meeting on Tuesday 21…
Featured Image Credit: Jamie Carter Special guests Lightning Seeds to Support Forest Live, Forestry England’s summer concert series presented with Cuffe & Taylor, has announced…
Wiltshire country singer-songwriter Kirsty Clinch released a Christmas song only yesterday, raising funds for the Caenhill Countryside Centre near Devizes, and it’s already racing up…
It was never just the fervent ambience created which made me go tingly with excitement about Melksham’s young indie band Between The Lines’ demo single…
A second track from local anonymous songwriter Joyrobber has mysteriously appeared online, and he’s bitter about not getting his dream job….. If this mysterious dude’s…
It’s not Christmas until the choir sings, and Devizes Chamber Choir intend to do precisely this by announcing their Christmas Concert, as they have done…
Members of Swindon Palestine Solidarity made themselves heard at the Labour Party fundraising dinner, where Jess Phillips MP was the guest of honour, protesting at the stance taken by the party on the ongoing slaughter in Gaza.….
Protesters waved Palestinian flags and chanted that Labour should be ashamed of themselves for not standing up against the genocide in Gaza.
Rob Gray said, “it’s unbelievable that the Labour Party who are supposed to be in opposition, have colluded with the Conservatives to thwart a ceasefire in Gaza. Over 30,000 people have been killed by the state of Israel, over 10,000 children. People are dying of starvation in Gaza and our local Labour Party are gorging a three course meal at £35 a head. What on earth are they thinking? We urge people to join our local marches and the national marches in London when they can. This is truly a matter of life or death for our Palestinian brothers and sisters.”
A couple of people entering the event stopped to talk with the protesters with varying views on the situation in Gaza. Some conversations became very heated.
Swindon Palestine Solidaritystates they will continue to protest until there is a permanent ceasefire and Palestine is free from occupation.
This afternoon sees the inaugural grand ceremony of Stone Circle Music Events’ Wiltshire Music Awards taking place at the Devizes Corn Exchange. It’s a…
In association with PF Events, Devizes Outdoor Celebratory Arts introduces a Young Urban Digitals course in video mapping and projection mapping for sixteen to…
by Ian Diddamsimages by Penny Clegg and Shakespeare Live “Antony & Cleopatra” is one of Shakespeare’s four “Roman Plays”, and chronologically is set after…
Tuesday before Christmas I’m in New Society. I gazed across to a table by the window, recalling an optimistic response from local Labour candidate Rachael Schneider-Ross when I quizzed her if she felt she had a chance in this Tory haven, in 2019. “Never say never,” she replied, predictably, it was not to be.….
This time, though we’re talking local politics I’m not with a candidate or anyone affiliated with a political party. I’m with Anne Graham of the Melksham & Devizes Primary, not a school, rather a school of thought with an ambitious yet strategic plan to topple Conservatives from this supposed safe seat in the next general election; cross fingers, toes, whatever you’ve got spare!
In interviewing candidates, I’d always ask if they felt a coalition was a possibility, never with a positive response. If there no unification within the alternative parties, everyone here against the monopoly of Conservatives is divided. Anne and her colleagues in the Primary, Mike White, Felix McGrath, and Claire Gwilliam, call it “splitting the vote,” I call it “divide and conquer.”
“All my life,” she explained, “I have never once voted for anybody who’s become my MP. I think the current electoral system needs changing, though I don’t think that’s going to happen. But when you look at this constituency and other parts of Wiltshire, the number of people who don’t vote for the Conservatives outnumbers those who do.”
This is correct in the Devizes constituency for 2019, only when considering adding the 30.6% who didn’t vote, reducing Danny Kruger’s 63% win to 43.8%, which Anne was keen to point out with pie charts. Another displays the predictions for the next general election, estimating Conservatives to take only 20.8%. Though they’re still winning, if combined, the votes of the other big three weigh in at 37.6%.
Without a united strategy to challenge this plummeting majority while the iron is hot, there’s confusion as who would be best to strategically vote for to overthrow the Tories, virtually a two percent difference between Lib Dems’ and Labour’s predicted results; herein lies the issue. Yet more concerning is this general frustration that it’s unsolvable, and the idea there is no point in voting at all if it’s always a foregone conclusion.
“That’s a really important group,” Anne expressed. “There’s about a third of people who don’t vote, particularly an issue for people under thirty, something like a third of those people are not even registered to vote. If you look at the numbers of the people who don’t vote in this constituency, if all those people voted and they didn’t vote conservative, that would change the result drastically.”
The Melksham & Devizes Primary offers a possibility we should view as an opportunity, a silver lining, provided enough people gets behind it. Its beauty is you’re not signing up, aligning, or devoting to anything. All they ask is we’re conscious of it and take heed of their valid, professional, and in-depth research.
Anne puts a leaflet in front of me headlined “let’s be clever and vote together,” and graphically depicting fish. Akin to the most haunting of Bruegel’s images, Big Fish Eat Little Fish, yet unlike the doomed fish in the painting, the smaller fish in this diagram are joined within an even bigger fish. Diagrams are all well and good, but is this possible in reality? Is it possible to overturn this historically Conservative seat, and exactly how does the Melksham & Devizes Primary intend to try? I asked Anne, and by the end of our chat I felt more confident there’s a real chance than ever before.
“I think the only way to outnumber the Conservatives is to make tactical voting public,” Anne continued, “basically to get people to coalesce around one of the alternative candidates, the Green, the Lib Dem, or the Labour, based on the best person for this constituency. Maybe that’s a local person, somebody who’s got experience, somebody who’s young and dynamic, whoever people think is the best person. And then to publicise that, saying if you want to vote tactically, we’ve asked through public Q&A sessions to decide who you think is the best placed person to represent the constituency. The majority say it’s this person, so we would recommend if you wanted to vote tactically, you vote for this person.”
My concern: I may not personally agree with this “chosen one”, and in knuckle-dragger’s inane flaw of fighting far-right government with an even further right party, are they invited? Though my initial plan to play devil’s advocate backfired, upon Anne showing me the rightwing-free graphics, we’re clearly only talking middle-of-the-road and left parties, and now I’ve nothing left but to nod in agreeance; I like this idea, and even if I didn’t, a bad plan is better than no plan… even Baldrick had a plan!
I wanted to confirm they’re not asking for anyone’s allegiance or association, as in signing your name in blood that you will vote for this chosen candidate no matter what. They’re only asking people to sign up tothe website so they can distribute this information, which, cometh the day, we will gladly publish the result of their findings.
“We’re looking for people who want to be kept involved in some way, though”, Anne extended. “People who would like to be actively involved – because I think there are a lot of people out there who are alienated – feel like their vote doesn’t count. And the other thing is that people are unaware of the new requirements on voter ID.”
We chatted politics for some time and discussed our reasoning for mutually feeling the Conservatives have lost their path of vison, are out of touch and unsuitable to govern. “I’m very wary of party politics because I don’t like the factional way people fight; I’m more cooperative,” Anne stressed.
I believe such reasons are widespread yet obvious, and going into them here is a distraction from the objective, to highlight the Melksham & Devizes Primary; it was merely to confirm we’re singing from the same song sheet. Though my personal opinions are unprofessionally formed, on the basics I know and consume, Anne’s interest in politics is more specialised. She recalled her inquisitive childhood, telling me of her mum driving around, how she’d ask her, “who designs this one-way system, who says this goes here, who puts these street signs up?!”
Anne studied for a degree in public administration. “From there I’ve worked a lot in the public sector. I’ve worked for some of the big accountancy firms. So going into the public sector, I’ve worked inside local government, and I’ve worked inside the NHS. My whole interest when I was doing my degree was around value for money and the accountability when you pay your taxes. How is that money being spent? How do you know it’s being spent to best effect? How do the policy decisions that politicians make then get translated into the budgets and financial plans that cascade down from the vote in the Houses of Parliament to the town council and the county council?”
Enough backstory, it’s only to show Melksham & Devizes Primary aren’t randomly pushing a pin into a map. “My starting point”, Anne reverted onto the subject, “is predictions from an organisation called Electoral Calculus. They’ve predicted the general election result correctly for something like seven out the last eight. What they’re currently predicting is a Conservative majority of about 2,000. So, if people carry on doing the same old thing, we will get the same old results, because no other parties are predicted to exceed the number of Conservative votes. However, if you could combine the people who would vote for the Lib Dem and Labour together, you’ve got over 24,000 people. Combine them with the Greens, you’ve got a potential majority of over 12,000. It’s possible, I think. The only way to make a difference is to do something different.”
“So, for me, trying to run this primary model is the ‘doing something differently,’ because I am really frustrated that nobody’s done this. Why is nobody doing this? Why are people not out there, shouting and making a fuss? Why are the parties not working together? And quite often, the answer comes back to, well, the Lib Dems were in coalition with the Conservatives, and they let you down, which is exactly what you just said.”
She’s right too, I did suggest this when discussing the Tories coming back to power in the Cameron era, casting my vote to LibDems, who sold it to the Tories. But on a local level I’m back in support of LibDems, alongside Labour and Greens, and I don’t know which way to turn. I’m only adamant the Conservatives need to be taught a lesson. “In my opinion”, Anne said, which is bang on the money, “we need to think about what’s best for this constituency, the people who live here, and try to get past the someone did this, and she said that, and they did this, and they did that, yeah? The top priority: you change something.”
“I’m no friend of the Conservatives,” she continued, “I disagree with a lot of their policies. I think they’ve done a lot of damage to the country in the past thirteen years, particularly they’ve underfunded public services, you can see it day-in day-out. You only need to drive around the area to see potholes, and the reason there are potholes on the roads is because they’ve underfunded local government. That goes under the radar because people don’t understand the government and how it’s funded. The only way in this area is to somehow get people to back a candidate against the Conservatives.”
Anne reverts my attention to the graphs, “This graph shows good gains for the Lib Dems: this number has been getting progressively bigger. But there are other polls which put Labour ahead of Lib Dems in this area, so it’s not clear cut: Labour and Lib Dems are always close.”
The other factor is the moving of the constituency boundaries. To maintain a greater chance of winning more seats, the government has shifted the goalposts, splitting their safe seat in Devizes, which Michelle Donelan is eager to sit upon. “If now is not the time, I don’t know when is”, Anne expressed. I was keen to ask how they get this message out.
“So, we’ve been out with democracy meters, asking questions, what people think about, is the NHS safe in conservative hands, for example. And then people put stickers on the board, like they did with the Brexit campaign. We’ve done one in Devizes and in Bradford on Avon so far, and we’re planning to take it to Melksham”. They also plan to go door-to-door. They have a website which, “explains how it all works, and then we will organise some public question and answer sessions before the general election. We invite the candidates. This is not Hustings. This is not us trying to interfere in the democratic process. All these people stay on the ballot. We invite the public to come and talk to these people. Ask them questions. See what you think. Who do you think is the best person for this constituency?”
Melksham & Devizes Primary plan to live stream the events too, and record votes on who should be this chosen candidate. “The question is not who do we recommend,” Anne concluded, “rather, who do the public think is the right person for the constituency? [The recommendation is by] the people who’ve come to the events who’ve asked the questions in public.”
The papers she gave me optimistically conclude thus: “lose separately or win together.” I wish it was this cut and dry. Anne tells me they use a model from South Devon primary, and there are others too, one in East Wiltshire, where Danny Kruger will be standing. I gave thought to the surprise result in a 2021 North Shropshire by-election, a one hundred and seventeen year Conservative stronghold which fell to Lib Dem candidate Helen Morgan. Anne pointed out that that constituency was far more yellow than red, whereas here the vote is much more evenly split.
“Those constituencies have an obvious second choice”, she explained. “A lot of the political system …and the way that elections are framed in the mainstream media where the constituencies are marginal… there’s a lot of focus. The mainstream political parties will focus their energy and their attention on marginals because those are where the elections are won or lost. We have a situation where we are not marginal and our vote is evenly split, so neither Labour nor the Lib Dems nor Greens are targeting this seat, so they are not putting any significant resources beyond what they normally do into this constituency. They’re just ignored, ignored from their [central offices]. Well, that’s not good enough. Then everyone here thinks, ‘oh, there’s no point voting because they (Conservatives) just will always be in’. And then you’ll get people who do go out and vote for the other parties, but [they will vote for] whichever one they may think is best, and so split the vote. So the Conservatives always win. It’s the definition of madness, isn’t it? If you always do as you’ve always done, you’ll always get the same result if you don’t do anything differently.”
This caused me to visualise an animal in a cage, disturbingly trapped and perpetually sauntering back and forth. “Yeah, that’s a good analogy”, Anne agreed. We shouldn’t hold hope for a fictious David and Goliath scenario: only if we have multiple Davids will this work; only if we take the data, collate opinion, and stand united to strategically vote will anything ever change. So, here’s your starting point: join in on this website and Facebook Here, to follow the progress of Melksham & Devizes Primary and, when general election time comes around, consider the strategic option they present.
Thanks to Anne at Melksham & Devizes Primary for taking the time to explain. We had a nice chat. I reckon it’s a great idea, but it is something I doubt the mainstream media will be willing to publicise, that’s why we’re here! Dunno about you, but I’m sick to the back teeth of the underfunding, the ignorance and self-entitlement, the disregard for important social and ecological matters, the partying while people died, the supporting of xenophobia and genocide, the daily scandals and utter selfish thievery from the ones supposed to govern us, the ones we pay to serve us; change is a necessity now, let’s hope this works, I don’t type two thousand words for the love of it, mate!!
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by Mick Brianimages from Lauren Arena-McCann The playwright Tom Stoppard is probably best known for his work “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead”, his absurdist comedy…
Truth be told, I get a tad nervy when a subject wants an interview via phone call. I worry of saying the wrong thing, or forgetting a fundamental question. Being I’ve chatted to Mike Rees, Wiltshire independent Police Crime Commissioner candidate on the dog and bone before, I’m quite looking forward to hearing from him. He is so down-to-earth it’s like chatting to an old friend.
At the time he was at his boxing class, where he teaches various age groups, but I felt Mike sounded rather exhausted and slightly more despondent than his usual cheery self. Naturally I opened with asking him how the campaigning was going. “It’s bloody hard work, to be honest, Darren,” he confessed, perhaps the very reason for his temperament. Mike runs a business, has the boxing gym to manage too, “and I’m trying to get this campaign stuff down. I keep getting requests for more leaflets, and I just can’t afford that. That’s my disadvantage.”
Is Mike loading his van full of campaign leaflets? No, teabags for the homeless charity Devizes Opendoors, donated by Malmesbury Victoria FC.
Hoping the focus will be entirely on Mike and his campaign, prior to the call I made a mental note not to mention, if possible, the other candidates and in particular, Conservative Johnathan Seed. But only a minute in I broke that rule, mainly because a post by Seedy popped on my Facebook newsfeed seconds before the call, and I noted it was sponsored by a company. Budget is everything when on a campaign trial, and Mike funds his himself.
However, sharing is caring on social media; I mainly see positivity for Mike, but newsfeeds are catered to taste, and there’s that silent majority. “Yeah,” he agreed, “it’s the people not on social media who are always going to vote Tory, no matter what. That’s the people I can’t really get to.”
This said, I’ve noted a number of known conservative thinkers in support of Mike, because the humdinger here is the importance of politics in the PCC role. Other candidates affiliated with a party insist this is political. I loved chatting to Lib Dem runner Liz Webster, though I asked Mike how he felt when, in the interview, she said he was “going for the wrong job!”
This was where Mike cheered up. “Yeah, chief constable; it did make me laugh! No, I don’t. It’s the last thing I want to do!” Mike knows exactly what the job involves. There’s this notion circulating we need a party-led politician for PCC, like calling a sparky for a plumbing job. Yet, in a political MP or councillor election anyone is free to run as an independent, and no one batters an eyelid. Mike agreed, informing me his focus is on the public, “on what the people want, you know. They have HMIC inspections and Wiltshire Police has come out as good. Do the public think that? I’m not sure they do. That’s what’s more important, not what HMIC says but what the pubic think about their policing.”
So, I put another negative comment from the book of face to him, which said “we don’t want a copper in the role because he’s institutionalised.” Mike retorted, he’s been out of the cops for seven years, and been running his own business, “and I’ve seen things from the other side. I’ve seen real poor police service, and seen some good stuff. There are good cops out there, but some bad service, and some stories I get told, I just put my head in my hands. As someone who worked for the police for thirty years, I understand what they’re going through. But I also get dismayed by it, because through my service we always wanted to do the best for the victim. It seems like they’re more concerned with policing themselves than they are about policing the public. So, I worry for the public perception of them.”
He reflected, “on my first day of training school, what we were taught; prevention and detection of crime, preservation of life and property, keeping the peace. That was the core function of the police, it just seems like we’ve lost sight of that, personally. We’ve become to politicised, and I don’t like it.”
One point Mike recently posted online, was concerning domestic abuse, stating he was disappointed with the House of Lords when 351 MPs rejected Amendment 42 of the Domestic Abuse Bill, which sought to instigate a national register of domestic abuse perpetrators and stalkers. I wanted to ask Mike, how one governs a police force if you have to align with political decisions you personally disagree with. “Well,” he started, “I’m not afraid to speak up. This is what I see as an advantage for me; I don’t need the job, I’m going in there to try make things better, because I care. I could sit here and moan all day but someone’s got to put down we’re trying do something about it. A politician, I don’t think they think like that, they think rather differently. I understand what these people are dealing with on a daily basis, dealing with some horrible, nasty things, and the force is demoralised, recent federation survey showed us that, and things need to change.”
“If you’ve got a demoralised police force, it doesn’t matter what policies and procedures people are coming up with, nothing’s going to work. You’ve got to sort your workforce out first, and get them to follow you, be inspired by you; and that’s one of things I do.”
There’s been progression since we last spoke, and I felt the need to mention the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill protests, supposing the successful Wiltshire candidate is lucky in respect that while we’ve had a few protests, it’s relatively passive compared to Bristol. “No one’s got an issue with peaceful protest, have they?” Mike responded, with his “own views” about the Bill, “I don’t see the need for it, to be honest, I think the law is already there for what they’re trying to do. I don’t see the purpose it serves.”
“If the violence is there, it can be dealt with now, under the current laws.” Mike laughed off the concept a protest should be shut down if it gets too noisy, adding, “a slightly annoying protest? What’s that about? How can you judge ‘annoying’?!”
“Peaceful protest is an absolute right in a democratic society, isn’t it?” he asked me; like, yeah, I thought so too! “If you’re going to be violent, then you’re going to be dealt with, and I think you should be dealt with strongly. If you’re going to infiltrate and cause violence, then you have to be dealt with strongly, that’s the only way to deal with it.”
To find myself agreeing with the police must be an age thing, but I do on all Mike’s points! I only hope, on this reply, the ‘you’ he uses is proverbial and not a personal warning! That’s the key throughout our chat, he’s an agreeable bloke. I noted if one wants to be violent, they will, and we went through other examples in British history, like football violence. And herein is my respect for the police, because if you see a fight happening on the street, you cross the road, avoid it, but the Babylon, they’ve got to be the ones who go and sort it out. I confessed; I’d be completely shit at that! Mike relayed when, off duty, he stepped in to stop an unfair fight, “I told the lad who was getting a kicking to bugger off, which he did, then they set on me!” The point is, most politicians, I’d gather, would be like me, sheepishly walking away, hardly ‘community policing!’ Mike has been there, and knows the shop floor duties.
A serious note ensued, Mike felt we’d lost touch with community policing, “it’s really important to build up a relationship with the community, they feel reassured and they talk to you, and when they start talking, you find, who the criminals on the patch are. We seem to have lost all that, mostly down to lack of resources.” All candidates are requesting more funding is needed, in previous chats with Mike, he was adamant, while he agreed more funding is needed, it’s not the amount rather where and how it is spent. “It’s a combination of both,” he told, “but there’s a lot of money that’s wasted, I’ve seen it over the years, still hear stories now, that need looking at. The other candidates get to hear about that, because they don’t know people within the service, whereas I get to hear all that. Because people trust me, I have a good reputation.”
Pet crimes seemed to be a focus for other contenders, but Mike claimed he hadn’t seemed much evidence of that, and, comparably, it’s not so much of an issue in Wiltshire. More steam to the notion, you need a guy with his ear to ground and a rapport with the workforce. Rural crime is different, “it’s due to a lack of policing.” I added my tuppence on the lack of the Bobby on beat, and speed watching, and Mike agreed, adding volunteer community speed watchers felt they wasn’t getting supported by Wiltshire Police. “Road safety,” he stated, “is really important, you know. Would you rather have us tell you your house has been burgled or a loved one has been hit by a speeding car? Some say catching speeders when you should be catching real criminals, but what would you rather be told?”
What Mike wants to see, is specials working with the community speedwatch, “then they feel better because it’s being enforced, and everyone’s a winner!” Trust me to break the solemn tangent with a dig, “yep,” I replied, “get them out of the office, give ‘em some doughnuts and fresh air!” Ack, I used the doughnut gag, to the possible, and I very much hope it will be so, future police crime commissioner.
I wanted him to laugh it off, but he was feeling pessimistic about his chances, “I still think Mr Seed will get it, due to huge number of votes I have to get.” It was a sour point to end on, but I didn’t type this up for nothing. Yet Mike’s cynicism has the span of seconds, joking, “and I’ve only nine friends!!” Although we love the cut off Mike’s jib, without the equal campaign budget, it is up to us, to share his social media posts, and posters, this interview, and let our friends know, we don’t necessarily need a paper-pushing office-bearer in this role, if you agree, we need a fellow of shop floor experience. And man, I’ve not even mentioned fox hunting!
I did end on a topical subject for our arts and music-based zine, and asked Mike about pop crime; “can we get Rick Astley arrested, or Ace of Base, or Venga Boys?”
“He should’ve been sent down years ago!” Mike replied, but retracted it on the grounds he does a cover of AC-DC, “and that sort of stuff, so he’s gone up in my estimation!” What a genuinely great bloke! All the best Mike, we’re rooting for you.
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Now I know what you think; I’ve got red on me, politically speaking. Really! I’m just trying to know what’s best for everyday people, and my family. Truth is I could clash an orangey colour (no, not skin tone, do I look like Trump?!) I’ve added a hint of yellow in the past but they sold my vote to the Tories! It’s unforeseeable today the Lib-Dems would form a coalition with the blues, being their opposite position on Brexit; which blows my primary concern, and angle of this interview. Do I care? I’m going to ask about coalitions anyway, intending to question the name “Democrats,” when their stance on Brexit is to remain, and well, that’s hardly democratic being the slight majority voted to leave, but most importantly, the scope and support for this middling party in a left-right divide epoch.
Yep, I’m having a cuppa in New Society again, politically flirting with another candidate. This time I’m somewhat cagey, considering the Nick Clegg era, only to find myself thoroughly supportive of another pleasant, and local lady, Jo Waltham. Meanwhile pressure amounts in messages about interviewing Danny. He seemed up for it via email, so I fired some questions and await his response. Though have you noticed a fantastic number of little yellow signs this election, perhaps more than usual, and on land too? It’s getting exciting, as far as politics does, when our landowners seem keen to make a change.
Rurally then, does Jo think they offer the best deal for small local businesses and agriculture, as generally they’re the safest Conservative slices in previous years.
“In previous times yes, I think they would have been,” Jo stated, “but I think the Conservative Party of 2019 is very different from previous years.” She suggested there was, “a lot of in our manifesto for small businesses.” Jo herself runs a small website design business in Marlborough, “so I certainly understand the sort of issues small businesses have. I know the changes in the IR35 legislation are creating a lot of concern, and trading with the EU. The power of the internet means it’s been easier to trade internationally, so leaving the EU will impact small businesses as much as bigger companies.”
“With regards to rural affairs, I think for the farmers, naturally they’re equally concerned about leaving the EU and losing the funding they rely on. They worry about lowering of food standards in a trade deal with the US, and how that might impact them,” she expressed, and I had to drone about the dreadfulness of that outlook. “It is a major concern, so obviously the Lib Dems are fighting to stop Brexit.” Jo predicted at tomorrow’s NFU hustling the majority of questions will be what will happen when we leave? “My simple answer is let’s not leave!”
It all boils down to Brexit doesn’t it, the anger in confusion when we should really be prepping for joy to world and the peacefulness of Christmas. I stressed purposes of being here was to keep issues local, but suggested we get the big one out of the way. “I feel there’s two big ones, or maybe three,” Jo interjected, “it is about stopping Brexit, it is about climate change, and it is about investing in public services.” Time then to throw in my sold my vote to the Tories whinge and see if Jo thinks the Lib-Dems would consider a coalition with anyone else. “Andrew Neil was pressing Jo Swinson on this point again and again, and I think she was incredibly clear, that if we end up in hung parliament territory, we will vote on those policies that we agree with and won’t on the ones we don’t. So, we would vote on for any policies that come through, like the people’s vote, votes for sixteens, allowing EU nationals to vote, all of those things we agree with we would vote with, whatever party get them, but I don’t see us in a formal coalition with Boris or Jeremy Corbyn.”
Here’s the point in our nice chat when I questioned this “democrat” namesake hardly being democratic when the slight majority voted to leave. I’m asking for it, I know; time to munch the freebie biscuit! “It’s a fair question, lots have been asking it, it’s absolutely fine,” Jo laughed it off. “Basically, when you write a manifesto, you’re writing for what you’re going to do if you win a majority government. If you don’t win you can’t do those things. If we won, we would take that as a mandate to do what is in our manifesto, that’s why we revoke, because we’d take this new mandate as being acceptable to do that. Obviously, it’s sadly unlikely we’d get a majority government, but who knows? Still a week to go, otherwise we continue to campaign to get a people’s vote. We would have to think what would we do if we did get a majority government, would we then go back to negotiate a new deal, which we don’t believe in, and don’t want, we couldn’t, it’d be a mockery of the whole system. So, the idea is if we did win, we would need fifty percent of the vote because the first-past-the-post system and that would be a mandate to do what we said in our manifesto. Any majority government would.”
“Also,” Jo snapped, “I find it frustrating it’s regarded as the remain parliament which is stopping Brexit, when isn’t it the ERG who voted against Theresa May’s deal, isn’t it even Boris Johnson himself who voted against her deal? If they voted for it way back when, we’d be out by now! It’s not the remain parliament, you can’t expect people who don’t want to leave to enable leaving, but you should expect people who do want to leave, to enable leaving, and they didn’t!” She is critical of this first-past-the-post system and used the confused reasoning behind the referendum result as an example, stressing a key Lib Dem policy is to change to a proportional representation system, “so every vote does matter, and people will be engaged with the process.”
I have to wonder if the importance of Brexit to the masses or to the party is the reason why it’s above environmental issues on the manifesto guide on the menu of the Lib-Dem website, but it’s time to quote our previous interview with Emma Dawnay, who said no mainstream party is doing enough to tackle the issue. Jo agrees with this, so I asked for the party’s stance. “We need to get started now,” she expressed, well, we needed to get started thirty years ago, but c’est la vie!
“There’s talk about the Conservatives saying 2050, Labour is saying sometime in the 2030s, and Lid Dems are saying 2045.” I had to chuckle despite being the fate of the planet we stand on, as it’s symbolic of this straight down the middle approach. I mean, I like if it’s multiple choice on a TV quiz show to opt for the middle question, but this is a smidgen more serious. There is no date, there is only speculation and scientific evidence, and it’s not good news. Much as I’m enjoying our chat, here’s the issue, just as Labour and definitely Conservative, where I quiver at pondering the divide between talking the talk and walking the walk.
“What is critical, the Lib-Dems have introduced some interim targets,” Jo explains, “because it’s not only about how much CO2 emissions we have each year, it’s the cumulative total. So, since the industrial revolution we have emitted about 1,500 billion tonnes of CO2, which has led to 1% of warming. Which means if we want to limit it to 1.5% warming, we’ve got about 750 billion tonnes of CO2 left to emit. We’re currently emitting it at about 50 billion tonnes globally. So, if we rapidly start reducing that now, get it down to say, 30, even, that gives longer before we get to that 1.5. So, that’s why it’s about the cumulative total, and getting started is more important than that net-zero. By reducing now, it gives longer to solve the things which are more difficult to solve. One simple Lib-Dem policy is to have 80% of our energy from renewable sources by 2030. That will be challenging, but it’s doable. It’ll make a huge difference because if you think about our energy, everything else comes onto it, like electric cars, the only point in switching to them is if we getting electricity by the renewable sources. Then there’s also reducing the gas and electricity we’re using to heat our homes and public buildings, so we’d retrofit insulation, particularly people on income support.” Jo suggested it’s a win-win, for environmental and poverty issues.
Jo stressed encouraging more to use public transport is tricky, locally, “but there’s things we can do to improve that, Lib-Dems are investing to improve our bus and rail networks, we’ve a fund earmarked for it.” It’s a point I need to return to, but Jo continued about encouraging local government to take more action. Proudly she cited Wiltshire Liberal Democrats who implemented a zero-carbon strategy together, and who proposed a climate emergency motion to the oppositional Wiltshire Council, “and much to our surprise, it passed! But they’ll need money to implement the changes we need, and a Lib Dem government would help fund local councils to take part in those local initiatives.” This led onto us both criticising the Conservatives for lowering buying tariffs, signing of fracking, “they’re doing the wrong thing about climate change,” Jo exclaimed.
Locally, I asked about the tactical vote being a grey area, being while Lib Dem come second more regularly, Labour did last time. Why would anyone risk their vote on yellow? “If you take Wiltshire as a whole, we have twenty-two Lib-Dem councillors and three or four Labour ones. So, there is a strong Lid-Dem vote in Wiltshire, you only have to look at the five 2019 local by-elections, Labour stood candidates in only two, Lib-Dems in all five, Conservatives won two, Liberal Democrats won three. Where Labour did stand, they came fourth. The Devizes Town Council election in February, won by Conservatives, we lost by something like seventeen votes, it was quite close, then Iain Wallis, then a tie,” she contemplates, “wasn’t it, between The Guardians and Labour, but the main point was, they were fourth or fifth.” If your response is voting is different in general elections, Jo offered, “Yes, they do, but we can only go with the information we’ve got.”
More stats about EU elections followed as I refilled my cup! Given these, Jo pondered, “I think, we’ve got a good bit of data which suggests Lib-Dems are the tactical vote here. I was encouraged to look closer at the local demographic, and who we need to change their vote, suggesting they need to switch the Conservative voters. “Moderate conservatives, probably voted that way all their life, are remainers, and actually have a lot of liberal core values; who are they most likely to vote for, Labour or Lib-Dem?” Yet Jo stressed their growing numbers include some who switched from Labour, which was fortunate as her campaign manager joined us moments later, who I happen to know was a former Labour supporter!
I asked about the Lib-Dem stance on our gypsy and travelling community, after Priti Patel’s recent proposals to criminalise unauthorised encampments which to me, sounds like legislative cleansing. Plus, of course, would put further strain on housing. Jo stressed she was unaware of a particular policy, and although she circled the question, the result expressed a Lib-Dem vision of tolerance and equality for all, “helping everyone live their life in the manner of how they want to live it, regardless of race, gender and sexuality.”
This point brought about discussing the LGBTQ community and the terrible trend in opinion regressing to abhorrence, generally. I asked how they’d deal with making them feel safer and more respected. Jo was firm on this, “we don’t tolerate it. We should not tolerate the intolerant, at the end of the day.” This change in values, which we both saw as corrupting raised Jo’s thoughts of the 2012 Olympics, “how as a nation we felt so different, to how we feel now, and that’s due to Brexit, and popularism and hatred coming into our politics.” Interestingly, and allowing a little background on our Lib-Dem candidate, Jo expressed this was her reasoning for coming into politics. “I’m standing because I’m standing up for the reasonably-minded, ordinary person. If you’d asked me five years ago if I’d stand for parliament, I would have really laughed, really laughed!”
“Basically, it’s a case of I can’t stand what’s happening, not just Brexit, it’s about the tolerance, openness. Therefore, I find myself standing in what seems to be the craziest thing for me to do, but here I am. All it takes for evil to flourish is for the good people to do nothing.” I agree, it was an eyeopener for me to read right-bias critical of the celebration of the NHS portrayed in the opening ceremony. See, I like Jo, I like the way she opened up about her motivation; all three candidates I’ve talked with have convinced me politicians are human. I confess, if many see me as a leftie, as I begun this article, I’m just hunting for what’s best. I accept conservative theory has its place in the debate. That there’s nought wrong with upholding the pleasanter sides of tradition and hierarchy, but I honestly cannot see this ethos inherent in the current cabinet.
Then I suggest, if you cannot stomach leftism, you could at least meet in the middle, a Conservative-lite! Rather than this far-right leaning, of which I challenge you to find me an example, historically, where its ever done anyone any good, ever. And that’s reason to consider yellow this Christmas, I think.
In this middle-ground defying moment, I returned to the notion of Devizes Parkway train station, which all parties seem in agreeance in supporting. Reason being, Labour manifesto calls for scrapping the HS2 in favour of fixing and opening local lines, and nationalisation would make it rail travel affordable, while the Conservative are gung-ho on HS2 and give little response to improving local lines. The Lib-Dem manifesto states they’d cap ticket prices, which would retain price, and support both the HS2 and the repair of local lines. I find it symbolic of this middle-ground ethos, and question the expression; you can’t please everyone. Where would the budget come from to go ahead with both rail propositions? “We had this £130 billion budget which is coming from borrowing, because interest rates are low, we may as well do the investment. As long as you’re borrowing to build something it’s okay, so we’ll use the money to invest, because we need to; to negate climate change, to boost the economy.”
We certainly do, and with the election date coming upon us like the speeding train that never was here in Devizes, Jo Waltham and the Lib-Dems thoroughly deserve your consideration. I sincerely thank you for your time Jo and Lisa, it was a pleasure to meet you and wish you the very best of luck.
Ah Silbury Hill, mound of mysterious meaning. Yet most plausible, visually, is the pregnant belly of Mother Earth. A burial mound akin to the womb-shaped West Kennet Long-Barrow, both symbolic of the body returning to the earth, at a time when we worshipped the physical things we could see; the sun, moon and Earth. Science proves we decompose; we’re a product of the planet. Yet with climate change we argue if we’re responsible, or nature; as if we’d sue if she did it! Why have we detached ourselves from nature, it cannot be justified by the laws of man? Why are we even wasting time debating this while implementing doable solutions should be the priority? Is there something we could learn from our ancestors? I put it to my elevenses invitee, it’d be a no-brainer for ancient pagans, they’d vote for The Green Party!
Poor Emma Dawnay, our Green Party candidate, she thought she’d come to New Society for a standard campaign interview, instead she got my insane ramblings! But she nodded, “yes, most people, I think,” she approved, “feel we’ve disassociated ourselves with nature, that we can somehow control nature and manipulate it, but actually that’s not the case, we are part of it, and if we don’t change our ways, it’s going to get the better of us.”
I’m liking Emma already; she accepted my folly. After an hour of discussing environmental issues on both international and local levels, I reckoned I could’ve chewed her ears off for another few. I even took it to the next level in suggesting if dinosaurs could’ve known their fate, and had the means to prevent the asteroid hitting Earth, they wouldn’t think twice, or argue about it, they’d stop it, because that is nature’s way, a defence mechanism. It’s as if humans have lost that basic mechanism, we have to sort this problem out regardless of the political things, or costs in our way.
“We managed to develop the scientific understanding of how things work enough to see we now have a problem. We have solutions, it’s so frustrating we cannot implement them,” Emma reacted, “we have been doing a little, but not enough. With the 2015 Paris agreements, those commitments needed to be five times higher to stay below the 1.5% warming, we’re not on track to reach our 2023 target.”
So, let’s rewind this back to the beginnings of our interview, because we’ve received a few whinges that Devizine is getting political, despite you know no one locally will cover this election in quite the same bizarre manner. And I apologise for not attending the husting, through fear of either dosing off or spouting some rubbish about dinosaurs! I’m not politically motivated, you see, but confess I’m enjoying one-to-one chats with our local candidates; let’s see how I fair with Danny next week!
So, it’s another cuppa with another candidate; I’m such a political flirt! Emma though, from a hamlet near Marlborough is perhaps the most intriguing character among our chosen four. For I spend our time trying to decide if it’s politics or environmental campaigning which drives her motivation most.
The extent of my scrutiny was to breeze through their manifesto, from it I asked Emma if when the party makes such claims as they’d have 70% of the electricity via wind power by 2030, have they been researched fully and ensured it’s possible. “Yes,” Emma responded, “We absolutely believe that we need to decarbonise as soon as possible, and the IBCC reports have given us lead when this needs to happen by, we need to turn the economy around in the next ten years. We have some amazing experts to work out what we need to do, they are looking at what’s possible offshore and on shore. I think the big problem is going to be training up enough people to do the work. You can’t just say let’s build, without the people trained to do it.”
Does Emma think any of the other parties will achieve the needed targets. “The other parties are either totally thinking the old way of thinking, that we can only do it if the economy is working, or else they’re, like Labour, coming around to our way of thinking,” Emma replied, stating she was unsure if they were “completely there yet. The Liberal Democrats want to make sure the deficit stays down. If we only do what’s possible from the economy point of view, you end with climate destruction. We think we need to do what we need to do from the climate, or planet’s point of view, so we don’t get devastation, and if that means more borrowing then so be it. But let’s make sure the future of the planet is saved, rather than an economy.”
Unsure how she’ll take my notion that in an ideal world we shouldn’t need a green party at all, that all parties should be putting environmental issues as top priority. Not worth having policies if you’ve no planet to conduct them on; that’s the logic. Emma was concerned Labour have “watered down” their targets, once similar to the Greens. I asked if this was pressure from the oil and gas companies. “Might be pressure from the unions, worried about losing jobs in old industries,” Emma interjected, “but our argument to that is actually, the amount which needs spending on building renewables, insulating people’s homes and electrifying transport, that is going to generate many new jobs.”
We talked over lack of funding for companies creating renewable plastics. “We want to get more localised banking enabling lending to these sorts of enterprises, because that’s really important too.” I asked Emma if she’d like Claire Perry’s job, or if it’s a scapegoat position! I mean, it’s not for me to sing Claire’s praises, as she sings her own on these apparent climate triumphs, then she signs off fracking, but I wonder how much her arm was pushed to do that, from these companies. Emma agreed, “a lot of the large donors to the Conservative party have interests in fossil fuels, and that makes a difference. She had meetings with the fracking companies off-record, what’s that about?! Why are we allowing these companies access to our governing ministers, it doesn’t make sense to me?”
Still unconfirmed if she’d like Claire’s job (!), but my aim for asking was building to the question of coalition. I mean, if, god forbid, I was in charge, I’d reason The Greens are the climate experts, allow them to take that ministry role. Emma explained they don’t have a whip, their MPs are allowed to vote with their conscious, probably making it difficult to join a coalition formally, because I can’t imagine our MPs following a Labour whip. So, we’d certainly support any party which is doing what we believe is important to do, but it’s more likely to be informal.”
Keen to know if Emma cringes when the focus is on other issues, like Brexit. After all, Mother Nature is not going to spare us if we leave, or if we stay in the EU! “We’re wasting so much time discussing Brexit,” Emma clarified, “when we should be turning our economy around, to be low carbon. It is such a pity, and horrible the way it’s made people so polarized. It is a big distraction. Personally, I think if it happens, and the Conservatives are in power, we’ll end up losing sovereignties to the United States because we’ll be making trade deals. They’ll insist on us accepting their agricultural products which are made with much more pesticides and hormones, and lower animal welfare standards, and also insist we sell our NHS, and it’s all very well at the moment as we have the Conservatives saying, of course we won’t do that, but actually, they’re a big economy and if they say they’re not going to sign on the dotted line until…. At least with the EU we do have elected MEPs who could do something about it, in the US we wouldn’t.”
We rapped about influencing on a grander scale within the EU, Emma pointed out the Green Party is strong there, the third block of about seventy MPs. “We can actually do stuff there, which we are doing, we are pushing to ensure big companies pay their taxes, which is far easier at an EU level than a national level.” The scale of the operation concerns me, I mean, how important is it, really, that I fish out one plastic bottle that I’ve accidently thrown into my bin, as that’s trivial compared to the massive issues with Greenland controlling their waste, and if you can fit Britain into just Texas two and a half times, well it doesn’t bear thinking about coping with the global operation necessary.
Still though, I note some locals’ harsh reactions to Extinction Rebellion, seemingly taking it personally, or patronised by Greta, when surely, it’s an attack on the governments of the world to make it easier for the ordinary person to adapt to the changes? “In reality for most people,” Emma said, “so busy in their lives , put under such financial stress, because inequality is getting worse, lack of wage increases, they don’t have the money or time to work out how best to do things, therefore it needs government regulations to come in, to enable people to do the right thing.”
Emma accepted organic produce is more expensive, I added while the wealthier have driveways to park and plug in an electric car, if you live central in a town or city, you’ll consider it lucky to have found a spot to park, let alone close to a charge point. This got us nicely onto local issues, lack of public transport, electric charging points were key to the tangent. How does Wiltshire compare with other counties in reducing our carbon footprint? “I think we do fairly well on solar,” Emma enlightened, “obviously we’ve got lots of trees, on some measures we do well, transport is essential.” I pointed at the garden waste, well, not directly, not in the café! It’s an extra cost we cannot afford, and recycling in other counties is much more efficient. We need a food waste bin; I can’t eat it all!
Emma highlighted the Westbury incinerator plans sends out the wrong motivation, “to make it finically viable, it’s venturing into wanting to go on producing the waste, otherwise it doesn’t work and waste will be shipped in from other places. So, having huge incinerators means there’s no pressure to change, or it becomes too expensive to run it otherwise.”
It was a lovely and meaningful chat, not helping with my dilemma of where to put my X; can I do two at least? Need I also spoil it towards the end by stating if there’s one greener change I cannot bring myself to consider; becoming vegan, not while the smell of a bacon butty wafts my direction?! I asked Emma how important veganism is, and was pleasantly surprised to hear she is not a vegan either, but stressed how she has been trying to eat less meat, and said she thought that was adequate; phew!
Not surprised that Emma seemed unaware of Hollywood’s stab at an environmental catastrophe in the movie 2012, where, conveniently the ice age seems to envelope the area marginally slower than our heroes can run, making for a dramatic escape in the nick of time! It seems to me at times the consequences of climate change are out of our sphere of understanding, consumed by fictional apocalyptic scenarios and dystopian themes, I wondered aloud if it has to take a monumental disaster to finally wake the masses up to the seriousness of the issue. “I hope not,” Emma gulped, “statistically we’re likely to see more of it, and I hope without it getting to a catastrophic level, we’ll start to think actually we do need to do something about this. To me, what’s so frustrating is the measures we need to take to change things are slight; we can still live happy prosperous lives, it’s not that we have wear hair shirts or something!”
That’s the positive message Greta was suggesting in the last video I watched, if you subscribe to her channel, you’ll see a different side to her the mainstream media simply doesn’t portray, she does smile, with every new tree planted! But, aside, what else could we expect from a Green Party?
Emma added, “we’re suggesting there should be a four-day working week, allowing people more time to do things outside their jobs, and we offer a universal basic income, trying to relieve financial stresses.” Now here’s a policy which when I first heard of, I thought it was too radical even for me, but given thought, I’m warming to the notion. Yet it’d take a compete rehash of our way of life, of capitalism. So, despite it being an intense and fascinating chat, that’s when I started waffling about prehistoric man and dinosaurs!
Yet through it I never nailed down if Emma comes from an environmental motivation or a political one, they seemed to merge for her as one and the same. “My training,” she enlightened, “was originally as a scientist, and then I became fascinated by economics since the year 2000. I was working for a successful company in the dot.com bubble, which went to nothing in the end, making me think there’s something wrong with these economic bubbles. The way the predominate economic theory was, was that if we have growth everyone will be better off, but you know, this simply hasn’t happened. You find things are going really well if you’re in the top five of wealth, despite the economic crisis, but it isn’t working for everybody, wages are not going up. We even have hedge fund managers who are billionaires saying, look here, this existence isn’tworking. And, I think because of the pressures put on everybody, that meant that people don’t have the capacity to worry about climate when everything else is a struggle. That’s the really sad thing, this economic theory that we’ve bought into, in the eighties and nineties, has led us up a garden path, making us incapable of looking at the real problems, and that’s the real tragedy of it….”
“And that’s what,” I finalised, “you aim to turn around……”
“Absolutely!” Emma laughed. With the tactical vote still locally confused, Emma entreated we voted with our hearts, and with that notion, you could do a lot worse where you put your cross on December 15th; be like the ancient pagans, I reckon they had better ideas than us!
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