ready to jump?

Cllr Willis thinks the recent spate of Labour defections to the Tories in London might be mirrored in Reading. He thinks there might be Labour councillors in Reading who would be welcomed into the Tory group. Maybe he is right. It has happened once already, this quote from His Master's Voice (so it must be true)

Azam Janjua gained a seat in Church ward for the Conservatives – he stood down as a Labour Party member a year ago in the same ward.
The taxi driver said: “I am very pleased to be elected. I will commit myself to the ward and promise to the residents of the ward I will work for their welfare.”

My personal knowledge of Azam Janjua is that he did exactly that when he was a Labour councillor for Church ward.

So who else is going? Now that Dictatorship Dave "moronic members of the public" Sutton has been trashed by the electorate of Katesgrove ward perhaps we will not see another disgraceful campaign of bullying and smear by the Labour Group - though I'm not holding my breath. But members of the current Labour Group in Reading have good reasons to escape the corrupt dungheap that is the politics of Reading Labour councillors. If you have a shred of decency left, go.

as a mark of respect

my sometimes frivolous, occasionally incoherent and usually political ramblings are suspended for today. A very dear friend of mine died this morning here in Strasbourg and today is going to be quiet to remember him. Goodbye Paul and thank you for everything you gave us. No more suffering, but 42 is too young to go.

count the votes on Thursday!

my first reaction to disquiet among some of the commentariat about the trend among local authorities to count votes the next day was a yawn. What does it really matter, I thought to myself. But then I thought, a few years ago that attitude might have been reasonable. There is a lot about election day in Britain that is redolent of the 1950s, including the signs identifying the polling stations and the grubby pencil on a string in the polling booth (that was how it was the last time I voted in person in the UK, in the 2005 general election) and we should move on from that, I thought. In order to engage people better with the political process, I thought. But more recently, now that news is 24-hour, and waiting for the morning papers to find out the news is something people just don't do any more, why should we wait until the afternoon of the next day for a few thousand votes to be counted? I favour electronic counting of votes in any case, which conservative commentators generally do not, but that is probably another matter. Let's have it all on the night. Also I have been an election candidate several times, always victorious, naturally, (eh, Cllr Page?) and it is a stressful process, it would be kinder to all concerned to have the result as early as possible. And what fun election night TV coverage is for the stay-at-homes - so let's keep it on Thursdays, say I. Just a bit of fun...

oh and there is a facebook group http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=126713799469

no platform? I think not

the Times has this which indicates that Labour is going to drop its policy of not sharing a platform with the BNP. This is a policy I have come to realise is nonsense. But the reason the story gives for the change is that the BBC is going to give the BNP air time on programmes like Question Time now that they have elected MEPs, and Labour will not have an empty chair. That is not a change of policy nor is it a reason for one. Refusing to have an empty chair is a matter of political expediency not of ideology. If Labour is changing its policy then let them tell us so - I for one think they should. The story quotes one M. Salter as describing the BBC's decision to give air time to representatives of a legal political party which has elected members as "lamentable", which epithet the OED defines as "deplorable or regrettable". He is entitled to that view, which I do not share, but tells us nothing about Labour Party policy on the issue. I really, really think we should be told. Changing a policy is a grown-up thing to do boys, so be brave little soldiers and just do it.

Oh and the BNP is legally constituted, but I believe their website still indicates that membership is only open to white people. If that is still the case then a legal challenge should be mounted, and fast.

reading west, what next

whispers come my way that the LibDems are profiting from the resignation of Patrick Murray as PPC for Reading West to "do a Martin Bell". Not, you understand, recruiting the great man in the white suit (Irony is prohibited when it is galumphing. Ed.) but not standing a candidate at all, as was done by both Labour and the LibDems in Tatton in 1997, giving rise to the hugely entertaining Battle of Knutsford Heath, a career in pantomime for the Hamiltons, Neil and Christine, and Hutch, without Starsky, active in British politics (Now I've heard everything. Ed.). This would give an independent candidate, should one be inclined to stand (whatever can she mean? Ed.) a real opportunity to take the seat. Otherwise such a candidate could perhaps legitimately be accused of simply ensuring a more comfortable victory for the Tory Alok Sharma than would otherwise be the case. Anyway, there is nothing on the LibDems' website to hint at anything of the sort, though I suppose that is the last place you would find it if it were true. Still, makes you think, dunnit? From what I know of the Reading West LibDems they hate the Reading Labour boys in general, and Martin Salter in particular, with a very great passion. So you wouldn't catch them voting Labour, eh Ricky? But...

doomed! not!

remember that Sars and bird flu were going to kill us all, and before that the Millennium Bug was going to Destroy The World? And that none of that happened? Well now the UK health top banana Sir Liam Donaldson says that swine flu is, er, not going to kill us all, and that fewer people are going to die of it than normally die of flu every year. That is because, Mesdames et Messieurs, swine flu ("Grippe A" as they call it here) has rather mild symptoms. So I am glad some people are coming to their senses. Here we still have a warning from the Prefet of Bas-Rhin (France has regional government yay!) that major public buildings might have to be closed in the event of a serious epidemic. What utter bollocks all this is.

When I was teaching English in Latvia in 2006 bird flu was being much talked of, and my students rather delightfully referred to it as "chicken grip".

left or right?

if you try and find out which countries drive on the left by Googling you get a site called pubquizhelp, not very surprisingly. But as Samoa becomes the latest to change, I am indebted to Cllr Richard Willis for this post setting out the current situation. When I was young Sweden changed from left to right, and I was told in all seriousness by relatives that this left the UK alone in driving on the left (my family didn't get out that much). In fact a great many countries drive on the left, including Australia and New Zealand but also countries which have never been British, such as Mozambique and Japan. There are three others in the EU that do, apart from the UK - can readers name them without following the link to Cllr Willis' post?