Tag: parties

The blue nest have finally popped something through my letterbox that tells me who their candidate is. Apparently she’s my ‘Only Local Choice’. If anything maybe too local. I’ve previously noted where the main candidates have located their nests. What’s not clear is whether the one local egg will stretch her wings much beyond the Broadgreen area. The Railway Village, Shrivenham Road, Westcott, and Rushy Platt areas are part of Central ward too.

Strange too, that, although in an area of Swindon that is graced with one of the blue nest’s In Touch websites, it’s the only one not to get a mention on their leaflet. Perhaps because it features the slightly less local Councillor Dickinson, who seems to have done a runner to West Swindon for re-election (where he’ll be even less local), and the none too local at all Councillor Darker.

It’s so nice to see so much independent thought from the candidates across Swindon in the local elections. For example, from the red nest, from Highworth to central Swindon, via Abbey Meads and Haydon Wick, compare and contrast. Just one four-or-five line paragraph of biography, then identical political statements. Are the needs of central Swindon really the same as rural Highworth? The blue nest is not much better. From Western ward through Gorsehill & Pinehurst to Penhill, all three candidates claim

I am community minded and as a Councillor will always put local residents first and be a strong voice only excepting the very best for residents – no excuses…. I have the energy, enthusiasm and drive to be a first class Councillor.

An interesting choice of words. Candidates Watton, Gallavin and Tomlinson, all committed to not giving Swindon the best: ‘a strong voice only excepting the very best for residents’. Proof-reading, what an undervalued profession. ’Tis slightly refreshing to see that their central Swindon candidate thought of something different to say. How about the yellow nest? Wow, they each have something different to say… or nothing to say at all.

The latest little glossy leaflet from the red nest fulfils komadori’s prediction for the election. In a strange reversal of political reality, it claims law-and-order to be the responsibility of the local council and waste and recycling collections to be the responsibility of national government. In a strange reversal of economic reality, it claims that ‘house conversions have continued unabated into unwanted flats’ yet of those same unwanted flats ‘The high rents have driven people into multiple-occupancy and overcrowding.’ Prices rising for an unwanted commodity…. Novel.
Most bizarre though are some of the implications about their candidate.

With over 26 years experience of community representation as a councillor I know when a community has been let down.

Would that be through personal experience of letting commun­ities down yourself? Perhaps the reason why you were unelected a few years ago?

Derique is a former Mayor with over 26 years experience as a Councillor in Swindon.
If the Tories were truly ‘In Touch’ why have they not sorted things out?

Err… and why didn’t you sort them out in your previous 26 years as a councillor, for much of which the red nest was in control?

As as a fine example of layout editing, in this glossy leaflet, below a photograph of a grimacing grinning Derique

They are happy to spend lots of your Council Tax money on glossy brochures full of cheesy smiling faces.

Someone take that pistol away quick, before they shoot themselves in the foot.

At least they’re telling me about their candidate, even if it’s not believable. So far communications from the red nest outnumber those from the blue nest four-to-one, and there hasn’t been a single chirp from the yellow nest yet.

The list of candidates in the local elections have now been published (though you have to search for your polling station by selecting ‘where’ before the site will tell you). (Actually, they’ve been published for about a week, but it’s taken me until now to work out how to get the list from the official site.) Those for central ward are an interesting bunch, honest. There’s David Cox (independent egg) who’s apparently taking the man-of-mystery approach. Listed next is Karsten Evans (green egg) whose only promise is “I can be a ‘pain in the neck’ when I need to be.” So no different from most other politicians then, for whom being a pain in the neck seems to come naturally. Other candidates are Karen Leakey (blue egg), Derique Joseph Montaut (red egg) and Steven Francis Pipe (yellow egg), all of whom, as predicted, are committed to fighting crime and anti-social behaviour, dealing with traffic congestion and protecting the green spaces in the town centre.

Whilst not the leaflet currently getting the blue nest hot under the collar, the latest glossy from the red nest is full-on negative campaigning. Like their blue nest opponents’ recent glossy, there are finally spun financial statements, with a 20% increase in Council Tax in the last four years compared with a 35% increase in central government funding over the last ten years (which equates to less than 13% over four years — rather less impressive).

And the council is, apparently, failing to clear graffiti. I must have been imagining the ongoing removal campaign by the council…. Oh, they’ll also ‘protect urban Swindon from over development.’ I presume local councillors from the red nest will be asking their government colleagues to reduce the centrally set housing density targets then? Perhaps not….

Whilst I’ve been undertaking an in-depth study of cocoa levels in eggs, the first offering from the blue nest has plopped through my letterbox. A 16 page glossy A5 booklet — clearly they have money to spare. According to the waffle on the back cover they are ‘more green, more local, more family-friendly and less arrogant’. That localness is clearly demonstrated by the vast amount about what they are doing in my ward. A big, vast zero. Not a single mention of anything specific for the people of this ward. (There is a mention of their plans for the canal, but that is primarily for visitors to the town centre — benefit to the inhabitants is just consequential.) Highlight of the booklet is the index that tells me that Page 1 is the Front Page. Wow! Such insight!

I’m less impressed which their spun financial statements, where they compare the figure for three years’ worth of Council tax rises under the previous administration, with one year’s worth of increase under their own administration. Surprise! The rise in one year (3.4%) was less than that over three years (42%). For the record, the three blue years have seen an increase of over 11% compared with 42% in the last three red years, which I’d have thought was a good enough comparison itself that didn’t need to be spun into something bigger.

I also read that “it’s the Conservatives who are repairing, maintaining and restoring the parks, leisure centres and the Wyvern.” Hmm, would that also be the same Conservatives that halted restoration of Faringdon Road Park within months of taking over, when it was only half completed, and have proposed to close the Health Hydro?

Here is komadori’s prediction for the political dialogue in Swindon over the weeks ahead.

Those in the blue nest will claim that everything that the council has done well over the last couple of years has been down to them, in the face of obstruction by the NuLab government. They’ll claim you should vote for them because they’re the only party committed to fighting crime and anti-social behaviour (including graffiti), dealing with traffic congestion and protecting the green spaces in the town centre.

Those in the red nest will claim that everything that the council has done well over the last couple of years has been the result of government initiatives, which the Tory council only implemented grudgingly. They’ll claim you should vote for them because they’re the only party committed to fighting crime and anti-social behaviour (including graffiti), dealing with traffic congestion and protecting the green spaces in the town centre.

Those in the yellow nest will claim that everything the council has done well over the last couple of years only happened because they campaigned for it before the other parties were interested. They’ll claim you should vote for them because they’re the only party committed to fighting crime and anti-social behaviour (including graffiti), dealing with traffic congestion and protecting the green spaces in the town centre.

Those in the other nests will claim that the council has done nothing good over the last couple of years and their party’s one-track agenda would have solved all the problems before they even started. They’ll claim you should vote for them because they’re the only party committed to fighting crime and anti-social behaviour (including graffiti), dealing with traffic congestion and protecting the green spaces in the town centre.

Two of the main parties (the blue and yellow nests) have announced their candidates for the local elections in Swindon. In the imaginatively named Central Ward the three main parties’ candidates are Karen Leakey (from Broadgreen, in ‘Central’), Steve Pipe (from Abbey Meads) and the aforementioned Derique Montaut (from Moredon). So far all claim to be concerned about crime, anti-social behaviour (including graffiti) and preserving green space. Aah, such a diverse choice….

In a break from some gardening, whilst searching to find what the candidates in the local election might have in their manifestos (because, with one exception, none of them have communicated with me), I came across a sitting councillor’s plans for saving the planet. Now I appreciate that, to borrow a phrase, ‘every little helps’ and that without the flashy headline nobody might have noticed it at all, but replacing paper copies of the local council newspaper with email, but only if everyone in a street agrees to do the same, is probably only going to save a few twigs, not the planet.

Anyway, the distributors are already being quite effective in saving the planet… I haven’t received a copy of Swindon News since August. I hope the council has spent wisely the 24 p it saved by not sending me the last three editions.

Yet another missive from he who does not know his name. This time it’s a letter from Derique in which he tells us Derique said “I’ve been extremely busy meeting and talking to local people”. Just like last time, I presume. Strange too that he writes about himself as if he was another person. Derique wants to know what local people think about these issues, and said that “I hope that people will take just a few short minutes of their time to complete my survey… and I look forward to hearing your views”. Well, if he actually bothered to knock on my door, rather than just shoving bits of paper through my letterbox, I’d take just a few short minutes and tell him.

Still, at least he is communicating. I’ve yet to hear or see anything from either of the other two main political parties.