Land of Oak and Iron Launch Event

The Land of Oak and Iron is a landscape and history project based on the Derwent Valley. It had a launch event on Sunday at Blaydon Community Centre and Shibdon Pond. I paid it a brief visit. Looked like a good event and lots of people attended. The project will be building a visitor centre at Winlaton Mill, plans for which were revealed last month. They still need to be finalised but work should be taking place soon.

Pulling up the thistles

I was out on Sunday morning in Whickham with my Planting Up Whickham hat on. There is a large flower bed next to the side entrance to Chase Park on Rectory Lane. It was full of thistles so I was delegated with the job of removing them. I spent about an hour pulling them out. The job is not yet finished. About a quarter is still left to do. The thistles have been disposed of sustainably. I fed them to my goats! They love them!

Getting my ducks (and chicks) in a row at Whickham Community Festival

Saturday saw Whickham play host to the Village's Community Festival, organised by Lighting Up Whickham, of which I am a member. As usual, I brought along some of my animal - in this case a duckling and 5 chicks. I was thinking of bringing one of my goats but the paperwork required to move her off the site where we keep her is significant and time consuming (and time was something in short supply in the past couple of weeks).

I also had a table selling our preserves and promoting self-sufficiency and surplus food swaps. The day went well other than the one and a half hours of rain from about midday. Despite that, I was cleared out of my eggs and most of my jams. (Whoever said under the Lib Dems it's jam tomorrow got it wrong.)

Theme for the day was the 1960s and 1970s. Alas, I had none of my clothes from either of those decades left. And if I did, and I were able to fit in them, I would be rather worried!

The Brexit earthquake continues

So, Theresa May is to be the new Prime Minister. Having just got home from an advisory group meeting at Gateshead Civic Centre, and a meeting with Council Leader Martin Gannon, I switched on the news and saw it unfolding in front of me. It swept into oblivion the launch of the Angela Eagle campaign to cement Jeremy Corbyn into his role as Labour "leader". From what I understand, the Labour membership surge is based on armchair social media leftwingers joining to protect the position of Corbyn. The Eagle may be daring to take on the "Leader" but she is likely to end up plucked and gutted and passed onto a taxidermist who will convert her into a stuffed trophy for the left who are rampaging through the Labour Party at the moment, destroying all in their wake.

The chances of an early election are, I feel, small, but we need to be ready for it just in case. On that basis I have allowed my name to go forward for Blaydon under the shortened, emergency selection process. It was easier than having my arm twisted.

I have been in politics for 35 years and I have never before lived through political times like this. The Brexit earthquake is still producing aftershocks and it seems that the epicentre is in the Labour Party. Expect the Conservatives to pull together. The big issues that split them was whether or not to be in Europe. In Conservative eyes that has been resolved. If they have any sense, they will let this Parliament run its full course, giving plenty of time for Labour to self-destruct.

Labour are destroying themselves, the Lib Dems are not strong enough to launch a nationwide battle with the Conservatives (though watch out for some interesting local battles) and UKIP have a serious question to answer about what point they serve now that they've had the referendum. The danger now is that Britain drifts into a one party Tory state (with Scotland as an SNP one-party state). The fight is now on to stop that happening.

Blaydon Food Festival

The Blaydon Food Festival was held on Saturday 2nd July. It is run by Transition Towns in Western Gateshead and I have various self-sufficiency links with members of the organisation. I was invited to have a table to sell my eggs and preserves and promote my local food swapping network. Despite the best efforts of the rain, the day went well.

Putting up the bunting

Whickham Community Festival is being held tomorrow from 10am to 2pm so I helped put the bunting up today on St Mary's Green, ably assisted by Cllr John McClurey who did all the scary ladder climbing to get to the top of lampposts. (I did manage to climb a tree however to wrap bunting around a branch!)

There will be live music and entertainment and, in what is now a bit of a tradition, I will be bringing some of my animals - a duckling and 5 chicks.




Me up a tree!

Planting Up Whickham Update

I went to a Planting Up Whickham committee meeting recently. I had been send a parcel of goodies by Miracle Gro (amazing what a good gardening blog can do for you!). In it was a couple of big bags of wild flower seeds for attracting pollinators. I have given one to the Whinnies Community Garden in Sunniside to plant there but I took the second to PUW in the hope I could interest them in planting up a bed beside the library with them. Alas, I wasn’t aware a member of the group has already made a fantastic job of planting up that bed. I had a look when I left the meeting. (See photos below). I'm still looking for somewhere else to plant the seeds though time is starting to run out.

New members at our EU meeting

Our membership surge in Gateshead prompted us to hold a meeting for all members last night to discuss the EU, Brexit and where we go from here. There was a good turnout and it was great to see lots of new members attending. We had a panel of speakers (one of them was me!) There was a good debate with many new members contributing. The aim now is to turn them into activists.

In addition, I gave a report from the council. It included the impact of the change of Council Leader from Mick Henry to Martin Gannon; the looming cash crisis for Gateshead which under current trends could see the cost of social care outstripping the income of the Council; the libraries review which could see more branches close and the latest saga in the proposals for devolution to the region.

Members will get a fuller report in their next newsletter.

General Election choice: The Joke or the Joker

Will Labour clear out their stable of will they just let the muck pile up?

I could see my country go into meltdown when I left the Gateshead count at 3.30am on Friday morning. By then, the Leave lead was over 750,000. There was no way short of a miracle that the gap could be closed. I went to bed at 4am and woke up at 7.45am to the news of the official declaration that Leave had won. At 8.30am, having just returned from feeding my livestock, I was met by the news that Cameron had announced his resignation. The Tories had gone into meltdown, the economy was going into meltdown. And this morning, I woke to the news that Labour had gone into meltdown. Corbyn's sacking of Hilary Benn seems something of a self-inflicted wound but it could also be the match that sets Labour light.

The trouble for Labour is that they are stuck with Corbyn. He may he a nice bloke but my chickens show more leadership qualities than he does. He is an oppositionist who fights against change. He is no leader. Yet even if MPs vote for a no confidence motion, Corbyn will win a membership ballot. Labour are stuck with him until such point as he feels he cannot remain as leader. And at the moment, he is not showing any signs of wanting to go.

Corbyn was unforgivably low profile during the referendum. I put this point to Ian Mearns, Labour MP for Gateshead, at the count in the early hours of Friday morning. According to him, Corbyn was very active but there was a conspiracy in the media to report only blue on blue battles. The fantasy world of Labour is alive and well.

There is a growing prospect that at the general election, the offer to the nation for Prime Minister is a choice between The Joke and The Joker. It is an unappealing prospect, Jeremy Corbyn versus Boris Johnson. Furthermore, don't underestimate Johnson. He may come over as a buffoon but he has risen to the top against the odds. He won the 2012 London mayoral election against the odds. He holds no cabinet position but is regarded as the favourite to win the Tory leadership. As long as Corbyn or another oppositionist left-winger is leading the Labour Party, Johnson is likely to be secure as Prime Minister.

I have to clear out my goat house now. I wonder whether Labour will carry out a similarly thorough clear out. I somehow doubt it.

Delivering for Remain

It's a lovely morning here in Gateshead. I've just finished feeding my livestock. Emails have been checked and where appropriate I've sent replies. Breakfast has just been consumed and I'm about to head down to Whickham to deliver some leaflets for the Lib Dem Remain campaign.

Don't forget to vote Remain by 10pm!

My Remain email to residents

In 7 hours the polls will open for the EU Referendum. To drum up support for the Remain campaign, I've emailed 2000 residents, encouraging them to vote to stay in the EU. You can read the email on this link.

Delivering the Watergate Estate

I was in London over the weekend to sort out some business so yesterday I was doing a bit of catch up in campaigning for the Lib Dem Remain campaign. I headed down to the Watergate Estate in Whickham to deliver 370 of our Focuses, which contain a call to vote Remain. Thankfully there are lots of terraces on the Estate so I was able to get it done in less than 2 hours. Alas, I had jokes from colleagues about delivering the Cornmoor Rd patch which in terms of numbers is one third the size. But as each house comes with its own very long drive, the time required to deliver the patch is substantial. And last night, due to the persuasive powers of Cllr Peter Maughan, I agreed to deliver the Cornmoor patch. The bundle of leaflets arrived this morning, along with a 2nd, for delivery in Dunston. I think I know what I'm doing this afternoon.

My Referendum email to Gateshead members

As we go into the final few days of the Referendum campaign, I've sent a joint email to Lib Dem members in Gateshead. In it local party chair Frank Hindle and I (pictured above) urge members to spread the word about the benefits of being in the EU and why Lib Dems believe the fundamental basic principles of international cooperation are right. You can read the email on this link.

Meanwhile, I'm about to head down to Whickham to deliver more Focuses with a message calling on people to vote Remain.

You're kidding

I was at the monthly meeting of Sunniside History Society last night when I got an urgent message to go to my goat paddock. One of our goats, Georgina, had gone into labour. 5 minutes later I was there. I popped back home, only 2 minutes walk away to call out the vet. By the time I returned, the first baby had already been born. By the time the vet arrived, the 2nd had been born.








I checked on them at 4am and then again after 8am when I fed the animals. Mother and babies are doing well.

Missing the planting day

I was due to go to Whickham at 10am on Sunday morning to help in a planting day hosted by Planting Up Whickham. I was all ready to go and popped into my allotment to get some tools, only to find a swarm of bees in the hedge. I had to deal with it straight away, not an easy job given I have to cut the branches from around the swarm. By about 11am the swarm was in my swarm box. I could go late to the planting up session....except at that point I found a second swarm in our hedge.

My apologies to colleagues in Planting Up Whickham but I probably had the most original excuse for not attending.

Delivering Focuses again

My colleagues in Whickham North ward kindly gave me three patches of our Thank You Focuses to deliver. So yesterday I was out on the Glebe and Rectory Estate, where my Dad lives, putting 400 Focuses through doors. The lead story was the thank you message. The back page is about Labour's calamitous decision to walk away from devolution and about the EU referendum. As the 3 stories are common to the 3 Whickham wards, we are doing this Focus as a common one across the whole area. Alas, last night, my ward colleague John McClurey arrived on my doorstep with 800 for me to deliver in our Whickham South and Sunniside ward. I know what I'll be doing over the next few days!

Planting Up Whickham gardening day

Yesterday I headed down to Whickham to help with the Planting Up Whickham maintenance day on Church Green. The aim was to strip out the flower beds and do some weeding in preparation for some planting next week. I did 2 hours of dead-heading bluebells! There was a good turnout and lots of work was done.

Ryton Hirings

I had to miss our IN stall in Whickham on Saturday because I was at the Ryton Hirings fair promoting self-sufficiency again and selling my preserves and eggs. I took along some recently hatched chicks and a duckling to draw people to my stall, a tactic that always works.



Meanwhile, the IN stall went ahead without me but I understand there was a good response.

Whickham eFocus 101

Our latest eFocus (no. 101) was published last night. It leads on the local election results but also covers the regional mayor issue and the EU referendum, as well as specifically local stories. You can ready it on this link.

The Frank Hindle retirement party

Frank Hindle was my predecessor as Leader of the Lib Dem group and opposition on Gateshead Council. He stood down from the leadership last year and this May he retired from the Council after 25 years representing Low Fell. We held a thank you party for him at the Valley Farm on the Team Valley last Saturday.

Though Frank retired as a councillor, he is remaining active in the Liberal Democrats. He is currently the chair of Gateshead Local Party and is also a leading figure in the party's In Campaign in the North East.

Thank you Frank for all your hard work. We've plenty more for you to do!

All the fun of the fayre

On Saturday 21st May, Friends of Chase Park hosted the Whickham May Fayre. As usual, my job was to collect tables from Marley Hill Community Centre on Friday to be used in the burger tent. On Saturday itself, I had my own stand to run, promoting self-sufficiency and selling my preserves and eggs. I brought along some of my week old quail chicks which proved quite an attraction.

Well done to the organisers. Another great event.

Mick Henry's parting speech

This video was filmed at Gateshead Council last week. Mick Henry was Labour leader of the Council but Labour councillors rejected his advice for Gateshead to be part of the North East devolution settlement. The battle against the plans was led by Deputy Leader Cllr Martin Gannon. Mick resigned in the middle of the election campaign and Martin was elected as Leader in his place last Friday.

Though Martin led the vote of thanks to the out going Mayor, Alex Geddes, he gave no speech thanking Mick, his predecessor. And listen to Mick's speech. He talks about Gateshead's strength over the past 14 years of his leadership as being based on the partnership the council has with other authorities. Gateshead under Martin is now heading for isolation, setting itself up as the hole in the middle of the North East devolution doughnut.

And notice Mick's closing comments: he thanks the support he has had from councillors, and then clarified it, "most of them". I wonder who he had in mind. Over to you Martin.....

Chocolate cake and mayoral thanks

Last Friday was the annual Gateshead Council meeting. It is customary for the Leader of the Opposition to second the vote of thanks to the out going mayor. I was happy to do so as Alex Geddes has been a first class mayor. I also used the opportunity to present the new Leader of Gateshead Council, Martin Gannon, with a homemade cake with a large hole in it. It represents the North East region which is moving ahead with devolution while Gateshead, in the middle of the region, has walked away from the deal.

Back on BBC Politics Show

I was interviewed last Thursday for the BBC Politics Show, North East edition, about Gateshead Labour Council's decision to opt out of devolution proposals for the North East. The programme was broadcast on Sunday. You can see it on this link. The devolution issue starts about 41 minutes into the programme.

A cake with a hole in it

On Friday, at our annual council meeting, Comrade Martin Gannon became Supreme Leader of Gateshead, the Hermite Council of the North East. Martin was the leading advocate of Gateshead's rejection of the devolution proposals for Gateshead. Following his successful campaign to disengage from the North East region, Leader of the Council Mick Henry resigned. Now Gateshead, in splendid isolation, faces being cut off from millions, possibly tens of millions of pounds of devolved funding on transport, training, economic development and other matters. All so that Gateshead Labour Party could make a stand against the Conservative government.

It fell to me as Leader of the Opposition to welcome Martin to his post. I did so by baking him a cake full of bananas which I presented to him at Friday's meeting. The cake had a large hole through the middle of it, representing the gap in the middle of the North East that is Gateshead, The borough will of course get no slice of the devolved cake if Gateshead Labour Party continue to stick by their decision to declare UDI. Or perhaps Martin should see sense, reverse the decision and stop using the people as a stick with which to beat up the government.

Thank you Mick

Cllr Mick Henry was Labour leader of Gateshead Council but following his group's decision to block Gateshead's involvement in the North East devolution proposals, he announced his resignation. This was the speech I gave to Gateshead Council's annual meeting on Friday 20th May in which I thanked him for his work and referred to some of the events with which we have both been involved over the past few years.

The hole in the middle of the North East

 

This is the front page of The Journal from earlier this week. It puts into context the ludicrous decision by Labour in Gateshead to walk away from devolution and the North East Combined Authority (NECA). The implications of the decision are enormous. While the rest of the region goes ahead with devolution and an elected mayor, Gateshead is declaring UDI. The People's Republic of Gateshead, under the guidance of the Supreme Leader Comrade Martin Gannon, will stand alone against the Conservatives. Powers over transport, training, housing, planning and potentially health will pass from the Government ministers based in Whitehall to a devolved body in the North East. Except that Gateshead will not benefit at all.

We will have no influence over the devolved powers and budgets that directly affect Gateshead because Gateshead is no longer to be part of the governance system. Gateshead residents, thanks to Labour, will have no vote for who will lead the region. NECA is responsible for the Metro rail system which runs through Gateshead. Up to now, we have been one of the partner authorities running the Metro. Labour in Gateshead are walking away from the set up that has benefited the borough for 40 years.

The devolved settlement allows for control of billions of pounds of public spending currently controlled by the Government and to a lesser extent by Europe. That money will now be channeled through NECA and the elected mayor. Gateshead will not be entitled to a penny of it.

If Labour in Gateshead thought they could lead the rebellion and revolution against the Conservative Government, they have seriously miscalculated. Gateshead Labour may think they are the only ones in step and the rest of the region is out of step but the reality is that of the 7 councils in NECA, 6 have agreed to go forward with the devolution deal. That leaves Gateshead out on her own. This is a disaster of Labour's making in Gateshead, brought about by a group of people who think that kicking opponents is more important than using the opportunities that come your way to improve matters. It is a group that is prepared to make the people of Gateshead, as well as their own previous leader, the collateral damage in their war with the Conservatives.

I am determined to fight Labour's disastrous decision. That was my message when I did interviews today with the BBC Politics Programme, BBC Radio Newcastle and the Chronicle. And I won't rest until Gateshead is at the heart of the region, rather than the Labour created hole in the middle the Gateshead Labour Party has in mind for my home town.

Campaigning in Gateshead for the EU Referendum

I joined local Lib Dem members to support the IN campaign in Low Fell in Gateshead on Saturday morning. We had a stall on Durham Road with balloons, t-shirts, leaflets and a petition. I turned up expecting to get a bashing from loads of anti-European residents but it was much better than I expected. Yes there was one person who wasn't going to vote for “those b******d Germans”. And of the few we quizzed about why they were voting to leave, they were unable to give a picture of what life would be like outside the EU, other than some vague idea about “trading more with the Commonwealth”. What pleased me however was that there were plenty of people who enthusiastically said they were voting to stay in. There were many who were undecided but they tended to be leaning towards voting to remain. I even found one person who said that his heart was with the leave campaign but that he will vote to remain as he works for Nissan and was concerned about the impact of a leave vote on the company. I came away buoyed up by my experience.

Gateshead Lib Dem Members' eNewsletter

The latest edition of our email newsletter to Lib Dem members in Gateshead was finished last night. It features the local election results and the IN campaign action day (which is tomorrow). You can read it on this link.

Martin Gannon to be new Gateshead Council Leader

Gateshead Council is at the tipping point between being a pragmatic authority that takes advantage of the opportunities coming its way (that's how I would sum up Gateshead before recent events) and stumbling into being the basket case council of the North East. The crazy decision by Labour to reject the advice of their own Leader, Mick Henry, and the Chief Executive, Jane Robinson, to back the devolution proposals and instead to walk away from the combined authority was followed by Mick's announcement in the middle of the election campaign that he was quitting as Leader. This week, Jane has announced her decision to leave the authority and take up a senior position with Durham University.

I am informed that Martin Gannon, Deputy Labour Leader, is to be the new Leader. Labour's annual group meeting is tonight and there's only been one self-nomination. So in a North Korean style election, Comrade Martin will become Supreme Leader later today. He was the Labour member who led (from a rather late date) the Gateshead Labour battle against the devolution proposals. The decision could, if followed to its conclusion, isolate Gateshead in the North East and leave us with substantial costs whilst denying us access to government cash for training, transport and economic development.

Martin has something of a colourful past. In the 1980s he was militantly socialist. In the 1990s and the 2000s, he was more New Labour than Blair. In the Coalition years, he was shifting leftward and now he is Momentum Martin. It seems he has gone full circle but he has a habit of not practicing what he preaches. He calls for people to reduce smoking to improve health whilst smoking like a chimney. He complains about people driving their children to school while admitting to doing the same himself from his enormously posh house near Low Fell. So with a bit of luck, he will abandon the absurd decision to walk away from devolution and take away from me the big sticks I can use to beat him. Or he can lead Gateshead into disaster. Which is it Martin?

Photo:Martin Gannon, the one shrugging his shoulders, left on front row.

A strong hold in Dunston Hill and Whickham East

In Gateshead, Dunston Hill and Whickham East has, in recent years, been the most closely fought ward in local elections. We used to hold all 3 seats in the ward but we lost in 2010 and 2011 to Labour by relatively significant majorities. In 2012, our remaining Councillor, Peter Maughan, retained his seat. In 2014 and 2015, Labour clung on. Last year, their majority was just 23, despite the general election turnout. Their candidate, Chris McHugh, replaced a Labour Councillor who no one really noticed had retired from the council.

Last week Peter retained his seat with a majority of 432 and 49% of the vote. It was something of a knockout blow for Labour despite their high hopes of victory and their first place last year. After the verification on Thursday evening, they knew they had lost. Their faces said it all. They also got sight of helpful information they gleaned from us as they quickly glanced over Lib Dem shoulders to look at our calculations.

So where now for Labour in the ward? Up next is Labour Councillor Allison Thompson who will face the voters in May 2018. Her profile in the recent election campaign in the ward was barely noticeable. In Labour's first election leaflet, she got only 3 passing mentions: in the contact details, the ward surgery details, and the imprint. There were no articles about her, unlike her ward colleague Chris who had a big right up about the speech he had given at council on workers rights, "collective action and solidarity" (whatever that is). And whilst Chris is the golden boy of the class war left, Allison did not even merit a photo in the leaflet.

Had Labour forgotten about her? Were they holding her at arms length? Had she forgotten about them? Was she deliberately avoiding the Labour campaign? Who knows? But don't bother trying to check her Twitter account for clues. She has changed the settings so that all her posts are private. Allison is, after all, something of a loose canon on social media. Her attack on our candidate on a local residents' Facebook page last year for not living in the ward was something of a spectacular own goal. Putting aside (as she clearly did) that she lived in my ward for some time while being a Dunston Hill councillor, she claimed that living a mile away from a ward (as Kevin our candidate in 2015 did) was “far enough away not to know what’s going on in the ward." She then went on to say “It’s been highlighted how councillors should live in their wards and I agree with that.”

So the fact Labour's candidate this May lived over a mile from the ward has left an awful lot of egg on her face. Nevertheless, in an attempt to keep up Allison's profile in the ward, we included her comments in one of our election Focuses. She is a useful asset for us!

Gaining again in Gateshead

Groundhog day in Gateshead is now gone. In 2014 and 2015, no seats changed hands. The polling day repeats were at an end. In 2010-12, we suffered losses to Labour in the borough. The Lib Dem team on the Council was cut from 24 to 11. We have to go back to 2008 for the last Lib Dem gain in Gateshead. So the elections on Thursday saw us breaking the recent mould. We gained Pelaw and Heworth from Labour.

Historically, Pelaw and Heworth was a safe Labour ward. We then won it in the Blair years but lost it in the early Coalition years. Ian Patterson, who first won the seat for us about 16 years ago, continued to keep the ward warm though our expectation of winning it back this time were not high. Our campaign was aimed at putting us in a realistic jump-off position for a gain in 2018, when the next local elections are held.

Verification of votes took place on Thursday evening though the count itself was not due to start until 1.30pm on Friday. We knew by the time we left in the early hours of Friday morning that it was neck-and-neck in the ward. And we knew from the expressions on the faces of Labour members, and from the brief conversations they had with us, that they were not aware of a potential problem for them in the ward.

Frank Hindle, retiring as councillor for Low Fell, number crunched some figures and emailed me around 2am to say he could not call the result in PH. It was just too close.

Back at the count on Friday afternoon, it was some time before Labour were shaken out of their complacency. It began to dawn on them that they were facing a problem in PH. They tried to do random counts as the votes were being separated into the different piles for the candidates. As the piles of votes mounted, they knew they were facing their first loss in 8 years. The count went right up to the wire for a photo finish. Lib Dem Ian Patterson won by 20.

So after an absence of 4 years, Ian rejoins us in the Gateshead Lib Dem Council group and we can genuinely say that we have turned a corner.

Winning in Whickham South and Sunniside

I wasn't up for election in my ward of Whickham South and Sunniside this year, but my colleague John McClurey was. Alas, my record majority (for recent years) of 1199 votes was smashed by John. He added a whopping 7 votes to our lead! But he did notch up 63% of the vote, 13% up on my share at the local elections last year (which coincided with the general election). There was no campaign or literature from the Conservatives and UKIP. Labour's campaign consisted of one leaflet which they paid to have delivered.

As recently as last year, Labour were stating publicly that they would win my ward, though as it was their deputy leader on Gateshead Council, Martin Gannon, who made the prediction, it could not be taken seriously. Nevertheless, just over a decade ago, my ward was a serious target for Labour and they poured everything they could into it. Their campaign then was a disaster and they are still suffering from the fallout in the ward.

So a very satisfactory result. Well done John McClurey!

On BBC Politics Programme

I was on the BBC Politics Programme (North East) today, debating with the 3 other candidates in the Northumbria PCC election. You can see it on this link. The North East bit starts about 31 minutes in.