Bridges action day

 

On Sunday, Gateshead Lib Dems held yet another action day, this time in Bridges ward. It looks as though Labour have abandoned Bridges. Cllr John Eagle is stepping down in May. Cllr Robert Waugh was elected in September 2024 and has not yet attended a meeting. I can't imagine his standing again. That leaves Cllr Angela Douglas. I have heard on the grapevine what her intentions are but nothing is confirmed. We have come across no Labour activity in the ward since the by-election. Bridges was a Labour stronghold in the very recent past. They are now facing an existential crisis in the ward. All the indications are of a Labour collapse.

I wasn't able to make it to the action day. I was running the Lib Dem print operation instead. I did however make it to the Lib Dem gathering at Tesco's cafe in Gateshead. That's something not to be missed!

This speaks for itself!

 

I spotted this while out and about. It speaks for itself.

Whickham South and Sunniside action day

 

Another Gateshead Lib Dem action day was held yesterday, this time in my ward of Whickham South and Sunniside. I am pleased to report that all patches in the Whickham part of the ward were either delivered or taken by people who will deliver them this coming week. The Sunniside edition will also be delivered this week.

Photo above: my ward colleague Cllr Marilynn Ord with a bundle of Focuses ready to head off to deliver them.

Look what arrived today

 

Look what arrived today! Four boxes Focuses - 2000 for Sunniside, 2,000 for Whickham South. We start delivery tomorrow. Tonight however I need to spend an hour bundling them into the delivery patches.

Target seat candidates list completed

 

On Tuesday Gateshead West Lib Dem branch held their first meeting of the year. The key aim of the meeting was to finalise the candidates for the target seats in the branch area. I'm pleased to report that this task was completed at the meeting. Meanwhile, each of the wards in the branch gave campaign reports. There are now only three and a half months to go to polling day in the local elections. They are getting horribly close!

Another missed action day

 

A second Gateshead Lib Dem action day last weekend was held in Pelaw and Heworth ward and for the second time I had to miss it. The snow was gone when my colleagues were out in the ward delivering  the latest Focus but it was still cold. I was stuck in the warmth of my home writing the Whickham South Focus. Some of my colleagues are pictured above enjoying the cold winter sun. Meanwhile, I was working hard to ensure the deadline for getting the Focus ready for printing was met.

Ryton action day - or not

Last Saturday it was meant to be a Gateshead Lib Dem action day in Ryton ward. Alas, the snow put an end to it. Instead, in the warmth of my house, I wrote the Sunniside Focus. Most of it was written by the end of the day. Ryton action day has been rescheduled.

Has Jenrick alienated red wall voters from Reform?

So, Jenrick has been evicted from the Conservative Party and immediately moves next door to live with his chum Nigel. Media reports suggest he has been talking to Reform since September last year, before the Conservative conference. That means he has been secretly plotting to knife his colleagues for four months. No wonder Farage said, "Never trust a Tory". So what are the immediate effects of this back stabbing incident?

Kemi Badenoch has buried her only realistic rival for the Tory leadership. She's safe, for now.

So far, defections by sitting MPs from the Tories to Reform have been rare: 2 now, including Jenrick. His jumping ship could encourage others to do the same.

Reform is going to look more and more like the Tories 2.0. In red wall areas, Reform has reach into some areas where Labour have previously been dominant but have taken people for granted. Political activity is minimal and Reform can potentially walk in and fill the vacuum. People in those areas are not Conservatives. Taking in large numbers of defecting Conservatives could alienate these red wall voters.

I wonder who the next defector will be? 

Pipe dream

 

It was meant to be a fantastic building attracting worldwide attention and international visitors. It was meant to put Gateshead on the map. But the international convention centre, planned in the last decade and meant to have been built well before now, is yet to have a brick laid. The initial cost of £260 million has ramped up and the land on the Gateshead Quays where it was supposed to be built remains derelict.

It became obvious that the plan was going off target in 2024 when Labour put out a leaflet in the Bridges by-election to Gateshead Council. Labour listed lots of good thinks they alleged were happening in the ward. Noticeably missing from this list was the convention centre.

As we enter 2026, we await a report from the Regional Mayor on whether or not there is enough demand for the facilities.

Ron Beadle, Leader of the Lib Dem Opposition in Gateshead, described the floundering convention plans as a "pipe dream" at the Council's corporate resources scrutiny committee on Monday. At the same meeting I tried to get officers to pin down an expected date for publication of the report. They wouldn't do that. All I could get was a commitment that it would be sometime in the coming months.

We await its publication with interest.

Back in the office

 

Barely into the new year and I am already back in the Lib Dem office to do some printing for action days in Gateshead this weekend. In addition, I printed some literature which will be delivered in February. It's going to be a busy 4 months ahead of us as we head towards the local elections.

Technology turns into history

 

Sunniside History Society's monthly meeting was on Wednesday at Sunniside Club. We had a great speaker - Simon Woolley from Beamish Museum - who gave a talk on the recent developments. The meeting was also an opportunity to donate some historic items from my house. In the photo above is my great grandfather's document case. Henry Wallace was agent to Lord Ravensworth in the later Victorian period. He was also the first county councillor for Whickham in 1888 and in 1896 he was the first chairman of Whickham Urban District Council.

This is a 1950s record player. I'm not sure whether it works or not. However, one of the recent developments at the museum is a 1950s electrical shop so I think this record player would find a new home there.

This is an induction coil, popular in school physics lessons in the 60s and 70s.I have no idea how it ended up in my house but we decided it would be better off in Beamish than in our loft! The 4th and final item we donated was a copy of the Radio Times from March 1954. Again, don't ask me how it ended up in my house!

Manifesto meeting

 

On Tuesday Gateshead Lib Dems held their latest manifesto meeting for the local elections in May. We are almost at the end of the process of putting together the manifesto and considerable progress was made on Tuesday. I wonder how the other parties are doing in putting together their manifestos? Will they bother? I've been on Gateshead Council for 39 years now and in that time I can't recall Labour ever publishing a manifesto even though they have been in charge during the whole of that time. Perhaps they feel that for this election, they don't need one given their 52 year control of Gateshead may be about to end.

In time for lunch

Gateshead Lib Dems held another action day today, this time in Low Fell. I had initially planned to go to help deliver Focuses. Alas, I stayed at home this morning as I had another Focus to write which we need for the action day next weekend. Time was running out to get it done and sent to the printer. The good news is that I had time to pop over to the action day HQ to have lunch. It was also an opportunity to meet one of our new members who is helping us for the first time. Back home and I cracked on with writing the Focus. First draft is now done and it's gone to the literature team for checking.

Campaigning in the snow

 

Gateshead Lib Dems' first action day of the year in Gateshead was held this morning in Chowdene ward. On my way to pick up a bundle to deliver, it started snowing. It got heavier and heavier. It did not however put us off delivering the latest Focus leaflet. The whole of the ward was either delivered by lunchtime or people had taken bundles to deliver through the week. The next action day is tomorrow.