Long to reign over us - 1970s

The third decade of HM The Queen's reign. The events below were those discussed at the Sunniside History Society last week when we looked at key events in the UK during the 70 years The Queen was on the throne.

1970

Martin Peters becomes the nation's first £200,000 footballer in his transfer from West Ham to Tottenham Hotspur

The Beatles break up

British Leyland announce Morris Minor to cease production

Surprise win for Ted Heath and the Conservatives in the general election

First walkabout by Queen in Australia, now a standard part of a royal visit

1971

Tyneside set film "Get Carter" starring Michel Caine is premiered. 

Decimalisation took place

1972

Unemployment exceeded 1M for the first time since the 1930s

7 week miners’ strike took place

Northern Ireland Parliament suspended

Queen Elizabeth II met her uncle, The Duke of Windsor, for the last time, at his home in Paris. The Duke died shortly afterwards, 35 years after his abdication from the throne

BBC launched Pebble Mill at One

1973

UK joins the EEC

Women are admitted into the London Stock Exchange for the first time

In May 1.6 million workers go on strike over government pay restraints

IRA carry out extensive bombing campaign in UK mainland

Princess Anne marries Captain Mark Philips

Peter Walker, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, warned that petrol rationing may have to be introduced in the near future as a result of the oil crisis 

1974

Implementation of 3 day week

The Prime Minister, Edward Heath, calls a general election for 28 February in an attempt to end the dispute over the miners' strike. No part has a majority.

Harold Wilson becomes PM

ABBA wins Eurovision with Waterloo

2^nd election results in Labour majority of 3 seats

Inflation soars to a 34-year high of 17.2%

1975

Margaret Thatcher becomes Conservative leader

Inflation reached 24.2%

Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody is released

Two new laws, the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the Equal Pay Act 1970, come into force

1976

Harold Wilson resigns, James Callaghan becomes PM

Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon announce that they are to separate

Jeremy Thorpe resigns as leader of the Liberal Party, David Steel takes over

Summer heatwave

£2.3 billion loan from IMF to bailout Britain

1977

Queen's silver jubilee

Income tax slashed from 35p to 33p

Queens UK jubilee tour starts in Glasgow

 The Queen becomes a grandmother for the first time when Princess Anne gives birth to a son

 The Morecombe and Wise Christmas Show on BBC1 attracts an audience ofover 28 million viewers

1978

Many British bakeries impose bread rationing after a baker's strike led to panic buying of bread

Lib Lab Pact ends

Inflation at 6 year low of 6.3%

1979

Winter of Discontent

Labour loses vote of confidence and then loses subsequent general election. Start of 18 years of Conservative government. Thatcher as PM

Former Liberal Party leader and MP Jremy Thorpe goes on trial at the Old Bailey charged with attempted murder. He is eventually cleared 

Lord Mountbatten and two 15-year-olds, his nephew and a boatboy, are assassinated by a Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb

The government publishes the Housing Bill which will give council house tenants theright to buy their homes from the following year

 

Long to reign over us

This is the second post using the material I presented at the Sunniside History Society meeting on Wednesday looking back at the events during the 70 year reign of Queen Elizabeth II. We have now arrived at the 1960s.

1960

Birth of Prince Andrew

Princess Margaret marries Anthony Armstrong-Jones

Beatles perform for first time in Hamburg

Penguin Books are found not guilty of obscenity in the Lady Chatterley's Lover case

Coronation Street is first broadcast

Conscription ends

1961

Farthing ceases to be legal tender

Betting shops become legal

Birth Control pill becomes available on the NHS after their availability is backed by Health Minister Enock Powell

1962

An outbreak of smallpox in Wales kills 19 people. 900,000 people in the region are vaccinated against the disease

First episode of Z-Cars

Liberal candidateEric Lubbock wins the Oprington By-election, leading to the Night of the Long Knives in the Conservative Cabinet

First broadcast of Steptoe and Son

Live television broadcast from the US to Britain for the first time, via the Telstar communications satellite 

The Rolling Stones make their debut at London's Marquee Club 

The first James Bond film, Dr No, is released

1963 

Year started with the worst winter since 1946-7, snow on the ground in some areas until April

Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell dies

John Profumo, Secretary of State for War, admits misleading Parliament and resigns over his affair with Christine Keeler

The Great Train Robbery takes place

Ford begins production of the Ford Anglia 

1^st broadcast of Dr Who

Assassination of JFK

1964

Top of the Pops 1^st broadcast

Prince Edward is born

Launch of BB2 disrupted by power cut

Post Office Tower completed

Labour wins a slender majority of 4 in the general election

1965

Winston Churchill dies

the bank rate is reduced to 6 per cent.

the government announce plans for the introduction of a blood alcohol limit for drivers in its clampdown on drink driving 

Edward Heath becomes Conservative leader

Thunderbirds are first broadcast

A 70 mph maximum speed limit is imposed on UK roads

10 day tour by Queen of West Germany

1966

Labour win the general election, increasing their majority to 96

England beat West Germany in World Cup

Ian Brady and Myra Hindley go on trial charged with murdering two children and a teenager and subsequently found guilty.

Aberfan disaster in South Wales

1967

The first North Sea gas is pumped ashore

1^st colour tv broadcast

The RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 is launched at by the Queen

The Abortion Act is passed

The pound is devalued from $2.80 to $2.40

1968

Ford brought out the Escort to replace the Anglia

George Brown resigns as Foreign Secretary after failing to turn up for an emergency meeting because he was drunk.

5p and 10p coins are introduced in preparation for decimalization

Ronan Point tower block in Newham collapses

1^st and 2^nd class mail are introduced

1969

The space hopper is introduced

Lulu, representing the UK with the song "Boom Bang-a-Bang", shared first place in the Eurovision Song Contest in a four-way tie with France, The Netherlands and Spain

Voting age is reduced from 21 to 18

QE2 maiden voyage from Southampton to New York

Charles, Prince of Wales, is invested with his title at Caernarfon

BBC Television broadcasts overnight to provide coverage of the Apollo 11 moon landing

The old half penny ceases to be legal tender

 

Sunniside Leek Show

 

I paid a visit to the Sunniside Leek Show last week in Sunniside Social Club. 

Yet another change of plan

Having booked a hotel room for Brighton conference, and then conference being cancelled due to the passing of Queen Elizabeth, the plan then became to use my room booking as a base to travel to London on the day of the funeral to be part of the crowds. The plan however has changed yet again. I won't be going to Brighton and London at all. The hotel refunded my booking yesterday. I will be watching the funeral on tv instead.

Long to reign over us - 1950s

Last night I gave my presentation to the Sunniside History Society looking at events from the 70 year reign of Queen Elizabeth II. Over the next few days I will publish a list for each decade. Below are the events I included from the 1950s, starting obviously with Princess Elizabeth becoming Queen.

1952

February, Princess Elizabeth becomes Queen

December – smog in London kills 4,000

Singin’ in the Rail premiers

US tests first hydrogen bomb

 

1953

Coronation of the Queen (June)

Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climb Everest

Korean War ends

Stalin dies

Royal Yacht Britannia commissioned

 

1954

First under 4 minute mile run by Roger Bannister

Rationing ends in UK

A de Haviland Comet crashes in the Mediterranean

Alan Turing dies

 

1955

HMS Ark Royal is commissioned

Winston Churchill resigned as PM at the age of 80, replaced by Anthony Eden

Eden leads Conservatives to victory in general election

Heatwave and drought in UK

Unemployment at 215,000, 1%

Ruth Ellis last woman to be hanged

Richard Baker and Kenneth Kendall become first news readers to be seen reading the news

Commercial tv starts broadcasting

Princess Margaret announces she will not marry Group Captain Peter Townsend

Dame Evelyn Sharp appointed Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, the first woman civil servant to attain this most senior position within the UK

Clement Atlee resigns as Labour leader after 20 years

 

1956

Premium bonds launched

The Queen opens the world's first commercial nuclear power station at Calder Hall

 Suez Crisis resulting in petrol rationing

PG Tips launch their long-running advertising campaign using a chimpanzees (with voices provided by Peter Sellers).

Tesco open their first self-service store in the UK

 

1957

Harold Macmillan takes over as PM

Petrol rationing lifted

The 1957–1958 influenza pandemic ("Asian flu"), which has already killed thousands of people worldwide, reaches Britain where it will kill a number estimated at between 20,000 and 33,000

Prime Minister Harold Macmillan makes his speech in which he claims that "most of our people have never had it so good"

 

1958

Life peerages introduced allowing women to sit in House of Lords for the first time

The Queen bestows the title Prince of Wales on Prince Charles

1^st broadcast of Blue Peter

 

1959

Conservatives win the general election with another increased majority

Economic growth for the year is a very strong 7.2% while the inflation shows a zero percentage change over the year

Prime Minister Macmillan  makes the "Wind of Change" speech for the first time

Proclamation of King Charles III

 

I went to the proclamation of King Charles III today at Gateshead Civic Centre. The proclamation was read by the Deputy Mayor Robert Waugh.

Change of plan

I had written previously about the difficulties of getting to conference this month. The passing of Her Majesty has changed the situation. The rail strike is suspended so getting to Brighton becomes much easier. There is however no conference to attend. It has been cancelled. So my new plan it to go to Brighton anyway and to go by train. After all the hotel is paid for. I will use it as my base for a few days and travel up to London where I am hoping to meet up with a horticultural friend of mine on Sunday. But on Monday 19th I will head to London to join the crowds of people lining the route of the funeral procession. This is history in the making and I would like to be part of it. 

Long to reign over us

As chair of Sunniside History Society, I have scrapped the agenda for Wednesday's meeting. Instead of a presentation about the historical leftovers along the Tanfield bridlepath, I will be giving a talk about the 70 years of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's reign, outlining a major event from each year. It will be our tribute to our longest serving monarch. The evening will be called "Long to reign over us."

The meeting is on Wednesday 14th September at 7pm in Sunniside Social Club. All welcome.

Someone is leeking

 

Yesterday the flower and vegetable show at Sunniside Social Club was held. I popped in to see how my fellow gardeners and allotment holders were doing. Most of the exhibits were leeks (I've grown my first ever leeks this year though not to the standard and size that would get me into the show!) Well done to all the winners, organisers and those taking part.

Visiting Arbeia

In August, we took a half day off to visit the Roman fort at Arbeia, on the mouth of the River Tyne at South Shields. This was an opportunity to immerse myself in history. I filmed the above video while I was there.

Booked

I wrote recently about the problems of getting to Brighton from the North East for Lib Dem conference later this month. Rail strikes had been announced for Thursday 15th and Saturday 17th. I considered and ruled out various alternatives for getting to Brighton: driving (I hate driving long distances and the pollution level is too great); flying (short haul flights are too polluting) travelling by train on Friday 16th (the service will be in chaos due to the strikes); coach from Newcastle (but the journey would be 11 hours). In the end, I overcame my concerns and opted for the coach. I will spend most of it asleep as it leaves shortly before midnight on Friday evening and gets into Brighton at 11am on Saturday. I will need to take a supply of farming and history magazines to keep me occupied on those parts of the journey when I can't get to sleep. For the return journey I'm hoping the trains are running again!

Returning to meetings

 

Corporate resources scrutiny committee this morning in Gateshead and I was pleased to see my colleague Cllr Ron Beadle was back in the Civic Centre for the meeting. Ron had been diagnosed in May with bowel cancer and had successfully undergone a major operation. He is having chemotherapy but by all accounts he is making a strong recovery and all traces of the cancer have gone. As usual, Ron made a full contribution to the meeting!

At last!

 

At last, Dunston Hill Primary School is to be demolished and the site is to be used for 35 affordable homes. It only took 13 years from the school's closing to planning permission being granted (on Wednesday last week). Local Lib Dems have been campaigning for the site to be used for housing since the school moved to its new site in 2009. The site should have been used years ago but was left as a derelict eyesore in Gateshead Council's ownership. The Council therefore lost many years of council tax receipts and people were denied the affordable homes that are so needed.

Let's hope the work takes place quickly.

Tweeting from the show

 

Local budgie keepers had a show in Swalwell yesterday so I decided to pay them a visit. One local resident showed me around the show and explained all the different breeds. I'm not on Twitter so this meant I was not in a position to make lots of jokes about tweeting! The budgies on the other hand were tweeting, very loudly!

eFocus for Low Fell no. 111

 The Lib Dem Focus Team recently published edition 111 of the Low Fell eFocus. Issues covered include:

• meeting on crime;
• petition calling for Kells Lane park to be locked at night;
• learning about the Royal British Legion;
• St Helen's Church joins warm spaces network.

You can read eFocus on this link.

Strike!

Rail strikes have been announced for Thursday 15th and Saturday 17th September. Lib Dem conference in Brighton starts on 17th and my plan had been to go to conference that day, travelling down from the North East and arriving in Brighton in the afternoon. I then decided to head south on Friday 16th to meet up with a horticultural friend of mine in London and then head to Brighton from London the next day, staying in a cheap hotel. But the rail strikes have thrown all this up in the air.

I can't go to London on Wednesday 14th as I am speaking at the Sunniside History Society that evening. I've ruled out driving to Brighton (I hate driving and I hate the pollution). I had a look at flights to Gatwick but I hate the idea of short haul because of the pollution. And were I to fly as an absolute last resort, there is still the problem of getting from the airport to Brighton. I then looked at getting a coach from Newcastle to Brighton but the thought of a journey of nearly 12 hours does not appeal.

Which leaves me with travelling by train on Friday. It is not a strike day but the rail system will be in chaos. It also means cancelling plans to have a horticultural meet up as I will have to get to Brighton before the Saturday strike happens.

Wish me luck!

Tories in Winlaton

I have heard on the grapevine that the Conservatives were out campaigning in Winlaton and High Spen over the summer. The ward is the only one currently where the Conservatives have a realistic (though still a bit distant) chance of winning a seat on Gateshead Council which has been an electoral desert for them for 30 years ago. They must have been disappointed by the result in Winlaton and High Spen in May where, despite visits from (or is that because of visits from?) cabinet members, the Conservatives saw the Labour majority increase to 620. Perhaps the Conservatives however understand that winning an election requires constant campaigning. Success does not come overnight. We shall wait and see if the Conservatives continue to work the ward in the months ahead.

Mountains of waste

Edinburgh is rapidly disappearing under a blanket of waste. The strike by bin lorry staff in the city means the waste bins throughout the city are not being emptied. Roads and paths are not being cleared of rubbish. Waste food is rotting. This situation highlights just how wasteful we are as a society. It has taken only a few days for Edinburgh to begin to disappear under an avalanche of waste. Most of what is dumped in streets is single use food and drinks packaging. Surely we must all now realise that we cannot go on in this consumerist consumptionist manner. We are trashing the planet.

45 years ago

45 years ago I had just returned home after spending 50 days in hospital following a road accident. So I was still on crutches when I heard the news that Elvis was dead. Looking back nearly half a century later, can anyone think of a performer and musician who still dominates the music industry two generations after they have passed away? Elvis was of course The King but he gave us some fantastic songs. Long may his record continue.

Celebrating in Kent

 

At the end of July I went with David to Kent to celebrate various family birthdays and a wedding anniversary. We had planned to go by train but the rail strike saw our having to drive there instead. Sally's house (where the celebration was taking place and where we were staying in a tent!) is a converted oast house with a large garden. The large pond there is exactly what I want to put on our farm to boost wildlife and encourage amphibians that will eat bugs on my crops. So, as you can imagine, the pond for me was as much a draw as was the celebration event!

Labour demand Lib Dem policy

Proposals for a windfall tax were first put forward by Ed Davey and the Lib Dems last autumn. Two months later, Labour announced a proposal for a windfall tax. Some weeks ago, Ed Davey and the Lib Dems proposed a freeze rather than a lifting of the price cap on domestic energy bills this autumn. It will be interesting to see which Lib Dem policies Keir Starmer will adopt next. 

eFocus edition 171

The latest edition of eFocus for the Whickham area was published tonight. Issues covered include:

• Anti-social behaviour in Chase Park;
• Hospital bus service saved;
• Petition - cut Gateshead Council down to size;
• Whickham Voluntary Library is five years old;
• Chase Park dog show postponed;
• Sunniside phone mast;
• Wood carving at the Whinnies;
• Can you donate a school uniform?

You can read eFocus on this link.

On the shortlist

I am no great fan of the Eurovision Song Contest though I did watch the final in May. That said, I am a great fan of the tourism industry so anything that encourages people to visit Gateshead, Newcastle and the North East generally is welcome. It's all about jobs, wealth creation and the local economy. For a successful tourism industry we need reasons for people to visit us and spend their cash in local businesses. So, hosting the Eurovision Song Contest would be a huge boost to the economy here. Newcastle, it was announced today, is on the shortlist of possible host cities for next year's contest. Fingers crossed!

Dog show falls victim to heatwave

 

I'm used to activities being cancelled due to rain, snow and cold but we now have to get used to events being cancelled because of extreme heat. The Fun Dog Show in Chase Park, Whickham, due to be held tomorrow, has been cancelled because of the extreme weather conditions. I had planned to spend much of the day there but, though disappointed the show is postponed, the welfare of the people and pets attending has to take priority. Hopefully we will have a new date for the show shortly.

Sunniside phone mast

 

Residents have raised with me some questions about the new phone mast at the Stanley Road junction in Sunniside. I had to do some digging. The questions and answers are:

• When was it granted planning permission - June last year.
• Who gave it planning permission - officers under delegated powers.
• Who was consulted - the 14 nearest properties.

Typically, phone companies install phone masts quickly after they have been granted planning permission. This time they took 14 months to get the work done. This I suspect has generated the confusion about when it was granted.

Day trip to York

 

I filmed this on a day off from politics and farming. A day trip to York - the city is packed with history and is only an hour on the train from home. It is a regular host of Lib Dem spring conference. I'm not sure if York is hosting conference in the next couple of years but if it is, I will use the opportunity to visit more of the historical attractions.

The video was filmed at Clifford Tower, York Castle Museum and The Shambles.

What happened to collective responsibility?

There is something both interesting and nauseating about Conservative MPs and especially cabinet members taking part in a ding-dong battle between themselves about tax, the economy and inflation. Anyone who had just arrived from outer space and tuned into the Tory leadership debates would be forgiven for thinking the contenders and their supporters had come from opposing parties who had not been in office for the past few years. Recently agreed tax rises and monetary measures, it would appear, were all vehemently oppose, leaving everyone else wondering how the cabinet actually managed to back them. Quite what happened to collective responsibility is a question without an answer. While ministers initially knuckled down at the last budget and went on TV to back the proposals, now all we hear from the same people is how much they oppose them and want them scrapped.

What a strange world in which we live. 

Drought restrictions approaching

 

I've been saying since January that rainfall is greatly reduced this year. Normally in January I am plodding around in mud up to my ankles but the start of the year was damp but not as wet as we would normally expect. Every month since then, rainfall has been minimal, and for many weeks at a time, non-existent. Some areas of the country are now facing drought restrictions but we all now need to start saving water. Do you need to clean the car so often? Do you need to bathe rather than shower (and when showering is it necessary to leave the water running the whole of the time you are in the shower)? Do you need to clean all your towels after a single use.

Water is a resource and should be treated as such. We must be sparing with its use. A few thoughts on this issue in the video above.

Northern Pride

 

Liberal Democrats from the North East were out in force yesterday for Northern Pride parade through Newcastle. As usual, I was there with my camera.

Eurovision on Tyneside?

There is talk of Eurovision coming to an as yet unspecified venue in Newcastle. With Russia invading Ukraine, this year's Eurovision winner is not in a position to host. As runner up it now looks like the UK will inherit that role in 2023. I'm no fan of this annual camp musical jamboree (I was put off by Brotherhood of Man) but I'd be very happy for the contest to come to Tyneside. Think of the boost to the local economy! Finding a venue however will be something of a challenge. The Newcastle Arena is about the only building to fit the bill but it is nearing the end of its life. Sadly the new conference and concert venue on the Gateshead Quays will not be completed in time. Newcastle will be up against some stiff competition from elsewhere in the UK so being realistic, Newcastle being chosen as the host is not something to bet the house on. 

I have unhappy memories of the Newcastle Arena. I went there with Richard to a Kylie Minogue concert 3 years ago but had to leave early. Richard had collapsed and I had to get him home. Not good. 

In the running for PM

Okay, so just back from my farm and I've discovered that Johnson is to resign. Alas, one of the Lib Dems' best recruiting sergeants is to exit the stage. So who could be in the running to replace him as Tory leader?

• Priti Patel - aaaargh please no.
• Dominic Raab - needs to spend more time with his small majority.
• Sajid Javid - not to be underestimated.
• Nadhim Zahawi - quietly running his leadership campaign for months.
• Liz Truss - remainer turned Brexiteer.
• Michael Gove - sacked by every PM since 2010.
• Nadine Dorres - Get me out of here.
• Grant Shapps - off the rails.
• Jacob Rees-Mogg - back to the future.
• Keir Starmer - now pro-Brexit, fits the bill perfectly.

Enjoy the summer everyone!

Manning the barricades at the fire authority

Gateshead is part of Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Authority. It is run by a joint committee consisting of councillors from the five constituent councils. Hardly renowned for gripping debates, the committee is unlikely to have a queue of people eagerly waiting to get into the meeting to listen intently to councillors discussing the great issues of the day. Until today, that is.

For today, I am informed, Labour put on a great show in which they manned the barricades and battled with themselves for the role of chair. Labour are the majority party so the role is theirs until such point as they lose their majority. Sunderland is the lead authority and would normally expect to hold the chair but this time, there was a challenge. Gary Haley from Gateshead threw his hat in the ring and went head to head with the new member for Sunderland. No one won. The score was 7 votes each. The vote was run again but as no one had changed their mind, the result was simply a reheat of the first one.

Could it be third time lucky? Yet again, the vote was rerun but no one was in the mood for changing. So it was another score draw. The committee broke up without a chair being appointed. An extra meeting has now been called to be held in a couple of weeks.

And if that fails to resolve the matter, presumably there will be a penalty shoot out. 

I thought it was just Gateshead Labour group that were incompetent when it came to filling appointments - they were still making committee appointments 5 months after the annual council meeting last year. I have now discovered that this inability to sort an appointment extends much further in the Labour Party.

Dogs beat politicians in the Dunston popularity stakes

 

Dunston fair on Saturday was attended by local Lib Dem councillors. Cllr Peter Maughan decided to take his two Newfoundland dogs with him. The breed basically consists of enormous heaps of fur, gigantic tongues and an unfeasibly large quantity of slather. Nevertheless they were very popular with the other visitors to the fair in Dunston Park, indeed, more popular than the politicians (of both sides)! Pictured above: Councillors Peter Maughan, Amelia Ord, Vicky Anderson and Labour's Brenda Clelland who is also one of the organisers of the fair.

The Hoppings

 

For the first time in 30 years I went to the Newcastle Hoppings last night. We got to Exhibition Park and a sudden and very heavy downpour nearly made the evening into a washout. Fortunately it lasted only 5 minutes. So, one burger, one packet of very overpriced pick and mix sweets and one ride later and we headed back home. You need to watch to the end of the video to find out which thrill ride we did!

Whickham eFocus no. 170

Latest eFocus for the local Lib Dem Focus team, just published. Issues covered include bank branch closures, cuts to bus services, housing planned for Dunston Hill derelict school site and much more. Cloci on this link to read eFocus.

Saving the 69

I'm currently sitting in a briefing meeting for Gateshead Councillors with officers from Nexus and Go North East. I'm pleased to report that the 69 service has been saved. Nexus will step in to run it as a secured service. A grant from the government will pay for the service which is vital for many residents. The 69 is the main way for those without a car to get to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Saving it was a priority for the Lib Dem group. It should now remain in place until 2025.

Let's get Brexit undone!

 It was the oven ready deal ready to go. All that was needed was a Johnson led Conservative victory at the 2019 general election. "Let's get Brexit done" was the winning slogan. And so it came to pass - the deal was pushed through Parliament and it appeared that the Conservatives could claim "Job done." Except that it is far from job done. It now looks like Johnson is after a fight with the EU. I suspect he wants to take on Europe because he needs to recreate the conditions of 2019 in which Europe-bashing was in part the reason for his election victory. Now he needs to rebuild support on the Tory right while hoping the broken promise of no borders in the Irish Sea is drowned out by the battle cries of an anti-EU campaign. Johnson must also be hoping that in this cacophony of noise, the people will forget that he is the author of the Northern Ireland Protocol, the agreement which is now being savaged by the Conservatives. Johnson got us into this mess. Now it's his job to get us out of it. Don't hold your breath.

Signed up for conference

 

I took the plunge last week and booked my attendance at Lib Dem conference in September in Brighton. That was the relatively cheap bit. Then came the hotel booking. That was a bit more pricey. It's been over 22 years since I last had to book hotel accommodation in Brighton for conference. From 2000 to 2009 I worked for the Lib Dems in one guise or another. Conference attendance and staff accommodation were part of the job. When I "retired" in 2009 to spend more time with my self-sufficiency ambitions, when conference was at Brighton (most of the time it was), I stayed at the flat in London and commuted down each day. When Richard moved out of the flat to our house in Gateshead so I could be his carer in 2017, I put the flat on the rental market. The era of no-cost accommodation for Brighton conference had come to an end. My conference attendance then dropped off a bit before we were visited by the pandemic and the whole thing went on-line.

So I decided, for a treat, to attend conference and stay in a hotel but Brighton hotel prices came as something of a surprise! I've got 3 months to get over the shock. Let's hope the rail strikes are all ended by then. I certainly won't be driving there!

Ross the weatherman in Sunniside

 

Ross Hutchinson, the weatherman on Tyne Tees TV, was a visitor to Sunniside over the Jubilee weekend. He was there to plant a tree on the Whinnies Community Garden (see video above) and he took the opportunity to visit my Nearside allotment to see my goats and poultry. He's a keen supporter of animal welfare and keeps a number of animals himself. It was great to see him in Sunniside.

Buffoon or bore

So, the expected Conservative confidence vote in Johnson is to take place today. Expect a Johnson win but for him to emerge as a wounded victor. Assuming he does win and then manages to survive as Conservative leader, he could limp on to the general election where the candidates from the 2 larger parties will be the buffoon versus the bore. What a choice that will be! 

Planting Up Whickham

 

I was in Whickham yesterday with other volunteers from Planting Up Whickham to help plant up the flowerbeds on Front Street and Church Green. The group raises the money for the flowers and looks after the beds after the council stopped doing this about a decade ago. 2 hours of planting on a Sunday morning and the job was done.

Virtue out of necessity

I guess that Keir Starmer must be regretting that beer and curry in the office of Mary Foy, Labour MP for Durham City and former member of Gateshead Council. While not on the level of the Downing Street party factory, the fact it happened does not read well for Labour. Starmer has been forced to make a virtue out of necessity. If he is fined, there was no way he could remain at the top of Labour given his previous hardline position on Boris Johnson's party going activities. So he is making his offer to resign if fined a position of virtue. If he is then found not to have broken covid restrictions (and my guess is that he won't be fined), he can then portray himself as the good guy who offered to do the right thing before the police had reached a conclusion. All, of course, in contrast to Boris Johnson.

Meanwhile, time to spend a bit of time reading about the government's attempts to address the cost of living crisis. £15 billion and a uturn just to keep the Sue Gray report out of the headlines!

Back again

We had our Lib Dem Council group annual meeting in Gateshead last night. 3  new members and we are now a group of 15, up 2. I was reelected as Leader and Ron Beadle was reelected Deputy Leader. Just when I had nearly finished digging the escape tunnel to spend more time with my new farm! Thanks for your confidence in me, colleagues. 

Live from the goathouse

 

After 35 years on Gateshead Council, this was a first for me, and probably a first for Gateshead as well. Last week I attended a council meeting from my goathouse! Fortunately it was online and it meant for a few moments that the Director of Public Health was competing with one of my cockerels to be heard over the ipad! I then put him on mute!

Forget bitcoin, the currency of the future is duck eggs!

 

On Saturday a craft market was held in Sunniside so I popped in to have a look around. Stalls selling cakes are a magnet to me. There was one there tempting me to part with my cash. I bought 5 cakes. They cost me 4 boxes of duck eggs laid in the previous few days on my allotment. Forget bitcoin, the currency of the future is duck eggs!

Tales from the campaign trail no.9 - I have been targeted

I was reliably informed on Friday at the count that the Conservatives are to target me personally in the local elections next year! "You are targeted" sounds as though it's come straight from a Terminator film! But far from being angry that I am to be the Tories' target, I welcome it! But let's put everything into perspective. By May next year I will have represented Whickham South and Sunniside for 36 years. I gained the seat from the Conservatives in 1987 and have taken over 50% of the vote in every election since then. The good people of the ward have chosen me to be their councillor 10 times. Apart from 1987, the Conservative have had a name on the ballot paper but no campaign. Last week, in the ward, the Conservatives were in 3rd place with 346 votes compared to our vote of 1770

Last week, the Conservatives failed to win their only target seat in Gateshead (Winlaton and High Spen). If their strategy is to use resources to fight one of their most unwinnable seats, and therefore using up valuable resources that could go to the better prospect of Winlaton and High Spen, then it is hardly surprising the Conservatives have failed to win a single seat in Gateshead in 30 years.

So let the battle commence!

Congratulations Marilynn

 

Congratulations to my ward colleague Marilynn Ord who was re-elected last week to Gateshead Council in Whickham South and Sunniside ward. She took 60% of the vote and had a majority of 1075.

The details are:

• Marilynn Ord (Lib Dem) 1770 (60.1%)
• Labour 695 (23.6%)
• Conservative 346 (11.7%)
• Green 136 (4.6%).

Tales from the campaign trail no 8 - predictions

 

On the way to the count this morning, I made my predictions for the Gateshead local elections. But how close were they?

Tales from the Campaign Trail no. 7 - The heat is on in High Spen

Winlaton and High Spen ward continues to attract attention in the local elections in Gateshead. It seems the Conservatives are pouring in the resources. There have been two visits by cabinet members and I am informed that there have been visits by MPs recently.

From having been rather complacent a few weeks ago, Labour may now be awake to the danger of losing to the Conservatives in the ward. There was a group of Labour members working the ward today and thanks to the wonders of social media (in this case Liz Twist MP's Twitter feed) we now know who was there - 11 Councillors, 2 members, the candidate and the MP. But who is this I see? John Adams? The beleaguered member for Saltwell? Does this mean he is complacent about being re-elected again for Saltwell? Or are Labour giving up in Saltwell?

So, what is the final result to be? I remain to be convinced the Conservatives can pull off victory in the ward. It will be close however, but Labour members must surely be feeling it is a little too close for comfort, hence the reason for shipping in their councillors.

Tales from the campaign trail no. 6 - the Administrative Error Party standing in Saltwell

In previous years there were 2 wards in Gateshead in which the Green Party was thought to have an interest: Saltwell and Crawcrook and Greenside. This year we saw an interesting development in Saltwell. The Green Party candidate of the previous year, Rachel Mary Cabral, is standing again, but without a party description. Somehow, the nomination forms have been handed in without being fully completed. Anyone looking to vote for the Green Party will be disappointed though the Green Party vote is being squeezed heavily by the Lib Dems in Saltwell as the battle to beat Labour hots up.

So what went so wrong for the Greens? Well, I am reliably informed that the candidate went on holiday in late March, coinciding with the opening of nominations. My suspicion is that the form for the party description and logo were not completed before Rachel left the country. Without that form being signed by a party's designation nominating officer, a candidate cannot use the Party description and logo.

When challenged in April about the lack of a description, Rachel explained there was an "administrative error" though quite what that error is has not been explained.

Never mind Rachel, there is a silver lining in the cloud. The Greens got 185 votes in Saltwell last year and they will be looking for a new home. They could help swing the ward away from Labour by voting Lib Dem instead.

Tales from the campaign trail no.5 - pact up and ready to go

I was rather amused by the absurdity of Oliver Dowden's claims of an electoral pact between Lib Dems and Labour. The Tory Party chairman based his fantasy story on Labour standing more candidates in the North while the Lib Dems are standing more candidates in the South. Perhaps Mr Dowden should visit Gateshead where, incidentally, Labour, Conservatives and Lib Dems are each fielding full slates of candidates. The actual battle is between Labour and Lib Dems slugging it out in a number of wards with the Conservatives running a small sideshow in Winlaton and High Spen. Even in this one target ward, the Conservatives are more likely to be runners up rather than winners though this is, for them, a major advance on decades in the electoral wilderness in Gateshead.

But anyone looking for evidence of a non-existent Lib-Lab pact should visit Saltwell, Birtley, Pelaw and Heworth, High Fell and Dunston Hill and Whickham East wards in Gateshead. Labour are defending the first four against a Lib Dem onslaught. The 5th ward is a marginal Lib Dem held ward (but with one independent who is not  defending his seat.) The ward has a recent Labour history and Labour would love to recover it. No one visiting those wards could possibly believe Dowden's story.

Still, it makes for an interesting distraction from an MP viewing porn, Partygate and the cost of living crisis.

Tales from the campaign trail no. 4 - the wanderer returns

Gateshead Labour Councillor Anne Wheeler is on a bit of a journey. She arrived on the council in 2010, winning back a seat from the Lib Dems in Pelaw and Heworth ward which we had held since taking it from Labour in 2000. Having served 2 terms Anne moved ward to Wardley and Leam Lane in 2018. Whether this was a voluntary switch of ward or imposed on her I do not know. Either way, it was for her a good move as Wardley and Leam Lane was one of the strongest Labour wards in the borough. Pelaw and Heworth on the other hand was moving back towards to Lib Dems. In 2016 we took one of the three seats by only 20 votes. Labour clung on by around 100 votes in the ward in 2018 but Anne was safe with a majority of 868 in the next door ward.

Alas, things don't look so comfortable for her now. She is no longer Labour candidate in the Labour fortress of Wardley and Leam Lane. Instead, she is back in Pelaw and Heworth facing a Lib Dem majority of 648 from 2021. The sitting Labour councillor has decided to retire and retirement for Anne is now looking likely as well. The ward is a top target for the Lib Dems and Labour's campaign has been rather minimal.

A ward to watch on Friday 6th May.

Tales from the campaign trail no. 3 - eat your Greens

For the last couple of local elections, the Greens in Gateshead have fancied their chances in Crawcrook and Greenside ward. Labour's majority over the Greens last year was 321, bringing the ward into the realm of the marginal. The Greens last year were disappointed by the result but it was their best chance of winning a seat on Gateshead Council. Since then a change of candidate has probably not helped their cause. Though it seems the Greens are continuing to do battle in the ward, I suspect they blew their chances last year. Expect a Labour hold next week though don't expect the majority to be comfortable.

Tales from the campaign trail no. 2: Labour forget they run the council

 

It's that time of year - Labour leaflets pop through local letterboxes. There must be an election! Labour's candidate for Whickham South and Sunniside (who lives in Blaydon) has been issued with a map of where to go and the success of this can be shown by the fact I walked past him last week in Sunniside. His election leaflet, which he was delivering at the time, seems almost to have come from a parallel universe. Anyone reading it would be forgiven for thinking Labour do not run the council! According to the Labour leaflet, Lib Dems are responsible for the cost of living crisis! 

The leaflet then claims that "There are no outdoor play areas for children in Sunniside." This may be a bit of a surprise to the Whinnies Community Garden where volunteers provide an outdoor play area! There is also Sunniside Park, Marley Hill Park, Frosterley Walk field and Kingsway community orchard. How about Kindred's Wood and Lotties Wood? All outdoor spaces and accessible. What Sunniside lacks (which the leaflet does not refer to) is play equipment, other than what is available at the Whinnies and at Marley Hill. But the Labour-run council withdrew the funding some years ago for play equipment for Sunniside.

The leaflet then claims that we should "not see other areas of the council benefit at the cost of families in Whickham and Sunniside." Are Labour admitting they are using my constituents as a cash cow for other areas of Gateshead.

I just want to remind Labour that they run the council, and have done so for nearly 50 years! Labour are ultimately responsible.

Anyway, good luck with your campaign Mr Hall. I will see you at the count.

Tales from the campaign trail: is the 30 year electoral famine to end?

It's something we haven't seen in Gateshead for 30 years: the Conservatives winning a seat on the council. Sadly, the chances of this happening this May are now higher than they have been for 30 years. You have to go back to 1992 to find the last Conservative win when they topped the poll in Low Fell. Since then Gateshead has been an electoral desert for the Conservatives. Are we about to see an end to this electoral famine?

We could well be for there is one ward where the Conservatives stand a modest chance of winning. Winlaton and High Spen was a Labour hold last year but their majority was slashed to 396 over the Conservatives. I am reliably informed that the Conservatives' young candidate and raising star Lewis Ormston is running a strong local campaign, with the help of his party colleagues from across the border in Co Durham. I hear on the grapevine that there were lots of Tories in High Spen yesterday knocking on doors.

Young Lewis has been helped by the retirement of the Labour Councillor and her replacement by a candidate from the other end of the Borough. And the Conservatives could be the beneficiary of Labour complacency. My friends in the Labour Party seem to think Winlaton and High Spen ward is safe for Labour and they've got it in the bag. They could be in for an uncomfortable surprise. 

Labour asks for advice on how to listen

Consultants have been drafted in by Labour-run Gateshead Council to tell them how to listen to the people! A "Resident Influence Strategy" will be "designed" by TPAS, a "not-for-profit" organisation  which will work with council tenants, leaseholders and employees. It would be interesting to know how much this exercise in explaining democracy to the Council has cost local council tax payers. And it will be interesting to know just how far the Labour party is prepared to act on what the people say. If for example residents said, "Stop spending our cash on consultants," would Labour listen?