More Whickham deliveries

I was out this morning in Whickham East. 370 tabloids to deliver. Job done in under two hours.

What a difference a day makes!

Labour were apoplectic with rage last night when Lib Dems and SNP called for a general election on 9th December and proposed a route by which it could be achieved (through a short Parliamentary Bill). The real leader of Labour, John McDonnell, was spitting venom at the Lib Dems. He claimed, "Looks like the Lib Dem and Tory pact of 2010 is being re-established. They are back together, selling out the People's Vote campaign and the cross party campaign to prevent a no deal." Most people would be rather amused by the suggestion that somehow Labour are the guardians of the People's Vote, especially with Corbyn as Labour leader.

Move on one day and Labour are voting for a general election on 9th December. What a difference a day makes!

Delivering in Dunston

220 tabloids delivered by me this morning, this time in Dunston. We are making good progress with getting the tabloid through tens of thousands of doors in Gateshead.

Low Fell eFocus no. 45

There seems to be a bit of an informal competition between the Low Fell and Whickham Focus teams to see who can produce the most eFocuses!  While Whickham have 125 editions to their credit, Low Fell have 45. But, Low Fell are definitely closing the gap with the second edition in a week. The latest edition includes:

• Low Fell's Remembrance Service 
• 'Friends of Kells Lane Park'
• Low Fell's Volunteer Gardeners win award!
• Listening to Low Fell's businesses

Click on this link to read the contents of eFocus.

Video: Planting Up Whickham Church Green

This was the video I made today of the volunteers from Planting Up Whickham who planted up the flowerbeds on Church Green.

Video: Birtley Action Day

Gateshead Lib Dems had a successful action day in Birtley yesterday. Hundreds of tabloids were delivered and we called at over 300 houses. The video follows the team throughout the day.

Planting up Whickham

I was in Whickham this morning to help Planting Up Whickham do exactly what their name says: plant up Whickham, in this instance, the flower beds on Church Green. I missed the maintenance session the group had last week when the old plants were stripped out as I was in London for the People's Vote rally. Today I got my hands dirty planting dozens of plants which in the spring will give us a great display of colour in the heart of the village.

Birtley Action Day

Gateshead Lib Dems had another action day today, this time in Birtley. We had a street stall outside Morrisons for an hour in the morning and then some members headed off to deliver some of our tabloids. The rest of us were door knocking to do a survey. We called at about 300 houses, though not everyone was in! On the whole, there was a positive response. A regular theme was lack of confidence by Labour voters in their own party. Jeremy Corbyn is a significant problem for many who normally vote Labour. They are looking for a new political home.

Whickham eFocus edition 125

The latest edition of eFocus for the Whickham area was published tonight. Key stories include:

• Demolition of Dunston Hill greenhouses
• Remembrance Day parades
• Parking restrictions in Dunston
• Call for tree planting in Gateshead
• Planting up Church Green in Whickham - help needed
• Sunniside and Whickham Christmas fairs
• Historic Gibside Bridge damaged

You can read eFocus on this link.

Stuffing envelopes for Deckham

Envelope stuffing is best done as a group exercise! Being able to talk to friends relieves the boredom of a very repetitive task! So 6 of us in Gateshead got together to stuff thousands of envelopes for Deckham ward last night. All we have to do now is deliver them!

To vote or not to vote. That is the question.

No end in sight for the interminable talk of a snap election. Indeed, the term "snap" now seems very out of place. The snap election was possibly going to happen in September, then October, then November, then December, with a good measure of speculation now that it could be January (with a few saying it could even be May).

So, Jeremy Corbyn demands a general election as he thinks history will repeat itself and he will close the gap on the Tories during the campaign. Meanwhile, most of his MPs are in touch with the real world and fear an election while Brexit remains unresolved. So, Labour won't be voting for the election they say they really, really want. Meanwhile, the Tories demand an election because they are ahead in the polls (though their vote is down on 2017, but not by as much as Labour's deteriorating poll position). Lib Dems want an election as quite a few plum seats could fall our way but we want a People's Vote first. And the SNP feel the same though secretly they probably want Brexit to go ahead as it is likely to lead to the breakup of the UK.

What a strangle world we live in. The rest of the planet must be looking on the UK in a sense of incomprehension and disbelief.

Low Fell eFocus no. 44

The next edition of Low Fell eFocus was published this week. It includes:

• Axe the Bus Tax!
• Car vehicle crime in Low Fell update
• Low Fell Business Survey launched
• Boer War Memorial restored to former glory!
• Crocuses planted by Volunteer Gardening Group

You can read the full newsletter on this link.

And today's delivery is in.....

Whickham. Specifically, the area around The Broadway. I delivered 450 tabloids. I also had a meeting with a constituent. Elsewhere, I hear reports of our tabloid being delivered in Pelaw earlier this week. There are still plenty to get through people's letter boxes.

And now for the goodnews

Back to Northern Ireland again! This time some good news. Westminster legislation has now been enacted to put an end to the near-total ban on abortions and the outright ban on same sex marriage. Northern Ireland has now been brought into alignment with the rest of the UK and Ireland. It would have been better for the liberalisation of the laws to have come from the Northern Ireland assembly but there are times when basic rights have to be universally available. And since the Assembly hasn't functioned for over two years, Westminster had to step in to bring about the reforms.

We are witnessing however a bizarre situation in which the DUP, the party which looks to Westminster to ensure Northern Ireland is treated no differently from the rest of the UK, is attacking Westminster for not treating Northern Ireland as different to the rest of the UK. And Sinn Fein, no fans of Westminster and with elected MPs who refuse to take their seats in the Commons, are welcoming the new conformity of Northern Ireland with the rest of the UK (and Ireland).

What a strange world in which we live.

Video - People's Vote Rally

This is the video I filmed on Saturday of the People's Vote rally in London. A million people were on the march, including thousands of Lib Dem members.

A cracking deal that's cracking up

Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay isn't exactly performing well while in the spotlight. He recently described the Brexit deal as "cracking" for Northern Ireland businesses as it would give unfettered, frictionless access to the Single Market while enjoying all the benefits of being in the UK customs area. This begs the question, why should the rest of the UK not benefit in the same way? But now we learn that Barclay didn't quite get it right when he said there would be no tariff barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. There will be such barriers in place. For a party that said such a situation would be unacceptable, in effect the Johnson government has surrendered. This is just one example of why railroading the Brexit Bill through Parliament is dangerous. Over 100 pages need to be scrutinised and that can't be done in 3 days.

So, a cracking deal for Northern Ireland? Or is the Brexit deal simply cracking up under what little scrutiny that has so far occurred.

People's Vote Rally

On Saturday I was in London for the People's Vote Rally. I was one of those tiny specks in a vast, one million strong, crowd of people that snaked its way from Hyde Park to the Houses of Parliament. I joined the Lib Dem contingent and, as usual, took along my cameras. You can see my full set of photos this link.

The shortest meeting on record?

After delivering 160 tabloids in Birtley (and returning home for a shower and a quick change of clothes, I headed to Gateshead Civic Centre for a special full council meeting. It must have been the shortest meeting I have ever attended. I think it was less than a minute! Only one item on the agenda: the new senior management structure. To ensure it goes ahead, it had to be agreed by full council. As the next full council meeting is not scheduled until late November, this extra meeting was called to deal with it. Given the fractious nature of the September council meeting, today was a significant improvement.

Delivering in Birtley

This morning I headed to Birtley to deliver 160 tabloids. A gloriously sunny morning, I was rather pleased I'd decided to wear a light jacket. Delivery was done in less than an hour.

Printing for Deckham

After cabinet yesterday morning I headed to the Lib Dem office in Consett to print our next leaflet for Deckham ward. It will be going into circulation shortly.