Cutting out the truth

Slightly shocked this week to find a Tory leaflet arrive through my letterbox, normally we are lucky to even get one just before an election but to receive a leaflet in early March is a real shock.

What was less shocking was that the leaflet had very little to do with the truth. The main story (fiction?) was focussed on the reasons why the Tory County Council are now cutting our verges in Ipswich. Debbie Richards, our Tory candidate, decided to tell Rushmere residents that the Tories were now mowing our verges after we had refused because our a 'black hole' in our finances.

Our Tory candidate, Debbie Richards forgets to mention a number of things, including that it is their statuary duty to maintain our roads and verges. The County used to pay the Borough to do it for them, but each year they reduced how many cuts they would pay for, so the Labour run Borough Council had to subsidise the service. In the end we could no longer go on like this, so we gave the County 12 months notice that we would not continue with the contract. 

Debbie Richards also declares that the County has purchased new equipment that will do the job of weed removal better, however one of her fellow Tory County Councillors has already declared the new procedure does not work.

Seems Debbie Richards may be great at cutting out the truth but has little knowledge on cutting out weeds.

I am sure Rushmere residents would have been more interested to hear why she has chosen to stand in Rushmere, rather than in either of the seats she represents on the County Council?

Just think, only 13 months till our next local Tory leaflet!!

Thank you, Rushmere residents

 Over a week ago, I was re-elected to Ipswich Borough Council, to represent Rushmere Ward. there is no hiding the fact that the  Ipswich Labour party did not have a great night, we expected to lose some seats after probably over achieving when these seats were up for election last in 2016, but it was still very disappointing to lose a number of seats on the Borough and County Councils.

We also lost some very good councilors and many were also very good friends, but they will return and it is up to us who are left on the council to continue their good work.

Ipswich is a well run council, we have gone the extra mile to help our residents and businesses during the pandemic - but we still lost seats, why?

There is no doubt that the Tories locally are better organised than they have been for a while, and they now campaign in wards where they would never have been seen before. Unfortunately they also seem keen to copy Boris Johnson, Donald Trump and even Corbyn in acting as 'populist' politicians - hiding away from the real issues, real facts or bothering looking at the costs. More worryingly they also in some cases act like our local Tory MP and seek to divide our local communities, willing to allow certain communities to be used as scapegoats.

No surprise then, that they have allowed former UKIP candidates to stand for them in local elections, many of the UKIP policies were openly racist however I hope that those former UKIP members now elected as Tory councillors in the town, do not hold those racist beliefs that many UKIP politicians were proud to display.

I hope for the sake of this town, that Shayne Pooley and Tony Gould look to represent all their constituents fairly and we must give them the opportunity to show that they are willing to do so and not revert to UKIP rhetoric of 'send them all back'. 

But back to why did we lose seats?  - We have made mistakes locally, we have concentrated on protecting our town during the pandemic and maybe needed to spend some of our time on telling residents what we hope to do in the future, I am sure residents will be very impressed with what we have got planned for the next few months, however it was not possible to go public with what we have in the pipeline, in particular some interesting announcements about the town centre.

It is also obvious that Boris Johnson is popular, even if in the end it will be shown that he has lied to Parliament on a number of occasions and at times was more interested in his own wallet than the future of this country.  He has benefited from a vaccine bounce, but we may see a similar drop in his popularity at the end of furlough. Worryingly, he may 'ignore the science' and we will continue with his 'roadmap' out of the pandemic even if the Indian variant starts to kill many of our population. as he is loathe to go back to a further lockdown.

Keir Starmer and his front bench have also struggled to get their message over to the population, difficult as Johnson has managed to fool voters in forgetting that the Tories have been in power for 11 years, a trick Mr Hunt attempts in Ipswich when talking about crime - who would think the Tories have had 11 years to sort it out but high crime rates are still not the fault of the Tory Government or the Tory Police and Crime Commissioner for Suffolk, some even attempt to blame me!!

We also still have the problem of Corbyn, most former leaders, tend to keep a low profile, whilst we have Corbyn who is very happy to go in front of the press to say where Keir went wrong in May! No humility at all. I for one hope that most Labour members will see by the way the far left have behaved over the last few months that it is now the time they are given the message from members, that they are no longer wanted in our party, never before have I seen a protest group within the party act like Momentum have - we are fighting elections whist at the same time they are having campaign strikes! Time they were kicked out, they are not wanted  in Labour by most members and in particular by labour voters.

What I can say to Rushmere residents, is that I will continue to represent you to the best of my ability- it doesn't matter if you did or did not vote for me, and as lockdown measures ease, you will see plenty of myself and our local Labour team on the doorstep over the next year.

Take care.

Rushmere Ward - Declared

One seat contested.

Turn out: 43.62%

Surname	First name	Party	Votes
FLETCHER	Julie	Liberal Democrats	126
ION	Stephen Richard	Conservative	1,159
MORRIS	Rachel	Green	200
ROSS	Alasdair Donald Mackenzie	Labour	1,208

Rushmere Election Result - 4 more years

It was very humbling to be stood in the Corn Exchange in the early hours of Friday morning when the election result was announced and I had been re-elected as the councilor for my own ward of Rushmere.

The full result was;


Rushmere Ward: Alasdair Ross (Labour) 1,285; Paul Cawthorn (Conservative) 712; Maxwell Phillips (Green) 125; Nick Jacob (Lib Dem) 109; Labour majority 573. Turn out: 38%

I will do my best over the next 4 years to represent all Rushmere residents as I also look to play a more prominent role in Ipswich wide politics. I will continue in support of the Armed Forces, their families and veterans through my roles as Ipswich Borough 'Forces Champion' and as a national committee member of 'Labour Friends of the Forces'.

Thank you again for all your support not only over the last few weeks of campaigning but over my last 8 years as a Rushmere Councillor.

A few thoughts on the election in Ipswich and further afield

As I have a few days to recover from a long election campaign, think it is worth writing a few lines on how I think we (Labour) did both locally and nationally. Then it will all start again as only 11 months to go till the important General Election.

Starting very close to home it was a good night for Rushmere Ward as we gained the final Tory seat and elected Sandra Gage to the Borough Council.

It seemed to be the culmination of 11 years hard work from when I first stood in the ward when the Tories held all 3 Borough seats, the fight back starting in 2008 when I won my seat, the slight reversal in 2009 and 10 when we failed to capitalise on that result till today when we no longer have any Tory representatives in the ward. The hard work of course has to continue and we have some serious issues to deal with, the lack of support for our local schools and the state of our roads and verges. Both the responsibility of the Tory run County Council but we still need make sure residents’ concerns are heard.

In Ipswich, we also gained a further seat (in Whitton) and held all our own – The Tories were claiming some sort of victory for holding onto Stoke Park and Holywells. They did increase their margins of victory from 2012 but their majorities were down from 2010 when these set of seats were last fought for. Of course we wanted to and hoped we could win both seats – we worked hard and had two outstanding candidates – I quite like George Debman and though I can’t say the same about Nadia Cenci what I do know is that she is very active in her ward, dedicated and a hard worker but I have no doubt that the residents of both wards would have been better represented by Colin Smart and Howard Needham. But I am sure both will fight again and it will not be long before they are both serving as Ipswich Borough Councillors.

The Tories (by their low standards) worked hard in those two wards but other than Bixley , North West Ipswich and parts of Ravenswood little sign was seen of Tories elsewhere in the town. Gipping and Gainsborough residents have not seen any Tory activity other than the odd leaflet since 2010 where on the other hand we worked in every ward- no matter what party held it and I myself spent time both canvassing in Bixley and delivering in Castle Hill. This hard work will pay dividends in 2015 but the Tories will find it hard to just concentrate on only two wards next year.

On Election Day after starting in Rushmere, I spent the rest of the day working in the North West of the town where I feel we gained our best results of the night – gaining Whitton, holding Whitehouse and more importantly making sure that UKIP are not represented on the Borough Council. To actually increase the majority in Whitehouse was great reward for a long day’s work.

Regionally it was disappointing that we did not gain a second MEP, it was always a hard task but made more difficult in that it seems parts of Essex and constituencies along the East Coast seem to be areas where UKIP did very well.

It is important that we do not just ignore UKIP or even just ridicule them. The European Count on Sunday indicated that when it came to the Euro vote they topped the poll in Ipswich. The problem we have is how to deal with not only UKIP but how to persuade voters that UKIP are not the party that will help them. Just look at their number of MEPs, how many of them are ex Tory members or politicians –and there is no doubt that UKIP has also attracted some from the very far right, as Tony Blair stated on BBC Radio 4 this morning: “peep beneath UKIP facade.. something unpleasant” – we need to get that message across to voters – what is the UKIP policy on the NHS, Defence, tax breaks for the rich, housing? – When you ask those questions you quickly see a party that other than its stance on Europe is just the Tory Party in a different coat.

But voters did vote UKIP why? I do not feel Europe was the main reason it is more basic than that it is immigration – and again we need to address those concerns but we also need to tell residents the true facts. The ex Tory MP and now journalist Matthew Parris believes we need to take UKIP head on and that the trouble is voters have been duped by the press to believe that immigration is a big problem. The press have lied, made the situation worse but immigration is a problem. All UKIP voters are not racist, probably very, very few are but certainly some of their activists are and certainly (like some Tories) they exaggerate the threat for their own benefit.

On Election Day, in Whitton a woman told me she had moved to Ipswich from Great Cornard as 600 asylum seekers had been given all the new housing in the town. I attempted to explain that that was impossible- would be surprised if there were 6 asylum seekers in Great Cornard rather than 600 and probably the number of new homes built was closer to 60 than 600 but she was convinced it was true and that voting UkIP was the answer.

We do need to get the true facts out there and that is hard when the right wing press wish to keep pushing their lies. But we also need to work with the EU to make sure that there is not just a constant flow of cheap employment from the East to places like the UK, Germany and Denmark. Voters still believe that the recovery isn’t benefiting them and their families, but the right-wing owned press is happy to persuade them that it isn’t the wealthy and their tax-avoiding multi-nationals driving the UK into a low-wage economy that are to blame. Instead it is migrants coming here in ever larger numbers, taking housing and benefits, whilst causing a disproportionate amount of crime. In fact net migration is static, migration has a positive effect on the economy, and the Eastern European crime wave is a myth. In fact, perceptions of the public on many of the issues on which UKIP campaign do not match reality.

These are tasks we have to take on locally as well as nationally.

The other myth which the press wishes to push is that only UKIP were the winners on Thursday, that again is wrong – Labour had a great night in London but also in the rest of the country, and made the targets that I thought we would make. We gained over 300 council seats, did well in almost all of the parliamentary marginal seats, took control of councils and increased our share of the vote. Interestingly when you look at the local council votes, the UKIP share is actually down on last year. Where we did not do well (or the Tories) was in South Essex, and parts of the East Coast- Yarmouth and Grimsby being two examples.

So the fight continues, plenty to do before May 2015, but we can win Ipswich, we can form the next Government but we have to work and work hard- something that the Ipswich Labour Party is good at.

A cross for Ross for Rushmere

9 Hours to go and then the polling stations open, I hope residents believe I have been a good councillor and that they feel they can vote for me again this year. I won by 13 votes in 2008, hope it is not as close this year. A CROSS FOR ROSS FOR RUSHMERE

Promoted by John Cook c/o Ipswich labour Party, 33 Silent Street, Ipswich, IP1 1TF on behalf of Alasdair Ross and the Labour Party Candidates, . Hosted (printed) by Blogger.com (Google Inc) of 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043 who are not responsible for any of the contents of these posts

Elections – From Rushmere Ward, Ipswich to Sangin Afghanistan (and then back to Rushmere)

I write this new post with just a week to go after a month of long, hard campaigning.

I won Rushmere Ward for the first time in 2008 that was after being the runner up in 2006 and 2007. The night of the count seems a very distant memory but I just remember the nerves, the excitement and most of all the pride in winning- even if it was only by 13 votes.

I love elections and campaigning but this election in 2012 will be very different to the election I was involved in during 2009.

That summer I found myself back with the army for a year and acting as the Operations Warrant Officer with 2 Rifles. We found ourselves based in Sangin in the Helmand Province and in seven months we had many of our regiment wounded and 25 of our battle group paid the ultimate sacrifice.

But on the 20th August 2009, the Afghan people were able to vote in their second presidential election. But instead of knocking on doors and delivering leaflets I found myself involved in planning a massive security operation that would enable the people of Sangin to vote.

The Taliban had other ideas. On the eve of the election this year, I will be delivering my last ‘Vote Ross’ leaflets but on the 19th August in 2009, I was stood with my helmet and body armour on as our base, FOB Jackson came under attack from rocket fire. A further 21 rockets would hit our camp over the next 24 hours.

Election day this year, will see me up in the early hours, delivering leaflets, knocking on doors but in Sangin, I spent the morning running up the stairs in the Fire Support tower helping replenish ammunition as we came under constant attack. So heavy was the fighting that we fired a total of 12 Javelin ant-tank missiles at the enemy – just so people could use their democratic right to vote.




From early afternoon though to the early hours of the next morning, I was in the Operations room as we continued to protect Sangin, it was not easy and we lost two men that day. Private Young and Sgt Macalese. I had got to know Mac quite well and we used to sit and try and do the crossword together back in the UK. He was highly rated and would have gone far in the army, his father had been in the SAS and was part of the team that was involved in the Iranian Embassy siege.



Sgt 'Mac'

Their loss was felt by many but we had to continue, we had a mission.

In 2008, I gained 1,026 votes as 2,333 people voted in Rushmere, the cost? A few hundred pounds on leaflets, a few blisters and two dog bites.

In 2009 in Sangin, 434 people voted, some of the bravest people I had ever met, they had been threatened by the Taliban, the town had been under attack for over 24 hours but they still went and placed their cross and handed in their ballot paper. The cost? Two dead from 2 Rifles, our camp hit by 22 rockets and in defence we had fired millions of bullets, artillery rounds and 12 missiles.




You do not have to vote in this country, you have that choice because in 1939 our ancestors fought to maintain our freedom but do not take the right to vote lightly, there are many places in this world where the right to vote is still being fought for.

On the 8th April I visited the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, on the Armed Forces Memorial I saw inscribed the names of Private Young and Sgt Macalese. I will remember that they gave their lives to help 434 Afghans vote. Democracy does not come without sacrifice.

And the runners are.......

It seems like the longest election campaign ever and still 20 days to go...we are now well into leaflet delivering, knocking on doors, handing out posters and the more up to date election techniques of phoning residents, tweeting and blogging.

I am standing in Rushmere Ward, Ipswich - the fourth election I have fought in my own ward- losing the first two before winning in 2008 by 13 votes!

Those four years have gone fast including a year sabbatical in Afghanistan where I was involved in a slightly different election.

Back to the election this year, it seems the Tories are again hoping to win the ward back but sorry to disappoint the Tory blogger Kevin Algar, we are not being complacent and have just spent the last week, delivering 4,000 leaflets and knocking on doors - but unlike the Tory party in Ipswich, we also campaign in every ward in the town- and the residents of Bixley and Castle Hill will also receive our 'Local Voice' paper.

The full list of runners for the election in Rushmere is:

CHAMBERS
Christopher Kantara, The Heath, Tattingstone, Ipswich, IP9 2LX The Conservative Party Candidate

NELSON
Eric Robert 36 Leopold Road, Ipswich, IP4 4RP Green Party candidate

ROSS
Alasdair Donald Mackenzie 58 Lonsdale Close, Ipswich, IP4 4HD The Labour Party Candidate

WHITMORE
Robin Thomas 269 Cavendish Street, Ipswich, IP3 8BQ Liberal Democrats

At least this year we will not have the Tories basing their campaign on the fact that their candidate used to live in the Ward (moved at least 6 years ago) and our candidate lived in a different ward. But they still seem to think it is OK to attack other Labour candidates for not living in the ward they are standing in but keeping quiet about their own candidates. Not sure it is such a big deal to the residents, all they want is someone who will stand up for them, especially when times are tough, as they certainly are now.

The Lib Dems and the Greens are also standing,I used to moan about the Lib Dems standing as they do no work in the ward and have not produced a local election leaflet for at least six years but since the last General election, I have changed my view and think that Labour should stand in every seat in the country to give people a chance to vote for the party they support even if they can't win. This has become even more important since the Lib Dems have jumped in bed with the Tories. The good news is that in the East of England only Labour has a candidate in all 362 wards that are being contested.

The Greens are never going to stand in every ward and as their candidate is local I can understand why they wish to stand in Rushmere, disappointing after all the effort that I and my Labour colleagues put into saving Kiln Meadow and promoting the local Bus service that they wish to stand against Labour candidates.

But on the day it will be Chris Chambers who will be my main rival, I have met him briefly and it was great to see a young person with a passion for politics (even if it is the wrong sort!) he seemed intelligent, keen and most of all enthusiastic and will be a formidable opponent.

Like myself he has also got his own website and uses twitter to help get his message across - his blog is here.

It is disappointing that a number of the posts on his blog are inaccurate and though he did remove one post about the potential Youth Club on the Rushmere Estate he has still left posts on that are not factual about a phone mast and the pre-fabs.

Chris has also got involved in a number of campaigns including one to set up a 'Friends' group for Brunswick Road Park. I did email Chris and said that I would be interested in joining such a group (both as a local Cllr but also as a resident who lives next to the park and walks through it every day) but even after sending a second email have not received a reply- willing to believe that is down to him being busy on the campaign rather than being told not to reply to me.

It is obvious that Cllr Judy Terry is very involved in the campaign, can't remember her making the park such an issue when the Tory administration attempted to leave the parks open 24 hours a day and she also seems to forget that it was her party who introduced the 'long grass' policy in the park and the savings were included in their budget and are still included in the alternative budget they produced last month.

We want more young people like Chris involved in politics and he has informed me, win or lose in May he is here for the long term but it does seem to me that he is being used as part of a 13 month campaign for Judy Terry to retain her County Council seat and a 25 month campaign before she has to fight for her Borough seat - or if I do hold the seat in 20 days time - will she try and find a safer ward to fight? Not that there are many safe Tory wards left in Ipswich.

Promoted by John Cook c/o Ipswich labour Party, 33 Silent Street, Ipswich, IP1 1TF on behalf of Alasdair Ross and the Labour Party Candidates, . Hosted (printed) by Blogger.com (Google Inc) of 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043 who are not responsible for any of the contents of these posts

My next 4 weeks ahead - 2nd April - 3rd May 2012

My regular week ahead post, will take a break for the next 4 weeks as I campaign to be re-elected as the Labour councillor for Rushmere Ward, Ipswich.

Most of any spare time I have will now be spent knocking on doors and delivering leaflets, not just in my own ward but all over Ipswich.

There will be some time away from the election with a visit next week to the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. This has become an annual pilgrimage as I go to pay my respects to those who I served with but who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

I will also escape to the hills for a few days as I take a group of teenagers off to Mid Wales for the Duke of Edinburgh Gold award expedition. But other than those two visits I will be spending as much time as possible campaigning in Ipswich. I know I have much more to learn about being a councillor but I also feel I have plenty to offer to the people of Ipswich.

In 2008 I won (on the third attempt)with a majority of just 13! It is now up to me to persuade the residents of Rushmere Ward that I am the right person to be their elected representative, living in the ward helps me understand their concerns but finding solutions to their issues is the real test of a councillor.

Promoted by John Cook c/o Ipswich labour Party, 33 Silent Steet, Ipswich, IP1 1TF on behalf of Alasdair Ross and the Labour Party Candidates, . Hosted (printed) by Blogger.com (Google Inc) of 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043 who are not responsible for any of the contents of these posts.

My week ahead 5 - 11 March 2012

Wednesday 7th March, 2pm - Campaigning in Ipswich
7pm - Fabians AGM

Thursday 8th March, 7pm - Mayor of Ipswich Charity Quiz

Friday 9th March, 5pm - Labour Campaign meeting

Saturday 10th March, 10.30am - Labour Campaigning in West Ipswich

This week we put forward our budget to Full Council, as expected the Tories put forward an amendment proposing a 3% Council Tax cut. It was a cheap stunt and if it had gone through would have seen £140,00 taken from Public transport, more staff made redundant at Ipswich Borough council and most scandalously handing over the HEARS service to Suffolk County Council.

Showing yet again that the Tories have no wish to help the young, the old or the poor.

The Lib Dems seemed to have learnt something off the Tories, they just now abstain or allow Cllr Lockington the opportunity to show that she has no clue to what is going on beyond the leafy ward of St Margaret's.

The week finished yesterday in style with a great session meeting residents in Rushmere and St Johns. then the surprise of returning to the Golden Key for a beer before football. The surprise? We found in the car park, Ben Gummer and 3 Tory Cllrs having their picture taken - Ben Gummer has already written a letter stating that the pub should not be turned into a store. Has Cllr Terry now joined him (and Ipswich Labour) in supporting local residents? If so will Cllr Terry declare an interest when the planning application is debated at the next planning committee?

My week ahead 13 - 19 February 2012

Monday 13 February 4pm - Culture Portfolio Meeting
5.30pm - Scrutiny working group on committee reports

Wednesday 15 February 10am - 4pm Suffolk Police Pod, at Selkirk Rd Shops - seeking the views of youngsters about their neighbourhood

Thursday 16 February 6pm - Scrutiny meeting
7.30pm - Ipswich labour Party AGM

Saturday 18 February 10.30am - Labour campaigning in South East Ipswich and Holywells

Snow has not stopped local activists from getting out in Rushmere Ward, currently we are seeking the views of residents about the second planning application to turn the Golden Key into a supermarket.

This week I will be visiting the local SNT Police as they have the Police Pod at Selkirk Road shops this Wednesday. What we hope to find out is what local teenagers would like to see in the area, this will help us continue with our plans to open a new youth club on the Rushmere Estate.

What now seems like a regular weekly event, I have come under yet another attack by a local Tory - if you wish to read his opinion of me you can here. What is surprising is that rumour has it that the Ipswich Tories have selected Kevin to be one of their candidates in the local elections in May. Will be interesting to see what Ipswich residents make of his attacks on other local politicians.

My week ahead 14 -21 November

Monday 14 November 6pm - Labour Group meeting

Wednesday 16 November 11am - North East Ipswich Forum, Ransomes Sports and Social Club - Sidegate Avenue

4pm - Polling Stations Working Group, Grafton House

Thursday 17 November 5pm - Sidegate Primary School, Finance Meeting

A number of reminders of my schooldays this week, Monday I was at Fore Street Swimming Pool for the launch of our free i-card for members of HM Forces residing in the town, this was where I learnt to swim when I was at St Helens School. Then on Thursday at the St Margaret's by-election I found myself knocking up voters in Devereaux Court off Bolton Lane. Before becoming luxury housing this was once part of Tower Ramparts School.

Talking of the by-election at first it seems a disappointing result as we worked tirelessly to increase our vote. But it was not to be and it became obvious during the day that many of our voters were returning to tactical voting as they would rather have a Lib Dem Cllr than a Tory. But all our good work will not go to waste and it will be of enormous benefit to us when we come to getting David Ellesmere elected as our MP at the next General Election.

Wednesday gave me the opportunity to represent residents at the Planning Committee. The good news was that the planning proposal for the Golden Key pub site was turned down. More strange was the Tory decision to all abstain.

Today (Saturday) I was provisionally selected to stand again as the Labour candidate in the Borough election for Rushmere Ward next May.

Getting the (nasty) message across.

Getting the (nasty) message across

It did seem that those in politics in Ipswich were starting to use blogs and websites to get their message across but once the local election finished a number of website’s went back into hibernation – to be woken again next April?
The Ipswich labour Party site is kept updated (maybe not as much as we would wish) but the Tory, Lib Dem and even the Green Party sites have not been updated at all since the election finished.

It is disappointing that both the Tories and Lib Dems do not think it is important to keep the Ipswich public informed on what they are doing or propose to do. To be fair (after a long wait) Ben Gummer our local Tory MP has now got a website up and running, it is both informative and easy to use.

The vacuum of political information and debate has been filled by various blogs. The trouble is that one of these blogs has just become a home to attacks on local politicians. They call it humour, but it is more school playground humour rather than political satire (and Primary School at that.)
I am sure my blog upsets people at times (I know Ben Gummer was unhappy about a few comments) and other blogs can sometimes, infuriate, anger and occasionally make you laugh. But at least they did give the residents of Ipswich a flavour of what the local parties are thinking.

The Tory ‘Bridge Ward News’ disappoints me when it has to revert to calling councillors stupid names and the inability to leave comments seems strange but even taking all that it into consideration, a number of James’ posts are both informative and thought provoking. I also find the ‘neutral’ political sites of ‘Ipswich Spy’ and ‘Suffolk Word Blog’ very readable and I hope Gavin Maclure keeps posting on his new Tory blog. If you search hard enough you can even find a blog for a UKIP supporter and a poster from the ‘Far Left’. I am afraid to get the Lib Dem view you can stay in Suffolk but you have to leave the confines of Ipswich. To be honest, I believe James’ blog has opinions far more in tune with Labour than the Lib Dems.

Blogs are a useful tool to help get your message across, along with local radio, local press and your our own leaflets. Some political groups have a slight advantage, the leading (Rushmere) Tory – Judy Terry has her own column in the Ipswich Flyer. This leads me neatly back to why I find a certain Tory blog so disgusting.

Just as the election finished, Cllr Terry used her column in the Flyer to attack Labour – “what a vicious contest it was, with Labour’s malignant personal attacks on candidates and councillors who weren’t even standing for re-election! Leaflets, blogs and verbal assaults were the order of the day”

This comment was repeated in the Tory supporting blog - ‘A Riverside View’ – Fair enough to repeat the views of Cllr Terry you may say if you agree with them, but only 10 days later, Kevin (the Tory behind the blog) insults two Labour councillors in both words and pictures, using his own version of the SexyMP website. It is just a nasty attack on two hard working councillors, not attacking their political views or their work but on how they look.

The post is the height of hypocrisy, how can you print Cllr Terry’s words then publish this post. It is just nasty, spiteful and does not add anything to the political debate in Ipswich.

Now, I know the best thing to do, will be just to ignore his blog. Harder than you think, as a number of his other posts have been about immigration and the posts and comments are just full of the sort of gossip and lies that may be at home in the Daily Mail but do nothing to help bring communities together in Ipswich. Some of the comments are so bad you would have thought a senior Ipswich Tory may have advised him to delete some of his posts or at least moderate his language. But it seems they either don’t care or worse still agree with some of his views. To be fair to them, I am not sure he would take much notice of them. He seems to enjoy the attention his ill thought out views brings to his site.

One positive his blog leads to, it makes me even more determined to make sure people like him are never able to get into a position where they can put their warped views into practice. So rather than be like him and sit behind a computer writing rubbish and then adding even stupider comments, tomorrow I will be delivering Labour leaflets in Whitton ward. Ipswich.

Nasty leaflet fron the Nasty Party

Whilst out talking to residents in Rushmere Ward, Ipswich this morning, I was handed the latest Tory leaflet - and it does not make good reading.
It just stinks, a total negative leaflet with false claims and just a feeling of nastiness. what makes it worse is that Ben Gummer our MP is stupid enough to add his name to the leaflet.

They start with claiming that we should all vote for Stephen Ion, as our Labour candidate, Tracey Grant does not live in the Ward. Ion also lives outside the Ward, but to prove their point they draw a map of Ipswich showing where Tracey lives!
Nasty - will they be doing the same in Stoke Park? - Will they be telling their supporters to vote for Labour and Barry Studd as their Councillor/Candidate - Pope, lives on the other side of the town? No, I am sure they won't.

When we get over the negative bits, we then get into the supposed positives in voting for Ion.
According to the leaflet he has been working hard for Rushmere Residents for the last 15 years, funny as he stood in St Margaret's (where he lives ) last year, and he has also stood (and lost) in St Clement's, Priory Heath and St Johns (never living in any of them).
He also claims to have been working closely with the current Tory Councillors, funny as an earlier Tory leaflet in Rushmere this year had a Mrs Kelly helping Judy Terry - no mention of Mr Ion.
He also claims to have reintroduced 'grass grid' reinforcing on some of our verges, funny how he has done that and he is not even a Councillor! Has he used his own money?
Then he mentions the poor state of Humber Doucy Lane - what he does not mention is that money was wasted in Humber Doucy Lane on stupid signs and flowers- but all in the Bixley (Tory safe seat) part of the road.

It seems to many that Mrs Kelly was going to stand for the Tories (she lives in the Ward) but was replaced by Stephen Ion earlier in the year and that over the last few years, he has not been helping Rushmere residents but standing (and losing) in seats all over the town.

Then there are the two topics that are not mentioned - if he has been talking to residents and working with the Tory Councillors over the last few months you would have thought he would have mentioned the loss of the School Crossing Patrol outside Sidegate Primary School or the proposed closure of Rosehill Library- but surprise, surprise - no mention of either.

The Tory agent complained earlier in the year that I had been unfair to Mr Gummer in one of my blog posts, about the lack of an office and a website, to be fair to Mr Gummer he now has an office but still no website (almost a year since being elected) and on the webpage you can find - no phone number for his office. So you would think someone so quick to complain would make sure his own party's leaflets were correct.

Some would say that because the Tories have had to revert to drawing maps of Ipswich and producing negative they are getting desperate - I think we all know they are desperate when Judy Terry announced a U Turn in the County plans for Suffolk Libraries. To announce it yesterday it meant that most of the consultation responses had not even been read, what a waste of time and money - Mrs Terry and her Tory colleagues are running scared.

On Thursday, I urge you to vote for Tracey Grant, who will be a fine Councillor for Rushmere and I am sure I will be able to form a strong partnership with her, that will benefit the residents of Rushmere- oh by the way - I do live in the ward, so no need to print a map next year Mr Ion.

Ipswich Parks - update

I have had a fantastic response from residents in Rushmere Ward Ipswich after I delivered a leaflet asking for residents views on Brunswick Road Park.

The overwhelming view of residents was for the park to remain locked at night but many of us are keen on more flexable timings.

The Ipswich Labour Party has also distributed a similar leaflet around Alexandra and Holywells Park. Rather than being thanked for getting the views of the public, I have been accused by the Lib Dem portfolio holder of scaremongering. It is true that the portfolio holder has preformed a U turn at Full Council and declared that parks will remain closed at night but it was obvious from the last Executive meeting that many of her Tory/Lib Dem colleagues are still keen to make cuts to the Park Service and keep them open 24/7.

Even her fellow Lib Dem councilor from her own ward wants Christchurch Park to remain open his comment at Executive was that his residents had "strange views" and that he would respond to the consultation by stating that the parks should not be locked.

Consultation - well Inga Lockington states that the Parks 'Vision' was only what it says on the tin- a vision not a policy and that the policy would be produced after consultation. But consultation with who? If it was not for Labour and the 'Friends of the Parks' groups no one would have known about the consultation. There are no signs or notices in the three parks I have been in over the last 4 days - Christchurch, Holywells and Brunswick Road. There is not even a mention of the Parks Consultation under 'Consultations' on the Ipswich Borough Council website.

So I ask you all to send in your views on the Parks 'vision' to the council. It is obvious from the Executive that the Portfolio Holder may not be able to deliver on her promise to keep the parks locked at night.

The vision can be found here. and you can comment by sending an E mail to: parks.services@ipswich.gov.uk

Maybe no election but in Ipswich we still campaign!

Gordon may have got "cold feet" but in Ipswich we still carry on campaigning. Yesterday saw a large group of us out canvassing in St John Ward in Ipswich and today we have delivered 1500 leaflets in Rushmere and St Johns.
I for one am glad there is no election as I would have been away for two weeks of the campaign- climbing in the Lake District and then Morocco. It did seem a good idea when we had this 11% lead but not so good this weekend.
Gordon will get a bad press but some good has come out of it. We made the Tories come out with some policy statements- we now know that as well as the NHS, it will be inheritance tax and the pension deficit that will be two of their main campaign points. Of particular interest to me will be their campaign to show them as the true supporter of our Armed Forces, their families and service veterans. They seem to forget it was their party who cut a number of Regiments in 1991 and they drew up the plans to close Military Hospitals.
Another plus out of this election cock up is that Gordon may not be so keen to listen to some of his young guns.
Back to Ipswich and we are campaigning hard on local issues, the Tories and Lib Dems would rather see the Unitary Election put off till 2009 rather than May 2008. It saves them campaigning! May backfire though if Gordon goes for May 2009- oh no have I started an "election in 2009" rumour?
Good news on the campaign front in Ipswich is that after a a large amount of work by local residents and Labour activists, we will eventually see the zebra crossings on both Woodbridge and Rushmere Road. It was a boost to be handing out a leaflet this morning giving good news.