Ask William Hague to Protect all Afghan interpreters

As a local politician, you often receive requests to sign and promote petitions- often I agree with the cause and sign but when I received this request I felt the need to not only sign but promote as much as I can.

I spent 2009 in Sangin, Afghanistan in what the bloodiest year for the British Army but every day soldiers went out and risked their lives they had alongside then local interpreters - by helping the British they put their lives in danger and if we pull out in the numbers the Government says we will next year - then their lives become even more at risk - please sign the petition and ask your friends to do so as well.

Petition is here.

This is the original request from former British soldier - Anthony Perkins:


I served in Afghanistan in 2008-2009 and then again in 2010. These were tough days in Afghanistan for all that were there. We relied on the help of local Afghan interpreters who were with us on every patrol and an integral part of our platoon.

The interpreters took great risks to help us, putting not only their lives but the lives of their families in danger of Taliban reprisals -- but now the UK Government has turned its back on the interpreters. It is refusing to give support or resettlement to interpreters who completed their duties between 2006 and 2011.

My great-grandfather Winston Churchill, who spent a large part of his career in the army, would have been shocked by the way our government is treating men who risked their lives to help British forces. By denying our interpreters entry into the UK the government is condemning them to persecution and almost certain death at the hands of the Taliban.

That's why I've started this petition on Change.org calling on Foreign Secretary William Hague to review the British policy for Afghan interpreters.

The interpreter I remember most was Barri. For all sense and purposes he was one of the lads. When we left Afghanistan Barri's father and brother were killed by the Taliban but the UK government didn't help him. His mother and sister died whilst trying to get to western Europe when their boat sank in Mediterranean. For two years Barri and his last remaining brother have been held in a detention centre until they were eventually granted asylum in Germany. Other interpreters are not even as lucky. They have been forced into hiding in Afghanistan or are locked in foreign detention centres, their lives in limbo.

There are certain codes we uphold in the military. Two of those are: "loyalty & honour." So I am appealing to Rt Hon William Hague and Rt Hon David Cameron - do the honourable thing and remain loyal to those who stood shoulder to shoulder with British Forces.

It is morally reprehensible to force these men to stay in a country that we are counting down the days to finally leaving. By leaving them in Afghanistan the only thing they can look forward to is a life of looking over their shoulders.

Huge public pressure convinced the Government to offer resettlement or support to some Afghan interpreters. We need the same pressure to extend the policy and make sure no interpreter is forgotten.

Please sign my petition and make sure all Afghan interpreters get the support they need.

Anthony Perkins:

Sign the petition here.

Vote Len Jacklin - getting the best deal for Oulton

This Thursday - August 8 - if you live in Oulton Ward, Lowestoft -

Go out and vote for Len Jacklin - Getting the best deal for Oulton

Vote Len, Vote Labour

My week ahead 5 - 11 August 2013

Monday 5 August - 6pm, Labour campaigning, South East Ipswich

Thursday 8 August – 4pm, Area Committee Chair’s meeting

Saturday 10 August - 10am, Labour campaigning, North West Ipswich

August always has slightly less meetings than other months but this will allow more time to get out campaigning and more importantly, meeting residents.

This week I attended the South East Area Committee meeting at Ravenswood School, a large attendance due to the fact that Tory Transport chief, Graham Newman was to address the meeting. He was invited to speak about general transport issues but by the time the meeting came round the only real topic was the proposed installation of traffic lights on Bishops Hill.

It was hard to find any resident keen on the idea and Tory Cllr Newman would not have been happy that another Tory Cllr, Liz Harsant insisted that longer was given for residents to question Mr Newman.

At the end of the meeting Mr Newman agreed to a further meeting some would say consultation! But I have a feeling a second meeting may take place but there will be no consultation it will be more of an information meeting to just say why and when the lights are going in. From the meeting it seems obvious that there is little contact let alone discussion of policies between the Ipswich and Suffolk Tory Groups.

In the Holywells ward the Tories seem to be using the St Margaret’s Lib Dem Modus Operandi – just saying whatever residents want – even if it is the opposite to Tory policy or even the opposite of what you said last week.

It seems we have a certain Holywells Tory councillor against the proposed Holywells Park upgrade (due to Heritage Lottery Fund grant) because of the parking issues in Cliff Lane and surrounding streets, even though a few weeks earlier all the Holywells Tory councillors had been mentioned on a Tory leaflet along with Ben Gummer celebrating the grant.

Even a St Margaret’s; Lib Dem would have been proud of the ability to say one thing and then a week later say the complete opposite.

Just so all residents are clear the idea to place lights on Bishops Hill and remove the Norwich Road mini-roundabouts is a TORY plan, which they could not tell residents about as the timing of the proposals clashed with the County Council elections (a date they had known about for 4 years)

According to Ipswich Spy, I was cycling on the pavement in Ipswich on Tuesday, funny as I was in Oulton all day campaigning for Len Jacklin and then at the SE Area committee meeting - Tories should worry - two of me!

The 'link' to a good press

This week we had our local (only) Rushmere Tory making the front page of the local paper, claiming that the Labour run council had no planned 'vision' for the town.

Now Judy Terry and the local Tories know something about vision -the party that sold the old Civic Centre site to one developer and then not long after give planning permission to a rival development (Tesco) on a site at Grafton Way.

No wonder the first developer took the Council to court. Since then Tesco have down sized and it is possible that may never develop the Grafton Way site. But their achievement in gaining planning permission for Grafton Way did stop the development on Civic Drive.

Cllr Judy Terry has had a number of 'visions' in the past - an art gallery to be built near Christchurch Mansion and more recently her 'vision' for Rushmere involved knocking down the pre-fabs on Inverness Road and building a care home!

But more interestingly to me is how did Judy Terry make the front page of the local paper with her accusations of 'no vision'?

It seems simple, mention the 'link'. For the last 20 to 30 years we have constantly heard plans to build on the car parks behind the old Co-op building or as it is known by developers (if not residents) the 'Mint' quarter. But NCP own the car parks and seem in no hurry to do anything as they rake in some of the highest car park tariffs in the town. But the Mint Quarter has had it's day it is all now about the 'link'.

You may ask where is the 'link' - well it's a development to be built on the site of the local papers office in Lower Brook Street. the aim of the development would be to link the town centre and the waterfront. The paper have realised that there is little chance of them selling the 'link' project until the empty sites on the Waterfront are sorted out.

So it seems any chance they now get the Evening Star (and EADT) urges our MP and local council to work together to sort out the waterfront, I am sure it is because it will help Ipswich in the long term but of course it will also help Archant sell their own site to be the new 'link' development.

So we have had Cameron visit the Archant office to look at the plans, Gummer push the Irish banks over the 'winerack' site and now Mrs Terry gets the front page (and did her mentioning the 'link' help?) Will leave it to you to decide!

Just waiting for Mick McCarthy to say he could attract better players to Ipswich Town if the 'link' development went ahead!

Holywells Park - the hidden gem of Ipswich

On Wednesday I was present when Holywells Park received it's Green Flag for 2013, but what made the day even more brilliant it was the second of six family fun days, these are held each Wednesday of the summer holiday and this Wednesday it included donkey rides and a Punch and Judy show.

Be alert - Burglaries in the area of Sidegate Lane, Ipswich

From an email I sent to Rushmere residents today:

Over the last week we have had a number of attempted burglaries in our area.

Residents in Whitby Rd and Beverley Rd have reported suspicious behaviour on their excellent community facebook page and the police have informed me that there has been a spate of burglaries or attempted burglaries in Rushmere over the last 3 days - in Hutland Rd, Stradbroke Rd and Sidegate Lane.

In two of the incidents it seems the intruder entered the house by an open door.

If you see anything suspicious in the area report it to the local police by calling 101.

Please be extra observant during the hot weather when more doors and windows may be left open and please check on neighbours especially if they are living on their own or you feel are vulnerable.

Thank you for your help


Cllr Alasdair Ross

Tories at war – with each other!

Yesterday Ipswich Tory activist, Kevin Algar posted a blistering attack on his fellow Ipswich conservatives.

It will not make great reading for Ben Gummer and Tory leader, Chris Stewart. Gummer needs a unified Tory Group for any chance of making it a contest at the General election in 2015 and the comments by Algar show that Chris Stewart (and constituency chair- Liz Harsant) have little control over local Tories with very little self-discipline being shown by Tory members.

Ipswich Tory councillors may just place their heads in the sand and think this is just a one off attack by a disgruntled member but it does follow on from James Spencer (Bridge Ward) no longer feeling he can stand for the Tories.

It is not only within the local constituency they seem to be falling out, all over Suffolk they have members unhappy with Dan Poulter and Ben Gummer voting for the legalisation of Gay marriage and in the last two weeks there has been a fall out between Ipswich and Suffolk Tories over plans for traffic lights in parts of Ipswich.

It was not long ago that Ben Gummer was attempting to take all the credit for the massive investment in traffic infrastructure in Ipswich but strangely he has gone very quiet since his own constituency Chair has taken a dislike to certain parts of the scheme- from what I can seethe main issue is the attitude of Suffolk Tories who do not seem to believe in public consultation, especially with residents of Ipswich or Lowestoft.

Going back to the outburst by Kevin Algar, he accuses the local Tories of having no policies or any interest in coming up with any and accuses the Tory Group of failing to be a formidable opposition to the Labour Party, his feelings are best summed up with this comment about the Tory Group: “utterly shambolic and pathetically weak. One of the reasons Ipswich Conservatives abstain in votes so often is the fact that they have no policies and don’t believe there is a need for any “

Now some would say why the sudden outburst he seemed very happy with the direction the local Tories were going at the start of the week, one local Tory councillor put it down to him being drunk! But it seems it is because he has just found out that he has not been selected to stand in the local elections next year.

Not sure why the Tories have dropped him, he has stood for them in Chantry and Gipping in both the County and Borough elections and though I agree with very little he says he does seem one of the keenest of their very few activists.

Now today, Kevin seems to have mellowed and gone back to his normal anti-Labour posting and informing us that he will still be campaigning for Ben Gummer in 2015. The trouble for Gummer is will other local Tories want him helping on the campaign. Algar also does bring up the thorny subject of Ipswich Spy and the main contributors close links with a number of the Tory Group. This issue is one that seems to continue to cause trouble within the Tory ranks.

Kevin now seems to be backtracking fast and will probably be out delivering again for the local Tories by next week (if they will have him) and I for one hope he continues – even just for the comedy value he adds.

The classic was this week, I used twitter to wish our candidate in the Hadleigh Town election ‘good luck’ –Angela has worked hard with a number of volunteers to improve the Labour presence in this South Suffolk town, Kevin read this and quickly tweeted: ‘If you live in North Ward of Hadleigh Suffolk, get out and Vote Conservative.’

Trouble for Kevin, he had made the effort to find out it was North Ward but what he failed to check was the list of candidates – and so he went very silent when we informed him that no Tory candidate was standing, but looking at his tweets today I am sure he will provide us with many more comedy moments.

What the local Tories do about him will be more interesting, will they put an arm around his shoulder and welcome him back or as they have done with others like Paul Carter just ignore him?

Trouble with the social media he will never be far away and he has just tweeted that the Tories had asked him to deliver leaflets for a whole ward – making the local Tory Party seem not that organised not the sort of image Ben Gummer would like to see portrayed and last night Cllr Cenci was telling us, Kevin was wrong and they have a very organised delivery team! Someone is not telling the truth – Kevin or Nadia?

Currently Australian Cricket is the laughing stock of sport, and so bad that some people are starting to feel sorry for them, don’t – the Aussies made us suffer for years. Similarly now some would say don’t feel sorry for the local Tories – and I don’t but the residents of Ipswich are being let down when the opposition can’t even agree amongst themselves let alone contribute to helping run Ipswich in difficult times.

I am sure that even with their limited presence on social media that this weekend Mr Gummer and leading Tories will be discussing the attacks by Algar – what they do about it will be more interesting!