Labour trying to appear working class
Last night I saw a Labour councillor go behind the bar of The Three Cranes, a traditional working-class pub if ever there was one, and grab herself a packet of crisps. The councillor, Tracey Simpson-Laing, had no right to go behind the bar - she is not a member of staff- and I’m pretty sure there will be some obscure elf ‘n safety regulation she has broken as I am pretty sure there hasn’t been a risk assessment done for 8ft tall ginger gorgons working at The Cranes.
Anyway, the arrogance shown by the crisps self-service is not the issue. What I found interesting was the fact that it transpires that these York Labour folk usually pop in The Cranes every Monday night for a few jars and an impromptu meeting. I can’t help but wonder why? None of these councillors - or the few spotty “youth” activists it looked like were hanging around with them - fit in at a salt-of-the-earth type boozer like The Cranes.
Was it a PR exercise designed to show that the Labour Party are trying to get back to their working-class roots? Doubtful - however they did have a working-class tool with them last night (no not Cllr. Blanchard!). It was a laptop computer! If they had their wits about them they would have replaced the laptop with a shovel and drunk cask John Smith’s instead of wine.
The funny part of the night was at chucking out time when my other half, who had supped far too many shandies, decided to go and have a chat to the assembled councillors and hangers-on. From memory there was Sandy Fraser, Ruth Potter, a man with a beard who may have Brian Watson but I’m not 100% sure, Janet Looker and the geek with the laptop. Cllr. Simpson-Laing had gone home earlier, probably so she didn’t have to share her crisps.
I didn’t actually know that my missus was talking to them for a while as I thought she was in the toilet so when I went through to where they were sitting she was in discussion with the man with the beard who I clearly heard say that he didn’t agree with Labour policies these days but had always been Labour so stuck with them. What a glowing vote of confidence for the party! When I said that I thought that Blair’s Third Way politics had made Labour no different to the Conservatives in the ’80’s he accused me of trying to wind him up! That was when laptop geek spouted out the immortal phrase “Thatcher was to blame!”. Sensing that some fun was on the cards I announced that Thatcher was the greatest Prime Minister this country has had. The silence was deafening!
None of the councillors, apart from the man with a beard, said a word during the exchange which suggests to me that they don’t like discussing politics with their electorate, or that they have no confidence in their own party. The mini-chat was in no way nasty or rude so I thought some rapport could easily have been established. Instead they said nothing and went home.
A commentator on The Press website said that they should be allowed to have a drink in a pub without being approached by members of the public. What a load of bollocks. These people are in the public domain and were elected to represent the very same sort of folk you find in pubs, so if they set up an impromptu meeting in a spit and sawdust place like The Cranes then they should expect to be challenged by voters.
See you soon…
February 29th, 2008 at 02:33 pm
What Joy….Thatcher was indeed to blame. Thatcher was to blame for banishing socilaism from these shores for the good of all and was the reason why la Blair had no option but to continue her policies in government. I remember very clearly that night in 1997 when we opened the champagne to celebrate the return of Thatcherism after those few years of gloomy interim management by John Major.
Since then we have had the Terrorism Act 2000; Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (with extension in 2003); a raft of anti-terrorism legislation; new Criminal Justice legislation; talk of a naitonal DNA database and compuslory ID cards; etc etc.
Its enough to send even the most right wing amongst us into an ecstatic head spin!
Maybe just as well then that we are to have a further short period of interim government under Gordon Brown before the Thatcher mantle is lifted once more by the Conservatives at the next general election and the work can continue.
Trebles all round!!!
March 1st, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Thatcher was a piss pot who sold off everything from water to council housing…and I sit and laugh when people whinge about a lack of social housing we now have and try to blame our current government…ha ha ha….how the selective memory kicks in.
I’d love the opportunity to sit arguing in a pub to remind you all of the fucking mess the Tories left behind last time - cos then you’d see how Labour got voted in in the first place.
Trebles All Round - Perhaps you’d actually like to sit and read some of the 80’s Tory policy properly, and see where it got us….look at what privatisation did for us for example - had to wait for a train recently?…that health service you no doubt love whining about - it all started getting broken down when the tories started hailing private healthcare as the way forward…
I’m going to really enjoy listening to you Tories whine until you next get in…I’m going to relish every minute of your misery : )
March 1st, 2008 at 01:30 pm
Is it that time of the month Linz? lol
March 1st, 2008 at 06:36 pm
LOL…I could have predicted that response…
I feckin’ hated everything about the Thatcher years and can’t think of one redeeming factor from the money grabbing, nation wrecking, soul destroying pile of shite she brought to us….
Hence, your Labour Councillors sitting in the pub and ignoring your comments, I couldn’t have kept my mouth shut personally… We’d have ended up brawling good and proper….some councillors are jaded old dinosaurs who have no place in running a council. I should know, I attended last year’s LGA conference and was stunned by the apathy of some of the people I spoke to!!!
March 3rd, 2008 at 02:16 pm
Linz - I would regard myself as more of a big picture man than a detail sort of guy and so actually reading Tory (or any other) policy wouldn’t do it for me. Happy to admit a weaknes here in that I have an extremely short attention span.
That said I tend to subject things to the ‘look and feel’ test. Are you seriously suggesting that the UK was a better place to be in 1978 that in 1996?
I don’t necessarily want to get into a whole big thing here but with or without Thatcher the UK manufacturing industry couldn’t have survived the onslaught of international competition from emerging markets. What Thatcher had the foresight to find was another way in which the UK could stay solvent. This was achieved through financial de-regulation and made the City of London by far and away a bigger tax payer than all the UK industries of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s put together (many times over). Virtually every country and private organisation in the world now comes to the City to raise capital and do business - and we all get a slice of it! (but not all of us necessarily realise that, I grant you).
In the interest of ending on a note of levity….I recently had cause to write an e-mail to Cllr Janet Looker (Lab) regarding the state of ill-repair of the road on which I live. This is an adopted highway and, as such, the council have a legal as well as a general duty to maintain. Anyway, Janet to her credit replied within 24 hours…..regarding the disrepair of your street…she said….”I suggest you contact the Council” !!!
Trebles and votes all round!!!
March 4th, 2008 at 07:21 pm
I remember ‘78 much the same way as ‘96 to be honest…Feckin’ miserable…
So, Thatch maintaining the economy back then is no different to Brown who’s maintained our economy since ‘97???? I prefer Brown’s version thanks.
Thanks also for the economics lesson Trebles, but I actually work in the City of London and do have a grasp of how money is made and how the FTSE works - though granted, I didn’t do this back in ‘78, nor did I take an active interest back then ; )
What exactly, about British Rail could have been damaged by emerging markets back then? Water? Tell me what the new versions do better privately, oh yes, make money…but they don’t provide the feckin’ service….Profits all round though eh? Railtrack were a disgrace.
Sorry, you will never convince me that Thatcher was anything other than a piss pot…
York roads I cannot comment on…though driving around them is harder than driving in London….i’m always always in the wrong lane!!!
March 5th, 2008 at 07:49 am
Alas Linz I will have to admit defeat….you are absolutely right….British Rail could not have been further damaged by any emerging market….it had already been rendered a total basket case by successive Labour administrations and not even the economic challenges of the 80’s could have made it any worse.
March 5th, 2008 at 08:07 pm
And the replacement to our national rail system was a greedy money grabbing organisation that had to be disbanded. What’s worse - a national basket case, or, a greedy money spinning highly dangerous basket case?…Thinking about it, The whole Railtrack episode sums up the whole Thatcher era…quick monetary gain with no forward planning /or thought for sustainability….
I’d be happy to continue in the forum as per Rust’s invitation.
Tap water all round???
March 5th, 2008 at 08:31 pm
Erm, and i’ve just been informed that Railtrack truly formed under John Major…so before you shoot me down - it was formed as a result of Thatcher’s privatisation - so still smacks of everything she stood for.
To the forum.
March 5th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
….and PFI under Labour? Hang on, sorry, that would have been Thatcher too as it was kind of her idea. And of course when the first proper elections were held in the Soviet Union it was nothing to do with Gorbachev….it was all down to Cleisthenes on the basis that he was the originator of democracy in Greece some 2500 years ago. A nice line of reasoning but doesn’t really work.
“to the forum” you proclaim, were you,Linz, by any chance part of the Gracchi following during the third triumvirate of Rome??
March 6th, 2008 at 07:24 pm
ho ho ho
The intellectual superiority/snobbery card.
Nice try but I’m not playing! I haven’t got time to google that lot to even dignify an answer.
But Thatcher’s still a piss pot, privatisation didn’t truly fulfill the objective and urh,
March 6th, 2008 at 07:24 pm
LABOUR ARE STILL OUR GOVERNMENT : )