Taxi for Alexander!
Cllr. James Alexander is a nice bloke with all the best intentions in the world. However that does not make him immune from the wrath of Rust, especially as he has found himself as the Labour Party candidate for York Outer in the next general election (whenever that is?). Now I always vowed not to be too harsh on James as he is young and, in my opinion, not as full of self-importance and bullshit as people like my old adversary Blanchard (who incidentally was beaten by James for the nomination for York Outer) but I’m sorry Jim lad, last night you made a crucial error that just about sums up what the Labour Party is all about these days. 
I was feeling a bit mischievous last night after a crap day so I logged on to The Press website and decided to have a look at what was going on in the blogs. I noticed James had been having a bit of rapport with a few folks on his latest post, and decided to have some fun by posing the question - “What do you think about Labour’s disastrous week which has proven them to be completely unfit to govern?”
I thought this was a perfectly fair question but I wasn’t prepared for James’ answer which was…
“I think things will blow over”!
Well sorry James but that is simply unacceptable as an answer, particularly from someone who is standing for parliament. The Labour government introduced a policy that stole money from low earners while giving above inflation increases to those on benefits and then had to back track to try and cling on to power and hopefully not be too embarrassed in next weeks council elections. How can this lack of direction be justified? It’s all very well harping on about a commitment to end child poverty blah, blah! But why is that at the expense of adults living on the breadline? Civil servants are striking because Gordon Brown won’t increase pay in line with inflation because all the money is earmarked for the Karen Matthews of this world. When will the Labour Party finally accept defeat and go the country? They have had 11 years of utter failure led by two of history’s biggest liars and it’s time for them to go. But don’t worry folks, it will all blow over soon enough…
I don’t believe James is that committed to the Labour Party anyway as he said :-
“I think Gordon Brown does not get everything right, but when there were terror attacks in Glasgow and flooding and so on, I would rather have Gordon Brown in the thick of it than David Cameron. “
I can’t help but agree. It would be awful to see David Cameron blown up or drowned when Gordon Brown is available to suffer. At least James and I agree on something. We both value Gordon Brown equally!
Come on James, use your loaf and resign from this fatally wounded band of thieves or your fledgling political career will be over before it even starts!
See you soon…
April 25th, 2008 at 01:43 am
I am honoured by the blog post. I think we will have to agree to disagree…
I am pleased you are back on the press website. All the best…
Councillor James Alexander
Prospective Labour MP for York Outer
April 25th, 2008 at 09:55 am
The country has not in any way shape or form had 11 years of failure. Even the economy at the minute can’t actually be attributed to our government - but banks who can’t assess risk properly…this government have kept everyone going quite nicely on the financial side of things. You talk as if no one is able to swap to a better paid job and as if a job is still a job for life…
Teachers…why don’t you remember how many times they went on strike with the Tories at the helm? The last strike was in 1987. Hmmm. Who was the Prime Minister?
At least Labour address child poverty…it was simply swept under the sodding carpet when Thatcher was running the country! Thatcher Milk Snatcher ring any bells?
Stop the selective memory Rust cos your lot were bloody rubbish last time they were in. They were kept in by greed and the fact no one liked Neil Kinnock….Whether they can run with the baton next up remains to be seen. I agree, Labour are likely going to be booted as Brown is not Prime Minister material - but christ…if your lot revert to type (and I dread it happening) then you really will have something to whine about.
April 25th, 2008 at 11:10 am
1. The illegal invasion of Iraq, voted for by Parliament on the basis of New Labour lies. This makes Blair, Brown and anyone else who knew the true picture war criminals, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi men, women, and children have been needlessly killed.
2. Ignore the fiddled statistics, crime is through the roof, and the police force has been reduced to an impotent joke, especially in North Yorkshire. An even bigger joke are PCSOs!
3. The selling off of our gold reserves when prices were low.
4. The lie that we would be allowed a referendum on the EU Constitution.
5. The Human Rights Act, the criminals charter.
6. The flood of illegal immigrants, bogus asylum seekers, economic and medical migrants, and the many thousands of foreign criminals.
7. Devolution for Scotland and Wales, but not for England. Where is the English Parliament, why can Scots and Welsh MPs vote on English matters but English MPs not on theirs?
This will do for now, New Labour are the most deplorable party of corrupt policians this country has even known, and now the chickens are coming home to roost.
I’d like to think that Cameron is New Conservative. If you can have New Labour why not? New Labour is not the socialist party of Harold Wilson, James Callaghan, Michael Foot, and the Welsh windbag Kinnock.
April 25th, 2008 at 07:58 pm
Some valid points bemused…but without me writing war and peace - you should perhaps consider a thing or two?
The Tories can’t even feckin fill in their expenses properly! And the arrogance of the whole party don’t believe we should have a say in it in the first place…It’s absolutely fine that they should be feathering their own nests…me paying for their kids to go to Eton and Oxford - no problem…they are just as bad as the immigrants who scrounge of the state if you consider it properly! When the Tories introduced the Poll/Council tax - Westminster, the borough where they all live during the week was one of the cheapest bands in the country…you telling me that’s not corrupt? You really think you can get that past the honest radar, cos I don’t…
Sorry, but if you think you’re in for an easy ride under Cameron, Cameron who has said he too would have sent the troops into Iraq, then frankly you are very misguided.
We’ll be no better off with the tories, we’ll just have a fresh face to look at and more of the media spin we got with Blair.
April 26th, 2008 at 01:42 pm
When it comes to expenses they are pretty much the same, with Mr Speaker who’s supposed to be investigating as bent as any of them. If you think only Conservatives go to Eton and Oxford you may be still fighting a long dead class war. Blair went to a public school and Oxford, and so did many of his fellow champagne socialists liars.
I can’t see what the ruling party has to do with levels of council tax, but it looks as Westminster is as cheap under Labour as it was under the Conservatives, relatively speaking. Probably because business tax is subsidising domestic tax, but Labour wouldn’t dream of paying higher levels of subsidy to Labour councils, would it?
‘Poll tax’ itself was the fairest local tax system yet devised, since every voter paid, and it caught up non householders who now can vote for cock-eyed ideas, yet not have to pay for them.
Truth is, it’s not a matter of the best but rather the least awful when it comes to political parties and politicians. We sorely need proportional representation and to abolish the whip system to get rid of the tyranny of party politics.
But eleven years of New Labour has brought this country to it’s knees, and set us up to be hit by every lunatic Islamic terror group going, whilst shipping in yet more to do it, and not getting rid of those terrorists we already have.
And that’s before we get to discussing the hidden hyper-inflation as the economy unravels ………..
I’d give anyone else a chance, except the Lib Dem air heads, who in York have taken incompetence to an art form.
April 26th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Hear hear.
April 27th, 2008 at 07:30 pm
Well, each to their own, but I’m not on my knees. I’m doing OK, as are my colleagues, my friends and most of my family - around the country, not just York and London.
The Britain you describe here is not one I see, nor one I have experienced over the past 11 years and I just genuinely remember much worse times under the Tories and though the current government are pretty much on their arse - I can honestly say that for me, nothing is as bad as the early - mid 90’s.
You mention terrorists…terrorists are worldwide. You are whining about Islamic terror groups…have you forgotten the IRA? Every country has fanatics and extremists…why wouldn’t we have? I don’t like living among pockets of extremists whatever faith - but I came much nearer to IRA terror bombs and their disruption on a weekly basis to be frank. My Brother survived the terrorist bomb in Bali - it was aimed at Australian tourists…is that down to New Labour too? And before you say I’m naiive, I had my child in a hospital in Whitechapel, so I’m completely aware of integration problems in this country as I saw the problems for myself up close and personal. I think you will find there have been changes to our immigration policy recently and the UK is starting to align itself with other nations by introducing a points system and such.
I never said that only the Conservatives went to private school and redbrick Uni’s….I referred solely to the recent high profile case of the Conservative who had his whole family on the payroll.
This country does still have a class system whether we admit it or not. I sit amongst it every day. And it seems to be quite embedded here if you think that only the rich should be able ‘pay’ to vote…that thought alone makes me want to dry clean my head!
I’m surprised to not be agreeing with you more on your points above Bemused. I think it could be a first!
April 28th, 2008 at 05:24 pm
“if you think that only the rich should be able ‘pay’ to vote”
If you are referring to the ‘poll tax’, that’s not how it worked, but I’m sure you know that.
We will agree to differ, it’s the civilised way!
April 28th, 2008 at 09:46 pm
Quote: Poll tax’ itself was the fairest local tax system yet devised, since every voter paid, and it caught up non householders who now can vote for cock-eyed ideas, yet not have to pay for them.
Pay to vote in any way shape or form…no, no, no. What about those who’ve just been made redundant but who’ve always paid their way previously? What about those who have been widowed and left with no main breadwinner and have missed a few payments? What about students who would choose not to vote and save the money for something else. If you excluded low incomes and non-householders from voting for free - you will end up with even less of a representation of the nation at the polling booth - we should be encouraging people to come out and vote at all costs. Thank god the poll tax was abolished Bemused. Besides, it wasn’t a pay to vote system anyway was it….you just had to pay it whether you voted or not. There was no choice. It made criminals of individuals who were skint! Bloody harsh!
We’ll never agree on the Tories that much I’m sure of.
However, I do reckon Boris is going to walk in to the Mayor of London role! I won’t be voting for him, but he can’t be any worse than Ken.
I’m all for civilised…
April 29th, 2008 at 05:13 am
Well, each to their own, but I’m not on my knees. I’m doing OK, as are my colleagues, my friends and most of my family - around the country, not just York and London.
Well as long as your alright Linz, thats the important thing, we wouldn’t want you, your family or friends to suffer.
That has to be the most selfish comment I have seen, open your eyes.
April 29th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Why should ‘householders’ subsidise the vast army who pay no council tax at all?
You’ve made me think Linz - no pay council tax - no vote, that seems very fair to me. Thank you for opening my eyes. Why the hell should non payers vote for manifestos that I will end up paying for, but costs them nothing.
“Taxation without representation is tyranny”, a slogan of the American Revolution.
And so is the converse!
April 29th, 2008 at 07:38 pm
Hon. Gentleman, I also went on to say that the country described by others above is not the one I recognise.
I’m relatively healthy, i’m happy. What’s wrong with that? You lot seem to dwell in a very dour point of view. And I enjoy reading the comments and your dour take on things otherwise I wouldn’t be here. But I don’t agree with everything written here thankfully. I am doing OK. I don’t live on the streets, I don’t beg, I don’t claim benefits, i’m not the victim of racial hatred, I’m not disabled, I’m not a single parent living hand to mouth. I have a good life that we’ve worked hard for and I think myself extremely lucky. How very un-British of me. I’m also aware from past experience (funnily enough when we had a Tory Government) that events could take it all away tomorrow, so I enjoy now while I can. Doesn’t mean I don’t have empathy for those suffering, doesn’t mean I don’t have a balanced perspective on the problems that affect others…and in fact, the fact I do give a shit is one of the reasons that what you write interests me. I don’t know of many other sites like it.
And I’ve seen more selfish replies than mine in response to your/Rusts postings too so your outrage at my post is poor but something I predicted as likely!
I don’t know the stats for who pays council tax and who doesn’t Bemused. I very much doubt you do either and that infact, you are generalising with ‘the vast army’ you mention. I don’t think more revenue from council tax would solve much in practice and I guess we’ll never know - but I feel it’s the people who spend the money for us that create the problems. You can throw money at most problems, but if you’ve got a bunch of crooks making the decisions, or someone with a different agenda, then you’ll never please everyone…but then i’m sure you know that. I’m sure you’ll also be aware of money wasted from poor budgeting too.
April 29th, 2008 at 08:28 pm
“I don’t know the stats for who pays council tax and who doesn’t Bemused. I very much doubt you do either and that infact, you are generalising with ‘the vast army’ you mention.”
Who pays council tax?
There is only one bill for each property and the owner-occupier or tenant of the home, including council tenants, must usually pay this. The following are responsible for paying the bill:
* the person who owns and lives in the property
* a tenant living in the property
* a person, who is not the owner/tenant but lives in the property
* the owner if nobody lives in the property.
The owner will also be liable if the property is:
* divided into bedsitting rooms (known as ‘houses in multiple occupation’).
* occupied by asylum seekers receiving accommodation under section 95 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.
* a residential home for the elderly or ill people.
* a nursing home.
* a hostel.
* the home of a religious community.
* a home in which domestic staff live and which is occasionally used by the employer.
* the home of a minister of religion who receives a stipend.
So, take a street where a little old lady lives opposite a family of five wage earners. Only the little old lady and the ‘householder’ of the family of five wage earners pay, four get off free but can vote for local government policies they never have to pay for. Is that fair or democratic?
April 29th, 2008 at 08:39 pm
I thought that the council tax was discounted for those who live alone?
I also know that the council tax can’t really be a deterrent to living alone as I saw a new stat today that said single households are becoming more commonplace.
Those five wage earners also pay much Income Tax, and so their contribution to the litle old ladies pension makes up for it no?
April 29th, 2008 at 08:41 pm
We are being rude and forgetting the subject of this blog - Cllr. James Alexander.
I’ve just had another look at his blog on the Press website, and oh dear, is he being sliced up, and how inane his answers are. It’s cruel!
He’s a cross between a wet lettuce and Private Pike - a stupid boy. I live in Outer York and will take great delight in NOT voting for him.
April 29th, 2008 at 09:00 pm
Yes we are being rude…
I must have a look on the press website in that case.
It’s a shame really as it seems J A has good intentions.
BTW, I meant specific stats on council tax, i.e. ratio of payers to none payers in a specific area. Not who pays and who doesn’t generally. I think I’ve been paying it long enough to work that bit out.
April 30th, 2008 at 03:13 pm
“I meant specific stats on council tax, i.e. ratio of payers to none payers in a specific area.”
As a rule of thumb, you could tell by looking at a voters’ list in the local library. For every address in a street, only one person will pay council tax, the other voters won’t. That would give a good indication. Down my very short street it would work out at 50% paying I think.
April 30th, 2008 at 09:55 pm
Ahh whatever Bemused…this could go on for weeks…
As you seem to think that the council have no bearing on party politics - lets see the outcome of tomorrow shall we?
April 30th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
Truce Linz, we agree on things more than we differ I think.