Alternative York

You may recall that at the back end of last year I blogged on the subject of Cllr. Christian Vassie standing for parliament at the next general election after having a very public court case with his neighbour.

Well Cllr. Vassie has been in touch with me asking to give his side of the story and, while I am not in possession of enough facts to pass judgement myself, his version does indeed make interesting reading.

Rather than paraphrase Cllr. Vassie I will let you read his email (which he is happy for me to do), in order that you, the public, can make up your own minds - or at least understand, like I have, that maybe not everything is a clear as it seems.

Here is the email - minus some parts that are irrelevant to the issue of the neighbour dispute.

Steve hi,

Thanks for your email.

In response to your questions: I WOULD hugely appreciate it if you were to acknowledge on your blog that I have contacted you and that sometimes things are more complicated than they are painted. I would be happy for you to report that the Rawlinsons signed an agreement in August 2007 accepting that they knew our extension to have been built entirely on our own land and that, therefore, the claims on the Morning Flight website are ill-informed or disingenuous.

We still have far too much petty harassment from our neighbours. For example, they have recently erected a fence some four inches from several of our windows to block light to our rooms and to make it impossible for us to maintain the windows. We are seeking legal advice on this.

I would also be happy for you to report that the City of York Council’s Head of Legal Services involvement was restricted to perfectly legitimate concerns about the civil rights issues relating to a CCTV camera the Rawlinsons had installed to snoop on the entirety of our front garden. The city council was concerned that residents should be free to visit their ward councillor without being spied on by a CCTV camera installed by a third party. Following this intervention and letters from ourselves the offending camera was reoriented [a fact that is confirmed in a letter from the neighbour’s solicitors, which you could see a copy of]. The police also visited the Rawlinsons to check that the camera was no longer illegally monitoring our garden. The matter was investigated by the Standards Board of England who found no merit in the Rawlinsons’ claims.

More important than what people think of me, however,is the broader issue. You write that ‘Regardless of the rights and wrongs of your court case etc, all it says to me, as member of the public, is that yet another politician is involved in an ugly, public, scandal that paints a poor impression to the electorate. My ‘trust’ issue was an attempt to demonstrate this point.’

You are, of course, right - stories of this type do exactly as you say. ‘Poor pensioner bullied by nasty councillor’ is a great story that panders to people’s assumptions and prejudices. It suited my neighbour and a fringe fundamentalist religious group to claim a boundary dispute was a public scandal but boundary disputes are very common, they happen to all sorts of people and they are nearly always a tragic waste of time, energy and money. In any event, court papers show this dispute was started by the Rawlinsons - not the other way around - and he eventually admitted that his claim that our extension was built on his land was without foundation.

Does feeding the general cynicism about politicians encourage better politicians or simply drive anyone who wants to challenge orthodox thinking away from politics? The more you want to change things the more you generate enemies, as you know yourself.

Christian

Fair play to Cllr. Vassie for at least having the nuts to stand up for himself and challenge me on what I write rather than resorting to sly, backhanded, methods favoured by other councillors who put themselves in the kitchen yet can’t handle the heat. Eh “Barnaby”?

Now I really am going on holiday!

See you soon…

Please join my new Facebook group to show that you too are sick of Britain’s seemingly terminal decline under New Labour.

This evening I was somewhat irked that Hull Road park was closed at what seemed like a ridiculously early time, causing me the great inconvenience of having to take my dogs up Millfield Lane instead of allowing them, and me, to enjoy what is actually a very nice urban park.

I assumed the early closure was due to something typical of a bank holiday weekend such as the man with the keys being at Filey or something but no! The real reason was there in black and white on the noticeboard at the Millfield Avenue gate. “Park closed due to strong winds!” Now as early as 8:00 am today I noticed that it was a tad breezy, and that as I cycled from Walmgate to Tang Hall I was forced to re-consider using sixth gear all the way up Lawrence Street, but the weather conditions were in no way, shape or form what could be described as ’strong winds’.

More to the point; what dangers to the public are there in Hull Road park even if it was a touch high on the Beaufort scale? Perhaps the council were worried that a member of the public could be struck by an errant, anorexic, drug addict who happened to be picked up on the breeze? Anyway, now that Galloway is gone it is natural to assume that their is less wind in York anyway.

Back in January the park was closed due to flooding; which I almost understood as there are many Tang Hall residents who may have claimed that their entire family had been washed away by a tsunami/typical British heavy shower and cleaned out the city coffers with compensation claims, but today was nothing more than a strong breeze. There is nothing I can think of in Hull Road park (other than flying junkies) that could constitute a potential 9/11 situation just because it’s a touch blowy. My barbecue went pretty well this evening. Nobody died or suffered any degree of burns due to out of control charcoal pretending to be Icarus.

I will be ringing the council in the morning for their explanation. It had better be good.

See you soon…

I’ve always loved the Australian view of life. Tough competitors on the sports field, hardened drinkers in the pub and always waving two fingers at political correctness and ‘right on’ attitudes. If an Aussie thinks something, then an Aussie will say it. If that offends someone then so be it. What you see is what you get!

The latest piece of Aussie news to find itself in my inbox centres around the residents of the small town of Camden in New South Wales who are not at all happy about Islamic group, The Quranic Society, who have purchased 15 acres of land in the town and are planning on building an Islamic school on the site. The proposed school will cater for 1200 muslim only pupils in a town that currently has approximately only 150 muslim families living there.

Not for the Aussies is the sound of lefties and liberals gleefully announcing what a culturally enriching experience this will provide for the locals. Instead we get a far more sensible and forthright response to these plans.

According to the BBC website the town has already twice managed to rebuff the fast food giant McDonald’s. Now it has mobilised to block the construction of the Islamic school. Back in November, more than 1,000 local people took part in a public meeting. Many participants expressed themselves with little regard for political correctness.

“This has to be one of the nicest places in New South Wales,” said one woman, who has lived in Camden for the past nine years.

“Everywhere is being destroyed. Why don’t we tell the truth. They’re wrecking Australia. They’re taking us over,” she said.

“Why hasn’t anyone got any guts? They’ve got terrorists amongst ‘em… They want to be here so they can go and hide in all the farm houses… This town has every nationality… but Muslims do not fit in this town. We are Aussies, OK.”

Some of the loudest cheers of the night greeted a speech from a local man in his late 70s.

“Can I just say this without being racist or political?” he said. “In 1983, in the streets of London a parade by Muslims chanted incessantly ‘If we can take London, we can take the world’. Don’t let them take Camden.”

When the chair of the meeting invited anyone in favour of the development to speak up, no one stepped forward.

Camden does not harbour a large Muslim community, therefore most of the pupils at the proposed school would therefore be bussed in from Sydney, a journey that takes about an hour each way.

“When you have no Muslims living in Camden, why have a Muslim school here?” said Andrew Wynnet of the Camden/Macarthur Residents’ Group. He was also concerned about its long-term, demographic impact.

“The character of the town will change. When you have a large facility like this, the parents will follow. That amount of parents will change the character of the town.”

“If you introduce 1,500 Muslim people to the town they’d be a majority. And that’s not what this town is about.”

How refreshing to see people actually saying what they think and not pandering to the fools who are terrified to offend muslims.

It’s a sad reflection on our own country that if such a plan was proposed in York, for example, it would no doubt be embraced with open arms and compounded with grants and funding too.

Three cheers for Aussie honesty and common sense.

See you soon…

It is with great sadness that I announce the death of justice.

If there really was any justice Leeds United would this evening be celebrating their rightful promotion (that was earned on the field!) to the Championship instead of preparing for another season in the depths of League One.

Regardless of whatever off the field shenanigans happened in the Leeds boardroom, the team won enough points to be promoted as of right.

The only consolation is that Chelsea are the next big club who ‘lived the dream’ that are going to follow Leeds into the mire. All the signs are there, and I hope they do suffer like Leeds have done as Chelsea really do take arrogance to a new level.

We’ll go up next season, and the next!

See you soon…

I have just witnessed scenes not seen in Britain since the hey-day of the Miner’s Strike. An unholy rabble is gathered outside The Press offices, dressed in rags and waving placards and banners of protest. I had to do a double take as it looked just like The Blue Bicycle did a few months ago when the YAFA thugs were trying to terrorise it and bully it into serving only foods they approve of.

Anyway I think I have now solved the mystery of the link between The Press and YAFA. They are in fact one and the same! All the journos are animal rights freaks and that is why debate was stifled and stories deleted.

I am very happy to have made this valuable connection.

On another note - it is interesting that despite the hacks being on strike - the website and printed paper are still as dull as ever so I reckon they’ve just striked (is that the right word?) their way out of a job, ironically, just like the miners did in 1984.

Pity that editor Kevin Booth is away on his jollies at this time of crisis isn’t it?

See you soon…

Check out this story about an old friend of mine from the pool circuit who has just completed a trek to the north pole. Carl is profoundly deaf but, as can be seen, he is a daredevil and an inspirational character. He is also a pain in the backside when playing pool. You haven’t heard moaning until you come across this man!

See you soon…

I have spent years hating Manchester United, but tonight I was cheering them on in what I think was the most exciting match I have ever seen, as a relative neutral, considering what was at stake. I must confess to having a big smile on my face when that big girl’s blouse Nicolas Anelka inevitably missed to cost Chelsea what would have been an undeserved victory. I am a strong believer that the Champions League must mean exactly that - contested by CHAMPIONS! Anyway never mind politics for once, United deserved their win and, barring Ronaldo’s showboating miss, held their nerve when it mattered.

Of course the real big match this week takes place at Wembley on Sunday, when Leeds United begin their ascent back to the Premiership - where they belong!

See you soon…