24/07/2009 by Steve Tierney.

What Happened In Ramsey?
This is going to be the question which gets asked amongst strategists, particularly Conservative ones, over the next few weeks.  The By-Election held there yesterday delivered a “surprise” (I wasn’t particularly surprised, but I suspect others will be) at both District and County levels when UKIP stomped home with a double win. 

On paper, Ramsey should be a Conservative seat.  The Lib Dems have always provided a respectable opposition.  But times, as Mr. Dylan used to say, they are a-changin’.  The scary thing as far as I’m concerned is that far too few of my fellow Conservatives seem to appreciate just what this threat actually means and just how serious it is becoming.

The common thread among many Tories runs something like this: “UKIPpers are Conservatives casting a protest vote about Europe.  They are in the minority, they are a single-issue party and they are all looney-tunes anyway.”  It is generally assumed that they will come flooding back to the Conservatives come a general election and help us towards a dramatic win.

I’ve been challenging this received wisdom for a while, but my arguments fall on deaf ears.  It is true that many UKIP supporters’ natural home is the Conservative party and that some will vote with us at a general election.  The rest of the supposition is wishful thinking which belongs firmly in the “sticking head in sand” school of political discourse.

We Conservatives are collectively terrified of campaigning on an anti-Europe platform because when we tried this in years gone by it did us no good whatsoever.  I respectfully suggest that was then, this is now.  A mood change has washed over the British public in recent years.  At every level and in every area resentment at the meddling in our affairs is growing.  

Many people are horrified that we systematically give away authority over our proud sovereign nation to foreign  powers, throw immense amounts of money at a project that no British person has ever had the opportunity to vote for, and that we throw liberty and independence to the four winds and stick two fingers up at centuries of history. 

Conservative leaders hope that the rise of UKIP is a temporary phenomenon - that it will wither away over time.  I don’t believe that is the case.  The fact of the matter is that there is only one party who can overturn their relentless growth - the same party who is suffering as their core membership dissolves away. 

I do not believe that anything good can come of electing UKIP councillors in local areas.  I suspect the good folk of Ramsey will come to regret their decision and I feel dreadfully sorry for the excellent Conservative candidates who were denied the seats.

The reason I am a Conservative and not a ‘Kipper is that I believe in the core Conservative messages.  UKIP messages are not massively different actually, but they have put on our clothes without having the depth and scope of our ideas.  Nevertheless I have a great deal of sympathy with their stance on Europe (as, I believe, do the majority of Conservatives). 

The Conservatives could have put a stop to all of this months ago.  We could have taken both the Ramsey seats in a landslide.  Our UKIP cousins would (for the most part) love this to be the case.  Because it would mean we had spoken the words that the vast majority of Conservatives do actually believe.  We have had enough of the failing European project and we believe in British independence. 

In fact, wouldn’t we actually be Better Off Out?

Posted in UKIP, Ramsey, Cambs. County Council | No Comments »

16/07/2009 by Steve Tierney.

Who Ya’ Gonna Call?
If you’ve been following the Ghost Passage shenanigans on this blog then there’s no need to read this or this, but if not those posts make a good preamble to this one.  This afternoon I attended a meeting which had managed to morph from the original small nucleus into a something more like a public gathering (there were more people there than there were at the last police panel meeting I attended…)  The purpose of the meeting was to clarify positions on all sides of the debate and try to agree some way forward.

The meeting was chaired very ably by Cllr. Simon King and featured Myself and Val Bolem (on behalf of the residents), Sgt. David Bax and two PCSOs (on behalf of the Police) and representatives from the Freemasons and The Spiritualist Church (which both adjoin the alley.) 

Now those who have read this blog will know I have not been a big fan of the whole idea of closure.  When I first shot off a couple of emails about it I suspected this might be a lonely position to take.  ‘Turns out that wasn’t the case.  In fact, almost everybody was opposed to the police plan - albeit to different degrees.

I wont go into the detail of what was quite a long meeting.  I found it very interesting but I strongly suspect the old adage “you had to be there” holds true for this and I have no wish to bore readers to sleep. Suffice to say the “compromise plan” involving only two gates did indeed meet with the approval of pretty much everyone.  The police position is that this was always the plan and that the idea of three gates was only put out there to “encourage discussion.”  Indeed.  Well - if that is the case then I’d say they achieved their goals.

I still stand by my original contention that the way to deal with trouble is not to wall it off and pretend it isn’t there.  But it was clear that the “people on the ground” including the two eloquent PCSOs were earnest in their belief that some closure was needed.  I think it would be incredibly arrogant to hold on to my ideological position with an iron grip while ignoring the people at the business end of the problems.   The compromise retains the passage as a public right of way while taking the pressure off the police and, more importantly, the residents who have been most harmed by the antisocial behaviour.

I did manage to get the police to make some important statements which went a long way towards allaying the concerns of many residents.  For the record, Sgt. David Bax committed to the following:-

a. There is no plan to keep the alley closed any longer than 3-6 months. 
b. There is no plan to close the oft-used passage between the Crescent and Love Lane.
c. There are no “other targets” in the form of alleys elsewhere in town to get the same treatment.

With these statements made I can support the new plan and believe that the other residents who protested will agree (although I will, of course, take the time to ask them.  Just to make sure.)

What started out as a worrying development which did nothing to enhance the reputation of the local police has turned out to do quite the opposite.  I cannot fault the way the police have responded to the issues we have raised.  Sgt. Dave Bax was exemplary in his engagement with us.  He was frank, fair and confident.  The PCSOs were a credit to the force too.  Residents were forthright and involved at all levels.  Meanwhile, Cllr King, who had initially been a little difficult on this issue was a vital ingredient in its resolution.  In short, all the cogs in the wheel worked just as they should and everybody came out of it looking reasonable and fair.  A breath of fresh air, all in all.

I suspect that for the time being that’s the end of the tale in regards this particular haunted corner of Wisbech.  The issue of Ghost Passage is hopefully now well and truly exorcised.  So next time there’s something strange in your neighbourhood, who ya’ gonna call?

Pandemonium
As far as I can see there are several schools of thought on the Swine Flu Pandemic. 

There’s the: “I’m not scared of a glorified cold - In fact I’m going to a swine flu party to try to catch it.” 
This is all very well until you discover you’ve got some lurking underlying health condition.

There’s the paranoid: ” The Government / The Press / The Freemasons / The Twilight Zone (Circle One) are out to get us - government made this disease in a test tube” brigade who probably shouldn’t be allowed to play with sharp things.

There are people like my wife who are relaxed and quite fatalistic about it.  “We’re all going to get it sooner or later.   No point worrying about what you can’t prevent.”  (Very wise, my wife.  I should listen.)

And then there’s people like me, who don’t have a clue how bad it is, how bad it might get or what the consequences might be - and who find that lack of control over events nerve-wracking (primarily for our family’s sake.) 

The doctors are keen to tell us not to worry. “It’s no worse than seasonal flu” they say, “people die of that every year.” 
Yes, that’s true.  But we don’t see the government planning to ship in enough vaccine to cover the whole population at Christmas each year, do we?  When you treat something differently, people wonder what is different about it.  I suspect the doctors are quite right, but they really need to start sending their message more clearly.  A climate of fear is not a healthy climate to live in.  We aren’t there yet, but if the predicated 100,000 cases a day reaches fruition I suspect we may see a polarisation of public opinion.

Now I suspect that we’ll get through this just fine.  That many of us will get it, lay in bed for a few days, then get on with our lives.  But the press have done a good job of making people nervous on this one.  Or maybe its more than the press.  I’m not suggesting that we’re in Stephen King’s The Stand here.  There’s no need for a soundtrack of Blue Oyster Cult’s Don’t Fear The Reaper to rattle ominously in the background.  But we should pay attention to the progression of events.  This is a pandemic, after all and the virus itself is very new - almost unique - in its structure.  The way to keep people safe is to be vigilant - not complacent.  And please - if somebody invites you to a swine flu party, tell them where to get off.  Whatever else it is, this isn’t a game.

The Figures (according to Department of Health via The Times newspaper on 3rd July)

7,447 cases of H1N1 swine flu confirmed in Britain so far. Three 29 (update:16th July)  people infected with the virus have died
100,000 new cases predicted each day by the end of August
35 per cent of the population may become ill at the peak of the pandemic
£800m cost of antiviral drugs stockpiled to treat 80 per cent of the population
£155m cost of contracts for vaccines for the pandemic flu strain over four years
12,000 deaths annually due to seasonal flu, likely to be far exceeded in a pandemic

More Blue Please
I spent this evening in Ramsey campaigning on behalf of the Conservative candidates for District and County.  I was pleased to find that our vote seems to be holding up well, that our pledges remain secure and that the people of the area seem to know the colour they want to paint their politics.  I didn’t see much yellow on that canvas tonight. And not a drop of red.

Mostly, the opposition appears to be UKIP (very much as it was for my own campaign recently.)  Interestingly, the results of our canvassing seem to suggest that (for once) the UKIP vote is coming from the Lib Dem camp.  Everywhere I go people seem to be expressing their feelings for the European Union (and they aren’t feelings of love.)  I wouldn’t want to be canvassing on behalf of a pro-European party in this environment!

For the County election on July 23 our Conservative candidate is Susan Normington, a very nice local lady with bags of experience and dedication to spare.  Labour, The Lib Dems and UKIP are all fielding candidates. 

For the District election on the same day the Conservative is Angela Curtis, facing opposition in the form of the Lib Dems, UKIP and an Independent Candidate.

Now I know the people of Cambridgeshire have already blessed the county with that gorgeous blue in a very healthy majority and I have no right to ask any more of you, but I will anyway.  You have two excellent candidates in Susan and Angela.  Tick the right box.  More Blue Please. 
  

Posted in Ramsey, Swine Flu, Ghost Passage, Cambs. County Council, Wisbech | No Comments »