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Lucy Powell: South Manchester Reporter Feature
An excellent launchpad for Lucy Powell's campaign to win back Manchester Withington for Manchester Labour.
Meanwhile the disreputable incumbent Cllr John Leech MP is pretending that a motion he "has put down" in parliament could stop a development next to Marie Louise Gardens taking place. Newsflash: EDMs signed by mavericks neither stop nor procure anything.
My goodness he's signed some whacko ones and a super soaraway 623 already this session. But this one, trailed in the same edition of the SMR as the announcement of his Nemesis (above) is so whacko it isn't even coming up on his PIMS search page.
LOL expect it will be doing soon. But in the meantime instead of "has put down" honest people say "is going to put down". And instead of "threatened with closure" we say "will change for the better". What a blooming fibber!
12 comments:
Bloody hell, give the woman a chance. If she actually does something to piss you off, by all means scrutinise. But writing people off after a week as a candidate will get you nowhere.
I agree that the party needs a change of direction, but what Withington CLP needs most of all is to beat the Liberals and that scheister Leech. Give the woman a chance, please.
The reason the nefarious spin machine exists is to stop this kind of divisive inwards sniping. If people were a little more constructive, that would strengthen the case for a more open party beyond deniability.
You may not agree with comrades from time to time, but they remain comrades. I'm sick of left and right trying to out-tantrum each other. We have an election to fight.
Give the lass a chance! To accuse everyone who gets press coverage as 'new labour spin' is over the top. That's just the local newspaper's slant on it Grim. Everyone should unite around the candidate - she won by a big margin and clearly has the overwhelming confidence of members.
I think you should invite Jenny to stand in Calder Valley if you wanted to. But as for Withington it sounds like Lucy Powell has a real chance of ousting a wretched Lib Dem - and that's something worth cheering for.
Susan: I have removed your comment because it is not a useful one. For those that missed it it was negative about the journalism and the whole world of Manchester Withington. Please comrades and colleagues, behave.
Perhaps I did go over the top - and I apologise for that. But the South Manchester Reporter piece typified the kind of shallow journalism which passes for "reporting" these days.
Support from Eddie Izzard would not get my vote.
I think the Reporter's reference to Jenny, whose campaign was on honest socialist policy, was also, by implication,a bit of an insult.
Lastly, perhaps worst of all, the reference to "forgiving Labour" over Iraq.
Perhaps when British soldiers in Basra stop getting bombed to bits and civilians stop being massacred then maybe, just maybe, the public will alow us to move on and "forgive us." Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't Lucy the only candidate who would not take part in a debate on Iraq?
If I offended, I'm sorry. But you won't get seats like Withington back unless you face some pretty hard facts and stop New Labour spinning. I hope this will not also be censored,
Mmmm Susan. The selection is over. It is not going to be re-run. However disappointed people are we have a pretty good candidate that other constituencies with Lib Dem and indeed Labour duds would be glad of.
Only two nominees took part in the Chorlton Against War event. Two actively declined in the end. One other had a genuine diary clash.
All five shortlisted women have stated their opposition to the war, nuanced in various ways; but we should be glad of that.
Almost everything in SMR is bobbins. There are no proper investigations. Press releases are run as news and features. Facts are confused and rights to reply refused, though a rattle from the PCC may see to that according to one bloke with a blog.
This is the state of much regional and local journalism these days.
Eddie Izard does make a story. Even not turning up for an event he makes a story. But funny-man-in-a-dress will not win back Man Wit. That's true. It may be speaking with a less important 50% of the residents in a way.
But so long as all the segments and individuals of the population are listened to and engaged in conversation that'll be OK.
It is a few weeks too early for Lucy to be announcing an assault on the towering heights of capitalism and on wretched US imperialism.
I am not censoring comments. I am removing those that fall outwith the agreement for local government selections. That is LOL's policy at the moment. You can go after ministers and leadership candidates as you wish. Or you can use your own esteemed blog. But here we have moved on from the selection to the campaign.
Chris, I'm sorry but you are starting to sound pompous. I don't need telling about regional journalism. I've been a journalist for 23 years. I continue to be.
You've "moved on" to the campaign. Good for you. Hope it works out.I don't expect there wil be any "assaults on capitalism" from Withington any time soon.BTW that was a pretty cheap comment.Meanwhile, people continue to die because of Labour's desperate mistakes in Iraq.
My original points, if OTT, were valid and you know it.
But if you want to live in Lalaland well that's your preroragative.
Local paper workers are paid appallingly and treated the same.
It's a miracle any of them bother to turn up for work at all.
So when they try to engage the local populus with politics we should rejoice.
The Eddie Izzard line is always gonna get priority in a world where Hello sells more than the News Statesman.
We should be pleased that Lucy realises that. I just hope Eddie turns up or it will go down in the other side's literature as her first broken promise!
The reference to Jenny was entirely accurate. I wrote nup the selection from a more positive left perspective here.
On the wider aspects of Chris's post I have also written about MPs acountability today -here.
See you at conference Susan?
I was canvassing in Burnage today. No-one even mentions the Tories which is brilliant. But lots of people attack Labour from the left mentioning the war and Blair mainly.
The anti-poor budget, council stock transfer, Europe, and Keith Bradley also got a mention from the doubters.
The fact the council passed an anti-war motion is a godsend.
But it wont be so useful in national elections.
Susan: Stop it. This is my blog and I don't want you criticising our candidate or my constituency. It's not helping. As for me being pompous? Well whatever. I've been called worse. We've selected our candidate. That's that.
The SMR isn't very good really. They've stitched me more than once. And they have kowtowed to Leech by not printing letters for more than 12 months.
The PCC point is not entirely frivolous.
The MEN and Metro have also been in continuous decline. You know this. As Miles said the pay and conditions are poor and staff numbers have been cut drastically.
This makes things harder. No time to investigate, fact check or let a story breathe beforing running it half cock.
It was bad in 1983 when we started City Life but it was better.
At the moment I live in Man Central but after boundary changes I'll be in Man Wit. Neither is Lalaland and both are better off by miles with a Labour representative at the HoP.
There really is no point of doing the spilt milk thing is there?
PS Miles, I didn't find Frank on Thursday. And my 'phone was out. If you are out again over the weekend - particularly tomorrow and Monday - please give me a bell. Tarus is also available. Same goes for any other campaign work ...
Maybe I pine for a world in which New Statesman sells more than Hello! I take on board what you say. I'm sorry if you're p***** off with me.But sometimes I despair of the Labour Party.Correction, New Labour. Miles, yes I am going to ADM. The only conference in the world where I am on the right! Happy Easter, sorry for upsetting anyone.
No worries Susan. Was almost in your area yesterday for a 10 Mile road race, but we went to Salford 10k instead and Tarus ran very well indeed. The Calder Race was organised by a man called Dave Clarke who has recently died in a tragic fall from a ladder and brain injury. We have been to lots of his races over the past 12 months and he will be missed.
On Miles' point about the war and national elections it is clearly not a great strength for us, but let's hope the mistake of going and the mistakes that followed have turned round to some extent and that Labour's record in other things that matter to people in Burnage and Chorlton plus the real fury at Leech's fibs and his party's uselessness and incoherence will give us not only the small swing (<1%) we need to win but also a good deal more to secure the future.
Having our selected candidate (and all nominees in fact) ALL against the war is a good thing.
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