Monday, April 21, 2008

Weaste and Seedley: Ripe For Return to Salford Labour


Yesterday, after three hours working hard in Chorlton Park ward Saturday, I was out and about in the somethingly comparable Weaste area of Salford and came across a discarded Weaste and Seedly (sic) Focus. Smudgy and full of fibs, errors and of course pictures of the candidate with various Lib Dem people ... pretending to be ordinary residents.

Now for some reason this area - hard by the Salford Reds Willows Ground where there was incidentally a big Cup game featuring higher league Wakefield Trinity - has returned three Libdemologists.

Yet the leaflet is as usual written as an insurgent, almost as if the candidate is not already on the Council. And has not - with two colleagues - already had some years to sort things out for the people of Weaste and Seedley.

In fact the standard of the social housing stock is mostly very good with excellent gates and fences, private sector housing too is much improved, environment mostly clean to very clean, the pavements and roads seem to be in good shape, the green spaces - such as comically named The Elysian Fields are in fine fettle, and although there is a dog or two in a very large proportion of households there actually isn't a dog poo problem at all.

Makes some of the Lib Dem represented areas in Manchester look very much like the sad relation. But the improvements have I believe been achieved by Salford Labour, perhaps actually before the Lib Dems got their foothold here.

Obviously - due to going up annually - we have "Record Council Tax". Obviously - as is the case in LD run councils - consultants are used. But the real punch line of an otherwise very weak and unpersuasive leaflet is a cock and bull story about "a recent survey of nearly 7,500 Salford residents".

Now, partisanship aside, that's really impressive. A survey of nearly 7,500 Salford residents. Very impressive in fact.

Sadly reverse engineering brings a likely response of between 25 and 30 "surveys" - it could be lower still if there's a fib there - which amounts to around a one-third of one percent response rate to a survey on a partisan Focus leaflet. Essentially from a cadre of Lib Dem members and supporters.

This chronically dishonest approach is mind boggling. "81% of residents (sic) think that the Labour Council wastes too much of their money" they brag. Or to be honest about 20 people think that.

After that bombshell ... There is nothing whatsoever in this shoddy leaflet to engage local people to vote for the Lib Dem candidate. Just misery, stats fibs and whingery.

POSTSCRIPT: Just like many of the glossy, full-colour, high-solid, full-bleed, gloss paper leaflets being distributed in Manchester Withington this leaflet bore the imprint of being printed in the back room of the Man Wit MP's office. Difference being that this obviously Riso'd effort probably was, but the glossy stuff elsewhere almost certainly wasn't.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

rather than bother the good folks of Salford.i thought you would be more useful helping out Citizen Kane.Poor soul, i only ever see him with the same 2 helpers.and he is behind 5 -2 in leaflets delivered so far compared to his Orange oppo.
In the battle of the candidates with alarmingly receeding hairlines, i fear for mr Kane and dread the prospect of cllr Eakins.
At least MS Lovell has a good head of hair!

lorenzo23 said...

Here's hoping Tony Harold can take Weaste & Seedley. That Orange unaccountable franchise are the herpes of local politics - you can never get rid of them and not a proper disease.

Anonymous said...

One has to wonder why Tony Harold is standing in Weaste & Seedley in the first place... he's a Councillor for Ordsall after all. If the comrades in his ward branch don't think he's good enough to be a Councillor why should the good folk of Weaste & Seedley?

lorenzo23 said...

Dunno - I keep out of Salford and its family politics. I grew up in Stretford and you'd never ever go over there after dark.

Chris Paul said...

Thanks Lorenzo and Iain too

Wasn't doing Labour work in Weaste BHT, I have a life to lead also. You're right about Eakins ... that would be a horrific result for the people of Northenden.

The big surprise here is that there is no Steve Cooke explaining why Salford Lib Dems in Weaste and Seedley claim "81% of residents" when they actually mean "20 Lib Dem hacks".

There is no word for that but LYING.

All the best to Councillor Tony Harold in taking out the lying Lib Dem pretenders. It's a two horse race etc, Tories can't win here, only Harold can beat the Lib Dems.

Anonymous said...

Those Lib Dem glossies were not created on a Riso machine in a back room. What is John "Hospital Hoax" Leech up to? In 2005 he had leaflets owning up to be from about five different printers - though it didn't seem like all the print was listed on his risible expenses return.

So what are you up to John Leech? Chris, you should write to Leech and ask him some specific questions on the Gawsworth Printing Mystery.

Anonymous said...

Obviously Chris we're buying in the glossy stuff from elsewhere at around £400 a go and selling it on to local party units at £150 or even £100. All's fair in love and war.

Anonymous said...

oops, is that on the blog, shit ...

Anonymous said...

Typical Tory shitbags being negative and personal.

This poll is not about hairlines, hairnets, harstyles.

Let's hope the long time mad-eyed raver Lib Dem candidate and his weigh in of smudgy blurry grubby fibbing whingeing leaflets is defeated by the common sense, hard work and track record of the impressive Mike Kane.

Chris Paul said...

More four colour, full bleed, multiple solid print through the door today ... claiming to be printed at Gawsworth Road. Fat chance of that being true.

lorenzo23 said...

I'm sure that is illegal? Has he got planning permission to run a fancy printing business from those premises? Probably prints his own made up invoices so he can fiddle the election expenses.