In a heated meeting last night Hartlepool Borough Council approved seven names to go forward for consideration as Freemen and Honorary Aldermen of the town. Speculation that Peter Mandelson was one of the potential new Freemen has already been reported in the local newspaper and been the subject of some correspondence in the Hartlepool Mail Reader's Letters Page.
The names being recommended had been selected by the Council’s Civic Honors Committee from nineteen original nominations. The Full Council met tonight in closed session to debate the selection and to confirm, or reject, the recommendations.
According to the Agenda each of the seven names would be debated individually and voted on individually. This gave the Council the opportunity to accept or reject each nomination on their own individual merit. The Labour Group, detecting that possibly not all seven of the names had an equal level of support, proposed that the list should be accepted as a single package, thereby removing the requirement for discussion of individual nominations.
This "all or nothing" proposal was opposed by several Councillors who felt each name should be debated on its own merits. The choice of individual debate or a single "all or nothing" decision was put to the vote and the Council tied 19 votes to 19 votes. The Council Chairman, Councillor Carl Richardson (Labour) used his casting vote to force through the all or nothing option. One Councillor at the meeting described the decision as "Democracy as they know it in North Korea".
At times after this the meeting descended into chaos with the Chairman rejecting potential points of order and failing to recognise Councillors indicating they wished to speak. When the vote was called for confusion reigned over what exactly the Council was being asked to vote on.
The vote on the Freemen and Aldermen nomination was finally taken on a roll call basis, with individual members being asked to register their vote so that it could be recorded in the minutes.
To approve a Civic Honour requires a more than two thirds majority of the votes cast to be in favour. When the Roll Call was completed 22 Votes were recorded in favour of the seven names and 10 were recorded against. The majority of the Liberal Democrat group showed the courage of their convictions and abstained from the vote. Of course "Courage" and "Convictions" are not two words normally associated with Liberal-Democrats. All the Conservative Councillors present voted against the motion with the exception of Conservative Councillor Pauline Laffey of Park Ward, who voted for the motion. Councillor Laffey’s support was enough for the motion to approve the seven names by a single vote! The look the Conservative Leader's face when he realised it was one of his members who saved Labour's blushes was a picture! Once again Laffey shows her "Blue Labour" rosette. I am sure she will get her reward from her Labour Comrades in the future. After all it was John Bercow's tactics of sucking up to Labour that got him the Speaker's Chair in the House Of Commons. I wonder which chair Pauline Laffey is expecting in return for her loyalty to the Labour Cause?
Although reports in the local press have identified Peter Mandelson as one of the new potential Freemen of the town this cannot be officially confirmed. The names of the individuals to be honoured will not be officially released until they have been approached to confirm they will accept the honour should it be formally offered to them. Until this time Hartlepool Council are applying the Local Government Act 2000 to officially keep the names confidential.
Friday, 6 November 2009
Thursday, 5 November 2009
Shorthand and Blog Review
I've been a bit busy the past few weeks. Too busy to blog to be honest! I am trying to learn T Line Shorthand in order to pass the NCTJ Exams and qualify as a 'Junior Reporter' and this has been takingup almost my every waking moment. The shear frustration of learning one way of doing it, trying to apply the rules and then being told about all the exceptions! Drives me mad! And in fact I've just seen its 8.59am so I've got to go to Sharthand NOW!
Before I go I must share one website I found recently, http://www.politics.co.uk and in particular http://www.politics.co.uk/blogs/stephen-allison-$1325866.htm which is about ME, yes someone has actually gone to the trouble of reviewing my blog! and here was me thinking no-one actually read it apart from me amd my mother!
Anyway they say:
"A strange personal-diary-cum-political commentary that is occasionally unintentionally funny.
Mr Allison must be a refreshingly unaware sort of chap for someone involved in politics, and that makes this blog both rather endearing and occasionally, we have to say, hilariously pompous at times.
Overall it's rather sweet and enjoyable, although as hardened hacks we admit to finding the publication of his daughter's A level results a little much to stomach."
They rate me at 5.5/10. Not sure if that's good, bad or just an average score given to most people. When I have time I'll investigate more. NOW I'M OFF TO SHORTHAND!
Before I go I must share one website I found recently, http://www.politics.co.uk and in particular http://www.politics.co.uk/blogs/stephen-allison-$1325866.htm which is about ME, yes someone has actually gone to the trouble of reviewing my blog! and here was me thinking no-one actually read it apart from me amd my mother!
Anyway they say:
"A strange personal-diary-cum-political commentary that is occasionally unintentionally funny.
Mr Allison must be a refreshingly unaware sort of chap for someone involved in politics, and that makes this blog both rather endearing and occasionally, we have to say, hilariously pompous at times.
Overall it's rather sweet and enjoyable, although as hardened hacks we admit to finding the publication of his daughter's A level results a little much to stomach."
They rate me at 5.5/10. Not sure if that's good, bad or just an average score given to most people. When I have time I'll investigate more. NOW I'M OFF TO SHORTHAND!
Thursday, 1 October 2009
Newspaper Endorsements!
As a Journalism Student (yes me a student again at my age!) I was interested to read the YouGov poll regarding the degree of importance people attached to the endorsement of a political party by a major newspaper. Of those polled 61% said the endorsement was important or very important, 36% said it was not very important or not important at all, 4% didn't know (yes that's 101% but figures are rounded!).
The poll also found 63% agreed with the statement that Labour has lost its way. However, less encouraging for the Tories, only 29% agreed with The Sun's published view that they were backing the Tories because 'the Conservative leadership can put the 'great' back into Great Britain'
You can see the full research here
The poll also found 63% agreed with the statement that Labour has lost its way. However, less encouraging for the Tories, only 29% agreed with The Sun's published view that they were backing the Tories because 'the Conservative leadership can put the 'great' back into Great Britain'
You can see the full research here
Support for UKIP is up
The traditional assumption that support for political parties other than the main three disappears at a general election has been challenged by private polling seen by the BBC.
Support for Labour is languishing at 20%, while the Lib Dems are down from 21% to 18%. But support for "others" - UKIP, the Green Party, the BNP and other small parties - has doubled, from 9% to 18%.
The polling suggests a surge in support for UKIP, in particular. Figures show support for UKIP is at 6%, up from 1% in summer last year who said they would vote for the party in a general election.
Read the full article here.
Support for Labour is languishing at 20%, while the Lib Dems are down from 21% to 18%. But support for "others" - UKIP, the Green Party, the BNP and other small parties - has doubled, from 9% to 18%.
The polling suggests a surge in support for UKIP, in particular. Figures show support for UKIP is at 6%, up from 1% in summer last year who said they would vote for the party in a general election.
Read the full article here.
Monday, 28 September 2009
Busy Day
Spent the morning in a lecture about Media Law. Quite scary when libel payouts were being discussed. This afternoon was Principles and Practices of Magazine Journalism. The reading list is huge! Ordered some from Amazon and reserved the rest from the Library. Discovered that there is no Union Bar at the St.Peter Campus but there are a couple of pubs in walking distance. I thought journalists were a hard drinking lot but obviously not! Maybe they just need to warm up a bit. Handed in my first "think piece" and will be discussing it tomorrow. It was about achievement versus effort in Higher education. "Males more optimistic, but to their detriment” makes a good headline but the team from University of Wales Institute leave a hole, big enough to drive the metaphorical bus through, when they declare their findings are based upon a sample of 112 psychology students. It is difficult to see how these can be seen as a representative group from which to draw general conclusions.
If the issue is one primarily of self belief then the environment in which the students grew up, their aims and aspirations would be significant factors in the results obtained by the study. The males in the study having a greater belief in their own abilities than their achievements apparently seem to justify. The female students appear to accept they needed to work harder just to achieve the same level of results. Psychology is fast becoming one of the most popular undergraduate degrees according to the UK Careers Advice Website. It is attracting a higher number of students who have no clear idea of where their future career will take them. The level of vocational motivation in such students would understandably be much lower than in students studying Medicine, Engineering or Teaching.
Speaking as one of the new middle class and a father of two teenaged children, both currently studying for higher qualifications, I can say that my daughter works harder, is more focused and more determined than my son. However, that has been the case since they were young children. My daughter was a first grandchild for both mine and my wife’s family. My son was the third grandchild, but critically the first grandson. The way in which the working class grandparents reacted to them was very different.
As the oldest grandchild, my daughter was always encouraged to excel. As the oldest grandson, my son was always expected to excel. A critical difference.
It would be a much more significant finding if the research were repeated and the same results obtained using students from different social backgrounds and on a range of vocational courses. Drawing general conclusions from such a narrow sample cannot be either statistically or socially valid.
Anyway, shorthand starts next week as well. 100words per minute! not as easy as it sounds. Booked tickets for Al Murray on 8th October and Jimmy Carr on 17th January. Well if I'm in Sunderland I might as well make the most of it! NCTJ Exams on December 10th for Court Reporting and January 14th for General Reporting, plus 3,000 word assignment to be handed in before Christmas. I think I'm going to be a busy boy!
If the issue is one primarily of self belief then the environment in which the students grew up, their aims and aspirations would be significant factors in the results obtained by the study. The males in the study having a greater belief in their own abilities than their achievements apparently seem to justify. The female students appear to accept they needed to work harder just to achieve the same level of results. Psychology is fast becoming one of the most popular undergraduate degrees according to the UK Careers Advice Website. It is attracting a higher number of students who have no clear idea of where their future career will take them. The level of vocational motivation in such students would understandably be much lower than in students studying Medicine, Engineering or Teaching.
Speaking as one of the new middle class and a father of two teenaged children, both currently studying for higher qualifications, I can say that my daughter works harder, is more focused and more determined than my son. However, that has been the case since they were young children. My daughter was a first grandchild for both mine and my wife’s family. My son was the third grandchild, but critically the first grandson. The way in which the working class grandparents reacted to them was very different.
As the oldest grandchild, my daughter was always encouraged to excel. As the oldest grandson, my son was always expected to excel. A critical difference.
It would be a much more significant finding if the research were repeated and the same results obtained using students from different social backgrounds and on a range of vocational courses. Drawing general conclusions from such a narrow sample cannot be either statistically or socially valid.
Anyway, shorthand starts next week as well. 100words per minute! not as easy as it sounds. Booked tickets for Al Murray on 8th October and Jimmy Carr on 17th January. Well if I'm in Sunderland I might as well make the most of it! NCTJ Exams on December 10th for Court Reporting and January 14th for General Reporting, plus 3,000 word assignment to be handed in before Christmas. I think I'm going to be a busy boy!
Friday, 25 September 2009
Stage Coach Top Men in Hartlepool Meeting
Further to the recent North Neighborhood Forum I have been in discussions with Stagecoach and have been trying to put together a public meeting to discus the services relating to St.Hilda Ward. I have now been able to arrange for the Managing Director of Stagecoach North East, Mr.John Conroy and the Commercial Director, Mr.Robin Knight, to attend the meeting. These are the two top men in the North East and they do not attend meetings like this very often. This being the case I don't think the agenda should be limited to just St.Hilda Ward!
The meeting will be on Wednesday 7th October in the Borough Hall, 6.00pm for 6.30pm. As these are the top men I am opening the meeting to anyone in Hartlepool who wants to attend.
I have contacted the Mayor and all the Hartlepool Borough Councillors for whom I have e-mail addresses to ask if there are any specific questions that anyone would like to ask these two Gentlemen, petitions to present, etc, I can then put together an agenda to kick the meeting off. The Borough Hall is booked till 9.00pm.
I have also spoken to the Hartlepool Mail about the meeting and they will be running a feature about the meeting next week. I hope we can drum up a good cross section of the Councilors and general public to come along to get these two Directors out of their comfort zone. I cannot emphasize enough that it has been stressed to me that these people don't come down from their "Ivory Towers" very often so we have to get it right on the night as we in Hartlepool will probably only get one go at it.
The meeting will be on Wednesday 7th October in the Borough Hall, 6.00pm for 6.30pm. As these are the top men I am opening the meeting to anyone in Hartlepool who wants to attend.
I have contacted the Mayor and all the Hartlepool Borough Councillors for whom I have e-mail addresses to ask if there are any specific questions that anyone would like to ask these two Gentlemen, petitions to present, etc, I can then put together an agenda to kick the meeting off. The Borough Hall is booked till 9.00pm.
I have also spoken to the Hartlepool Mail about the meeting and they will be running a feature about the meeting next week. I hope we can drum up a good cross section of the Councilors and general public to come along to get these two Directors out of their comfort zone. I cannot emphasize enough that it has been stressed to me that these people don't come down from their "Ivory Towers" very often so we have to get it right on the night as we in Hartlepool will probably only get one go at it.
Like losing a limb!
I have been the victim of a vicious and nasty attack! For once this wasn't in the Hartlepool Council Chamber, it wasn't even in the Hartlepool Mail or a stab in the back from someone in UKIP! No it was a virus that wiped out my computer. It required new hardwear to actually get my machine moving again, although we did also eventually find two re-sets on the mother board that weren't even shown on the manufacturer's schematics! One advantage of the whole incident has been that I've re-loaded my PC with Windows XP and dumped that bloody awful Vista!
So normal blogging service should be resumed from now on.
I was a little bit misty eyed on Thursday when the UKIP Regional Organisers met in London and I wasn't there. The end of an era, the new North East RO was in attendance and as soon as he is confirmed in place I'll be passing my responsibilities in that area over to him. Good luck Gordon is all I will say, oops I've let it slip now! From the reports I've had I didn't miss much at the meeting, the former UKIP Leader and former UKIP Treasurer turned up and I don't think I'm on the Christmas Card List of either of them!
I am still undertaking responsibility for producing the General Election Address but of course that depends upon who is elected as the new leader of UKIP since he (or she) will then be able to bring in their own team should they wish it. Good luck to them as well.
I attended my first session today for my NCTJ course, I have to learn shorthand! it is apparently fairly easy to learn but hard to acquire the minimum speeds, sounds like Chess, easy to learn how to play but very difficult to become amy good at the ngame. As a "magazine" journalist I only (only!) need to get to 80 words per minute, if I was doing the News Option then it's 100 words per minute. Core modules in semester one are Principles and Practices of Magazine Journalism, Media Law and Media in Society. In Semester two Media Ethics is compulsory. Media Ethics? Contradiction in terms?
The course leader turned out to be a former colleague of Piers Merchant from his days on the Newcastle Journal. He, like all of us was very sad about Pier's death. A good man taken too young.
I haven't been neglecting my other duties while the PC has been down. The sixth form college governors meetings and of course Council work have all been on-going. In fact I have a major announcement going out next week in the Hartlepool Mail about Stage Coach and the buss services in the town. Actually I think I'll preview that now in another post!
So normal blogging service should be resumed from now on.
I was a little bit misty eyed on Thursday when the UKIP Regional Organisers met in London and I wasn't there. The end of an era, the new North East RO was in attendance and as soon as he is confirmed in place I'll be passing my responsibilities in that area over to him. Good luck Gordon is all I will say, oops I've let it slip now! From the reports I've had I didn't miss much at the meeting, the former UKIP Leader and former UKIP Treasurer turned up and I don't think I'm on the Christmas Card List of either of them!
I am still undertaking responsibility for producing the General Election Address but of course that depends upon who is elected as the new leader of UKIP since he (or she) will then be able to bring in their own team should they wish it. Good luck to them as well.
I attended my first session today for my NCTJ course, I have to learn shorthand! it is apparently fairly easy to learn but hard to acquire the minimum speeds, sounds like Chess, easy to learn how to play but very difficult to become amy good at the ngame. As a "magazine" journalist I only (only!) need to get to 80 words per minute, if I was doing the News Option then it's 100 words per minute. Core modules in semester one are Principles and Practices of Magazine Journalism, Media Law and Media in Society. In Semester two Media Ethics is compulsory. Media Ethics? Contradiction in terms?
The course leader turned out to be a former colleague of Piers Merchant from his days on the Newcastle Journal. He, like all of us was very sad about Pier's death. A good man taken too young.
I haven't been neglecting my other duties while the PC has been down. The sixth form college governors meetings and of course Council work have all been on-going. In fact I have a major announcement going out next week in the Hartlepool Mail about Stage Coach and the buss services in the town. Actually I think I'll preview that now in another post!
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
Saturday, 12 September 2009
Curate's Egg
Well, what a can of worms my last post has opened up! I contacted several senior party members asking for their opinion. A sizable minority have just ignored me, which of course tells me something and the rest of the feedback has ranged from very, very supportive through to brutally dismissive! You really do find out who your friends are when you stick your head above the parapet on this sort of thing don't you!
On the other hand there might not even be a Leadership election, let's face it if Nigel Farage changed his mind and decided to stay on as leader then he'd be re-appointed by acclimation!
On the other hand there might not even be a Leadership election, let's face it if Nigel Farage changed his mind and decided to stay on as leader then he'd be re-appointed by acclimation!
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