Election 2005 - Labour Thump the Tub
By Johnny Mare, Political Editor March 2005
Last month, Northenden.Net (Lee) devoted far too many column inches to The Rose, a crappy photocopied newsletter. This month I'm pleased to say, we have a publication which shows these guys a thing or two about how it should really be done. No, I'm not talking about the Liberal Democrat newsletter (but, we cover this extensively elsewhere on the site). I am in fact referring to Labour's OTHER publication, the council newsletter Northenden Matters. It's glossy, colourful and most importantly it's packed full of stories and information which we broke exclusively on Northenden.Net several weeks ago. Good to see it's not just the Liberal Democrats who are reading our site then.
The Pauls visit the set of The Bill
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When we sat down to write our piece about Northenden Matters, we were totally blown away by the quality of this publication. So just imagine how completely gobsmacked we were when the next item from Labour's impressive electioneering arsenal landed on the desk; a brand new, full colour, glossy edition of our old favourite, The Rose. Full marks to Labour Club for taking us all by surprise and keeping up the pressure on the opposition. We're now devoting this article to the new Rose and giving Northenden Matters its own piece.
Much of The Rose this time, focuses on the efforts of local MP Mr. Paul Goggins. I've met this guy and I can tell you, he is a completely top bloke. If I had to tell you that I thought anyone was worth voting for, it would be Paul. I don't however have to tell you this, because I am of course completely impartial and so I'm not going to criticise him or make statements like "You should all be voting for this guy on May 5th."
Surely though, this Metrolink business with the Liberals is worth a look. It's curious how The Rose always seems to pick issues which have a go at the Liberal Democrats whilst never managing to mention them by name, an honour reserved only for the Tories. The reason for this is simple - on a national scale, the Liberals aren't seen as serious competition to Labour. Indeed, Labour's "Don't let the Tories wreck it" strapline is a national piece of branding. "Not mentioning the Liberals" is part of this. Plus, we don't want to give the electorate the impression that we spend much time worrying about the Liberals, either.
Nevertheless, an opportunity to wind them up can't be passed up, and nothing seems to wind them up better than finding an issue where Labour are percieved to have caused some problem, and which the Liberals start to campaign over - like the library closure - and then to go and announce that we've sorted it out and saved the whole thing. Oh, did the Liberals have a campaign? Sorry, never heard of it. So recently, the Liberals have started campaigning against an alleged Labour Central Office scheme to cancel the extension of the Metrolink through Wythenshawe. Labour Club thought it was their lucky day - and The Rose has this much to say:
Over the last few months, Paul has been campaigning to get the Metrolink back on track. Paul said, "I've had a meeting with the Prime Minister and the Transport Secretary to press the case for Metrolink. Confirmation that £520 Million is still on the table is good news for Wythenshawe. I will be supporting an early bid for funds to upgrade the existing system that runs through Sale. Metrolink matters to our local communities which is why your local Labour team will continue the campaign to bring trams to Wythenshawe, Manchester Airport and Sale Moor".
Some people have criticised the skirting of the issue of resurrecting the plans to extend the tram system to Wythenshawe. However, this is not really relevant to Northenden, and it is in fact completely false that the plans were scrapped by John Prescott. It was in fact all scrapped by the Conservative government in March 1997. So, I'll move on.
Northenden pensioners stand to benefit significantly when Labour are re-elected on May 5th. This is of course, great news for everyone.
It's not easy being old. Our councillors seem to have a pretty good understanding of this. Important issues to pensioners include continued improvement to health services, which looks certain to continue with Labour at the helm. Increases in pensions are on the cards with plenty of free money to pay winter fuel bills. The recent decision to close down Benchill post office instead of Sharston or the one in Northenden means that you can still have a chinwag in the queue without being ignored or having to wait for about 500 local businesses to send out their documents whilst your bunions are killing you. Benchill is also a notoriously unsafe area for pensioners, whilst Northenden village is completely free of muggers and sundry other riff-raff. So, stop moaning about crime, the weather and social decline and vote for Labour, Missus. Thanks.
All in all, this edition of The Rose represents excellent value for money and is superbly produced. A superlative piece of election publicity from the Labour Party. I'm looking forward to many more years of their excellent leadership. So let's all keep the red flag flying.