A GLASS HALF FULL

 ”There is no such thing as society.” Margaret Thatcher, wicked witch of Grantham.

“Human rights culture has infected every part of our life.” David Cameron, Bullingdon Club veteran.

Back in 1215, even Britain’s robber barons recognised there was something wrong with letting the school bullies run the schoolyard. So the Magna Carta was written, a one page document that laid out the rights of all. It was basically aimed at reining in King John but it also started our road to democracy and human rights.

Someone said to me the other day that whoever you vote for in Britain, you’re screwed. On what basis does living in Britain, compared to most countries on the planet, constitute being screwed? We are born into a safe, supportive society which educates us, guards our health, protects us from invasion, crime, disease, starvation and oppression. Of course, it could always be better but “screwed”?

This lack of balance is becoming all too typical. We are so untroubled in Britain but so determined to complain that we believe every foreigner is either stealing our jobs or our benefits, every teenager with a hooded sweatshirt is a vandal, every man in a paedophile, every other country is out to get us and every politician is a crook. Yet do we vote? Do we participate in improving society? Not many of us, no. I hear it all the time, “Where’s the point?”

As I see the pictures of millions of Afghanis, Iranians, Zimbabweans and Iraqis risking their lives to vote, I feel ashamed that we live in one of the most privileged and beautiful countries in the world and yet we can’t be bothered. The reason I’m standing for Parliament in the next election is because I got fed up with complaining and yet doing nothing. I really do want to make a difference – to improve the things that can be improved and to protect the things that I cherish about being British. It’s not a power trip and it’s not the best way of making friends at the moment. It’s about getting involved in helping something I love.

What are you going to do? Well, you could start by voting and by thinking hard about who you’re voting for. Don’t just do what your dad did. Don’t just do what the papers or Jeremy Paxman tell you. Find out whether your favourite party has actually selected a candidate for you who will do the job or whether you’ve been landed with a party sheep? Read the party websites and the candidates’ blogs, read articles about them, read the oppositions arguments against them. Judge for yourself.

Then, why not volunteer? Stand for your parish, town, district or county council, or against me. You could stand for the education board or the hospital trust board or volunteer for the scouts. Age Concern are begging for volunteers to help the elderly in Wyre Forest (it’s only a couple of hours a week). There are endless charity shops, faith groups, hospital visitor groups, sponsored events. Dare I say you could even join a political party and help get your favourite candidate elected! You could join mine via www.wyreforestlibdems.org, if you’d like.

If one thing should come out of the current economic collapse it should be that we cannot sit back and leave it to those currently at the top. If we, we will end up back where we were before the Magna Carta with just a few, very rich bullies kicking us around. Check out who have been put up as your local candidates in the next general elections.  Democracy and community and humanity are precious things. Let’s help protect them for our own sakes.

Neville Farmer

Parliamentary Spokesman

Wyre Forest Liberal Democrats

 

DO THEY LEARN NOTHING?

Convicted criminal, Cllr Mumshad Ahmed, says he wants to draw a line under the happenings of the last few weeks. How dare he? Because he didn’t tell the voters that he was up on a charge he knew would stick, they won’t be able to draw a line under it for years.

He says in the Shuttle at he admitted his guilt from the outset. If so, how come the Tories didn’t know they had a criminal standing for them on June 4th? Surely, the party placed an obligation on him to inform them when he was banned from driving last December or when he was charged with driving while banned on two further occasions? Our local LibDem party has had to instigate such rules after past problems with unelected members but Ahmed was already an elected representative and should surely have made a commitment not to bring the party or council into disrepute?

If Cllr Ahmed had really admitted his guilt from the outset, did the Tories of Wyre Forest not question why he was driving to their HQ, Margaret Thatcher House, as one of the convictions states?

Cllr Ahmed’s case is not as Wyre Forest District Council leader, John Campion understates, a “lapse of judgement.” What he did was wilful criminality. As for Cllr Campion saying he was disappointed but supported Councillor Ahmed! Would he have said that if the drunk driver had run down a child or caused a serious accident while banned and uninsured? I believe in people being allowed to atone for their crimes but Cllr Ahmed actually stood for election while awaiting a trial he knew he would lose.

David Cameron talks of cleaning up the Conservative party. He has sacked senior MPs for non-criminal offences. Wyre Forest’s Tory council cabinet are supporting a convicted criminal, humiliating their membership and demonstrating contempt for the law and for their constituents.

I call on Dr Richard Taylor MP, Nigel Knowles (Labour PPC), Lib Dem Cllr Helen Dyke, Cllr Fran Oborski of the Liberal Party, Health Concern Cllr Howard Martin, Kate Spohrer of the Green Party, Mike Wrench of Ukip and Mark Garnier, Conservative candidate to join me in writing to David Cameron to request Mumshad Ahmed’s expulsion from the Conservative Party and for him and John Campion to vacate their posts forthwith.

Neville Farmer

Parliamentary Spokesman

Wyre Forest Liberal Democrats

 

Don’t trust a Tory with your money

If there was ever a reason for voting out Gordon Brown it is the state of the economy. However, if there was ever a reason for not voting the Tories in it is the same one.

For, who is the man who the Tories trust as their party treasurer and chief fundraiser? Why, Mr Michael Spencer, the Chief Executive of the two companies that supplies Wyre Forest’s credit rating service and brokered the Wyre Forest Council £9 million investment deal with the Icelandic banks.

On the 11^th June, the Independent newspaper said, “The Communities Select Committee say in a scathing report that the Financial Services Agency (FSA) should investigate whether it is appropriate for one part of Mr Spencer’s ICAP empire to assist council finance officers with council investments while another part receives fees for brokering the deals. This could give rise to “actual or perceived conflicts of interest”, it said.”

In all, 51 councils accepted Butlers’ credit rating services and invested £470 million in Iceland. Of them, 16 percent, including Wyre Forest DC, also took on the services of ICAP to broker the deals.

Though Butlers insist they are “segregated” from ICAP, Wyre Forest’s Treasury Management Review Panel report of February 19th says the Butlers representatives called themselves the “go between” for WFDC and ICAP. The report makes interesting reading. You can find the link on http://www.wyreforest.gov.uk/council/docs/doc39536_20090219_cabinet_report.pdf 

The rather restrained document exonerates Wyre Forest’s own financial officers, largely because they weren’t qualified enough to be responsible, with the council relying instead on Butlers. In return, Butlers says it is only a credit rating agency and offered Wyre Forest no investment advice.

If this sounds like buck-passing, the government Select Committee report puts it this way…”Responsibility for local authorities’ investment decisions lies, and must lie, with the local authorities themselves. However, the claim by some treasury management advisers that they give information only, not advice, on investment counterparty creditworthiness is, in our view, misleading.”

What is not misleading is that while Wyre Forest’s residents are £9 million out of pocket, ICAP, Butlers and Michael Spencer are not and Butlers continues to be under contract to Wyre Forest until September 2010.

So, there’s Tory financial management for you. I know that as a Lib Dem I’m biased, but even the Mail on Sunday, The Observer and former Tory chancellor, Nigel Lawson seem to think Vince Cable MP is a better man to revive our economy than George “Flipper” Osborne. Flipper’s chums in the banking industry might disagree but who are they to judge?

Neville Farmer

 

THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN

As everyone now knows, Churchill, unwitting and doubtless grave-spinning icon of BNP and Ukip, said democracy was the worst kind of government apart from all the other kinds, or words to that effect. Last week’s Euro elections showed the downside of democracy.

Satisfied that the Daily Telegraph and the rabid pack of hacks slavering at their heels must have told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about politicians, the populace voted with its feet. Only just over a third voted, at all. Many people didn’t because they said all politicians were crooks. Many of those who did voted for fringe parties, as though they must be clean and only the three main parties were at the trough. Many voted for Ukip, a party with one former MEP in prison for fraud, one awaiting trial, two sacked,  a self-confessed single purpose and no concept of government. Some voted BNP, though for all the money spent, no more than last time.

What all of this illuminated was a great failing in the political classes. We have spent decades navel-gazing while the public became more and more isolated. Tony Blair was undoubtedly the worst at putting out messages yet ignoring the responses but Margaret Thatcher wouldn’t listen to anyone without a very positive bank balance, John Major had the communications skills of a whelk and Gordon Brown seems irritated the public even exists.

Few politicians of any hue recognised the public’s disenchantment in time. Even in Wyre Forest, local politicians claim that the public knows what they know and will act accordingly. But they don’t and the vote showed it.

Barely a week goes by when a letter doesn’t appear in the Shuttle claiming councillors earn fortunes and all politicians are crooks – a statement based on no evidence whatsoever that the writers would be horrified at if applied to rumours about themselves. However hard a councillor might work and however little they are rewarded for their efforts, the public doesn’t believe it.

So what to do? Well, we could start by handing a few of the responsibilities of government back to the public. Let’s stop thinking we need nannying all the time. Let’s refute any demand that “the government should be doing something about this” for every little thing. And let’s start working together once we are elected. Let’s end the offensive practice of denying district councillors access to county information unless they’re Tories – classic soviet practice if even there was. Let’s make the truth about allowances and the details of expenses public, so people can judge for themselves who’s honest and who’s creaming it.

In central government, we could also start removing the powers of whips, PR consultants and advertising agents, while MPs just do what they’re told. The richer parties hide behind these slick message machines and we have no idea whether our local candidates can even speak.

We could use our local press more – insisting that all politicians and candidates report on their activities every week so the public can see who they might be voting, or against, next time round.

And the public? Well let’s get off our butts and find out just who is representing us – and I don’t mean read the Telegraph and believe it verbatim, because they merely serve the agenda of the Barclay Brothers and their banker friends. We live in an information age and it’s easy to do a little research about candidates to get a broader view.

After all, merely not voting or protesting by voting for a fringe party out of spite is to doom us to four or five years of truly awful government…  as we will shortly discover.

Neville Farmer

Parliamentary Spokesman,

Wyre Forest Liberal Democrats

 

SET YOUR OWN BOUNDARIES

Politicians… and the rest of us… seem to have forgotten that rules are no substitute for moral judgement

 

GOVERNMENT BELONGS TO US

We could look at the crisis in Parliament in two ways; we could throw our arms in the air and give up, shredding our ballot papers or deliberately voting for someone extreme that we don’t really want OR we could take the opportunity to grab back our democracy.

In Zimbabwe, Iraq and other countries where the right to vote is new, fresh and seen as a great privilege, people will queue for hours and risk their lives to make their small statement on the type of government they would like working for them.

Here, we have forgotten how lucky we are to have a vote, at all. For years, I was just as bad, thinking there was little point voting because they were all the same. I didn’t think about the thousands who’d died fighting to give us a democracy, disempowering the robber barons who ruled by the sword from their palaces and castles.

Well, they say we get the government we deserve we are now paying the price for being complacent about the representatives that we employed. Because we haven’t kept a weather eye on the candidates the parties offer us, we are now paying for chandelier and moat cleaning for a cartoon caricature cabal of privately wealthy toffs and funding the property speculation of some champagne socialists who are, without doubt, playing the system. We haven’t cared about our government, so why should they?

Now, I see this as an opportunity for us. Perhaps it’s time we started studying not just the parties, but the people they give us. When we vote in the European and County elections next week, and the general election in a few months, let’s start taking a bit more interest in who is standing and what they are standing for. Do they really know the people they are representing? Do they argue intelligently or just toe the party line like a sheep? Can they debate well and so win your argument for you? Is their background knowledge useful to the job they’re going to do? Do they really seem to care or just turn up at the opening of an envelope with nothing of their own to say?

There are plenty of ways of doing it and it’s no good saying you haven’t got time. It’s too important to leave to parties or pressure groups to choose who is going to make our big decisions for the next five years. Every party has a website; most candidates have blogs. They’re all spun to suit their argument, but compare and you’ll soon work out what they really mean. The local press could do more but letters pages are a window into the attitudes of candidates – see if you can spot a standard letter sent by party central office or an honest self-penned expression by a candidate? Leaflets might be little more than adverts, but they often tell you something about the type of person who wrote it, as well as things about their opposition.

Then, cross-check their claims against government statistics, independent research and a range of the quality press. Are they lying to you or just trying to scare you with a twisted version of the truth? If so, you know where not to vote. And if the candidate is already in power, check out their performance on their authority website. Wyre Forest District Councillors, for instance, publish their expenses, attendance records and other aspects on the council website ( for 08-09 in Wyre Forest, see http://www.wyreforestdc.gov.uk/e-dms/resources/includes/file.php?id=2964) and you are entitled to go and view their detailed expenses as and when you like.

In the next two elections, let’s take our democracy back. Let’s choose our representatives on the basis of sound knowledge, rather than tradition. Let’s choose men and women who will represent us first and the party line second, so they’ll stand up in their assembly and speak freely, rather than being told what to say. Let’s choose people who really know their constituency and their constituents. I’m hoping to stand for parliament next year because, after years of not voting, I’ve finally realised that making Britain better takes community participation. I really believe I could do a better job than the current lot. We can’t just leave it to hereditary toffs, rich spivs and subversive extremists. We need to run our country ourselves and that takes work. Get out and vote but know who you’re voting for.

Neville Farmer Wyre Forest LibDems Parliamentary Spokesman

 

NEVER THOUGHT I’D AGREE WITH HITCHENS

For the first time,  I found myself agreeing with Peter Hitchens last night. We may share little in terms of policy ideas or morality, but he did point ou that the press are so obsessed with getting David Cameron elected, they haven’t noticed that he offers nothing more than Gordon Brown does.

Before you vote Tory, stop for a second, read Cameron’s polcies and ask yourself why you would possibly vote for him… other than the fact you always vote that way.

Two wrongs don’t make a right – think Lib Dem for a Change.

 

WHY PUNISH OURSELVES?

They say you get the government you deserve.  As we light our torches and run up the nooses, let’s be careful about who we hang. The abuses in Parliament is reflected in the behaviour of all of us who’ve forgot that rules are there for those who can’t recognise their own moral boundaries. Bankers, quango management, non-domiciles, tax exiles, celebrities… all are behaving like 18th Century Royals. But then what about friday night binge drinkers, drugs dealers, council tax cheats, road ragers, litterers and benefits fraudsters? Are they not just two sides of the same mirror?

Even those of us who think we fall into neither camp need to be careful. What we have in Britain has taken many centuries and millions of lives to put together. We can’t squander all that work for the sake of giving a few spivs a bloody nose.  Don’t let us pull the whole house down just because we’re unhappy with the wallpaper! Vote in June and vote positively for the decent, tolerant, honest country the best of us want this to be.

Neville Farmer

 

KEEP BIGOTRY OUT OF WYRE FOREST

On his trip to Jordan last week, Pope Benedict said, “Often it is the ideological manipulation of religion, sometimes for political ends, that is the real catalyst for tension and division, and at times even violence, in society.” He was directing his comments at the centuries of misuse of religious teaching to foment bloodshed in the Middle East.

It applies equally to Britain, though. It has taken us 300 years seriously to consider reversing Queen Anne’s 18^th decree that Catholics could not sit on the English throne. Back then, the foiling of the terrorist act called the Gunpowder Plot legitimised the persecution of Catholics just as 9/11 has done for Muslims today. In each case, the idiocy of a few extremists made life hell for their religious compatriots and drove their enemies to the opposite extreme.

Today, no-one seriously considers Catholicism a threat to British life. Similarly, any sensible person knows that “Islamic terrorism” is neither “Islamic” nor part of the lives or thoughts of most peace-loving Muslims. Yet the popular search for someone to blame for our nation’s ills has pushed moderate Brits towards our own extremists, the British National Party. The party is even attempting to ally itself with Jesus Christ in an effort to inflame anti-Muslim attitudes. “What Would Jesus do? Vote BNP,” the party billboard cynically proclaims to the disgust of the church.  

When I met with Wyre Forest’s clergy for breakfast last week, there was clear concern that the BNP should be putting up a candidate in Wyre Forest. But the fact remains that 10 people in St Georges and St Oswalds have nominated a BNP candidate and over 30 people in Wyre Forest have joined the party. I have no desire to publicise the efforts of these misguided people but I hope I can persuade good people of any political persuasion to come out and vote against the BNP on June 4th. As Edmund Burke said, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

Neville Farmer, 

Wyre Forest Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesman

 

PLAYGROUNDS OR PRETTY LIGHTS

There is more to the Wyre Hill Playground funding debacle than meets the eye. Health Concern and the Tories are almost neck-a-neck in running Bewdley Town Council, but Health Concern have the edge. So, the Bewdley West by-election in which the playground sits is a make or break issue for Health Concern and an opportunity for the Tories to teach these independent whippersnappers a lesson… as well as to tighten their grip on local politics.

Over the last year, Health Concern’s Town Councillors fell into a couple of traps in their budgeting. They got agreement that lighting the bridge was a good idea on the basis that a company had offered to do it for free. They also alienated the County youth services department in Worcestershire thinking their Lottery Grant was all they needed to build the Youth Café. Sadly, it appears they didn’t read the small print on the lighting contract offer and they didn’t account for the running costs of the café. So they’re asking for bids on a new lighting contract and have tried to offload youth project funding on other authorities.

The town council gets just 1 percent of its constituents’ council tax payments to spend, so it can‘t afford to make mistakes. However, if it takes the right approach, it can raise funding from other authorities. For instance, it‘s entitled to a grant from WFDC, which has to be spent according to Local Area Agreement Priorities and so is dependent on an itemised bid. Rather than take the diplomatic route to accessing these funds, the Health Concern councillors have tried to bludgeon Wyre Forest‘s Tories into taking responsibility for the playground and put in an un-itemised bid for over £11,000, excluding the playground costs, which they say WFDC should pick up.

Now perhaps they should. They run many of the other play areas but they were not asked first and have set their budgets, which are tightly controlled. So to teach Health Concern a lesson, WFDC’s Tory Cabinet, including Bewdley West Town Council By-Election candidate, Julian Phillips, (who claims to be the chief campaigner to save the playground) have voted to withhold the £11,000 grant until they change their attitude. Health Concern are therefore left swinging in the wind.

It’s a typical example of politics over practicality. We’re all in the same community but both sides have decided to go to war while the community suffers. Wyre Forest’s Tories are technically in the right but is this any way to run local government?

The only real losers in this are the children of Bewdley. They don’t care that the unnecessary by-election cost of about £2500 doesn’t come from the right budget to be spent on the playground. They don’t care who runs their playgrounds. They don’t need to know why Worcester County Council has set aside so little money for youth facilities. They don’t need to know that the all councils have agreed to provide more facilities for children to exercise in across Britain and that Bewdley is failing to meet that agreement. They just want the facilities that they’ve been promised to be provided.

Health Concern haven’t been too clever here. They look like the villains of the piece for apparently placing bridge lighting above children’s health – particularly as they hadn’t done a thing about the weeds infesting the bridge for over a year. One might also question the environmental impact of light pollution and carbon emissions if they do illuminate the bridge.

What really disappoints is that this relatively small issue is being used as a political football at the expense of Bewdley’s kids. The Tories are so determined to wield their might, they don’t care who suffers along the way. Health Concern’s shambolic Bewdley Town Council thought they could tinker with the rules to get around some iffy decision making and questionable budget management.  For the sake of about £3000 and a little co-operation from both sides, the children of Bewdley West could continue to enjoy a popular playground AND Bewdley could have it’s enhanced night-time appearance. But all this is lost in the mire of petty party politics.

Neville Farmer

 

 

A TRAIN LINK FOR FOLEY PARK AND BEWDLEY

Last spring, with the help of Councillors Helen Dyke, Fran Oborski, Mike Price and local Lib Dems, I wrote a 5000 word document of wishes to improve Kidderminster. Doubtless we won’t be credited, but it looks as though some of these are to be brought to fruition.

For me, the one that excited me most was the creation of a light rail shuttle between Bewdley and Kidderminster, using the Severn Valley Railway and stopping at the old halt at Foley Park. It turns out, I discovered, that the local Heatlh Concern councillors had thought the same about five years ago and spent £25,000 on a report into the idea. Sadly, the report suggested the idea was completely unviable.

However, times change, trains are in and having spoken with the Severn Valley Railway General Manager, Nick Ralls, we are of one mind. The redevelopment of the Sugar Beet refinery will provide space for 3000 jobs but with dreadful transport links. Foley Park station would transform that.

Yours truly with MEP Liz Lynne, John Parry, Kate Whittle of Lightweight Community Transport with the Parry PPM50

In addition, I visited Parry People Movers of Cradley with Lib Dem MEP, Liz Lynne. Parry’s and SVR have tried working together before, without success. Yet Parry have now received the first National Rail commission for their flywheel driven 60 passenger tram/trains. The light and very green Parry People Movers (running on a Ford Focus LPG engine) will soon replace the old diesels on the Stourbridge Junction spur line,

So, Liz and I will now start seeking ways to make this project viable, increasing SVR business, adding status to Kidderminster Mainline, improving Stourport Road’s business prospects, giving Bewdley better connections, reducing traffic between Bewdley and Kidderminster and on the Stourport Road bottleneck.

The pieces are all there – including a desire for the SVR to open a diesel shed at the Sugar Beet site and a small freight railhead on the sidings (another suggestion in my original document). Let’s just hope our local politicians will run with the idea and make it happen.  

Who knows, increased passenger numbers might persuade Chiltern Trains to run an hourly service from Kidderminster to London as originally planned; improving the town’s connections and business prospects. It’s this kind of joined-up thinking we really need here.

Neville Farmer

 

BEWDLEY ON THE BRINK

As he’s facing an election this summer, Bewdley’s Tory County Councillor, John Campion might consider whose side he is on – that of his constituents or that of Severn Trent Water and its contractor, Balfour Beatty. The rescheduling of the town centre water works to clash with the vital tourist season in the face of public opposition has inspired a furious reaction from the town’s leaders, yet Cllr Campion has dismissed warnings of business closures as over-reaction.

 

Until last month, Bewdley businesses understood that Balfour Beatty would re-commence work during the quiet winter months but instead, they announced ten weeks of road closures from April to July. Everyone agrees the work needs doing and accepts the inevitable upheaval but not then.  Last year, Severn Trent agreed to avoid disrupting the tourist season, so why not in this especially difficult year? Even with offers to halt work during tourist events local businesses are saying they won’t survive. Cllr Campion, Worcester County Council’s Highways Dept, Severn Trent and Balfour Beatty seem to think that’s a risk worth taking. 

 

“We have spoken to the appropriate parties including the highways department and the decision has been made that the programme should proceed as proposed,” says Balfour Beatty’s Customer Services Manager, Julie Maund in an email rejecting a public request to change the dates. Apparently, the opinions of the fifty angry members of the town council, Bewdley Development Trust, the Chamber of Trade, the business community and local residents who met at the Town Hall on the 2^nd February are considered irrelevant. Indeed, one wonders if “appropriate parties” include anyone who actually lives and works in Bewdley?

 

All politicians have to make unpopular decisions but this seems to be a mistake that could threaten Bewdley’s fragile economy. If Cllr Campion, who is also the head of the Wyre Forest’s Tory District Council, wishes to retain his County Councillor’s allowance, perhaps he should remember who pays it.

 

—————————–

 

As I’ve submitted the above to the press, I’ve not altered it but in the light of subsequent events, I thought I should add this update…

 

Cllr Campion, having previously said that Bewdley’s business owners were “Doomsday sayers” (?) for suggesting they risked bankruptcy, has offered his support to the campaign to postpone the road work programme. However welcome this volte face might be, it comes rather late. Cllr Campion says that the County Council couldn’t refuse the planning application for works starting in April because they didn’t have a good reason to object!!!!  Well, why didn’t he give them the reason that is so obvious to everyone else in Bewdley when it was discussed in the County Council – because it threatens the town’s economy?

 

He also says that the utilities involved in the works were forcing through the programme and the council had no say. This contradicts a well-substantiated rumour from one of the utilities that the council were blocking attempts to postpone the project. Where is Bewdley’s voice in that discussion?

 

What is critical here is that Bewdley’s businesses capitalise on the vital tourist season this year. But this episode does beg another question. If the town council and Richard Taylor MP, as elected representatives know what the issues are in Bewdley; and if as yet unelected activists like me are in touch with Bewdley’s business issues; and if the unelected bodies representing Bewdley such as the Bewdley Development Trust and the Chamber of Trade can unite behind this cause, why is the town’s County Council representative so out of touch?

 

I’m quite sure John Campion works his socks off trying to run Wyre Forest District Council but does that really leave him enough time to devote to Bewdley’s County Council needs? Isn’t it a bit like Boris Johnson trying to be Mayor of London and MP for Henley?

 

Neville Farmer

Parliamentary Spokesman, Wyre Forest Liberal Democrats

 

 

 

 

PEOPLE POWER IN BEWDLEY

Well done to the people of Bewdley and congratulations to John Campion on his change for the better. A week ago they were “Doomsday Sayers”, according to their County Councillor and today , he has successfully negotiated the agreement of Severn Trent, e-on, National Grid, Balfour Beatty and, amazingly, Worcestershire County Council to postpone the water works until next January.  Hopefully, in future,  Bewdley’s County Councillor might try being a little more in touch with his constituents.

 

IDEAS FOR BEWDLEY?

In many ways, Bewdley is the jewel in Wyre Forest’s crown, a beautifully preserved Georgian gem, which could thrive in the recession as thousands of Brits decide to holiday at home.

It’s recent trials have united the town’s leaders and key players as never before, so what better time is there to start looking at ways of ensuring it gets its fair share of the tourist purse?

Having spent some time over the last year discussing ideas and problems with local businesses, I’d like to pitch in a few ideas of my own and see what people think?

BEWDLEY

 

COMMUNITY COLLABORATIONS

 

1. Create new and relevant business association – This looks quite likely as for some time the Chamber of Trade has struggled to win the support of newer traders in the town. Sometimes these things need refreshing with new blood and new ideas.
2. Increase support for the Town Council to take on issues with WFDC and WCC – The Town Council has been more or less emasculated by Wyre Forest DC, which is all fine and legal but it is the elected body of the town and better communication and respect between the town and district authorities could give the WFDC better eyes and ears in the town. The same goes for the relationship between the town and county, as the recent debacle over road works shows. According to the county, the Town Council didn’t turn up for planning meetings and according to the town, the County Councillor didn’t consult with them. Either way, this can be improved for the sake of residents and traders.
3. Improve relationships between the SVR and new town association – Bewdley lost out badly when it ceased to be the terminus of the Severn Valley Railway. A traditional shuttle bus between station and town, better signage and a decent, large car park for commuters could change that situation. SVR and the town could both benefit from closer ties and the railway’s representation on the new trading association would help strengthen ties.
4. Seek clarification as to what the BDT needs to access AWM grants –  The Bewdley Development Trust has the potential to do good things for the town but it seems to be hamstrung between decisions at WFDC and the development authorities. Time is running out for the BDT to become self-sustaining, so this needs addressing promptly.
5. Start a Bewdley regeneration fund – Fund-raisers strengthen communities and lift the whole town. Bewdley needs to help itself as much as it needs outside assistance.
6. Collaborate with The Bridge, BDT, Chamber of Trade current members – Town Council and Shuttle to create a public consultation for a new plan for Bewdley. Nothing enhances the chances of success than full community involvement.

 

A FEW IDEAS

 

1. Dredge the river for boats – I realise this will attract a negative reaction from some anglers and newcomers on Severnside South, but it need not do so. Bewdley was built as a river port. Its quayside is ideal as the ultimate destination for river travellers, attracting business for the town, the railway, the forest and the safari park. It would add a real energy to the town on regatta weekend, especially. This is an expensive project as it means dredging a number of different points between Bewdley and Stourport. Clearly, it requires a lot of negotiation. The change in river flow will change the type of fish swimming here but for the better, adding variety and quality. For the residents of Severnside South and North, I believe the increased activity, while adding a small amount of disruption, is only returning the waterfront to the active part of the town it was built to be. 
2. Establish a Bewdley Chartermark for local farmers, manufacturers and producers – It would be wonderful if it were possible to open a weekly market on Load Street as it was designed to support but for the moment, it makes sense for local food retailers to support local farmers and food producers. It makes a good selling point for visitors to know their food has been produced to high standards within the area. The same goes for products such as Bewdley beer, Totally Patched quilts, artworks, clay pipes, jewellery, stained glass and carpentry from the museum.
3. Establish a Friends of Bewdley discount card – This is one for the new trading association but a Bewdley loyalty card could offer discounts in retailers, email notification of events and special benefits for SVR and Safari Park users. If also sold at those tourist attractions, it could increase the number of visitors continuing into Bewdley itself. There should also be a residents’ card that gives discounts to events etc and encourages locals to shop locally.
4. Begin a Beautiful Bewdley competition to persuade landlords to improve shopfronts and houses – too many properties on Bewdley’s main streets look neglected. The regeneration fund and prizes for effort could reduce that problem.
5. Establish SVR Shuttle line – This benefits all of Wyre Forest, cutting traffic between Bewdley, Stourport and Kidderminster, improving the viability of the Stourport Road industrial Zone, improving the SVR’s business and adding to the possibility of Kidderminster getting an hourly London service on Chiltern Rail as was originally planned. Interestingly, Chiltern has already approached SVR about running this service and SVR is keen to operate it itself.
6. Open an SVR halt at the back of the Safari Park – Although the Safari Park is built for cars, safari buses could take pedestrian passengers from the Severn Valley Railway on trips through the park. This might decrease Bewdley Road traffic and increase business in Kidderminster and Bewdley. It would be a matter for the Safari Park and SVR to fund the project but WFDC planning dept should look favourably at the idea.
7. Seek better parking and transport for Bewdley Station – a shuttle service between Bewdley, Foley Park and Kidderminster on the SVR is only possible if there is adequate and additional parking at Bewdley Station. This is a tough one to overcome but it needs addressing urgently.
8. Seek arts funding for a theatre company such as Pentabus to come to Bewdley’s new St George’s hall – Bewdley should have the same cultural cache as Ludlow and the presence of a high quality fringe theatre company  here will add to the possibilities for cultural events.
9. Move the fire station to Bridge House – the redevelopment of St George’s Hall and the library/medical centre complex offers the opportunity to put the fire station somewhere more effective and accessible than Dog Lane car park. Plans are in place to move it 100 yards but that still leaves emergency vehicles trapped by the Welch Gate bottleneck. Bridge house, across the river, is in disrepair and is partly for sale. With emergency traffic lights fitted either side of the bridge, placing the fire station there would give faster access to all parts of the town and Wribbenhall and would rid Bewdley’s waterfront of a hideous seventies eyesore.
10. Ensure the new community/library/medical centre adds to the town’s aesthetic – the district council has asked that the new complex be a high quality modern design rather than a cheap mock-Georgian copy. This is commendable but runs risks. The architects have told me that budgetary short-cuts will make really good quality modern construction unfeasible. Unless the modernity makes a truly lasting positive statement, we could end up with a building little better and much bigger than the ones it replaces. The public need to watch this space very closely. Further, the single lane access from Load Street through to Dog Lane needs maintaining and it takes a small but vital amount of pressure off Welch Gate.

 

These are just a few ideas to think about for Bewdley. Clearly, they are not costed and so some may prove unviable as the economy changes but hopefully they’ll provoke more ideas. I’ll add more as they come up but please let me know your thoughts.

 

 

FIVE YEARS SINCE MORCAMBE BAY

Last week I was very proud to play a small part in organising an event to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the tragedy in Morcambe Bay where 23 Chinese illegal immigrants drowned while picking cockles. In stark contrast, it was a very glamorous event, hosted by Hong Kong entrepreneur, Sir David Tang and filmmaker, Nick Broomfield, who wrote and directed “Ghosts”, a film about the tragedy.  It was organised by Sir David, Nick and a number of Chinese and British activists, including myself and Merlene Emerson from the Chinese Liberal Democrats. Attendees came from across the political spectrum, including Lord and Lady Patton  (HK’s last British Governor), Labour MP Andrew Dismore (Chair of the All Party China in Britain Group of which I’m a member) and stars such as Annie Lennox. The aim was to highlight the plight of the thousands of Chinese and others who are robbed and seduced by people traffickers to make the perilous journey to Europe in search of money to support their families. We also wanted to raise money for the 35 orphans of the cocklepickers, many of whom had to give up schooling to pay off their dead parents debts to the criminal gangs who led them to their deaths.

The event, at London’s Electric Cinema, included speeches from Sir David and others, a 20 minute edited version of “Ghosts”, and an auction. With pledges and cheques received on the night and from elsewhere, we raised £85,000. This is enough to pay for the schooling of all the orphans until they are 20 years old, ensuring they will never be tempted to make such a perilous and fruitless journey.

This is part of an on-going campaign by myself and a growing body of other activists to fight the activities of unscrupulous gang-masters, greedy employers and the traffickers who bring illegal workers here every year. But we also aim to show that many of these illegals, far from scrounging off the state, are victims themselves; hard-working people, conned into taking inordinate risks in search of a better life for their families.

Neville Farmer, Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesperson, Wyre Forest

 

HALESOWEN PENSIONERS INSPIRE

I spent a very lively couple of hours with the Pensioners’ Convention in Halesowen this week. Thanks to Gordon and Beryl for inviting me and making me so welcome.  Special thanks to the tough questioners who taught me so much about the trials and tribulations our modern life lands upon our elderly citizens. Between Margaret Thatcher and Gordon Brown governments have consistently fudged the issues that matter to pensioners, happier giving tax breaks to their super-rich buddies than helping those who fought and worked to make Britain livable.

People’s rose-tinted view of Thatcher as a great Prime Minister is so, so far short of reality and her mean-spirited termination of the link between earnings and pensions exemplifies that.  Gordon Brown’s belief that means tested, over-complex and dishonest Pension Credit system was a decent response to the problem demonstrates his inability to function in the real world.

That both main parties have now committed to restoring the link by 2015 shows how little they understand what they’re doing to our elderly. How many people have and will die in poverty by 2015 because of Thatcher’s snatch of their pension rights? Currently, 2.5 million people – former tax payers, war heroes and parents of our citizens are living below the poverty line because they thought their National Insurance contribution would give them a decent pension until  Thatcher’s government reneged on the promise in 1980. 

Thanks to her, who many still regard as a heroine, pensioners now earn less in real terms than they did in the 1950s.  Worse, Gordon Brown’s Pension Credit bureaucracy, which frightens most people away and even its own officers couldn’t understand, asks for the minutest detail about a pensioners assets yet happily mis-calculates the interest they would earn from their  savings to an outrageous 10 percent – 10 times the current truth! Frankly, it’s callous and little short of criminal.

I’m proud that my party would rather save money elsewhere, closing super-rich tax dodges and restore this link immediately. I reckon 2.5 million people lifted out of poverty would be a pretty good first step for a new government, don’t you?

Neville Farmer

 

BEWDLEY’S BRIGHT FUTURE

Contrary to a certain “doomsday sayer”, I’ve been busy over the last months discussing  positive ideas for Bewdley with local businesses and residents. I actually put this together a while ago but it’s now being debated by the movers and shakers of the town, so it would be great to hear what people think. I’m sure some won’t like everything here, but constructed criticism would be more useful than a slanging match, if you don’t mind. Please read on… Neville Farmer, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesperson for Wyre Forest.

A FEW IDEAS

 

1. Establish a Wyre Forest Chartermark for local farmers, manufacturers and producers – this is for the whole area – It would be wonderful if it were possible to open a weekly market on Load Street, as the street was built for but at the very least, it makes sense for local food retailers to support local farmers and food producers. It makes a good selling point for visitors to know their food has been produced to high standards within the area. The same goes for products such as Bewdley beer, Totally Patched quilts, artworks, clay pipes, jewellery, stained glass and carpentry from the museum. Unifying Bewdley through this kind of trade can be managed by the new trading partnership that seems likely to rise from the recent battle over Severn Trent (see elsewhere on this blog).
2. Establish a Friends of Bewdley discount card – This is one for the new trading association but a Bewdley loyalty card could offer discounts in retailers, email notification of events and special benefits to customers of the SVR, Safari Park, Golf Course, Ramada and Forestry Commission. If also sold at those tourist attractions, it could increase the number of visitors continuing into Bewdley itself. There should also be a residents’ card that gives discounts to events etc and encourages locals to shop locally.
3. Create a Bewdley Residents’ version of the discount card – with discounts to exhibitions and shows, restaurants, health clubs, sports clubs and possibly even some shop products. It’s a great way of encouraging loyalty and unifies the community. This could be funded by sponsorship from one of the major businesses who could advertise on the card.  
4. Begin a Beautiful Bewdley competition to persuade landlords to improve shopfronts and houses – too many properties on Bewdley’s main streets look neglected. The regeneration fund and prizes for effort could reduce that problem. Cleaning the bridge might be a good idea, too!
5. Establish SVR Shuttle line – I know I’ve gone one about this on this blog and elsewhere but this benefits all of Wyre Forest. It cuts traffic between Bewdley, Stourport and Kidderminster, improves the viability of the Stourport Road industrial Zone, increases the SVR’s business and adds to the possibility of Kidderminster getting an hourly London service on Chiltern Rail as was originally planned. Interestingly, Chiltern has already approached SVR about running this service and SVR is keen to operate it itself.
6. Open an SVR halt at the back of the Safari Park – Although the Safari Park is built for cars, safari buses could take pedestrian passengers from the Severn Valley Railway on trips through the park. This might decrease Bewdley Road traffic and increase business in Kidderminster and Bewdley. It would be a matter for the Safari Park and SVR to fund the project but WFDC planning dept should look favourably at the idea.
7. Seek better parking and transport for Bewdley Station – a shuttle service between Bewdley, Foley Park and Kidderminster on the SVR is only possible if there is adequate and additional parking at Bewdley Station. This is a tough one to overcome but it needs addressing urgently.
8. Seek arts funding for a theatre company such as Pentabus to come to Bewdley’s new St George’s hall – Bewdley should have the same cultural cache as Ludlow and the presence of a high quality fringe theatre company  here will add to the possibilities for cultural events. It would be a good idea for the Festival Committee to run the cultural programme in the centre but a resident theatre company would add real cache.
9. Dredge the river to allow navigation from  Stourport – I realise this will attract a negative reaction from some anglers and newcomers on Severnside South, but it need not do so. Bewdley was built as a river port. Its quayside is ideal as the ultimate destination for river travellers, attracting business for the town, the railway, the forest and the safari park. It would add a real energy to the town on regatta weekend, especially. This is an expensive project as it means dredging a number of different points between Bewdley and Stourport. Clearly, it requires a lot of negotiation. The change in river flow will change the type of fish swimming here but for the better, adding variety and quality. For the residents of Severnside South and North, I believe the increased activity, while adding a small amount of disruption, returns the waterfront to the active part of the town it was built to be. 
10. Move the fire station to Bridge House – the redevelopment of St George’s Hall and the library/medical centre complex offers the opportunity to put the fire station somewhere more effective and accessible than Dog Lane car park. Plans are in place to move it 100 yards but that still leaves emergency vehicles trapped by the Welch Gate bottleneck. Bridge house, across the river, is in disrepair and is partly for sale. With emergency traffic lights fitted either side of the bridge, placing the fire station there would give faster access to all parts of the town and Wribbenhall and would rid Bewdley’s waterfront of a hideous seventies eyesore.
11. Ensure the new community/library/medical centre adds to the town’s aesthetic – the district council has asked that the new complex be a high quality modern design rather than a cheap mock-Georgian copy. This is commendable but runs risks. The architects have told me that budgetary short-cuts would make really good quality modern construction unfeasible. Unless the modernity makes a truly lasting positive statement, we could end up with a building little better and much bigger than the ones it replaces. The public need to watch this space very closely. Further, the single lane access from Load Street through to Dog Lane needs maintaining and it takes a small but vital amount of pressure off Welch Gate.
12. Create a Wyre Forest Film Location Service – Screen West Midlands is supposed to look after all filming and TV production needs across six counties, including Worcestershire. They have quite substantial funding to assist productions in the region and Wyre Forest offers fantastic location (Georgian streets, river, forest, steam trains, stately homes, churches etc.). This could attract useful income and extra tourism. Screen WM is not going to favour Wyre Forest over anywhere else in the region unless we make it easier for them by funding a brochure, create pages related to film production on the local websites and build a register of property owners interested in being paid to use their property as a location. The area could also provide a location manager on hand who can help fix things (paid freelance when work comes in or given a small retainer). Filming is disruptive and there may be resistance to this idea, but a positive attitude towards it could really boost the area and bring income to those who are disrupted. One successful TV show or film in a location transforms tourist activity and the shoot itself means business for caterers, hotels, bars etc. A successful film can mean substantial long-term tourism business.

 

 

TOTAL BANKERS – TOTALLY BONKERS

“I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principles of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding (i.e. credit), is but swindling futurity on a large scale”

Thomas Jefferson, US President 1801-1809 and author of the Declaration of Independence.

 

“The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temples of our civilisation. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit” 

President FD Roosevelt, Inaugural Speech 1933

 

WYRE FOREST STICKS IT TO LABOUR’S POLICE STATE!

This will stun John Campion…

 

I want to congratulate Worcestershire County Council and Wyre Forest District Council for their bravery!!

 

In the last couple of weeks, a motion proposed by Liberal and District Cllr, Fran Oborski, Lib Dem County Cllr, Di Raynor and Community and Health Concern District Cllr, Howard Martin refusing to co-operate with Government ID card trials was adopted by the Tory cabinets of both councils. Two years ago, the Lib Dem’s new party leader, Nick Clegg was ridiculed for saying he’d rather go to jail than have an ID card but now, even the Tories of Worcestershire have agreed to do the same. Bless them!

 

Sadly, the Labour councillors abstained because they wouldn’t defy their party leaders, even though they know the scheme is wrong. Only two voted against.

 

For those who are still blind to the truth about ID cards, please, please realise that they a serious and expensive threat to your personal freedoms and a cure for nothing. As usual, Gordon Brown is in deep denial and the criminally idiotic Jaqui Smith is ploughing on with something that threatens our very Britishness. Having started out arguing for the cards as a weapon in the war against terrorism, they now suggest they’re about stopping benefit fraud. Yet they will cost far more to implement than the govt’s own estimates of the cost of that fraud and they know it will never stop terrorism. Moreover, they are likely to become a tool for fraudsters. Never mind their incompetence over the economy. This is the true crime of New Labour.

 

·        The British cards will not hold just a photo, a fingerprint, signature and address. These cards are keys to the most valuable database in the world. Identity theft will become easier, not harder. Government after government has failed to protect data. Hackers will inevitably beat the system and this database will be their ultimate target.

·        Far from protecting us from terrorism, placing so much data in one place is likely to increase the risk. Remember, all the Madrid bombers were carrying ID cards when they blew up the trains; the 9/11 bombers were all carrying ID to get on the planes; the London bombers wouldn’t have been checked for theirs if they’d been carrying them; and Pakistan, the world’s most terrorised nation has had compulsory ID cards for 40 years.

·        Blair and Brown’s government officials have lost over 1000 laptops and data sticks. The MoD is shockingly bad at protecting data. If they are, imagine what the Home Office will be like?

·        It is not true that if you haven’t done anything wrong, you’ve nothing to worry about. City database experts say they expect a 10 percent error rate on any database. With some of its other databases, the government has admitted that it didn’t put any error correction procedures into place, so if something is wrong with your data, you probably won’t find out till you’re refused a mortgage, or have your car crushed, your children taken into care, or can’t get into the USA, or get your house raided.  Once you discover the error, it may take you years to get it changed. Yes, these are extreme examples but they are all possible.

·        The Government has already said they will sell the data to certain “accredited” companies. They will also probably divulge the information to the FBI in America for reasons of homeland security. This may well include health information, credit ratings, political leanings and a record of anything you’ve done since you were born – think about it! This could prevent you getting certain jobs, buying air tickets, visiting certain countries, getting a loan, getting insurance.

·        The LSE says it will cost about £20 billion to implement and will cost each of us a small fortune to have a card made, whether we want it or not. The Lib Dems would rather spend this money on the police force, so we don’t need the cards in the first place.

 

Labour spin suggests that the Lib Dems are soft on crime for fighting the cards. Well, we are no longer alone and we are not soft on a criminal government, which has become obsessed with controlling the British people.

 

Remember, the reason we have democracy is so the people own the government, not the other way round. No government has the right to this much control over you. However much we fear terrorism, imagine living in a state where the government knows everything about you. We are now reaching a point where 1984 looks rather tame. As usual, Labour is 25 years behind schedule, but Gordon Brown’s Labour is steadily getting there. Wake up Britain! Well done, Wyre Forest!!!

 

Neville Farmer, Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesperson, Wyre Forest

 

 

WYRE FOREST PENSIONERS ARE AN EASY TARGET

It’s 100 years since the Liberals created the state pension and Pensioners’ Convention members across Britain are “celebrating” this week. I put this in parentheses because, as they’ve told me in no uncertain terms, ”celebration” is not the appropriate word.

Pensioners are now poorer in real terms than they were under the first pension in 1908. Margaret Thatcher’s “tough” (an alternative word for “brutal”) approach to sorting out the econony included getting rid of the link between average earnings and pensions, as though people relying on state pensions were to blame for assuming “national insurance” meant what it said and for not squirreling a proportion of their meagre incomes towards a private pension scheme.

The result is that today, a third of pensioners are living below the poverty line. The basic pension is less than £100 per week, a third less than the government’s own poverty threshold. Some of them may also be due Pension Credits but Gordon Brown’s cynical approach to ”helping” people is so complex and humiliating, most elderly people are too frightened to apply.

This year, Wyre Forest District Council had to make some difficult decisions over its budget. Sadly, three of the cut-backs involved have targetted the most vulnerable members of society.

The uproar over the proposed closure of Dial-a-Ride fails to recognise the council’s understandable issues with the management of the scheme so is not really their fault. However, adding this cut that to limitations on the time when free bus passes can be used and the ending of the taxi coupon scheme seems like Wyre Forest’s pensioners have been a soft target, especially with regard to transport.

A local pensioner recently pointed out to me that, despite their shortage of disposable cash, pensioners still spend money and are more likely to use the older, High Street shops than huge, intimidating superstores. As we now have 31 empty shops in Kidderminster and plenty more in Bewdley and Stourport, and as Labour and the Tories have shut most of the local Post Offices, doesn’t it seem like a false economy to make it harder for pensioners to travel to the shops?

As a Liberal Democrat, I am absolutely committed to restoring the earnings/pensions link immediately. I would hope that those of us capable of earning a living might not feel so bad about paying the extra to give our pensioners a better life?

Neville Farmer

 

ST GEORGE’S TRUE HEROES ARE NOT SCARED OF FOREIGNERS

It always baffled me hearing people in Wyre Forest complaining about immigrants. Wyre Forest has far fewer than most – less than 4 percent at the last census and over half  of them were white. The numbers rose with the opening of the European borders but they were largely Poles and Kidderminster has always had a great Polish community. Those who are here largely contribute far more than they take, both to the economy and the community. After leaving King Charles I school, rather longer ago than I care to mention, I sought work in London, undoubtedly the most cosmopolitan city in the world. It was a shock at first after Kidderminster but I soon learned to love the diversity and the great experiences I gained from befriending people from everywhere in the world. For a while I had a tumbledown bolt hole in a tiny Mediaeval village in southern France, as have several of my KCI schoolfriends. The local Catalans couldn’t be more welcoming. I also worked in Japan, China, Malaysia, Egypt, across America and Europe and lived briefly in Botswana. Although something of an oddity in most of these places, I rarely felt unwelcome.

As we head into recession and increasing unemployment, it is tempting to find someone to blame and for many scared people, the easiest target is anyone different from them. It’s at times like these that sick extremists come out to exploit this fear. They are stalking the streets of Wyre Forest at the moment, even claiming that Jesus Christ would have condoned their stomach-churning thuggery. They’ll claim to be family lovers, decent people, tolerant and fair. They’ll ignore the facts to prey upon our darker prejudices. They’ll talk of British culture without knowing a thing about it.

Vulnerable people will join them, unaware that they are being duped into a conspiracy that will impoverish Britain more effectively than any dodgy banker. Imagine what a sad little country this would be if we had spent our great  history shunning Johnny foreigner rather than working with him?

We have nothing to fear but fear itself and all these subversive racists sell is fear. Don’t give in to this cowardice. As we celebrate St George’s Day this month, let us remember that one of the things that makes Britain truly Great and a nation that is respected around the world is our tolerance and our internationalism.

Neville Farmer

 

GURKHA’S BETRAYED BY DISHONORABLE GOVERNMENT

 

Yesterday, the mean-spirited minister of “foreigner bashing“, Phil Woolas, added dishonour and disloyalty to his notorious list of talents. His outrageous display of lip-service to retired Ghurkhas demonstrates his total lack of moral fibre. He is a disgrace to Britain and Jacqui Smith and Gordon Brown, his bosses, are cowards for hiding behind him.

I doubt any one of them would offer their lives up for this country, but thousands of Gurkhas have for a fraction of the pay, limited medical aid, slave-wage pensions and no post-service security whatsoever. It is estimated that over 45,000 Nepalese Gurkhas have died in British campaigns and hundreds of thousands have been injured.

Not one soldier in the world would deny the bravery and loyalty of the Gurkhas. Yet the British government, who have the opportunity to show some decency after the wilful disrespect of Thatcher, Major, Blair and other governments before them has come up with a scheme so blatantly designed to exclude the maximum number of Gurkha families from the right to settle here that it beggars belief.

The criteria to claim the right to remain in Britain have to include one of the following…

• Gurkhas who retired before 1997 must have served 20 years. Only officers can stay in the brigade for 20 years so clearly squaddies are not good enough to be British eh, Woolas?
• Gurkhas who retired before 1997 must have won a level 1-3 bravery medal, such as the Victoria Cross. Being shot at in the Falklands for weeks on end isn’t brave enough eh, Smith?
• Gurkhas who retired before 1997 must prove they have been resident in Britain for an unbroken period of three years. But they’re not allowed to earn a living so how do they support themselves for three years, Woolas? And what happens if they go home to see their families, eh Brown?
• Gurkhas who retired before 1997 must have close family living in the UK. That should keep the numbers down eh, Woolas?
• Gurkhas who retired before 1997 must suffer a chronic illness or disability caused or aggravated while on active duty for the British Army. So that writes off Gulf War Syndrome, which the government refuses to accept, and probably a host of other excuses.

OR they have to meet two out of the following…

• 10 years service or a campaign medal.
• Having been awarded an MoD disability pension but no longer having a chronic condition.
• Having been mentioned in dispatches.

The Government’s excuse? We’ll be overrun by 100,000 Gurkhas and their families. Well, we won’t but even if we were, if we’re not prepared to look after these incredible men and their families, we shouldn’t have expected them to step into harms way for us in the first place.

Basically, what Woolas and Smith are saying is if you’re Nepalese and fight for the British Forces, you have to get hit, be so brave/reckless you should have been hit and have been seen doing so bravely to warrant the gratitude of the British people.

Even Gurkhas who were in service after 1997 have to be in the Army one year longer than any Commonwealth citizen who fights for us before they can apply for residency. This is discrimination and there is no way it can be described otherwise.

Labour, hang your heads in shame! Phil Woolas, these great men have fought for 200 years to save Britain from people like you. You must be stupid to think that anyone would fail to see through the tricks you are playing with this document. You are so scared of the public mood towards immigration that you’re willing to exclude the one group British people would happily accept. You are a disgrace to Britain and everything that it stands for.

Please join the Gurkha Justice Campaign and help Joanna Lumley, who’s father fought with and was saved by the Gurkhas to show that the British are not the dishonourable and racist nation Phil Woolas would have us seen to be.

http://www.gurkhajustice.org.uk/

Neville Farmer