Saturday, March 21, 2009

Neo-Labour's Rubbish Bristol Election Push

Another day and another big of junk mail drops through my door – this time it is the election push for the Ashley Ward of Bristol by Labour – in the form of 'environmental campaigner' Paul Smith.

Paul, who describes himself as an 'environmental campaigner' leads the green charge by telling us about the results of a survey that reports 86% say it is cheaper for a family to travel by taxi than bus and 69% say that public transport is unreliable. No shit. But Paul is on the case, “I am writing to First Bus and the city council to show the results of the survey and demand action is taken...We need to put pressure on First Bus to deliver a better service including the introduction of through ticketing to allow people to get where they want to for a reasonable price.”

Hang on a minute – haven't Labour been in power in the council until a couple of weeks ago? Aren't Labour in power nationally and have been for over a decade now? Reports about the poor service and high cost of First Bus have been around for years and only now the Labour rep is banging on about it. If Labour were any good when in power, why is it not sorted?

So what else is Paul selling himself on? He claims to be the first mainstream politician to get involved in the cycle campaign. Hang on – all the politicians seem to be claiming this issue as their own.

Then climate change – an important issue – Paul says, “Now the challenge is to turn targets into action, I work in the environmental sector and want to be part of the debate in the heart of government.” Would this be the same Labour government who for the last eight years allied itself to the most significant anti-Climate Change activists in the world, the Bu$h regime. The same government who approved the third runway at Heathrow and who – via its proxy in SWRDA has, until recently, been using public funds to subsidise airport development in the region.

It is always a hard sell when Labour has been in power for over a decade now and you have to have memory wipes over things like Iraq. Not that I am writing this backing the Lib Dems or Tories – no – not at all, but the tone of Paul's electioneering is an insult to anyone who's memory extends further back than the last week.

Also the idea of the terms 'environmental campaigner' and 'Labour Party' are not ones that sit easily – especially seeing the recent repressive policing of real environmental campaigners while on Labour's watch.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

and there was me expecting a endorsement from the anarchists of Bristol. I am standing to change and improve the Labour Government not to endorse everything they have done. Indeed I was partly motivated to put myself forward to the local Labour Party to ensure that a robotic yes person politician was not selected.

I will be publishing a fuller political statement on my website soon to set out where I stand on a range of issues.

Anonymous said...

"[Insert adjective of choice] campaigner" is a tired old phrase which I last saw the Liebour Party used in Lawrence Hill ward a couple of council elections ago when they tried to foist former council leader Bonkers Bunyan on the ward. Despite the fact that Bunyan had zero connections with Lawrence Hill, her election literature billed her as a 'local campaigner' and showed her allegedly doing good works around the area. It didn't work either: we may be poor, but we're not stupid.

Unknown said...

Would this be the same Labour government who for the last eight years allied itself to the most significant anti-Climate Change activists in the world, the Bu$h regime. The same government who approved the third runway at Heathrow and who – via its proxy in SWRDA has, until recently, been using public funds to subsidise airport development in the region.

Yes these are the reasons I want to take the debate to the heart of Government

Anonymous said...

"I was partly motivated to put myself forward to the local Labour Party to ensure that a robotic yes person politician was not selected"

Come on paul, we know we're most of the way to a one party state, but this is unconvincing to say the least. Much better just to have done and kick nulabour out altogether ... so long as we still can ...

anarchist said...

Paul - Far from Labour fighting climate change, they are going fast in the other direction. The drift of the party to the right over ID cards, benefits, privatisation, Iraq, Afghanistan, light-touch regulation for financial markets, torture and so on.

Face it, all the lefties have left and only a rump of brown/bliar-ites remain. Your efforts are sadly doomed to failure.

Thanks for the comments though. Good to hear your side of the story.

anarchist said...

Paul - how about a comment on this?

http://greenbristolblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/cycling-city-labours-lies-unravel.html

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I begin on internet with a directory