Post Office Consultation

There is still time to participate in the consultations about Post Office closures.

**Consultation ends March 3rd 2008**

Click here to access the full list of consultation documents and scroll down to the area plan for Lancashire and Fylde with Southport.

There is also available to view/download a map and 'Branch access report' which shows access and service details of nearby alternative branches to those proposed for closure.

Postwatch the independent watchdog which looks after the interests of postal service customers has handily crunched some numbers and provided some background and reasoning to the proposed changes to the Post Office network.

Have your say on the future of your local Post Office!

Nice brick work!

Some toy fads come and go. But Lego is still alive and well after 50 years.

50 years ago today Godtfred Kirk Christiansen filed a patent for what became an icon of the childhood toybox and bane of hoovering mothers everywhere, the lego brick.

Check out the work of brick artist Nathan Sawaya

A holiday to Remember

A petition at the government's online petition site is calling for a new National Holiday

It reads...

"By comparison to many other European Countries, Britain has fewer public holidays and none at all for a period of some three months between the August public holiday and Christmas. Moreover, Britain does not have a "National" day. So what better way to celebrate our Nation than to have a National Remembrance Holiday falling on the second Monday in November each year to reinforce Remembrance Sunday which falls on the second Sunday in November? Such a holiday will serve to emphasise our commemoration of The Fallen who gave their lives to save Britain and also the on-going importance of the survival of our Nation. The National Remembrance Holiday will further serve to break that period between late summer and Christmas when there is currently no public holiday."

Sign up here. Closing date 18 April 2008.

Read about another notable 'Grand National Holiday' (for a whole month!) once advocated. Sadly the closing date for this one was August 1839.

A heart-warming story about Coal

13 years after the Tories tried to take away miners jobs, life and community at Tower Colliery on the grounds that the pit wasn't 'profitable' the last lump of coal really has been finally mined.

In 1994, Michael Heseltine, President of the Board of Trade, Margaret Thatcher then Prime Minister and British Coal bosses told the miners that they and their pit were no longer of use.

Labour MP Ann Clwyd went underground with the miners to stage a sit-in. She emerged dusty-faced carried on the shoulders of the miners. She recalls Michael Heseltine saying to her at Westminster that she should tell the miners to throw in the towel. "I replied: 'Tell them yourself,'" she says.

The miners knew better and used their redundancy pay to buy their pit which they have since run successfully.

On Friday 25th January 2008 they worked the pit for the last time and marched away on their own terms with their heads held high, a triumph of the human spirit over ideology and greed.

Read the story here and here.

Watch interviews with the miners on their last day on YouTube

North West MP obvious choice for Culture Secretary

North West MP Andy Burnham has been appointed Culture Secretary. Part of his new job will be to oversee the 2012 Olympics.

Perhaps now we will finally see Black Pudding Throwing elevated to an Olympic sport.

The World Black Pudding Throwing Championship is held at the Royal Oak Pub in Ramsbottom each year.

The object is to throw Black Puddings at Yorkshire puddings placed on a 20ft high platform to try to knock them down. The person who knocks the most Yorkshire puds down is declared the winner.

It is thought the tradition represents the hostilities between Lancashire and Yorkshire during the Wars of the Roses when it is said that the rival armies ran out of ammunition so engaged in a giant food fight, pegging their respective puddings at each other.

Watch footage at the Manchester Evening News website.

Also see loads of fantastic photos here

Former Toad in hot water

Yesterday the Leyland Guardian reported on the anger of Bosal workers at Councillor Barrie Yates', comments sticking up for the company's bosses over redundancy payments.

Councillor Yates' comments were reported in the Leyland Guardian last week after he spoke at South Ribble's Full Council meeting in defence of Bosal's management.

Bosal, the exhaust manufacturer based at Walton Summit, had announced 94 redundancies in November 2007 and subsequently, it has been reported, refused to pay the full redundancy packages due to the workers. An agreement had apparently been reached three years ago to pay three weeks' wages for each year of service for redundant workers and are now offering much less.

At the council meeting, Councillor Yates, who is also a Bosal employee lucky enough to keep his job, used a speech in the chamber to defend the company to the amazement of Labour councillors.

Labour group councillors called a point of order and attempted to put the workers point of view forward until stopped by the Mayor. But the group reiterated its point of view that Bosal management must honour previously agreed redundancy packages.

Councillor Yates said:

"Bosal is a good employer that pays good wages. I feel sorry for the people that have gone, but glad for the ones who have survived. We've got to say the management is working hard for the future of the everyone still at Bosal, people are quick to slag employers off, but sometimes they deserve some praise". He also said that they were 'doing all they can'.

Workers beg to differ.

Worker Kenny Scott said "There never were any talks. Barrie's comments are the management's opinion and they have not gone down well on the shop floor."

Unite union senior shop steward, Steve Peters, was also dismayed:

"I couldn't believe Barrie came out with those statements, I am still in touch with the lads, some of those who have stayed and that is not their point of view.

There's never been any negotiations and we just feel after all these years for them not to honour the agreement is stabbing them in the back."

Councillor Yates has also caused further astonishment to his former Idle Toad colleague, Tom Sharratt, at abandoning him to join the Tories.

In a timely comment, given Councillor Yates' position on Bosal, Councillor Sharratt told Leyland Guardian:

"Well I think it is unbelievable....I've had no notification from the chief executive, there's been no announcement and the last I heard from Barrie was when he told me he was becoming an independent. There was nothing said about joining the Tories.

All I can say is seven days is a pretty short time to travel from socialism to capitalism."

By contrast, Labour Councillor Tom Hanson has been instrumental in setting up support for the sacked workers.

He said: "As soon as one of my constituents came to see me about what was happening, I spoke with the council's economic development officer, notified the job centre and arranged a meeting with the shop stewards".

Toad Hops It

Councillor Barrie Yates one of the two remaining councillors representing The Idle Toad Party on South Ribble Borough Council has left the Party, spent a couple of days as an Independent before announcing today that he is to join the Conservatives.

One theory about the cause of the split is that Councillor Yates wants a bigger say in a very important matter -the nature of the hem on the Mayoral Robes of which he has expressed concern in the local media.

If the Conservatives' proposal to spend taxpayers' money on ceremonial finery goes ahead Councillor Yates who is currently Deputy Mayor will be set to wear the robes when he takes over from the current Mayor and will obviously be concerned about how he might look.

Which prompts the question should there now be a by-election since voters elected a Toad only to find themselves being represented by an entirely different Party.

For more on the 'Mayoral Robes Question' see 'Mayoral Robes'.

Questions about Donations

Gordon Brown has said he wants a national debate about whether to change the system of organ donation in the UK.

Organ donor shortage is a serious issue. But while nearly 90 per cent of the UK population say they'd be willing to donate their organs after death, only about 20 per cent of people have actually put their names on the NHS Organ Donor Register.

One option is to move to an opt-out system where consent to organ donation is presumed unless one officially states otherwise. This is the system used in most other European countries. Read about the issues here.

While some families take comfort in the knowledge that their loved one's death can help many others live, other families make desperate pleas for donors to come forward.

There are a number of different ways to sign up to the Organ Donor Register:
By adding your details online to the NHS Organ Donor Register
By telephoning the Organ Donor Line on 0845 60 60 400.
When completing a driving licence application form.
When registering with a new doctor or GP's surgery.
When applying for a Boots Advantage Card.
When applying for a new passport, using the leaflet enclosed with the application form.
When registering for a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), using the leaflet enclosed with the application form.

I wish it could be Christmas every day....

...so the famous song lyrics go.

A journalist recently joked that since January is a dark, cold, grim month perhaps Christmas lights should stay up for its duration.

If it weren't for the electricity bills, the need to use the earth's resources sensibly and to leave the planet habitable for future generations this may well be a jolly idea.

Instead here are some pictures from around Leyland which might rekindle that festive glow when you are feeling a bit cold this month....

More pictures here.

Democracy Rules

At this time of year it is customary to reflect on the year gone and the year to come.

One theme that emerges from last year were the struggles around the world to achieve or defend democracy...

Photos by racoles at Flickr

-In August Burmese Monks were engaged in pro-democracy action, demanding an end to military rule in the country.

-The efforts of international forces including British forces continued to help support Iraq and Afghanistan in developing democratic societies.

-On December 27th, Benazir Bhutto, who had returned to Pakistan to participate in elections was assassinated. This was condemned by the international community as an "an assault on stability in Pakistan and its democratic processes."

-On the same date elections in Kenya took place but widespread violence later erupted as the results of the poll were disputed. International observers refused to declare the elections free and fair. In one constituency voter turn out was a dubious 115%. The violence has so far claimed the lives of 600 people.

-In South Ribble's local elections in May 2007 things were a little less dramatic but not without controversy.

The local Conservative Party offered money, if they were elected to run South Ribble Borough Council, to fund a judicial review for the local campaign group, RAWS (Residents Against the Waste Site) who were protesting against the Farington Waste Plant .

This was seen as a cyncial electioneering stunt and as questions continued to be asked about the legality of such a donation a mystery donor came forward to offer £40,000 to RAWS thus saving the Conservative's having to honour their pledge or answer further questions as to its legality. Perhaps 2008 will be the year they come clean as to the legal advice they received?

It further emerged that the local Conservative MP candidate had received money from the controversial Lord Ashcroft who targets marginal seats with funding between elections to get around the rules about limits to election spending. See previous posts here and here.

Despite all this your local Labour councillors and representatives continue to work hard raising your concerns and holding the Conservatives to account.

Happy New Year!