Kicking Them where It Hurts.

Occasionally, we comment on events beyond the parish bounderies and today isone such occasion.   I feel the victory of George Galloway in The Bradford West by election overnight deserves some comment.

I make no secret of the fact that I have little time for Gallowat as a person.  Whilst I am sympathetic ro his views on Palestine and on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, when it comes to actually building movements in support of the causes he supports, Galloway is congenitally incapable of doing so.  Every cause becomes a vehicle for Galloway the self publicist and an opportunity for him to tour the world accepting hospitality from some of the  most dubious leaders on the planet.  Whilst I have no time for US foriegn policy, I do not, asa Galloway seems to, consider that every leader who opposes US and its allies, military adventures are  necessarily heroes of the anti imperialist movement.

Its also worth noting that, when it comes to actually influencing events through the political process, Galloway has proved a consistant failure. He was not noted for being a sucessful leader of Dundee City Council and was a poor constituancy MP both in Glasgow Kelvin, and after his expulsion from the Labour party as Respect MP on Tower Hamlets.  He built few effective alliances when in parliament, preferring to operate as a one man band His Respect party has never developed as anytghing more then a support network for his ego and has mainly been the preserve of activists from the Muslim comminity. There seems no reason to think he will be any more successful as the MP for Bradford West then he has been elsewhere.

What then does the Bradford East by election tell us ?. The columnist, Steve Richards, speaking on Radio 4 this mornung, saw Galloway's victory as a continuing part of growing mass disillusionment with the main parties that has been slowly growing for years and is illustrated by the Nuck Clegg phenomenon at the last general election and the rise of the SNP on scotland. I think you also have to add to that, the continuing success of the Green Party in establishing iyself in some areas The success of UKIP in the european elections as well as, unfortunately, the election of two BNP mep's at the same time.   There is a growing anger, I believe, both on the left and the right of the political spectrum at a political establishment that increasingly appears to be interested in talking to itself and consulting the piblic only to the extent of getting the answersit has already determined. It is also an establishment that has no interest in any agenda that deviates from pro finance capital, pro US agendas.

From a Left perspective, there is a crying need for an anti austerity, anti war party that will formulate and develop alternative economic and social policies to those on offer at the moment. Most other european countries have such parties who have had greater or lesser electoral succes, but admittedly the British electoral systen is heavily weighted to the rise of political parties beyond those established already.  Bradford West afain shows  potential for support for such a party, but the record of Galloway and his allies gives little hope that his victory will aid the processes that would allow such a party to emerge.

Road Works.

Hopefully, there will be less road rage in Wyndham Road, and elsewhere in the village, now that the highways department are undertaking a serious programme of 'patching'. One of the drawbacks to Wyndham Road becoming a bus route has been the dteady deterioration in the condition of the road surface due to the constant use of heavy buses on the road,  Hopefully, the 'patching ' operation wil be enough to prevent  weakened road surfaces fturning into potholes over the coming months and tears. Given the current cutbacks in local government spending, it could be the last serious road repair work we see here for some considerable time.

New Photo's.

In honour of Spring I have added some new photo's of the village and hope to add some more soon.   I have added some photo's ftaken around the village plus some that were taken at the start of the Silverton Mile.   Later in the year, I am hoping to repost some of the photo's that first appeared on the 'Silvertonia' blog between June  2008 and August  2009.

Spring Comes To Silverton.

The sun is out, The temperature is rising  the daffodils are in bloom and it looks as though spring has  come to Silverton.  I am hoping to have some photo's of Silverton  in spring on the blog within the next few days, also,    some photo's of places that are mentioned here,  especially    for the benifit of our readers from outside the village.

Silvertonians On Stage.

Its good to hear that a number of younger Silvertonians aquitted themselves well in the production of Les Miserables at  Clyst Vale Community College last night,  Its good to see younger Silvertonians  getting noticed for some staged drama, rather then for some of the other drama we have become rather too well known for lately.

Spooky.

I notice that I seem to have regular readers in The US,  Russia and a follower called Smiley .  I hopr  that this is not a case of various intelligence agencies filling in their time and seeking to justify their budgets  by monitoring the random musings of some bloke  in a small Devon village by claiming that this blog throws light on the more general mood within the UK.

It Does not.

Party Suggestion.

Returning briefly to the Section 30 issue, I have suggested elsewhere, that when, as we hope, the section 30 order is lifted in August, we should organise a village party to celebrate the lifting  and to invite the media along to show the world that the village  is putting iys troubles behind it.

On the other hand, of, for some reason, the order is not lifted, we could organise a 'Rock Against The Section' event with bands like  Idiom.'
Come to think of it, perhaps it would be more fun.