1 VOTE 1 DAY 1 CANDIDATE 1 PARTY

So heres the 3rd leaflet in this years County Council Election Campaign, or its the 6th Leaflet if you count the "Easy Read" "Muslim Voters" and "EU Voters" versions

But be it 3, 4, 5 or 6 its really all about the number 1

Hope you enjoy, and please feel free to print the poster and stick it in your window, and all you Green voters and friends who have Facebook or email friends in Castle Ward please share or forward it on

AND NOW FOR SOME EASY READING

I have often had comments made to me on the content of my leaflets! mostly good, some bad.

One continuous dividing opinion that arises is that some say that they are either far too long or far too short, have too many words, or do not enough words?

It is of course horses for courses, some voters like to be well informed, others just prefer a snapshot.
Some read the Mirror others prefer a broadsheet.

So what is the perfect compromise for a political leaflet? And how can we be certain that anyone reads them anyway, long or short, wordy or graphic?

Well if I was tell the other party's that 25% of the electorate couldn't read any of their leaflets  irrespective of the design or length then I wonder if they would start to sit up and take notice?

Some of you will know that before I entered into politics I worked closely with the learning disability community in Northampton and I worked hard at trying to make information clear and easy to understand.

That 25% figure mentioned above is made up of those with learning disabilities or educational difficulties or those who simply never had the benefit of a standard education.

So how do we engage them in the political process? How do we ensure that their vote is not taken for granted but earned and worked for? who will give them a voice if no one informs them of their choices.

It was with the above in mind that I decided to write an "Easy Read" leaflet for the forthcoming Local Elections, the topics included are broader than the County Council, but then again people rarely vote on single Council issues but vote instead on how a candidate or party thinks and acts in a broader sense.

Easy Read is a national standard, used by many organisations to ensure important information is accessible for all. 

It is by no means perfect, it never can be, what do words like candidate and election really mean to those who do not use such words every day? And if you explain each and every word than when does the information given stop being interesting and start sounding like Peter and Jane? So readers may need some help, may need to be understanding of those whose reading difficulty is greater than theirs? but isn't something always better than nothing? Isn't the longest journey always started with the shortest of steps?

So if you have a relative with an educational or learning difficulty living in Castle Ward, or if you work in a community home in the area whose residents would benefit from some plain english speaking material which enabled them to better engage in the political process then I would hope you will print out and share my leaflet for them.

Of course I am just one candidate from one party, and people should be given a choice, and perhaps my attempt at full engagement with the electorate might make the rest sit up and take notice and hopefully follow suit.

After all do they really want to continue to ignore 25% of their electorate?

I hope you enjoy reading it and that you do pass it on!

County Council Election 2013 Castle Ward Leaflet 2

The second leaflet is off the printing block and ready for delivery. This one is for all those who wanted less words!

All of our leaflets are printed in house (literally, in my back room) on a old recycled Risograph printer using vegetable ink,  our paper is sourced from FSE certified paper.

Delivery begins along with canvassing after the Green Party photo call at 6.30pm County Hall, St George's Row

WELCOME ABOARD FITZY

Local Market Trader, and long time political campaigner Eamonn "Fitzy" Fitzpatrick has become the latest Independent politician to join the ranks of the Green Party and will campaign for them in the forthcoming County Council Elections in the newly formed  Dallington - Spencer Ward.

Fitzy has fought in many local election campaigns as an Independent candidate and stood in a parliamentary by-election against Tory David Davies in 2008 when he correctly predicted the Green Party's second place showing.

Having worked Northampton's Market for over 50 years it is the Green Party's commitment to localism and their drive to "THINK GLOBAL  but "ACT LOCAL" that has attracted him to join up.

He said " We need to encourage more people to shop and trade locally, treat them better as customers and trade on trust rather than greed, of course that means shopping more on the local market and cutting down on the air miles our food travels but it also  includes things like supporting community banks, credit unions, and local exchange schemes.

"I have done my homework and they are about a lot more than simply protecting the Environment, they're top on that, but they also have great policies on fairness and protecting local public services, and offering a real alternative to the CUTS programme.

The Green Party supports local markets and wants the power of supermarkets restricted to help support a more sustainable local growing and selling policy, stopping farmers and producers being put out of business by greedy supermarket chains.

They also want to campaign to change the rules to ensure that Local Schools and local Hospitals can buy more Local Food

Fitzy's move comes just a month after former Northampton South MP Tony Clarke also joined forces with the Greens to defend his Castle Ward seat on the County Council.

Fitzy said, "Tony got it right, the Green Party is the only party that respects our Independence and also wants to speak up for the average man and women in the street, We don't need people in London telling us what to think and say, we have got enough to say for ourselves thank you very much.

Fitzy will be campaigning from his Market Stall throughout April, and proudly displaying his Green Credentials alongside his Green Produce.

Meanwhile the membership of the Local Green Party has seen an upwards spike in recent weeks making them well placed to make a mark at the forthcoming election

BEDROOM TAX: THE FIGHTBACK BEGINS

Last Saturdays Bedroom Tax  protest outside Northampton Town Hall was very welcome as a way of beginning to coordinate a joint campaign to force this wicked government to scrap its latest attack on Social Tenants (waged or unwaged) who will now see their Housing Benefit cut by 14% or 25% for simply being deemed as under occupying their homes.

There will of course  be many ways and means identified in coming weeks as to how to challenge this discriminatory CUT to what is in the vast majority of cases earned benefit, but I couldn't help but think that too many people went away from the protest or where not there but sitting at home still in real fear of building up spiralling arrears that they could not pay and also living under the shadow of possible eviction from their home.

So for their sakes we all need to act NOW not just by protesting but by buying time, and to clog up the system and to begin the fightback.

People who know me appreciate that I am a dedicated advocate of direct action when the circumstances warrant it and this is such a circumstance. I will have no qualms in joining others to prevent evictions forced on tenants through arrears built up by bedroom tax where needed, but we also need to fight over zealous bureaucracy with our own version of political red tape.

To be clear:

The Conservatives on Northampton Borough Council have made it very clear that they will implement this iniquitous tax on behalf of the Government.

The Labour Party on Northampton Borough Council have to date failed to use the Council chamber to force a motion condemning the tax and on non eviction for Council House tenants affected.

The Liberal Party on Northampton Borough Council whilst guilty by association with their Tory masters at Westminster for its introduction are now simply sitting on the fence waiting to see which way the wind blows and trying to work out if any action by them will win votes.

But like my Green Party colleagues in Brighton who became the first Council to declare a policy of non eviction for bedroom tax arrears, I believe it is NOW time for direct action.

I would therefore ask all of you who care enough about keeping people in their homes and have fight in your belly to take on this Council and the Government by forwarding the content of this blog on to those affected and those who can help them. Cut and paste or copy the following model letter to every tenant of Northampton Borough Council and or any Housing Associations who they know to be affected by the bedroom tax for them all  to fill out and then send into the council without delay.

ITS TIME FOR DIRECT ACTION:

ITS TIME TO SHOW THEM THAT ALL OF THEIR ACTIONS HAVE POTENTIAL REACTIONS:

ITS TIME WE STARTED FIGHTING BACK:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I received your decision letter dated (INSERT DATE) and reference (INSERT REFERENCE NUMBER) that imposed an under occupation charge or bedroom tax of 14% 24% (DELETE AS APPROPRIATE) on my existing award of Housing Benefit

I am considering challenging this with a view to considering a formal appeal. However to enable me to understand fully the Councils position I require further information as listed below to be sent to me within 7 days of this letter to ensure that I have enough time to formulate any appeal, and that I am in full knowledge of the facts of my case within the time allowed.

Or in the alternative I request that the deadline for any such formal appeal be moved to 21 days after I receive the requested information below:

1.     A written copy of the Council's policy and decision making procedures in relation to referring a socially housed claimant decision to the Rent Officer Service.

2.     A full explanation of how the council decided that (INSERT ADDRESS) was determined to be a (INSERT BEDROOM NUMBERS) bed property for the under occupation charge and this to include what involvement if any of my landlord (INSERT LANDLORD NAME) in the process.

3.    A copy of the decision calculation undertaken by the Council as to my individual circumstances and the basis on which this was calculated  (please include a written evidenced declaration of what you believe my personal circumstances to be in order for you to determine that my property is under occupied)

Please state by way of covering letter with the requested information any changed deadline from above with regard to any formal appeal.

Yours Sincerely

(INSERT SIGNATURE)

(INSERT NAME AND ADDRESS)

 LETS GET TO IT:

A LITTLE BIRD TOLD ME A SECRET

The first of a small series of "Mini Broadcasts" to be published throughout the County Council Election campaign. I hope you enjoy them. Tony

THE GREEN UN

Please find below our first Independent Green production and hopefully the first of many "Green Un's"

For those not aware the Green Un was a Saturday night Chronicle and Echo supplement  in addition to the  6 daily copies (2 editions) covering all the local Sports Results, printed at 5.15pm and available to buy about 6pm.

And to think they call a single one week production printed a 120 miles away progress.

Anyway I hope you enjoy and please forward on to all interested friends particularly those in Castle Ward.

Additional delivery volunteers are always very welcome

click on pictures to open in new window

I GUESS I AM ONE BIG GIANT WATERMELON, GREEN ON THE OUTSIDE AND RED TO THE CORE

Our parent’s always told us that what is really important in life can never be bought, that love and true happiness  are not products to be consumed, or simply commodities to be purchased.

And yet for the last 30 years we have all sat back and witnessed an orgy of world wide spending, in a consumer led world where buying a new car, a bigger TV, a larger house all seemed to define who we were, and made us slaves to a society hell bent on reaching the point where the world eventually consumed itself.

But then came the crash, and we now live in a world of consumers who could no longer consume, without the money and without the credit, and increasingly without the security everyone relied on to ensure that the mortgage and credit card bills were paid, and we started to  think again as to what is really important to us.

People have started to redefine, who they are, and what it is they really value, and in the current cold light of austerity they realise, as our parents warned us, that life cannot be bought, and they now look to reorder their lives, and set new priorities.

This cultural shift in life pattern is happening all around us, it is redefining not just who we are as a society it is also educating us, making us reevaluate ourselves and our lives, making us question things such as what we should and should not be eating, how we should be living, who we should be helping, how we should use our free time to enrich ourselves not make ourselves.

The current recession has also made us ask some critical questions about trust, the two big players in our lives the banks and the politicians all of a sudden seem far less wise, we don't trust them with our money anymore and we certainly don't trust them with our vote.

But in communities like the one I represent in Castle Ward, austerity and hard times are unfortunately no strangers, and we are  better prepared than most to deal with the consequences of recession.

We are people more likely to be sociable to our neighbours, more protective of the vulnerable, more likely to step in rather than stand aside when the time comes for us to act. Studies find that despite having the least, communities like ours are where you are most likely to find people more social, face to face, more likely to lend a few bob to an acquaintance outside of our family, more willing to befriend others rather than retreat into our own homes.

From my vantage point as a Cllr and MP representing the people of Castle Ward at all levels, I have learnt that true power, true control, can only ever come from within, and I am fed up of fighting against politico’s for votes rather than fighting alongside the community for real change.

I left the Labour Party, and then discovered that really it had left me, I have battled on as an Independent to try to make a difference for local people and have had some successes,  but now it is time to truly give the power back to the people.

For this reason, recently the local Green Party and myself have been holding discussions as to how we might join forces and together offer a real alternative to Castle Ward’s voters and non voters alike, 

I have now joined the Green Party as a statement of my commitment to them, they in return have acknowledged my long standing political independence and agreed that we should now both campaign together locally under an “INDEPENDENT GREEN’ banner, and I will stand at the election as a Green Party candidate

Interestingly enough, the Green Party is the only Party in the UK which you can be a member of and yet still stand at an election as an Independent (but not against an official Green candidate) But as I say above I have chosen to campaign and as an Independent Green and proudly display the Green Party Logo on the ballot paper.

I am now in a party once again whose policy objectives support high-quality public services run for people not private profit. A party willing to protect the NHS and Post Office from privatisation and return our energy, water and rail networks to public ownership, supporting our education system by providing free school meals, abolishing tuition fees and ensuring all schools are accountable to parents. Committed to separating  retail and investment banks and empowering communities with a network of not-for-profit lenders, supporting cooperative, diverse and resilient local economies, reversing the status-seeking wealth concentration that is deepening social divisions and destroying our natural world. 

A big move for me? Well funny enough when reading the Green Party Policy documents and manifesto, I actually found myself rejoining the Labour Party I first joined in the 1980's ! How times change!

THE FALL OF CAPITALISM IN PICTURES

Those who follow this blog will appreciate that I am always trying to find new ways of getting across important political messages and the growth in infographics and animated work in illustrating important political debate and theory certainly assists in taking new ideas to the masses.

In this RSA sponsored animated Lecture celebrated academic David Harvey looks beyond capitalism towards a new social order. Can we find a more responsible, just, and humane economic system?

Enjoy and share:

JIHADIST WATCH - AT THE BECKETTS PARK MARINA

Adam Simmonds, Northamptonshire's hapless Police and Crime Commissioner, may be doing more to destroy single handedly the local Tory's future election chances at the moment than the whole of the combined opposition could muster in a lifetime.

But as he puts his first annual budget to bed after a somewhat pointless low key consultation excercise he would do well to reflect on some of the County forces more bizarre spending commitments and question whether or not he and the force have got all of their priorities in order.

On Friday whilst waiting to be collected for a meeting next to a the Police forces stand in the Guildhalls One Stop Shop, I happened across a warning on a leaflet from Northamptonshire Police informing me that the local constabulary together with the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and the UK Border Agency were

"Strengthening our borders"

and were

"Protecting the waterways of Northamptonshire"

Feeling relieved that Becketts Park Marina was now safe from any imminent Al Queda strike I couldn't help read further into the very nice and glossy leaflet to discover more as to how I as a member of the public could play my full part in protecting the County's borders from water bound Jihadists and International smuggling rings. I wasn't disappointed.

But was does a river vigilante look and listen for I hear you ask? Well amongst the very helpful advise i was told to be on my guards for people who give

"evasive answers to common boating questions"

Now, I have always been suspicious about people who don't know the difference between their boating knots and I will now make a point of asking so called daytrippers and holiday boaters to tell me the difference between their Alpine Butterfly Bends and Rat Tail Stoppers.

Also there was some very helpful advise for my future Grand Union Canal watch on suspiciously painted Narrowboats I should I am told  be wary of

"persons walking around the vessel independent of each other, taking notes ostensibly on operations and meeting as a group after their observations are recorded to compare notes"

please click for full leaflet and more from PROJECT PEGASUS

Wow, I just new that all of those bearded guys (and some girls, with and without beards) from the Northamptonshire Inland Waterways Association were really up to no good inviting boats in from other parts of the country to cross the counties water border to rally on frog island. And to think I used to sit and sip real ale with them and answer their questions on government affairs!

I will now have to call the Project Kraken hotline to share with them my concerns or I could email them at their dedicated email ports@northants.pnn.police.uk

And for those of you now really worried about the safety of the Stoke Bruene canal museum and or an unwelcome assault up the Blisworth tunnel you can also watch the northantspolice youtube video below for more handy tips on spotting the Marine based mujaheddin. The video fronted by TV presenter Nici Matthews begins with images from 9-11 before going on to show us clips of battleships, sea based military operations and young couples being caught under boat tarpaulins obviously up to no good. My favourite clip is the "How to spot a terrorist section" apparently they could look like Belgian female students! The video it seems was shot in Hamphire and may not be too relevant for River Nene based surveillance operations

Now of course terrorism is no joke, and we all I am sure are aware of when something is just not right, but in times of austerity and competing pressures on police funding is Project Kraken and their combined leaflet and video spend really a top priority in Britain's most landlocked county?

And before you all go off on boat watch, if you think the above is just a one off then how about pondering over the police spend on PROJECT PEGASUS !

You guessed it Northamptonshire Polices high profile campaign against possible serious crime and terrorist activity at the County's International Airports (well Sywell) Now let me be clear here Sywell could well be a target for terrorist activity and plane based attacks, after all the whole 911 atrocity started with flight training at a similar US based airport, but we already have clear operational procedures in place to protect our airstrips small and large. So do we really need a high profile public input? Sywell may only cater for just a handful of flights each day but the public leaflet and associated video warn us all to be on our guard against strange questions from pilots, crew or passengers.

please click for full page

please click for full page

Now again whilst probably and realistically more of a threat than any boat based Taliban threat, is it necessary to have anything more than our local special branch having a word in the ear of the the management and staff at Sywell to keep us all safe from any major light aircraft threat.

Do we the Northamptonshire public, who rarely if ever visit Sywell apart from the odd wedding reception really need leaflets and videos to inform us all to look to the skies and be aware of strange aviation activity when visiting Sywell?

Perhaps Adam Simmonds could inform us how the above Projects fit into his "Getting better value for money" pledge?

Or as the man says himself

“Much is known about what policing strategies can reduce crime and what things are a waste of public money. I will ensure that evidence forms part of local debate about policing. I will not be afraid to pilot innovative approaches to crime reduction and learn from mistakes."