Chris Whiteside's Blog

 

 

 

 

I am not going to spoil it by quoting it all here, but there is a very funny satirical piece about the fact that it rained yesterday following four weeks of warm and dry weather on the "Cumbria Chronic" website today. You can read the whole thing here: WET STUFF FALLS FROM SKY SHOCK – The Cumbria Chronic POSTSCRIPT 6th June Well, you could read the whole thing by following that link for a fortnight. As I have written elsewhere today, the "Cumbria Chronic" site has shut down for the summer, saying on their facebook page that they will be back in the Autumn,. I do hope so.  

Alan Hall, the previous president of Egremont Bowling Green Club died on Thursday morning. Alan had retired from the Club a few years ago due to illness, but he had been the main instigator in bringing the Bowling Green up to the level it is today and increasing the membership of the club. He was remembered by councillors and staff of Egremont Town  Council both for this and because he was always cheerful and made people happy to see him as whenever he popped into the Town Council offices at the Market Hall and was "a lovely man." Rest in Peace.

"' How an you tell when politicians are lying? Their lips are moving. ' It's a hoary old joke but it can still be guaranteed to raise a rueful chuckle among British voiters increasingly disillusioned with the political process. I always thought it a tad unfair. Yes, politicians deploy all manner of contrivances to avoid telling the truth when it's inconvenient." "But outright lies? I have found that to be extremely rare - on either side of the political divide. No longer. I have had to revise my opinion. In the so far short and sad existence of the Starmer government, lying has become not just a feature to which it increasingly resorts - it's become its modus operandi." The quote above is the start of an Andrew Neil article about lies by the Starmer government. I stand by two opinions which may at first may seem contradictory - the first is that lying by people involved in politics has increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished, and th...

Former Labour and Trade union staffer Dan Hodges on Sir Keir Starmer's claim that Labour has halved migration.  "Sorry, this is just a straightforward lie. Labour hasn't halved migration and Keir Starmer knows it.This is a product of decisions taken before he entered office." I don't often use or allow allegations of lying on this blog because it is the most over-used insult in modern politics and the misuse of the word "lie" by applying it to any statement the person is using it disagrees with has reduced its impact when used against genuine lies. But the tweet above from the PM is at the very least seriously disingenuous. The reduction, in "today's stats" which Starmer was quoting, referred to a fall in migration as between the calendar years ending December 2023 and December 2024 as the ONS tweet below shows. So the first part of the fall actually took place during the Conservatives' last six months in office, and the rest can credib...

Labour blinked. But don’t be fooled. This fight isn’t over. Yesterday, I challenged Keir Starmer from the despatch box. I demanded he reverse his unfair Winter Fuel Payment cuts. Cuts that hit the poorest pensioners hardest. After a year of pressure, Starmer finally admitted he would  “revisit the threshold”.  That’s not a plan. That’s a vague promise. He hasn’t said how, when, or for how many. Is this a full U-turn or just a cosmetic tweak? We don’t know.  They’ve offered headlines, not answers. Some of the country's poorest pensioners are worrying about paying their energy bills this winter.  They need certainty now, not a vague promise of help tomorrow. Labour still haven’t explained who will now qualify. They haven’t explained how they’ll fix the mess that left thousands of eligible pensioners out in the cold.  And they haven’t given a date for when, or if, anything changes. We’re not letting this drop. Labour’s supermajority doesn’t mean a free pass. We’ll ...

A few days ago President Putin of Russia suggested Peace talks in Turkey this week. President Trump suggested on "Truth Social" that this might be a good idea and suggested that Ukranian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy should attend. The Ukrainian president agreed to this, and went to Turkey, but instead of turning up to the talks Putin had himself suggested, the Russian Federation president sent a low-level delegation. Had Putin wanted to send a clear signal that he has no serious interest in a peace deal, I can't think of a better way to do it.

NB - only people who don't mind being mistaken for philistines admit that this piece includes the "Lone Ranger" theme ...

Ronnie Calvin, who served on Cumbria County Council for 28 years, has died aged 90. I didn't share Ronnie's political perspective but I respected him as someone who worked extremely hard for the local community, and he will be missed. Rest in Peace

"No trees were harmed in the writing of this scandal although thousands were slaughtered by newspapers telling it." Cumbria Chronic, conclusion of their report on the conviction of the two men accused of felling the Sycamore Gap tree, a report which is a tree - t for lovers of awful tree-related puns and can be read at   PAIR GUILTY OF TREE MURDER – The Cumbria Chronic

Extracts from Churchill's broadcast to the nation, speech to the crowds and speech to the House of Commons announcing the end of the war in Europe, May 1945 You can find the full text of all his VE Day speeches on the Churchill Project website at Victory in Europe, 8 May 1945: All the Churchill VE Day Speeches “My dear friends, this is your hour. This is not victory of a party or of any class. It’s a victory of the great British nation as a whole.  We were the first, in this ancient island, to draw the sword against tyranny. After a while we were left all alone against the most tremendous military power that has been seen. We were all alone for a whole year.” “There we stood, alone. Did anyone want to gi ve in?” [The crowd shouted “ No. ”]  “Were we down-hearted?” [“ No! ”]  “The lights went out and the bombs came down. But every man, woman and child in the country had no thought of quitting the struggle.” “So we came back after long months from the jaws of death, out of ...

Today is the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war in Europe. To commemorate and remember all those who died, there will be a two minute silence at 12 noon BST today.

 

Another VE commemoration event tomorrow, (Thursday 6th May 2025) 11.45am sharp for 11.00 am at Egremont Castle, has been organised by the Friends of Egremont Castle.

2025 will mark the 80th anniversaries of VE Day (Victory in Europe Day) on 8 May and VJ Day (Victory over Japan Day) on 15 August. It is an opportunity for the nation to come together to honour and pay tribute to the Second World War generation from across the UK and Commonwealth, through a series of national and local events and activities. There are a vast range of national and local commemorative events taking place around the UK this week around the 80th anniversary of the defeat of the Nazis. You can find details of events in your local area of the UK at: Activities and events – VE Day and VJ Day 80 Here are just a few of the events taking place. 1)  Two-minute national silence to commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE Day - GOV.UK A two-minute national silence will be held on tomorrow at Thursday 8 May at 12 noon (UK time), to remember and thank those who fought for our freedom. The silence will be marked by all UK Government departments, which will also fly the Union Flag at...

 

 

Well, Reform UK is now running ten councils. This is where we find out whether they have what it takes to actually run public services. Those who think Reform are different will be provided right or wrong - in a good way or a bad way. But whether they are better or worse than other parties, they will not be able to abolish the laws of political gravity. There are no magic wands to instantly remove the need for painfully difficult choices. Some people do a good job of being an MP or councillor, others do a bad job. But I can tell you categorically that nobody can do either without upsetting and disappointing at least some people. The very good councillors and MPs are the ones who usually manage to help and please more people than they upset. The good ones are the ones who often manage to please more people than they upset. Even these two categories will disappoint some people, probably quite a lot of people. Cumbria Chronic has a piece by their correspondent "Councillor Neville Waf...

 

 

 

 

 

Anyone who has been paying attention has probably already noticed that Sir Keri Starmer had already broken more promises before he became Prime Minister than the average PM has broken by the time he's been in office for several years. His latest broken promise has been so blatant that even one of his own MPs has attacked him for it. The Labour MP in Grangemouth, Brian Leishman, has said he is "angry and incredulous" at the decision to allow the oil refinery to close, warning his party could come in fourth place in the next Scottish election. He said "There's no getting away from it, that's a broken promise by the Labour party. That's not good enough." Labour MP furious with party for allowing oil refinery to close | UK News | Sky News

 Polls have now closed in the UK local elections. Good luck to all candidates who put their heads above the parapet and stood for election. But particularly to all the Conservatives.

Polls are now open in today's local elections in England. Polling stations are open from 7am to 10pm Elections are being held today (1st May 2025) for 23 councils and six mayors in England. Around a third of electors in England are eligible to vote, and more than 1,600 councillors will be elected. There is also a parliamentary by-election in the Cheshire seat of Runcorn and Helsby. If you are not sure whether there is a local election in your patch, click the link below to a BBC site where you can put in your postcode and it will tell you whether you have an election or not. Local elections 2025: Where can I vote? - BBC News These elections will decide who spends millions of pounds of taxpayers' money on your behalf. I encourage people to vote Conservative, but what is even more important is that you turn out to vote for whichever candidate you think will make the best job of looking after your local area. I have been campaigning for ANNE HANDLEY, the Conservative candidate to ...

Between 1987 and 1990 the "New Scientist" magazine used to run a cartoon strip called " Albert the Experimental Rat, " a character created by the late cartoonist David Austin (1935-2005) which had previously appeared in a number of other publications. (Albert actually has a Facebook page which you can find  here .) There were a lot of very funny Albert cartoon strips in that period. I think my favourite was probably one called "The Medium is the Mess" about IT problems which at some stage may be the subject of a memory post like this one. My second favourite, which appeared on or about the first of May, was called "May Day." AS today is May Day, is seems appropriate to remember it. Against a backdrop of Morris Dancers and other tradition English country festivities, Albert the Experimental rat was shown musing something like ... "May Day - a time when we celebrate old traditions in homage to old, vanished and long discredited powers ... The ...