Saturday, April 09, 2005
Postal Ballots
Labour must put it's house in order!
It seems to me that the issue of postal ballots needs to be seriously addressed at this General Election, Judge Peter Openshaw has described the system as being "wide open to fraud". Yesterday the same judge jailed another Labour Councillor in Blackburn for three years and seven months for staeling postal ballots and casting them for himself.
Is it a coincidence that six Labour Councillors were found guilty of electoral fraud in Birmingham on Monday by the same judge? Without wishing to be accused of racism, or prejudging the issue, I cannot but wonder why all seven Labour men were from ethnic groups within their respective communities.
With a number of Councils and Constituencies wishing to make further strides in the use of postal ballots, it's high time that The Labour Party insists on honesty within it's ranks or run the risk of the public turning against them and their methods.
Telegraph story - click here
Tourism is worth GBP78m to South Tyneside
One North East's Tourism Strategy reports that tourism is worth GBP78m and sustains 2,655 jobs within the Borough, we now need to find ways of harnessing the spending power of our visitors as well as attracting more of them.
Events such as the Great North Run, the Catherine Cookson Country Festival, and this year's Tall Ships Race will be major factors for limited time periods. These events provide a massive influx of visitors who need to be encouraged to return for lengthier visits.
Consequently we ought to be planning now for additional hotel accomodation, and I would like to suggest that the Gypsies Green site be seriously considered for a hotel/leisure complex. I would not like to see the outline of the landscape materially altered so any development there would need to be built sympathetically with maximum public support. My preferred type of building would encompass the design techniques employed at Sunderland's Stadium of Light, start by digging a very large hole and build up from there to the height of the existing surrounding landscape.
North Shield's Window on the World Festival is very quickly outgrowing it's environment and the last two events have drawn crowds that at times looked quite unsafe. An ambitious Council led scheme should be prepared to offer South Shield's coastline and parks as a better venue for the event, with imagination we could find theatre, music, vendors, comedy, and other public entertainments at the North Marine Park, the South Marine Park, the Bents Park, the Amphitheatre, Gypsies Green, the Town Centre, and the Market Place. I would dearly love to "steal" this event from North Shields.
Gazette tourism report - click here
_________________________________________________________________
It seems to me that the issue of postal ballots needs to be seriously addressed at this General Election, Judge Peter Openshaw has described the system as being "wide open to fraud". Yesterday the same judge jailed another Labour Councillor in Blackburn for three years and seven months for staeling postal ballots and casting them for himself.
Is it a coincidence that six Labour Councillors were found guilty of electoral fraud in Birmingham on Monday by the same judge? Without wishing to be accused of racism, or prejudging the issue, I cannot but wonder why all seven Labour men were from ethnic groups within their respective communities.
With a number of Councils and Constituencies wishing to make further strides in the use of postal ballots, it's high time that The Labour Party insists on honesty within it's ranks or run the risk of the public turning against them and their methods.
Telegraph story - click here
Tourism is worth GBP78m to South Tyneside
One North East's Tourism Strategy reports that tourism is worth GBP78m and sustains 2,655 jobs within the Borough, we now need to find ways of harnessing the spending power of our visitors as well as attracting more of them.
Events such as the Great North Run, the Catherine Cookson Country Festival, and this year's Tall Ships Race will be major factors for limited time periods. These events provide a massive influx of visitors who need to be encouraged to return for lengthier visits.
Consequently we ought to be planning now for additional hotel accomodation, and I would like to suggest that the Gypsies Green site be seriously considered for a hotel/leisure complex. I would not like to see the outline of the landscape materially altered so any development there would need to be built sympathetically with maximum public support. My preferred type of building would encompass the design techniques employed at Sunderland's Stadium of Light, start by digging a very large hole and build up from there to the height of the existing surrounding landscape.
North Shield's Window on the World Festival is very quickly outgrowing it's environment and the last two events have drawn crowds that at times looked quite unsafe. An ambitious Council led scheme should be prepared to offer South Shield's coastline and parks as a better venue for the event, with imagination we could find theatre, music, vendors, comedy, and other public entertainments at the North Marine Park, the South Marine Park, the Bents Park, the Amphitheatre, Gypsies Green, the Town Centre, and the Market Place. I would dearly love to "steal" this event from North Shields.
Gazette tourism report - click here
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Curly Born in 1956
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