Entries from February 2010 ↓

As any regular reader of this blog knows we love and cherish Bridge Ward Labour councillors here, particularly those of them who are not good enough to represent where they actually live.  With their nice web design contracts and their £400 a day consultancy gigs they need all the help they can get and on this blog we do the best that we can to help them along.  And I am told that they are duly grateful for this help. 

So in a newly found tradition for this blog I feel compelled to jump to the defence of the councillor for Corder Road and Bridge, Bryony Rudkin.  According to a phone tip offthat I got from one of my readers (who knows about the internal workings of the Labour group a bit more than I do) our Bryony has very probably been attacked by one of her colleagues.  The bully?  The master at the very expensive Ipswich School, comrade Alsdair Ross.  This caller, whose motives are as pure as mine are in defending our Bryony, says that Ross made a post about Ipswich Spy complaining about councillors who turn up late and leave early.  Of course he said that the main culprits were the non-Labour councillors, but there was another unnamed councillor who is apparantly famous for turning up late and leaving early, and to my shock and dismay I learned that this councillor was Bryony Rudkin.

I naturally defended our Bryony by jumping in and saying “yes, she’s done that at almost every meeting we’ve both been at” and made it clear that this despicable tipster was to retail his rumours somewhere else by forcefully telling him, “why are you telling me?” to which this knave cryptically replied “to put in your blog, you idiot.”  Investigative journalism may not have lost a great talent.

So Councillor Ross if you’re going to have a go at one of Corder Road’s, Chantry’s, Bridge Ward’s councillors then do it in the time honoured way by frustrated asides after Labour group meetings with a couple of your closer friends who are likely on a Friday night to phone up irresponsible Tory bloggers; and don’t do it in your blog.

It’s berthing now and will probably be starting at 10 AM.

Let us know at noise@bridgeward.org.uk if you hear anything

And now to concentrate on more local stuff.  Lori Squirrell, who lives just inside the ward, was awarded the Benemerenti medal for decades of service to St. Pancras church.

The Benemerenti medal is awarded by the Pope for long and faithful service to the Catholic church.  The word means well deserving person. Well done Lori.

Both Ben Gummer and Ipswich Spy have it wrong, the problem with Gordon Brown’s visit was not the fact that it was publicly funded (well not entirely the problem), but the fact that it blended the political campaigning in a marginal seat (and marginal ward) together with an official visit.  So the speed limits being broken and the publicly funded outriders made sense when visiting the airmen but not when going campaigning and going to BBC Suffolk.

It was the blending of the two together, or at least blending them together so blatantly, which was so wrong.  But that’s been endemic at least since Chris Mole became an MP.

Ipswich Spy is a good idea, as our politicians should be transparent (Eye Spy is almost certainly where they got their idea from).  However there is a question as to why politicians should be transparent but their watchers should be anonymous with their perspectives and motives un-examined.  There may be good reasons for  anonymity, there may be a whistle blower (Eye Spy again), a victim of a repressive regime or there may be a point of view that should be put across in a purer way than could be done if people knew who the author was.

However anonymity may also be a cover for an unexplained and unexamined agenda.  So if the agenda is unexplained, is it surprising that we look at, say, Alasdair Ross’s post in his “excellent blog” ( (c) Ipswich Spy) who lays out the agenda of Ipswich Spy.  That agenda is to shame councillors who turn up late to meetings, particularly if they are Tories.  Now there are only three local institutions that Alasdair Ross is well plugged in to – the ultra-expensive Ipswich School, the compensatory Ipswich Town Independent Supporters and the Ipswich Labour Party.  I can’t see why Ipswich School would want to set up an anonymous blog reporting on local politicians.

Well we know that the blog is either a group adventure or the author has a seriously split personality and they’ve got good access to the Gordon Brown visit.  So it’s either (1) the Labour Party, (2) some of the local political journalists who’ve not thought out what’s going to happen when they’re identified as the authors or (3) some local non-aligned political anoraks who’ve not previously had any significant on-line activity and somehow managed to get into at least two Gordon Brown events. The last would have had to have an impressive late waking organisational ability and the second would have had to have an impressive disregard for their careers by maintaining an anonymous site without written permission from their employer.  So Labour?  It’s the only one that makes sense.

Plus I’ve got their facebook page (they have invited me), and look who knew first:



It really should go without saying that a three year old should have more sense than a Labour MP.

The Evening Star have a very funny story about a young boy trying to give the sagest advice that Chris Mole will ever get about what his election campaign should do with Gordon Brown.  ”Oh no.  Hide“.  Or perhaps he was just advising the Labour group on the council what to do with Chris Moles “personal vote”.

It’s a good thing that John Cook has a new job, because this kid could have saved the Ipswich Labour Party a fortune, and considering how much the taxpayer funds them – that would mean us.  And the boy’s leaflet design skills are better as well.

I’m proud to say that it happened in Bridge, at the Hillside Sure Start in Maidenhall Approach.  I doubt anywhere else in Ipswich would have had this robust approach to the robbing Scotsman.

Addedndum:

Considering all the coverage that Ipswich Spy did on the visit, and considering that this is what they’re supposed to specialise in, isn’t it odd that they haven’t picked it up.

Seventeen and a half minutes into this interview on BBC Suffolk Gordon Brown commends Chris Mole

Councillor Alasdair Ross (this time on the record) says he is “thrilled this man is our Prime Minister”.

There are quite a few Tories who are thrilled that Gordon Brown is your leader as well.

Labour may not be able to run an economy, but they seem to be doing a good job of running an internet campaign.  They have set up a site to coincide with Gordon Brown’s visit, called Ipswich Spy, it also has a Twitter site.

The idea is to act as Ipswich’s version of the anti-politics net, in much the same way that got Labour spin doctor Damian McBride in trouble.

Sadly after a reasonable start it seems to be have devolved into re-tweeting comments from Labour councillors and ex-councillors and putting in links to “Alasdair Ross’s excellent blog” (their words).

In time Ipswich will get a bewildering variety of political blogs (this newly found blog from an Ipswich UKIP supporter was pointed out by a correspondent today), of which a couple will fill the space which Ipswich Spy is trying to fill.  But until that time, don’t be fooled by imitations, here is the real anti-politics net:

Guido Fawkes

Eye Spy

Red Rag (oh, that got taken down, I wonder what happened to it’s authors)

Chris Mole and Andy Burnham lay into Ben Gummer by saying that the only way he can be serious about the health service is by backing Labour’s plans.  All very partisan and stirring.

But there’s not a mention about Ipswich hospital and its status as something more than a district general hospital, which means one of:

1) Chris Mole doesn’t see the Hospital’s status as important to our health – but doesn’t really want another debate on it

2) It would be just rude to mention Ipswich hospital to Andy Burnham, a man who’s been degrading the hospital fairly systematically

3) The Hospital just clear slipped Mr Mole’s mind (after all Westminster’s hospitals are pretty nice)

So Mr Mole, why did you have a big announcement on health and not address the big health issue in Ipswich, is our hospital going to be a bog standard District General Hospital in five year’s time?

Just a strange little thought.  How big  a part did the money that Greece spent on the 2004 Olympics have to play in the country eventually going bankrupt in all but name?

We know that the Olympics have already brought the cement ship misery (hopefully this is over) but will it also help to tip this country over the fiscal edge?