Elections 5th May – The fightback begins

After two weeks pounding the mean and not so mean streets of Aylesbury where District & Town Council elections take place tomorrow the fear of cutbacks to services people value is palpable, the fear voters have for their ability to earn a living and for their children’s potential being realised is obvious. For since WWII every British Government has at least held out the promise that life will be better for the next generation and their children. However this Tory led coalition is holding out no such stall – Headed up by a slick marketing man they are applying the Hershey Bar technique. We are going to give it a shiny new wrapper, make it smaller and charge you more for less. This of course applies to the new ConDem army of the disposed, workers and pensioners who actually pay tax not non-Doms or Tory Tax exiles or the powerful lobbies funded by offshore companies.

For the truth is that this strange Coalition running the UK has rewritten the rule book. Forget Election manifestos and promises – the coalition of the Conservative Party which didn’t win the election and the Lib Dems who most definitely lost the election has a totally new agenda from the one their supporters voted for, the Conservatives have abandoned conservatism and the Lib-Dems have abandoned liberalism while their leaders lead them on a mongrel course of untried, untested and unproven radical policies which nobody voted for at breakneck speed – frequently falling over themselves in the process.





In the elections tomorrow voters are urged to show Cameron and Clegg that they can't carry on with policies which have no public backing. Labour today released a document detailing the divisive policies which the Tories and Lib Dems are pursuing without a mandate: No mandate for NHS reorganisation; No mandate for police cuts; No mandate for VAT rise; No mandate for their squeeze on middle-income families; No mandate for abolishing EMAs and Future Jobs Fund or trebling tuition fees. Last year the Tories fell short of a majority in the General Election, unable to command the support of the British people for their right-wing agenda. Since then, rather than proposing reform that commands consensus, David Cameron's Tory-led Government has attempted to force through right-wing policies for which they have no mandate.



I’ve heard from so many people on the doorsteps who are deeply concerned about what this government’s plans will mean for them and for their families. People are worried - about the future of local services like schools and sure start, about how much damage the government’s ‘reforms’ will do to our NHS, about how they’ll make ends meet in retirement if they have to wait longer for their state pension. And they’re worried about what this government will mean for the next generation: £9,000 university fees, the EMA scrapped and 1 in 5 young people out of work.

Let’s send a message to the Con-Dem government that we deserve better than this:

http://www.unionstogether.org.uk/sendamessage

Tomorrow, voters across much of the country go to the polls to elect the people who will run their local councils and, in Wales and Scotland, the Assembly and the Parliament. Every vote for Labour tomorrow is a vote against this Tory-led government’s unfair cuts.



As Cameron, Clegg and Osborne cut from Westminster; it is those people in local councils and in the Scottish and Welsh governments who will have to pick up the pieces as their budgets are slashed. Already we’ve seen local services squeezed as local decision-makers are forced to pass on the cuts handed down from the Tories in Westminster.



By voting Labour, you can help to make sure local councillors and the Scottish and Welsh governments do everything they can to limit the damage done by these vicious Tory cuts. By voting Labour, you can help send a message to this Tory-led government that their cruel cuts are wrong, and there is a better, fairer way. Help us send this government a message, by emailing your friends and family to let them know why you think it’s important to vote Labour tomorrow.



See also;

http://www.aylesburylabour.org.uk

http://www.facebook.com/aylesburylabourparty

http://twitter.com/#!/aylesburylabour

St. George’s Day in Aylesbury

St. George in person in Aylesbury!

The 23rd of April is St. George’s Day, the feast of the Patron St. of England. This of course would have been a great surprise to St. George who, being a Minor Asian, never knew the place existed. What is clear is that Richard the Lionheart, a French Plantagenet, who actually spoke English badly and spent less than six months in England as King endorsed St. George as Patron Saint because the Crusaders identified with his being martyred in land which they held as part of The Kingdom of Jerusalem and then of Acre in the 13th Century. George's reputation grew with the returning crusaders. A miracle appearance, when it was claimed that he appeared to lead crusaders into battle, is recorded in stone over the south door of a church at Fordington in Dorset. This still exists and is the earliest known church in England to be dedicated to Saint George. The Council of Oxford in 1222 named 23rd April as Saint George's Day.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/03/for-st-george-and-england.html



So today in Aylesbury our out of touch Town Council organises St George’s Day events to demonstrate its irrelevance and its increasingly urgent need to justify its own existence. Afterwards to recover a gentle stroll to our wonderful (they only overspent by £18,000 a seat!) new Waterside Theatre and then to the adjoining canal basin which is the terminus of the Aylesbury Branch of the Grand Union Canal.






WARNING; Scenes of Morris Dancing in Kingsbury Square

Laugh if you may but Aylesbury, the County Town of Buckinghamshire, is not unknown to the stars of stage and screen. Part of Clockwork Orange was filmed in our concrete underpasses, Laurence Olivier and Vivian Leigh lived nearby at Notely Abbey, David Jason lives by Coombe Hill and Sir John Gielgud lived in the South Pavilion, Grendon Underwood House, now Tony & Cherie Blair’s country house. Many made their way to the Prime Minister’s country house at Chequers 2 miles from our modest cottage and Burton, Taylor and many famous luvvies used to wine and dine at the Bell in Aston Clinton when it was a rather top restaurant. And then there was an actor who began his acting career in Aylesbury more than 60 years ago.






The shape and use of materials in the Waterside Theatre is designed to echo the wooded rolling Chiltern Hills with their limestone underlay


Waterside Theatre in Aylesbury


Ronnie Barker's statue

A bronze statue of the late comedy legend Ronnie Barker was unveiled last September at the opening of the Waterside Theatre in Aylesbury. The Porridge and Two Ronnie’s star, who died five years ago, was born in Bedford and Aylesbury Vale District Council commissioned sculptor Martin Jennings to design the statue as part of its Waterside development project. It now takes pride of place in the new public space in Exchange Street. The statue was officially unveiled by Mr Barker's widow, Joy.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/09/ronnie-barker-in-aylesbury.html

The Aylesbury arm runs in a beeline from Marsworth Junction, on the Grand Union Canal which connects Birmingham to London, ending up in the town basin, the home of the Aylesbury Canal Society. From Marsworth Junction to Aylesbury Basin is around six and a quarter miles and sixteen locks, the Marsworth seven and Aylesbury nine. The canal arm took just three years to build after over fifteen years of 'planning'. The canal takes most of its water from the Grand Union through Marsworth Junction - Aylesbury Canal Locks 1 and 2, the only staircase locks on the southern Grand Union Canal system.
















Aylesbury Canalside

Aylesbury is the county town of Buckinghamshire in South East England. In the 2001 census the Aylesbury Urban Area, which includes Bierton, Fairford Leys, Stoke Mandeville and Watermead, had a population of 69,021, which included 56,392 for the Aylesbury civil parish. This is expected to be over 90,000 after the 2011 census.
The town's population has doubled since the 1960s due to new housing developments, including many London overspill housing estates, built to ease pressure on the capital, and to move people from crowded inner city slums to more favourable locations. Indeed Aylesbury, to a greater extent than many English market towns, saw substantial areas of its own heart demolished in the 1950s/1960s as 16th-18th century houses (many in good repair) were pulled down to make way for commercial developments.



Traditionally the town was a commercial centre with a market dating back to the Saxon period. This is because it was established on the main Akeman Street which became an established trade route linking London to the southwest. In 1180 a gaol was established in the town (it is still there though has moved locations two or three times) which only really happened in main towns across the country.






Market Square, Aylesbury

By the late 19th century the printers and bookbinders, Hazell, Watson and Viney and the Nestlé dairy were the two main employers in the town, employing more than half the total population. Today the town is still a major commercial centre and the market still meets on the cobbles of the old Market Square four days a week. Nestle and Hazell, Watson and Viney have both gone, as has the US Automotive parts producer TRW, who left the town in 2006. Although three major industrial centres make sure the town has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country.


Britain's most unlikely Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beconsfield


Sir John Hampden, the local MP whose refusal to pay the Ship Tax to Charles I led to the English Civil War

Stoke Mandeville was also the location of the Stoke Mandeville Games, which first took place in 1948 and are now known as the World Wheelchair and Amputee Games. The Games, which were held eight times at Stoke Mandeville, were the inspiration for the Paralympic Games, also called The Stoke Mandeville Games, which were organised in Rome in 1960. The wheelchair aspects of the 1984 Paralympics were also held in the village. The London 2012 Summer Paralympics mascot, Mandeville, is named after the village, based on the games once held there. Stoke Mandeville Stadium was developed alongside the hospital and is the National Centre for Disability Sport in the United Kingdom, enhancing the hospital as a world centre for paraplegics and spinal injuries.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/09/paralympic-games.html

As well as the convenient and much improving shopping, educational, medical, entertainment and employment opportunities of Aylesbury what most people appreciate here is the position at the centre of the fertile Vale of Aylesbury just the far side of the Chiltern Hills from London. Buckinghamshire is one of the loveliest of the Home Counties - some say the loveliest - and its Chiltern Hills and beechwoods, beautiful River Thames and the rolling acres of Aylesbury Vale make it a place for visitors to enjoy. Country walks run between picturesque villages with a host of welcoming pubs.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/04/chiltern-spring.html

The Chilterns lie only a few miles north-west of London and yet they are an unspoilt area of rolling chalk hills, magnificent beechwoods, quiet valleys and charming brick and flint villages. A wonderful mosaic of woods, fields, hedges, sunken lanes and clear streams.







So that is the attraction of Aylesbury, a sizable town with facilities which make it convenient set in lovely Buckinghamshire countryside within 50 minutes commute of London and with good travel connections to the rest of the UK and to London’s airports.


The Chiltern Hills

Ronnie Barker in Aylesbury

David Jason & Ronnie Corbett

Laugh if you may but Aylesbury, the County Town of Buckinghamshire, is not unknown to the stars of stage and screen. Part of Clockwork Orange was filmed in our concrete underpasses, Laurence Olivier and Vivian Leigh lived nearby at Notely Abbey, David Jason lives by Coombe Hill and Sir John Gielgud lived in the South Pavilion, Grendon Underwood House, now Tony & Cherie Blair’s country house. Many made their way to the Prime Minister’s country house at Chequers 2 miles from our modest cottage and Burton, Taylor and many famous luvvies used to wine and dine at the Bell in Aston Clinton when it was a rather top restaurant. And then there was an actor who began his acting career in Aylesbury more than 60 years ago.

A bronze statue of the late comedy legend Ronnie Barker was unveiled today in Aylesbury. The Porridge and Two Ronnie’s star, who died five years ago, was born in Bedford and Aylesbury Vale District Council commissioned sculptor Martin Jennings to design the statue as part of its Waterside development project. It now takes pride of place in the new public space in Exchange Street. The statue was officially unveiled by Mr Barker's widow, Joy.


Ronnie Barker's widow Joy at the unveiling

The Waterside development is an ambitious project to redevelop Aylesbury town centre, creating a new shopping area in Exchange Street (including a department store and food store) and a 525 space multi-storey car park and more than 200 homes in Walton Street. Further east at Circus Field there will be a mix of residential development and a new canal basin with residential moorings. Aylesbury has its own branch on the Grand Union Canal, which links London and Birmingham.


Aylesbury branch of The Grand Union Canal

Although only a two-minute walk from the centre of town, Aylesbury Waterside theatre is conspicuous to passing drivers on its site next to a roundabout on the ring road. It’s one of several cultural, retail, infrastructure and residential buildings planned as part of the Aylesbury Waterside development, an urban regeneration project intended to transform a rundown area of the town. The theatre enjoys a wonderful location adjacent to one of the town’s greatest assets – the canal. The canal basin itself is to be redeveloped and opened up to restaurants and homes. A new public green space will provide an attractive interface between the theatre and a new canal side Waitrose store and hotel.


Waterside Theatre

The £35m theatre, which has a 1200- seat auditorium, was commissioned by Aylesbury Vale District council and replaces the civic theatre in the town. The auditorium is housed inside a reinforced concrete block at the core of the building, which is surrounded on three sides by the timber and glass facade. The space between the facade and the auditorium block functions as an acoustic buffer, keeping out traffic noise and at the same time providing light, spacious public areas and views of the adjacent exchange Street and uphill towards the town centre.


Aerial view of Aylesbury Waterside Theatre under construction

When architect Norman Bragg was struggling to come up with a concept for the proposed Aylesbury Waterside theatre in Buckinghamshire, the last place he expected to find inspiration was driving down the A41 dual carriageway. “I was heading towards Aylesbury to visit a possible site, when I noticed thousands of sleek dark pine trees covering the horizon, a really impressive sight,” explains Bragg. “Then, as I approached the town through Aylesbury Vale I was awestruck by the beautiful, undulating green hills that dominate the scenery.”

She was joined at the ceremony by some of her husband's former colleagues including long-time comedy partner Ronnie Corbett and Open All Hours co-star David Jason. The Two Ronnies teamed up in 1971. Sculptor Martin Jennings has depicted Mr Barker in his role as prison inmate Norman Stanley Fletcher, in the classic 1970s' series Porridge, sitting on a stone bench looking up at the new theatre.



The Two Ronnies

Mr Jennings, whose work includes the statue of poet Sir John Betjeman at St Pancras station in London, said: "It's been delightful to make this statue of Ronnie Barker. He was a comic genius and he was a wonderful shape to sculpt. I've depicted him in his Porridge character glancing up approvingly at the new theatre as if looking back happily over a long career to the days when he began it all in Aylesbury."

Ronnie Barker was born in Bedford in 1929 and worked in a bank before joining the Aylesbury Repertory Company. He made his professional debut on 15 November 1948, at the old County Theatre in Aylesbury's Market Square, with a small role playing Lt Spicer in JM Barrie's Quality Street. By 1955 he was in demand in the West End and appeared in a number of productions including Mourning Becomes Electra, Lysistrata and Irma La Douce. During the 1960s, he became well established as a radio performer, leaving his theatrical career behind.


The theatre sits alongside Aylesbury's canal basin and is the centrepiece of the town's Waterside development

He teamed up with Ronnie Corbett in 1971, and their sketch show, The Two Ronnies, ran for 12 series over 16 years. His many accolades include four Baftas and he was appointed an OBE in 1978. Councillor John Cartwright, Leader of Aylesbury Vale District Council, said: "The sculptor Martin Jennings has created a wonderful work of art. The statue is a fitting tribute to a great man and one of Britain's best loved performers. I'm sure it will not only delight theatregoers, but will also be an attraction to Ronnie Barker fans throughout the country and perhaps even further afield."

English Defence League protest leads to 12 arrests

Tonight Aylesbury is deserted at the end of a tense and economically damaging day after English Defence League protestors descended on Aylesbury's Market Square chanting 'England' repeatedly and engaging in some audible racist chanting. As I predicted the effect on Aylesbury of this racist Rent-a-mob descending was fairly dramatic with the Town Centre in a complete lockdown and over 600 Police on duty including mounted police, Police from Wales and the Police Helicopter overhead. For a Town Centre where a normal policeman cannot be found on a Saturday this is a dramatic and expensive change. No Market took place in Market Square, The main shopping centres and bus station closed as did most shops in the Town Centre, many of which were boarded up. EDL members wouldn’t quiet appreciate the economic damage they have done as few of them appear to be economically active.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/04/edl-are-not-wanted-in-aylesbury.html

However their attempted invasion of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire failed today. The EDL’s racist, swaggering; Islamophobic supporters hoped they could take over the town and intimidate Muslims and ordinary people. They failed.



They hoped Asians and black people and trade unionists would be too scared to demonstrate against them. They failed. Around 200 anti-EDL demonstrators, overwhelmingly local people including trade unionists and 75 Asian people, gathered in the town’s Vale Park in a show of anti-racism and support for multiculturalism.
Twelve people have been arrested during the protest which attracted more than 800 people. The EDL, which says it opposes "militant Islam", organised the protest in Aylesbury's Market Square. A police spokesman said that "on the whole" the protest had been peaceful but there had been "some disorder". Eight of the people arrested were being held on suspicion of carrying offensive weapons.

Several "disorders" were dealt with by riot officers as more than 800 English Defence League supporters gathered in Aylesbury, Thames Valley Police said. Demonstrators were believed to have hurled coins, glass bottles, plastic flag sticks and cans at officers. Officers had to deal with a surge against police lines in the Market Square.



The EDL protest presented a "major challenge for the town", officers said. The organisation, which describes itself as "a counter-Jihad movement", has held several demonstrations in recent months in Manchester, Bolton and Dudley. Police said there were fewer protestors than the EDL had anticipated.

Supt Richard List, of Aylesbury police, said: "We made it very clear to the EDL at the outset that we would not tolerate any disorder on the day and that there would be a significant police presence. "The police operation will continue until we are totally satisfied that there are no risks or threats to public safety. “He added “We are a tolerant, successful and proud town - we all need to remember our tremendous strengths at this difficult time. I would like to express my sincere thanks to you all."A counter protest was held in Vale Park earlier, but has since dispersed.

Andrew Grant, the chief executive of Aylesbury Vale District Council said afterwards that “a range of entertainment has been organised for Monday by the Town Centre Partnership to help welcome people back to the town". Indeed – the vast majority of local people will be glad the EDL have gone.



The Muslims who defended Britain.

The EDL are not wanted in Aylesbury

England's Defenders?

Aylesbury last Saturday was its usual relaxed weekend self enjoying a sunny day enlivened by St. George’s day celebrations on a subdued scale. In Kingsbury Square the cafes and pubs had plenty of tables outside as people enjoyed the weather with their children and had a drink or snack whilst enjoying the Morris Dancing. There was also a Dragon roaming around attracting the kids and a little street train with a loco called “George” bringing the kids around the pedestrianised centre of the town. In the Market Square, overlooked by the statue of the local MP John Hampden whose refusal to pay the “ship tax” (Buckinghamshire is not on the coast!) to Charles I precipitated the English Civil War, the market traders jostled for custom from their colourful stalls as they have done for over four hundred years in this the County Town of Buckinghamshire. In the courtyard of the King’s Head, an ancient coaching inn owned by the National Trust, locals and visitors were enjoying the live music and the traditional ale from the Chiltern Brewery.


Market Square, Aylesbury

But what a difference a week will make in this town of 70,000 people. There is a sizable minority of Muslims in Aylesbury who are mostly from Pakistan controlled Kashmir where they have fled from conflict and work hard to provide a better future for themselves and their children. We have a Mosque and some of the best schools in the UK and by and large everybody rubs along quiet well. There is, as in any large town, a lumpen proletariat and there have been in the past some racist incidents whose reports generally include the words “skinheads” and “drink” but we pride ourselves on community relations and have had a Muslim Mayor.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2001/may/28/race.world

Aylesbury has a mixture of London commuters and busy local employment and is set in the attractive and rich farming area of the Vale of Aylesbury close by the Chiltern Escarpment and the area of Outstanding Natural Beauty known as the Chiltern Hills. It is a good and improving place with a good quality of life which is appreciated by the inhabitants who include sturdy yeomen of Buckinghamshire and many who have moved here from elsewhere including a large Italian and Irish community and more recently Polish. It is an inclusive place and we are particularly protective of disabled people who are very visible in the Town Centre on a normal Saturday as Stoke Mandeville Hospital with the National Spinal Injuries Centre is nearby. That was last Saturday. Next Saturday will be different, very different.


The borrowed iconography of the EDL including Constantine the Great's motto " In this sign I will conquer"

On Saturday 1st May our town is being high jacked by a self appointed Rent-a-Mob called the English Defence League or EDL. The effect is palpable. Aylesbury Bus Station will be closed, many small shops are closing at 12, they gave been advised by the Police to not have chairs and tables outside, keep shutters down and consider if they want to really open. The fear is well founded as the video taken by a neutral outsider at a recent EDL “Rally” in Stoke on Trent where 17 people were arrested shows. So next Saturday May the 1st these strangers are going to use our town to contrive conflict where none exists. So next Saturday in Aylesbury Town Centre there will be no buses, no old people, no children, no disabled people and no shoppers. There will also be no pubs open in the town. Here are the details from these Brave English Defenders own website;

“Initially, point 'A' was chosen as a muster area due to it having a small cluster of pubs that would serve as a meet point for our supporters to socialise in before the demonstration. However, the local licensing authority has visited these pubs and as an upshot of that, they have decided to close on the day. We would like to point out that at every single EDL demonstration; no pub has ever received any damage whatsoever. A business that could take three weeks worth of business in the space of a couple of hours deciding to close? I don't know what was said to them, but it sure must have been scary.”

Some Brave Army the EDL marching on its accelerated alcohol consumption?


Kingsbury Square, Aylesbury where all the pubs and cafes will close next Saturday

Some England, some defence? And who are the EDL? Well they have no discernible policy, have not been elected or stood in any democratic process and their web site consists of one long sneer against Muslim people quoting liberally from extremist and unrepresentative Muslim preachers to justify their obsessive fixation with “defending” the English against Islam?

The national leader of the English Defence League has warned that Saturday's demonstration in Aylesbury could be the first of many after a bitter row erupted with police and council bosses. Officers were hoping to keep EDL members on the outskirts of town before a rally in Market Square, to prevent skirmishes with counter demonstrators. But yesterday Tommy Robinson – not his real name – said EDL protestors are now planning to evade police and instead gather in Vale Park – where an anti-EDL demonstration is due to be held.


King's Head Aylesbury

He said: "If our demonstration doesn't go how we want it to go, we'll come back in six weeks. No other place has tried to block us like this one has." The EDL fell foul of police and council chiefs after trying to put up a stage and use loudspeakers – which they need a licence for. At a tense meeting on Monday, they were also told that they were not allowed to carry wooden framed banners. Coach loads of EDL members would have been met by police and escorted to Market Square, where they would have been contained inside solid barriers. Robinson said ominously: "We don't think they're doing well if they want it to go peacefully."

Here is a thoughtful article in the Guardian about this entirely bogus “protest” which is hijacking our town next Saturday by local resident and Labour Parliamentary Candidate in the forthcoming General Election, Kathryn White.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/09/english-defence-league-aylesbury

So in Aylesbury next Saturday let us keep our nerve with these unwanted and unwelcome visitors. As Communities Minister John Denham pointed out, “The tactic of trying to provoke a response in the hope of causing wider violence and mayhem is long established on the far-right and among extremist groups.” Let us remind ourselves of the EDL’s origins which highlights the ambiguous position that the BNP holds in regards to this new combination of football hooligan gangs and street racists. The BNP, and the NF before it, used to openly embrace football hooligans as useful muscle with a fierce nationalist pride. However, demonstrations and punch ups no longer fit with the image that the BNP tries to project, and so the EDL has filled a gap in far right politics that the BNP voluntarily vacated in its pursuit of votes.


The flower of England?

So does England need these “Defenders?” Well, England has defended itself fairly well in the past and I presume will do so very well in the future and the EDL membership will make no contribution either way. Like the ludicrous Nick Griffin, the convicted racist who leads the BNP, who surrounds himself in photo ops with make believe soldiers in battle fatigues the EDL will seek to use the last refuge of a scoundrel and these shower of aggressive, unemployed yobs will wrap themselves in false patriotism, a patriotism which probably doesn’t include not being dole scroungers? You have to wonder about the mentality of people whose idea of a good day out on a Bank Holiday weekend is to hold a market town and its diverse inhabitants to ransom. There is no point in me telling them not to come to Aylesbury for their tribal cow stomping because, lets face it, these yobs didn’t get where they are today by listening to others. There is also the practical point that if they were to get themselves tanked up, fight the other side in a macho male tribal display and then go home and watch their yobbery on TV after a footie match it would cost them a lot more than these members of the underachieving Master Race can afford.

Preserve us from such sham defenders; preserve us from such sham patriots.