NaBloPoMo Day 22 - The Black Lion

So, NaBloPoMo day 21... that's three weeks... only another week and a bit and it'll be Nanowrimo and I'll really have my work cut out for me!

Before I get into tonight's blog proper, a quick mention for my colleague and friend, Liz Kirk, who is 26 today. Happy Birthday, Road Safety Princess.

Another landmark event that happened today was me reading my local paper. It doesn't happen often; mostly when I have time (rare) and hubby hasn't already eaten it (even more rare). There was one story in particular that caught my attention. It was a little story written by my favourite journalist, Pamela Welsh, and it was about a local pub.

The Black Lion on Chapel Street in Salford closed last year. The ailing venue was bought by a local film company, FutureArtists, and re-opened at the end of September. The new owners invested £4,000 to revamp the pub and have not only breathed new life into a local watering hole, they have als created a venue fo local performers, artists and musicians. Work from local artists will be exhibited in the bar while upstairs will be transformed into a cinema, which will open next month, to show the films of FutureArtists and other local film-makers.

This is fantastic news. What an innovative idea to benefit the community and independent businesses, performers and artists. Well done to FutureArtists and to the pub landlord, Barry Phillips. I hope that this is a successful venture. Hubby and I will certainly be supporting it and I hope that others will do the same.

You can see what's on at the FutureArtists website.

Salford's Finest

Let no-one tell you that community policing doesn't work and certainly don't let them suggest that policing is broken. The law may be an ass but the boys and girls in blue (although these days they actually wear black and white with some fluorescent high-vis yellow for good measure) are doing a mighty fine job with very little thanks!

It's a sad truth that the fine weather has brought out the rowdy element in my local neighbourhood. Several days and nights in recent weeks we have been plagued by the throaty roar of off-road bikes and quad bikes, either racing up and down our streets or racing around our local park. This activity is an irritation (the noise echoes around terraced streets like a banshee wail) but it is also reckless and dangerous. These bikes are not road legal, which means they are not insured. If one of them hits your car or some other property, the repair cost will be left up to you, not the irresponsible individual that caused the damage. As they are designed for off-road use they often have non-standard tyres that are not necessarily suitable for use on a road surface and they invariably have no mirrors or headlights. At night, in the park, the bikes are impossible to see, and the riders themselves can't see anything either, which makes their behaviour all the more frightening.

During the course of the past couple of weeks, we have always made a point to report activity like this to the police using the Police Non-Emergency telephone number. We don't expect that anyone will be caught - I admit that it would be almost sheer luck if a vehicle was in the area at the time and able to stop the rider and seize the bike - but it identifies the problems and lets the police know where the issues are happening. With this information in hand the police can direct their resources more effectively and maybe the next time there will be a vehicle in the area.

As if proof were ever needed that this principle works, while I was out tonight, I met some of out community police officers in the park. In response to the problems of the last few weeks, they have been able to send a couple of bobbies on bicycles up to the park, acting as a deterrent and improving the likelihood of catching someone in the act. When I met them, they were chatting to a group of older teenagers who sometimes use the park to hangout. No-one was doing anything wrong on this occasion, but it's great to see action being taken.

So, the moral of the story: if you have problems in your area that requires police assistance, you need to let them know about it. The best way to do that is to call the Police Non-Emergency number, which is 0161 872 5050 (at least it is for Salford!) or go to community committee meetings, where there will usually be an officer or two in attendance. Our police service is an asset and I'd like to thank our local policing team for all their efforts to date.

Media Responsibility

This morning I read on twitter that a local journalist, for whom I have the greatest respect, has written an article concerning local authority budget cuts. In particular, this article encourages "the people of Greater Manchester to stand up against unfair spending cuts" by adding to a petition to central government - by purchasing the paper and filling out a coupon on the front.

The Manchester Evening News article claims that spending cuts are unfair because some local authorities will suffer higher percentage cuts to central government funding than others (reported to be 21% for Manchester City Council, 19.6% for Salford City Council vs a UK average of 15.2%). Whether you agree with cuts, or the general thrust of the article is very much up to you. My personal view is that this is a half-truth being pushed by Labour-led councils to make the public take a more lenient view their of their irrational spending decisions (£170m on a town hall extension, Manchester, or £700,000 on moving two cranes, Salford). The facts, as I understand them, are that the government has cut many of the grants upon which some councils are very much more reliant than others, while some of the direct funding (for example, to schools) has increased. This fact, it seems, will be somewhat off-set by additional government funding to the tune of £85m that will be used to help the poorest areas. However, whether or not any of this funding will end up in Greater Manchester, or the wider North West, is unclear. Therefore, I approach the government line and claims published in the paper with hesitation in equal measure.

My greatest concern is that I do not believe that a newspaper is the place for a party-political campaign and, for the second time in two weeks, I am bitterly disappointed by the standard of reporting.

Freedom of speech (and by cursor, freedom of the press) is not a license to say or print whatever an individual or group sees fit. Copyright and libel are the two most obvious manifestations of this fact, but there is, I feel, an unwritten responsibility or standard to which the media should hold themselves. The media has an incredibly powerful influence, particularly in modern society, and as Spiderman's uncle Ben says: 'With great power comes great responsibility.'

The job of the media is not to campaign. The job of the media is to inform. It is right that outlets like the Manchester Evening News should question and probe and criticise authority - both local and national - but they must do so in a fair and balanced way. When they fail to do so they sell-out and are willingly surrendering their right to press freedom. And for what? A cynical attempt to sell more papers! It honestly disgusts me how unbalanced modern media has become and how low the standard of reporting has fallen across the media spectrum. I hasten to add that I have often felt that local reporting and the BBC is the last bastion of honest reporting, which is perhaps, why I feel so strongly about this now as it seems to me that even my local press cannot resist the tidal wave of social irresponsibility that is plaguing us at the moment.

I can't change the minds of those responsible for the likes of the Daily Mail or Fox/Sky News who have long since whored their industrial freedoms in the name of turning of a profit, but I hope that this at least might influence those on the frontline and encourage them to hold themselves to a higher standard.

Sucks to be Proven Right

It's at times like this that I really feel like a bit of a doom-sayer. I distinctly remember, on 9/11, standing in the TV lounge of a hotel in Tunisia saying that the twin towers were coming down. I'd seen enough movies and 'Seconds from Disasters' to know that the buildings, already compromised by the force of the impact of the two aircraft, we weakening by the second because of the intensity of the blaze. Aircraft fuel burns very hot and it was inevitable that this would eventually heat the buildings' metal sub-structures to the point that they could no longer support the weight of the floors above the blaze. Sometimes it sucks to be right.

A little over a year ago I left First Choice Holidays in Salford following the merger of the two package holiday giants, First Choice and Thomson. Like most people, I have bills to pay and even though my hubby works full time too, my salary is needed to supplement his income. I didn't want to be left in a position where I was made redundant with no job to go to, so I jumped long before I was pushed. When I chose to leave there were many people that questioned my decision: I'd been there over 5 years so was in line for a decent redundancy payout. In response, I distinctly remember saying that I was certain the call centre would close. Even after the company said that they were going to maintain the presence of a customer service department in this location, I was still sure that, ultimately, the office would close... maybe not in a few days or weeks or months, but in a matter of years, Salford would be robbed of a key employer. I had seen it happen before: In the 5 years that I worked for First Choice I saw the closure of the Kilmarnock call centre; I saw the closure of the closure of the call centre up near Teesside; and finally the closure of the airline customer service centre at Manchester Airport. Each closure brought more pressure and longer hours on my colleagues in Salford, and they continued to work with crappy pay and little complaint.

Many of the people that I worked with have already been made redundant. I know several that are still out of work and, although it's more luck than anything else, I am thankful every day that I didn't agree to hang on for the sake of a bit of cash. Choosing to leave means that I was able to pick and choose my employer and as a result I managed to get a really good job that is essentially 'recession proof'.

This time last year Tui Travel PLC made the decision to operate a customer service centre at the Salford site, making hundreds of local people redundant, but effectively securing the jobs of hundreds more. This week, Tui Travel PLC have announced that they are closing the First Choice Holidays call centre in Salford altogether, effectively pulling the rug from under those people who have stayed loyal to a company that has done them know favours. These people have been through a lot in the last 12 to 14 months and must've thought that they were safe.

I think the words of one First Choice employee on the Manchester Evening News website sums the situation up entirely:
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"They put us through this last year, then announced in October that due to a business reshuffle they were closing down Coventry and creating a dedicated customer service centre in Salford, covering all aspects of holidays, weddings, cruise etc. Thinking our jobs were safe we all pulled together migrating all bookings on the old system onto the Thomson system. Now this has been completed they say that Manchester Ops are closing and everything is being relocated to Coventry. It stinks, they used and abused our loyalty, getting us to do a job nobody wanted to do or was not capable of doing down there. Some of the girls in CS [customer service] received 30 sacks of mail just before Christmas from Coventry, now that its done, we're surplus to requirements."

These are the people who look after you before and after your holiday. The bosses don't give a hoot once they've got your money, but the people who work in this call centre do care - otherwise they wouldn't do the job. TUI's actions are shameful.

Election!

My postal ballot arrived yesterday so let's talk about the local elections on the 1st of May.

First and foremost, no matter what the circumstances I intend to vote. I have voted in every election (bar one, when I was out of the country) since I was 18 and don't plan to break the habit. 'Why?' I hear you ask. It's my right! All over the world there are people who can't vote or people, like those in Zimbabwe, whose vote is made meaningless by their corrupt leaders. It may often seem like a vote in this country is meaningless but to those who honestly believe that I suggest you try living in dictatorship for a while and see how you feel about British politics then! Also, remember that just as there are many people whose vote means nothing, there are as many who can't vote. In the past many women have fought and died in this country for my right to vote and I am not about to insult their memory by squandering my vote. Thus, I would rather spoil my ballot than not actually vote and I encourage EVERYONE to think alike. It's your right, your voice and your power. If you choose not to wield it, you choose not be heard and not to act therefore you can't complain when everything's going tits-up!

Anyway, returning to my point, who should I put my trust in as my chosen representative in this local election? Well, in my ward I can vote Labour, vote Conservative or vote Lib-dem. What a choice! I am salivating at the endless possibilities!

Lets face it, by voting for the Labour representative I am effectively giving a seal of approval to the existing Labour dominated council. Here in Salford, our council tax is one of the highest in the area and we have just had the highest percentage increase of an council in Greater Manchester. For that increase we have roads that are riddled with pot holes, a substandard recycling programme and not much else. True, the Labour council are redeveloping my area - knocking down derelict buildings in favour of new 'low cost' housing - but they are also in favour of introducing congestion charging in Manchester and, the so-called low cost housing is, in reality anything but, the new housing is years from being built and the council is also looking to close schools in favour of larger super schools. All in all, not a great picture. I feel it could be time for a change.

So, what of the other candidates? Well, I have no idea what the Conservative candidate will stand for since we have had nothing from them. In general, however, the Tories are against anything that Labour want to do so you would think that makes them an ideal replacement. But I have a problem voting for a candidate that hasn't made any effort to convince me to elect them. It's almost as if the Tory candidate has decided that I won't vote for Labour therefore I will vote for them. They are not worthy of my vote.

That leaves the Lib-Dems as the only other choice. However there is always the concern that the Lib-Dems, as the 'third' party in this country, are unelectable. Even if they did get power, I'm not convinced they would know how to use it. At least THEY have made an effort to try and convince me!

So, what to do?