The Blogonian (Bristol's Election 2006)

Test

2006-02-20T09:31:00.000-08:00

Budget Blow To Lockleaze

The Lib Dems have slapped yet another council tax rise on Lockleaze. From April you’ll pay 4.9% more in local tax - that’s over twice the rate of inflation. The average household in the area will now have to hand over an extra £63 to the city council as your yearly bill hits nearly £1,300.
Lockleaze already gives the council about £5m every year. This rise will see a further £0.25m leave Lockleaze for the council’s coffers. What does Lockleaze receive for all this money?
At present the only services generally available are a part time youth club, a part time library and a ropey, overpriced bus service. Is that value for £5m of money?
As the local tax bill has rocketed in Lockleaze services have actually been cut. Schools have been closed, day care places for the elderly slashed and youth workers hours have been cut. Now we learn the local Post office is to be shut.

Welcome

2006-02-13T02:18:00.000-08:00

He's back!

Regrets I've had a few...

2005-05-07T10:36:00.000-07:00

But then again too few mention...

Alas, it's all over and The Blogonian must say farewell for now. But I shall be back for the local elections next year, which might be fun one year into the city's bright Lib Dem new dawn.
Also, my friends at The Bristolian have asked if I can use the site during their 3 month summer holiday to break any urgent news over the summer. I am, of course, more than happy to oblige. So keep an eye out...
And finally, for old time's sake, here's that Galloway/Paxman transcript in full.

Adieu.

Results at a glance

2005-05-06T15:06:00.000-07:00

Here's Bristol's election results at a glance. The Blogonian will offer some analysis later.

General Election

Bristol East - Lab Hold (majority 8,621) Blogonian prediction - Lab Hold majority 7,000 - 9,000

Bristol North West - Lab Hold (majority 8,962) Blogonian prediction - Lab Hold majority of at least 5,000

Bristol South - Lab Hold (majority 11,142) Blogonian prediction - Lab Hold majority of 8,000

Bristol West - Lib Dem Gain (majority 5,128) Blogonian prediction - Lib Dem Gain majority 2,000

Local Elections: Unspectacular stuff apart from a significant Green vote and a personal humiliation for Robin Moss in Easton.

Lib Dems are now the biggest party with 32 seats. Labour 27. Tories 11

Ashley - Lib Dem Gain (plus strong Green result with 22% of the vote!)

Avonmouth - Lab Hold (With Independent Steve Norman nowhere and unable to split the Lab vote)

Bishopston - Lib Dem Hold

Cabot - Lib Dem Gain (Independent Roy Tallis hammered with just 8% of the vote)

Clifton - Lib Dem Hold

Clifton East - Lib Dem Hold

Cotham - Lib Dem Hold (Greens 4th behind Tories)

Easton - Lib Dem Gain (Moss personally humiliated by huge swing against him, Greens take 3rd place and 16% of the vote)

Eastville - Lib Dem Gain

Frome Vale - Lab Hold (by 40 odd votes!)

Henbury - Lab Hold

Henleaze - Lib Dem Hold

Hillfields - Lab Hold

Horfield - Lab Hold

Kingsweston - Lab Hold (by 24 votes only! Independent Terry Thomas took 10% of the vote)

Lawrence Hill - Lab Hold

Lockleaze - Lib Dem Gain

Redland - Lib Dem Hold

Southmead - Lab Hold

St George East - Lab Hold

St George West - Lab Hold

Stoke Bishop - Con Hold

Westbury-on-Trym - Con Hold

The Blogonian's election day message

2005-05-05T08:01:00.000-07:00

VOTE EARLY, VOTE OFTEN, VOTE TACTICALLY

The Blogonian will return briefly on Friday to make a series of excuses for the poor quality of his predictions.

Some stuff for the last time

2005-05-04T21:53:00.000-07:00

A great piece from "the Popular Front for the Liberation of Dinner Parties - Fraktion Merlot" called 'Fuck Your Misgivings' telling you why you should not vote Labour. A must read.

Here's one for the Evening Post's Devil's Advocate... Overheard at one regeneration project today were some of the workers discussing the fact that if Labour didn't get in they'd be out of a job! Another reason not to vote Labour there folks.

Any video maker out there who wants a copy of Galloway's “Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability,” speech to Saddam can find it here. It's about 40 minutes into last night's episode of Newsnight in a report by Salaam Pax, the Baghdad Blogger, on the Bow campaign.

I see that the Guardian's US whizz-kid reporter has done a piece on Bristol West for the paper proper. Read nothing new about the campaign here. And just who the hell is Councillor Bill Rogers????

Wishful thinking meets blind ignorance

2005-05-04T21:27:00.000-07:00

Well here goes... Admittedly I know nothing about general elections and I'm more familiar with talking bollocks in Totterdown pubs than trading political gossip in the bars of Westminster, but here's the Blogonian's general election predictions...

Bristol East
A Labour majority of nearly 14,000 means an ultra-safe seat. But let's look at a few facts: The Labour candidate is from Luton and arrived in Bristol only a month ago. The Labour candidate has run a lacklustre campaign, hiding from the electorate and hoping the huge majority will see her through. The Labour candidate is an out-and-out New Labour yes-women parachuted into Bristol at the last possible moment. The former Labour MP - Jean Corston - was invisible in Bristol East.
And this constituency has a significant moslem vote that many predictions say will go elsewhere but the Labour Party. The Lib Dems have been courting the Moslem vote. The constituency has a significant anti-war vote. The Lib Dems have been courting the anti-war vote. The constituency has many disgruntled old Labourites. The Lib Dems have been courting the disgruntled old Labour vote.
But let's look at a few more facts: Little effort has been made in the constituency to organise or promote tactical voting. The Respect candidate could draw a significant anti-war vote and old Labour vote as could the Greens. Plus the Tories came second last time.
Overall Blogonian prognosis: Lab Hold with 7,000 - 9,000 majority (Lib Dems second, Tories third, Greens, UKIP and Respect lose deposits). A missed opportunity.

Bristol North West
A Labour majority of over 10,000 means an ultra-safe seat. Not many ifs and buts to this either. The Tories are traditionally second and will remain so with an increased vote. A bit of an anti-Labour vote to the Lib Dems will further reduce the majority.
Overall Blogonian prognosis: Lab Hold with at least 5,000 majority (Tories second, Lib Dems third, UKIP, Socialist Alternative and English Democrat lose deposits). If you want Labour out then you have to vote Tory. A depressing seat.

Bristol South
A Labour majority of over 14,000 means yet another ultra-safe seat. No organisation or promotion of tactical voting in the constituency means a significant anti-Primarolo and anti-New Labour vote is likely to be divided between the Tories, the Lib Dems and the Greens.
The Tories stance on immigration is said to be playing well in some areas...
Overall Blogonian prognosis: Lab Hold with 8,000 majority (Tories second, Lib Dems third, Greens just keep their deposit, UKIP lose deposit). If you want Labour out then don't vote Green, vote Lib Dem and pray loads of Tories think the same thing. Basically impossible for Primarolo to lose but a substantially reduced majority might get her worried.

Bristol West
To be honest I haven't got a fucking clue. It seems to be a battle between the Lib Dems and Labour with the Tories trailing third. The anti-war vote will put the Lib Dems ahead of the Tories but will it be by enough? And how much will Davey's vote collapse and where will it go?
Overall Blogonian prognosis: Lib Dem Gain with 2,000 majority (Labour second, Tories third, Greens, UKIP, Save Bristol North Baths and Socialists lose their deposit). If you want Labour out or you're anti-war then don't vote bother voting Green, vote Lib Dem or you might let the Tories in. This is the one to watch on the night.

THE BLOGONIAN'S GRAND GENERAL ELECTION PREDICTION
Er, Tony Blair to be forming a government with a majority of around 100. Depressing innit? Although there might be a few entertaining thrills and spills on the night.

Why I'll never be a journalist (part 2)

2005-05-04T16:08:00.000-07:00

Well done Blogonian, correcting The Guardian's claim that 20 seats were up for grabs by saying there were 21 seats being fought in Bristol. The correct number is 23 seats.
Straight out of the The Guardian's Corrections and Clarifications column or what?
No matter, no one else has noticed.

Why I'll never be a proper journalist

2005-05-04T09:28:00.000-07:00

Bristol West is featured in today's Guardian Blog in a piece written by overpaid and over here US blogger Markos Moulitsas. The brilliant journalist and election expert helpfully explains that 20 seats are up for grabs in the local elections and the Lib Dems could win 16 of them!
The Blogonian obviously has a lot to learn about this election prediction lark...

Local elections: what it all means

2005-05-04T08:29:00.000-07:00

In the unlikely case that the Blogonian's predictions are correct, the city council will look like this by the afternoon of May 6: Conservative 13 seats, Labour 24 seats, Liberal Democrat 31 seats.
For the first time in the city's history the Lib Dems will be the largest party in the city. Barbara Janke has already stated at the last full Council Meeting on 5 April that if the Lib Dems are the largest party they will form a minority administration.
So far so bad. But The Bristolian, The Evening Post and the BBC, in remarkable display of unanimity, have all predicted the fall of current Lib Dem leader Janke in an internal coup to Deputy Leader Gary Hopkins.
But will this really happen? Will Hopkins - still relatively inexperienced - want to run a minority administration that has to deal with the council's multiple financial cock-ups and the social services situation which is spiralling more out of control by the day? And will he want to do this in a party clearly divided, where his support and power base is derived from a collection of inexperienced and not terribly bright Lib Dem councillors from south of the river?
Hopkins is undoubtedly a competent - if uninteresting - politician with a taste for the detail of road calming and waste management. But as with all Bristol Lib Dems, he falls short when it comes to "the vision thing". The Lib Dems are a formidable election fighting machine but what for exactly?
They have no apparent plan or vision for the future of the city. They just seem to want to take Labour's dubious Thatcherite legacy and attempt to manage it better. That means more PFI, more city centre development and regeneration, more strip malls in South Bristol, more social services cuts, more privatisation, more voluntary sector incompetence, more traffic jams, the same old crap public transport and so on and so on.
The Blogonian has searched in vain for an original Lib Dem policy for the city and has failed. This is consensus politics gone mad. What's the point of voting if everything will stay exactly the same, just managed by different - and more inexperienced - personalities? Moreover, what the local Lib Dems plan to do hardly chimes with the national Lib Dems election campaign. This has consistently pitched itself to the left of the Labour Party. But where is the evidence of this reforming zeal from the Lib Dems in Bristol? Nowhere. They're exactly the same as the other two parties.
As for the Labour Party, expect some ritual bloodletting. Hammond having failed to deliver his own budget speech through sheer cowardice and having taken one of the worst decisions in Bristol's political history by taking control of the council back in October will be dumped as leader. Rumour suggests that John Bees will take over...
And the Tories? Who cares?

The final four wards

2005-05-04T08:17:00.000-07:00

St George East
The Tories got within almost 100 votes of Labour in this historically safe seat last time in 2003. However the general election should favour Labour in this ward. But it could still be close, although the Tories are not likely to benefit from any tactical voting that happens in the general election. Expect to be welcoming Labour's Charles Price on 6 May.
Blogonian Prediction: Lab Hold

St George West
The Labour Party consistently poll double the Lib Dems and Tories who are neck and neck here. Ron Stone will be returned to the Council House with a thumping majority again.
Blogonian Prediction: Lab Hold

Stoke Bishop
A rare beast in Bristol these days - a safe Tory seat! Last time out in 2002 John Goulandris got two-thirds of the vote and even in the general election year in 2001 the Tories managed an absolute majority in the ward.
It's Tory leader Peter Abraham up this time. Expect him back in the Council House, pomposity intact and proposing ammendments for another four years.
Blogonian Prediction: Con Hold

Westbury-on-Trym
A former safe Tory seat where the Lib Dems have gained a lot of ground over the last couple of elections. They may get a boost from the general election too but will it be enough to win? The Blogonian thinks not although it could be close.
Councillor Geoffrey Gollop is the Tory candidate here and it might be good for the city if he is returned as he's one of only about three councillors who actually appears to understand the city's finances!
Blogonian Prediction: Con Hold

Tough on crime unless it's Labour crime ...

2005-05-03T23:54:00.000-07:00

A frantic phone call reminds me of another example of "Red" Dawn and her Bristol Labour Party's tough no-nonsense attitude to anti-social behaviour in South Bristol.
Back in the day, Dawn was of course married to the equally dim and even lazier Mike Primarolo who taught at Hartcliffe School.
Until, that is, the lazy sod failed to do a load of marking and got bawled at by the pissed off Head Teacher. And Mike's response? Was it to pull his socks up and get his work done on time? Er, no. Instead he went into the school the next day and beat the Head teacher up!
To avoid too much embarrassment to his wife, the sitting MP, and their Labour Party colleagues Mike was quietly shunted out of his job. But fear not, his Labour Party chums did not desert him, let alone allow him to be publicly humiliated in the pages of the Post as Dawn is so eager to do with South Bristol's anti-social teenagers these days.
No, instead, the Bristol Labour Party have always ensured that a constant stream of lucrative voluntary sector consultancies in South Bristol have been passed his way ever since... Many of them in Hartcliffe. So who says crime doesn't pay?
You begin to wonder what exactly Dawn thinks anti-social behaviour is don't you? Drink driving - that's fine. Leaving the scene of accident - that's fine. Assault - that's fine. It's all fine if you're involved with her Labour Party it seems.
But if you're a teenager, under-18 and live on a council estate... Well that's different innit?

2 more wards...

2005-05-03T21:48:00.000-07:00

Redland

One half of the appalling Lib Dem millionaire property developer couple. This is hubbie Jim White's safe seat. Unfortunately he cannot and will not lose. His missus ran transport to little effect in Janke's farcical "rainbow coalition" junte last year. Would the Lib Dem's let a White near any power ever again after that? Probably!
Blogonian Prediction: Lib Dem Hold

Southmead

Labour leader Hammond's ward. He's done very little campaigning but is openly claiming that the increased general election turnout will see him through. Seems a reasonable possibility... But is the reason that there is no Hammond campaign more because no Labour activist is prepared to waste their time or efforts on spineless Hammond, the man who threw a sickie to avoid having to present his own budget?
This might be tighter than Hammond expects, especially with day care campaigner Andy Richardson running as an Independent. Richardson has been courting the Labour vote, but with the Tories and Lib Dems running neck-and-neck in the ward Hammond will still take the seat pretty much by default.
Blogonian Prediction: Lab Hold

Today's crap

2005-05-03T21:15:00.000-07:00

Think again before calling Blair a poodle. "The poodle is a belligerent, disobedient, hyper-aggressive brute, with a very large mouth full of extremely nasty fangs," explains Spinoff.

If you're interested in the ins and outs of tactical voting there's a big public discussion about it all on The Guardian's blog.

"28,20,23,27,31,24. What are these numbers?" Asks Themos also in The Guardian blog. "They are percentages of the electorate that were motivated to go out and cast a vote for Labour in '79, '83, '87, '92, '97 and '01. To hit the "unelectable" low of '83, Labour would have to gather 38% on a 54% turnout. From today's viewpoint, that does not sound so outlandish," he points out rather well

The Conservatives, it must be said, have used the web really well in this election. Here's a game now on their site.

Gorgeous Watch: George Galloway stormed off the ITV Lunchtime News today, saying the presenters were “liars” and the interview was a “set-up”. Read all about it here.
Meanwhile William Hill bookmakers have Oona King at 4/9 with George Galloway at 15/8. Loosely translated, they have her down as favourite in what is effectively a 2 horse race.
See www.politicalbetting.com for more election betting stuff.

Red-faced Dawn P

2005-05-03T16:21:00.000-07:00

No doubt the Daily Mail readers of South Bristol that seem to make up the rump of "Red" Dawn Primarolo's New Labour vote these days were suitably impressed with her stand on anti-social behaviour in her latest election leaflet.
The famously dim Treasury minister was photographed next to various stalwarts of South Bristol Neighbourhood Watch schemes condemning in no uncertain terms the scourge of anti-social behaviour in her constituency.
The effect was only slightly spoilt by the fact that one of the gentlemen photographed next to her has just been prosecuted for drink driving and not stopping at the scene of an accident.
Oh well. Presumably some behaviour is more anti-social than others in Dawn's brave new Daily Mail world.

More wards

2005-05-02T18:32:00.000-07:00

Lawrence Hill
A tough call. Historically this is inner-city Labour territory but the Lib Dems have been slowly overhauling them. Labour incumbent Brenda Hugill got back easily last time thanks to the general election but she could struggle this time.
The significant moslem vote could go to the Lib Dems as could the many disaffected Labour voters in the area. The Lib Dems' candidate is former Oxfam worker Fi Hance who has decided to hitch her wagon to the local Lib Dems for reasons best known to herself. She may be repenting that decision at her leisure should she find herself caught in the middle of their soppy squabbles and backstabbing in the Council House.
Blogonian Prediction: Lib Dem Gain

Lockleaze
Current Labour councillor, the execrable Arthur Massey is retiring and will not be missed. He's allowed the school to close, the day centre to close and open space to built on during his most recent tenure.
The other councillor, the equally execrable Lib Dem Sean Emmett - currently mired in scandal - pulled a huge vote here in 2002. Hard to call this one. It's the Lib Dems who are on the up here but it's Labour that should benefit from a high general election turnout.
Blogonian Prediction: Lib Dem Gain

Another few wards

2005-05-02T18:05:00.000-07:00

Hillfields
Another safe Labour seat. It's currently held by the invisible Noreen Daniels. To be honest I know nothing about her and care even less.
A vaguely interesting fact is that Graham Davey is the Green candidate. He's the awful Val's old man. He has no chance of winning though.
Blogonian Prediction: Labour Hold

Horfield
A Labour-Tory marginal currently held by Labour's Rosalie Walker. Last time round in 2002 the Tories won this with virtually 50% of the vote. Walker won on the back of a general election in 2001 with 40% of the vote to the Tories' 33%. Walker is unlikely to do as well from the general election this time and the Tories should squeeze in.
Blogonian Prediction: Con Gain

Kingsweston
Should be an ultra-safe Labour seat. This is the stomping ground of former docker and Trotskyist John Bees, touted to take the Labour leadership next weekend. Judith Price currently holds the other seat for Labour, which is up for grabs this time.
The Lib Dems are beginning to perform well here but they're unlikely to take the seat this time, although Bees could have the mother of all battles to hold on to his seat next year.
Also running as an Independent is former old Labour councillor, Terry Thomas. He's unlikely to win but could pull a significant personal vote and attract a lot of disaffected Labour supporters. It looks like the pressure is on for Labour in this seat.
Blogonian Prediction: Lab Hold

More wards...

2005-05-02T11:26:00.000-07:00

Easton

Another part of the once solid Labour Party inner-city heartlands, this is social services boss Robin Moss's ward. During in his four years in office Moss has seen his personal income triple but his ward has considerably deteriorated. Crime has shot up, little effective regeneration has taken place, an unpopular New Labour academy has been built, the area's last piece of open space is to be privatised and developed and even its community centre has gone bankrupt
Despite the area's urgent need for regeneration little has happened. Funding going into the area is low, sporadic and ineffective. There has also been a massive displacement of crime from St Pauls, which has obtained high levels of investment recently due to the Broadmead development.
Moss's personal popularity in the ward is therefore at an all time low. This combined with his ineffective and unpopular management of the social services budget means he is almost certain to lose his seat. He has privately admitted as much.
The Lib Dems have been campaigning hard in the ward. Their candidate Abdul Malik has been particularly targetting the moslem vote and the Lib Dem anti-war message should be highly effective here.
Sadly there's no Independent candidate running this time, despite The Bristolian's Jane Nicholl picking up 15% of the vote and coming in third last time. The Greens may benefit from this.
The Blogonian Prediction: Lib Dem Gain

Eastville

Tough one to call. the Lib Dems won this last time in a low turnout election. The Labour Party scraped it in 2001 with a high turnout from the general election. The Lib Dem candidate in 2001, Tony Locke, is now running as an Independent and may get a large personal vote, thanks to his tireless campaigning on the prostitution issue in the area.
On balance, the Lib Dems should take the ward. The combination of their local campaigning skills and the poor quality of the previous Labour Councillor, Judy Patterson should be enough to get them in. But it depends on Locke, how many votes he takes and who he takes them from. A very tight call.
The Blogonian Prediction: Lib Dem Gain

Frome Vale
The Conservatives fancy this one. They took it last time in 2003 with 45% of the vote. Ineffective Labour Councillor Alun Davies has done his party few favours here and even with the boost of a high turnout from a general election they have little chance.
The Blogonian Prediction: Con Gain

Henbury
A solid Labour Ward where they regularly poll double the main challengers - The Tories. Labour have selected a dubious South Bristol Party fixer - Derek Pickup - for the seat. He might not get much of a personal vote but he should walk it. It'll be interesting to see how his past reputation plays once he's in the Council House.
The Blogonian Prediction: Lab Hold

Henleaze
The Lib Dems regularly receive over 50% of the vote in this ward. They should do again especially as the ward falls in the Bristol West constituency. Like him or loathe him, Dennis Brown will be back.
The Blogonian Prediction: Lib Dem Hold

Local elections: three more wards

2005-05-01T20:11:00.000-07:00

Clifton

Also Barbara Janke's ward, this has been a solid Lib Dem ward for well over ten years. Their candidate and sitting councillor, Brian Price, will win this and probably land over 50% of the vote.
A waste of time the other candidates turning up.
Blogonian Prediction: Lib Dem Hold

Clifton East

The ward of failed actor turned failing mayor and indifferent politician, Simon Cook. There's little chance of the snob being given the boot though. He should romp home with a thumping majority on the back of the general election. The main challengers are the Tories but they can't do it this time.
Blogonian Prediction: Lib Dem Hold

Cotham

Yet another safe Lib Dem seat. Their accountant, Barrington Dodd, is up this time and looks unbeatable. The Green candidate, Geoff Collard, has been slowly building support in this ward but he's still got a long way to go to win it. It looks like he'll get swamped by the larger party machines in a general election year in a marginal parliamentary constituency.
Blogonian Prediction: Lib Dem Hold

Today's stuff

2005-05-01T18:40:00.000-07:00

The Sunday Times reports that Galloway's Palestinian wife is divorcing him. She blames the split on a series of extra-marital affairs and claims that Galloway has tried to smooth things over by telling her it is a plot by an unnamed intelligence service to discredit him!

The awesome UKIP election broadcast can viewed on their website.

Here's some political ads funded by Channel 4 for the three main parties. Much better than the real ones.

The Scotsman has kindly supplied the times we can expect to hear from key wards on Friday morning.

Local elections: the first four wards

2005-04-30T17:01:00.000-07:00

Ashley

This ward is part of what were the inner city Labour heartlands along with Easton and Lawrence Hill. However a procession of incompetent and lazy Labour councillors starting with Ray Sefia and continuing with “Horrible” Helga Benson and non-entity Dudley Saward have turned this into a prime Lib Dem target.
The Lib Dems have done little in the ward either, current councillor Shirley Marshall has neither intellect nor a work rate and has been invisible since elected in 2002. She appears happy to pick up her councillor expenses and let Labour controlled regeneration quangoes take all the decisions in the area.
The Lib Dems have GP Jon Rogers running this time and Labour have nominated virtual unknown Simon Crew to replace the retiring Saward. It will be a straight fight between these two who will both benefit from the high-profile general election campaign in Bristol West.
The Green candidate is again David Simpson. He’s been ineffectively fighting the ward for years unable to attract the large progressive vote the ward contains. This was demonstrated by the large Bristolian vote last time round. It’s unlikely Simpson will do the work to capture this vote.
Blogonian prediction: Lib Dem Gain

Avonmouth

Conservative “Spud” Murphy took this Labour ward last time in 2003 after years of campaigning. On the surface this is a straightforward ding-dong between Labour and Conservative, which should see a Labour victory due to the boost of a higher turnout from the general election.
But the joker-in-the-pack is Independent candidate Steve “The Avon Mouth” Norman, the day care campaigner. The former Labour Party member, staunch socialist and RMT official is providing Avonmouth’s Labour voters with a kind of “micro election” between Old Labour and New Labour in the form of Terry Cook, a Bristol Labour Party fixer and husband of cabinet member Clare Cook.
This is one of the most intriguing campaigns in Bristol, which many on the left and in the Labour Party are watching with interest. Norman has also become something of a talisman amongst the left in Bristol. His campaign has seen Respect, The Bristolian and The Socialist Party on the streets in Avonmouth campaigning on his behalf and even the Greens have stood no candidate against him.
He’s unlikely to win but he’s very likely to split the Labour vote. The repercussions of this campaign for the future of the Labour Party in Bristol could be notable.
Blogonian prediction: Con Gain

Bishopston

A solid Lib Dem seat since they turfed out former Mayoress Pat McClaren in 1999. The Labour Party used to pick up 50% of the votes in the ward, now the Lib Dems do. Lib Dem Bev Knott, their education spokesman, is liable to run away with the ward on a landslide. Especially with the boost he should receive from the Lib Dems' Bristol West general election efforts.
Whether Knott goes on to run education in the city depends on the Bristol Lib Dems’ notorious internal squabbles and how they are temporarily patched together after the election.
Blogonian prediction: Lib Dem Hold

Cabot

Held by Bristol’s only independent councillor Roy Tallis. Continually dubbed a Tory by his detractors, Tallis has stood up and argued forcefully against the party system in Bristol for the last two years.
For this alone he deserves another four years and a little bit of wishful thinking says he’ll hold the seat. The reality of the Lib Dem election machine says otherwise.
It’s a pity that the promise of an independent slate of candidates organised by Tallis has not really seen the light of day.
Nothing is known about the Lib Dem Candidate although he’s likely to win.
Blogonian prediction: Lib Dem Gain

UKIP octopus broadcast special

2005-04-30T09:29:00.000-07:00

I hope you've all recovered from the kitsch horror of last night's UKIP election broadcast. For those that missed it, the celluloid masterpiece featured a giant green papier mache octopus swimming up the Thames to Westminster and engulfing Parliament with its tentacles before gobbling up passers-by.
"This is not science fiction," intoned insane UKIP leader Roger Knapp. Indeed it was not Roger...

Yet another UKIP election broadcast horror courtesy of Channel 4. It seems due to some unexplained cock-up the channel transmitted Thursday's Green Party broadcast with subtitles from UKIP. Full story here.
"It's pretty awful, It totally lost the message," said a Green spokesperson. Ho, ho, ho.

Respect's former London mayoral candidate, the Stop the War Coalition's Lindsey German is doing a blog about her parliamentary campaign in West Ham. A sample from this unexpected gem: "I had a good time with the kids who hate Bush and Blair and their parents who are fantastic."

At least one person's using the election campaign and the net to launch their career in advertising. However, this animation which has been knocking around for weeks is very good.

Still not made up your mind up about who to vote for? Try Public Whip's Quick Election Quiz or The Observer's Vote-O-Matic.
I'm not really sure why I keep recommending these things. Every time I use them it induces a philosophical-political crisis when they tell me I'm a natural Lib Dem. HELP!!!

We're into the last week of the campaign, so The Blogonian will, between now and election day, bring you his exclusive ward-by-ward analysis of the Bristol local elections. All the parties, all the personalities, read it here only in The Blogonian.

My constituency right or far right

2005-04-29T16:29:00.000-07:00

The Totterdown branch of the Bristol Subtervisers have decided to work on a large canvas. The results can be viewed live by heading east on the Bath Road out of town. It's on the A4, look left just over the rail bridge from Temple Meads. A photo is here.
Certainly brightened up a lot of commuters' days this morning. It was still up at 4pm today too.

Wednesday was a busy day for long-suffering South Bristol postmen. Not one but two election deliveries were shoved through our doors.
The first came courtesy of the South Bristol Conservative Party. They've decided that some character called Graham Hill is the man for us. His rather charming leaflet entirely consists of pictures of himself and various Conservative luminaries such as Alan Duncan and, er... Richard "Bunter" Eddy brandishing "Say No To Gypsies(sic) Site" placards. Nice.
The other leaflet was a pink and yellow number urging me to "Vote Dent". To be honest, I'd prefer to "Lynch Dent" judging by his views. "Say no to unlimited immigration" is his headline demand and inside the nutter claims he will "scrap 100,000 regulations that are killing small business". Presumably the kind of silly regulations that require employees receive a living wage and that ensure bosses don't kill their workers and the like. The man with one name "Dent" is of course from UKIP. UTIT is more appropriate.

The Blogonian's early summer idyll supping Pimms on the banks of the Avon at Shirehampton's hidden gem of a hostelry, The Lamplighter, was rather spoilt last night when an appalling sight appeared from around the corner.
Confused old duffer Doug Naysmith, accompanied by two New Labour harridans, was yet again out on the stump irritating locals in the Avonmouth Ward. Looks like Steve "The Avon Mouth" Norman's Independent campaign has certainly put it up the remnants of the once proud Labour Party in the area.
The Tories, meanwhile, are already claiming victory next Thursday. Norman is said to be sanguine about this state of affairs. "What's the difference between New Labour and the Tories?" he asks.

"Pretty straight kind of guys"?

2005-04-28T08:58:00.000-07:00

There's only one story in town today - the leaking of the legal advice on the war. I've not seen all the press on this yet but avoid the BBC and the Guardian on this story. The BBC's Andrew Marr had already decided by 10.00pm last night that "there's no smoking gun here" and the Guardian is so far up New Labour they might as well take up residence in Blair's intestine.
Try either The Times or The Independent for a decent view. Of the blogs, try www.perfect.co.uk or Chicken Yoghurt or Honourable Fiend. This promises to get interesting.

Locally, the Lib Dems, having been told to fuck off by the Evening Post, have decided to start bullying Bristol Indymedia instead. An ill-judged threat of libel action by Tim Pollard, the agent of Bristol West candidate David Williams, over a link on the independent news site to The Standards Board for England promises to get interesting. More on this later.

The Evening Post and the BBC have both done some commentary on the local elections. The Blogonian will be offering his view soon...

Was he booed or boomed? Tony Blair at the Lilian Bayliss School. There's a lot of talk about yoof speak which I'm far too old to understand but get the lowdown from www.urbandictionary.com here. Then view the BBC footage here and decide. The look on Blair's face says it all really.

Check out the rather neat "Read My Lips" movie here.

Couple of entertaining blogs. The hilarious Stop Veritas and Respect Watch.

East Bristol: alien clone zone?

2005-04-27T20:06:00.000-07:00

Oh joy. Some people have bothered to read the Bristol East candidates' interviews for me. Better still, they've posted up their thoughts on the 'red hot political discussion' section of the site. (Good to see the Something Political boys are attracting as much interest as The Blogonian. Sure is lonely out here, eh boys?)
Anyway, it looks like unpronounceable Green Party candidate Arjuna Krishna-Das is coming in for some rather well-deserved flak. Seems he's spent too much time roaring around the city in his car and reading the Daily Mail for some people's tastes. His description of young people as "yobs" has not gone down at all well.
And his explanation of his views actually makes things worse. Especially his reply that "yob" applies to anybody doing anything "from littering and verbal abuse upwards". Shit. He's more authoritarian than Blair.
What a disappointment. His photo makes him look like something out of Star Trek - a harmless, benign alien beamed down to spread the way of The Ecologicals amongst the humanoids. But is he really from a planet friendly to the Earth?
Just as scary is a comment in praise of the Lib dem candidate. "My thought that the Lib Dems are the only party to combine a genuine sense of compassion with a good measure of common sense has been fully confirmed. Well done Philip James your parties consistently anti war and pro environment stance attracted me, and your humane and sensible answers to the questions convinced me, " it says.
Are we talking about the same Philip James? The one I see looks like Bristol's Lib Dem leadership has spent the last two years in the basement of the Council House engaged in some strange and terrifying bio-chemical experiment. The result? A horrifying clone of Councillor John Kiely.
Are we really to understand that someone in East Bristol thinks this sad old fart with his bandwagon-load of fully market-tested policies is the answer to all the hopes, dreams and aspirations of a lifetime?
Unbelievable. Their comments are beyond irony. I hope for their sake they're one of the many Lib Dem activists trawling the net this election. Or they need to get out more... Urgently!

Today's nonsense

2005-04-27T10:01:00.000-07:00

John Curtice, Professor of Politics at Strathclyde University says that the more we see of politicians in the election campaign, the less we like 'em.
In the past week, explains the Prof, more voters have become convinced that all three leaders "cannot be trusted to tell the truth and are "weak". Even fewer think that either Blair or Howard "has sensible ideas for Britain's future".

I'm no fan but 'Electioneering' by Radiohead off the OK Computer album has strangely relevant lyrics.

"Kung Fu Labour are on a mission. Coming up to the election they need to bury the issues and find the pages from their '97 manifesto to avoid any awkward questions." Yes Tony, David and Gordon are 'The Kung Fu Statesmen'! Play it here.

The Labour Party election broadcast tonight is aimed at women. Their brilliant ploy is to try and convince women they've got more chance of pulling under Labour! More details.

For the completist. Here's how drug users intend to vote. Greens seem to have this issue wrapped up...

Blair's visit by Channel 4

2005-04-26T17:48:00.000-07:00

Channel 4 reporter Katie Razzall describes Blair's visit to Bristol...

Monday 25th April

The Tony and Gordon "we're best mates" show came to Bristol today. Marginal seat. Lib Dems and Tories biting at the heels of the Labour MP Valerie Davey who's been keen to repeat during this campaign she was against the war.

A totally stage-managed visit naturally - Labour minions wandering around asking who we were, why we were there, were we part of the pool arrangement, no? Well then you can't film here. Here being beside a bridge over which the Prime Minister was due to walk imminently.

A strategically positioned group of Labour student supporters had been lingering with coffees (sitting outside on a freezing day like today, a total give away that they weren't just hanging out with friends) at the foot of the bridge ready to greet the PM. Pretty chilly stuff. And in the end completely redundant. New Labour's brightest stars were delayed which meant there was no time for the "bridge walk".

They took a different route to get to the tourism centre they were touring. A crowd gathered to watch them come in, people at windows of offices, standing on walls to get a view. One man behind me looked to be holding a box of flour. A policeman spotted him and stood close by.

False alarm - he cheered when Mr Blair arrived. So, it's got to be said, did most of the crowd. Perhaps the other parties have got all this distrust of the Prime Minister stuff wrong. Or maybe in Bristol today, they were all hand-picked…

Bored at work?

2005-04-26T14:54:00.000-07:00

Do a google search on liar!

Does the election really exist?

2005-04-26T14:15:00.000-07:00

During my lunch break last Wednesday I took a stroll down to that hotbed of radicalism, Bristol Farmers' Market on Corn Street.
No really. This is the place where you'll find prefab campaigner Doreen Hancock rubbing shoulders with Eastville prostitution campaigner and Independent candidate Tony Locke, whilst old communists from Southmead shop side-by-side with Greens from Southville.
Then there's the endless procession of senior city council executives crossing the centre to surreptitiously purchase their copy of The Bristolian - "the highly respected local periodical" (© Eugene Byrne, Venue). The latest word from these council mandarins, I learn, is that what this city needs is an elected mayor...
The Green Party have noticed the Farmers' Market phenomenon too and with a general election imminent, Corn Street was knee deep in leaflet wielding Green activists. Naturally, being local politicians, they were given a very wide berth by the majority of the right-minded middle-Englanders out for their organic bacon and a quiet life.
With little to do, the forlorn activists eventually congregated in a gaggle at the top of Corn Street around The Bristolian seller - where even his offers of a newspaper personally auotographed by Geoff "Councillor" Collard, the great Green hope for Cotham, failed to elicit any enthusiasm.
The conversation amongst us political saddoes soon turned to the thrill of this election. A particular subject of interest was the thinking behind senior politicians flocking into Bristol to "meet the people" without actually bothering to tell the people they were coming.
Instead you hear about these visits on the local evening news when the long-departed politician appears on screen grinning like a madman surrounded by people who are obviously party workers. Who else wanders up and down Park Street in the middle of the afternoon with five foot square orange Lib Dem placard?
What is the purpose of this? Do people think, "there's Charles Kennedy/Peter Hain/some Tory tosspot on telly in Bristol - they've got my vote?"
Then lo and behold who did we get on telly last night? Only Little Boy Blair flanked by his gurning chimp Chancellor and the execrable Valerie Davey wandering around the docks shaking hands with local party members before delivering a speech about cranes.
Are Bristolians really so dumb that they'll now rush out and vote Labour? Wouldn't they actually want to meet and speak with the politicians rather than see them on Points West? Do these stage managed political PR showcases really work?
If I was whacky French post-modernist Jean Baudrillard I'd probably conclude at this point that perhaps the general election doesn't really exist. Is it merely a series of election-style simulations where our reality has been replaced with a simple and satisfying series of crafty and mediated images? It certainly seems that Blair on telly gets far more interest than real candidates in the flesh at the Farmers' Market...
But thankfully I'm not Jean Baudrillard. So instead I'll just conclude that most politicians are disreputable cowards petrified of real people. They know damn well that us real people would throw eggs and tell them to piss off if we got half a chance - which wouldn't go down too well on the evening news - so they don't give us that chance.
The one small ray of light in this whole Blair affair, however, came from a small group of anarchist protestors. Refusing the alienation, exploitation and shackles of work in favour of spending the day drinking in up-market dock side cafe bars, they were there on-the-spot to give Blair and friends a hard time... And the media even picked up on it!

Local Lib Dems in Post attack

2005-04-26T12:19:00.000-07:00

The Blogonian learns that Bristol Lib Dems are getting a bit hot under the collar with The Evening Post. Their activists have been bombarding the paper and its journalists with calls claiming the paper is biased in favour of Labour.
Some have even been saying the paper's coverage is "illegal". If only. The paper's main bias seems to be towards boring us to death with their election coverage.
But at least one Post journalist has had enough of the constant Lib Dem whinging and bleating and sent out a clear message over the phone yesterday - that is no doubt supported by many right-minded Bristolians - telling the party to "fuck off".
Well done that journalist!

Today's Round-up

2005-04-26T09:09:00.000-07:00

Bristol group Guerilla Art have released a poster, which they intend to use to highlight how the three main political parties support the continuing illegal occupation of Iraq. You can download it from here.

Here's another site full of election subverts.

Or how about a Respect movie soundtracked by Leonard Cohen?

The BBC have published the full transcript of the interview yesterday between Today's John Humphries and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on the legality of the war. Straw's ducking and diving like mad... And it shows.

Anti-war Independent, Reg Keys, who's taking Blair on in Sedgefield has a website at http://www.keysforsedgefield.org.uk. Donate some money if you've got it.

Today's stuff

2005-04-25T19:47:00.000-07:00

Labour's stupid new slogan is off to a good start! If you value it register it Tony.

The Alastair Campbell Blogger has been unmasked. "I’m a 30-year-old who works in the marketing department of an online bookmakers," she explains to The Times.
Now, what was it "leading cultural commentator" The Guardian's Mark Lawson said on Saturday?
"... almost all the bloggers seem to be male...". Well done mate. We await next Saturday's drivellings with the usual dread.

The best piece you're going to read on the mendacity of Blair and New Labour on Iraq and Attorney General Goldsmith's advice is here.

Election candidates

2005-04-24T16:25:00.000-07:00

Election candidates for Bristol are available here on the BBC website.

No great surprises I'm afraid. Unless you include Michael Blundell from the crackpot English Democrats. They describe themselves as "(a non-Racist) UK Political Party looking after the interests of the people of England" and are running in Bristol North West.
I'll leave you to make your own mind up about them but they do boast Garry Bushell as a candidate!

Of the rest, Bristol West is of most interest. Looks like Independent councillor Roy Tallis backed out of standing but Douglas Reid of the Save Bristol North Baths Party is. Obviously he has little else to do with £500 of campaign funds. Wouldn't he have been better off standing in the local elections?
Lib Dem Stephen Williams is being touted to win this, especially since perma-tanned Tory David Martin appeared on HTV last week and just about everybody loathed him.

Bristol South has just the three main parties, a UKIP candidate and the Green, Charlie Bolton. Most people think Primarolo's 14,000 majority could easily be halved. To get beyond that it depends how much tactical voting goes on.
Bolton is working very hard on this seat although he will achieve little but hoover-up anti-war and protest votes that could have been tactical votes for the Lib Dems. But no doubt his work now will pay dividends in the local elections next year where he should take Southville Ward.

Similar outlook in Bristol East where new girl Kerry McCarthy's vote could easily be halved. With both Respect and the Greens working hard, again it's likely that the Lib Dem tactical vote will be the loser and let McCarthy in with room to spare.

Don't expect any surprises at all in Bristol North West where the Tories are the main challengers and Naysmith will romp home.

DJ Moniker and other stuff

2005-04-24T15:11:00.000-07:00

"As the politicians and media vie to assault all our common dignity", says DJ Moniker, "there is only one thing left to do... mock them for all you're worth!
"Here's my version of the utopian immigrant-free Britain that Blair and Howard would love us to inhabit... enjoy."
It's excellent. Listen and download here.

Elsewhere, blogger Chicken Yoghurt who got a slagging from pompous tosser Mark Lawson yesterday has done a handy poster for your window.

Lawson is coming in for a hammering all over the net but the best comment is here.

For a general round-up of what's happening on the internet during the election try this at perfect.co.uk.

The Sunday Times has a leaked memo to the Labour troops from Ali Campbell. Who would've leaked that then?

And this week AA Gill has to explain to his children that his wife is a Tory candidate - “Mummy’s not a bad person, she’s just a Tory. She’s not lying on purpose, just don’t believe anything she says.”

In the news

2005-04-23T20:12:00.000-07:00

Q. How do you make a bad hangover worse?

A. Read Mark Lawson in the Guardian.

The superior and oh-so clever columnist turned his big brain today to the question of election blogs. Here's a sample of what he had to say:

"Blogworld most resembles a radio phone-in for leftwing men but without a Victoria Derbyshire or Brian Hayes to interrupt the callers who lose the thread and start to free-associate."

Fair comment maybe. But not coming from Mr Establishment Media Bore himself it's not, as it's obvious to us with normal size brains that the web is kicking shit out of traditional media in this election campaign.
All that fawning over parties and their leaders and hanging on their every word and then ramming it down our throats. Isn't that all a bit 20th Century Mark?

A lot better in The Guardian was Jonathan Freedland finding out where the phrase "hard working families" came from. Looks like it came from the Clinton '92 campaign, which probably means it was another piece of James Carvill's handiwork. That's the man who figured out that the easiest way to get progressives elected was to turn them into Conservatives and tell everyone they weren't. Great idea, thanks for that James.

The BBC attended the BNP manifesto launch today (St Georges Day).

Backingblair.co.uk has uncovered Blair fibbing again.

Quote of the week

2005-04-23T19:07:00.000-07:00

"How come the prime minister can write a letter of condolence to Ozzy Osbourne after he falls off a quad bike, but can't write to families bereaved by the war, or visit the wounded?"
Bereaved father and PPC for Sedgefield, Reg Keys

Avonmouth: Cook and Naysmith in retreat

2005-04-23T18:53:00.000-07:00

The fight for the Avonmouth Ward in the forthcoming local elections sensationally spilled on to the streets of Shirehampton today.
This mother of all election battles with day care campaigner and unrepentant socialist Steve "The Avon Mouth" Norman in the red corner and New Labour modernising yes-man Terry "Family Man" Cook in the blue corner, is shaping up to be the big-money bout in the city council elections.
Earlier today Terry Cook and Bristol North-West MP Doug Naysmith turned up outside Shirehampton's Co-Op for a hard morning's canvassing only for Norman and his sidekick, daycare protestor Graham, to roll up just minutes later outside the Somerfields opposite!
Some fairly polite banter then broke out between the factions. But when Norman decided to up the ante and bring his megaphone into the fray Cook and Naysmith scarpered sharpish, leaving the day care boys to canvass the good shopping folk of Shirehampton alone.
Norman reports a good response from the public, with over 300 hundred hands shaken and as many leaflets given out.
"They all seemed to know me from the telly," said a pleased Norman.
Are the Independents in business? Watch this space...

Who's fit and who's shit in Bristol East?

2005-04-22T15:36:00.000-07:00

I have really, really tried to read the interviews with the Bristol East candidates but it's defeated me. Let's face it, life's too short to spend time reading what a bunch of weirdoes think about Post office closures in Easton.
It's not like anything will get done about it. The candidates basically fall into two categories. There's the ones who could get elected but don't really give a toss about Post Offices in Easton; they just give it some weasel words as it's election time and then will do fuck all if elected.
Then there's the others that probably do give a toss about Post Offices in Easton but haven't a hope of getting elected... C'est la vie.
Instead, in keeping with the general intellectual tone of this blog and the political gravitas of the moment, I've decided to look at the pictures instead.
"Who's fit and who's shit in Bristol East" will therefore be coming soon. This beauty pageant of candidates could well set the Bristol East campaign alight.
Already The Blogonian's all female focus group drawn from the finest pubs in Totterdown (entirely made up from the underepresented - in this election so far - drinking mums from bone idle families) have been hard at work.
Judgements so far include, "That Labour candidate, Kerry McCarthy, looks like a right slapper - the sort of woman who'd run off with your boyfriend."!
Could she be a cunning ploy by Labour to land the chav vote?
The full results of "Who's fit and who's shit" will be coming soon...

The yoof vote: an in-depth report

2005-04-22T14:29:00.000-07:00

The Blogonian - leaving no stone unturned in their 24/7 effort to bring you the local election news that really counts - has procured a youth to reveal all about their voting intentions at this election.
Our eighteen year old adolescent layabout residing in inner-city Bristol has spent the first two weeks of the campaign claiming, "the whole thing is really boring, I ain't voting".
But the sheer excitement of the campaign and the charisma of our tremendous political leaders seems to have finally got to him.
"I fink I'm gonna vote Repect," he amazed everyone by announcing this week after allegedly sizing up the options.
Only one problem here though. He resides in Bristol West and there isn't a Respect candidate. Never mind - the boy he had an alternative - "I'll vote Green then," he said.
Just to confirm this totally impressive choice of leadership, he was handed a leaflet from Justin Quinell the Bristol West Green candidate.
so he looks for - ooh... maybe ten seconds - and announces, "I'm not fucking voting for someone who looks like that!"
Oh dear. Poor Justin. Maybe it's time for a makeover mate? Here at The Blogonian, our all-female election focus group - drawn from some of the finest pubs in Totterdown - are also saying those glasses and that moustache have to go.
Perhaps you could get your Green Party frontperson, Caroline Lucas to hand over some of that Goldsmith cash she's funded with to pay for some style tips?

Ghost writer watch

2005-04-22T14:06:00.000-07:00

The poor sod forced to write Blair's campaign diary for him is developing a sense of humour. His entry for Monday reads:

"I could tell the minute I arrived at our hotel in Birmingham yesterday that I was not exactly the star attraction. The autograph hunters were there for Kylie who is currently on tour in Britain. It meant I was struggling to get the best out of my team who kept wandering off to join the groupies hanging around for a glimpse of Kylie. My press team were all singing “I'm spinning around.” Only they weren't."

Election Heat

2005-04-21T19:02:00.000-07:00

So to that vitally important issue... Which celebrity is backing what party then?

The Tories boast the usual set of deadbeats and wankers guaranteed to lose votes. Nutty novelist Frederick Forsyth, tosspot lyricist Sir Tim Rice, chefs Clarissa Dickson Wright, Marco Pierre White and Antony Worrall Thompson; former Spandau Ballet star Tony Hadley, and poncey actor and writer Julian Fellowes are all on their ‘list’.

The Greens meanwhile have a fan in Kate Ford – that’s Tracy Barlow in Corrie… Could be a vote winner!

Sensational broadcaster Nicholas Parsons, film critic Barry Norman and er, epidemiologist Sir Richard Doll are all backing the Lib Dems...

Whilst Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher is backing Labour. He says, “If the Conservatives get in, Phil Collins is threatening to come back and live here. And let's face it, none of us want that". Good point; well made mate. Tactical voters take note.

Veritarse, meanwhile, have produced the best quote on the matter. "I'm not sure if we go for celebrities really, we're more interested in real people,"
Veritarse spokesman Michael Harvey

Then there’s Respect. The Blogonian learns that no less than Harold Pinter, the Holland Park radical who’s now writing “fiercely direct and bald political poetry” (or so it says here) is a fan.
“I am pretty certain there is only one party I could vote for now, the Lib Dems, particularly in this constituency. I’m a great admirer of George Galloway, and I hope Respect, his party, does very well. But there’s no Respect candidate in Kensington and Chelsea,” booms the great socialist.

Toothbrushes in politics

2005-04-21T10:37:00.000-07:00

A correspondent is amused by the Boris Johnson feature in The Times. They also wonder if this is the only example of a toothbrush making an appearance in the political process?
Indeed it is not. Here in Bristol we have a long and honourable tradition of toothbrushes and political debate.
Will we ever forget (unlikely, because I wouldn't let you) that glorious exchange in the council chamber some years ago between Lib Dem Councillor Kiely and Labour's Councillor Bill Martin?
It culminated with top debater Martin threatening Kiely with the immortal lines, "I'll shove a toothbrush so far up your arse you'll be able to clean your teeth with it."!
An unimpressed Kiely was so upset he involved m'learned friends in his reply...

Avonmouth: there could be trouble ahead

2005-04-21T10:21:00.000-07:00

There's trouble brewing for the Labour Party in Avonmouth. The current Labour Councillor Pat Roberts - a lifetime member of the party - was cruelly deselected for the ward just a few months back.
It seems some off-message anti-war remarks fell foul of Bristol Labour's Unamerican Activities Committee who decided to send her packing. She was replaced by New Labour sycophant Terry Cook, who just happens to be husband of Bristol Labour very big-wig Clare Cook and brother-in-law of leader-in-waiting John Bees.
Terry's since been out dutifully campaigning in Avonmouth on his family's ultra-New Labour platform. But what's this on his campaign leaflet? A picture of current councillor Pat Roberts no less!
Pat is reputed to be less-than-impressed with this hypocrisy from Cook and his New Labour chums and views their cynical use of her as the final straw.
This could get bloody. A very, very pissed off Pat knows where all the bodies are buried in the Bristol Labour Party. We await events with interest...

Nothing funny out there

2005-04-20T21:51:00.000-07:00

Nothing much funny or entertaining anywhere in the papers about the election today. Excepting perhaps the news stories about the gang of 4o moslems who threatened to lynch Galloway last night. Looks like he's really making some headway with that moslem vote down in East London.

The media campaign proper is just dull, dull, dull. Another day of Howard talking to us like we're a particularly recalcitrant infant school class and Tony Blair... Just what the fuck is Tony Blair doing? The Guardian diary reckons he's had botox. Could be. He looks weird, sounds weird, acts weird. Should he be allowed to run the country? Apparently you can decide...

In lieu of anything any good today, here's some more Boris. The resounding vote of confidence in his leader is very impressive.

Local independent news shows Post the way

2005-04-20T18:00:00.000-07:00

Not much to feature today as I had to do a proper day's work with no access to the internet. So it's good to see some other independent people in Bristol are having a look at the election.
A crowd called www.somethingpoliticalsounding.org over in East Bristol have kindly interviewed all their candidates for us. Very interesting too.
I've only glanced at it, but very New Labour Kerry McCarthy is good value. "I actually went out into the world and became a lawyer," says the giant of the Labour movement. And we learn she lives in East Bristol... In Redcliffe to be precise... Which is about as near as you can get to leafy Bristol West whilst being technically in Bristol East. Go girl!
Meanwhile Bristol's Stop the War Coalition have found out how all our Bristol MP's voted on the war and they've posted it up on Bristol Indymedia.
Of most interest is Bristol West's Valerie Davey's voting record. She says she voted against the war, everyone else says she abstained. Except that is The Evening Post, which is heroically maintaining its solidly dull editorial approach to everything - especially the election - and today printed word-for-word some tortuous Labour propaganda on Davey's voting record.
Read it here if you must.

The Avon Mouth blasts Splinter Arse

2005-04-19T22:45:00.000-07:00

Bad night for Valerie Davey at the HTV-organised debate for Bristol West candidates.
Deselected Labour councillor for Avonmouth, Pat Roberts, managed to steer the tightly managed debate off-topic and on to the elderly.
The idiot Davey then decides to deliver one of her soppy little homilies on how wonderful New Labour has been for the elderly... Bad idea.
Lurking in an audience - of mainly Labour Party activists - was no less than Day Care Campaigner Stephen "The Avon Mouth" Norman.
According to one audience member he gave it to Davey "with both barrels", describing her as the "new face of Thatcherism", a disgrace to the Labour Party and telling her in no uncertain terms what she's done for the city's most vulnerable elderly. ie. sweet F.A.
It'll be interesting to see if the scenes make HTV's final cut. We'll see tomorrow night at 11.00pm...
If they screen Norman's outburst it could be game over for Davey and judging by her ashen face after the event she knows it.
The other candidates - and much of the non-Labour audience - were cock-a-hoop. Independent Roy Tallis, Tory David Martin and Lib Dem Whatisname? all congratulated Norman on what is touted as quite a performance.
Bring it on HTV.

In the press...

2005-04-19T21:52:00.000-07:00

Daft sod Boris Johnson got followed around Henley for a feature in The Times today. A brief sample...

“You’re cleaning your caravan with a toothbrush,” Boris said brightly.
Mr Spires, a man with enormous white sideburns, eyed Boris as if he had landed from another planet. “Will you be voting Conservative?” wondered Boris.
“No way, Jacko,” said Mr Spires.
“Right-ho,” said Boris. “Jolly good. Carry on toothbrushing.”

Read the whole thing here

Meanwhile in The Guardian the idiot Monbiot has issued a missive that anybody anti-war should get out and vote for their local leftie fruit and nutcake candidate. This, he says, will show Blair exactly what we think... As if he'll fucking care with a majority of 100+

If you must read the upper class twit's view it's here

Locally, the Evening Post has its usual duller than dull one page of election bollocks. Today we're treated to a look at The Labour Party's city council manifesto. Very exciting.

On the web Respect are taking a hammering. Some people might like this

Alistair Campbell's blog is worth an eye

And even the BBC are wondering Do We Really Need An Election?

A few things to get started..

2005-04-19T16:54:00.000-07:00

The big excitement 'round these parts is of course the three-way marginal in Bristol West. strategicvoter.org.uk claims, on current polls, that the Lib Dems are ahead (Lib Dem 35.9%, Con 31%, Lab 26.7%).
Does this mean that poor sods in Bristol West better vote Lib Dem or the Tories get in?
Our other three seats - Bristol South, East and North West are of course safe Labour seats. Or are they?
Rumours coming out of Labour's Bristol HQ - where they've got hoardes of underpaid students phoning supporters day and night - suggest that people who voted Labour last time are fairly evenly split three ways. Those definitely voting Labour, those definitely not voting Labour and the don't knows.
If the definitely nots keep their word then these safe seats begin to look distictly marginal... Maybe all those Green, Independent, Respect and socialist voters should take note. Is it time for a tactical vote?
Finally, over in Bristol East we have something of a minor phenomenon as it has one of only 26 anti-war, pro-religion, very leftie Respect candidates running in the election - Paulette North.
The party has been getting quite a bit of publicity as "Gorgeous" George Galloway is their candidate in Bow, East London where he's taking on ultra-Blairite Babe Oona King. There's a great hatchet job on Gorgeous George by the Sunday Times's AA Gill here
Is this a Tory press stitch-up? Or does he deserve everything he gets? And how will Respect do in Bristol?

Welcome to The Blogonian

2005-04-19T15:08:00.000-07:00

Welcome to The Blogonian, Bristol's only weblog for the elections in 2005. This blog will take a close look at the forthcoming city council elections and the general election from a Bristol angle. It will also feature any other election related stuff that I feel like chucking up here.
Feel free to join in - add your comments and opinions.