Nov 072009
Just come back from Bloomfield Road and like at most stadiums today there was a veterans parade. At half time, various veterans were announced and applauded.
Councillor Ron Bell was then announced as a veteran and the applause completely stopped.
A couple of other veterans were announced and the applause recommenced, until Councillor Jim Houldsworth was announced. Then it toned down to a golf clap.
I know these two councillors wont care what people think as they don’t seem to care about jumping in bed with a housing developer for cash, but it was quite clear that the crowd were not in support of these people in any way regardless of their history serving the armed forces.
These two men served the country in the forces well unlike Oxbridge toff Marsden who has never served the country or Blackpool. I don’t condone the Kensingtongate scandal but their service to the country should be appreciated. I just hope this doesn’t reflect on the Blackpool South election. Marsden for ‘ FOUR MORE YEARS’ is a thought not worth thinking about. MARSDEN OUT 2010!!!
The only connection Marsden has with armed services, is when he dresses up as a jewish rabbi and gets one of his mates to butt-fuck him, dressed as an SS officer, lol
There are 2 ways at looking at this:
1) It was bad cos both men should have been applauded given their service,which is a lot more than that child pimp Marsden; as TB has eloquently pointed out.
2) The other side of the coin, is that these men are a disgrace to selfless public service and to their fellow veterans, given their relationship with developers,putting their rancid tory party first, and public interest last, and the crowd were having none of it.
I go with point 2, cos thats what Bell is , a disgrace.
Its a shame that a man who did serve his country has fallen so far, stooped so low to keep developers happy.
You would think, someone with that background would have the backbone to say “up yours” to developers and do the right thing and campaign to save the moss and build in inner Blackpool.
As a result, I hope neither the tory nor the labour scroats get elected, both are equally vile.
I hope the people see sense and go for someone different, lib dem, ukip, or BNP.
The mainstream elite of the tweedledum and tweedledee bum suckers are bereft of integrity, honour,conviction and deserve nothing less than vituperation.
If I had been there, there wouldnt have been silence, but you can guess what would have happened, lol
Exactly. Point 2 is what I was trying to get at.
I think we should always show people who are willing to put their safety on the line for other people a large degree of respect (I don’t think any reasonable person could argue with this statement). This respect however can’t last forever Ron Bell took money to support his bid to be a MP from a large national company who have very little history of supporting him before. So the question any reasonable person must ask is why give the money now and what do they want in return? Ron Bell has not only put himself in an untenable situation but also his party and as such he should step down. This would show us that there are still some politicians that still have morals. Corrupt people should not be allowed to hold public offices and as an electorate if we vote for these people then we should be ashamed of ourselves.
Well said, a bit fed up.
Lets hope that other FAT contemptable Fowler gets the boot,thanks to the stalwart Jon Bamboro, who should be mayor
The sad thing is, is that he looked a good bloke and he has let down the electorate.
After all those years of marsden, someone decent was appearing on the horizon and look what he did.
What a pillock.
From what you have said, it looks like the electorate have already made their minds up.
Its not rocket science.
So who are the other candidates??
Ron Bell does the DO-nation, Ron, Ron.
If Ron Bell isn’t getting support at Bloomfield Road where he is a regular guest of Owen Oyston, along with fellow Councillors like Ian Fowler and Kensingtons Directors, then he really, really should call it a day.
The worse thing about the whole Kensingtongate episode is that almost all of the Blackpool South Conservative Councillors knew about the donation from Kensington yet none of them suggested returning it once Kensington put in their planning application.
Worse still is the fact that those involved still insist they have done nothing wrong! That the donation was registered with the electoral commission and that everything was “above board!”
Ron Bell, James Houldsworth and Jean Kenrick are decent people. However, it appears that they were dazzled by the deep pockets of Kensington. I’m fairly sure they didn’t accept the donation as a bribe but I’m equally convinced that they realised it was wrong when the planning app went in but didn’t have the guts to return it.
Councillors Callow and Fowler on the other hand are an absolute disgrace. Just because their freind Coun Evans’ wife was not selected as the candidate for Stanley Ward, they chose to stab their fellow Conservatives in the back (and the front and sides!!!!)
Ian Fowler has, in my opinion, committed the biggest sin. According to John Bamborough, he, as agent was responsible for all the General election funds so he not only knew about the donation, failed to advise his candidate (Ron Bell) to return it and then lied about it in the Gazette, on Radio Wave and by signing the now infamous Liars Letter from Peter Callow disclaiming all knowledge of the donation.
I wonder if Denley Barrow is secretly workin for the Labour Party? In his wildest dreams Gordon Marsden couldn’t have imagine such a scenario going into an election campaign! He must think all his birthdays, christmas’s and anniversarys have come at once.
Ron, you have let your constituents down,
you have let your Party down,
you have let your freinds down,
but most of all -
you have let yourself down.
Go now, Go quickly and quietly and allow those who feel untainted by this sorry mess to pick up the pieces and take the fight to Marsden!
Great post and I agree that Mr Fowler is the biggest disgrace of all.
Interesting point about them working for the Labour Party. After all, Owen Oyston is a well known Labourite as well (although he does try to get “in” with anyone of any relevance or power) and Fowler, Bell et al do seem to operate in these circles as you mention.
All people involved do have links to property dealings. Bell is a property magnate, Oyston is a property magnate, Barrow/Hawe are property magnates and Fowler has his scaffolding firm. I just wonder whose bed they’re all sleeping in!
Well said Troobloo, the odious Fat,smelly,piss reeking Fouler has to go as well.
Ron Bell has screwed up big time.
Time to get a new candidate, who is clean and will get that piss stain Marsden out.
I want to see Callow go as well.These people arent tru conservatives, neither have they any integrity or ability.
If I were a true blue, I would be up in arms at this motley bunch of incompetents.
Trust me Harold, lots of people are up in arms at the this motley bunch. Our time will come!
Yes at best Ron Bell is a political idiot with no backbone step down because Marsden will crucify him over this. I agree with Harold and Troo this Conservative Blackpool Council is a joke.
The trouble is though, there are no other strong candidates for Blackpool South. Lib Dems haven’t announced anyone yet, UKIP have put that pro-smoking muppet Hamish Howitt up so I’m not voting for them as much I do agree with UKIP on Europe. But I don’t want Marsden surviving. Blackpool has suffered long enough at the hands of the Liebour Party. We got the council out, now to get the MPs out. MARSDEN OUT 2010!!!
Hamish? seriously?
Perhaps Jon B can advise on the lib dem candidate or even the great man himself?
Believe it or not, the only reason that muppet is standing is because he thinks he can overturn the strongly supported (MPs and public) smoking ban, not going to happen. He’s simply a one trick pony campaigning on that one silly issue he doesn’t care about Blackpool. I wish the Gazette would stop giving him so much free publicity as well, law breakers shouldn’t be made into celebrities.
and I am a UKIP supporter, I cant believe they are putting him up as an MP???!!!
Exactly, I agree with a 99.9% of what UKIP says I don’t like their opposition to the smoking ban but everything else I think they have spot on. But I would never ever vote for that muppet. It made me laugh how the Gazette runs all these non-stories about him training to be a lawyer when he’s supposedly ‘broke’ and law degrees ain’t cheap thanks to Labour. It also remarked how he is a Mensa member, he certainly doesn’t show it with his clear lack of common sense.
One things for sure TRUE BLACKPUDDLIAN is cetainly not a member of Mensa.
What a complete jerk
I cant believe hes a member of Mensa either, if he were and I were a member of Mensa (which I never could be), then I would be ashamed.
Hes not a good advert for a society of super intellectuals is he?
For fucks sake!
Like I say he doesn’t exactly show intelligence when he can’t grasp the simple concept that can’t just break the law because you don’t agree with it. I don’t agree that I have to stop for traffic lights doesn’t mean I ignore them (like landau drivers) and use ‘I think the law is wrong’ as my excuse. Then he tried pathetic defences like ‘It is my private property therefore the ban doesn’t apply’. As long as it being run as a commercial premises it is a public place.
Like I say I just wish the Gazette would stop treating him like some kind of local hero/celebrity. Come to BVH and give free publicity to people who really make a difference for the greater good.
It’s about as close to a celebrity as Blackpool has at the moment other than the bloody Nolans.
I don’t like him and I hate smoking like you do, but you have to admire him for taking on the Government. It’s something that Labour has discouraged with it’s controlling, nanny-state policies.
He has been subjected to a witchhunt by the Council which I find wrong. Because they couldn’t close him down with anti-smoking laws, they tried to close him down for other things just to show who’s boss.
I remember seeing on North West Tonight a clip of a District Judge going to his bar to check whether claims made by the council in relation to his electrics being unsafe and against H&S rules were substantive. They weren’t and he was allowed to stay open.
I don’t know if he’s got a financial backer because he does seem relentless in his crusade whereas most would have realised they aren’t going to win and saved their cash. Having said that, he does represent himself and does not employ expensive counsel to plead his case so his only costs are research, advice and the court fees. All adds up though.
The question you have to ask before slagging someone of for standing against a law is the law a good one?
Martin Luther King, Gandhi and Emily Pankhurst all broke the law because they were standing against bad laws and none were particularly stupid people.
Excellent question but those people were all great people with strong causes. Hamish Howitt is just a silly little man who is campaigning against a law 80% of the country supports and a law backed by worldwide health organisations, experts and solid evidence. Hamish like most pro-smokers on the Gazette website clearly knows nothing about the law, statistics or medical science, yet acts like he knows everything. He puts two fingers up to the law and the scientific evidence and yet the Gazette treats him like a hero. He goes around denouncing solid medical science and statistics as ‘propaganda’ just because he doesn’t agree. Its just my view, but I wish he would just accept the ban is here to stay and I wish the Gazette would stop running all these non-stories on him because I am sick of hearing about him. Apologies for the long rant but as you can see I can’t stand the guy, he does my head in.
I agree with you, and that science suggests smoking reduces our shelf life but the problem is where do you stop?
After all, smoking isn’t the only thing that is statistically shown to cause health problems. Alcohol is (number 1 cause of reduction in life expectancy in Blackpool). Salt is. Carbon emissions can be. Crossing roads can be. Eating fatty foods apparently is.
You can’t just ban everything unless you’re New Labour. I don’t like smoking either like I have said, but if you could put a little fish bowl on top of a smoker’s head so the smoke didn’t affect me I would be happy with them to do it as much as they liked.
Just to follow on from that, I have a fair idea of what risks I’m taking when I eat a kebab of dubious origin or drink 10 pints. It’s my choice to do those things.
I don’t need Gordon Brown to make a law to take that choice away from me.
Smoking is a bit different because if Person A is a smoker then Person B inevitably has to breathe it. That is the part I don’t like.
My thoughts exactly Phil, I drink on a night out, I go for a greasy takeaway taking on board I will have to go for a bikeride/run to burn off the calories. But I can be safe in the knowledge it is not harming anyone else unlike smokers.
I agree with you there, there has to be limits, I am not saying ban everything. Also smoking has not been banned per say, it has just been banned indoors in public places because the toxic fumes affect everyone including asthmatic non-smokers like me. I drink in very moderate amounts, I eat salty and unhealthy foods but I don’t harm other people in the process by indulging in these things. But I will not have silly people like Hamish with their ill-informed misguided rants putting two fingers up to health professionals and the science that underpins our practice.
I appreciate that but he pays his taxes just like anyone else and I do admire his guts in taking on the Government. I don’t think he is sticking two fingers up at the NHS unless he’s been spouting stuff that I haven’t read (may be the case, I tend to skip articles about him).
Whilst smoking remains a legal thing to do, the NHS cannot deny people treatment for it. After all, one could say that smoking related illness, just as any other vice-related illness like being too fat, creates and secures jobs in the health professions.
Good point, I am not saying smokers should be denied treatment, I just feel to some extent their disease is self-inflicted, but yes they have a right to treatment like anyone else. I have heard comments from him before spouting tripe like ‘There is no scientific proof smoking is harmful’ and ‘the Government is just using propaganda to take away freedom of choice’, in my view that is sticking two fingers up to reputable evidence and science.
Don’t get me wrong I despise the Labour Party and this Government but the smoking ban is one of the very very few (if any) good things they have done in 12 years and has massive public support. If Hamish was campaigning on something sensible like getting PCSOs scrapped, tougher sentencing for criminals, culling targets, red tape and non jobs in the NHS, I would say well done for taking on the Government. But I will not lend any support to a man who is pro-smoking.
Hamis isn’t pro smoking, he is pro choice! There is a difference.
I wouldn’t call him ‘pro choice’, the ban is about public health not about ‘choice’ and by opposing it he is pro-smoking in my view. Also I have been on the website of the so-called ‘pro choice’ group Freedom2choose and it was just littered with pro-smoking material.
I agree Troobloo there needs to be tougher regulation on alcohol, I used to work in an off-licence in a less desirable area of Blackpool and I had people buying bottles of spirits and cans of special brew at 8 in the morning and I could already smell alcohol on their breath when I served them. So I do agree with tougher curbs on alcohol, but I also wish the smoking ban to stay. Hamish becoming Blackpool South MP is about as horrible a thought as Jedward winning the X Factor, like I said I would vote him before Marsden, but that would be sheer desperation. I certainly won’t be voting for either of them though I can safely say. That’s my story and I’m sticking by it.
alcohol must be more damaging? look at Blackpool!
Blackpool does have some appallingly shameful statistics on alcohol but it does on smoking also in some areas. Alcohol is very damaging if you abuse it. I am a very moderate drinker, I have the odd whisky, odd can of beer or a couple of drinks on a night out, but if you are sensible alcohol is safe.
Good point Harold.
Alcohol causes far far more social problems than smoking.
I am a licensee and had there not been a smoking ban then I would have banned smoking myself. However, once again I think the Government was responsible a knee jerk reaction approach to the issue. They should have left an element of choice, as most of Europe have. This is what Hamish is campaigning against. If they had allowed premises to have a smoking room, adequately ventilated, then there would not have been an issue.
The state has interfered far too much, and in the wrong places. What they should do is to ban alcohol sales in supermarkets, make the licencing exams much tougher, and be far tougher on compliance within the licenced trade both on and off licences.
As for Hamish, he is a decent bloke, he is not stupid, he is quite articulate and was voted in by the licensees in Blackpool to be their chairman at Pubwatch. Hamishes only fault, if indeed it is a fault, is that he does what others only think about doing. A lot of people that would have voted for Ron Bell will be switching to Hamish, at least he has shown that he has a pair of balls and is prepared to take on those with whom he fundamentaly disgrees.
I think that’s a really good point. Whilst on the face of it alcohol is only damaging the person that drinks it, depending on the type of person the alcohol could magnify their antisocial effect. Alcohol makes bad people worse.
A sober thug might shout swear words whilst a drunk one might bottle you.
In that respect, smoking is less antisocial. But it’s not an either/or argument: fags and booze both have antisocial ramifications and in the case of alcohol, they are “banned” already. The Police can already arrest you for being drunk and disorderly, for vandalism, assault (be it verbal or physical) or pissing in the street.
” our profession”
With your ignorance of the real world, at best your a porter
TB, who do u choose Marsden or Hamish?
I know where I stand, Hamish all the way lol
That’s a very good question, I know yesterday I said I would never ever vote for Hamish but if there was only him or Marsden and it was illegal not to vote I would have to vote Hamish, more as a UKIP vote than a Hamish vote. But in the real world, I want neither of those arrogant tossers as my local MP.
While I am no medic I can interpret data as well as the next man and the second hand smoking data (which I think TB is saying drinking and eating salty foods doesn’t harm other people is revering to) is very very poor indeed. Research papers put in circulation with this evidence to support second hand smoking would not be taken seriously but for some reason these basic research laws are being discarded. There is no evidence that second hand smoking causes any medical risk you are far more likely to have medical trouble by walking down a busy high street and breathing in car fumes.
To be fair I don’t think TB was on about second hand smoking. I’m with him in that I don’t like it but I’m not – and I don’t think he is – saying that it’s the bane of the NHS or anything.
I accept that there are plenty more everyday things in life that carry a significantly higher risk. Walking through St. John’s Square on a rainy day would be a good example I think.
That’s fair enough but I have seen solid evidence and there is widespread medical and scientific consensus of the dangers even that aside the toxic smoke tastes foul, aggravates my asthma and makes my clothes smell awful.
Agreed there, hes probably a member of DENSA, although I support the ban, its implementation was excessive and poor, but thats nuliebour for you.
As a result of people stood outside shops/pubs etc, I have encountered more smoke!!
Keep the ban but allow pubs etc to have a ventilated room set aside,thats sensible imho.
I fiercely support the ban, I hate smoking passionately. I wish it ceased to exist fullstop but banning it totally would be a step too far even I admit, it would have to happen organically. But ventilated rooms seems like a sensible compromise. As long as the filthy smoke isn’t near me polluting my respiratory system I am happy.
Becuase of the ban I have encountered groups smoking in doorways which riles me!
Thats really stupid!
I know what you mean, you have to barge through a cloud of toxic smoke to get in the pub, but its better than the polluted atmosphere we used to have. I once went for a family dinner at the Burlington and it wasn’t exactly family friendly; football on full up with noisy football fans and smoke polluting the atmosphere my idea of hell.
yuck!
The Burlington has never been family friendly in my experience. It’s a bit of a cliquey place, especially with this charidee thing they are doing a lot of at the moment.
Was the food any good?
The food was actually nice and the staff pleasant enough, like I say just the atmosphere ruined by toxic tobacco smoke and noisy football fans. We had to go in the downstairs bit because all the eating areas were full. At least now though the entire pub is smoke free so I might return sometime.
” I hate Smoking ” So you keep on saying. For Gods sake give it a rest you Blue nosed idiot
like the comment about landaus, very true!
There is a strong whiff of dishonesty about the whole smoking ban issue. The government claimed the reason for the ban was that secondary smoking potentially compromises the health of non-smokers. How, then, do they justify the risk that people may stay at home, drink more cheaply and smoke in front of their children?
I firmly believe that the aim of the ban is to knock the final nail into the coffin of the pub trade.
The government do not want people gathering in numbers and discussing how badly they are shafting us. That’s how revolutions start, after all. It’s a divide-and-conquer thing, plain and simple.