Daily Archives: November 24, 2009
Salford better for BBC than Manchester, says top boss )
Off course it is, Oops should i say that i am a little bias t.
Vote Tory and Get £130, what next vote labour and get your bins empted?
Recycle and get £130 a year under Tories
Householders will be rewarded with cash incentives for using recycling bins under Conservative plans to tackle global warming. The scheme has been piloted by Windsor and Maidenhead Council.
This is when you wish our Bobbies the best having to work at finding Scum.
Shopkeeper stabbed during robbery |
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A shopkeeper was stabbed four times as he fought off two armed robbers at his store in Salford. The two men burst into MG Off Licence on Fitzwarren Street, Pendleton, and demanded cash on Friday night. One of them then stabbed the 31-year-old victim as he stopped them getting behind the counter. He remains in a stable condition in hospital. Police described the robbers, who fled empty handed, as “dangerous” and urged witnesses to come forward. The pair are described as white and aged 20 to 25. They were both wearing dark clothing. Violence ‘rare’ Det Con Andrew Munden of Greater Manchester Police said: “A completely innocent man is fighting for his life for simply trying to defend his business. “The excessive levels of violence directed at the victim prove how dangerous these men are, and they need to be caught. “Such violent robberies are extremely rare and we are doing everything we can to get the offenders off the streets. “I am certain someone will have information about who is responsible and I would urge them to get in touch.” | |
Good to see we are on the ball again.
Council hounded mum, 91, over form
November 24, 2009
TOWN hall bosses threatened a 91-year-old woman with court and a £1,000 fine for not completing a form even though her family had filled it in THREE times.
The letter from Salford council upset great-grandmother Catherine Chemney so much she needed medical treatment and went to live with her daughter for a week because she was ‘terrified’ police would arrest her at her home.
The council had asked Mrs Chemney, who lives in Irlam, to complete a form so they could up date their Electoral Register.
In a letter sent on November 8 the council says it has not received a response from Mrs Chemney despite two forms being ‘personally delivered’ and an inspector making two visits to her property in October.
It then warns: “You are required by law to provide the information previously requested. If you fail to reply, this could result in legal proceedings being instituted against you, the maximum penalty on conviction of which is a fine of £1,000.
“Please note the posting of this letter to your property has been recorded as evidence of the additional step we took to ensure that you hand an extra opportunity of complying with the law.”
It adds that by not having her name on the Register of Electors she will have difficultly getting credit and will not be able to open a bank account, obtain a loan to buy a car, arrange a mortgage, by goods on hire purchase, ‘for example mobile phones, and household furnishings’ or order items from a catalogue.
Mrs Chemney’s daughter, Bernadette Babington-Howells, of Bramhall, said: “My mother is fiercely independent but as she is 91 she does not answer the door to anyone unless she knows the caller personally. She would therefore not answer the door to council inspectors.
“Regarding the forms which had been delivered my brother completed the first one in on August 18th at 3.40pm via the council’s on-line facility. The council acknowledged receipt of it the same day.
“The second form was received in September – I filled that in and sent it back in the post.
“We got another form which I returned on October 18th and sent in the post. When my mother received the letter on the 8th of November I sent off another form this time registered post – and with a photocopy of the form I had filled in October.”
She added: “When my mother received the letter from the council she was in a state of shock. The tone of the letter has connotations of bullying and harassment. She was terrified that police would turn up on her door and arrest her and take her to prison and came to stay with me for a week.
“As a result of the letter she was so upset she went to see her doctor and was given medication to calm her nerves. She was already on medication for high blood pressure and now it has affected her so much she is having to wear a blood pressure monitor 24 hours a day.
“The council know I am responsible for all her financial business because they write to me at my address. They have all my details they could have phoned me. There is no excuse for this thoughtless letter being sent to a 91-year-old lady.
“Salford council can’t get away with treating an extremely elderly lady who pays her council tax with contempt. I want a letter of apology for my mother.”
Barbara Spicer, Salford City Council’s Chief Executive and Returning Officer said: “Legally, we are required to contact people for their details if they are not already registered on the electoral roll. Letters go out each year to people across the city in an attempt to help this process. They are not intended to cause anybody any concern.
“I am very sorry if, on this occasion, we have caused any distress or concern. I can confirm that we have received a complaint to which we will respond personally once we have the full picture.”
MONBIOT DIVIDES SALFORD from the Star
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Star date: 24th November 2009 COMMENT: Stephen Kingston Salford Star editor, Stephen Kingston, responds to a column by a local newspaper editor who argued that the Guardian’s George Monbiot was out of order when he wrote that the Salford Star was one of only two local publications in the country worth saving… |
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A couple of weeks ago George Monbiot, top writer for the Guardian newspaper, wrote a column in which he basically said that all local newspapers were rubbish, and that there were only two worth saving in the country… “I can think of only two local newspapers that consistently hold power to account: the West Highland Free Press and the Salford Star…” The response was phenomenal but we didn’t boast about it and didn’t even put it on the website. Then, in this week’s Salford Advertiser, editor Simon Keegan had a massive go back at both Monbiot and the Salford Star. First he accuses Monbiot of `inaccuracies’ and then comes up with a few of his own…like, “the blog the Salford Star which was funded by Salford Council…” We’re not a `blog’ (since when did a blog have up to 100 volunteers helping out?) and never have been – we’re an online magazine that wants to be in print but can’t get funding because we haven’t got the backing of a huge media monopoly monster called Guardian Media Group. And we have never, ever, been funded by Salford Council, never even had a penny in advertising from it (unlike the Advertiser). What we did get, before we were in print with the first issue, was £1.5k off East Salford Community Committee – from funding devolved to the community by the Council for residents to spend on great local projects. Of course once we did get into print and applied again, the Council re-wrote its constitution for `devolved funding’, back dated it six weeks and ripped up our application. Writing that “this is not intended as a dig at the Salford Star” Simon Keegan then quotes a comment left on the Guardian’s website by a so-called `journalist’ that certainly has a dig and contains loads of inaccuracies… Fortunately he didn’t quote all of the crap that this guy wrote, only the bit that says we had “half a dozen issues (if that)…and has been online only for about the last two years” – nope, eight issues and been online for a year, incidentally, attracting almost 150,000 readers. Yes, Monbiot wrote that the Salford Star was a `newspaper’ which we never have been, but we get that all the time – nobody expects a `community’ publication to be high quality, glossy and 100 pages thick. Personally, I think that Simon Keegan is a bit peeved with Monbiot who… “praises the Salford Star but fails to mention the Salford Advertiser”… Maybe he’d read the Salford Star article on the Salford Advertiser – the one about giving Hazel Blears her own column…the one about giving the police its own column next to a full page advert… This comment isn’t intended as a dig at the Salford Advertiser, they do what they do very well. But, to quote the Advertiser editor, “apples aren’t oranges”… PS. Would have written this response quicker but the Advertiser didn’t get delivered again this week… |
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I had a tought last night just imagine-
I no this sounds a bit silly but just imagine you could go forward 20 years.
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You Live In Salford
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Economic migration had peeked we had a population that had increased by 15%
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Most of todays Children had reached the age where they were looking for jobs.
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Housing shortages had reached a situation we had over 7,000 on the social housing waiting list
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The BBC staff and directors had taken up all the flats in Ordsall and on Burgess Farm.
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Our New Socialist worker MP who had beaten Hazel Blears on the Second attempt was calling for days of action.against the Conservative members on the encampment on chat moss.
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God it’s scary.
No seriously yes there are two excellent arguments which are going around today. The environment and jobs. Both Labour and the Tories have taken their line. But both questions need answers you cannot say i am right without thinking of the long term consequences. Perhaps we need to seek a compromise.
