Pointing isn’t fixing
(or the crowing rooster doesn’t make the sun come up)
Focus newsletters are well known for their pictures of Lib Dems pointing at things that need fixing. That’s fine and fun. What’s not fine are the regular dishonest attempts to take credit when things actually get fixed.
Here are some examples from the autumn newsletter:
1. “Local Councillor Mike Cookson has got the hole in the ramp to High Walk at St Ann’s fixed.”
I’m sure it’s true that Mike reported the badly damaged hole to the relevant council officers. And so, I imagine, did many of the St Ann’s residents who had to walk over the dodgy surface every day. I know for certain that Alistair spoke to residents about the hole and involved the Leader of the Council, Nick Kemp in the issue.
So, who did get the hole fixed? Well, everyone involved probably… but if Mike has evidence that it is really he who’s responsible, perhaps he could drop me a line and I’ll join in with his crowing.
2. “Your Lib Dem team has arranged for the terrible tarmac to be replaced on Heaton Park Road”
This is another long-standing issue, with many people – including Alistair as well as Mike – involved in conversations with local businesses and council officers over many months1. It’s definitely good news that the work is being done, but it’s fake news for the Lib Dems to try to take credit.
3. “Local Lib Dem Councillor Mike Cookson has had the windows on the Lort House porch repaired twice recently…”
Do the Lib Dems really believe that Lort House residents just shake their heads and ignore broken windows – or that the Council would simply leave the windows broken if it weren’t for Mike knocking on their doors and demanding action?
FocusPocus will keep highlighting these ridiculous claims until the Lib Dems stop making them. By all means celebrate improvements to our local area, but treat local residents with a bit more respect and stop taking credit for actions you know full well to be the result of many people’s hard work!
If you spot a dodgy Lib Dem claim in a newsletter, tweet or leaflet – send it to pointing@focuspocus.org.uk, and we’ll point it out to local residents!
All politics is local?
If High Heaton resident Fiona Punchard really believes that, wouldn’t she be “campaigning” in her own ward, rather than in Ouseburn?
After all, she claims that what makes Lib Dems different is the belief that:
“local Councillors should be out on the streets making this area better, not warming a seat in the Civic Centre. As the late Charles Kennedy put it “Quality of life actually begins at home – it’s in your street, around your community”
So I don’t think it’s too harsh to point out that Fiona’s street and community aren’t in Ouseburn ward.
And why make sly remarks like “warming a seat in the Civic Centre”? If Fiona thinks that Alistair Chisholm (who is after all the ward’s only Labour councillor) isn’t doing enough out in the community – despite the fact that he’s out knocking on doors and speaking to residents every week, while still recovering from losing his sight following a life-threatening illness and multiple strokes – she should be brave enough to say so. Perhaps you could clarify, Fiona?
- Fun fact: on the eve of the work being done, one of the Ouseburn Lib Dem councillors suggested postponing and combining it with another scheme to try to save money. They backed down when council officers explained that this would increase costs, not decrease them. It wasn’t a silly suggestion, but it highlights the fact that this kind of job is a big, complex endeavour with lots of moving parts and many stakeholders. If Labour behaved like the Lib Dems, our next Newsletter headline would have been “Lib Dems try to scupper improvements to local pavements“. It really is time for this sensationalist nonsense to end. ↩︎