SLIGHT OF HAND - SMOKE and MIRRORS and LOCAL HISTORY RE-WRITTEN!

The Charge of the Light Brigade as happened it Tameside!

Just what is it with our so called council leaders and their penchant for twisting historical facts?

Upon reading the latest walk down poor-memory lane written ostensibly by Councillor Taylor, we were treated once again to complete fallacy in his opening paragraph!

He wrote, ‘ A century ago this month, Tameside won the first of five Victoria Crosses its men were to receive during the First World War!’

Now first of all, I do not wish to denigrate the honour or bravery of the fine fighting men he mentioned, but if one is to write about these brave souls, then the very least the councillor could do is to give them the courtesy of getting the basic facts right!

The men in question lived in the once proud towns of Aston, Denton, Hyde, Droylsden and Mossley.

Tameside did not exist one hundred years ago! – Therefore Tameside could not have won anything as it was only created, ironically on 1 April 1974.

However, the twisting of historical facts is not, it would seem the sole monopoly of the Deputy Leader. Councillor Quinn can show an equal disregard for accuracy too!

In his Blog (Aug’ 13^th) he states, If Britain was the workshop of the world then Tameside was the workshop of Britain, clothing and fuelling the Industrial Revolution through its cotton mills and coal mines!”

He too, appears to have forgotten that until 1974, Tameside did not exist! And to make matters worse, he went on to tell us that The Moravian Church arrived in Tameside in 1751!

 …Really?

But that’s all smoke and mirrors!

Isn’t it strange that whenever there’s a hint of unrest and unease within the Labour ranks, the dynamic duo instantly stop writing about their stringent political dogmas and whinging about having to deal with ‘the cuts’ and cynically brief their ghost writers to pen some harmless yet trite utterings in an effort to take the readers eye off the comical political cat-fight unfolding over their leadership contest.

Councillors. Harping on about history is all very well, and it’s indeed important that lessons from the past be learned, but, with all the shenanigans going on with the Labour leadership contest, it just goes to show that this Labour Leadership contest is another glaring extension of Senior Labour party officials political incompetence, organisational fiasco, and downright inability to run, manage or control anything, anywhere at any time!

So, why are we surprised that they choose not to voice their opinions and preferences?

But surely the perspective of our local Labour government as to who they are backing in this chaotic political bun-fight should be announced so that we, the electorate; who keep them in a position to make decisions on our behalf, is vitally important.

Are we wrong to expect the leader and deputy leader and all their acolytes to tell us for whom they intend to vote, so that we, in turn can make an informed judgement as to how their policies will affect us in the future?

As it stands at local level we have a Labour fiefdom with no true opposition and no accountability to the electorate, an example of which you may remember, when they in effect imposed the Council Tax increase on us without the democratic problem of having a referendum as other councils did. And at National level, we have a Labour party that made pledges before the General Election then immediately withdrew them after the General Election!

So, if they say they are voting for Corbyn, they are backing far left polices that will consign Labour to the wilderness, like in the days of comrade Foot and brother Kinnock. 

However, if they back any of the others, it’s more of the same Blair/Brown/Millipede and their debt ridden policies.