Health, Status, Wealth & Income. by Les May

I HAVE little doubt that various groups will pounce on aspects of the recent report by UCL Institute of Health Equity and commissioned by the Health Foundation to investigate how the pandemic has affected health inequalities in England, in order to promote their own agenda. Calling yourself a ‘community’ isn’t a particularly good fig leaf for hiding naked self interest.

But as Professor Kate Pickett, co-author of the book ‘The Spirit Level’ pointed out in a recent BBC interview, it tells us nothing new. Health inequalities arising from differences in social status, wealth and income were reported on in detail by Sir Michael Marmot in 2008 and again in 2020. A Covid-19 mortality 25% higher in Greater Manchester than in England as a whole is just a further example of how these inequalities affect longevity and years of life without disability.

In my N.V. article ‘Levelling The Gradient’ of 16 June 2020 I drew attention to the fact that there is little appetite in the UK for recognising the effects of our very unequal society on the lives of our citizens, irrespective of their skin colour. When the 2020 Marmot review which looked at differences in health outcomes appeared it had zero impact on the campaign for Labour leader though two of the candidates felt that a Jewish pressure group and a ‘trans’ pressure group needed their public support. That review simply referred to ‘people’; not ‘black’ people, not ‘brown’ people, not ‘minority ethnic’ people, just people. So lets forget all this talk about ‘my community’ and concentrate on eliminating the disparity of a life expectancy at birth in 2016-18 for men living in the most deprived areas in England of 74 years, compared with 83 years in the least deprived areas; the corresponding figures for women are 79 and 86 years.

The full title of Pickett’s well researched book is ‘The Spirit Level; why equality is better for everyone’. It was published in 2009 and in a slightly revised edition in 2010. You can find it for about £4 at abebooks.co.uk.

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Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham: 'No failure!'

OVER a week ago, on the 22nd, April Jennifer Williams quoted Andy Burnham as saying 'I don't consider it a failure' as he desperately scrambles to keep his job as Greater Manchester Mayor and Police Commisioner in the Mayoral elections this comming Thursday.

In the Manchester Evening News Ms. Williams writes: 'If there is one subject generating political heat during the 2021 mayoral campaign, it is policing.'

She continues:

'Since 2017 GMP, for which the mayor has political oversight, has been on a rollercoaster. Against the backdrop of huge cuts to officer numbers and the level of crime you might expect in the second largest force in the country, the Manchester Arena atrocity occurred days after the mayor took office, with all the trauma that entailed. But GMP has also faced, and continues to face, serious questions over its leadership’s competence and culture over an extended period.'

Over the years in which Burnham has had oversight for the Greater Manchester Police the force has had a flood of failings for which he denies responsiblity. 'Not me Gov!' has been his general war cry.

In the last four years, there have been worries over the development of a computer system iOPS and its impact on officers and victims; whistleblowers have have warned of cultural failures; the damaging verdict of the public inquiry into Anthony Grainger’s shooting, which found evidence from senior officers was 'seriously misleading' and 'lacked candour'; failures to submit evidence to the early stages of the Manchester Arena inquiry in 2019; and a string of critical inspectorate reports in 2018, 2019 and twice in 2020, most of them highlighting failures to protect vulnerable people.

As we puruse this series of blunders by the GMP, we now learn of a publicity photo currently circulating in which Mr. Burnham poses promoting a notorious self-confessed election fraud in Rochdale, Councillor Faisal Rana, who has since his exposure as a multiple vote swindler has cheerfully climbed the greasy pole of Labour Party politics. Some pundits are now suggesting that this election fraud is in-line to replace the aging Tony Lloyd when he steps down as Rochdale MP. If so, it seems that Andy Pandy will be available to help out.

Meanwhile, Andy has managed to delay any disclosure of a special 'root and branch' report which is said to be 'shocking' and has it is claimed 'uncovered years of woeful failures at Greater Manchester Police'. Fortunately for Andy, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and the Mayor's office are at present refusing to release the report, claiming it wouldn't bebe 'appropriate' until the new chief has had chance to work out his response to it. As the new chief, Mr Watson, wont be taking on his job till the end of May it means that Andy Burnham won't have to explain what going on before this week's election.

Very convenient!

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ON THE BUSES: An Apartheid of Ageism

Rochdale Bus Station Boss Pleads Data Protection

by BRIAN BAMFORD

THIS AFTERNOON a supervisor at Rochdale Bus Station faced with a chaotic circus of non-compliant crowds of students elbowing older passengers aside as they boarded the 17 bus enroute for Manchester at going-home time between 3.30pm and 4.30pm refused to give his name claiming his right to data protection. Social distancing was being ignored throughout the town centre bus station as the manager who refused to give his name claimed that he was powerless to insist that young passengers wear masks or obey the posters warning citizens that if they didn't they could be 'fined £200'.

The Rochdale supervisor told a man complaining about the prevailing swarms of young students who were intimidating other passengers in order to junp the queues that he would have him physically removed from the bus station if he coninued to protest. He said he was unwilling to bring-in the Greater Manchester Transport Police to make safe travel at the bus station possible. Security staff were present within the station but when asked by an elderly lady to intervene to ensure that the bus queues within the station were properly policed said they couldn't, and immediately moved away making themselves scarce.

When an 80-year-old man exasperated by the supervisor's dismisive attitude asked if he was impotent, muscle-bound when confronted with the chaos in the bus station with people deliberately flouting covid regulations described the supervisor's insistance that he was entitled to data protection as 'bollocks'! At that point the supervisor used the term as an excuse to switch on his camera and threaten to have the elderly man physically removed from his station, and a lady who was accompanying the man took fright that the station-master was going to have her partner removed by force.

Then the lady in earnest described how another old lady with a stick had been pushed aside at the 17 bus stop, the bus station supervisor then offered an absurd suggestion saying 'you should chose a different time of day to catch the bus!'.

It seems that Rochdale Bus Station has now surrendered control to the spirit of an ageist aparthied and mob rule under the current management who are shy about giving their names and are happy to bully old folk who have timerity to complain about the unbearable conditions of public transport in Rochdale town centre.

'Catch an earlier bus' seems to be becoming the 'general war cry' of officialdom in answer to the current covid crisis. This was the message earlier this year given to a passenger in South Manchester to which she responded as reported in the Manchester Evening News below:

'She branded their advice to catch earlier or later services as 'ludicrous and preposterous', adding: "I have to work nine to five. I cannot be getting a bus at 7am and standing in the cold outside my office waiting for my boss to arrive. I cannot leave early to get a bus at 4pm or wait in town for later services so they are quiet, especially as all cafes are shut.'

And she continued:

"I am sick of being made to travel under these conditions.

"They should be paying for the number of buses actually needed at rush hour to ensure conditions are safe for passengers who no option other than to go to work on these buses or lose their jobs."

She added: "Last night it was freezing, and there was one window open for most of the journey, but there is very little that can be done to stop passengers closing them. There was also a man sitting on the back seat with his mask on his chin."

She also claims drivers say nothing to passengers who flout mask rules, adding: "Why should those passengers complying, especially many many NHS staff using these services, be put at risk by these selfish individuals?

"This does not need encouragement, it needs enforcement, and anything less is absolutely pointless."

It seems that the authorities have abandoned all attempts at enforcement and rule is now in the hands of the mob.

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To Him That Hath Shall Be Given More by Les May

IT’s no secret that since the Tories came into power in 2010 local authorities have been starved of money. My local authority, Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council (RMBC), is no exception, so it is interesting to look at how our councillors are trying to save money. Or to put it another way, who is being targeted in any cost cutting exercise.

Schools have a number of employees who are employed on a term time only basis. Such employees remain on a continuous contract, work a reduced number of weeks during the year and are entitled to a pro-rata amount of paid leave.

Since April 2019 guidance in the form of an updated ‘Green Book’ has been available to employers and employees which is intended to ensure that the pay and conditions of term time only workers is consistent and fair, both locally and nationally.

Whilst no specific legislation is in place about how to calculate pay for term time only workers the guidance is intended to ensure that they are treated no less favourably than workers on full time contracts.

Not all local authorities across Greater Manchester have interpreted the guidance in the same way with the result that some Councils have made calculations more favourable to term time only employees than others. The calculation used by Rochdale MBC falls into the ‘less favourable’ class.

To date at least seven Employment Tribunal claims from past employees have been submitted to Rochdale MBC. Late in 2019 UNISON submitted a Collective Grievance which says that term time only employees are being treated less favourably than full time employees. So far this seems to have produced a ‘working party’. In the future Rochdale MBC may have to face something like 500 individual claims from ex-employees.

So how are some ‘full time’ employees being treated by Rochdale MBC? According to one of my informants it seems to depend on ‘who your are’. He claims ‘whilst Rochdale Council's Chief Executive Steve Rumbelow has enjoyed (and continues to enjoy) a whopping £40,000 / year pay rise. This pay rise came about due to Mr Rumbelow being handed a second £40,000 / year full-time job at the NHS, on top of his existing £160,000 / year full-time job at Rochdale MBC.’

I’ve no reason to disbelieve this so it would seem that ‘Superman Rumbelow’ is performing the remarkable feat of doing TWO full time jobs simultaneously. Presumably he keeps a sleeping bag handy in his office so as to be on call 24/7!

Are our councillors happy that the town’s Chief Executive is moonlighting in another full time job whilst supposedly working full time for the people of Rochdale and being well paid for it? Seemingly the answer is yes, at least in some cases.

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Trades Unionists reject Covid cuts & pay freeze!

TRADE Unionists in Greater Manchester are calling on Metro Mayor Andy Burnham and the leaders of all ten Greater Manchester local authorities to unite together with them and the city region's MPs in demanding a Government U-turn on the relaxation of the covid lockdown, planned £500 million cuts to Greater Manchester local Government coffers for 2021-22, and the mooted pay freeze for public sector workers, ahead of Wednesday's spending review by Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

They are additionally calling on trades unionists and other Greater Manchester residents to e-mail Andy Burnham, their local councillors, MPs, the Chancellor and the Prime Minister, to put as much pressure as they possibly can on the Government to make an about turn on these proposed policies, which the Greater Manchester Assoc. of Trade Union Council President Stephen Hall says: '.... will result in a much higher death toll from covid 19 than it might otherwise do; lead to increased mental stress and anguish as a result of needless additional job losses, and much reduced incomes for most people, not to mention potential financial ruin, homelessness and countless other social problems which will cost us all considerably more in the long run, than the supposed financial savings from the Government's currently proposed course of action and staggering costs already borne by the public purse.

'The safety of the people is always the first consideration of any Government, so the economic cost of that principle should always be a secondary issue no matter how much it might amount to financially. However, had the Government been prepared, and acted more decisively at the beginning of the covid outbreak then much of the so far huge cost of the measures implemented by the Government would not have been incurred and we would not now be discussing the additional costs still to be borne by the Government as a result of a clearly failed on-off-on national lockdown with various tiers of restrictions in between, and a 'leaves-a-lot-to be desired' national test, track and trace system, all of which despite the advent of a vaccine, could still go on for many more months. No instead what we would have more likely been talking about is Christmas and New Year celebrations without restrictions and all of us being financially better off than we currently are.

'We believe the Government should abandon its present course, which will only prolong the covid crisis and instead immediately adopt a Zero Covid strategy as done by such countries as Taiwan, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, South Korea and China. Their success speaks for itself. A key element of it has been the protection of the livelihoods of EVERYONE adversely affected by lockdown. As a result, the overall economic impact of Covid in those countries has been considerably less than in Britain. Their Governments have also spent substantially less than the British Government has, and still has to spend as a result of not acting decisively earlier and not financially looking after everyone throughout, and by not bringing the virus under control as in those countries. Further, in this country however generous it has been claimed the Government's package of financial support has been, we have additionally seen many thousands of jobs lost, many thousands of household incomes slashed by 20% or more, many thousands of families now in huge rent arrears and facing potential eviction and almost four million people provided with little or no support at all. This latter national figure equates with around 200,000 people in Greater Manchester.

'Concerning the Government's proposed cuts to Greater Manchester local council coffers of around £500 million for 2021-22, Mr. Hall said: 'Our Metro Mayor and Council leaders, should make it clear to the Government that any proposed cuts at this time are simply unacceptable and will only pour more misery into Greater Manchester households at time when we should be investing in long term 'more-than-pay-for-themselves' projects such as building thousands of new hi-spec zero carbon council house and other social housing, insulating people's homes, and expanding local renewable energy generation, etc., all of which will help to create thousands of new jobs as others are being lost due to covid, and which will additionally allow us to intensify our fight against the even bigger threat to us all than covid, which is the threat of irreversible catastrophic climate change. This additional spending would not be wasteful expenditure burdening future generations, but on the contrary, in helping to tackle the huge housing shortage, climate change and alleviating the widespread financial pressures presently on millions of households nationally caused by the covid pandemic, possibly represent the best investment we could presently make in the interests of our children and future generations. We could also re-train people to equip them to do the increasing number of new jobs that need creating, in addition to training and employing more social care workers, mental health professionals, teachers, and nurses, etc., etc., to better look after everyone's social, health and mental wellbeing.

'What the Government are proposing won't help us to achieve anything positive at all, and will ultimately just suck money and spending power out of the Greater Manchester economy at the same time as impoverishing many thousands of households. What they are proposing is also a completely false economy, which will lead to greater financial and social costs be borne by the public purse at a later date. Local trades union councils across the city region stand ready to fight alongside residents, workers, and service users, to oppose any such cuts in Greater Manchester and to work with all those who support the fight for a turnaround in Government policy.'

'In relation to the mooted pay freeze for public sector workers other than NHS staff, who may get a paltry pay rise to help them pay to park at work, as a reward for their efforts over the last 9 months" Mr. Hall said: "It is simply outrageous to suggest that many 'key workers' such as care home staff, teachers, bin men, and school cleaners, many of whom are in receipt of in-work benefits because they are so poorly paid should see their pay frozen at any time let alone under the present circumstances. If anything we should be rewarding them all with a hefty pay rise. What the Government needs to remember, and private businesses and self-employed people need to bear in mind is that without ordinary people having money to spend they can't afford to buy the products and services they sell and the more disposable income workers' have the more money they can spend in the local economy all of which has a local economic 'multiplier' effect. Opposing pay rises for public sector workers also does not help to achieve anything for private sector workers who if they think they are currently hard done by should join a union and fight to improve their own situation. Across Greater Manchester the trades council movement stands ready to support them.'

PRESS STATEMENT ENDS

23-11-2020

Issued by Stephen Hall, President, GMATUC

Stefan Cholewka, Secretary, GMATUC

LANCASHIRE RE-UNITED?

For a New Lancashire County-Region

WHILE our Yorkshire neighbours are building up momentum for a ‘One Yorkshire’ region, Lancashire is lagging behind. This paper argues for a re-united Lancashire, with its own democratically-elected assembly, based in part on its historic boundaries but looking to the future for a dynamic and inclusive county-region that could be at the forefront of a green industrial revolution. As well as a new county-region body to replace the mish-mash of unelected regional bodies and mayors with little accountability, a re-united Lancashire also needs strong local government working co-operatively with the communities it serves and a vibrant economy that is locally based.

Back in 1895, Bolton writer Allen Clarke said: “I would like to see Lancashire a cluster of towns and villages, each fixed solid on its own agricultural and industrial base, doing its own spinning and weaving; with its theatre, gymnasium, schools, libraries, baths and all things necessary for body and soul. Supposing the energy, time and talent that have been given to manufacture and manufacturing inventions had been given to agriculture and agricultural inventions, would not there have been as wonderful results in food production as there have been in cotton goods production?”

(Allen Clarke, 1895, slightly adapted)

THAT was Allen Clarke, the Lancashire journalist, philosopher and novelist writing in 1895. Utopian? Perhaps (we need our utopian visions!) but there’s an element of realism there too. He recognised that capitalism had unleashed enormously powerful productive forces, but not necessarily with the best results. What Clarke was saying over a century ago is being said by many green activists and thinkers today and was what Gandhi preached in his own time. Humanity has the resources and skills to create a better world, for everyone; the consequences of not trying are worsening climate change and all that follows from it.

Clarke looked forward to a Lancashire that was a greener, more self-sufficient place – within a co-operative rather than a capitalist system. Now, as we struggle to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic, is the time to think differently about the world we live in. This paper is about what Lancashire could look like in the next twenty years – by which I mean the ‘historic’ Lancashire, including Greater Manchester and much of Merseyside. But this is not about looking backward – it’s about creating a progressive and inclusive vision for a re-united Lancashire ‘county-region’ within a prosperous North and a Federal Britain. A Lancashire Co-operative Commonwealth.

The STATE of the COUNTY

THE Lancashire of Allen Clarke’s day has changed in so many ways. In the towns, gone are the mills and mill chimneys with their attendant pollution and poor working conditions inside the factory walls. But we have also lost some of the civic pride and buoyancy of the great Lancashire boroughs including Clarke’s beloved Bolton. ‘Lancashire’ itself has been split and divided in what was a travesty of democracy. No wonder there is a very worrying degree of despondency and cynicism within these towns that ‘nothing can be done’ and we are powerless. It becomes easy to blame scapegoats, be they immigrants, asylum seekers, politicians or whoever.

Lancashire has yet to find a new role that can build on its past achievements, without just being a dull collection of retail parks, charity shops and sprawling suburbia, nor indeed a heritage theme park. We have many successful businesses and a thriving academic sector with great universities, some world-class, in many towns and cities; there is the potential for that to spin-off into new industries and services that are world-leaders.

Manchester has emerged as a dynamic regional centre, though many of the once-thriving towns surrounding it are in a parlous state. This has got to change and consigning towns like Bolton, Oldham, Rochdale and Bury to the role of commuter suburbs is not acceptable. Instead of the centralised ‘city-region’ we need a more decentralised and collaborative ‘county-region’.

There is a disconnect between urban and rural, with tourist ‘honeypots’ around Lancashire and areas like the Ribble Valley and Trough of Bowland besieged by traffic from towns and cities and homes for local people made unaffordable by urban dwellers buying up second homes – a process accelerated by Covid-19.

The County that was Stolen

ALLEN CLARKE’s Lancashire has been shrunk by an undemocratic diktat in the 1970s. Nobody asked the people of Bolton, Rochdale, Oldham, Wigan and other towns if they wanted to be part of ‘Greater Manchester’. We have an elected mayor but without the democratic oversight of an elected council – which at least the original Greater Manchester Council had, before it was abolished by Mrs Thatcher in 1986. Something else we weren’t asked about. Now, in 2020, some politicians are talking about further municipal vandalism with the destruction of the remaining ‘Lancashire’ county council and three ‘super’ councils replacing it and the existing districts. Talk about making a bad job even worse. In Cumbria, there is talk of creating one single unitary authority; this would mean the death of ‘local’ government.

Allen Clarke was a strong believer in municipal reform and backed The Municipal Reform League, formed in Lancashire in the early 1900s. There’s a need for something like that but on a bigger scale, addressing the huge democratic deficit in the English regions, particularly the North, as well as the loss of power by local government. We need a ‘Campaign for Northern Democracy’ that can involve Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cumbria and the North-East as friendly allies and partners.

Samuel Compston of Rossendale, a radical Liberal of the old school, spoke of the virtue of ‘county clanship, in no narrow sense’. He was on to something and his words were carefully chosen. Regional or county pride does not pre-suppose antipathy to other regions and nations, and it needs to include everyone within the region. But it requires a democratic voice, not just one person elected every few years as ‘mayor’, nor a collection of local authority leaders whose prime loyalty is to their own council ward.

Yorkshire has been quicker off the mark and the Campaign for a Yorkshire Parliament has won wide cross-party support; the Yorkshire Party has made several local gains. The Yorkshire-based ‘Same Skies Collective’ has developed some fresh new ways of thinking about regionalism.

Here, there’s a ‘Friends of Real Lancashire’ but the issue needs a higher profile and cross-party support. A reformed Lancashire that includes Greater Manchester and Merseyside makes sense as an economic unit but also chimes with people’s identities – in a way that artificial ‘city regions’ never will.

‘Greater Manchester’ has reduced the once proudly-independent county boroughs to the status of satellites - commuter suburbs of Manchester (or ‘Manctopia’ as it was described in an excellent TV programme recently). Nearly 50 years on from the creation of ‘Greater Manchester’ our ‘city region’ still has precious little legitimacy and if there was a referendum tomorrow on being part of Lancashire or ‘Greater Manchester’ I have little doubt about the result.

A Democratic New Lancashire

REGIONAL democracy must be the next big jump for our political system with regional assemblies, elected proportionately, taking real powers out of Westminster and Whitehall, backed up by strong well-resourced local government which has the right scale (not too big!).

In England, we haven’t grasped the distinction between the national, regional and local, with cack-handed attempts to combine the regional and local (witness current attempts to create a unitary authority for all of Cumbria and three huge ‘local’ authorities covering all Lancashire). The latter are neither sufficiently ‘strategic’ to be effective regional bodies, and anything but ‘local’. Cumbria itself is big enough to be a county-region but still needs effective local government beneath it.

We need to get power out of the centre – Westminster/Whitehall – and give country-regions such as Lancashire real powers (see below) complemented by local government which really is ‘local’ and relates to historic, ‘felt’ identities which make economic and political sense.

Parameters and Powers

A RE-CONSTITUTED Lancashire county-region should include much of what once constituted Lancashire with the additions of parts of historic Cheshire to the south (Stockport, Tameside and Trafford in Greater Manchester). The historic ‘Lancashire north of the Sands’ really makes more sense within a Cumbria county-region that works closely with its Lancashire sister. This provides a county-region of significant size able to wield economic clout without being too large (which a region of ‘The North’ would be, both in population and geographical scale). Crucially, it would reflect people’s identities.

A major failure of the attempts to create regional assemblies during the Blair Government was their obvious lack of powers, prompting the successful attempts by the advocates of the centralised status quo to label them as expensive ‘white elephants’. While on one hand it makes sense for a new county-region to evolve gradually in terms of the powers and responsibilities it has, it must be able to demonstrate a clear reason to exist from the start. That means taking over responsibility for many of the areas which Wales and Scotland already have. It should include tax-raising powers.

The county-region should be empowered to support economic development across its area, investing in emerging industries, research and marketing. The ‘Lancashire Enterprises’ of the 1980s, stimulated and overseen by Lancashire County Council, would be a good model to start with. Part of its role should be to encourage new social enterprises and encourage greater employee and community involvement in large enterprises.

For transport, a ‘Transport for Lancashire’ should be created to take over the powers of existing transport authorities, as well as the ineffective Transport for the North. There should be close collaboration between sister bodies in Yorkshire, Cumbria, the North-east, and the Midlands, with formation of joint bodies to develop inter-regional links.

Another regular canard against regional government is that it creates ‘more politicians’ - ’Jobs for the boys’, another effective line of attack against the idea of a North-East Assembly in 2004.

It depends how you look at that. Regional devolution must include reducing the number of MPs at Westminster, as their functions transfer to the county-region. The same goes for the civil servants. Some powers that are currently devolved, but with little democratic scrutiny (transport health, etc.) would simply come under the democratically-elected county-region, with members elected by a proportional voting system.

Localising Local Government

ONE of the most disastrous decisions of local government reform in the 70s was the destruction of small, usually highly efficient, local councils. Medium-sized towns, such as Darwen, Heywood, Farnworth, Radcliffe and others often ran their own services, built good quality housing and underpinned a very strong sense of civic pride. They were ruthlessly destroyed in the spurious cause that ‘big is better’ and the knee-jerk approach of far too many bureaucrats to centralise as much as possible. Can anyone honestly say that these medium-sized towns have benefitted from the changes imposed on them in the 70s?

Within a Lancashire ‘county-region’ local government should be based on smaller but empowered and well-resourced units that reflect people’s identities – the Darwens, Athertons, Radcliffes as well as larger towns such as Oldham, Burnley, Blackburn and Blackpool.

These smaller but more powerful local councils should co-operate with their neighbouring communities on issues of mutual concern within a Lancashire county-region – a ‘co-operative commonwealth’ as argued below.

Having vibrant town as well as city centres must be a major element of the county-region. This means having a vision for town centres which offer something that the mega-stores don’t offer: a sense of conviviality and sociability. The arts have a key role to play – small galleries, larger public facilities including theatres and annual festivals (Bolton’s Film Festival is a good example) can help revive town centres and give them a new role.

Some Lancashire towns have been successful in developing niche manufacturing which offer highly skilled, well-paid jobs – but there’s a need for much more, working in partnership with the higher education sector. The ‘Preston Model’ should be rolled out to other similar-sized towns and cities to encourage much more local procurement and business support. It all needs sensitive encouragement which should come from re-structured and empowered local councils working within a collaborative framework provided by the county-region’s Lancashire Enterprises, as part of ‘The Lancashire Co-operative Commonwealth’.

A new Lancashire industrial revolution

ALLEN Clarke’s prophecy in Effects of the Factory System in (1895) that the cotton industry was doomed has finally come to be. Most of the Bolton mills that you could once see from the moors above Bolton, described so vividly in his Moorlands and Memories (1920), have been demolished. A few have survived but many are in poor condition, with only the prospect of demolition ahead of them unless something is done. The University of Bolton has had the sense to re-use some old mill buildings as part of its campus.

Yet most of the surviving Lancashire mills, perhaps with the exception of Manchester’s Ancoats, don’t have the wonderful mix of creative industries, office space and living accommodation that has been achieved with some of the mills in Yorkshire. At Saltaire, Salt’s Mill is perhaps the finest example, though rivalled by the Dean Clough Mills in Halifax. More should be done to protect our Lancashire mills and find good uses for them. Why should Yorkshire have all the fun?

Allen Clarke would have loved the idea of putting the mill buildings to better use - as places to live, but also as office and art space, recreational centres and performance areas. How about mill roof gardens? There’d be no shortage of space, with room to grow fruit and veg. Time for the ‘Incredible Edible Mill’!

We also need to build new, inspirational buildings that can take their place alongside the fine architecture bequeathed us by past generations. We need a vision, at least as radical as that of the Bolton landscape architect T.H. Mawson, of what our towns and cities should look like in the next 20 years, not what developers think is ‘good enough’ for us and makes the quickest return for them. We need some new Lord Leverhulmes, women and men of vision, able to work collaboratively and creatively.

Lancashire needs to be at the forefront, once again, of an industrial revolution – but this time a green revolution which benefits the many and not the few...

Sharing the same Skies: the countryside for everyone

ALONGSIDE a vibrant urban society, economy and culture, we need to make the best of our countryside, the ‘green lungs’ that make Lancashire so special. At its best, it can compete with the Lakes and the Peak District in terms of scenic beauty and is relatively well served with vibrant shops and smaller towns. It’s a huge asset in attracting talent into the region as a place to live and work.

Yet public transport access to the countryside is nothing like as good as it ought to be. Some of the most attractive areas have little or no bus services, or they don’t operate on Sundays – just when people need them. Places like Rivington, Pendle and Holcombe – let alone the Ribble Valley and Pendle - can be heaving with cars and motor bikes at weekends. At the same time, many stations that gave walkers access to the countryside, have closed.

Never mind HS2, let’s rebuild a world-class local transport network. For a fraction of the cost of that high-speed white elephant, we could have a network of modern, zero-emission trams and buses serving town and country, feeding in to a core rail network. If we look at the examples of Germany, Switzerland and Austria their popular rural areas typically have either frequent train services or rural trams connecting from the larger urban centres.

One of the few bright spots during the coronavirus outbreak has been the remarkable growth in cycling. Clarke and his friends Johnston and Wild would be delighted. Quiet roads, good weather and time on your hands was the ideal combination. Cycle shops have enjoyed a boon. I hope this renewed interest in cycling will survive, particularly if the Government puts its money where its mouth is and provides funding to expand cycle facilities in both town and country.

People will still use their car to get out into the countryside and that needs to be managed and provided for. Car parks can be ugly, but so can cars parked alongside verges. The more alternatives there are available, the less likely we are to assume that the only way to enjoy the countryside is by that form of transport which does most to disfigure it.

Why not copy the example of some of the national parks in the United States, which prohibit car access to the most sensitive areas? If you get there by car, leave it in a ‘parking lot’ and either walk, get on a local bus or hire a bike. It could work in some of our national parks including the Lakes and popular visitor locations such as Rivington and the Pendle Forest. The exciting plans for a ‘South Pennines’ regional park could include sensitive measures to restrict visitors’ car access and promote use of public transport, cycling and walking.

Allen Clarke want to see a new ‘agricultural revolution’ in Lancashire, and that’s still relevant. Much of Lancashire has a highly productive agricultural sector and we need to guard against precious agricultural land being lost to development. We need to do much more to feed our own people and not be dependent on imported foods. The ‘incredible edible’ model, of small-scale food production within towns was invented here in Lancashire and needs to be rolled out in every town and village.

Beyond a boundary: a Red Rose Co-operative Commonwealth?

THE future of England should be about county-regions co-operating with empowered, but geographically smaller, local councils. There should be strong encouragement to co-operate on issues when it makes sense, and to share resources and specialist staff. That co-operation should extend further, across the North. Why not a ‘Northern Federation’ of regions – Lancashire, Yorkshire, the North-East and Cumbria, collaborating on issues of joint concern, such as strategic transport links and academic co-operation? As the late Jo Cox (a committed regionalist) said, “we have far more in common than what divides us.”

Good, democratic governance must be about addressing inequality, jobs, the environment, health, education and having a thriving and diverse cultural sector. Allen Clarke’s vision in 1895, of locally-based and socially-owned units of production make sense in a modern digital age, co-operating as equals with partners across the globe.

His idea of a ‘co-operative commonwealth’ could certainly work at a Lancashire level; after all, it’s where co-operation began. Allen Clarke, with and his radical friends Solomon Partington, the co-operator and feminist Sarah Reddish and Samuel Compston looking over his shoulder, would have said “what are you waiting for?”

And we can’t wait. The coronavirus pandemic has focused people’s minds on the dysfunctional way we have lived our lives. An even bigger threat is climate change which requires re-thinking every aspect of how we live, travel, work and play.

Now is the time to create Allen Clarke’s vision of a ‘Lancashire Co-operative Commonwealth’ that can, in the words of Clarke’s heroine, Rose Hilton – get agate with the job of “washing the smoky dust off the petals of the red rose” and create a county-region that is fit for the 21st century. A Lancashire re-united.

Lancashire Day, November 27th 2020

See facebook group #LancashireUnited and www.lancashireloominary.co.uk

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Pushing Public Health Messages by Les May

ROCHDALE THE 'WORST AFFECTED' BY VIRUS!

I LIVE in Rochdale, one of the metropolitan boroughs that make up Greater Manchester. Last Saturday lunchtime I was treated to the sight of our local council leader speaking on a BBC news programme about the negotiations with the government about the financial support which would be available if ‘Tier Three’ restrictions come into force. He also raised doubts about whether the additional restrictions were necessary, citing the fact that the negotiators had been presented with ‘old data’ about infection levels.

Last Wednesday I watched the Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Jonathan Van Tam, present graphics showing how in the past few weeks rising Covid 19 infections, which were substantially affecting young adults have spread initially, are now moving into the older parts of the population in my town and others like it. These of course are the people whose illness places greatest strain on the NHS and who are most likely to die.

The next day Sky News ran a piece which made the claim that my town, Rochdale, is the borough worst affected by the virus.

Now I don’t wish to suggest that Allen Brett, or Bretty as he likes to style himself, was being deliberately misleading in his comments about the infection levels in Rochdale, but I will say that I find it a little surprising that our council leader seemingly had not taken the trouble to be briefed by Rochdale’s Director of Public Health, Andrea Fallon, about the situation in the town. She’s the expert in these matters, not him. Or perhaps it’s not really so surprising.

Since March when the initial ‘lockdown’ was imposed it can hardly be said RMBC has been proactive in its approach to handling the pandemic. Residents have received precisely two communications about Covid 19, one A5 leaflet came in late March and the second a couple of months ago. No doubt the response would be that there is comprehensive information about the ‘rules’ we are supposed to adhere to on the RMBC website.

Indeed there is, but in the jargon of the computer world, this is a ‘pull strategy’. In other words if you want to get the information, which is liable to change at any moment, you have to be sufficiently motivated to go and find it. If you are a MS Windows user are you sufficiently motivated to access the Microsoft website every time you switch your computer on to make sure that your machine has the latest security patches? Knowing that you are not, MS adopts a ‘push strategy’. Each time you switch on the new patches are sent to your machine automatically; you don’t have to do anything to keep your machine safe.

Some of the money being given to local councils in the Greater Manchester area should be spent on implementing such a ‘push strategy’ to disseminate the latest information about the status of Covid 19 infections in our towns as assessed by the Director of Public Health. This could be done by running an Internet based service dedicated to doing just that. Residents would initially register an e-mail address with the service, and would receive regular updates, encouragement to continue self isolating if asked to do so and advice about infection control in their daily routine. Why should it have taken a query to a local councillor to supply evidence to support a statement she had made to unearth the fact that there was an interactive map* showing the rolling seven day number of new infections in the area I live in? How many councillors are themselves aware of this?

This virus is not going to go away quickly and we have to learn to live with it. The optimistic view of how the future is going to unfold is that at some time not too far ahead, an effective vaccine will be discovered. If we are lucky this may happen. But even if it does the first recipients will be those in involved in health care who are daily putting their own lives at risk treating Covid 19 patients and those who are particularly vulnerable due to existing conditions. The rest of us, and that includes old people like me, will have a lower priority. It may take two or more years before everyone who wants it has been given the vaccine.

The pessimistic view is that we will never have an effective vaccine or effective therapeutic drugs. This is at least a possibility which should not be discounted. Many colds are caused by coronaviruses and in the past one or two million years we humans have never evolved immunity to ‘the common cold’. So in the absence of medical methods of removing the threat to human life presented by this virus, be it for another couple of years or stretching into the future, we are left with public health interventions to mitigate its danger. This should be part of any ‘roadmap’ for the future.

In the fight against this virus it is not enough for us to be passive entities obeying rules we did no make and perhaps do not understand the logic of. Our first priority should not be to acquaint ourselves with the ever changing ‘rules’; it has to be doing whatever is necessary to keep ourselves and our families safe from infection. It is no use local politicians complaining that hospitality venues should not be closed because community transmission is highest where households mix, unless they also have a strategy for discouraging household mixing. To do this we need to have all the information available about where the infection rate is highest, where it is increasing at the fastest rate in our local area and regular reminders about why this is happening and the part our behaviour is playing in this.

Getting this information and advice on a regular basis to residents in the boroughs around Greater Manchester and similarly affected conurbations, isn’t ‘rocket science’. It simply needs a bit of imagination and effort on the part of local councils. If they cannot even manage this what makes anyone think they could run a less shambolic ‘Track and Trace’ system than the present government?

* Initially this map could be found at;

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=47574f7a6e454dc6a42c5f6912ed7076

If you go to this site you will be redirected to;

https://coronavirus-staging.data.gov.uk/details/interactive-map

This is more detailed and more informative, but the text is not so easy to read.

If the links above are not ‘live’ then copy and paste the link into your browser.

A Second Wave is Coming: Madrid & Manchester!

A TALE OF TWO CITIES THROUGH the LOOKING-GLASS

AS the windfall fruit began to fall from the trees earlier this month the spectre of a second wave of the virus emerged in Europe.

On October 9, the Spanish government declared a state of emergency in Madrid on Friday, wresting control of efforts to fight the spread of COVID-19 from local authorities in a region that is experiencing one of Europe’s most significant coronavirus outbreaks.

The step, which took immediate effect and lasts for two weeks, forcing Madrid's regional authorities to restore restrictions on travel that had been introduced by the national government but were struck down the previous day by a Madrid court ruling.

That successful legal challenge by Madrid officials was part of a long quarrel between the country’s main political parties over their coronavirus response. Those differences, and the changing rules, have often dismayed and confused local residents.

The Madrid region’s 14-day infection rate of 563 coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents is more than twice Spain’s national average of 256 and five times the European average rate of 113 for the week ending Sept. 27.

The central government’s measures prohibit all nonessential trips in and out of the capital and nine of its suburbs, affecting some 4.8 million people. Restaurants must close at 11 p.m. and stores at 10 p.m.. Both must limit occupancy to 50% of their capacity.

The national government had ordered police in Madrid to fine people if they left their municipalities without justification. More than 7,000 police officers will now be deployed to ensure the restrictions are observed, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said.

The Spanish government announced the state of emergency after a hastily arranged Cabinet meeting in the wake of the court ruling. Health Minister Salvador Illa said the previous measures would come back into force and that only the legal framework for them was changing.

He told a press conference it was “undeniable” that there is community transmission in the Madrid region, not just isolated outbreaks, at a crucial juncture as winter approaches and respiratory problems increase.

“Action is needed, and today we couldn’t just stand by and do nothing,” Illa said. “It’s very important that this doesn’t spread to the rest of the country.”

Yet Madrid’s conservative regional government opposed those restrictions, saying they were draconian and hurt the economy. Madrid’s regional president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, said her own, more moderate measures were enough to fight COVID-19.

A Madrid court on Thursday [8/10/20] upheld the regional government’s appeal, saying the national government’s imposition of restrictions violated people’s fundamental liberties.

Between Madrid and Manchester one cannot help but notice the looking-glass nature of the two disputes; as the Madrid regional authorities are politically conservative in opposing the national government, while in Greater Manchester the resistance is largely Labour with a sprinkling of local Tory MPs in places like Bury etc.

Today, in England, the Boris Johnson's government has just confronted a similar situation with regard to Manchester as the region's mainly Labour politicians and Mayor's oppose the central government's insistence that a three-tier is imposed. The Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, has been in the forefront mobilising the opposition and demanding more support, but he urges that the people of Manchester to obey the law, and fall-in with the requirements of the government's new severe three-tier restrictions.

Last Saturday in an editorial leader in the Financial Times wrote: 'With events moving at such speed, and Mr Johnson's regional approach coming under strain, a circuit-breaker shutdown across England, too, now seems a question of when, not if.'

The FT editor took the view that if the goverment imposed a 'precautionary break' now, it might 'avert the need for a vastly more damaging indefinate national lock-down' later on.

Despite this, it now looks like the governmant is taking a chance on a regional approach to the problem. Just watch this space!

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Resolutionary Socialism Changes Nothing

by Les May

IN 1988, I was still teaching in a Rochdale school.  One day during the autumn term all the staff were summoned to a meeting after school finished.  We were surprised to see the Diana Cavanagh, the then Director of Education, standing at the front waiting to talk to us.

She had come to tell us that a small group of parents had moved to call for a ballot of parents which would decide whether the school should ‘Opt Out’ of Local Education Authority (LEA) control and instead be controlled directly by central government.

Though people’s motivations differed, there was little enthusiasm for such a move.  Some were against it just because it was a Tory policy, some felt it flew in the face of local democracy and local accountability, some were concerned that it was the thin end of the wedge which would lead to a worsening of our pay and conditions of employment, and some simply did not trust the headteacher.

After everyone had had their say a resolution was put to the meeting condemning the proposal. It passed without obvious dissent.  At this point it looked as if that was all that would happen.  Then someone stood up to object to leaving it at that.  I am sufficiently immodest to say it was me. What I went on to say was that simply passing a ‘resolution’ was a complete waste of time. If we wanted to defeat this move we had to contact all the parents of the children at the school, visit them and explain what ‘Opting Out’ meant and why we opposed it.  Without any debate it was agreed that an ad hoc committee should form to organise the mechanics of contacting parents and because we would need money to pay for letters to parents a collection was quickly organised. I assumed we would see everyone give a £1 or so.  When the ‘hat was passed round’ at least one £10 note went into it from one of the Maths teachers.

Letters went to newspapers to publicise our activities.  Lists of names and addresses were sorted into routes which a two person team could follow. Night after night in the first couple of months of 1989 we tramped the streets visiting parents, listening to parents and soliciting their vote in the forthcoming ballot against ‘Opting Out’.

It was all worth it, because the parents voting against the proposal.

In 1995 there was a proposal to use the Gort Sand pit and Wilderness Quarry sites for a Greater Manchester Council landfill site.  A group of people, each for a different reason, objected, came together and fought this. It took work to make it happen, but we were so persistent that eventually a full public inquiry was held in Rochdale Town Hall. In the end the Inspector did not agree with us and the site was used for landfill.  Was it worth it?  Yes it was!

Some people think that ‘activism’ is passing a resolution, writing a wish list, denouncing someone as a ‘racist’ or a ‘fascist’ or … just fill in your own preferred epithet here, or producing a Twitter storm.  Every week some petition or other falls into my e-mail inbox. It’s there briefly before going into the trash. Signing a petition may make some people feel pleased with themselves, but if you want to change things you have to do the work, even if sometimes you lose.  Before the last election the lady I tramped the streets with in the winter of 1989 was on my doorstep canvassing for the Labour party.  She’s still doing the work! 

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Recycling centres & tips in Manchester to close

The centres will remain closed ‘until further notice’ - 

Recycle for Greater Manchester announced

It means that places like recycling centres will not remain open.
An announcement was made on the Recycle for Greater Manchester website.
It read: “Following on from the Prime Minister’s announcement on March 23, all Recycling Centres are closed until further notice. Please stay at home.”

Residents are urged to check their local council’s website for up to date information about how the announcement would impact collections from homes.

Manchester

According to the Manchester City Council website, food and garden recycling bins will be collected every two weeks instead of every week. All other collections remain unaffected.

Bolton

A post on the Bolton Council website says: “At this stage priority will be given to the collection of grey bins, food waste containers and green bins. Recycling bins will be emptied where possible so please continue to present all bins on the appropriate collection day. If your bins are not emptied please take them back onto your property until your next scheduled collection day, as we will not be able to return for any that have not been emptied.”

Bury

The Bury Council website says they are ‘unable to carry out as many collections as usual’.
It says: “Brown bin collections are cancelled this week (23-27 March) and next (30 March to 3 April) while we prioritise emptying grey, green and blue bins instead.”

Oldham

The Oldham Council website asks residents not to place any garden waste out for collection. They are urged to use green bins and caddies for food waste only.
The website adds: “Place all bins out for collection as normal. Should we not collect your bin on its scheduled collection day please take it back onto your property and put it out again on your next collection day.”

Rochdale

People in Rochdale are being urged to put out their bins as normal. “If we’re not able to collect your bin on its scheduled collection day please take it back onto your property and put it out again on your next collection day”, the website says.

Stockport

People in Stockport should put their bins out as normal.

Tameside

For information, visit https://public.tameside.gov.uk/forms/bin-dates.asp

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"Unsung Hero - The Jack Jones Story"

I attach a Flyer for the Blackley & Broughton Contituency Labour Party showing of the Film:

"Unsung Hero - The Jack Jones Story"

On Sat 21st March, 6.30pm at the Moston Miners Cinema.

Please do your best to attend.  You can pay at the door but please let me know in advance if you are coming. 

Yours in Comradeship,

VAL EDWARDS

0161 795 3483 or 07840955149

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MCT BUSES GOES BUST! TAMESIDE BUS SERVICES AT RISK!

Manchester Community Transport

BREAKING NEWS:

Less than a year after FirstGroup’s Tamexit in September 2019, the departure ofanother company will see more upheaval for Tameside’s bus users.

On their website, MCT Travel, also known as Manchester Community Transport, announced that it is proposing to cease operations in late April. The company, rescued from closure in 2017 by joining the HCT Group, have cited “mounting losses” and “difficult trading conditions” as a factor in their withdrawal.

Manchester Community Transport’s existence predates FirstGroup and Arriva. They started out as Wythenshawe Mobile in 1980, after receiving Urban Aid funding. The company adopted its present name, Manchester Community Transport in 2005.

The Community Interest Company runs a sizeable number of TfGM tendered services in Tameside and Oldham. In all, 38 routes with a fleet of 67 vehicles. Many of which serve areas that would otherwise be bus deserts. The company expanded after the purchase of Maytree Travel’s routes, going beyond their South Manchester roots.

READ MORE

Source Stuart Valentine: East of the M60

Why I Won’t Vote for Andy Burnham

by Les May

IN a few weeks time Andy Burnham will be soliciting my vote in an attempt to persuade me to re-elect him as Mayor of Greater Manchester in the poll to be held on 7 May 2020.  He will be wasting his time.

I have voted Labour all my life, but I will not give my support to any candidate who promotes policies which deliberately discriminate against people on the basis of their sex.

Burnham has been pursuing a policy which does just this since 2018 when he introduced a scheme to issue bus passes to those born between October 6, 1953 and November 5,1954 and hence too young to qualify for an English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS) pass, BUT ONLY IF THEY WERE FEMALE.  He now proposes to extend this to women born between November 6, 1954 and April 5, 1955.

However you care to wrap it up this is deliberate, systematic discrimination on the basis of a persons sex.  Imagine the outcry if Burnham introduced a scheme offering bus passes to people in this age group, but insisting that only those who were white would be eligible.

Men and women in that age group received exactly the same notice that the age at which they would become eligible for a State Retirement Pension and hence an ENCTS pass was being raised to 66 years. Does being a man make someone less deserving than if they are a woman?

Burnham needs holding to account for this.  The majority of people doing the ‘grunt work’ in our society are men. Feminists don’t seem to have been quite so enthusiastic about getting more women into these kind of jobs.  Perhaps it is time for men to press their unions to ask Burnham for some answers.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/transpot-free-bus-pass-women-17693595

https://tfgm.com/tickets-and-passes/womens-concessionary-travel-scheme

https://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/services/freedom-pass/tfl-60-london-oyster-photocard

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STATEMENT on Bolton student residence fire

STATEMENT  by GREATER MANCHESTER

TRADE UNION COUNCIL EXECUTIVE  

– Saturday 23^rd November, 2019

THE meeting of the Greater Manchester Association of TUCs [GMATUC] Executive (Saturday 23^rd November, 2019), was the first opportunity after the Bolton student residence fire to support the FBU statement (16^th November) and the Bolton TUC statement condemning the ‘complete failure’ of the UK fire safety system and relieved that no one was killed.

The fire at The Cube student residence was a disaster that should never have happened.

Along with Bolton TUC there are two points we want to make:

First, there is the question of flammable cladding and the unacceptable delay in enforcing the removal of all flammable cladding in all buildings, following the Grenfell tragedy.

The second point we want to make [the public aware of our] concerns of cuts to the Greater Manchester fire services. The fantastic response of fire fighters to the conflagration at The Cube would have been less effective if the proposed cuts across Greater Manchester had taken place. All cuts to fire services must be shelved.

Stefan Cholewka the GMATUC secretary said: “GM Mayor Andy Burnham on TV said that the building was red flagged previously as it did not conform fully to fire safety regulations even though it was not classified as a high rise. However, he still proposes to go ahead with additional Greater Manchester fire service cuts… Thankfully, Greater Manchester fire service had learned lessons from Grenfell and swiftly evaluated the building with the help of a students residents committee. It seems that everyone is learning lessons from the Grenfell tragedy EXEPT Andy Burnham!”.

…We fully support Les Skarratts, FBU North West executive council member, when he said: "Greater Manchester has lost more than 600 fire fighters since 2010 alone and, alarmingly, Andy Burnham is trying to cut another six fire engines, including one in Bolton. 
"We need to stop the senseless cuts to our fire and rescue service before we see another awful incident like this.”

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Building Our Local Democracy:

 Building Our Local Democracy (BOLD)

AN Open Meeting of Building Our Local Democracy will be held next Thursday.  

BETTERS BUSES MEETING:

To let you have your say on how our bus services could be improved. Chance to see the Consultation Document on getting our bus services regulated. Speakers include John Boughton, Unite Union, Marie Douglas, Greater Manchester Older Peoples' Network and others. 

 Time: 7.30pm Thursday 14th. November 2019.

 Venue: Function Room, Middleton Archer Pub, Kemp Street, Middleton M24 4UA

Please try and support this event which is promoted by Better Buses for Greater Manchester and locally by BOLD (Building Our Local Democracy).

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Fossil Fuel: Letter to the NV Editor

Trafford Council Motion on Fossil Fuels

Editor,

I should also fill you in. I’m proposing this motion to Councl next week. It would be great if we could get some support. It will be Trafford Town Hall Wednesday the 9^th, I think at 7pm.

It will be official later today so will be spreading the word then.

Geraldine Coggins

Investing in green solutions instead of fossil fuels.

This Council notes:

1.             That at least 5% of funds of the Greater Manchester Pension Fund are invested in Shell, BP and other fossil fuel companies. (See paragraph 3 of Appendix A of GMPF document in responding to Trafford’s climate emergency motion https://democratic.trafford.gov.uk/documents/s32216/Fossil%20Fuel%20Investments%20Jan%2019.pdf

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378 GM councillors didn't open emails from GM Fire & Rescue about £12.8m cuts!

Letter by Andrew Wastling

A recent consultation designed to inform constituents [1] regarding Proposals for £12.8million in cuts to the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, including reductions of fire engines, crew numbers and fire stations, has  quite understandably been the subject of controversy due to a woeful lack of participation from our elected representatives from elected Councillors  a across Greater Manchester .

The consultation report notes that 'Updates were sent to councillors from across Greater Manchester through the consultation, to encourage them to respond and spread the information out to their local constituents. The email update was sent to 637 Councillors and 259 opened the email'.

This means that 378 Greater Manchester Councillors did not open this email . I just wonder if a spokesperson for Rochdale Council would like to write in to ' Viewpoints ' and let readers know exactly how many Rochdale Borough Councillors bothered to opened this email and contributed to the consultation ?

I'd also be interested to know exactly how many   if any , local voters  received an email from their local ward councillor cascading information to them regarding the proposals to cut the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service by £12. million and asking for their opinions to feedback to the Public Consultation ?