Danczuk discourages inebriation!

GIVEN his recent bad publicity on his historic relationship with Class A drugs, readers will be now be relieved that Simon Danczuk the MP for Rochdale, appears to have turned over a new leaf as we have found that an item in Written Answers on the 1st, May 2014 that may help promote Simon's new sober image:

 

Written Answers — Treasury: Drinks   In an item on 'Drinks' in Written Answers at the Treasury (1 May 2014)  Simon Danczuk: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what fiscal steps he is taking to incentivise the sale of alcohol-free beers and ciders.

A History of Freedom Press

THE first Freedom emerged from the British socialist movement in the early 1880s. At that time there were several overlapping organisations with associated periodicals – the Social Democratic Federation with Justice and Today, the Fabian Society with the Practical Socialist and Our Corner, the Socialist League with the Commonweal, and so on. Anarchists were active in all these, but there were no separate anarchist initiatives in the country until the formation of a “circle of English anarchists” in May 1885. This group included both Continental émigrés (Such a Nikola Chaikovski and Severio Merlino) and native British anarchists; among the latter the leading member was Charlotte Wilson, who was both well educated and well off, and who was an active writer and speaker advocating anarchism in socialist organisations and publications from 1884.

When Peter Kropotkin, the best-known figure in the international anarchist movement, was released from prison in France in January 1886, Charlotte Wilson was responsible for the group inviting him to come to Britain to join them. He settled in England in March 1886, and the group decided to produce a new anarchist paper after their separation from the English Anarchist Circle and The Anarchist edited by Henry Seymour. In addition to Freedom, the group eventually set up Freedom Press, the main publisher of anarchist literature in England. This was the origin of Freedom and the Freedom Press. Meanwhile Charlotte Wilson wrote an account of anarchism in the fourth Fabian tract, What Socialism Is, which was published in June 1886, and led the anarchists at a joint socialist meeting which supported parliamentary socialism by a two-to-one vote, at Anderton’s Hotel in London in September 1886.

original Freedom Press office

The time had clearly come for a new anarchist initiative. Freedom began publication as a monthly in October 1886. From the start it was intended not as the organ of a particular group but rather as an independent voice in the wider movement. At first it was described as a journal of Anarchist Socialism, but in June 1889 it became a “Journal of Anarchist Communism”; it has always represented the mainstream tradition of anarchism, through giving a voice to differing views.

Although Freedom Press concentrated on the periodical from 1889, it also produced other publications – first pamphlets and then booklets and books, mostly works by foreign writers (Kropotkin above all, but also Errico Malatesta, Jean Grave, Gustav Landauer, Max Nettlau, Domela Nieuwenhuis, Emile Pouget, Varlaam Cherkezov, Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman and, of course, Proudhon and Bakunin) and also works by British writers (including Herbert Spencer and William Morris). And From the start there were regular discussions and occasional public meetings.

For most of the first decade, Freedom was edited, published and largely financed by Charlotte Wilson, although its most important contributor was Kropotkin. Freedom became the main English language anarchist paper in the country, a position it has held for most of the time ever since. After the First World War anarchism seemed eclipsed by the rise of Communism and Fascism abroad and parliamentary socialism at home and the original Freedom ceased publication in December 1927.

When the Spanish Civil War and Revolution began in 1936, Freedom Press helped to revive the anarchist movement in Britain, Spain and the World appeared fortnightly from December 1936 to December 1938. When the Second World War began yet another Freedom Press paper was started. War Commentary began publication in November 1939, the production of other publications was resumed, a printing press was acquired in Whitechapel and a bookshop was opened. War Commentary co-operated with radical pacifists and the few socialists who escaped the line of the labour and Communist parties, and the Freedom Press was involved in subversive activity and the circulation of anti-militarist material.
 

As a result Freedom Press was raided, and three of the editors imprisoned at the beginning of 1945 for attempting “to undermine the affections of members of His Majesty’s Forces”. Benjamin Britten, E. M. Forster, Augustus John, George Orwell, Herbert Read (chairman), Osbert Sitwell and George Woodcock set up the Freedom Defence Committee to “uphold the essential liberty of individuals and organizations, and to defend those who are persecuted for exercising their rights to freedom of speech, writing and action”. When the war also ended in Asia, in August 1945, the title was changed back to Freedom.
 

Today Freedom Press remains as a functioning publishing house whilst the printing itself is done by Aldgate Press (a printing co-op set up in 1981 with money raised by Vernon Richards). The Freedom Press collective also runs the Autonomy Club meeting room, holds art shows, runs a bookshop and publishes a monthly newspaper Freedom, while sharing the premises with The London Coalition Against Poverty, the Advisory Service for Squatters and Corporate Watch.

The Freedom Press archive is held at the Bishopsgate Institute Library.

Anarchist portraits along Angel Alley

I was a junkie, says Simon Danczuk

The Lumpen-Proletariat is not what it used to be!

 

'I'M from the under-class, really aren't I?', said Simon Danczuk in an interview in the New Statesman, last week.  And in The Sun on Sunday he admitted to taking ecstasy and cannabis. 

 

The Sun on Sunday reports 47-year-old Mr Danczuk has confessed to taking Class A pills several times and smoking marijuana a couple of times a week in his younger days while at Lancaster University.  Mr Danczuk's confession came after his ex-wife Sonia Milewski spilled the beans to The Sun on Mr Danczuk's drug taking whilst they were married.

 

It seems that a very bitter Ms Milewski, who has two children with Mr Danczuk, spoke to Rochdale Online at length in 2010 about her marriage to Mr Danczuk making allegations of drug taking during their marriage, but then asked Rochdale Online not to publish the then unsubstantiated allegations after agreeing a divorce settlement with Mr Danczuk.

 

Mr Danczuk has told the Rochdale Observer that when confronted by the allegations of his ex-wife by The Sun of Sunday, 'I decided to be honest'.   He added:  'It's worth noting there are some inaccurances in the story and it does not tell the true story.'

 

In the 1980s at Lancaster University, where Danczuk studied Sociology, the Sociology Department was influenced  by the post-modernist Scott Lash, who later went to teach Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths College at the University of London.  Mr. Lash has since written papers on the power politics of hegemony in which he argues that what he calls 'extensive politics' has been 'progressively displaced by a politics of intensity'.  In Rochdale today Mr Simon Danczuk has played no small part in introducing us to 'a politics of intensity', indeed not since Cyril Smith ruled the roost as long ago as 1992 do we seem now to have had a kind of Pied Piper politics in the town.

 

The Danczuk regime is now giving us the Politics of the Absurd to delight and entertain the public and media, and I suspect we can expect more of this madness in the months to come.



The Future of Working-Class Education?

Does working-class education

have a future?

A day conference for all trades unionists including Union Learn reps, trade union branch officers, TUC/ Trade Union Studies tutors, WEA/adult education lecturers, and mature students, organised by Trade Union Solidarity magazine and Bridgwater Trades Union Council

11am to 4pm, Saturday 2^ndAugust GWRSA/Railway Club, Wellington Rd, Bridgwater, Somerset, TA6 5HA

Speakers:

Marie Hughes South West TUC Regional Education Officer

Trish Lavelle CWU National Education Officer

Becca Kirkpatrick Co-editor Trade Union Solidarity

Shan Maidment TU studies tutor, City of Bristol College

Carole Vallelly GMB Southern Region/TUC tutor

Nigel Costley, Secretary, South West TUC

Dave Chapple, Bridgwater TUC

Ian Manborde, Ruskin College

Richard Ross:  London Metropolitan University

Cost is £5 per person which includes buffet lunch. Places are limited: please register in advance if possible, make cheques out to“Bridgwater Trades Union Council” and send to Dave Chapple, Conference Organiser, 1 Blake Place, Bridgwater, Somerset, TA6 5AU. Further details phone 07707 869 144 or e-mail davechapple@btinternet.com

Programme

10.30am to 11am: registration tea and coffee

11am: welcome: Vicki Nash, Somerset NUT and President Bridgwater TUC

11.05am: First session: Chair, Andy Newman, GMB, White Horse (Wiltshire) TUC

Speakers: Marie Hughes, Trish Lavelle, Dave Chapple

11.50am: discussion

12.30pm: Second session: Chair, Glen Burrows, RMT, Bridgwater TUC

Speakers: Nigel Costley, Shan Maidment, Richard Ross

1.15pm: discussion

2PM BUFFET LUNCH AND LICENSED BAR

2.40pm: Third session: Chair: Richard Capps, PCS, vice-Chair South West TUC

Speakers: Carole Vallelly, Ian Manborde, Becca Kirkpatrick

3.25pm: discussion including conference follow-up

4pm: Close of conference

The last few generations have seen, overall, both a crisis and decline in the general field of what used to be called working-class education. Despite substantial government Union Learn funding, now of course under severe pressure, and some impressive internal trade union shop steward programmes, the subsidised and ‘liberal’ ‘adult education sector where many of us learned the theory and practice of socialism has almost disappeared.

This conference is a ground-breaking attempt to address this crisis, asking these questions amongst many others: would the internet have destroyed adult ‘liberal’ education without any government cuts? Do any trade unions educate their members for socialism or merely effective trades unionism? Can a volunteer/community-led strategy restore cuts to Union Learn and adult evening courses?

What about the left-wing political parties, including Labour and the Greens? What are the strategies to restore a once-thriving Independent Working Class Education as part of the workers’ emancipation project? Do TUC courses succeed in teaching solidarity between workers in different unions? Could local trades councils play a new educational role?

These of course are only a few possible ways of approaching our conference subject: make sure you raise yours! Our speakers will all, hopefully, give us personal reflections of all their years teaching workers, as well as their own ideas for future education campaigns.

Bridgwater GWRSA/Railway Club is 100 yards from Bridgwater rail station at the east end of Wellington Rd. Car parking in adjacent station car park. Bridgwater station is served by an hourly train service throughout the day, arriving from Bristol at 40 minutes past the hour and from Taunton at 15/20 minutes past the hour. Bridgwater is also easily accessible from the M5 motorway with two junctions: north (Dunball/Junction 23) and south (Huntworth/Junction 24). The GWRSA/railway club itself is one of the national network of railway clubs which in themselves are an important part of working-class history-they were funded by the employers, and so can be understood both as social concession or dangerous palliative. However, you will find the Bridgwater GWRSA a friendly, thriving but last-surviving local working class club. We look forward to seeing you on 2^nd August!

Seven MPs & an independent inquiry into Child Sex Abuse

Exaro Exclusive: The magnificent seven MPs campaign for independent inquiry into historic child sex abuse

Posted on June 3, 2014 by David Hencke

Zac Goldsmith MP

An important step was taken today when seven MPs wrote to Theresa May asking for an independent panel inquiry to be launched into repeated failures by police to investigate thoroughly historic cases of child sexual abuse. They want the equivalent of the investigation into the Hillsborough disaster.The initiative came from Zac Goldsmith, the Conservative MP for Richmond, who has become acutely aware that the Met Police have still not got to the bottom of the historic child sex scandal at Elm Guest House in his constituency despite two people due to stand trial.
He decided that the issue was too important to become a political football and that an all party approach – it involves MPs from four parties- Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green- was the best way forward.

Caroline Lucas MP

The result is revealed on the Exaro website today in two reports by me outlining the letter and the key cases where they have been repeated failures – every time police investigation have come near VIPs. evidence seems to have gone missing, dossiers lost,surveillance material disappearing, seized child porn DVDs lost and even police investigation reports possibly censored.

John Hemming MP

The first report on Exaro details the letter sent to Theresa May and the type of inquiry MPs want. The second report goes into more detail about what MPs want investigated. well as Zac, the other six MPs, are the former coalition children’s minister,Conservative MP Tim Loughton; Labour’s Tom Watson, who raised the question of a paedophile ring run by the late Peter Righton; Labour MP Simon Danczuk, the Rochdale MP who exposed further scandals around the late Sir Cyril Smith; Tess Munt, Liberal Democrat MP for Wells and parliamentary private secretary to Vince Cable, who has concerns about physical and sexual abuse in military schools; John Hemming, Liberal Democrat MP for Birmingham, Yardley, who has raised similar issues of child sexual abuse, and Caroline Lucas, the Green MP, who expresses concern about the issue.

Simon Danczuk MP

These magnificent MPs have put their political differences aside and put their heads above the parapet. They do not mince their words about the unsatisfactory situation that still persists.

Tim Loughton MP

As Tim Loughton puts it:“Virtually every week, the public is bombarded with new stories about sexual abuse of children coming to light, yet they stretch as far back as the 1960’s.“Few areas have been left untouched with increasingly alarming stories involving schools, churches, care homes, entertainment, sport and of course politicians and celebrities.“Most alarming is a consistent theme of the reluctance or, more worryingly, the seeming complicity of police and other agencies to investigate the allegations seriously, and pursue the perpetrators rigorously.
“Documents go missing and investigations are curtailed with a chilling frequency, and that now threatens a serious undermining of the public’s confidence in our current child-protection system despite all the progress that has undoubtedly been made in recent years.”

Tessa Munt MP

It is really time to act. Teflon Theresa May – not known as a shrinking violet in dealing with tough and controversial issues – should very seriously consider what the MPs want and why they feel driven to ask for it.

Tom Watson MP

Farooq Ahmed Resigns from Labour Party

A leading Labour councillor, Farooq Ahmed, and his wife Councillor Shefali Ahmed, resigned from the Rochdale Labour Party last Friday.  Both will now stand as Independent councillors.

At a Court on Wednesday the 11th, June, Councillor Farooq Ahmed was found guilty of a section 4 public order offence following an altercation with fellow Labour councillor Neil Emmott on Cheetham Street in Rochdale last January.  Councillor Emmott, who works as a case worker for Simon Danczuk the Rochdale MP, had accused Councillor Ahmed of abusing and threatening him using 'homophobic' words.  Councillor Emmott took his complaint to the police.

Councillor Farooq Ahmed told RochdaleONLINE:
'We feel we can use our time and energy on a more positive and productive contribution for our constituents by being independent members.'

In his statement Councillor Ahmed continued:
'Our resignation comes due to all the political infighting and division within the Labour Group, and the lack of support and intervention by the local Labour Party and regional office. There are many issues which could have been resolved internally which would have prevented negative media attention for the town.  It is a sad time for us, as we wanted to see the end of all this political and personal fiasco, the group should be focusing on the real issues within our town.  We would like to thank former Council Leader, Councillor Colin Lambert and the previous Cabinet who had worked hard and tirelessly with council staff in the most challenging times.  Myself, former Leader of the Council, Councillor Lambert and the previous Cabinet have laid the foundation and have created a clearer path for the future developments for this borough.  We hope the current leadership and the Cabinet are able to continue the good work.'
Councillor Farooq Ahmed's term on the Council runs until May 2015, Councillor Shefali Ahmed until May 2016.

Farooq found guilty on public order offence

THE cleavage politics of Rochdale Labour Party reached a new low today as Councillor Farooq Ahmed has been convicted by a court of a public order offence under Section 4, which he denied.  The court was told Councillor Ahmed had had an altercation on January 22nd, 2014, with fellow Labour councillor Neil Emmott on Cheetham Street in Rochdale, while Councillor Emmott was getting his lunch.  Ahmed was found guilty of being homophobic and threatening violence against Councillor Emmott, fining him £1,000 with £625 costs and ordering to pay £250 compensation to Councillor Emmott.  The expression used against Councillor Emmott was that he was a 'queer little arse licker' adding 'watch your back'.

Councillor Ahmed who pleaded not guilty is now considering an appeal.

This exchange is seemingly all part of the familiar banter now taking place between different sections of the Rochdale Labour Party.  In this case the row was related to an online article by Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk about the local child sexual exploitation grooming scandal.  Councillor Emmott is a case worker for Mr Danczuk the Rochdale MP, and it seems Farooq felt Emmott was in some way responsible for the content of the article.

Councillor Ahmed has said that the altercation was part of a split within the local Labour Party between the allies of the new Council leader Richard Farnell and the former leader Councillor Colin Lambert. 

Another Account of the Rochdale 'Tiff'

IN her column entitled 'Putsches, paedophiles and politics: the Rochdale council story so far' in the Manchester Evening News, Jennifer Williams writes:
'Over the past year I've written an endless stream of stories on the bizarre machinations of Rochdale politics, but in the last few days they have entered a new realm of madness.'

It only goes to show that we let it all hang out up here, and that we certainly don't wrap nowt up in Rochdale.  Ms. Williams continues: 
'Here is how the borough is split.
On the one side is Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk and new council leader Richard Farnell.
On the other is Heywood and Middleton MP Jim Dobbin and his employee and former council leader Colin Lambert, the man Farnell replaced in a putsch 10 days ago.'

Simon Danczuk is on a committee that has today grilled the former Rochdale Council leader Colin Lambert.  Coun Lambert - a long-standing rival of Mr Danczuk - said political ‘games’ were played, but added:  'It was an exercise in which we put it out in public and I would never do that any different. At the end of the day the public had a right to give their view and their view was quite rightly listened to.'

Lambert was being asked him why he tried – unsuccessfully – to give former chief executive Jim Taylor a £40,000 pay rise last year.

At the same time Mr. Lambert's ally, fellow councillor Farooq Ahmed, is up in court accused of verbally abusing Danczuk's employee Neil Emmott in the street.  Mr. Emmott is also a Rochdale Labour councillor.

There will surely be tears before all this is over and done with. 

No Glory in War Letter

No Glory in War: Noble Cause or Capitalist Adventure?

The Lecture will be given by Dr John Westmoreland, Head of History at York College and a Leading Member of the 'No Glory in War' group. It will take place in the Friends’ Meeting House, Mount Street, Manchester, M2 5NS on Saturday 20th September at 2.00 to coincide with the UN's International Day of Peace. It is hoped that the well known actor Julie Hesmondhalgh (Coronation Street) will be able to chair the lecture.

Prior to the Lecture, there will also be a walk of the updated Manchester City Centre Peace Trail, which is now part of a European project including 6 other cities - Vienna, Berlin, Paris, Budapest, Turin and The Hague – www.discoverpeace.eu

Previous conferences and other activities can be followed on the Peace History Conference Online Hub at www.peacehistoryhub.org

If you would like to attend the Lecture, please use the contact details on the flyer. Please feel free to disseminate the flyer further.

Best wishes,

Steve

Thailand & Turkey's Labour Disputes

We've just had some great news: The IUF campaign targetting KFC Thailand which we told you about a few days ago has succeeded in stopping management from threatening and harassing union leaders. (The IUF's short statement is here.)

Online campaigns work, and we can celebrate our win in Thailand -- but the struggle for justice and dignity for workers continues elsewhere.

A Turkish company that produces advertising displays for businesses in the USA, Germany, Denmark and elsewhere, has fired 45 workers -- because they dared to join a trade union. The company, M&T Reklam, did this even though the Ministry of Labour had recognized that the union represented a majority of their workers. The union -- DİSK Birleşik Metal İş -- together with IndustriALL Global Union has called for an online protest campaign to pressure the employer to reinstate the sacked workers:



Please take 30 seconds to send an email to the company and to some of its key customers to bring worldwide pressure to bear.

And then please spread the word in your union.

Thanks very much.


Eric Lee

'Rochdale is in the headlines for wrong reasons'

says Richard Farnell

Cleavage Politics on Rochdale MBC

RICHARD Farnell has shown a skill for stating the obvious when he claimed the other day that  'Rochdale is in the headlines for all the wrong reasons', adding gruffly 'and I will not allow a tiny minority of people to drag us down.' 

 

Mr. Farnell went on to say in the Rochdale Observer that 'I have the overwhelming support of Labour members who are getting fed up with the constant political smears.'

  

Chris Jones in the same issue of the Rochdale Observer writes:

'Coun Richard Farnell, who ousted ex-leader Coun Colin Lambert last week, told disenchanted councillors who didn't like his take-over of the ruling Labour party to keep quiet or quit the party.'

 

Mr. Jones continues:

'His (Farnell's) coup, which was backed by a majority of Labour councillors, has intensified the already simmering division within the Labour group between Coun Farnell who is backed by Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk and the dethroned former council leader Coun Lambert.'

Meanwhile in his Letter from Parliament on Rochdale ONLINE today Jim Dobbin MP for the nearby constituency of  Heywood & Middleton writes:
'Councillor Colin Lambert, who has run my parliamentary constituency office in Heywood for the past seventeen years, lost the leadership of the council in unfortunate circumstances. It is recognised across the borough that he had been a strong leader and gave it some real direction. He had the respect of council staff, trade unions and the business community. He also had cross party support. He did not deserve to be ousted in this way. I know he has had a huge number of phone calls recognising his contribution.'
 

The trouble is that with Colin Lambert out of the way, and with the floodlight of public interest falling upon Richard Farnell, who now seems to he may have some skeletons in his own history, will this lead to more trouble in the Kingdom of Rochdale?  Is Simon Danczuk safe if more flack starts to fall on his favourite Farnell?  Will Simon stand-by Richard if everything starts to go pear-shaped?

 

The folly of last week's great coup at Rochdale MBC by the supporters of Richard Farnell and Simon Danczuk begins to look increasingly like Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth; as Farnell trembles and is said to be suffering nightmares; Danczuk's Lady Cleavage comes to the fore; and Guido Fawkes gets in on the act.  What's it all suppose to mean?  As with the earlier bacon butty performance belittling Ed Miliband's difficulties in mastication techniques, is it now being suggested that Ed Miliband's wife has the lesser cleavage and is Simon after the leadership of the Labour Party based on the dimensions of his own wife's cleavage? 

Vince Cable & the Blacklist!

LAWYERS acting on behalf of Vince Cable have today presented legal documents that for the first time concede that blacklisting of trade unionists is a breach of human rights. The legal documents drawn up by Daniel Stilitz QC relate to the ongoing case of Smith v Carillion. Dave Smith a union activist in the building industry was covertly spied on and blacklisted by the construction multinational as part of the Consulting Association blacklist scandal.

The test case which started in 2009 gained considerable media coverage when Smith lost his Employment Tribunal even though the company admitted that their managers supplied information about him to the illegal blacklist because of his trade union activities as a UCATT safety rep. Smith lost the case because he was an agency worker and therefore not covered by UK employment law, which only protects direct employees. The original tribunal judgement identified that Smith "has suffered a genuine injustice and we greatly regret that the law provides him with no remedy"

The case is currently at the Court of Appeal stage, where John Hendy QC is arguing that blacklisting breached Article 8 (privacy) & Article 11 (freedom of association) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Human rights are supposed to protect everyone but if UK law cannot protect Smith because he is an agency worker, then the court is being asked to issue a "Declaration of Non-Compatibility" with the ECHR.

The Secretary of State of Business, Innovation and Skills has now intervened in the case and the written submission for the very first time, presents the UK government's legal position on the human rights issue.

Paragraph 58 reads: "The Secretary of State accepts that the government the Appellant's [Smith] Article 8 rights were engaged by the conduct of the Respondent. There has been an interference with his right to respect his family life due to covert collection of data on him.

Paragraph 61 reads: "The Secretary of State accepts that the Appellant's Article 11 rights were engaged by the activities of the Respondent.... but for the issue of his employment status"

This is the UK government admitting that blacklisting of trade unionists is a breach of article 8 and article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the only reason that Smith did not win his case in the Employment Tribunal was because of his employment status. Despite this massive legal admission, the UK government has now intervened in the case in order to fight against Dave Smith and is arguing that the Court should not issue a declaration of non-compatibility. 

The hearing will take place on 5th-6th November 2014. 

Dave Smith said:

"Blacklisted workers have always known that the illegal blacklisting conspiracy by multinational construction companies was a breach of our human rights. We have waited over 5 years for this to be confirmed but finally the British government has officially admitted it. We feel totally vindicated for the stand we have taken. The fact that the UK government has admitted I was a victim of human rights abuse but is now going to fight against me in court is beyond belief.

The legal challenge is just one part of our ongoing fight for justice. We will not stop until the whole sordid scandal is exposed.

We are in court on the 5th November - expect fireworks!"

 

Full written submission by the UK government attached

Attached photo is of Free Representation Unit Legal team (L-R) Declan Owens, David Renton (Garden Court Chambers), Dave Smith, John Hendy QC (Old Square Chambers)

 

Blacklist Support Group

video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlCa8yQmZ70

blog: www.hazards.org/blacklistblog

facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/blacklistSG/

Great Story Theft at Royal Exchange

The Royal Exchange Theatre Young Company and Manchester Children’s Book Festival present:

 

THE GREAT STORY THEFT

By The Royal Exchange Young Company

 

The Royal Exchange Theatre

St Ann’s Square, Manchester

Sunday 29 June at 11.30am and 2pm

The Royal Exchange Theatre Young Company and Manchester Children’s Book Festival are to present THE GREAT STORY THEFT - an interactive piece of theatre created specifically for 2 to 7 year olds (and their grown-ups) – at the Royal Exchange Theatre on Sunday 29 June.

In this entertaining new show, Dee Doris Daisy and the Make-Believers seek to find their stolen bedtime stories. They’ll be at the heart of the action as they help follow the clues and solve the mystery so that the Make-Believers can snuggle down to a comfy sleep.

Audiences will journey into their imagination, navigate wonderful landscapes and discover strange creatures in the enchanting Royal Exchange Great Hall.

Performed at 11.30am and 2pm, this world premiere features budding talents direct from the Royal Exchange Theatre Young Company.

Previous Young Company shows include TALKING VAGUELY ABOUT REVOLUTION, a hard-hitting exploration of politics and how young people are viewed within our society. THE GREAT STORY THEFT shows a different side to the Royal Exchange Young Company, as they present this fun, child-friendly and active piece of theatre for 2 to 7 year olds.

 

The Young Company is made up of 120 young people aged 14 to 21 from all areas of Manchester. Whether marketing, writing, acting or being a design technician, they have all worked professionally and gained vital skills this year, enhancing their knowledge of the theatre industry. Applications are open for the Royal Exchange Young Company 2014-2015 now.

 

For further information please contact JOHN GOODFELLOW (Press & Communications Manager) on 0161 615 6783 / john.goodfellow@royalexchange.co.uk.

 

The Great Story Theft – Listings Information

The Royal Exchange Theatre Young Company and Manchester Children’s Book Festival presents

THE GREAT STORY THEFT

By The Royal Exchange Young Company

The Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester

Sunday 29 June 11.30am and 2.00pm

Ticket prices: free but booking required

Box Office: 0161 833 9833

 

Rochdale Council couldn't protect kids at school!

Paul Rowen knew about problems at Knowl View

 

PAUL Rowen, who took over from Richard Farnell as the leader of Rochdale Council after Richard Farnell left the office in 1992, says he was made aware of a report about the Bamford special school 'the week after taking over', but has told the Rochdale Observer he failed to read it because he 'foolishly thought the issue had been dealt with'.

 

Mr. Rowen is now blaming the police and the Crown Prosecution Service for failing to secure prosecutions after the allegations of continuing abuse at Knowl View came to light.  He said:

'There were still ongoing concerns and the police were still saying that while they suspected people at the school were involved they hadn't got grounds to prosecute.  On that basis, we took the decision to ask the governors to close the school.'

 

It seems, in Mr. Rowen's view, that either the police or the Crown Prosecution Service 'didn't feel the boys were credible witnesses and they didn't feel there was a chance they could secure a conviction.'

 

At present Greater Manchester Police say that they are reviewing their files to assess if there is enough evidence to support opening a criminal investigation into the previous allegations which were not followed up.

 

Despite all this activity over Knowl View in the 1990s in which Paul Rowen found out soon after taking over Richard Farnell's job, Mr. Farnell who has just seized power on the Rochdale Council as its leader is still insisting that he didn't know anything about the allegations at Knowl View in 1992 when he was last leader.  Chris Jones in this Wednesday's Rochdale Observer writes:

'Coun Farnell told the Observer allegations surrounding Knowl View "were not brought to his attention" when he was in charge and "any suggestion that he knew about the allegations" was "nonsense".'

 

Two months ago a former chief executive of Rochdale Council, John Piece, claimed he had seen 'no evidence' of a cover up. 

 

Northern Voices wonders if sleepwalking is part of the job description at Rochdale Council.

 

 

Guido Fawkes & Little Miss Cleavage

June 9th, 2014

Bags of Fun at Danczuk’s Deli

Guido doesn’t normally do free advertising on the blog, but he thought he would make an exception for Danczuk’s Deli. Rochdale’s finest coffee shop has shelves stacked full of traditional baps, toasties, cakes, paninis, soups, salads and a Miliband-trolling “easier to eat” bacon butty which was helpfully launched after an unfortunate incident involving Ed Miliband.

The deli is run by Labour MP Simon Danczuk’s missus Karen, who is also a Labour councillor in the area. For some reason Karen has been racking up Twitter followers in recent weeks…

Right to strike under attack from bosses at the ILO!

We are publishing below a recent briefing from LabourStart.

I wanted to raise four issues with you today -- this will be a longer email than usual, but this is all important.

First of all, the internationally-recognized legal right to strike is under attack as never before.  This month, as the International Labor Organization meets in Geneva, it's important to spread the word in unions everywhere about what is happening -- and how unions at global level are fighting back.  I encourage you to read the International Trade Union Confederation's statement and report here and to listen to the Radio Labour interview with the ITUC's Jeff Vogt on the issue.

Second, I'm very pleased that over 7,600 of you have already signed up to support our campaign in defense of Samsung workers in Korea.  But we can do better than that.  Your union -- at local, regional and national levels -- probably has a mailing list of members.  Please try to get your union to spread the word about this campaign to the members.  Together, we can double or even triple the number of supporters of the campaign.

Third, this week we suspended our three-month-old campaign to pressure companies to make donations to the Rana Plaza fund set up to help families after the terrible disaster in Bangladesh in April 2013. Though a number of companies felt the pressure and made donations, as IndustriALL global union pointed out, the corporate response was "woefully inadequate".

And finally, a reminder that LabourStart has now published four books that we believe are essential reading for trade unionists everywhere.  The books cover a wide range of topics from online campaigning to the history of the labour movement and are all available as both paperbacks and e-books.  They should be used widely in union education, in training campaigns and communications staff, and throughout our movement.  Check out the full list here.

Thanks very much.

Richard Farnell Shouts 'Smear!'

Northern Saying:  'There is only them as knows their own, Knows!'

COUNCILLOR Farnell the new leader of Rochdale Council has accused the Labour MP for Heywood and Middleton, Jim Dobbin, of attempting to smear him.  Mr. Jim Dobbin had said on the Sunday Politics show on BBC today (Sunday 8 June) it was 'not wise' for Councillor Farnell to become leader of the Council, while a review into the sexual abuse of boys at the special school of Knowl View takes place.


Councillor Farnell, who was reinstalled as leader last week, was leader of the Council between 1986 and 1992.


Councillor Farnell told Rochdale ONLINE today that he was annoyed at Mr Dobbin's comments, he said: 'Any suggestion that I knew about and did nothing about allegations at Knowl View is an outright nonsense. Any suggestion I was involved a cover-up is absolutely ridiculous.'


He continued to say:
 'I am appalled that some people are attempting to use the serious abuse at Knowl View as a political football to try and smear me. It is an utter disgrace - they should be concerned about getting justice for the victims.  After losing a democratic vote by a wide margin, it is incredible that some people are prepared to now sink so low just to try and smear me. I find it sickening and so will the public. 


And more:
'Although it is 22 years since I was last Leader of the Council, I am sure that allegations surrounding Knowl View made to health and council staff during the seven months towards the end of my leadership were not brought to my attention. I ceased to be the Leader in May 1992.  I totally support the independent review and I have already indicated this to Neil Garnham QC. The review team has my complete support.  The review is very important to the Council and Rochdale and the Inquiry should be allowed to get on with its job without interference from politicians.'


An finally, Farnell said:
'Until such time as the Review is finalised I am legally advised that, as Leader of the Council, it would be inappropriate for me to comment further.'


The independent review by Neil Garnham QC is expected to report at the end of next month.

A Crazy Coup!

LESS than a week ago the leadership of Rochdale MBC was taken over by Councillor Richard Farnell when he displaced Colin Lambert, the leader of the Council since 2010.  Both are Labour councillors respectively.  Last Wednesday, we learned of the Cabinet members and the assistant portfolio holders appointed by Councillor Farnell:  Councillor Brett (Agent to Simon Danczuk MP for Rochdale) took over finance; Councillor Iftikar Ahmed Adult Care; Public Health went to Councillor Cecile Biant; Community, Culture & Tourism to Councillor Daalat Ali; Corporate Services & Neighbourhoods to Councillor Neil Emmott; Children & Schools to Counc. Martin; Housing & Environment to Counc. Beswick and Business, Skills & Employment to Counc. Williams.  Most of these seem to be allies of Simon Danczuk M.P. for Rochdale.

But what at first seemed like a triumph for Farnell and Danczuk by last weekend was looking more like a political tragedy akin to Shakespeare's Macbeth.  Even last Wednesday night, after the full council meeting, it is rumoured that several councillors did not stay behind for the Mayor making ceremony:  some, it seems, left in disgust at Councillor Farnell's take over.

This weekend in the Manchester Evening News, the Heywood and Middleton MP, Jim Dobbin, has hit out at Councillor Farnell saying it was the wrong moment for him to be taking over in Rochdale.  Richard Farnell, who took power last week, was also leader in the early 1990s when the Knowl View sex abuse scandal in Rochdale was first being investigated and when the controversial reports into sexual abuse of boys at the school were being produced.

A council-commissioned enquiry is currently looking at whether there was a town hall cover-up.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Dobbin - who was Coun Farnell’s deputy at the time in question - said he had made a ‘bad move’ by taking over again now.

Sources close to Councillor Farnell have told Northern Voices that he is presently suffering nightmares, and hadn't anticipated all the attention from the media about what he knew about what was going on in the 1980s and 1990s, when he was last in power as leader of the council. 

Mr. Dobbin said:  'I don’t think it’s very wise at this particular time, particularly with the inquiry going on into Knowl View.  Richard was leader at the time these accusations were being made, so I don’t think it’s a very clever thing for Richard to do and if he had spoken to me about it I would have said so.'

Up to now Simon Danczuk the MP for Rochdale has defended Councillor Farnell saying that he is the object of a politically motivated 'smear campaign'.  But it is hard to see that the media are doing anything other than their job in asking questions. 

Remembering the Real World War I

IT is 100 years since the assassination of Franz Ferdinand:
A TOUR OF WHITEHALL
– remembering the victims and opponents of World War 1

Saturday 28 June,
1.30pm,
Parliament Square
London

The official commemorations for the start of WW1 will focus on the
sacrifice and suffering of the war. But the statues displayed around
Whitehall – of Lloyd George, Churchill and Haig – show that the British
establishment still has few regrets about that suffering. These WW1
leaders were responsible for sending a million men to their deaths in a
war that killed 16 million, a war that led, inexorably, to fascism and the
horrors of WW2.

But Whitehall has an alternative history, a history of protests by
suffragettes, soldiers and workers. Join us to explore that history.

(Dressing up is optional. But it would be great if people came as anti-war
suffragettes or ‘unknown soldiers’ – and the more Archduke Ferdinands and
Duchess Sophies, the better!)

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* ‘Remembering the Real WWI’ presents: Abel Gance’s anti-war film, J’ACCUSE

Friday 27 June,
7pm,
Cock Tavern, Phoenix Rd. NW1 1HB, Euston
Free admission

By 1918, after almost four years of war, European society was in a state
of shock.
French soldiers had mutinied and the Russian revolution had shown an
alternative to capitalism and war. But there still seemed no end to the
slaughter. In this atmosphere, Abel Gance resolved to make a film exposing
‘the horror of war’. The result was J’Accuse, a complex love story that
culminates in stunning scenes of the war dead rising from their graves ‘to
see if their sacrifice was worth anything at all.’

A veteran himself, Gance used French soldiers to play these ‘zombies’ –
many of whom, in real life, went on to fight and die in the last battles
of WW1. Gance was inspired by the idea that ‘if all the dead came back,
the war would stop at once.’ A romantic delusion? Yes, certainly, but more
radical and thought-provoking than the barrage of TV programmes presently
commemorating the centenary of the conflict.
 
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* The Imperial War Museum will be opening its new WW1 exhibition on
Saturday 19 July.

The museum was set up in 1917 by the very same generals and politicians
who started the war. Join us on that day to commemorate the fact that it
wasn’t victorious generals and politicians that ended the conflict, it was
mutinying soldiers and striking workers – and they did so in revolutions
that, almost, toppled the entire capitalist system. More details to
come...

For more on the Imperial War Museum see:
http://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/article_comments/the_absent_voices_of_the_imperial_war_museums
 
For more details see: http://therealww1.wordpress.com/

Contact Remembering the Real WW1 (London):
Email: therealww1@riseup.net
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New Council Leader under pressure

QUESTIONS continue to pile up for the new Rochdale council leader Richard Farnell; as to if he knew anything about the child sex abuse scandal at Knowl View, when he was last leader of the town council between 1986 and 1992. 

Councillor Farnell has told the Rochdale Observer:
'Any suggestion that I would be involved in a cover up of events at Knowl View is outright nonsense.  Although it is 22 years since I was last leader of the council, I am certain that allegations surrounding the school made to health and council staff in the seven months towards the end of my leadership were not brought to my attention.  I ceased to be leader in May 1992.'

Also, though Simon Danczuk M.P. for Rochdale has expressed concerns about the current investigation by Rochdale Council into Knowl View, Mr. Farnell has told the Rochdale Observer that he 'totally supported' the council's review into Knowl View, which is being led by Neil Garnham QC.

At present there are two separate and new investigations by the police and the council into Knowl View, and into whether the earlier reports results were deliberately hidden.  The police claim they are looking into 21 suspects including the former, now disgraced, Rochdale M.P. Cyril Smith.  Rochdale council is considering if there was a cover up of the abuse.  The Council enquiry is expected to report towards the end of July, and the council won't comment before this.