Happy New Year

Well here it is... My hundredth post!
Can I take this opportunity to wish my friends (of which I hope are plenty), enemies (of which I hope are few), my readers (or reader!!) of my blog a happy and prosperous 2010.
Here's to an historic fourth term for Labour, let's ensure we do not return to the bad old days of the Tories!!
I must be getting old. For the first time in several years I am not going out to celebrate the new year.
Either getting old or turning into a miserable old so and so!!

Thatcher- even more extreme

The release of cabinet minutes from 1979 under the 30 year rule give us an interesting- but frightening- insight into the mind of Margaret Thatcher.
It is clear from the minutes released that Thatcher was a bully- she ruled her cabinet with an iron fist-and her ministers were scared of her.
One particular aspect that is particularly worrying to me is her attitude at that time towards the poor Vietnamese boat people.
She is minuted as saying their entry into this country should be resisted, and that immigrants were flooding the country, and they were getting houses in this country at the expense of British white people.
I fear the insidious BNP will try to make a lot of mileage out of this particular spouting by Thatcher.

Merry Christmas from Scouseboy

Well, we have got the seasonal weather we all sing about in the songs.
Can I wish everybody who reads this blog a merry Christmas to you and your families.
May 2010 be as happy and prosperous as you could wish for.
And here's to another Labour victory in the 2010 General Election.

Weird Weather!

I was watching a blizzard like snowstorm this morning- then saw something I do not ever recall hearing or seeing at this time of the year- thunder and lightning!
In all of my 53 years I have inhabited this earth, I cannot recall thunder and lightning other than in humid wet conditions.
I definitely do not ever recall experiencing it in the freezing cold of winter.
Weird weather indeed!!

Liverpool cruise liner terminal-unfair competition?

The government has decided not to allow ships to start and finish cruises from Liverpool cruise liner terminal. The only ships that can use this facility are ships that are "calling."
I feel the government came to this decision to appease Europe.
I fail to see how Liverpool would be taking trade away from Southampton-250 miles away on a different coast.
I hope Liverpool City Council and it's partners appeal this decision, get it overturned, and allow the cruise liner facility to come into it's own.

Liverpool World Cup host

I am pleased that Liverpool has been chosen as a host city should England get the World Cup in 2018.
Given the absence of new grounds, I pessimistically thought Liverpool's hands were tied, and there was a good chance that Liverpool as a venue would not be included.
Congratulations to the bid team for all they have done to potentially put Liverpool on the World stage again.

R.I.P.Jack Spriggs

I am very saddened to hear about the death of my friend and Comrade, Cllr. Jack Spriggs.
I first heard of Jack when he came to prominence about the sit in at Fisher Bendix in Kirkby.
My first dealings with Jack was when I became a councillor in 1987. He lobbied the Labour group about a subject dear to his heart, the one fund for all.
Jack did a tremendous amount of work for this cause, as he also did for the Merseyside Trade Union and Unemployed resource centre where it was based.
I got to know him more, and we became firm friends, when I moved to Walton.
He joined the Labour group in 1991, and was always available to offer advice and support to colleagues.
He became mayor of Liverpool in 2002, and I don't know anybody who did not say he enhanced the role of Mayor.
I never knew Jack to have a bad word for anybody, and he was an incredibly kind man.
Jack was a very passionate supporter of Liverpool Football club.
On a personal note, I will miss having a pint with him in Paul Orr's pub and putting the world to rights on a Saturday afternoon.
Goodnight and god bless, Jack my friend.