Meet Sharon. Sharon has worked hard all her life to raise her family and keep food on the table. She’s paid tax and national insurance and remains an active member of her local community’s government. She’s campaigned against injustice and continues to do so in as much as her current health allows.
This is Sharon’s story.
Mia and Jade are just a couple of ordinary Northern women – but they have a dream. Not only that, they have a plan to go with it.
Like many others, these two Lancashire ladies were devastated when the news broke of a Tory majority last Friday. They knew all too well what that landslide result will mean for Britain’s most vulnerable people. 130,000 unnecessary deaths due to Tory policy already is hard to ignore, after all.
Like true Northeners the pair decided not to wallow in despair, despite the disaster that has befallen the nation. They decided to sort things out.
As Mia told me
“It’s time for the many to look out for the few!”
An interview with the potato!
Mark Jenkinson is the Tory candidate for Workington. In the past he’s supported Labour, the Conservatives, stood for parliament with UKIP and now for the Tories.
This is the ’empty chair’ interview he wouldn’t agree to take part in.
Tony Lywood is Labour’s candidate for the West Cumbrian constituency of Copeland. Copeland used to be a Labour stronghold until 2017 when it fell to the tories in a by-election. Tony is determined to win it back!
Jill Perry is a #WorkingtonWoman. She’s the Workington constituency’s parliamentary candidate for the Green Party. I caught up with her this week to see what she had to say.
This is the first part of an interview I conducted with Sue Hayman. Until the dissolution of parliament last week, Sue was MP for Workington. This Workington woman she sat on Labour’s front bench as shadow Environment secretary.
Yesterday I uploaded a knee-jerk reaction video in response to Bill Pennington’s awful ‘Workington man’ stereotype. But I went after the wrong target.
Bill Pennington is not my enemy.
Bill, if you’re reading this… I’m sorry. I apologise for insulting you. I disagree with you but that’s not the same thing at all.
The trouble with stereotypes is that they’re far too easy!
Yesterday morning a London-based reporter popped up on my local politics Facebook page. I’m a Workington man, born and bred and although I’ve lived and worked in various parts of UK I’m home now and very definitely still a Workington man. So I was a bit surprised to read what he had to say.
This young bloke who presumably hasn’t ever set foot in West Cumbria was looking for a dinosaur from the 1970s, a stereotypical middle aged, white, beer-drinking, rugby league supporting, slightly dim-witted and extremely uninformed, male voter to tell him why he hated Jeremy Corbyn. And, of course – if you look hard enough you find what you’re looking for.
And where might you find such a relic, a blast from the disreputable past? Look no further than Wetherspoons where one Mr. Pennington, retired manager of Workington Job Centre and alleged former labour voter (if you can believe that) holds his court.
So… as one Workington man to another, here’s my response to the good Mr. Pennington. I hope he’s listening.
Oh dear Bill. Boris would see the economy crashed just to appease his backers who are actually gambling on UK’s economy failing. That’s why they and Boris want us out at any price to the people.
This tory stereotype really does appear to be what they think of people in the North. They see us as uneducated, outdated, sexist bigots (there’s no Workington woman caricature, after all).
Personally I think the Workington man stereotype sums up the tory attitude to we Northerners very well. Not only do they think we’re stupid but their economic decisions over the last 9 years have shown that they think us undeserving too.
Let’s boot the patronising bastards out of power and enjoy a proper, traditional, Northern Christmas with a labour government at the helm to bring a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year.
A little over a week ago the Brexit party came to my home town. I was lucky enough to watch them make fools of themselves on video. Of course, that video has been passed around quite a bit and is actually one of the most successful I’ve ever made, despite the rubbish camera work and impromptu interview questions.
All involved gave consent – they even consented on camera. Still they complained to YouTube and had the video taken down as a ‘breach of privacy’.
But the Brexit Party will not shut me up quite so easily. They gave their consent… it’s there for all to see and I kept my word, including honouring their request for me not to cut anything. They really should be careful what they wish for.
My response, as soon as I heard of the complaint was to move many of my videos to Vimeo and to begin this blog. Vimeo is less precious than YouTube so the chances are they won’t be able to get the video removed from there. I also made another video in which I interview the elderly victim of John Stanyer, one of the Brexiteers in question. He punched this elderly man unconscious during the referendum campaign in 2016. They won’t get that video removed either.
Last weekend the Brexit Party came to my hometown. It was a complete car crash. They made complete fools of themselves and I was lucky enough to capture the proceedings on video. Quite apart from being politically clueless, they even argued amongst themselves on camera before one spat the dummy and literally packed up the stall while the other refused to answer any more of my questions.
One of the interviewees, John Stanyer, the Brexit Party’s county-wide organiser, made a great show of his opposition to violence, including political violence. I was surprised to learn that during the referendum campaign, whilst manning a stall for UKIP, Stanyer had punched a 78 year old remainer unconscious.
Today I interviewed the victim and his wife, a lovely couple, both of whom have a degree of intelligence that would put Stanyer to shame. You can see the interview with Geoff and Jill below.
The Brexit party was in Workington, Cumbria this weekend. Sorry about the poor video quality. That’s what happens when you try to interview people and do everything yourself. Oh well.
The ‘Brexiteers’ amateurism was a joy to behold. The candidate could hardly get a word in because of his volunteer helper whose attempts at political discourse were simply laughable. When the candidate finally intervened they had a little spat on camera before the volunteer spat his dummy and packed up the stall in a fit of sulky pique more suited to a teenage girl who’s just been told she can’t have her ears pierced. And this was only lunchtime – I’m sure they’d planned to stay much longer.
Perhaps I scared them away. Five minutes later they’d vanished without trace. What they did say before they scarpered, especially the candidate was revealing though and it really should give us all reason to wonder just who these upstarts think they are.
How dare they risk our economy and the lives and peace of the people of Northern Ireland on a pipe dream of former glory and Empire? How dare they?
How dare they?
Left eye view 