Sunday Service
As usual Sunday will be a busy day. No day of rest with a busy family. High energy dogs. Election in the offing. And dinner with Gordon and Sarah.
It's mid afternoon and I haven't stopped. First I go to tick off another few buildings in the city centre.
One is home to a genial old Manky folker. He is a leftie. Though I had a serious run in with him a full 20 years ago when he tried to avoid paying a singer I was managing the proper rate for a TV theme tune.
It was Duckula and he used a demo tape recorded for a few quid for when the proper rate was £500 or so. We fell out good style. But with MU and Cosgrove Hall on our side he did pay up. Though it must be said we haven't had the correct repeat fees.
He won't remember me but it was a bit of a "you'll never work in this town again" moment. This was a year or two before the Radio 1 single of the week, tour with Simply Red, not to mention Spanish Top of the Pops. This last trip to Madrid was doubled with a visit to Barcelona for a live TV performance.
This was in a back street studio in the barrio with the local corner shop selling wine only if you brought your own bottle. Reuse is much better than recycling. And did you know that the green glass favoured by French producers has a much worse recycle market than brown and clear glass?
Anyway, back to business, the live performance was of two songs. At half time in a premier league handball game! We were told that this slot may have had more viewers than the Top of the Pops one.
In all I manage four or five more blocks. Then whizz back and take the dogs to Tiviot Dale and the connected Reddish Vale for an hour or so of fast running around relatively the hilly terrain.
Dogs are a fantastic ice breaker and I meet all kinds of interesting people who admire them, ask after them, and very often then head empty on some local matter or other. The fellow lurcher owner I see here and at Woodbank Park nearby proves to be a very vocal on fluoridation. Against though our kid's teeth are among the worst I'm told by friends that because I spent some formative years out of the north I will never understand the sacred cult of pure Manchester water.
He also has a theory that the Lib Dem council have taken a huge backhander to allow Tescos a 24 hour superstore and to keep trying for an IKEA too. In fact I think the section 106 planning gain money has been used pretty well to improve the road network and that the Tesco is not disrupting traffic. Though it is probably knocking the corner shop part of the market for six.
John Prescott has continually given IKEA the bum's rush. He's winning enquiry after planning appeal after newspaper poll. The council - presumably after another multi-million roads bonus are furious. But Warrington is close enough. Yet far enough to justify Swedish lunch in the cafeteria on most visits.
Stockport where these wild places are located is unfortunate in having weak councils for many years. Not necessarily in terms of day to day performance.
But they are typically run on very tight majorities or no overall control. A bit like some pundits would like to see our National government. Hey, it may work in some places. But I'm not sure that Stockport is one of them. Or that the UK would be well run or somehow more socialist with some kind of Lib Lab pact.
Rather, I fear a Lib Lab pacts would see the "progressive neo liberal concensus" aka privatisation and lower tax with "choice" the watchword. Every citizen would in fact be a consumer or a client. The Tories would be hung out to dry on the right. The Labour left ditto on the left.
Here in Stockport the Lib Dem pavements are worse than the Labour ones they whine about here. The potholes are worse. The spend on various key services is worse. Less money is spent on kids of every age. And the per capita council expenditure on the non statutory but quality of life services of libraries, culture, parks and recreation is only about 50% of Manchester's.
And did you know that last time I looked even Capital of Culture Liverpool spend much less than Manchester in these areas? (Source http://www.upmystreet.com/).
We rush home. I have a dinner date.
eafleting in the city centre. Dinner in Wigan with Gordon Brown, Alex Ferguson, Liz Dawn and 300 comrades.
It's mid afternoon and I haven't stopped. First I go to tick off another few buildings in the city centre.
One is home to a genial old Manky folker. He is a leftie. Though I had a serious run in with him a full 20 years ago when he tried to avoid paying a singer I was managing the proper rate for a TV theme tune.
It was Duckula and he used a demo tape recorded for a few quid for when the proper rate was £500 or so. We fell out good style. But with MU and Cosgrove Hall on our side he did pay up. Though it must be said we haven't had the correct repeat fees.
He won't remember me but it was a bit of a "you'll never work in this town again" moment. This was a year or two before the Radio 1 single of the week, tour with Simply Red, not to mention Spanish Top of the Pops. This last trip to Madrid was doubled with a visit to Barcelona for a live TV performance.
This was in a back street studio in the barrio with the local corner shop selling wine only if you brought your own bottle. Reuse is much better than recycling. And did you know that the green glass favoured by French producers has a much worse recycle market than brown and clear glass?
Anyway, back to business, the live performance was of two songs. At half time in a premier league handball game! We were told that this slot may have had more viewers than the Top of the Pops one.
In all I manage four or five more blocks. Then whizz back and take the dogs to Tiviot Dale and the connected Reddish Vale for an hour or so of fast running around relatively the hilly terrain.
Dogs are a fantastic ice breaker and I meet all kinds of interesting people who admire them, ask after them, and very often then head empty on some local matter or other. The fellow lurcher owner I see here and at Woodbank Park nearby proves to be a very vocal on fluoridation. Against though our kid's teeth are among the worst I'm told by friends that because I spent some formative years out of the north I will never understand the sacred cult of pure Manchester water.
He also has a theory that the Lib Dem council have taken a huge backhander to allow Tescos a 24 hour superstore and to keep trying for an IKEA too. In fact I think the section 106 planning gain money has been used pretty well to improve the road network and that the Tesco is not disrupting traffic. Though it is probably knocking the corner shop part of the market for six.
John Prescott has continually given IKEA the bum's rush. He's winning enquiry after planning appeal after newspaper poll. The council - presumably after another multi-million roads bonus are furious. But Warrington is close enough. Yet far enough to justify Swedish lunch in the cafeteria on most visits.
Stockport where these wild places are located is unfortunate in having weak councils for many years. Not necessarily in terms of day to day performance.
But they are typically run on very tight majorities or no overall control. A bit like some pundits would like to see our National government. Hey, it may work in some places. But I'm not sure that Stockport is one of them. Or that the UK would be well run or somehow more socialist with some kind of Lib Lab pact.
Rather, I fear a Lib Lab pacts would see the "progressive neo liberal concensus" aka privatisation and lower tax with "choice" the watchword. Every citizen would in fact be a consumer or a client. The Tories would be hung out to dry on the right. The Labour left ditto on the left.
Here in Stockport the Lib Dem pavements are worse than the Labour ones they whine about here. The potholes are worse. The spend on various key services is worse. Less money is spent on kids of every age. And the per capita council expenditure on the non statutory but quality of life services of libraries, culture, parks and recreation is only about 50% of Manchester's.
And did you know that last time I looked even Capital of Culture Liverpool spend much less than Manchester in these areas? (Source http://www.upmystreet.com/).
We rush home. I have a dinner date.
eafleting in the city centre. Dinner in Wigan with Gordon Brown, Alex Ferguson, Liz Dawn and 300 comrades.
posted by Chris Paul at 6:45 PM
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