I’m prompted into posting by someonw who chose to remain anonymous leaving a comment:

“Not really followed this one up have you Ian? Is this because the result isn’t glorious for your psuedo friends in the MBI.”

No, I havent followed it up, and no, it’s not because of the result. I’ve been busy at work and I’m also doing a lot of programme editing for Morley FM which is a priority so blogging has to be when I can. I’ve squeezed in a minimal Town Council website update this afternoon and here is a minimalist result analysis:

Beverley (BNP) 7.3%
Hayward (Independent) 1.1%
Medley (Labour) 8.6%
Stevenson (MBI) 5.2%
None of the above 77.6%

The result was rather bad for the MBI lot but a much more serious threat to Labour in their remaining Town Council stronghold Ward.

The comment “pseudo friends” is a revealing one, no doubt a local pseudo-politician with some pseudo-axe to grind.

I visited an event in the Royal Borough of Kengsington & Chelsea yesterday. On my walk from Hyde park Corner to Belgrave Square, It struck me how clean it looked. The buildings sparkled, the streets were clean and so were the cars. London has many private parks in the middle of squares and crescents, the one in Wilton Crescent looked well cared for and I could imagine how familiar it would have looked to the Georgians. I almost imagined that flower sellers, milkmaids & knife grinders would come round the corner any moment and perform the “Who will buy…” sequence from Oliver!.

Returning afterwards, I decided to make my return journey from Knightsbridge Tube so headed up towards Sloane Street. I can now see where the term “Sloane Ranger” came from as the route was lined with expensive designer shops selling expensive designer clothes. It also redefined the term “fashion victim” for me when I saw a handbag collection whose clasps were the sort of things you secure shed doors with…

All the customers I saw were expensively dressed attractive women and there wasn’t a scratter in sight. In the 80s you frequently saw Arab women in London who were borderline boilers but my brief observance of how the other half lived didn’t involve taking in the full range of Harrods clientele so thesurvey was by n eas finitive.

It is interesting to contrast the clean streets of Kightsbridge to the somewhat tired streets of Haringey in North London where I had been the day before. There is a definite inner/outer divide “darn sarf” which whilst obvious in most Cities is a particular contrast in the Capital. A great place to visit but you wouldn’t want to live there…

I’ve been to Church twice today, which is double my normal annual allowance.

In the morning, it was Mayor’s Sunday and we visited Morley Citadel for an hour of worship as only the Sally Army can do. Brass Bands, a funky combo, projector PC for the words, lots of participation, quite a few funny moments too. Morley was well and truly out-maced, with the Lord Mayors of both Leeds & Wakefield as well as three other Town mayors. It was certainly a happy (clappy) place, with not a tambourine in sight.

Then later, over to a C of E in Beeston for a (double) Christening. The undertakings are solemn even if the service wasn’t. three lay preachers doubled up as choir with piano accompliment and a Richard Attenborough lookalike conducted the splashy bits. They even handed out musical instruments for the last hymn, but failed to make it clear what number hymn it was so they mostly sang it themselves accompanied by rattles & jingles.

On leaving the church, I couldn’t fail to notice a header tank up on the back balcony wall, a space mostly filled by the organ. It had been painted to match the decor but failed miserably to blend in and looked rather incongruous.

I spent both services trying to decide if the cross aspect ratio (between the upright sizing compared tp the cross-beam & top) was 2.5:1 or 3:1. It seems that your mileage may vary.

Sorry Christians, much as I admire your faith, I’ll stick to my own value system, I always did prefer to make my own mind up…

My tax disc was up for renewal last week & the bumpf also offered the opportunity to renew via website. Expecting a poorly designed interface & inflexible options, I approached it with some trepidation, although in the spirit of the Blitz as well (we might win one day).

I was pleasantly surprised to find that renewal was entirely painless. I was also a little disturbed that the site assured me that my insurance and MOT were also in order.

Some joined up IT systems are obviously starting to appear. What else does Big Brother know or care about me?

Well, I only received one more leaflet for the Town Council By-Election, a second green Morley Borough Independent one on Tuesday.

Someone came round earlier to borrow my megaphone (as it seems the real one is locked up and the keys are in Sri Lanka) & they promised to phone through the results.

I didn’t write them down, so the figures are approximate, although the order is right:

Joe Medley (Labour) 379ish
Chris Beverley (BNP) 334ish
Kath Stephenson (Morley Borough Independent) 297ish
David Hayward (Independent, but possibly BNP) 57ish

So Labour hold the seat and the BNP take second place. More analysis when I see firm figures.