A few weeks back, I asked the Town Council ofice to dig out all relevant correspondence on this Morley Together business. Being a Member of the Council, it wasn’t necessary for me to make this a Freedom of Information request but I did ask that it be treated as such as regards content and timescales.

This was in response to the total lack of response from Colin Challen MP since March 8th when I emailed him the day after the Motion was hastily approved (via his dormant Website).

The pack yields two interesting details.

Firstly, the Mayor wrote to Colin Challen on February 19th that the Council support the principles of Morley Together, based on it being agreed by the Strategic, Policy and Constitutional Committee. On this basis, CCMP rightly assumed (and went to Press) that the Council had signed up to it. This was denied in Full Council, however, by Cllr Grayshon, when I asked for clarification.

I don’t think this was deliberate per se, but more a case of backtracking when they realised that it would need to go to Full Council.

(With hindsight, I suspect many Councillors were rather worried about getting this motion agreed, preferably unanimously, before the spectre of twelve possible BNP Councillors at the May meeting.

The second interesting detail is the correspondance from CCMP himself. The main letter is fairly much as expected from the press report, however a specimen certificate has a Hope not Hate logo on it.

Take a look at http://hopenothate.org.uk/. It is the website of Searchlight, which describes itself as the “Anti-Fascist Community”. From my brief perusal, it is rather like the BNP- surface respectability, extreme views, shades of obsessive compulsive behaviour, not very pleasant under the rock.

Lots of others (& not just the BNP) describe it in less glowing terms, however. (and here and here).

I liked this quote;

There’s something rather sinister and undemocratic, however, about an organisation which doesn’t put up candidates itself but devotes itself to attacking people who do submit themselves to the democratic process.

Someone replied to this as follows:

There’s something sinister and undemocratic about the BNP. Other parties don’t have an equivalent of RedWatch, where if you criticise the BNP, someone will come in the dead of night and firebomb your car.

Really? I thought Labour had outsourced it to Searchlight. Tell that to Chris Beverley, who experienced a bit of RedWhite&BlueWatch at his house.

Name the lollies, & match them to the Grey Family favourites.

(Inspired by Signora Limonchello)

The prize is one of each, sent second class post in a jiffy bag.*

(*Or maybe three lolly sticks in an envelope!)

By the way, this is my 501st post, I’m going through a weblerbose phase…

Both Karen and I seperately and independently did a double-take when we saw the news story photos of the supply boat Bourbon Dolphin that was involved in a tragic accident yesterday.

This is because whilst we were travelling from Haugesund to Bergen on our Mini-Cruise last week, we thought we had seen the very same ship pass surprisingly close to us in the Fjord. We were sitting on the Port side near the windows and Karen pointed it out (as she was facing the Bows, myself the Stern). It was very distinctive looking and brightly lit in the dusk. I grabbed my camera and took a couple of snaps, but they came out very dark, grainy & blurry.

Here is a library picture of the Bourbon Dolphin, followed by my snapshot. Is it the same ship?

(I’ve not attempted to manipulate or enhance my image at all, it is native from the Camera.)

On closer examination, it is the same Class of ship, but not the Bourbon Dolphin. Note the white strips and name aft of the lifeboat to the rear of the superstructure on the ship we saw.

These supply vessels are the tugboats of the Ocean, big powerful engines, very resistant to bad weather and a lifeline for the rigs. (They circle the rigs all day and night for any eventuality). I can vividly remember seeing supplies being unloaded for the Statfjord B Flotel on my one trip offshore, it was like a bucking bronco for the crane operator and very dodgy for the crew trying to get the hooks onto the crates).

It is strange how some level of tenuous personal involvement focusses attention on the reality of any significant incident. Suddenly it becomes personal and you pay more attention…