We took Karen’s Mum to the smart Woodlands Hotel In Morley for a belated birthday/early Mothers Day. David liked the gardens and the Restaurant, but not the roast beef.

Here are a few snapshots.

You can tell there is an election in the offing- the front page story in the Obtiser is Millions to be poured into Morley. When you look closer though, a lot of this money is for the regeneration of the area known as Morley Bottoms and going on highway improvements, traffic signals, one way system, traffic bays, a zebra crossing. etc. Seeing as how all of the Civil Works involved with something as simple as a Puffin Crossing cost about £40k, then £1m won’t go very far in the scheme of things.

I was also alarmed to see the following phrase:

The clean-up plans have been boosted with the news that Leeds City Council’s policy on issuing enforcement notices on untidy shops has been backed by the courts.

(My emphasis).

Also, from the Bansturbator in chief:

“Owners who allow their shop fronts to become run-down should be held accountable,” Coun Finnigan said.

To who? Why? It is their property, for the sake of Farquad. By all means Cajole, persuade, encourage, shame, all fine. Use force, no. An Englishman’s shop is his Castle, it is irrelevant how rich, lazy, indifferent or rude the owner is, at the end of the day, if you don’t respect his property rights then you are no better than a burglar.

Speaking of criminals, I noticed the following poster in Town yesterday, as I hobbled round the Town Hall. The story is in the Obtiser and online:

In a bid to put a stop to the damage a group of local councillors has now put up a £300 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the “artist” responsible for the leisure centre damage.

Coun Judith Elliott (MBI, Morley South) has put forward the reward, which has come out of party funds, in an attempt to put paid to petty vandalism and yobs acting in an anti-social way.

(My emphasis)

Hmm. Coming out of party funds? Candidate re-standing for election in May? Where is the Imprint? Breach of section 66 of the EA Act I wonder? Well, maybe the election hasn’t started yet, but the leaflets coming through all have imprints.

It is not as though the MBIs are not aware of the need to do this. I can recall them furiously sticking imprint labels on the strings of Vote Finnigan Helium Balloons when he stood for Parliament.

Speaking of Parliament, outgoing watermelon MP Colin Challen is taking the local elections to Westminster:

I would be interested to hear whether the hon. Gentleman has any influence in Leeds city council, which is a Conservative-led body. It recently raised tens of millions of pounds through the sale of Leeds Bradford airport. It should spend that money tackling depredation by providing better transport throughout the city and, perhaps, even a bus station in Morley, which we do not have, despite being a town of 25,000 people. That would help to get people into work with more mobility. Will he write to his colleagues on the council and urge them to do that?

Colin, come on. Your Labour cronies ran Leeds like a personal fiefdom for the previous couple of decades. Where was the Bus station then?

The other thing is that Leeds probably needs the sale of the Airport to be able to fund the ever increasing drain on the public purse known as Public Sector Pensions. (£43.1m in 2007/8).

No Panto would be complete without an audience sing-along.

Wokingham & Bracknell Eighteen Plus Group had a tradition of doing an annual Group night Panto in our venue, the Cellar Bar of Bracknell Arts Centre. I took part in the 1998 one (Robin Hood), playing the part of Friar Tuck.

For this production, we had a video narrator. We filmed the narrator out and about at various places and I also played the Organ for the (pre-recorded) sing-along music as well, full auto-chord auto-rhythm John Shuttleworthness.

…namely a recent trip to the Cottage Road Cinema in Headingley. It is now run as part of a small independent circuit called Northern Morris Cinemas, after being saved from closure.

It doesn’t really look like a Cinema, probably because it wasn’t built as one.

The entrance is through this set of double doors.

The lobby is wood panelled and cozy, with a domestic feel due to the scale of it and the fireplace.

The main auditorium is rather plain. The seating to the right was roped off due to water damage to the ceiling…

.rather extensive it seems. Indeed if we look on Google satellite…

…that suspicious looking damp patch just below the five white boxes on the right matches well with where the problem is.

There are a row of “Pullman” seats just in front of this barrier, sitting here is reminiscent of sitting in the front row of the circle. Note the ashtrays! It is a good place to see a film, the staff are friendly, the picture fills the large screen, there is good presentation and the sound system is digital. We did have one serious gripe though- it was freezing!

(By the way, the film was National Treasure: Book of secrets and it was great. Every time I saw Nicholas Cage though, I pictured him saying: “Put the bunny back in the box“).

Hat tip- Adam Smith Institute