Here’s a good one to start off the music section. Not a Liverpool band, but maybe it might encourage a few here to do something with a microphone and some sampling software and an old keyboard or whatever.

“The UK might as well be called USA
Gun crime and knife culture are digging us graves
I wanna escape - this countries just riddled with hate
No ones safe and most kids are overweight
But wait, cos that’s the least of the problems today
Kids don’t play in parks - they use them for bait” Street Poets staying alive.

The above and below lyrics are from a song that speaks out against the gun and knife crime culture with some hard hitting and intelligent commentary. It’s UK Hip Hop, which is basically a mixture of rap and the UK house sound – sprinkled with just about every other genre of music. It’s a musical genre which has no hard and fast rules.

“When I was a young boy
The old man said to me
He said son when you grow up
I want you to be who you want to be
But now I’m all grown up dad
I’ve seen the world for me own eyes
I think it’s already hard enough
Just to be staying alive”

The song from the Street Poets is entitled ‘Staying Alive’ featuring Ollie Seager. It’s from the album or CD ‘Put your life on the tracks.’ You can buy the CD from the record company website, a link to which is provided if you read on.

An amusing album cover shows two lads lying down with their heads on a railway line. Sadly, for many young people in the UK, life is a bit like having your head on a railway line.

This is a good song, clever lyrics and a good melody with a nice chorus which you can sing along to. If you listen to a song once, and can remember the tune or melody, it’s a good sign. This seems to be such a song – but, as ever it’s in the ear of the beholder.

Street Poets – Staying Alive.

Click to play the YouTube video….

Music is always a good way to speak out against the injustices of the times we live in – and although this song is one that does speak out, its also a nice tune and I hope you enjoy it, and buy the song online, to help the lads earn an honest bob.

The lyrics in this song are not really suitable for a young pre-teenager audience; the subject matter perhaps not primary school stuff.

It’s worth a few teachers throwing this song out to pupils in class as the discussion in some areas of the UK will inevitably take on the social problems of gangs and the gun and knife culture. Having only adults arguing against youth gang crime is going to be ignored for the main, but if kids hear songs that speak out against the violence whilst still managing to sound ‘cool’, maybe we’re going to get more of a reaction.

Some of the songs contain a few naughty words, and a bit of banter which might offend some.

Other songs include ‘Just Drinking’ which lightens up a little and is a cheerful number about a night out, partaking of a ‘few’ sociable drinks and ‘admiring’ the ladies, and spending all your cash and so on.

“Everybody in the place get pi**ed,
we’re English baby so we drink like fish.
Get your ar** to the bar fill your glass real quick,
and start throwing back drinks till you’re throwing up sick”

I mean, they’re not saying ‘you must do this’. That’s your own inner voice saying it!

Besides, we all know that in 20 years the ‘experts’ will tell us that drinking 20 units of alcohol per day is good for your blood circulation.

Another track is titled ‘I Hate’ – worth a listen.

“I hate the middle class ar**holes who always think the worse of us
I hate them cos they walk round in an outfit worth millions
And look at you like sh**
Cos you’re not dressed like Prince William.”

Should go down a treat in Eton, eh?

A video of the lads themselves, up on YouTube is sprinkled with the usual street commas and exclamation marks, aka, swear-words.

The song itself can be heard on YouTube here

Some other tracks can be found at aim2breakrecords which is here.

If anyone else has any music they need publicising, then email us or comment with a link to your website.

“After 130 odd years the Daily Post and Liverpool Echo will no longer be printed on Merseyside, for Merseyside, by Merseysiders.

The closure will come at a cost of 100 + printing jobs of Scouse workers.

50 jobs will go in November 2008 plus most of the titles the rest will go in November 2009 when the LIVERPOOL ECHO moves and gets printed in Oldham greater Manchester.

It is devastating news for us all concerned whilst also considering the Liverpool Echo sponsor the capital of culture 2008, and even has the new arena in Liverpool named the Echo Arena. The name ought to be ‘The Echo printed in Greater Manchester Arena’.

The Liverpool Daily Post and Echo have been printed in Liverpool since 1879 and that is where it should remain. This is wrong and they have under estimated the impact it will have on sales etc like the sun newspaper did in 1989 which it has never recovered from.

Which brings us to another point. When this happens in November 2009 the only newspaper printed on Merseyside will be the SUN!!!

Scousers are not stupid they will come to there own conclusions over this terrible decision the impact will be enormous when it goes ahead.

Can you imagine if BBC Radio Merseyside or City Talk FM was relocated to Manchester? It’s ridiculous to even think of it.

Yes we know about current climates etc credit crunch business etc, but the thought of job losses for fellow Scousers at the expense of Mancunians is shattering.

The Echo are the first to run stories about these kind of job losses ,the odds of it running this story front page Friday were highly unlikely.

The story was run on Saturday morning on page 2 ironically on the day it is printed in yes Oldham Greater Manchester. The voice of Merseyside abandoned its sons on Saturday who are now staring into the abyss.

The words “we are sorry over the losses” were not once mentioned in the story.

We need support desperately from the people of Merseyside to avert this move that will totally de-value the ONLY LOCAL DAILY NEWSPAPERS ON MERSEYSIDE and serve a shattering blow to the many scouse lads who work there who are soon to lose there jobs. The voice of Merseyside on Saturday abandoned its fellow son’s daughter’s father’s sons and sisters.

WE ARE ASKING THE PEOPLE OF MERSEYSIDE NOT TO DO THE SAME.”

This has its origins in the formative years of the political and managerial stranglehold imposed by Sir David Henshaw & its then Council leader J Keight. 1989 – 1999.

Both were given carte blanche by new labour, that ensured political and local government corruption/malpractices flourished without fear of reprisal.

The murky land deals – overseen by current Council leader Round have been well publicised. While the authorities charged with enforcing and upholding standards in public life have also been neutered by new labour.

With all this in place Henshaw and Keight set about controlling and curtailing the reporting of the every day happenings of Knowsley Council.

The Councils “press and media office “ was given higher levels of funding than nearby Liverpool City Council. In recent times Knowsley’s media budget was £1.5/7 million, compared to Liverpool’s £350,000. Not a single Councillor has ever challenged this largess.

Our friends in the Audit Commission were clearly not troubled to ask why a small borough - population 150.000 - needed to spend nearly five times more on news and media than a major UK City ( Liverpool ) with a population of over half a million !

The Liverpool Echo were drip fed a permanent diet “good news stories “ and their journalists “encouraged “ to stay away from Council meetings.

Having instead to rely on the Council handing down sanitised versions of anything that might be of public interest. Everything else was buried in the secretive labyrinth of committees Henshaw set up to push through the £75,000 unsecured loan to a councillor: the variety of questionable land deals: and the covering up of payola to his eventual deputy: and the arranged burying any trace of the £75,000 unsecured loan to Cllr Edward Grannnell a Kirkby bag carrier for Council leader James Keight JP !

Certain excellent Liverpool Echo journalists were often bullied by the Council if they reported stories they had researched and written themselves. The Kirkby Sports Centre : Sonae : and the Kirkby/ Huyton divide are but a few.

One popular source of news and back chat about the goings on in Merseyside is the Phillips phone- in on Radio Merseyside.

Hosted by the erudite Roger Phillips, it has gained a formidable reputation as the Merseyside No 1 soap box for the people of Merseyside to get the angst off their chests.

Roger hosts the show with aplomb. However in recent years the show has also become the soap box for Knowsley Council’s Chief Executive’s to spin away the contentious issues their own back yard.

Chief Executive’s David Henshaw, 1989-99 – Stephen Gallagher 1999- 2005, and Sheena Ramsey 2005 to date, have been regulars on Roger’s programme. Surely it would be better to have had elected Councillors question their officials in Council committees under the gaze of any interested media, just like they like they do in the House of Common’s select sub committee’s when they hold the executive to account. What’s the difference ? Liverpool City Council do it this way as well.

No other Councils on Merseyside are allowed, or would politically be permitted , to go on Radio Merseyside as much as the Knowsley gaulieters

All this has ensured Knowsley Council’s citizens were kept in the dark about the real goings on inside the Council, they are instead bombarded with the Council spun rag ” The Challenge “ that urges use all to sing Amen Corner’s Hit
“ If Paradise Is Half as Nice “

Whilst Roger Philips is a highly civilised and decent person he should not have allowed himself to be recruited and paid by Knowsley Council for the QA video distributed to every Council owned household in the borough extolling the housing stock transfer in 2000.

The extreme right wing new labour government had threatened to starve local Councils of housing investment funds unless they privatised their housing stock

The Council used Roger’s street cred to get a yes vote on the stock transfer. This move was strongly opposed in Kirkby, who voted by a majority of 68% against the transfer.

These wise people accurately foresaw the ending of municipal housing that is the main reason why we now have the worst social housing shortage since the second world war.

Roger has also been recruited and paid by the Council to give the Councillors media training at their twice yearly policy seminars at the Park Royal Hotel Warrington. Don’t all laugh !

What Roger taught them is questionable as Knowsley Councillors rarely give media interviews, and always have their names attached to press stories that have been written for them by their Stalinist like press office.

Councillor Round and all the MPeeeeeeez. or Cllr G. Wright slumped in the chair on BBC North West’s “The Politics show “ talking gibberish ! Its embarrassing.

In essence anyone working for the BBC- and therefore paid by the taxpayer - ought to be careful who they do a spot of moonlighting for.

Certainly working on the side for a Council like Knowsley, whilst holding an important media position with the local BBC, could give rise to perceptions about partiality.

As Radio Merseyside always refer to – Kirkby, Huyton, Prescot, Halewood, and Cronton as “ in Knowsley “ in their news bulletins, this looks a dead giveaway !

Is this not a key council aim - to “promote “ the borough !

Before New labour (BNL ) the local BBC wouldn’t have batted an eyelid to expose low life behaviour in Knowsley MBC. We can recall the national coverage given when a new labour top cat, Cllr M. Kearns, gave Liverpool Crown Court a character reference for a convicted paedophile. This at a time there was national newspaper campaigns to protect our children and isolate the perpetrators of this heinous crime.

Radio Merseyside’s Shari Vahl was superb in reporting this abuse of public office. This followed the splendid traditions of: Julia Harding : Ian Mann : and Linda Mc Dermott: who dealt with the local BBC news agenda in the 70s 80s and 90s. BNL !

Ironically Knowsley Councils best two Chief Executives never gave media interviews, despite one courageously bringing in the Police when the Tempest corruption allegations hit the headlines in the mid 1970s.

And the other, who sorted out one Derek Hatton when he abused a privileged work contract of £12,000 a year for a 16 hour week in the mid 1980s.

It would be fair to say that the non declarations by Councillors selling land to their own political party: and the secret drawing together of undervalued land deals by Cllr Keight JP and Cllr Round JP, would never have happened when Chief Executives were independent public servants of the highest integrity. ( BNL )

Take a bow Donald Willgoose OBE – and Richard Penn both head and shoulders above their three successors at Knowsley Council

If the Liverpool based media covered the shenanigans of the Council’s, and if the Council Chief Executives upheld standards, would there be any need for the Liverpool Times?

The announcement late last Thursday afternoon came despite intense last minute lobbying, on behalf of Tesco, by MP’s Howarth and Kilfoyle.

Such was the interest in the decision BBC Radio Merseyside ran a two hour phone in to take in the views of Evertonian’s and residents, who will be effected by the plans.

We had an ex chairman of the EFC shareholders – Kevin Nolan – express regret at the call in, claiming that a move to Kirkby was best for the club. What he didn’t tell the radio phone - in is that he is a resident of Formby.

Would he be as enthusiastic if his home was to be bulldozed for a stadium?

Or that the squirrel reserve was destroyed forever? Formby got a Tesco without a football stadium, why should Kirkby be any different?

Below, Ronnie Round the mole…

Nolan was joined by Professor Tom Cannon, a long time hanger on in Everton FC affairs, he blamed the Keep Everton in Our City Group ( KEIOC ) for causing the Government to call in the Tesco plan.

Prof Cannon knows this is palpable nonsense. The civil servants and legal advisors made the decision for no other reason that the plan was contrary to national and regional planning guidelines, and Knowsley Councils own Unitary Development plan.

For the uninitiated, if a local resident wanted to install PVC windows in a property, within a conservation area, it wouldn’t be allowed as it would be contrary to the unitary development plan. So the planning laws apply to everyone, including Tesco.

Both Cannon and Nolan are Everton small shareholders, both have made public comments in the recent past about how badly the club was run, only to sit like dummies when the press attended for the planned “shareholders revolt.”

Cannon, who talks up Knowsley Council, also needs to polish up on his economics.

He has claimed that Everton will lose £15 million in gate revenues if they don’t move to Kirkby. Where one has to ask are the 18,000 fans, waiting to go to a new 55,000 seater stadium ? Can he produce a business case ? If so, then lets be having it.

It is well known Everton have a very strong indigenous fan base on Merseyside, but by putting out misleading information based on the assumption that Everton’s average gate will increase from 34,000 to 50+,0000, in a new stadium, is an entirely dodgy proposition, that should arouse the doubts of a professor.
.
Tom Cannon also said recently that Knowsley are that good they brought in News International, and the Liverpool FC Academy ! This latter issue was a major scandal involving local government corruption, under valued land sales, and failures by the small group of Councillors- meeting in secret- to declare non pecuniary interests.

Two of these rogue Councillors, James Keight retired: and Ronald Round age 75 inexplicably have the prefix JP after their names !

What does Cannon know about the Council during the period all this was going on?

Again Cannon should polish up on his history. News International came into the borough of Knowsley in 1988. The senior officers who progressed the investment were, Chief Executive Richard Penn, and Director of Planning Rodney Brackley.

Business adviser Cannon, like many others, kept out the public eye when business was a troublesome issue in the Council’s of Merseyside 1980s. The man who hails from Southdene, Kirkby, and attended Brookfield Comprehensive. is one of life’s talkers, not doers, and should give us all a rest.

Meanwhile Knowsley’s Council leader was reported to have declined to take part in an interview with Ian Morris from the Kirkby residents group on Radio Merseyside

Why Radio Merseyside never followed that up is another mystery. The biggest and most controversial redevelopment ever in Kirkby and the Council Leader refuses a radio interview. People are asking questions around the Kirkby Town centre ?

Does Knowsley leader Cllr Ron Round, actually exist, or simply vanish underground and afraid if he has to publicly face the people of Kirkby?

This cowardice sent the Councils Chief Executive rushing on to the airwaves of their cosy companions at Radio Merseyside to become the public voice of the Council.

Its reported that the Council/ Tesco partnership are getting their heads together next week on the way forward. In an unprecedented statement the Government officials handling the plan are reported to have said they understand the need for a swift decision.

This disturbing comment goes against the principle of applying a level playing field, as it were, for all parties involved in planning inquires.

Residents/ Groups cannot easily find the vast sums of money needed for the legal help to navigate the minefield of a planning inquiry, or the level of administrative work needed to prepare for an enquiry. They will need appropriate time.

The planning report that the Council considered is 448 pages long. It contains a massive amount of data, population statistics, planning policies, technical reports on noise, health, traffic, open space, housing, retail space, and many other considerations that will have to be read and assessed. They will have to be cross referenced with regional, national, and local reports. Information about the applicants submissions will need close scrutiny given Knowsley Councils five star reputation for spin to fit the purpose ! A lot of it is factually inaccurate, and misleadingly presented.

Typically on Page 33 of the submissions Tesco say their plan will “provide Kirkby with a development that would assist the lifting of the towns profile and create civic pride.

These two important planks have been systematically destroyed by Knowsley Council since 1991. The evidence is all around us. Therefore this spin would have to stand up to scrutiny. The same scrutiny we would want to give a plan by Margaret Thatcher if she was promising to rebuild mining communities!

It would be impossible for residents to swiftly extrapolate information, then compile evidence. Such a task would take many months to complete. There is a real danger opponents of the Tesco plan will be railroaded into a fast track inquiry, this must be avoided at all costs in the interests all parties. If it isn’t the prophesising Liverpool Times story, in Destination Day 15 July 2008, “of lawyers are you ready” is likely to read Law Courts are you ready!

It’s a bit short notice but better late than never, eh?

The Flower Show is well worth seeing, and what’s more, it’s free. Take your flask, wrap a sarnie in silver foil (bear in mind that a stop and search might get a copper all excited unbtil they realise it’s a cheese and onion butty, not loads of gear!) and head on down.

Here’s the official chit chat on the arrangements…

“Show starts at 11am, finishes at 5pm

There will be lots of things for you to see and do including;

Geraud Farmers Market with lots of fresh produce.

Arena Entertainment – Hawkeye Falconry, Dog Displays and new for 2008 the Drakes of Hazard.

Green fun on the Clearing with live music, environmental activities and Circus Skills .

Fresh Start Marquee, Knowsley’s Gateway to Self Employment, features new local businesses with advice and information on starting your own business.

Craft Marquee, with homemade crafts including jewellery and cards.

International Youth Arts Friendship Field – with live music from the hottest young bands and arts workshops.

Plant Society Marquee with plant sales and lots of gardening advice.

Children’s fairground rides.

The Infozone with lots of local organisations giving advice, helpful tips and freebies.

The Heritage Marquee, demonstrating traditional conservation skills with information about local projects.

FREE Park and ride service is available.

BUS TIMETABLE

The bus journey takes about 20 minutes.

Going to the Show
Leaving Kirkby Bus Station (look for signs for Park and Ride Flower Show)

10.30am
11.30am
12.30am
2.30pm

Coming back to Kirkby Bus Station
Leaving the Flower Show at Court Hey Park
(Look for signs for Park and Ride Kirkby)

12am
1pm
3pm
4pm
5pm Last bus”

On Friday the 25th of June, a young lad was reported as being beaten up very badly on the streets of Huyton. Initial reports stated that the murderous assault might have been due to him being gay which is a factor that the police should be able determine fairly quickly.

As of yet the case has been ignored by the national media as seen by the story itself making page 26 of the Daily Mirror today. Compared to the murder of Anthony Walker, the story of the murder seems to be deemed non news-worthy, for some reason. We have seen no media camped out, grabbing any passing local for an opinion. No notable personalities, as of yet, seem to have spoken out.

Two men, James O’Connor and Gavin Alker both 19, had already been charged with grievous bodily harm, and another man, Christopher Douglas, 19 was charged with witness intimidation – something which is rife in Liverpool.

These charges were made before the death of Michael Causer.

The post-mortem examination results will now determine whether the injuries sustained led to Michael’s death. Charges should then be accordingly adjusted to take into account that the grievous assault turned out to be fatal.

Michael was attacked on Tarbock Road in Huyton on the 25 July at 11.00am and it was reported that paramedics found him lying still in a pool of blood. The lads behind the attack kicked him or perhaps even stamped on his head – a tactic often used given the low sentences which can be handed out for such a wicked form of murder.

We saw this with the horrific death of Johnny Delaney, a young 15-yr-old traveler schoolboy whose head was stamped on by his murderers. If the law was going to make an example to us all that murdering people who are different is NO GO – the opportunity was there before us in that court. In front of witnesses who bravely testified in court, the murderers cried out “he’s only a fu**** gippo”. The judge basically agreed and duly handed out a sentence of only four and a half years.

That is an insult and demeans the value of life and just as importantly people’s perception of the value of life.

Michael Causer suffered serious head injuries and was taken to Whiston Hospital before being transferred to the Walton hospital’s neurology centre where the surgeons battled to save his life. Sadly, the efforts of some of the finest surgeons in the land could not repair the damage done.

Michael passed away on Saturday the 2nd of August. The struggle to overcome those injuries was not to be. His poor family, need we even say, will be heartbroken that such a gentle and kind man gets murdered by the local scum in our midst.

Not for the first time either.

Michael presented no threat to anyone, but sadly, some of the local scum will delight in such easy opportunities to bully people. This is a pattern of behaviour which has flourished under the new labour government whose own collective criminal intent and malice makes Michael’s killers seem like boy scouts.

The death of Michael means that the crime is now murder. Waiting for the Crown Prosecution Service to announce this is, hopefully, just a formality.

Our condolences to Michaels family and friends.

The Death of Ken Matthews, at the age of 83, has just been announced.

The Liverpool Echo have given a fitting tribute to his distinguished life in the RAF, journalism, and starting the Kirkby Cycling club at the Kirkby Stadium in 1963.

As the club secretary, and architect of the banked cycling track, he helped gain Kirby Cycling Club much success at home and abroad. The Echo has stated this.

Those stooges organised by the Council prop up support for the Tesco plan should take note of Ken’s work promoting Kirkby, when they spew the mantra for Tesco that “it will put Kirkby on the map”

Ken, and others like Phil Thompson, were doing this 30/40 years ago before Knowsley/ Keight wiped Kirkby off the maps and road signs: if you don’t believe this go and see M57: M62 : East Lancs St Helens : Prescot : Canny Farm : Huyton: for Kirkby, its Knowsley all the way ! Everton FC will become Knowsley’s footie club!

So the Tesco sycophants should brush up on their local history before they join the Council in trying to patronise the people of Kirkby.

Ken nurtured world class cyclists like Doug Daily and Glen Sword who were both UK Olympians. These champions didn’t need “sporting policies” to reach the top, just talent that nowadays counts for nothing with “Knowsley’s syntax of sporting strategies”

Ken was known to be upset at the plans to demolish the stadium and cycle track and said so in a number newspaper articles. These counted for nothing. The 10 year hidden agenda to demolish all Kirkby’s civic past was to continue unabated.

The one senior Kirkby Councillor who tried to stop this draconian attack on Kirkby, was himself victimised, and driven out: by the person driving the agenda Council leader J Keight. He used political bribery and bullying, and smeared dissidents.

All the remains of the highly prestigious Kirkby Stadium/ Sports Centre is a large derelict space which is the most high profile site entering Kirkby from the M57 – Aintree and Fazakerley.

Having been denied a change of use for housing, it is being lined up as a car park, if the Everton Stadium is ever built

Knowsley Council’s wicked action in destroying The Kirkby Stadium and Sports Centre stands alone as the most destructive act of municipal vandalism in recent times.

Its inferior and hidden away replacement is an insult to the many stalwart people, like Ken Mathews: Alan Pearson: Bob Trenholm: and Doug Daily who provided the youngsters of Kirkby and beyond with sporting opportunities that are no longer available. What is contained in this article is from information provided by officers, and others, who left the Council appalled at these disturbing actions driven on because of jealousy and resentment at the profile it gave to Kirkby.

For the millions suffering from new labours crushing taxation policies this will cause even more to turn away from them

MPs are paid a flat salary of £65,000.00 a year. Most claim, on average £120,000 00 a year in expenses: no questions asked: no receipts required. In most cases this money is recycled and remains in the MPs circle of family and friends.

It’s been reported that G Howarth MP is paid £30,000 00 a year by the bookmaker William Hill. One has to ask what for? This is while he has rarely been seen by many of his constituents during the row over the Tesco controversy in Kirkby.

Meanwhile Frank Field MP pulls in a extra £50,000.00 on top of his £200,000 00 parliamentary payout. He however looks so pained and troubled with new labour.

Would the average bloke survive on this ? What do most MPs do anyway?

You would think anyone paid this amount for sitting on their backsides as voting fodder would keep quiet.

No. An MP named James Purnell, announces this week that all benefit claimants are to be assessed for work, with time limits imposed for claiming; after which claimants will be ordered by private companies to carry out community service.

This we understand is a sentence of punishment given by the Courts to criminal offenders.

Hardly a day passes without the papers or TV reporting on benefit cheats. Progress is being made, then we have record savings as a result; but no: all who claim are up to something if you read between the lines what Mr Purnell is advocating.

For any labour minister to promote this level of stigmatisation on any one claiming benefits is an utter disgrace.

The recent scenes on TV of employees from Ethel Austin after receiving redundancy notices should sent to every labour MP. These workers who have lost wages that helped the family budget, maybe a little holiday or break for the kids; are down the swanny through labours globalisation agenda. They now face being targeted as well.

Those many workers who are riddled with arthritis from working in cold stores like Bird Eye. Building labourers humping bricks on their shoulders, these are but a few who face almost nazi style assessments to see if there is any work left in them.

And all being pushed by the “workers party” Is there any new labourite MP -save for Postie Alan Johnson - who has every done a proper days work in their lives ?

In a Glasgow constituency where it is so deprived that the Catholic Church sends in missionary’s, labour had a 23% swing against it. If this was repeated locally many, including G. Howarth; would be ousted

Many in Kirkby would welcome this. Howarth was the man who infamously dragged the reputation of a former senior colleague and ally – Peter Fisher- through the gutter, by accusing him of “wasting public money “- £60- from an entitlement from expenses that had been properly receipted and signed off by auditors in a previous financial year.

Investigators discovered the since this infamy, Howarth had claimed over £720,000,00 in expenses that never required receipts or auditing.

What amount would allow you to retire and live in Spain, this, or £60 quid!

This greed and hypocrisy by new labours current shower of MPs, and the virtual criminalisation of those trying to survive on benefits, would make the late Harold Wilson: John Smith : Eric Heffer: and Eddie Loyden : turn in their graves.

These were fine examples of the real labour party who were on the side of the workers.

New labour, in their mission to dismantle the British system of welfare benefits, has threatened to force unemployed people to work for their benefits. Perhaps some of the idiots up there have already missed the boat – but the fact remains that unemployed people are already forced to work for their dole.

The ‘leaked’ plans (they want us know what’s coming to see if we object) propose that incapacity benefit will be scrapped within five years and the unemployed will have to ‘work full-time after two years out of work in exchange for the dole’. American style work-projects are already being set up.

The rewards for those involved in running the companies and agencies which will oversee the destruction of the welfare state are colossal, but the actual rate of return for the tax-payer, will be of little significance. Like most of the privatisation schemes – the actual loss is staggering when we see the massive rewards handed out to the various chairmen and chief executives and other chiefs at the top. Bonuses of a million pounds are not unusual – and the disparity of wealth is surely going to lead to the poor, the working class, being reduced to peasant status.

David Freud, an investment banker, and grandson of the famous ‘head doctor’ Sigmond Freud, (took cocaine and invented a con called psychiatry) is the man who has advising the Department for Works and Pensions (DWP) and new labour that “up to two million people are unnecessarily claiming incapacity benefit.”

Below, the altered sign above Dachau reads Freedom through Work. This could be the motto for the U$A and UK plc ‘workfare’ style schemes.

It’s not the unemployed who eat up the great chunks of expenses that are stripping the national coffers at a staggering rate with no return for investments. Public cash, as ever, is given out with more generosity to the undeserving rich than it is to the deserving poor. To this end, private companies have been told they will be rewarded for forcing disabled people to work. Compare this to old folks homes being closed, due to the value of land being worth more than our own elderly.

In other words, we scrap the Job Centre’s role in securing jobs for local people, and out-source it. We pay two people, whereas one used to be paid. That’s pretty much how the new labour system works.

A good wage makes you ‘equal’. The dole turns you into a kind of underclass. Both new labour and the Tories found it cheaper to leave people on the dole, as they destroyed industry. Now industry is gone, the next step in the plan is to destroy the welfare benefit system by claiming that almost everyone on incapacity benefit is lying.

Maybe Mr Freud (or is that Fraud?) has some investments lined up for that scenario? Siphon off the money that used to go to the poor, and make it go to the rich.

In Kirkby, a number of firms are already dipping snouts into the trough of state hand-outs to the rich – the hand-outs which nobody ever refers to as ‘scrounging’. Some agencies in Kirkby, to which the unemployed are sent to by the Department of Works and Pensions, are already sending the unemployed to work for sums of £15 per week. The unemployed will spend 2 days a week in some laughable course being told how to job – and three days working.

The same is happening all over Liverpool and the UK.

An agency in Kirkby town centre, A4E, is paid a slice of cash for every ‘dolite’ they can grab hold of.

Like the dockers who once stood in the pen in the hope of a days work, today’s unemployed are also put into a pen, or onto an agencies books or database. Unlike the old days, those chosen from the ‘pen’ to actually work might not even get the pittance of a minimum wage for it. They will also have none of the rights workers employed direct will get. No pensions, no sick pay schemes, no holidays either. No perks of the job for the average agency worker – you’re usually an outsider, and a closed shop means that any good jobs are long lined up for the workers employed direct.

The agency worker ends up doing the donkey work, and can easily be exploited by unscrupulous employers because a fresh fish on the job tends to swim more than most.

Both unemployed adults and local youth are forced or cajoled into working for their benefits via a number of methods through a number of agencies flush with handouts.

Adults in Kirkby and other parts of Liverpool are already doing ‘work experience’ for their dole payments.

Work experience might just count for something if unemployed people are buddied up with someone doing a decent paid job of work that people can perhaps learn on the job. Nobody will mind working for a few months or longer to learn a decent trade which is going to put a nice bit of honest poke (cash) in your pocket. An apprentice always gets a lower wage than the tradesman or woman. That’s not an issue. However, when we have some local shops using unemployed people to stack shelves for ‘work experience’ – you have to ask if the companies using local unemployed are just taking the pi** rather than passing down essential skills.

The unemployed working in local shops and other businesses get the princely sum of an extra £15 per week on top of benefit payments. But given that you always spend a bit more when you are in work – the ‘extra’ fifteen pound sterling a week, soon gets eaten up in expenses.

Local youth, already competing with everyone in Europe (and the world) for British jobs, are well and truly facing a harder task than any of us ever did. Whereas in the 80s, you could flee to many others areas of the U.K. to escape the poverty doing a variety of jobs on farms, packing factories and shift work and seasonal work of all varieties– the jobs once there are now taken up and wages cut in some instances. The bosses have never had it so good – and landlords also are raking it in as two million or more extra workers pile in to grab a job and accommodation.

Give the youth a chance

The youth, or some of them, find themselves trapped in a local area doing what many of us did under Thatcher; namely the old ‘work experience’. This means local youth are taken on as a ‘trainee’ or probationary worker, with the wage paid by some government grant for the duration of their work ‘trial’. Depending on the actual job they are sent to – it’s possible they will work productively from day one – adding to the profits of the factory or small business.

As with the days of Thatcher, many companies and individual bosses might see this as a neat way of getting a free worker every so many months. As one youth’s grant runs out – they might be told “we have no work at the moment to employ you”. But as he or she walks out, in walks another youth, on a work trial, wages paid via some grant.

New labour has well and truly shafted the very people who built the foundation stones of the labour party. For this and their wicked murderous war mongering ways, it looks like new labour is going to be battered worse than the Tories were back in the 97 General Election. We could be looking at the end of the labour party as we know it – and a slide to the far right if my perception of the mood of the nation is right.

But there’s another article.

To deny a working man or woman a living wage or the chance to be gainfully employed to do so, is a sin in itself.

This last weekend marks the 40th Anniversary of the passing of Dean Patrick Spain the founder of the Parish of St Mary Mother of God in Northwood Kirkby.

He passed away suddenly on the 19th July 1968, at the relatively early age of 54.

Father Patrick Spain arrived in Northwood in 1957 moving into a house in Retford Road. He said the first ever mass in Northwood in Quarry Green School Hall, Christmas Eve midnight 1957.

To the many Catholics who lived in Northwood during this time Fr Spain evoked many stories of his impact on our community. He personally oversaw the building of the new Churches, and schools including the biggest and most modern Comprehensive School in the country, St Kevin’s.

He was a man of great stature and vision whose legacy still continues through the many who benefited from his development of Catholic Education. His friendships spanned from ordinary parishioners, and civic leaders, to the Prime Minister of the day Harold Wilson.

Fr. Frederick Rose, now Parish Priest of St Sylvester’s in Vauxhall was a member of St Mary’s Parish ministry between 1959 and 1968. He describes his late colleague as a ‘Giant’ who worked tirelessly for his parishioners.

Let us remember him in our prayers for his work and devotion to the Church of St Mary Mother of God and to the people of Kirkby.

Note: Adapted from St Mary Mother of God weekly church newsletter 20 July (also serves as the mass guide for people attending church – words to various responses to that weeks mass, and special intentions.)