Merry Christmas and a Happy 2015

Labour party double standards...

Readers may recall April this year - Labour party stalwarts called in the Police when independent Councillor Gareth Fairhurst posted a message on twitter during a Wigan council meeting.
The incident got national press coverage and caused much embarrassment for the Labour party when it backfired on them when they were criticised for their heavy handedness.

Fast forward to yesterdays Parliamentary debate on food banks. Ashton in Makerfield's  Labour MP Yvonne Fovargue stands up to make a speech. It must have been riveting as and low and behold what do we see?  6 Labour MPs happy playing away on laptops and phones!

Talk about double standards...

Commonwealth or EU: Which is best for Britain’s future?

Luke Stanley Writes in the Commentator...

http://www.thecommentator.com/article/5113/commonwealth_or_eu_which_is_best_for_britain_s_future

Every day more and more powers are transferred to Brussels, whilst the Great British Public are left emasculated and none the wiser.

Furthermore, continental Europe is in long term economic decline. Presently, the EU28 countries amount to only 19 percent of world Gross Domestic Product (GDP) -- the most common measurement of economic strength. Meanwhile the Commonwealth is only slightly behind on 16 percent.

As Ruth Lea attested in City AM, by 2025 the Commonwealth will have surpassed the EU. More importantly, the Commonwealth has a population of over 2 billion people, 4 times the population of the EU! In the age of containerisation and cheap sea trade, this presents an enormous and largely unrealised market for British business.

If Britain has to choose between Europe and the Commonwealth, the best long-term economic choice is clearly the Commonwealth.

However, Britain does not need to choose. In 1948 war-time leader Winston Churchill famously argued Britain stood at the centre of three economic, political and cultural circles -- Europe, the Anglosphere and the Commonwealth. This is just as true today as it was when he delivered his speech.

An independent Britain would be able to negotiate a free trade agreement with the EU, just as the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) states -- Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein -- all do.

More importantly, it could form free trade agreements with Commonwealth states currently shunned by the EU such as Australia and New Zealand. The Lisbon Treaty allows us to remain within the EU as long as we like whilst we conclude our exit negotiations. In this time we can agree trade agreements with as many countries as we wish before Brexiting.

Trading with the Commonwealth and the EU would give the UK unrestricted access to 32 percent of world GDP. Add to this the EFTA countries and the USA -- the only major Anglosphere country not in the Commonwealth -- and this rises to an astonishing 52 percent! This is even before we start forming trade agreements with emerging markets in the Far East and South America.

Only an independent Britain will be able to take advantage of our unique position at the centre of Churchill’s three concentric circles -- Europe, the Anglosphere and the Commonwealth. If we want to Get Britain Out, we must continue to present the very real economic benefits and positive future Brexit will bring.

Only then will the Great British Public ignore the scaremongering of the Establishment, take the plunge and vote for independence in the In/Out referendum our current Prime Minister has promised us if Conservatives gain a majority at the next general election.

Luke Stanley is a Research Assistant at Get Britain Out

Wigan council fits 5,000 wrong lights

Wigan Councils new £11 million LED lighting scheme has hit the buffers after it has been found to have replaced 5,000 existing lights with LED blue lights that may have health concerns.

However what is surprising is that with what appears to be little regard for these concerns, it has admitted it will continue to press on with fitting  LED blue lights and not switch to warmer amber ‘CCT’ lights until the new year.

Lux Review (the official publication of the Lighting Industry Association) has printed a story concerning the issue that Wigan residents know nothing about.  Full story here

Wigan Council has confirmed our report from last week that it is abandoning blue-tinged LED luminaires in favour of warmer colour models, although it downplayed any possible health concerns it had for the colder lamps. Wigan has already replaced about 5,500 streetlights so far out of 31,000 units.’ ‘The first phase will continue with the colder temperature 5,700 K models, but Wigan will shift to a warmer, 'CCT' (correlated colour temperature) when it moves into residential areas in the spring’

Wigan Council told national campaigner Simon Nicholas that it would now deploy the ‘warmer’ lights. Wigan Council had written to Simon Nicholas after he expressed concerns about the LED retrofit, including possible harmful health effects from blue-tinged light such as sleep disruption and possible links to cancer.

Assistant Director of infrastructure Mark Tilley is quoted as saying ‘We are aware of some of the claims being made with regards to the potential impact on health of LEDs with rich blue light content,' Tilley told Lux. 'However, we are not aware of any of these claims being specifically linked to LEDs being used in street lighting applications but do understand that LEDs with a lower CCT have not been linked to these claims in the same way.'

See the daily politics video here

Its clear that Labour run Wigan council did not learn from others mistakes.

The Manchester Evening news reported in May 2013 that Trafford council did a u–turn on its LED lighting scheme after concerns were raised after research by scientists from Madrid University suggests that light emitted by LEDs could damage retinas, especially of children. An American study found that the lights could suppress melatonin, a brain hormone that regulates sleep.

Story here;  A town hall has performed a U-turn on planned ‘UFO’ street lights 

A report by Derbyshire Council here seems to indicates why Wigan Council are having to shift away from Blue lights.

‘High blue light content of LED, over 5000K, has been cited as having the potential for stimulating the circadian rhythm and disrupting sleep patterns.

A mid-range light colour (CCT) of 4000K with a colour rendering index greater than 80 would create a balance between the need to keep energy consumption to a minimum and limiting the amount of blue light emitted. 

Despite being one of Lords Smith's flagship policies, even with such a simple task as changing a light bulb the Labour party have problems!

Labour run Wigan Council offers £6,000 cash prizes to staff turning up for work.

Hit with a £4 million sickness absence bill last year, Wigan council has a novel idea to encourage staff to turn into work (we thought that’s what they got paid for, but what do we know).

The ‘Attendance Reward Scheme’ introduced in April 2013 rewards staff for achieving 100% attendance,  4 times a year staff are entered into a cash prize draw and have the opportunity to win £1,000, £500 or £250, costing taxpayers some £6,000 per year in total.

Staff that achieve 100% attendance over a 12 month period also get an extra day off.

Records show sickness absences were up in January 2013 with peak sickness on Mondays (nationally referred to as Blue Mondays). So Wigan council ran another cash prize draw in January 2014 to compensate.

This follows on from the recent scheme ‘pick up ya poo and win £50’ operated by the councils dog wardens (we kid you not).

Full council report here