Rosie’s Walk & Festival 2008

Saturday 5th July. Friends and former school pals dressed in best summer gear (as bright and as loud as you can imagine), ignored the showers to walk from Aldridge to Walsall (pushing a paddling pool and palm tree) and raised some £500 towards the charity. This was a curtain-raiser to the annual walk.

Sunday 13th July at Aldridge Airfield. Some 2000 people turned out, this time in glorious sunshine to walk - doing either 3 miles or a toddle mile. Whilst it will be several weeks before all pledges are collected, it is believed that at least £11,000 has been raised.

For more details, about the walk and the Rosie Ross charity - Rosie’s Helping Hands click here: http://www.rosieshelpinghands.org

Police-recorded crime in England and Wales fell 9% in the 12 months to March, yet the level of falling violent crime in particular seems at odds with the public’s perception of their chances of being attacked.

The first reliable figures for knife crime showed there were 22,000 offences last year - 2303 of these were in West Midlands force area.

The annual crime report for 2007-2008 reveals the longest recorded period of falling crime in living memory - down 48% from 1995.

It shows there were five million recorded crimes. All the main categories were down, including violent crime and sex offences, but drug offences were up 18%, gun crime was up 2% and murder was up 3%. The latest figures show that offences are concentrated in hotspots and not evenly spread around England and Wales.

It’s sad therefore that while the risk of being a victim is at its lowest ever level, people still think that the rate is going up. I personally don’t think the media help - covering in gruesome detail every instance to sell papers or gain viewers. Until recently you would only become aware of local instances, but now if a person is attacked anywhere in the country it on the news within minutes.

Whilst there is still a lot to do to reduce these figures further - particularly around knife and gun crime, I do think we should acknowledge the progress that has been made over the past 30 years!

The number of people killed on UK roads last year fell to the lowest level since records began.

There were 2,943 deaths - down 7% from 2006. Child deaths totalled 121- a drop of 28%.

This is quite an achievement considering the number of cars and drivers on the roads are at an all time high.

Of course, this doesn’t mean we can become complacent and not try to keep looking to reduce the numbers further.

I was asked recently what the latest situation was regarding the plan to build houses on the site of the now demolished Redhouse JMI School (Application Ref: 07/2074/OL/E11).

I’ve just spoken to Property Services section at Walsall Council on 01922 652487. Following the outline planning permission, granted in January - with the stipulation that there is no through access - the proposal goes before the cabinet next week for agreement on it going out to marketing. This will be when developers can bid for the land. Once that process is complete they will need to submit a detailed planning application before any actual development can commence. Given the current depressed state of the housing market there is a question whether developers will rush to take up this opportunity. If not the land will remain as it is, under the care of Walsall Council. Therefore it’s very much a question of watch that space!

With yet more Post Office closures being announced I wonder whether there will be anything left by the time they have finished!

For information Aldridge / Brownhills form part of the Herefordshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands area. It is the final area to be reviewed, with public consultation due to start on 27th August 2008.

For full details of the Lib Dems long-standing fight to save post offices go to:

http://www.libdems.org.uk/commerce/issues/postoffice

So the Government is once again to be challenged over the 10p tax band. So they should be with some 1.1 million low earners still losing out as a result of their decision to abolish the 10p tax band on earnings between £5,225 and £7,455 (which originally cut the wage packets of 5.3 million on incomes of between £5,435 and £19,355), in order to cut taxes for higher earners.I bet they had hoped that with the concessions made earlier the rebellion was over. They have under -estimated the anger over Gordon Brown’s callous decision. It’s a shame they ignored the Liberal Democrats warnings of its consequences on the very day it was announced in the budget. I would still like to get an explanation as to:

1. What on earth were they doing in the first place hitting the lowest paid workers in order to give those higher earnings tax cuts? The saddest aspect is that 1.1 million of the lowest paid workers are still paying the price for Gordon’s “miscalulation”.

2. How it is they can find £50 billion to support Northern rock, £50 billion to underwrite Bank of England’s intervention in mortgage crisis, scrap Inheritance tax changes, Non dom tax plans, but can’t find £7 billion to recompense those low earners who have lost money they can ill afford to lose with the abolition of the 10p rate?

3. Is it really the case that they did not realise that 5.3 million of the poorest workers would lose as a result of the abolition of the 10p rate in order to give high earners a tax cut by lowering rate to 20%??? This worries me more than anything because it shows a basic lack of understanding of ecomonics. In any event this episode blows a big hole in Labour’s credibilty and refutes their claims about wanting to help those less well off in society. Look around - the rich are getting richer at the expense of the poorest. They’re out-Torying the Tories at the moment!

For me the the events being held to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the NHS are tinged with a deal of sadness and an amount of anger. I feel the ideals that saw its creation in 1948, of which I am particularly proud, are being increasingly threatened by interfering politicians - such that it often finds itself in need of Intensive Care!

Perhaps it is time for the old saying “Survival of the fittest” to be scrapped and replaced with “Survival of the richest”?
Money may not be able to buy you happiness, but it does seem it can buy you medical treatment others in more need are not able to afford!

To think we live in the 5th richest country and claim to be civilised, simply immoral. Some things are worth fighting for and surely the NHS has to be high on the list. So come on let’s make the 60th birthday a time to remember what the NHS was founded for and ensure it continues to provide universal health-care, free at point of delivery FOR ALL.