The Barnsby Blog

THE EXPRESS AND STAR.
The Express and Star is a remarkable newspaper. It is not only the
largest and most influential regional paper in Britain, but it is also the
only regional paper I know opposed to Blair’s illegal war in Iraq. After a
bit of a shaky start in 2003 when it famously stated that one could not
expect after hauling millions of tons of war material to the top, of the
hill, that it would send them back again to universal hoots of derision,
the editor declared that he would support the war in the interests of the
British troops who would be involved. But, unlike others, he quickly came to
the conclusion that the only way to serve the interests of our troops was to
demand their withdrawal, and from this stance neither the management nor the
staff of the paper have ever since wavered.
My own interest in the paper dated back to 1954 when I came to
Wolverhampton to teach history at Bilston Secondary Modern School and I
discovered as a Communist that it was one of the few liberal papers that
would print the letters of a Communist such as me. And the paper become one
of two reasons why my wife and I stayed in Wolverhampton, instead of
returning to London as we first intended. The other reason why we stayed in
Wolverhampton was that I became aware that the pupils I was teaching sat on
top of the fabulous Ten Yard Seam of coal which was the source of wealth of
the Black Country and inspired me to become the historian of the working
class movement in the Black Country and subsequently of Birmingham as well.
My relationship with the paper’s chief reporter, Peter Rhodes, has also
had its ups and downs. Rhodes wrote a history of the paper called The Loaded
Hour. This traced the duplicity of outwitting the print unions and setting
up new premises to print the paper, an example that was later followed by
Rupert Murdock when the moved his papers from Fleet Street to Canary Wharf.
Newspapers now have to tolerate trade unions under human rights legislation,
but I feel that the Express and Star is still basically and anti-trade union
paper, which is a pity.
Peter Rhodes and I also share the knowledge of the history of the
paper, and its origins of having been founded by the philanthropic
Scottish/American steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie’s notions extended
to believing that the only possible point of making money is to spend it on
the well being of the community. And I have suggested to Peter that one day
the paper might end up as a socialist one, particularly in view of the
present problems of the newspaper industry, to which the Express and Star is
not immune, having recently had to make some staff redundant.
I am now engaged in a Great Project of forming a union of all liberal
and democratic forces in Wolverhampton which will raise the city to an
leading place in Britain, able to compete with the likes of London,
Birmingham and Sheffield as a leading cultural, artistic, educational and
business centre in Britain which will result in the City becoming both
renowned and prosperous.

FAILURE OF PLANNING PERMISSION FOR REBUILDING OF DUDLEY MOSQUE
The unanimous decision of the Dudley Planning Committee to reject the
mosque scheme is most regrettable in our view. We dealt with the Muslim
efforts of Kurshin Ahmed to meet the objections of those who opposed the
original scheme. We also stressed the support the present plan has from the
Bishop of Dudley, Dudley Muslim organisations and Interfaith organisations
in Dudley.The refusal will play to the racist gallery, and although I did
not actually see a British National Party banner at the demonstration it is
the BNP that will benefit most from this unfortunate decision. It is to be
hoped that Kurshin Ahmed and his Muslim allies will be able to meet with
those on the Dudley Council who are most opposed to the project to hammer
out a solution which is agreeable to all concerned.

THE SOCIALIST HISTORY SOCIETY NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 2007
Coming from its indefatigable editor, Eddie Dare, an enlarged edition
of the News Letter is full of news and analysis. It starts with a report of
a lecture to the Society in January by Keith Flett who lectured on his
recent book Chartism after 1848. This largely deals with The Experience of
Defeat which was the title of Christopher Hill’s book after the defeat of
the republicans in the seventeenth century and how that might tie up with
our present dilemmas and help us learn from their mistakes while recognising
and appreciating their permanent achievements. The Bulletin also announced
the speaker at the AGM in April as Gidon Cohen whose book on Communism and
the Independent Labour Party is also on the theme of the failure of a
dream. Mike Squires also writes of the 90th anniversary of Lenin’s State
and Revolution coming up next year and David Morgan suggests he should be
read as a contemporary and guide ‘as we seek to reverse today’s descent into
oblivion’. Finally from the Newsletter comes a report from the treasurer
noting that if we caught up with our publications schedule, which has been
temporarily delayed, the society would probably be in debt by about �1500.
This might be met by increasing subscriptions or publishing less Occasional
Papers. But both might lead to a cycle of decline, so the best way would be
to increase membership from the present 250 to 300. This sounds sensible and
I commend it to readers of this BLOG. Contact Francis King at 8 Ethel Gooch
Rd. Wymondham, Norfolk NR18 0LJ
The Socialist History Society is my natural home. I first raised the
question of the history of its predecessor, the CPGB History Group, of which
I had been a member during the war when in Burma. The leader then was John
Angus an ex IB-er who died many years ago. I tried to establish whether John
Angus had left any records behind, but Chris Wrigley, who spent a lot of
time John in his later years that he had left no records. This was very
unfortunate and leaves the question of the origins of the group uncertain.
My second encounter with the SHS was to raise the question of where all
the records of the Society were during what I believed was a period of a
second existence of the Group, when no leading historians except Christopher
Hill were members of it. This also raised the question that I was the
longest serving member of this second group and perhaps I hold more records
than anyone else. This has not been resolved. Of previous secretaries Mike
Squires says that he holds the records of his period of foffice and we
established that Geoff Ferres holds his papers and wants to know where they
should be sent. This matter remains on the agenda of the present committee.
In the meantime, my papers I stilll hold and they will go to the
Wolverhampton Archives when I pass on.
Another matter which the Society did take up was my research on the
so-called Walsall Anarchist Bomb Plot of 1892 which has obvious lessons for
the present day. The plotters who were tried, three continental anarchists
and Joseph Deakin who was a railwayman who had a privilege ticket and who
could therefore afford to spend much time in London with anarchist
connections, were tried and sent to jail despite their plea (made under
considerable duress), that the iron castings they made were for bombs to be
sent to Russia and not for use in England. The anarchist who sanctioned the
bomb making was an agent-provocateur of the London CID and the Home Office.
The latest research shows, incidentally, that the bombs were, as we would
say today, ‘not fit for purpose’ and could never have been exploded. This
brings an even closer parallel with the Birmingham Bomb Plot of 2007 where
the CID and Home Office are involved with the local police in arresting
‘terrorists’ of which only three are now on trial.
The Walsall Bomb Plot became entangled with the activities of the
Gorgeous Garman girls. These were the children of the Wednesbury Medical
officer of health whose amorous activities shocked the country, the eldest
daughter, Kathleen being the mistress of Jacob Epstein for many years. When
his wife died Epstein married her and she left the fabulous collection of
pictures to the Walsall Art Gallery which was specially built for the
purpose. Just as much to the point was that one of the two sons, Douglas
Garman joined the Communist Party and at the end of the nineteen thirties
and forties became the national education secretary of the party who I met
and admired. In later years he had differences with the party, but I was
pleased to learn recently that he remained a member of the party until his
death.

BLACK HISTORY AND OTHER ACTIVITIES.
I take these little reported items from this week’s the VOICE the most
representative ethnic minority newspaper in Britain representing the
African-Caribbean population in Britain and now celebrating its 25th
Anniversary. Reclaiming the Streets. 2,000 people representing communities
across London took part in a prayer walk across two London boroughs most
affected by the gun and knife gangs plaguing London which has claimed the
lives of five people in under a month including three teenagers, Michael
Dosunmu, James Andre Smartt-Ford and Billy Cox.The event was organised by
the Peace Alliance a coalition of black church and Christian leaders with
support from among others the Mayor of London’s office, and the Black Police
Association. Doubt was expressed as to whether legislation was the way
forward. Better would be help for teenagers by the community and messages
of we love you, put down the guns. There was also a special lecture in
memory of Victoria Climbie. A school in Victoria’s memory is being built in
the Ivory Coast. There was an article on Black Nurses leading innovations on
hospital wards and winning awards. Residents on Manchester’s Moss Side are
determined to use Peace Week to reclaim the streets there. Black History was
celebrated by Orville W.Taylor with the slogan that any conception of
capitalism without the formative influence of slavery is flawed and
incomplete. I could go on, but will end with the very influential MP Dianne
Abbot who clearly sees the link between gun crime and education. So she is
organising a conference on Hackney Schools and the Black Child for May 10 at
Ocean Music Venue, Mare St. Hackney as a hands on exercise for teachers and
parents with plenty of opportunity to criticise Hackney education
authorities and hold them to account
Such conferences need to be held throughout the country and readers of
this BLOG will know off my State of Education in Wolverhampton which
suggests a City wide alliance of the local authority teacher trade unions of
both state and private schools, our New Race Equality unit with its duty of
collecting statistics of all matters which the government now fail to
produce and cooperation of not only of teachers and parents, but also the
children who are the recipients of education and other services, but who are
in some respects the most important judges of the services they receive.

THE GREAT PROTEST
Saturday’s Great March in London of 60,000 people against Blair and War
has met its predicable treatment in the great Free British Press by being
almost totally ignored.
The Observer had a short report on Sunday, but I can find no mention of it
in the Guardian today. The privatisation of the NHS proceeds apace as does
that of our schools. The Blair band wagon seems to continue to roll. But
only due to the spinelessness of the labour majority in Parliament. Yet more
troops are sent to Afghanistan in a last effort to achieve the impossible.
But the thieves are already falling out with each other as the numbers
multiply of Blairites intending to stand for the party leadership increases.

ARSENAL v CHELSEA
The mayhem of Saturday reinforced my view as one of a dwindling band
who watched both the Arsenal teams of the 1930s produced by Herbert Chapman
and the teams recently produced by Arsene Wenger that of the two, the 1930s
team was superior because they never lost their tempers. However, Wenger is
in a position to build a team a team which doesn’t lose its tempers and I
hope that he will be able to do so.

AGAINST RACISM AND FASCISM.
While I continue to wait for the new Race Equality Unit in
Wolverhampton to contact me and also wait for the Wolverhampton Inter-faith
Group to issue a statement supporting our Muslim community, it is good to
know that the Black Country UAF (Unite against Fascism) is active and
requesting support. The supposed scheme to build a large new Mosque in
Dudley led to considerable criticism. But the Muslim community in Dudley
have listened to the view of Dudley people, have modified their plans so
that its highest point is now lower than Top Church in Dudley and Castle
Hill. Also the project is not to build a new mosque, but to rebuild the old
one which is both too small and causes parking problems which inconvenience
the Dudley community. The fact that the cost will be met by the Muslim
community and not rate or tax papers is another benefit and the use of the
mosque by all citizens of Dudley gives facilities not available elsewhere
and will be essential in
building a multicultural society of the future. These plans have been backed
by the Bishop of Dudley, Dudley Borough Churches Forum and the Dudley
Borough Interfaith Group among others. Mr Ahmed is a very formidable figure
not only in Dudley race politics but also nationally as he has been a
commissioner of the Commission for Racial Equality. He is a moderate,
believing that violence is contrary to the teachings of Islam. Dudley is
more progressive than Wolverhampton in a number of ways. For instance it has
the only Respect town councillor in the country who is both a woman and a
Muslim. Wolverhampton would benefit from closer co-operation with Dudley.
The Blackcountry UAF notice calls for support for a lobby outside the
Dudley Council chamber on Tuesday 27 February from 5-30 onwards where the
rebuilding of the mosque will go before the borough planning committee and
will be intimidated by the BNP which they think will be protesting on an
anti-Muslim basis and claiming that they have no place in Dudley. The UKIP
is also apparently opposed to the plan to rebuild the mosque. We shall
report on the decision of the planning committee.

ARSENAL v CHELSEA.
I little thought when I wrote as such length yesterday to Rachael Heyhoe Flint that I should enjoy such pleasure and pain and drama as I experienced today. My comment on the match is this. I am one of the few persons left alive who have seen both the great Arsenal sides. The first in the 1930s under Herbert Chapman and the great teams built by Arsene Wenger of the present day. Which of the teams were the greater I am sometimes asked. My answer is reinforced by the mayhem of today - the team of the nineteen thirties was the greater because they were better tempered. Arsene Wenger, however, still has time to put that right.

HISTORY OF COMMUNISM IN THE BLACK COUNTRY.
The history of Communism is important. Social Democracy is a sleeping partner to capitalism. Unless Muslims can come up with an alternative to capitalism based on Islamic banning of usury and so anti-capitalist there is no alternative to Marxist socialism and a much later transition to Communism. As I never cease to propound Capitalism continues to be haunted by a spectre. The spectre of Marx.
This makes those of us who obstinately spend our lives advocating Socialism worthy of having their experiences recorded. I have written a certain amount on Communists in Wolverhampton which is already on this BLOG.
But even this is not complete. Talking to John and Elizabeth Hazlehurst who were brought up in Wolverhampton and now live in Bristol, I got an entirely new angle on the development of the Party. We know, for instance, of two factory branches at Boulton Paul and Meadows which both played important roles in increasing production during the war. We also know that there was a full-time Party organiser during the war. We also know that Wolverhampton had a councillor elected after the war, K.Brueton, who unfortunately was on the fiddle and scarpered to Australia, I think.
But Johnny Hazlehurst tells of growing up and joining the Young Communist League after the war when the Party almost collapsed as the cold war developed in the late 1940s. He became a draughtsman and influenced the draughtsman’s union of the time. All this needs writing down as do the experiences of his wife, who has become a scholar of the work of Sean O’Casey. Some of the history of the Party in Walsall has been recorded. Important figures were Don and ‘Dusty’ Bennett both of whom fought in Spain and ‘Dusty’ died. The leading figure for many years was Don Brayford who lived on the pittance of a Party wage and who, like me, was totally disgusted and protested strongly when we found that the party had been taking money from the Russians.
There is an aged, but very active comrade named Cyril Smith in Walsall who has built contacts among several veteran Communists and who is actively advocating in the Communist Party of Britain an annual lecture in honour of Don Brayford. There have also been branches in Bilston where Fred Hammond played an important part in the AEU during and after the war. There have also been branches in Smethwich and Oldbury. But finally I will mention Rowley Regis where Jim Westwood was a Labour councillor who became a Communist. George Johnson, Charlie Johnson Charlie Moore and Carlo Picirelli were all active in a constituency which included the Mary Macarthur Institute, now having been taken down brick by brick will be rebuilt at the Black Country Museum. It is necessary that some of these comrades put down in writing their experiences. Like those of our 2nd World War heroes who saved us from fascism and are now being belatedly recognised, I have suggested that GCSE pupils should take down their stories and also University students looking for a thesis should interview these people, and among them will be Communists.
I possess lists of all members of the CP dating from the late fifties from the following branches, Cannock, Dudley, Halesowen, Oldbury, Pelsall, Rowley Regis, Smethwick, Stourbridge, Walsall, Wednesbury, West Bromwich, and Wolverhampton. When I pass on they will go to the Wolverhampton Archives with the rest of my papers, but it ought to be possible to hold a conference to bring these comrades together, before we all pass on.

RACHAEL OUR QUEEN OF SPORT.
Another important letter arrived this week. It was from Rachael HeyhoeFlint,  ex-captain of our women’s cricketers and now PR and PA to Sir Jack Hayward. Her letter was short and sweet. I’ll quote it. ‘Thank you very much for you lengthy communication. I shall pass it to Sir Jack; he is away on a peaceful cruise! Don’t mention the cricket!! Best wishes. Yours sincerely.
It was indeed a lengthy communication and I think I’d better start at the beginning. My piece, ‘I Love Arsene Wenger’ was the story of my 70 years as an Arsenal supporter and fifty years as a Wolves fan.
Today we are in danger of losing our football clubs to foreign owners. As a Communist I favour the local ownership clubs, and as it happens, both Arsene Wenger and Sir Jack Hayward appear to agree with me. But both my favourite clubs could well fall to predators. Arsenal have ever since the 1930s been controlled by the aristocrats of capitalism, merchant bankers , and although Arsene Wenger has said that there is no danger of the club being taken over, he admits the possibility exists. Wolves have been owned ever since 1990 by Sir Jack Hayward, who was born within hailing distance of Molineux and supported the team as a boy. He is a fiercely patriotic man even banning foreign owned cars on his premises. His money not only built the fabulous new stadium, but also saved Wolves from extinction. But times
move on and Sir Jack wanted to be released from the burden of the day to day running of the club. He first offered the club to someone who would invest something like £40million in the club. There proved to be no takers, so dropped his asking price to £20million This has brought an offer from Graeme Souness who insists that his finance comes from English sources. But the offer seems to have been refused by the present management despite the fact that fans, former players and perhaps the present players regard it as the best way to restore Wolves to their former glory. But for me, the key question is, would Sir Jack allow Wolves to be sold foreign capitalists? And my guess is that he would not.
Coupled to this main question is the question of whether modern football boots are responsible for the outbreak of broken toes which never occurred in the days of Billy Wright or Alex James because their toes were protected by a steel toecap covered with leather. Until modern players are protected by a similar toe cap of modern light weight steel or plastic, it seems to me that the carnage will continue. Arsenal have already lost Robin van Persie for the rest of the season by this sort of self inflicted damage and I wonder if the problem could be solved by football boot rooms experimenting with new types of boots and asking local bootmakers to produce them.
So those were my two main themes in my long letter to Rachael. It would seem, however, if Sir Jack is still on his peaceful cruise, he has not yet made up his mind whether to accept the Souness offer. With regard to the cricket, I offered condolences to Rachael, which she reciprocates, although we have recently had some success in the World Cup games and the Aussies are now being beaten by all and sundry, so perhaps all is not lost.
I have a personal matter to add to the above. When I first came to Wolverhampton, I used to report Wolves matches for the Daily Worker. Since I was not an accredited journalist this involved my leaving the match early, finding a public telephone box, phoning the result to London and hoping andpraying that there was not a last minute goal which would render my report worthless. Fortunately this did not occur. But I also reported perhaps the most important game Wolves ever play which was the Honved match in December1954 which Wolves won 3-2 and the winner was scored in the last minute. A report did appear in the Daily Worker the next day, but it was signed by the sports editor of the time and was of a calibre that I could not have written, especially as the night was a stormy winter one.
But there are two problems in what I have called the Molineux Stadium Mystery. The first is
that as secreary of the Communist Party in Wolverhampton if he had been coming here for the match I would have been informed and he would have stayed the night at my house, the paper not having enough money for him to stay at a hotel. Secondly, that I had to leave matches early, because the deadline for the paper passed before the match ended. And thirdly I believe the last train from Wolverhampton left before the match ended. If I ever find the time I will see if I can solve the mystery, but in the meantime, I leave it on the BLOG for other to solve, or not solve.

THE NEW RACE EQUALITY AGENCY FOR WOLVERHAMPTON.
Wolverhampton Race Equality Council was closed down in March 2003 after 35 years service to the town. It was closed by the Commission for Racial Economy on the direct action of its Chairman, Trevor Phillips. It is true that the WREC had fallen on hard times, but it should have been reformed, not closed. It has been found difficult to find a satisfactory alternative.
A new organisation has now been set up called Race Equality West Midlands. In January 2006 it began recruiting a chief executive. I have heard nothing since of the organisation. But it now appears that a chief executive has been appointed. His name is Annan Chaudry, but he appears to have no address except PO Box 3140 which would seem to be an address at the Civic Centre and a mobile phone. So I have addressed the W’ton City representative of the
Steering Group asking what has happened in the past year and seek information that I have asked for and not received. This includes a request to find an email address for Sir Trevor Phillips OBE who we want to answer the following question: Is he for the war in Iraq or is he against it. Phillips seems to have gone to ground after being appointed to the new
multi-purpose Equality body which many of us are opposed to as downgrading the question of race equality. Other things I have sought from REPW also has not been provided. For instance where are the papers of the old WREC and are they being properly preserved. In addition I have sought statistical material regarding the state of education in Wolverhampton and our Health Service, which the REPW should be providing either from its own sources or from other organisations in the city. This request I have also emailed to interested City councillors and I hope to be apprised of what has happened since 2006 and look forward to meeting Adnan Chaudry.

MRSA AND CLOSTRIDIUM DIFFICILE
We have spent much time today contacting the national Medical Officer
of Health, Sir Liam Donaldson, the British Medical Association and the
Lancet with our simple message: IN VIEW OF THE WIDELY HELD BELIEF THAT
PATIENTS WITH EYE INFECTIONS ARE MORE LIKELY TO DIE OF COMING IN CONTACT
WITH MRSA, WILL YOU PLEASE OFFER A MEDICAL OPINION REGARDING THE
ADVISABILITY OF MOVING WOLVERHAMPTON EYE INFIRMARY FROM CHAPEL ASH WHERE
MRSA WAS UNKNOWN TO NEW CROSS HOSPITAL WHERE MRSA IS ENDEMIC.
It has been announced today that 338 patients at New Cross Hospital
were infected by C.diff in the twelve months to last April. C.diff is even
more dangerous than MRSA. Between 2005 and March 2006 there were 81 cases of
MRSA reported in Wolverhampton. There were 14 cases at New Cross Hospital in
July 2006 alone. The Department of Health sent a hit squad to New Cross
ordering more than 80 different steps to be taken to tackle the bug after
which cases dropped. But deaths from both diseases are rising nationally and
the West Midlands is one of the worst area for such cases. It is to be hoped
that none of the cases at New Cross died, although we are not given this
information.
What was said last night must be repeated. The closure of the Eye
Infirmary was a personal vendetta that the Chief Executive, David Loughton,
waged and which the Board of the Trust either supported or tolerated.
Loughton was a failed executive from Coventry and adjacent trusts who
resigned before he was sacked and was then, for reasons not so far disclosed
he was taken on by the Wolverhampton NHS Trust. Defying the very dedicated
campaigners against the closure of the Eye Infirmary, he first tried to sell
the Eye Hospital for about £2million when the total debts of the New Cross
Trust were in excess of £30million. Now he has all but succeeded. But the
Campaign of the Friends of the Eye Infirmary must go on. No more pessimism
that the battle has been lost. No more hoping and praying that eye patients
will not be killed at New Cross. The Eye Infirmary must be saved. The
refusal of the Wolverhampton Medical Officer of Health, Adrian Phillips, to
reply to our request for him to give his opinion simply prepares a rod for
his own back. He must reply to the Friends and there are only three answers
that he can give. It is not safe to transfer the Eye Infirmary to New Cross,
It is safe to do so, or he doesn’t know whether it is safe or not. Not to
reply is not an option.

VANDALISM OF SCHOOL CHILDREN OF CODSALL HIGH SCHOOL COMING INTO
WOLVERHAMPTON.
It will be recalled that the good name of Wolverhampton has been
besmirched by two recent occurrences. The first was the rioting by football
hooligans in the city centre on the occasion of the match between Wolves and
West Bromwich Albion. To our knowledge none of these rioters have been
arrested and charged. This will be dealt with at a later date. The second
incident was the attack on a bus driver and general vandalism by school
children. I wrote to Mrs.Tunnicliife, the Head of the School asking why the
children had not been found and disciplined. She wrote back with a courteous
and comprehensive reason for not having done so. She says that the majority
of pupils took the bus to Wolverhampton and there were no problems at all.
Trouble came from a minority who had stayed behind and some hours later
caused the trouble. I agreed with her that the school could do nothing about
the problems under those circumstances. But I also contacted Councillor Phil
Bateman, who whatever his title, is the brains behind the Metro but whose
main mistake was to believe that a driver should have the triple job of
driving the bus, collecting the fares, and keeping order on the vehicle. I
have asked him for his solution to this problem, but I have not yet had a
reply, which is unusual, since he is usually prompt in his replies. I feel,
however, pending his reply, that enough pupils took the school bus for the
vandals to be limited to a small number and action should be possible
against them.

GETTING OUT OF IRAQ.
The idea that Tony Blair can have any influence on what happens in Iraq
is ludicrous. The fact that David Cameron supports the war in Iraq is
absurd. Our troops must be withdrawn NOW or they will come home in body
bags. That is the real situation. Bush and Blair are the real terrorists.
Congress can control Bush, but Parliament is making heavy weather of
controlling Blair. I once again ask my own MP, Rob Marris, what he is doing
to that end.

THE CLOSURE OF WOLVERHAMPTON EYE INFIRMARY
After consultation with various people who first organised the
campaign to stop the Eye Infirmary being transferred to New Cross Hospital,
I am encouraged by the general support for the thesis that to transfer the
Eye to New Cross would greatly increase the danger of those with eye
infections dying as a result of catching MRSA at New Cross Hospital. Some,
however, feel that the move is has already been made and there is nothing to
be done about it. They are encouraged by the fact that the Eye Infirmary
will occupy separate premises at New Cross, that a brand new suite of
operating theatres have been built and are already being used and that they
hope and pray that those with eye infections do not catch MRSA. This seems
to me to be defeatist. That we must find time to stop deaths from MRSA; that
the fact that the Eye Hospital has already been sold to an unknown body, but
this is said to be St. Modwen developments who already have problems with
their other purchases at Dudley Castle etc. means that there will have to be
a long term campaign to keep the Eye Infirmary separate from New Cross
Hospital and that it is the duty of medical authorities such as the
Wolverhampton Medical Officer of Health and the national Medical Officer of
Health to warn of the possibilities of the transfer not being safe. We shall
continue the campaign

ENOCH POWELL’S RIVERS OF BLOOD SPEECH.
The mystery of the white woman who gradually saw her street taken over
by black immigrants was almost a figment of Powell’s feverish imagination,
Patient research however on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the speech by
the BBC Radio 4 reporter shows that the most authoritative report of the
speech appeared in the Daily Mail of 3 February 07 by Fiona Barton.
This states that the woman concerned was a Drusilla Cotterell and she
lived in Brighton Place. This location near to Enoch Powell’s private house
in Merridale Road has long since been demolished. The Express and Star also
reported the story, stating that John Mellor, notorious supporter of Enoch
Powell and until recently a Conservative councillor in Wolverhampton said
that the police in Wolverhampton had investigated Powell’s story at the time
and says documents were stored for many years at Dunstall Police Station.
Peter Rhodes, chief reporter for the Express and Star implied that he also
had documents held in a sack he was conspicuously photographed holding.
There the story was left and we noted that we would follow the story up.
For the first time, local evidence is produced by a letter printed by
the Express and Star (Feb 20 2007) by Eunice Parry, now of Wednesfield. The
letter can, no doubt, be down loaded on the Express & Star website and here
I only want to paraphrase her letter. She says that from 1946 to 1916 she
lived, with her family at 6 Merridale Road and grew up playing in Brighton
Place where she knew very well Mrs.Cotterill. She was a bit strange but had
lost her husband during the war. She had gone to meet her husband on his
return to Wolverhampton, had waited many hours and returned home and found a
telegram saying that he was dead. Her sister, Mrs.Oliver, lived next door to
her. It was a lovely, friendly place. We played cricket and football
stuffed with newspaper.
My best friend, Colleen Moore used to put on shows of singing and
dancing. My birthday being November 3 and having an uncle in the toy
department at Beatties, I always got a very small box of fireworks for my
birthday. On May 1 we took it in turns to be May Queen and marched round
Brighton Place in front of all the parents.
A lady by the name of Miss Barker lived at 14 Merridale Rd. She owned
Alfred Barker’s Book Shop in Queens St. She was deaf but had an ear trumpet
which you had to shout down. We often got shouted at for being noisy. but
really we were a good lot of kids. At No.8 lived the three Miss Hunts who
had a gentleman visitor every week who came in with a lovely horse and trap
in which they all went out. He would never give us a ride in the trap.
Mrs Cotterill enjoyed standing on her doorstep and watching us at
play. She was a happy lady for all her misfortunes in life. I so enjoyed my
childhood living on Merridale Rd and remember the Griffiths, Olivers,Browns,
Routledges, Moores and Jones for so many happy times. End of letter.
Eunice Parry quotes so many events and people, many of whom are
probably still alive, to make it possible for any scholar to reconstruct the
life and times of Drusella Cotterill. What remains is to ask Peter Rhodes
and John Mellor to disclose any evidence they have of enquiries made at the
time of Powell’s speech.
This is, of course, the social side of Powell’s speech and there will
be some who take the view that Powell acted honourably by gallantly refusing
to reveal the name of the lady in question. Others will think like me that
his tale, complete with stories of increment through the letter box was
really a farrago of nonsense which caused immense damage to race relations
in Britain because Powell, as an intellectual made racism acceptable to many
in Britain.
Like the Iron Lady who has had her statue unveiled in Parliament this
week, and disgraced the people of Cosford by opening the Museum of the Cold
War
she and Enoch Powell are the two figures who can never be excused by us of
the Left. I have expressed the hope that Maggie Thatcher should be
permanently haunted but the spectre of Karl Marx. Perhaps I could suggest
that Enoch Powell be permanently haunted by the gentle lady he so infamously
misrepresented, Mrs.Drusella Cotterill.

THE CRIMINALITY OF CLOSING WOLVERHAMPTON EYE INFIRMARY AND TAKING IT TO NEW
CROSS.
All evidence suggests that Eye patients who contract an eye infection
do not contract MRSA because all surgery has hitherto taken place in
specialist Eye Hospitals. Evidence also shows that if Eye patients were
transferred to General Hospitals fatalities would be greater than that for
other patients.
So the fact that W’ton Eye Infirmary closes for good at the end of this
month and the premises sold means that David Loughton, the present chief
executive at New Cross Hospital will be the first to transfer eye patients
to a general hospital where MRSA is endemic. If an eye patient dies in New
Cross, Loughton will be responsible for the death of that patient.
In view of the urgency of the situation I have spent the day writing to
Loughton pleading with him to reverse his decision. I have also been
contacting the Wolverhampton medical officer of health Dr. Adrian Phillips
urging him to speed up the judgement I asked him to give on the advisability
of moving the Eye Infirmary to New Cross. He has failed to reply. This is a
serious matter because unless he has a good excuse for refusing to give a
judgment on this matter he will be guilty of collusion with Loughton who had
an appalling record of inefficiency as head of Coventry Hospital Trust and
had to resign before he was sacked. It is this reckless and inefficient
person who was subsequently appointed to head the New Cross Trust for
reasons so far unexplained.
I stated yesterday that unless there was some progress towards at least
slowing down the transfer to New Cross, I would appeal to higher bodies.
This I have done and contacted the Royal College of Ophthalmologists,
responsible for overseeing all Eye Services in the country. And finally I
have contacted the Chief Medical Officer of Health in Britain Sir Liam
Donaldson to seek his opinion on the medical effect of closing the Eye
Infirmary.
I appeal to all those who campaigned to keep the Eye Infirmary open and
collected 48,000 signatures on a petition to renew their efforts now that it
has been proved that to move the Eye Infirmary to New Cross will be
tantamount to murder which must be avoided at all costs.

THE STATE OF EDUCATION IN WOLVERHAMPTON.
With the re-opening of the schools in Wolverhampton after the half-term
break both the educational problems and also the social problems of pupil
behaviour have surfaced
My original 5 page document on this subject (BLOG 13 November 06) which was
circularised to a large number of educational and lay figures suggested a
plan for education. This was followed by another statement on the same
subject (Daily Blog No.20, 26 Jan 07) which whittled down the main issues to
two, which were put to the Department for Education and Skills as 1.Would
the African-Caribbeans in the W.Midlands find it necessary to violently
revolt before their legitimate demands for equality were recognised and 2. A
full enquiry into why some of our schools are ‘failing’ on the lines of the
one proposed above. We are now at the third stage of quizzing organisations
and people as to what sort of organisations we need in Wolverhampton to
defeat the imbecilities of the Blairites and move forward to a system of
education which will be progressive, enjoyable, and show steady improvement
on education in Wolverhampton. The first to be chosen have been Helen King
the councillor in charge of education in the city. Also two of the trade
union bodies, the NASUWM (National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of
Women Teachers) and the NUT (National Union of Teachers. Other organisations
will also be approached. If they don’t like my plans, let them write their
own.

VANDALISM BY SCHOOL PUPILS ON WOLVERHAMPTON BUSES.
As one of those concerned with the good name of the City of
Wolverhampton, two recent examples have sullied our name. The first was the
riots against the police which occurred on Jan 29 as Wolves fans attacked
the police (and the police attacked the fans) on the occasion of the local
Derby between Wolves and West Bromwich Albion. Little seems to have been
done either to arrest the rioters or to charge them, a matter we shall be
taking up next week.
The other incident was the vandalism that occurred at least twice as
school pupils vandalised buses and on at least one occasion injured the
drivers. This occurred when pupils were being taken from Codsall High School
into Wolverhampton. I reasoned that since the school knew which children
travelled from Codsall to Wolverhampton, the problem could be solved either
by the school providing a conductor on the appropriate buses or West Midland
Transport providing a conductor. I therefore put these views to the head
teacher of he school and also to Phil Bateman who pioneered the Metro
system, but made the mistake of thinking conductors could be dispensed with
and drivers play a dual role; a system which has caused trouble ever since.
I have not yet heard from Phil Bateman but the headmistress of the
school, Mrs.Tunnicliffe, explained to me that on the night of the attack on
the driver, the majority of students travelling to Wolverhampton took the
’school’ bus and that no trouble occurred. Trouble came some hours later
from students on a regular bus service which the school could not be
expected to supervise. Fair enough, but surely a tally of those who
travelled in the school bus should be able to narrow down the number of
culpable students. But I was very pleased that Mrs.Tunnicliffe wrote to me
both speedily and comprehensively.

CAMPAIGNING RESUMED
After a week-end devoted largely to history, campaigning resumed in
earnest today.
No.1 The Good name of Wolverhampton. This has been sullied recently by
two actions. The football riots in the City centre on January 29 and
vandalism on the buses by school pupils, the latest of which left a bus
driver injured. The latter has occurred on buses carrying pupils from
Codsall High School into Wolverhampton. An email has been sent to the head
teacher of the school recognising the difficulties of managing school pupils
these days, but suggesting that she is answerable to those of the public who
resent the slur on our City and, since she must know what pupils use the
buses that she informs me of the action taken by her to discipline the
pupils and what action she proposes to see that such vandalism and violence
does not recur.
The obvious action would seem to see that the buses carry a conductor
provided either by the school itself or by the bus company. We have also
contacted Councillor Phil Bateman, the man largely responsible for the
introduction of the Metro into the West Midlands, but whose mistake was to
believe that on grounds of economy, conductors could be dispensed with and
drivers carry out the dual duties. The problem is now both a local and a
national one. We believe that us BLOGGERS using this new democratic and
instant means of communications have an important role to play in taking up
such problems.
Other problems concerning South Staffs are the imminent closure of 35
homes for the elderly and disabled and a reorganisation of the maternity
services which could leave rural areas such as S.Staffs without cover.

URGENT ATTENTION NEEDED
Email address of Sir Trevor Phillips still needed. Is he against the
war in Iraq or for it? Daily death toll in Iraq accelerates.
Opinion of Medical officer of Health for Wolverhampton urgently
required as to the suitability of transferring W’ton Eye Infirmary to MRSA
ridden New Cross Hospital.
Staff and equipment moved to New Cross last month. All services
close at Chapel Ash at the end of this month.
The treachery of the Toffs. David Cameron continues to support the war
in Iraq and the Toffs of the news casting world, Paxman, Marr, Jon Snow, and
Kirsty Wark
still refuse to answer the charges that they aided Blair by not
questioning him on the war in Iraq.

THE STATE OF EDUCATION IN WOLVERHAMPTON.
Educations is under attack from all sides. From League tables so
complex no one can understand; the determination to close ‘bad’ schools and
reward ‘good’ schools; the threat of privatising our education services; the
ruse of Adonis and his pals to create Academies which will be out of the
control of local authorities; All of these things have led me to put to the
Department for Education and Skills two main questions on Wolverhampton
education.
1. Will it be necessary for black people to riot, as occurred last year in
Birmingham, to bring to the attention of the government that their
justifiable demands for equality of opportunities and treatments are not
being met.
2. That some sort of programme such as I suggest for Wolverhampton will be
necessary to establish why some schools are ‘bad’ and others ‘good’
Not only are current statistics unreliable, but relevant statistics are
not being collected. The most important of these are, ethnicity of pupils
and staff, the general population mix of the catchment area of the school
and most important of all what is the total budget of the school and where
this money comes from. My general plan involves schools, the City College
and its University, together with the private educational sector, all bodies
interested in education and the children themselves. Can all these agencies
work together to provide Wolverhampton with the best, the most enjoyable,
and constantly improving education in the West Midlands?