redrobbo

Rob's delivering leaflets for himself not the Labour Party, it's a detail that he's a Labour Party candidate. I expect the Labour Party would far much prefer him not to be delivering leaflets in Arbourthorne and be spending his time in a marginal ward. Actually, I'm still expected to deliver leaflets and canvass in marginal wards as well as deliver my own election leaflets! In reponse to Tripitaka I would just ask - would you bother to go out and vote for a candidate who wasn't even bothered to at least give you a reason to vote for them via an election leaflet? I won't show such discourtesy to my electors. I want to give them a reason to vote for me and so I will again undertake the week long slog of delivering my election leaflets. I just hope it doesn't rain that week though!

Thank you for your generous comment. I know of several councillors of different parties who are on SF, who don't reveal their identity as such. Some chose not to identify themselves because they know they'll get flack from time to time on various threads relating to council issues. Goodness knows how many times it's happened to me, e.g., pot holes, parks, school mergers, international summit, to name but a few issues where I've been asked to explain council policy or Labour Party decisions. But as a regular contributor to SF, I have chosen to get it out in the open that I am a Labour city councillor and openly debate my position and views. I sometimes get a lot of ear bashing in the process (ouch! ), but feel it is all worthwhile in order to debate issues which members of SF are clearly passionate about. We've crossed swords at times sccuxs, and I'm sure we will have differences of opinion in the future. We'll not always agree on everything, that's for sure. But it is always a pleasure to debate with you (and can I use this opportunity to add that I always enjoy your debates with Grahame! )

I seem to recall we are are close neighbours? My thanks to you all for your good wishes. red

It's too early for you to be receiving election leaflets. Nominations for candidates close at noon next Monday. After that date, candidates will be getting their leaflets printed and delivered. Have a look at the election leaflets you receive as (hopefully!) they will help you decide which candidate and party to vote for. Polling day for both the local elections (and the national referendum on voting methods) will be on Thursday 5th May. I hope you will use your vote sjwilliams.

My lumpy throat is getting so tiring, So, of the NHS its praises I'm singing, Hallamshire rang me today - "Can you see us on Tuesday?" "Yes!" said I, as I'm not malingering!

I anticipate that my nomination papers will be accepted at the Town Hall tomorrow, Friday. Today will therefore be my last day on SF until I return from voluntarily exile.

Like Strix, I always believed that there is a legal requirement for a bike to be fitted with an audible warning device, i.e., a bell. So, I've just checked up on the legislation. To my surprise, I was wrong! Link: http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=4073 Scroll down the page to the section on Bells and Reflectors.

The Libyan foreign minister can be replaced by Colonel Gaddafi. It's not the loss of support by defecting Libyan ambassadors and ministers that will bring about a regime change in Libya, but whether the Libyan army leaders change sides.

I've read the petition, but haven't signed as I don't think I have sufficient information to form a judgment on the issue. Can you explain why you referred to Lennox as a "boy" when it is clearly a dog you are referring to? I find this terminology confusing.

Thank you for your good luck wishes. My party? The clue is in my user name!

I will not take my electorate for granted. As I said in a PM to a poster tonight, every voter will get my election leaflet. It'll take a week to deliver it to approx 8,000 houses. Why bother - even more so when the opposition candidates are unlikely to deliver a leaflet for themselves and their parties? Well, I believe that the voters where I am standing again need to know what I've been doing on their behalf during the last four years that I have been their ward councillor, so that they can judge me on my record. I also firmly believe that they also need to know why I am standing for my party - so if I am elected they can also hold me to account (regardless of who they voted for, or if they voted at all). You are perfectly correct in your assessment that the voting system forces parties to concentrate on winning marginal seats - at the expense of ignoring the electorate in the 'safer' seats. Is it any wonder that voters then claim they only ever see or hear from politicians when they want their votes? And is it any wonder if the voter turnout declines? Most months I deliver leaflets to approx 200 households and then revisit the next day to see if anyone wants to meet me (their local councillor) and their MP (as we do this together) and discuss any issues they might have. All they have to do is stick the leaflet in the window and we'll knock on their door. By this means, I usually manage to visit nearly every house in my ward during my time as a councillor inbetween elections. I won my seat from an opposition party at my first election. I've retained it twice since. When I last stood four years ago, I won my seat with the second highest percentage of votes for my party anywhere in Sheffield and an increased majority. I could do nothing at all, but I believe my electors deserve better than simply treating them as mere election fodder. The starting pistol for these local elections is next Monday, when nominations close. Then on May 5th I will discover my fate by seeing what my electors make of me. My nomination papers will be handed into the Town Hall in the next day or two, after which I will be absent from SF and back on the campaign trail. At the end of this campaign, with 8,000 leaflets to deliver, I hope to have lost*! * That is lost a stone in weight!

How are you my old matey? Long time no see. Have you thought of standing for the council for your party? I was in the area having lunch with friends, and it was lovely to see you, albeit briefly. My thanks to everyone for their best wishes. It's very kind of everyone to wish me well. Edit: Well.... nearly everyone! .... You can't win 'em all!

I saw my new doc at the surgery today, Now, where do I start and what do I say? It's a bit of a bore, But my throat is still sore, My ear still hurts; this much I can relay. The swelling in my throat is hideous, To look at me would make you bilous! And you just can't snog Looking like Kermit the frog To even plant a kiss is faintly ridiculous! I can eat and swallow - they're no problem you see, (But looking like a frog is not really me!) After attempting a cough, The doc said "You're off To the hospital and take with you a sample of pee"! So I'll do as I'm told and what I can, To visit Ear, nose and throat for a scan, That's where I'll now go, See what it might show, Oh let's hope it all goes to plan! [Please note that there is a degree of poetic license in these limericks. redrobbo does indeed have an unexplained medical condition with symptoms of a constant sore throat, ear ache and a large swelling on his neck. This though should not cause to alarm to the elderly, children or any farm-yard animals. The condition is not life threatening, just annoying. Anyone resorting to renaming redrobbo kermit or making frog noises in his presence may be subject to a life-time ban on SF. No further medical bulletins will be issued as redrobbo is shortly to go into self-imposed exile - see separate thread for details].

It's ok to debate politics on SF, but I think to actually canvass for votes in an election is something the Mods would frown on. It's in that context that, just as I did in 2007, I have taken the decision to temporarily absent myself from SF during the election period. I do not want to be acccused of trying to solicit votes via my posts. It's a self-imposed exile that will come into place once my nomination papers have been accepted. But ..... I will be back!

Here's a clue .... Thank you for your best wishes by the way. red

Thank you all for your best wishes. Now, if only these posts could be translated into votes, I could be a winner?! I never expect to win over everyone steiner. But I will let you know how I got on at the count. {NB steiner is course referring to himself as being the right winger, not me! ] For the last few years running, my ward has declared first at the count. So, hopefully, you won't have to wait too long to give me your hugs - though we wait to see if they will be in celebration or commiseration? And just to add that nobikejohn and me are hoping to be able to take you on that long promised pub crawl in Derbyshire sometime later this year. Who knows, the drinks might be on me?

There's a clue in my user name! And here's another clue.... !

In answer to your question Knoxville, I receive a number of PMs from SF members on various matters, oft times seeking advice on personal matters. I often don't know these people, but try to give my help where I can. During the election campaign, I shall be delivering my election literature to 8,000 households in the ward where I am standing as a candidate. As a result, when I get home each day, I can guarantee that I shall have at least half a dozen phone messages and emails from folk seeking my help with their problems. Experience has taught me that I simply won't have the time during a hectic election campaign to respond to PMs. [in addition, I know that if I did log onto SF to check for any PMs, I would be tempted to read interestingly-looking threads and to post my views on them! ]

In keeping with a previous commitment I made on SF back in 2007, I shall shortly be temporarily absent from Sheffield Forum. This is because in the next few days I anticipate being an officially declared candidate in the local elections and I wish to avoid any possibility that my posts on SF could in any way be construed as furthering my interests as a candidate. My self-imposed exile will end at 10pm on Thu 05 May, which is the close of voting. I shall then be back on SF when, as in previous years, I shall be giving an assessment of the local election results. I shall be around on SF for a few more days yet, but once my nomination papers have been accepted by the Elections Officer, I will ask the Mods to lock this thread. Please note that I shall not be able to respond to Private Messages during my temporary absence. red

Let me remind you what you first said when starting this thread... You subsequently posted .... The reason I have twice asked for you for information on your alleged project is not because I am, as you claimed, "arrogant", but because I am a councillor for Arbourthorne ward. As you've specifically mentioned that you had a road in Arbourthorne in mind I have naturally become interested in what your "project" might be. Still, if you wish to remain quiet about it and keep the information to yourself, that is your prerogative. But then maybe you've just missed up on a chance to enlist an Arbourthorne ward councillor's assistance, including investigating possible funding, for your "project". But given your reticence (and I might add, your own arrogance), we'll never know now.

Still waiting! I'm beginning to think that the OP really has lost interest in their own thread! Was there ever a "local project"?

How do you reconcile the fact that juries have been 100% sure somebody was guilty of murder - only for them to be released at a later date when in fact it was discovered they were innocent? Links: http://www.innocent.org.uk/cases/stephendowning/index.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2485830/Jill-Dando-murder-Miscarriages-of-justice.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/3038672.stm How would you feel if one of your nearest and dearest was convicted of murder and put to death, only for them to be exonerated at a later date? In fact, how would you feel if you were found guilty or murder and sentenced to death, knowing that you were in fact innocent?

Not long enough? The mandatory sentence for murder is life imprisonment. That includes anyone convicted of killing a loved one who is terminally ill in a so-called 'mercy' killing.

Bring it back for what crimes? Murder? Spying for a foreign country? Sheep stealing? Why bring it back? Since the death penalty was abolished, the murder rate has dropped and there are very few cases of spies being uncovered these days. Are you perhaps a sheep farmer and your flock is being rustled?

David Icke is another delusional conspiracy theorist! "Icke argues that humanity was created, and is controlled, by a network of secret societies run by an ancient race of interbreeding bloodlines from the Middle and Near East, originally extraterrestrial." Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Icke