UKIP leader Nigel Farage called to justify his statement about British jobs and EU membership

Following a heated exchange between South West MEP Graham Watson and UKIP leader Nigel Farage MEP during a BBC debate this weekend in which the UKIP leader stated that ‘not one single British job depends on EU membership’, Graham Watson has called on Farage to justify his statements.

“Quite frankly Farage is deluded about the impact that leaving the European Union would have on the United Kingdom. 3.5 million jobs depend on our trade with other EU states,” said Graham.

“To pull out now would not only leave us isolated, but we would have to continue to comply with EU regulations – over which we would have no say – in order to export our goods!

“Instead of standing by a fax machine waiting for the next directive or regulation from Brussels, we are in the room leading the debate and making the key decisions. To sit on the sidelines as spectators would be sheer folly.

“UKIP need to stop pulling the wool over people’s eyes and set the facts straight as to what exactly EU membership withdrawal would mean to UK people. Higher mobile phone tariffs when travelling abroad, no access to free healthcare provision under the European Health Insurance Card and no stonewall guarantee that UK citizens could travel, work or study in Europe freely. With so many jobs and so much money through trade at stake, now is not the time to be playing Russian roulette with Britain’s economic recovery.”

(from a press release)

(image: Nigel Farage: Some rights reserved by Euro Realist Newsletter)

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Love Local Food: the social enterprise in Exeter has some vacancies

Exeter’s Love Local Food people have got a couple of jobs going, so if you fancy doing something community-based and are passionate about local food then check them out and forward them to any other interested parties – it could be just the thing you’re looking for!

Love Local Food is a social enterprise running a mobile local food shop in Exeter with many educational activities; courses and visits.

They have received a Big Lottery Local Food Grant and are now looking for staff to join their team.

Vacancies are for: Project Manager; Education Officer; Administrator; Local Food Cook and Driver/Sales Person.

For job descriptions, applications and other details, pop along to the Love Local Food site

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Remember the trouble at the Royal Mail before Christmas? When postal workers were protecting their jobs and your service. We have a story from a Communication Union Worker from West Park Delivery Office, Plymouth, about the shenanigans that can go on during a dispute, from the horse’s mouth…

When heading into work on a Saturday morning in October I could never of imagined the events that were about to unfold in my delivery office – West Park, Plymouth.

We were due to take our third day of local strike action on the following Monday so relations with management were tense, but on the upside, togetherness among the workforce was very strong.

Our union rep Alastair Sinclair had earlier in the week been called to a dismissal interview based on his attendance. Alastair had taken eight days sick in nine years. Given the low level of this sickness and the fact that many of us (including me) had far worse records we were confident that he would also be given a second chance.

After about 10 minutes on my sorting frame on that Saturday morning the buzz came around that Royal Mail had sacked our rep. At first there was a feeling of complete disbelief. Because of the fact that Alastair had been given a period of notice by the company our rep stood in the middle of the office sorting while knowing that he had been sacked.

In perhaps the most unified moment I have seen in my 29 years in Royal Mail almost as one the whole office marched out of the door and onto the gate. We were out because Royal Mail had taken a cheap shot at our rep, we were out because we knew Alastair could have sold us out, called off our local strike and protected himself, but he chose to put us first. We were out defending our friend and we were out because we knew if Royal Mail were able to sack our rep with no comeback then none of us were safe.

The acting DOM came to the picket line and asked us why we were out and was told in no uncertain terms ‘We are out in support of our rep’.

Soon after, Branch reps arrived as did Chris Webb our Divisional Rep. Chris got us all together and took our terms of the return to work and said that he was waiting for a senior manager to arrive before negotiations started.

In a twist of fate the manager sent by Royal Mail was the one who had dismissed Alastair – safe to say we gave him a polite welcome!

After about two hours of negotiating we were presented a return to work proposal by Chris Webb. Our rep’s appeal was to be held within seven days and the union had secured a national rep to assist Alastair. Chris then delivered a speech that even when I look back now makes the hairs on my neck stand up. There and then we gave our branch a mandate for more strike action and we agreed that the local action would remain in place on Monday and as much as it was needed going forward.

The month or so between the appeal and the result seemed like an age. With Christmas fast approaching we wanted a result. Without anyone actually saying it we all knew that another walkout was on the cards if Alastair was not given his decision before Christmas.

The office held several more meetings with the branch keeping us updated and upbeat. We sent a petition to Adam Crozier and the regional manager telling them more strike action would take place if justice wasn’t done and everyday we maintained contact with Ali to keep his spirits up.

We also took more local and national strike action in between this time making management aware that as well as supporting the our national union we were out on the street for Alastair.

Coming into the last week before Christmas was the most intense that I have ever known. The whole office was looking out for the special delivery to Ali (so we’d know his decision was on the way).

Then the time finally came. I was sat at home on the December 23 and I got the following text from a colleague: ‘justice is done Ali Sinclair is back’. I jumped out of my chair and almost gave my partner a heart attack.

The next day the atmosphere in the office was electric. Management were very low profile, with their heads down while banter, cheering and chanting took place all morning. I will go as far as to say it made our Christmas.

In between Christmas and New Year, Alastair was returned to work and we formed a guard of honour and clapped him back into work.

Despite all their millions and against all the odds, the reps had kept their promise and got our leader back.

I would like to thank Tony Bouch, Doug Lillicrap and in particular Chris Webb for their support and leadership. We know that hours and hours of work went on behind the scenes and we are proud to be represented by these guys.

If your office or workplace ever faces the same then you must stand and fight. I am proud to think that I played a tiny part in a piece of history for our office.

West Park DO will never be the same. Galvanised by victory and inspired by the fact that we took them on and won.

Never, ever has going to work felt so damned good.

CWU Member
West Park Delivery Office
Plymouth

• How relevant are unions in the modern world? Comment below, please

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On a day when the lack of Devon Job Centres in rural communities has been highlighted, Plymouth Sutton MP Linda Gilroy will speak about how Plymouth is doing, jobs wise, in the recession.

It’s going to be an upbeat speech, by all accounts, and it will focus on ‘the role of the Department of Work and Pensions in supporting those seeking work, she will also discuss the role of the Department as an employer itself in the city. Plymouth has a high proportion of public sector workers, including many who work for Job Centre Plus’, says her website.

“I want to use my speech to highlight those things that have worked and to identify areas where further help is needed,” she said.

The debate will begin at 7pm in Westminster Hall and can be watched live via the Parliament Website or through the BBC Democracy Live website.

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Katie Marie‘s in yesteryear again this week, although now she’s getting techy, pining over a four-track tape recorder

Thanks ever so if you check out last week’s article and gave us your thoughts on everything ’80s, glad it made you think back to all things good (and brightly coloured in many cases! lol).

But thinking back to the good old days certainly made me start to think about when I first started getting into music, and indeed songwriting – which led me on to hunt out this little fellow:

Yes, my very first ever ‘proper’ recorder! A trusty Fostex X-26 four track tape recorder. Which certainly brings back a lot of memories! I can still remember seeing this in a second-hand music shop in Torquay and it was £120… and although I was silly skint, I really, really wanted it! lol

I had a real crappy job at the time, I know most jobs are pretty crappy but I was a cleaner and I had to spend most of my time cleaning toilets for hardly any money. But after spending many weeks saving like mad I eventually saved up enough money to go off and buy it! (yay!)

As soon as I got my pay check I was straight off down to the music shop – but when I got there someone was trying it out and seemed like they were going to buy it.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!

I hovered around inside the shop hoping they would put it down and walk away. Then after about 10 minutes I heard the guy say:
‘Hmm, it seems like a good four track, but I’ll have a think about it’

Yes!! No sooner had he walked away from it I was there waving my money around at the bloke who owned the shop saying: ‘That four track tape recorder!! I want it!!’ Looking back, I should have played it cool and tried to get it cheaper, oh well.

You probably wouldn’t believe the amount of use this little tape recorder has had. I pretty much recorded everything I did and when I found this up in my parents’ attic I also found a huge suit case crammed full of tapes! lol

I use to live in a caravan and I can remember when I was recording drums I use to dangle a really shitty mic over the top of the kit, and because I was so limited for space I had to press record on the Fostex, then go out the door, round the side of the caravan and climb through the window to get behind my drum kit! Then when I’d finished recording I’d have to climb back out the window, go through the front door and press stop lol Mad. It’s really funny as most of the tapes I’ve listened to so far that have drums on you can hear me clambering in and out of the window!!

Loads and loads of great memories, think I got my money’s worth out of it!

• Check out Katie Marie on MySpace, or on her website.

• If you’re in a South Devon band, or if you’re a singer/songwriter and would like your tunes to be played on Acoustic PM, send us a message through the Acoustic PM Myspace pofile or post your CDs to: Acoustic PM, Soundart Radio, Dartington College of Arts, Totnes, Devon, TQ9 6EJ

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Opening paragraph of the week goes to the Herald Express (but of course!) for this pearl of wisdom: ‘If squirrels were cats, one little furry Paignton grey squirrel would be down to eight lives after being rescued from an extractor fan by firefighters.’

Hmm, where to start? Well, Stan from Torbay does a pretty good job with his comment on thisissouthdevon: ‘If squirrels were cats then there would not be any squirrels and the headline would read “Cat extracted from fan after 999 call” ‘.

The terminally soppy will be pleased to know the fluffy squirrel escaped unharmed – much like in one of those old Tufty Club adverts. (His chum, Willy Weasel, wasn’t so lucky. He got twatted by an ice cream van.)

Watch commander Steve Anderson said: “The squirrel leapt on my face and on to the glass conservatory below and on to the ground. Then he was off.”

Straight into Ed Chester’s Otterton Mill cooking pot no doubt. Yum!

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You know how it is when all the cupboards are bare, and you’ve got so many projects you want to pursue but for a little lolly (that’s money to you). We know that feeling only too well. Well, here’s some funding opportunities that have come across our desk

Funding Stuff
Global Music Company supporting music education and encouragement
The aim of this foundation, set up by EMI records, is to support projects that encourage education, in particular for young people, in all aspects of music. Bursary (£5000) and general awards up to £2,500. www.musicsoundfoundation.com

Heritage Lottery funds: Young Roots; Townscape Heritage initiative; Your Heritage. www.hlf.org.uk

Arts Council – Grants for Arts. Activities that benefit people or that help artists and art organisations to carry out their own work. Minimum grant is likely to be £200 and the largest in the region £200,000. www.artscouncil.org.uk

Funding for skate park projects
Gravity Engineering Ltd, a manufacturer of concrete and steel skate parks, is looking to sponsor new skate park projects with donations towards funding of up to £5,000 per project: http://www.gravityparks.co.uk/

Free Website Offer for Your Partnership or Community Group
The Devon Towns Forum is offering all of Devon’s Community Partnerships and Community Groups the chance to apply for a free Website and Training Package worth over £600: info@devontownsforum.org.uk

The Co-operative Community Fund
Community groups, voluntary groups, self-help groups, community charities or local branches of national charities are eligible to apply for grants of between £100 and £2,000. www.co-operative.coop/membership/Community-Fund/

South West Loans Fund
The South West Regional Development Agency (RDA) has announced the launch of a new £10m South West Loans Fund which is now available to help growth-oriented business with viable business plans, as part of the drive for economic recovery. www.businesslink.gov.uk/southwest

Greater Dartmoor LEAF
Greater Dartmoor LEAF is a new publicly funded organisation which has been set up to identify and fund environmental and innovative projects and businesses which will increase the future prosperity of the wider community, within the Greater Dartmoor area of Devon. www.greaterdartmoorLEAF.org.uk

The Future Jobs Fund
The Future Jobs Fund is a new initiative, which will help to generate jobs for those in greatest need, particularly young people, and also in areas of high unemployment. This aims to create 150,000 jobs providing real help for young people and who face significant disadvantages in the labour market. http://www.dwp.gov.uk/futurejobsfund

The Big Lottery Fund and Channel 4s’ The Secret Millionaire have teamed up to give viewers a chance to access funding worth £1 million in grants of between £300 and £10,000. http://secretmillionaire.channel4.com/fund_info.shtml

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Devon County Council is up to win £30,000 for its Renewable Energy for Devon scheme in the local authority section of the famed Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy 2009, which take place in London on Thursday, June 11.

The RE4D scheme (the catchy little monica for Renewable Energy for Devon) muscled its way into the finalist position with the claims of an impressive 109 renewable energy installations in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and community organisations, and a further 18 in domestic properties.

With the creation of 55 jobs, and a further 16 safeguarded through the scheme, you’d think there’d be more crowing about the scheme, which has provided £0.25m in grants and helped secure £0.81m of other funding.

RE4D was launched in 2006 to create jobs and reduce the county’s carbon footprint, and it aims to stimulate demand and build up capacity. It seems to have gone some way with that – to date the figures show a total of installed capacity of over 2 MW, avoiding around 1,300 tonnes/year of CO2 emissions.

Other finalist in the local authority category is Kirklees Council, Huddersfield, for its free-for-all insulation programme.

posted by Cptn

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•This is a new regular column on the adventures of Geoff Clams

On an impossibly sunny and happily recent Thursday, it so happened that I caught the local premiere of John Tomkins’ new feature-length movie, Like an Angel, at Torre Abbey’s Spanish barn.

John is a multi-skilled composer, singer and film-maker from Torquay who, along with his partner Kirsty Symonds, was hosting this special World First screening in aid of Leukemia research. After collaborating on a slew of online videos John and Kirsty (also a singer/songwriter) offer up this, their latest collaboration; a swashbuckling love story that was filmed in and around Torbay and which spans 500 years. The screenplay was written by John himself, who also filmed, edited, produced, funded and scored the picture.

It had been a day of trials. Earlier that afternoon I lost a shoe and some money in the sea and threw up my lunch, all in the space of an hour. In the morning I had left the house early, but had since forgotten all of my Paignton-based life chores and I soon found myself drifting alongside the baked shores.

I was slowly walking to Torquay but had no idea why. Like an Angel is why. An admittedly rough diamond, this film is both a love letter from its director to its leading lady and a barnstorming adventure with inventive special effects and lovable characters to boot.

John’s irrepressible energy frames nearly every shot and for the duration of the film, I was completely entertained. Here is a filmmaker who calls to one’s mind the Renaissance painters of old. A passionate artist who lives by his brush, painting in broad strokes that span the very fabric of time in this bold and beautiful tapestry of love across the ages.

Needless to say, I whistled off into the summer night with my faith in the local arts mostly restored, the film’s big questions still lingering in my mind. If I travelled into the future would my future self be able to see me? What if my future self left the future and went back into the past to see some stuff?

What if when my future self wanted to travel back to the future from the past after seeing some stuff, it arrived in the future too early? What if the other future self was still there, having not yet travelled to the past to see stuff? Would we cancel each other out or would we create two separate time lines in simultaneous, parallel realities? Could these realities exist now? Will we ever unlock them? John Tomkins is a great leading man for local film and the wider creative community should feel extremely proud to have him as their front-runner. Catch Like an Angel when it screens again. You won’t soon forget it.

Anyhow, on that very enchanting evening, I somehow managed to wrangle this here column. I’ll be here every week, spouting. My name is Geoff Clams and I live in Preston on the Torbay Coast. My day job involves designing cultural adventures for a new Buckfastleigh-based steering committee called Project Duvall. I have sat in on two meetings so far and some of the ideas that people are circulating are certainly encouraging. I also enjoy animals, films, books and some television.

Next week, I want to tell you all about some things that happened to me when I went to vote a few nights ago. It’s pretty scandalous stuff.

posted by Geoff Clams

(image: a still from Like and Angel)

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Disabled Kevin sees the election results as a clear signal that the South West doesn’t want Labour

After watching the results of the South West region elections, my reaction is the South West rejects this Labour Government and its Prime Minister, let alone the country.

I say to my friends Linda Gilroy and Ben Bradshaw MP, if I was a South West Labour MP I would actively seek the removal of Gordon Brown. Then go to the country in August, saying to my voters, that Gordon Brown was not right for the South West, I’m in tune with your fears and let me continued to be a strong voice in the next parliament!

I strongly feel if the Prime Minister is allow to muddle on until next year, David Cameron will be Prime Minister after the next election and Nick Clegg will be the leader of the opposition.

If anyone thinks this prediction is wild, just look at the results of the European elections, Labour was demoted into fifth place in the South West, behind the Green Party and a terrible sixth place in Cornwall.

The South West now has two Conservative, two UKIP and one Liberal Democrats MEPs,  the message is clear: the voters believe Gordon Brown is not up to the job and the South West rejects Labour.

posted by Disabled Kevin

When I ran for MEP, Plymouth’s Evening Herald referred to me as Disabledkevin! I loved this label; I’m clearly disabled and called Kevin.

Got an opinion? Twitter #devonelection #swelection #euelection, or comment below

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Disabled Kevin asks do we know or care about local politics

Despite being a semi-professional politician, I have still not become aware of any local issues which may influence my decision of which party to vote for on June 4. Living in Plymouth I can only vote in the European elections, but still do not know what each candidate are hoping to achieve should they be elected.

Having run as a city councillor I always make sure I am on the electoral roll and this should mean I should receive at least one piece of mail detailing each parties policies, but I have only received two colourful leaflets from the BNP and UKIP, shouting about how corrupt Westminster is.

Not wanting to vote for the three main parties to register my own protest about the political strain of swine flu that some MPs currently have, who should I vote for?

Apparently, as I understand it (but I’m still not sure), UKIP want to withdraw from Europe, despite the economic cost; the BNP will deport every foreigner and so I imagine that they are going to introduce compulsory national service where everyone has to be a carer for a year; the Green Party will stop me flying to Brighton; the Socialist parties, I gather, want to go back to the ’70s; the Christian parties believe their god can save the economy; and Katie Hopkins still wants a job!

So I am gravitating towards voting for Mebyon Kernow, the party of Cornwall, because their aims seem small, Cornwall does have a unique heritage and culture which should be preserved and I want to learn An Tavas Kernewek.

posted by Disabled Kevin

When I ran for MEP, Plymouth’s Evening Herald referred to me as Disabledkevin! I loved this label; I’m clearly disabled and called Kevin.

Got an opinion? Twitter #devonelection #swelection #euelection, or comment below

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Things do get pretty heated in the political arena but it’s not often a candidate is described as a ‘greasy-haired twat’. More’s the pity, we reckon.

That’s exactly how a campaign leaflet distributed on behalf of Anna Pascoe, Lib Dem candidate for Cornwall Council elections, described Mebyon Kernow candidate Stuart Cullimore.

Apparently it was not an authorised leaflet, but “some kind of prank that’s back-fired”.

Of course, looking like the singer from a Mud tribute band shouldn’t say anything about your ability to do a job but just remember what happened to Tricky Dicky when he went on telly looking like Fred Flintstone’s sozzled father, eh?

Luckily we’d never accept that kinda mud slinging (and indeed Mud singing) in Devon. Oh, except for Linda Gilroy accusing council leader Vivien Pengelly of ‘completely losing the plot’ the other day.

And, um, Tudor Evans calling the BNP Euro candidate ‘a giant knob’ on Twitter last week.

But, y’know, other than that…

(image: Stuart Cullimore)

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