Mayoral and General Elections 2017

[corium]

Not the house I'm thinking of. The one I'm referring to is up Longhurst Lane, roughly opposite the memorial park.

[Howard]

...it's one of my neighbours who seems to buy a job lot of random flags & fly them.

@corium Is that the house at the top of Lower Fold? I always like to see what the "Flag of the Day" is!

[andy+kirsty]

I hope Wragg has a humiliating defeat.

Small minded little englander that 'earns' £74k, still lives with his Mum and voted to cut disability benefits.

He has voted to cut school funding which leaves all schools in the local are much worse off - www.schoolcuts.org.uk

He hasn't responded to a great many enquiries or requests for support from friends and neighbours.

For those who share this view search Facebook for GetWillyOut or WomenAgainstWilly

[Condate]

If it's the blue flag with the gold 3 wheatsheaves & the sword it's one of my neighbours who seems to buy a job lot of random flags & fly them. Never knew this was the Cheshire flag.

That's the one
http://abcounties.com/flags/2012/01/01/cheshire/

[corium]

I was pleased to see a Cheshire flag flying in Mellor at the weekend. I don't know why, or by whom, but it was a very welcome sight.

If it's the blue flag with the gold 3 wheatsheaves & the sword it's one of my neighbours who seems to buy a job lot of random flags & fly them. Never knew this was the Cheshire flag.

[Howard]

How rude!

Good job there are no moderators about. Oh! Wait....

@Harry Flag it and another moderator will look at it. I have actually had a couple of my 700+ posts bumped 

[andrewbowden]

Well, I'd like Marple and all the lost territories of former Cheshire restored to a re-formed Cheshire yes. I know that Stockport and several other places were County Boroughs before 1974, but I never thought that was a good arrangement. Personally, I go to Chester far more often that Manchester, as there's no real reason to visit Manchester; there's just no relevance to the place as far as I'm concerned. If I want something I can't get locally, I'll go to Chester (which I think of as the County Town), or Macclesfield, or Crewe, or Nantwich, or even Buxton before considering Manchester. It might as well not exist for most purposes. I don't think Marple, or many other places on the periphery of what's called 'Greater Manchester' are linked tightly (or indeed loosely) to Manchester and a great many people see themselves as from Cheshire, or Lancashire etc.

Obviously, other people see things  very differently.

I was pleased to see a Cheshire flag flying in Mellor at the weekend. I don't know why, or by whom, but it was a very welcome sight.

I hate to break it to you, but historical Cheshire was nothing more than an arbitrary construct.  Like most counties of its day, and of modern day, it was simply a division of land created for organisational and administrative reasons and for the purpose of taxation.  There is nothing particularly special about it other than its age.  It just made sense a thousand years ago.

Now we could continue to organise our administrative system based on what Edward the Elder thought was a good idea in 920.  Or we could base it on what makes sense now.  Things have moved on a lot since then.  Stockport itself is a large place - the population of Stockport is greater than that of Chester.  And it's growth, and that of other towns locally, is linked to Manchester.

[Harry]

You might be stuck in 1974 but the rest of us live in 2017 and Chester has absolutely no relevance whatsoever to Greater Manchester.

How rude!

Good job there are no moderators about. Oh! Wait....

[Rcsprinter123]

Chester, a tourist destination which is at least an hour's drive and inaccessible by public transport, and has nothing like the same range of facilities and attractions, when everything we need is 30 minutes away by train.

There is a direct train every hour between Stockport and Chester, and more which are the same journey time if you connect at Crewe.

[Howard]

Well, I'd like Marple and all the lost territories of former Cheshire restored to a re-formed Cheshire yes. I know that Stockport and several other places were County Boroughs before 1974, but I never thought that was a good arrangement. Personally, I go to Chester far more often that Manchester, as there's no real reason to visit Manchester; there's just no relevance to the place as far as I'm concerned.

Our major transport links are to Manchester; our council co-operates with the surrounding MBCs, not Chester; people shop in Stockport, Manchester and other areas of the city; and I would wager that a far higher proportion of Marple residents work in Manchester (or Greater Manchester) than Cheshire.

You might be stuck in 1974 but the rest of us live in 2017 and Chester has absolutely no relevance whatsoever to Greater Manchester.

[Dave]

Obviously, other people see things  very differently.

Yes Condate, we do!  Surely the vast majority of us see ourselves as part of Greater Manchester, because we work in Manchester, we shop there, we go to sports events, concerts,  theatres, cinemas there.  I can't imagine why anyone would want to trek over to Chester, a tourist destination which is at least an hour's drive and inaccessible by public transport, and has nothing like the same range of facilities and attractions, when everything we need is 30 minutes away by train.

[Condate]

Am i right in my theory that you'd like us to be ruled from Chester instead?  Like in the old days?  I went there once.  It was a nice place but I am not sure what connection it really has with Marple.  Besides, there's no such thing as Cheshire County Council anymore.  That was abolished in 2009 or something.

Like it or not, we along with other towns in the area, are tightly linked to a major city called Manchester. 

Well, I'd like Marple and all the lost territories of former Cheshire restored to a re-formed Cheshire yes. I know that Stockport and several other places were County Boroughs before 1974, but I never thought that was a good arrangement. Personally, I go to Chester far more often that Manchester, as there's no real reason to visit Manchester; there's just no relevance to the place as far as I'm concerned. If I want something I can't get locally, I'll go to Chester (which I think of as the County Town), or Macclesfield, or Crewe, or Nantwich, or even Buxton before considering Manchester. It might as well not exist for most purposes. I don't think Marple, or many other places on the periphery of what's called 'Greater Manchester' are linked tightly (or indeed loosely) to Manchester and a great many people see themselves as from Cheshire, or Lancashire etc.

Obviously, other people see things  very differently.

I was pleased to see a Cheshire flag flying in Mellor at the weekend. I don't know why, or by whom, but it was a very welcome sight.
 

[Dave]

I am not willing to vote for a party that wish to undo the vote of the British people.   

The British people voted to leave the EU. The Libdems are not proposing to undo that.

Libdem policy is that the the British people (either in a referendum or via their elected representatives in parliament) should have a say in what kind of relationship the UK should have with the EU in future.  The Tories want to deny us that - if they have their way, every one of the 27 countries left in the EU will have their own vote on the new relationship between the UK and the EU - except the UK! It's beyond bizarre and it's deeply undemocratic. 

As for the mayoral election, the experience in London has demonstrated beyond serious doubt that in a  big conurbation an elected mayor can really get things done in a co-ordinated and effective way.  It makes no sense for the ten metro boroughs in Greater Manchester to be doing everything separately.  As Andrew says: 

Thatcher made an error when she abolished the Greater Manchester Council ( along with similar councils in London, West Midlands and more).  It left our major cities voiceless.  London got its Mayor in 2000.  It has made a difference there.  With the right mayor, it will here. 

Meanwhile, Condate writes:

this is not Greater Manchester

The screens, nurse, the screens...........   

[JMC]

Well I won't be voting in the mayoral election. I'll be out of the country, but if I were not, I'd still either not vote, or spoil the ballot paper, probably by writing "no mayor wanted here", or "this is not Greater Manchester".  I think it's an absolute disgrace to have a mayor for the fictional (except in a purely legalistic sense) Greater Manchester and the sooner the mayor and for that matter the Greater Manchester Combined Authority are abolished the better.

As for the General Election, let's see who the candidates are. If the awful Lisa Smart stands for the Lib Dems, I might have to vote for Mr Wragg, just to help keep her out. I heard her at the hustings last time and I think I'd vote for almost anyone else to keep her out based on that (which is all I have to go on as far as her specifically is concerned).  Ideally, I'd like to see an independent candidate win, as I don't believe the present party system is acceptable. Any system where an MP votes according to what his or her party wants, regardless of personal beliefs is far from democratic.

Lisa Smart has confirmed she is standing in the election. Wragg is but not heard who the Labour or Green or other candidates are yet.

2015 UKIP candidate Darran Palmer is backing and campaigning with Wragg and Tory as per his party stance on 'vote for your local Brexit candidate' 

[andrewbowden]

Well I won't be voting in the mayoral election. I'll be out of the country, but if I were not, I'd still either not vote, or spoil the ballot paper, probably by writing "no mayor wanted here", or "this is not Greater Manchester".  I think it's an absolute disgrace to have a mayor for the fictional (except in a purely legalistic sense) Greater Manchester and the sooner the mayor and for that matter the Greater Manchester Combined Authority are abolished the better.

Am i right in my theory that you'd like us to be ruled from Chester instead?  Like in the old days?  I went there once.  It was a nice place but I am not sure what connection it really has with Marple.  Besides, there's no such thing as Cheshire County Council anymore.  That was abolished in 2009 or something.

Like it or not, we along with other towns in the area, are tightly linked to a major city called Manchester.  And that city and it's surrounding areas have been sorely lacking a strong leader.  Someone who has accountability to the people to make the city and it's suburbs.  Someone who can plan public transport, health services, have housing plans.  Someone to provide the joined up thinking the area has lacked.    Cos let's face it, Westminster isn't going to stand up for us all.

Thatcher made an error when she abolished the Greater Manchester Council ( along with similar councils in London, West Midlands and more).  It left our major cities voiceless.  London got its Mayor in 2000.  It has made a difference there.  With the right mayor, it will here. 

I will be voting with pride.