Coming up to the local elections all three main parties are keen to demonstrate just how green they are. However, they all appear to support the continued introduction of traffic calming, ( mini-roundabouts etc. ) which increases carbon dioxide emissions by at least 50%, likewise 20 Mph Zones ( without humps or chicanes ) which add to emissions by 10%.

The alleged road safety benefits are less than clear, heavily traffic calmed Burnley reported a 44% reduction in child deaths over the past seven years, yet Ribble Valley with minimal traffic calming also reported a fall of 42%. It would appear that traffic calming has become a TB infested sacred cow for the eco-fascist leaning groups like FoE who were originally and still campaign for its introduction.

It must be reasonable to believe that if politicians continue to introduce traffic calming, anything else they claim to do allegedly in the interest of combating global warming is little more than a marketing scam aimed at those with a lower than average IQ or just poorly educated in science.

When you consider that traffic calming encourages the ownership of large 4 by 4's in towns which further increase the potential pollution generated by traffic, and the only beneficiaries are oil companies and other corporate interests its a bad deal for the people not just the planet. Traffic calming is yet another example of politically inspired false economic growth which limits our ability to compete in the global economy.

Any government serious about protecting the global environment would be actively removing traffic calming from the streets, perhaps its time we got back to true British values as portrayed in the monolog " The Lion and Albert " as far as road safety is concerned.

Speeding can be addressed in most cases by the provision of simple flashing warning signs, but the empty speed cameras at each end of the village of Copster Green on the A59 appear to work admirably in keeping traffic to the 40 Mph limit. The relatively inexpensive measure of simply painting speed camera timing lines on the road at strategic places could also be proven to work for controlling speed without increasing pollution.

I suspect that politicians cling to their quasi-religious position on traffic calming in order to protect the raft of overpaid parasites who design such schemes. Perhaps the money spent on traffic calming could be spent more wisely and efficiently on other areas of council service or simply keeping the roads adequately repaired.

That is a well put argument but far too long for the average "blogger" to take on board. Any constructive criticism is more likely to get some stupid contribution from "Dickyhead" or similar!! The two best traffic calming measures are the so called speed cameras and the signs that light up and tell you your speed. It is nice when it says "thank you" I also like a police car under the bridge at Darwen/Blackburn boundary!!
If everyone would keep to the recommended speed limits there would be no need for any of this nonsense. Before anyone comes back and says "You are a goody goody, my answer is that I am and always have been proud of my driving record and in 50 years of driving (28,000 miles a year prior to retirement) I have not been booked for any speed offence. I am a member of the IAM and BARSA (Blackburn Area Road Safety Association since 1966 so I think I know what I am talking about. Joining these organisations is an eye opener and highly recommended

It was going to be a letter but the thought police at LET wouldn't publish it.

"In Blackburn, Liberal Democrat and Conservative candidates are not standing against each other - although party leaders insist this is a coincidence and no deal has been done"

This tells me a lot about what the Arschlöch`s in the ruling junta think about the inteligence levels of the electorate

brossen99 wrote:
It was going to be a letter but the thought police at LET wouldn\\\'t publish it.

You were not wrong my friend
They renmoved it ( and the reply) at 21:10
But your comments make a lot of sense

cllr rigby and cllr foster must think the electorate are stupid to think that it's a coincidence that in Blackburn there are no Tories facing the Lib Dem's. i hope the very people they are trying to fool kick them up the arse at the election on the 1st of may.

Cllr Johnson’s wife was out leafleting for England first yesterday, has he gone back to them? Jus seems a bit strange for some one of mixed race to help an openly racist party!

I hope Labour get what they deserve NOTHING! in Darwen. We have had 24 years of their "DICTATORSHIP" and the People in Darwen have had enough lets have a new Broom in Darwen and maybe NO Labour Councillors either, we might then have a good town as well. Can't wait for Thursday 1st May 08.

Why cant For Darwen members post under their own Names. It is disgusting that they post under the name of Dave Smith when i know he has not placed this post.
Unfortunatly for some members of For Darwen they have not got the ability to keep their mouths shut when drinking in the pub.
Leading members of For Darwen were in the Engineers pub Thursday night saying my wife was out leafletting for england First which is untrue. She was actually picking up Sam Stones daughter and looking after her.
If the members who have stated this would like to ask Sam he will put them right no problem.
A customer of the pub phoned me up and told me they were stiring things up in the Engin.
Is this the standard of councillor you want?
Last night Tony Melia and for darwen members were out canvasing Earcroft (friday) i am sure they would have noticed my wife if she was in the same area leafletting.
She was part of the party committe.
It is a joke realy as qutie a lot of the members of For Darwen are Ex supporters of BNP and Canversers of BNP.
You also seemt to have forgot that Most of the main players were full supporters of England First some who stood for EFP and leafleted and canvased for them.
All the leaflets For Darwen use are England First Leaflets they are only being allowed to use them because EFP are allowing them to do so this is because EFP have the copyrite.

Tony Melia attempted to copyrite the last For Darwen leaflet wich it strange as i designed it and most of the wording on it is mine, never mind the fact that the photographs are the sole property of my wife who is a proffesional photographer and all her pictures are covered by copyrite.
The For Darwen party have not been given permission to use any of the pictuers or information.

So lets get real Who is conning who?

Stealing my design, my ideas, my wifes photographs and attempting to steal the glory for the new Darwen Stadiun which i sorted out for the club and the council.

I can prove all the above without any problem as all the above is FACT.

Can Tony Melia and for darwen prove me wrong?

TALK ABOUT PEOPLE IN GLASS HOUSES.

Why did Melia stand in Blackburn as a Lib Dem all those times, and not just form the now supposedly "For Darwen Party" himself,why did he wait for Johnson to do it when in 2004 Johnson started the Darwen independents who fought in Sunnyhurst and Earcroft. Stangeley enough Tony Melia fought for Earcroft as a Lib Dem against a Darwen party ?

Cllr Johnson - you stated above "It is a joke realy as qutie a lot of the members of For Darwen are Ex supporters of BNP and Canversers of BNP."
As an Ex-For Darwen member, and a man who has proclaimed himself as one of the forming members of the party, were you aware that supporters of the BNP were helping you canvas.
If you did, why did you not state this at the time? Why are you only doing it now, when you have left/kicked out (depending on who you believe)?

i've had all the free food(which was very good) but i'm still undecided

There is great opposition to Labour nationally . The Labour Party is currently made up of Stalinists, Trotskyists, Old and New Labour, they themselves are a coalition. Even BwD Council administration has a former Militant Tendency member in a senior position, and for 20 years or more Labour has been appointing Labour supporters into council jobs, just as they have politicised the Civil Service, which was unheard of ten or more years ago. For parties who oppose these left wing extremists to decide not to stand against each other is a sensible step, why split the vote and put a party in power that you do not want. That is crass stupidity, when a coalition is in being – not that I am too content with them, they should appoint a better leader, someone who is ‘up front’.

We have seen Labour candidates scurrying from door to door promising house owners that their homes were to be refurbished and within months of the election Labour were Compulsorily Purchasing those same homes. That happened at Redearth and they allotted the land to a Labour Party donor to build an Academy – he was investigated as part of the Cash for Honours enquiry, but of course the Director of Public Prosecutions declared there was no evidence of corruption, as could be expected. He was not made aware that houses had been corruptly declared unfit by council employees, who were not qualified and a Public Enquiry reversed that decision. Some home owners had accepted valuations for their homes below market value – an absolute travesty and wholly dishonest.

We see politicians of all colours taking unfair advantage (too mild a word) of the expenses available to them at the expense of taxpayers – you and me. I would suggest that the major offenders are Labour M.Ps. If you want fairness in the coming Local Elections vote anything but Labour. It would be nice to see Parliament governed by a coalition – anything but Labour.

I have said before, I am not politically aligned, there is no party which represents the middle Englishman, but I am a Democrat.

GET DAVE SMITH OUT! Who are we gonna vote for in order to remove this person.

I've never voted owt else but Labour and I'm 60 plus, but my God I've never been so unhappy with local politics.

darwen is a shambolic disgrace. the local councillors don't seem to consider voicing any concern, Paul browne excepted, who seems to be regarded as an extrovert.

Politicians? Hang your heads in shame

My thoughts exactly Big Pete !

I am going to use my vote wisely this year and to maximum effect, in order to rid us of Dave Smith.
I will be Voting for the Lib Dem candidate Piettro Sciambarella as only he will be the true voice of the people as he has had to endure intolerable hardships dealt to him by this very same Council when they bogusly claimed his house unfit for habitation and subsequently demolished it.

With Piettro in Council you can be sure he will be putting a stop to any further skulduggery from the Labour party.

Angela Lea conservative candidate won't be any use as she serves chips each evening when most council meetings are held, and after hearing all the self opinionated nonsense that she fries her customers and staffs brains , it would be sensible to carry on with her quest for the ultimate chip.

if i was still livin in blackburn or darwen then my vote would be with BNP like always!

just hope more people vote BNP, as BNP is the way forward for this country!

I see that Frank Connor is putting up again in Marsh House the area he came third in last year, though he had been a councillor for a number of years I only ever saw him on the run up to elections as he lives in the whitehall area, David and Karimah Foster the Lib Dems councillorshave a great working relationship and are both well fought of in the Darwen community not just Whiteahll so Frank wont put up there he must be living in cloud cuckoo land if he believes he can get Marsh House Back I should imagine it will be a close call between Lib Dems and the For Darwen. we are still seeing the destruction, demolition and the building of an Academy going ahead in the town centre despite the residents all opposing a building of this scale in town, Labour had virtually signed and sealed this deal before losing to the coalition, it will take a long time for these memories to fade, belive me I live in this area.

Councillor Michael Johnson wrote:
Why cant For Darwen members post under their own Names. It is disgusting that they post under the name of Dave Smith when i know he has not placed this post. Unfortunatly for some members of For Darwen they have not got the ability to keep their mouths shut when drinking in the pub. Leading members of For Darwen were in the Engineers pub Thursday night saying my wife was out leafletting for england First which is untrue. She was actually picking up Sam Stones daughter and looking after her. If the members who have stated this would like to ask Sam he will put them right no problem. A customer of the pub phoned me up and told me they were stiring things up in the Engin. Is this the standard of councillor you want? Last night Tony Melia and for darwen members were out canvasing Earcroft (friday) i am sure they would have noticed my wife if she was in the same area leafletting. She was part of the party committe. It is a joke realy as qutie a lot of the members of For Darwen are Ex supporters of BNP and Canversers of BNP. You also seemt to have forgot that Most of the main players were full supporters of England First some who stood for EFP and leafleted and canvased for them. All the leaflets For Darwen use are England First Leaflets they are only being allowed to use them because EFP are allowing them to do so this is because EFP have the copyrite. Tony Melia attempted to copyrite the last For Darwen leaflet wich it strange as i designed it and most of the wording on it is mine, never mind the fact that the photographs are the sole property of my wife who is a proffesional photographer and all her pictures are covered by copyrite. The For Darwen party have not been given permission to use any of the pictuers or information. So lets get real Who is conning who? Stealing my design, my ideas, my wifes photographs and attempting to steal the glory for the new Darwen Stadiun which i sorted out for the club and the council. I can prove all the above without any problem as all the above is FACT. Can Tony Melia and for darwen prove me wrong? TALK ABOUT PEOPLE IN GLASS HOUSES.

Most of that is true. However only about half of the For Darwen Party founders were ex-BNP or Ex-EFP. Some were former Lib-Dems. What is odd is why did For Darwen Party leader Tony Melia stand AGAINST the Darwen independents in 2004 in Earcroft? Why was he against an independent Darwen then - but says he for a Darwen town council now? I voted for Max last year - but I'm NOT voting for For Darwen this time - whats the point - they are just as bad as the rest of them.

Andy B wrote:
Cllr Johnson - you stated above \"It is a joke realy as qutie a lot of the members of For Darwen are Ex supporters of BNP and Canversers of BNP.\" As an Ex-For Darwen member, and a man who has proclaimed himself as one of the forming members of the party, were you aware that supporters of the BNP were helping you canvas. If you did, why did you not state this at the time? Why are you only doing it now, when you have left/kicked out (depending on who you believe)?

Andy, Quite right and a fair question. I have been waiting for some one to look at what is being stated and question the facts without just srunning people down.

I am the founder member of the FDP and that is not self proclaimed, if one remembers i was reported in the Telegraph as the founder member when i launched the party at the full finance council meeting 8 weeks before the last elections with only two members Tony and myself. We had a meeting at Darwen football club to launch the party which was also reported by the Telegraph, we also held our first membership drive at that time. As you can see the facts are there if one needs to check them.

Re your comment regarding the Bnp supporters,I did not mention it because there was no reason to mention it. The only reason it has come up is because of the actions of Tony Melia and some of the executives on the party commitee.
When we set up the FDP the number one rule was any member can follow his or her own political beliefs as the FDP is a local action party and has no involvement in national politics.
The FDP has card carrying members of the Conservatives and other political parties in their ranks which is quite right.
The FDP was set up to fight for Darwen and Darwen people regardless of who they are or what they believe, by taking out the politics we should only be left with Darwen and the problems the town has!

The main reason used by the members of the executive against me was the article in the Sun Newspaper, this is rubbish as it never mentioned the FDP and had nothing to do with the FDP.
Tony Melia supported me in the council chambers then supported our own exec months later.

What is not known is the situation with the FDP before Tony went to India.
One of the candidates said he would not stand if i was in the party and Tony told him that he would not be blackmailed and told him to go. Tony goes to India and on his return he finds out he has not got any one to stand in the main ward the FDP are fighting for.
Next thing you know is i am out and the blackmailer is in.
Make of that what you will.
The exec sent a letter to Tony using reasons for my removal yet i never had the chance to defend my self or see any of the evidence Phil Jones stated in his letter to tony.
I have the letter and will show it to any one who asks to see it but i cannot blog it.
The reason all this has come out now is because of the attacks i have recieved from some of the members of the FDP.
My position is stronger now than it has ever been, now i can vote anyway i want without being forced into following a party who are doing the opposite of what we started out to do and that is not to play politics.
There is talk now of the FDP forming a partnership with Labour.
What is that all about? power at any cost.
If that happens i will form a party to fight against any party who abuse the wishes of the people who voted for them.
I hope this answers the questions you have asked.
If i can answer you any more i will but it may have to be by private email as i do not want to be seen as running down the party i made happen.

Apolitical wrote:
There is great opposition to Labour nationally . The Labour Party is currently made up of Stalinists, Trotskyists, Old and New Labour, they themselves are a coalition. Even BwD Council administration has a former Militant Tendency member in a senior position, and for 20 years or more Labour has been appointing Labour supporters into council jobs, just as they have politicised the Civil Service, which was unheard of ten or more years ago. For parties who oppose these left wing extremists to decide not to stand against each other is a sensible step, why split the vote and put a party in power that you do not want. That is crass stupidity, when a coalition is in being – not that I am too content with them, they should appoint a better leader, someone who is ‘up front’. We have seen Labour candidates scurrying from door to door promising house owners that their homes were to be refurbished and within months of the election Labour were Compulsorily Purchasing those same homes. That happened at Redearth and they allotted the land to a Labour Party donor to build an Academy – he was investigated as part of the Cash for Honours enquiry, but of course the Director of Public Prosecutions declared there was no evidence of corruption, as could be expected. He was not made aware that houses had been corruptly declared unfit by council employees, who were not qualified and a Public Enquiry reversed that decision. Some home owners had accepted valuations for their homes below market value – an absolute travesty and wholly dishonest. We see politicians of all colours taking unfair advantage (too mild a word) of the expenses available to them at the expense of taxpayers – you and me. I would suggest that the major offenders are Labour M.Ps. If you want fairness in the coming Local Elections vote anything but Labour. It would be nice to see Parliament governed by a coalition – anything but Labour. I have said before, I am not politically aligned, there is no party which represents the middle Englishman, but I am a Democrat.

Arrrrrrrrraggggghhhh
!!! Stop lying about Redearth. And how the frack does not voting Labour at the LOCAL ELECTIONS make a difference to the make up of parliament?

Councillor Michael Johnson wrote:
Why cant For Darwen members post under their own Names. It is disgusting that they post under the name of Dave Smith when i know he has not placed this post. Unfortunatly for some members of For Darwen they have not got the ability to keep their mouths shut when drinking in the pub. Leading members of For Darwen were in the Engineers pub Thursday night saying my wife was out leafletting for england First which is untrue. She was actually picking up Sam Stones daughter and looking after her. If the members who have stated this would like to ask Sam he will put them right no problem. A customer of the pub phoned me up and told me they were stiring things up in the Engin. Is this the standard of councillor you want? Last night Tony Melia and for darwen members were out canvasing Earcroft (friday) i am sure they would have noticed my wife if she was in the same area leafletting. She was part of the party committe. It is a joke realy as qutie a lot of the members of For Darwen are Ex supporters of BNP and Canversers of BNP. You also seemt to have forgot that Most of the main players were full supporters of England First some who stood for EFP and leafleted and canvased for them. All the leaflets For Darwen use are England First Leaflets they are only being allowed to use them because EFP are allowing them to do so this is because EFP have the copyrite. Tony Melia attempted to copyrite the last For Darwen leaflet wich it strange as i designed it and most of the wording on it is mine, never mind the fact that the photographs are the sole property of my wife who is a proffesional photographer and all her pictures are covered by copyrite. The For Darwen party have not been given permission to use any of the pictuers or information. So lets get real Who is conning who? Stealing my design, my ideas, my wifes photographs and attempting to steal the glory for the new Darwen Stadiun which i sorted out for the club and the council. I can prove all the above without any problem as all the above is FACT. Can Tony Melia and for darwen prove me wrong? TALK ABOUT PEOPLE IN GLASS HOUSES.

Gosh he must have eaten a whole bunch of bad grapes.

You could not make it up, well I suppose you could Jackanori has managed to.

Jackanori Johnson strikes again, and again
Jackanori Johnson strikes again, and again

By the way he printed the England first leaflets, and his wife delivered them Moira Barratt told me she saw her.

If ‘Fed Up with Anti-Labour Propaganda’ was more concerned about political corruption which exists in all parties, Great Britain would be a better place. Corruption comes in many forms, from allowing mass immigration to secure votes, to politicians lining their own pockets. I have social democratic views, but there is no party that abides by the will of the people. Labour is a spent force and for you to infer that I do not know the difference between local and parliamentary central government is silly. What I was saying was that the U.K. would be better rid of the Labour Party from both local and central government, they are traitors to this country, that’s how the majority view them – wait for the general election.

Insofar as Redearth is concerned, Labour issued leaflets prior to a Local election inferring they would refurbish homes – some did not need refurbishment – but within months the Council were commencing seizure proceedings. Labour should learn that you can kid some of the people some of the time, but you cannot kid all of the people all of the time. The people of Darwin will not forget the insincerity of Labour councillors and they were told so at the time. Politicians MUST obey the electorate.

Sour Grapes Earcroft, You are obviously a FDP member. I was on the commitee with others who like me have also left.
I know of four people who live near Max who have left because of what was happenong.
My husband did not print the leaflets they were photocopyed in Darwen by a company, Sam Stone did 200 extra copys for Mark Waring ( who he grew up with ) because he ran out.
My husband collected them for him as he has a Key for Sams office.

EFP delivered them Friday and Saturday.

Where do the sour grapes come in to it?

After the way Phil Jones and Mel treated him because they lost the last election was disgusting.
I was involved in the last elections and i can tell you all the work for the leaflets was done by Michael i did all the photographs and we delivered in all the wards.

Mel and Phil lost because they were in the pub drinking when we were all out leafletting, Tony Melias own sister in law refused to do any more leaflets for phil because she was out and he was in the pub.

We could have stoped this years leaflets because we own the copyrites on most of the leaflets the FDP published, they even use Michaels personal friend the printer who would not have printed them if we had told him not to because of the copyrite.

Remember, all the connections with EFP are true, that is why the three main leaders of the EFP were at the after election party in the Engineers pub.

The main election advisor for EFP
Peter Rushdon was the overseer at the count for Phil Jones during the last election, it was him that called for the recounts for the FDP twice.

Befor you start calling names why dont you prove us wrong?

You cant but we can prove what we say is the truth.

Michael stopped going to meetings with the FDP and stopped doing anything for them because he was disgusted with the way the party was going.

The FDP started playing politics with National Parties. Max was not happy with it nor was Michael, the final insult was when Tony left his seat with the FDP in council to sit with Colin Rigby and David Foster.

The FDP was suppose to be a Darwen Action party and it has become nothing more than a subdivision of the Conservatives.

Michael will answer any questions asked of him on this subject and he will do it in front of Max and Tony. Lets see who is full of stories then!

I can assure you he will rip them to bits with nothing but the truth and he will bring people who were there as whitnesses.

Lets get a public meeting arranged to resolve this issue, They can bring their proof including the proof he did not see re the complaints Phil Jones put in his letter.

If they will not do that come to the George and we can do it in front of Max, let's see what the locals have to say because they are sick of the backstabbing the FDP are doing to michael.

This must be why they have been challenged in the George on more than a few occasions and Moir Barratts daughter was one of the people to challenge Max in Public.

So no this is not sour grapes it is a case of the truth hurts some people!! Then again they should have shut up and stopped trying to make out they are clever.

I hope they dont win a single seat in Darwen then it will show them for what they are power at any price merchants.

The only thing i will say is Max is in it for the same reasons as Michael and i know he is not happy with what is happening.
If you ask him he should tell you the truth. If he denies it then he will have to explain it to Michael because they both know the truth.