I (like other commenters) am endlessly frustrated by the adversariality of politicians, especially local politicians. I'm sorry that the LibDems continue to see the job of opposition as essentially that of trying to make Labour look bad, and equally sorry that Labour see it as important to win control of the City Council. Anyone in the least committed to democracy must understand that there is a diversity of view amongst Sheffielders and they're all entitled to have someone who will advocate for them. The current setup of no overall control is healthy, and the committee system (which I suspect many people voted for because they hoped for more cross-party collaboration; I certainly did) ought to make it easier to reap the benefits, but it's clear that there's still a hankering for absolute power and to wield the tyranny of the majority, on both sides. Local politicians do not exhibit the same venality and mendacity that some (by no means all) national politicians do, but their message to the public is still too often that the main enemies are not Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness (the last meaning lack of stable employment, not laziness) but other politicians.
The only problem is that no one can vote for no overall control! When I spoke to Tom Hunt before Christmas he said the three party administration was working well and they were getting things done together. But inevitably, come election time, they all start fighting like rats in a sack again!
The Parable of the Scorpion and the Frog comes to mind. A scorpion wants to cross a river but cannot swim, so it asks a frog to carry it across. The frog hesitates, afraid that the scorpion might sting it, but the scorpion promises not to, pointing out that it would drown if it killed the frog in the middle of the river. The frog considers this argument sensible and agrees to transport the scorpion. Midway across the river, the scorpion stings the frog anyway, dooming them both. The dying frog asks the scorpion why it stung despite knowing the consequence, to which the scorpion replies: "I am sorry, but I couldn't resist the urge. I am a Scorpion. It's in my character".
Yes completely agree with all the points you make Robin. I'm turned off when they start blaming each other because all the committees have councillors from the main parties because of the no overall control. And they share in the decision making. OK they might not always get what they want politically, but at least they have a say. Under the old Cabinet system they didn't.
A well balanced article , lots of the challenges in the area caused by the reduction in the level of local services caused by Tory austerity over the last 14 years.
Worth remembering as well that for the vital period when the political choices about the worst cuts were made, 2010-2015, the Lib Dems were in government
Thanks Benjamin. They were but as I remember it, the cuts weren't meant to carry on beyond that five years. They were meant to be a period of fiscal tightening that would come to an end. In reality they never stopped and continue to this day.
That's an interesting one, yeah; they certainly have carried on in the sense of not being reversed (to bring relevant spending back up; also reflecting that the economy never got going again as was promised/planned).
But the act of severely reducing public spending, in some areas by 20% or even more -- and the choices about which things would be cut to the bone -- were made in the 2010-2015 parliament. Often the effects have been felt on a delay, with things like youth services especially (it's only over the years that more people grow up without those services). But the big choices were made by the Nick Clegg/David Cameron coalition after 2010, and passed into law by lib dem and conservative MPs. There was no majority to take those fateful steps without the lib dems.
Thanks Nick. Glad you liked it. Yes, the last 13 years have not been kind to places like Stannington, particularly in the most deprived parts around the Deer Park flats. I suppose the question raised by the piece is do people believe that a change in government will make things better.
Sadly we have to manage down expectations as the financial situation facing a new government is so dire , but at least we get stability , long term planning and a lack of corruption .
My wife and I live in Stannington and she has mobility issues. My main concern is whether I will be able to vote at all. Neither of us can drive anymore. We use public transport or walk. In high up, hilly, Stannington, the roads and pavements can become impossible for us to use in January. So pre Christmas we applied for Postal Votes. But as of Thursday, with just one week to go to the election, they hadn't arrived. So I rang the Town Hall. I got the, almost obligatory, being cut off and having to ring back, response. But eventually a very helpful man told me the cut off date for the Royal Mail to deliver them was Friday January 12th. They didn't arrive by that date so it was back to the Town Hall on Friday afternoon. I was told new ballot papers would be issued and mailed out by first class post. They could then be returned the same way. So I had to hope that Royal Mail could get our ballot papers to us by Today or Monday at the latest. Then after we completed them we could post them and trust they will arrive at the Town Hall by Thursday. Hardly unsurprisingly I told the man at the Town Hall I don't totally trust Royal Mail to achieve this. He said in that case we can drop them off in the Town Hall. Or at a polling station on the day of the election. Which really seems to defeat the whole purpose of getting Postal votes in the first place. The weather forecast for Stannington on Thursday is sub zero overnight and close to zero during the day. Just before noon Today our Postal votes arrived. Now we have a dilemma. Can we get up to the Post Office in time to post them today? Even if we do can we assume they will actually arrive in time? Do I take a bus to get to the Town Hall before Thursday? If the pavements are ice free on Thursday do I chance tottering out to the Polling station on election day? We will have to see. As for the by-election itself I have no idea what will happen. My part of Stannington feels very much like a village. People often have a natter in the street and at the bus stop. But rarely, if ever, do we discuss politics. I will predict however that the turn out will be extremely low. So when the political gurus and pundits look in to the electoral entrails they won't really be able to deduce anything much at all. Despite that there will no doubt be claims it was a 'magnificent victory' or a 'very credible second place'. T'was ever thus but as Omar Khayyam wrote "The Moving finger writes; and having writ, Moves on ...".
Ah, I didn’t know it was going to be really cold on Thursday! In which case yes, it could be an incredibly low turnout. Glad you managed to sort a lift to the polling station out.
I live in Stannington, below the Deer Park flats, and when I was house-hunting the lovely woman I airbnb-d with up in the village was horrified to hear that I was looking at a house there. 'Drug addicts and prostitutes,' was what she said, as if I was descending into a shadowy criminal underworld, though later she confessed she'd never actually set foot in the area I now live in. There are lots of kind, law-abiding people. Interestingly enough, most of the ones I've met are long-time Tory voters (though, I think, no longer).
I've only ever once had a canvasser knock on my door, a lovely Labour woman. The Lib Dems put a lot of shiny bits of paper (does that make them non-recyclable?) through my letterbox, and they all say words to the effect of VOTE FOR US SO LABOUR DOESN'T GET IN. The description of what they stand for is generic enough I can't tell the difference between them and any other party, and I haven't noticed any particular improvement in anything at all while they've had control of the ward. Their relentless mauling of Labour as their main focus really annoys me. I'm not going to vote against Labour. I'd love to have someone to vote FOR. But I don't think anyone can really make anything better until there's more money available, and that seems to be past praying for.
Sorry - you asked which way I'd be voting, and I forgot to answer. Probably Labour. Possibly Green - a forlorn hope, maybe, but how is a movement to grow and gain traction if none of the people who believe in it will support it for fear of wasting their vote? Not Lib Dem, because I like a party to stand for something other than 'let's rubbish the other side.' Never Tory.
Thanks Joanna. I think places like Deer Park often get a reputation that is then difficult to shift. The council have actually spent quite a lot of money on them recently, although it supposedly took a lot of lobbying by residents for them to do so. I think the Lib Dems will probably win in Stannington but Labour will do much better than last time. In Hallam later this year it all depends on where the Conservative vote goes. If enough Tories vote for the Lib Dems they could take the seat back.
Politics no longer deals in ideology. Image, brand, soundbites, and yes, saying we're better than the other lot are the mainstays of the modern era political party. The exceptions are single issues, such as Independence, leaving the EU, saving the planet. I used to groan when people said 'Politicians, they're all the same'. Nowadays I find it hard to disagree.
I agree it’s easy to get turned off by party politics but I believe it’s our duty to try to make an informed decision. Yeah, elections are messy but I would hate to not have them!
Overall a good article. Just as a point of contention unless I read the part wrong, it implied that Lewis Dagnall doesn't support public control of the buses even though during his candidacy for selection for mayor he was arguing for public ownership.
Thanks Paul. Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that Lewis wasn't also proposing bus franchising. Yes, you're right that public control is a definite policy priority for all Labour politicians in Sheffield from the mayor down (and Lewis did also propose ownership in his mayoral campaign).
If you think that the area round Deer Park flats is deprived you ought to get out more.The decision taken to vote Nick Clegg out led to the O'Mara scandal.Local transport is a problem.
Hi Ron. I get out and about quite a bit and I’d say the social housing in Lower Stannington feels fairly deprived. Maybe not as much as some other areas but it’s definitely one of the most deprived parts of Hallam I would say? I reckon Winn Gardens is the only other estate like it in the area. In terms of O’Mara, I don’t think you can blame voters for that. They weren’t to know he was totally unsuitable. His successor, Olivia Blake, hasn’t had a bad word said against her, whether you agree with her politics or not.
I don't live far from Deer Park and I have a very close relative who lives there. I don't want to get in to a 'what's the worst place to live in Sheffield' argument. But Deer Park is hardly the Sheffield Equivalent of the South Bronx. Anyone, like me, who was raised on a Council Estate will know that the overwhelming majority of people who live there are good decent folk. But in every estate there are always a few anti social elements. I have lived through Tory, Labour and. Coalition Governments and none of them has been able to change that mix. Of course they have said they would. But they never have and I doubt they ever will.
After many years in Sheffield Central under Paul Blomfield MP, the new boundary put us in Hallam. Looking forward to more coverage closer to General Election.
When Supertram was being planned it was mooted that it would go to Stannington. Locals campaigned to stop that happening. I hope they are rueing that now.
Try Firshill Crescent for deprivation Dan- the difference between the left hand and the right hand side is stark-Hallam is one of the better off constituences in the country and Winn Gardens isn't part of it.I have no affinity for any particular party as for O'Mara he had Labour party support.
Good writing but untrue to say that Hallam is the only straight fight between Labour and Lib Dem. Cambridge is. In the 2015 election the only ray of sunshine for Labour was the 9 seats they took back from the Lib Dem’s.
I (like other commenters) am endlessly frustrated by the adversariality of politicians, especially local politicians. I'm sorry that the LibDems continue to see the job of opposition as essentially that of trying to make Labour look bad, and equally sorry that Labour see it as important to win control of the City Council. Anyone in the least committed to democracy must understand that there is a diversity of view amongst Sheffielders and they're all entitled to have someone who will advocate for them. The current setup of no overall control is healthy, and the committee system (which I suspect many people voted for because they hoped for more cross-party collaboration; I certainly did) ought to make it easier to reap the benefits, but it's clear that there's still a hankering for absolute power and to wield the tyranny of the majority, on both sides. Local politicians do not exhibit the same venality and mendacity that some (by no means all) national politicians do, but their message to the public is still too often that the main enemies are not Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness (the last meaning lack of stable employment, not laziness) but other politicians.
The only problem is that no one can vote for no overall control! When I spoke to Tom Hunt before Christmas he said the three party administration was working well and they were getting things done together. But inevitably, come election time, they all start fighting like rats in a sack again!
The Parable of the Scorpion and the Frog comes to mind. A scorpion wants to cross a river but cannot swim, so it asks a frog to carry it across. The frog hesitates, afraid that the scorpion might sting it, but the scorpion promises not to, pointing out that it would drown if it killed the frog in the middle of the river. The frog considers this argument sensible and agrees to transport the scorpion. Midway across the river, the scorpion stings the frog anyway, dooming them both. The dying frog asks the scorpion why it stung despite knowing the consequence, to which the scorpion replies: "I am sorry, but I couldn't resist the urge. I am a Scorpion. It's in my character".
Yes completely agree with all the points you make Robin. I'm turned off when they start blaming each other because all the committees have councillors from the main parties because of the no overall control. And they share in the decision making. OK they might not always get what they want politically, but at least they have a say. Under the old Cabinet system they didn't.
A well balanced article , lots of the challenges in the area caused by the reduction in the level of local services caused by Tory austerity over the last 14 years.
Worth remembering as well that for the vital period when the political choices about the worst cuts were made, 2010-2015, the Lib Dems were in government
Thanks Benjamin. They were but as I remember it, the cuts weren't meant to carry on beyond that five years. They were meant to be a period of fiscal tightening that would come to an end. In reality they never stopped and continue to this day.
That's an interesting one, yeah; they certainly have carried on in the sense of not being reversed (to bring relevant spending back up; also reflecting that the economy never got going again as was promised/planned).
But the act of severely reducing public spending, in some areas by 20% or even more -- and the choices about which things would be cut to the bone -- were made in the 2010-2015 parliament. Often the effects have been felt on a delay, with things like youth services especially (it's only over the years that more people grow up without those services). But the big choices were made by the Nick Clegg/David Cameron coalition after 2010, and passed into law by lib dem and conservative MPs. There was no majority to take those fateful steps without the lib dems.
Thanks Nick. Glad you liked it. Yes, the last 13 years have not been kind to places like Stannington, particularly in the most deprived parts around the Deer Park flats. I suppose the question raised by the piece is do people believe that a change in government will make things better.
Sadly we have to manage down expectations as the financial situation facing a new government is so dire , but at least we get stability , long term planning and a lack of corruption .
My wife and I live in Stannington and she has mobility issues. My main concern is whether I will be able to vote at all. Neither of us can drive anymore. We use public transport or walk. In high up, hilly, Stannington, the roads and pavements can become impossible for us to use in January. So pre Christmas we applied for Postal Votes. But as of Thursday, with just one week to go to the election, they hadn't arrived. So I rang the Town Hall. I got the, almost obligatory, being cut off and having to ring back, response. But eventually a very helpful man told me the cut off date for the Royal Mail to deliver them was Friday January 12th. They didn't arrive by that date so it was back to the Town Hall on Friday afternoon. I was told new ballot papers would be issued and mailed out by first class post. They could then be returned the same way. So I had to hope that Royal Mail could get our ballot papers to us by Today or Monday at the latest. Then after we completed them we could post them and trust they will arrive at the Town Hall by Thursday. Hardly unsurprisingly I told the man at the Town Hall I don't totally trust Royal Mail to achieve this. He said in that case we can drop them off in the Town Hall. Or at a polling station on the day of the election. Which really seems to defeat the whole purpose of getting Postal votes in the first place. The weather forecast for Stannington on Thursday is sub zero overnight and close to zero during the day. Just before noon Today our Postal votes arrived. Now we have a dilemma. Can we get up to the Post Office in time to post them today? Even if we do can we assume they will actually arrive in time? Do I take a bus to get to the Town Hall before Thursday? If the pavements are ice free on Thursday do I chance tottering out to the Polling station on election day? We will have to see. As for the by-election itself I have no idea what will happen. My part of Stannington feels very much like a village. People often have a natter in the street and at the bus stop. But rarely, if ever, do we discuss politics. I will predict however that the turn out will be extremely low. So when the political gurus and pundits look in to the electoral entrails they won't really be able to deduce anything much at all. Despite that there will no doubt be claims it was a 'magnificent victory' or a 'very credible second place'. T'was ever thus but as Omar Khayyam wrote "The Moving finger writes; and having writ, Moves on ...".
Ah, I didn’t know it was going to be really cold on Thursday! In which case yes, it could be an incredibly low turnout. Glad you managed to sort a lift to the polling station out.
I can come and give you a lift to the polling station, if you'd like. I'd be happy to.
Thank you so much for your kind offer. But we have accepted a similar offer already so we won't need a lift. But thank you anyway.
Any time. I'm glad you've got it sorted out.
Thank you, Dan.
I live in Stannington, below the Deer Park flats, and when I was house-hunting the lovely woman I airbnb-d with up in the village was horrified to hear that I was looking at a house there. 'Drug addicts and prostitutes,' was what she said, as if I was descending into a shadowy criminal underworld, though later she confessed she'd never actually set foot in the area I now live in. There are lots of kind, law-abiding people. Interestingly enough, most of the ones I've met are long-time Tory voters (though, I think, no longer).
I've only ever once had a canvasser knock on my door, a lovely Labour woman. The Lib Dems put a lot of shiny bits of paper (does that make them non-recyclable?) through my letterbox, and they all say words to the effect of VOTE FOR US SO LABOUR DOESN'T GET IN. The description of what they stand for is generic enough I can't tell the difference between them and any other party, and I haven't noticed any particular improvement in anything at all while they've had control of the ward. Their relentless mauling of Labour as their main focus really annoys me. I'm not going to vote against Labour. I'd love to have someone to vote FOR. But I don't think anyone can really make anything better until there's more money available, and that seems to be past praying for.
Sorry - you asked which way I'd be voting, and I forgot to answer. Probably Labour. Possibly Green - a forlorn hope, maybe, but how is a movement to grow and gain traction if none of the people who believe in it will support it for fear of wasting their vote? Not Lib Dem, because I like a party to stand for something other than 'let's rubbish the other side.' Never Tory.
Thanks Joanna. I think places like Deer Park often get a reputation that is then difficult to shift. The council have actually spent quite a lot of money on them recently, although it supposedly took a lot of lobbying by residents for them to do so. I think the Lib Dems will probably win in Stannington but Labour will do much better than last time. In Hallam later this year it all depends on where the Conservative vote goes. If enough Tories vote for the Lib Dems they could take the seat back.
Politics no longer deals in ideology. Image, brand, soundbites, and yes, saying we're better than the other lot are the mainstays of the modern era political party. The exceptions are single issues, such as Independence, leaving the EU, saving the planet. I used to groan when people said 'Politicians, they're all the same'. Nowadays I find it hard to disagree.
I agree it’s easy to get turned off by party politics but I believe it’s our duty to try to make an informed decision. Yeah, elections are messy but I would hate to not have them!
Even the single issues seem to be moving targets, based not on principle but on what they think the voters will be swayed by on any particular day.
Overall a good article. Just as a point of contention unless I read the part wrong, it implied that Lewis Dagnall doesn't support public control of the buses even though during his candidacy for selection for mayor he was arguing for public ownership.
Thanks Paul. Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that Lewis wasn't also proposing bus franchising. Yes, you're right that public control is a definite policy priority for all Labour politicians in Sheffield from the mayor down (and Lewis did also propose ownership in his mayoral campaign).
If you think that the area round Deer Park flats is deprived you ought to get out more.The decision taken to vote Nick Clegg out led to the O'Mara scandal.Local transport is a problem.
Hi Ron. I get out and about quite a bit and I’d say the social housing in Lower Stannington feels fairly deprived. Maybe not as much as some other areas but it’s definitely one of the most deprived parts of Hallam I would say? I reckon Winn Gardens is the only other estate like it in the area. In terms of O’Mara, I don’t think you can blame voters for that. They weren’t to know he was totally unsuitable. His successor, Olivia Blake, hasn’t had a bad word said against her, whether you agree with her politics or not.
I don't live far from Deer Park and I have a very close relative who lives there. I don't want to get in to a 'what's the worst place to live in Sheffield' argument. But Deer Park is hardly the Sheffield Equivalent of the South Bronx. Anyone, like me, who was raised on a Council Estate will know that the overwhelming majority of people who live there are good decent folk. But in every estate there are always a few anti social elements. I have lived through Tory, Labour and. Coalition Governments and none of them has been able to change that mix. Of course they have said they would. But they never have and I doubt they ever will.
After many years in Sheffield Central under Paul Blomfield MP, the new boundary put us in Hallam. Looking forward to more coverage closer to General Election.
Same here. I was in Central but due to boundary changes I will be in Heeley. Yes, we’ll be doing lots more election coverage as the year goes on.
When Supertram was being planned it was mooted that it would go to Stannington. Locals campaigned to stop that happening. I hope they are rueing that now.
I think you may have missed an MP is your list of MPs since Clegg for Hallam.
Try Firshill Crescent for deprivation Dan- the difference between the left hand and the right hand side is stark-Hallam is one of the better off constituences in the country and Winn Gardens isn't part of it.I have no affinity for any particular party as for O'Mara he had Labour party support.
Good writing but untrue to say that Hallam is the only straight fight between Labour and Lib Dem. Cambridge is. In the 2015 election the only ray of sunshine for Labour was the 9 seats they took back from the Lib Dem’s.