Politics heads in different direction

THE FRIDAY THING: WHEN pugnacious Warren Bates wins a seat on Oldham Council for UKIP, and Joe Fitzpatrick resurrects a political career that had died in the wake of court action that cost the political career of Phil Woolas, then we know something pretty startling (not to mention horrifying and more than slightly smelly) has crept out of the ballot box.

Council leader Jim McMahon was quick to assert that last week’s election’s results had done huge favours to the local Labour party, increasing its hold on Oldham Council with the comfort of 45 councillors in the 60 seats.

UKIP has certainly made inroads into local politics and is certainly in a splendid position to have a major impact in the general election next year. And while the new party made inroads, the Lib-Dems looked to be on the way out. They lost four seats - the price paid for the madness of wanting to build a new secondary school in Diggle instead of Uppermill, the latest of many blunders by the party (especially the Saddleworth chapter, which has been reading from the wrong page in the wrong book for ages).

But not all the casualties were Lib-Dems. Labour lost the experience and political skills of John Battye, one-time leader of Oldham Council and as sharp a political operator as you can get.

Warren Bates, John’s conqueror, grinning on the front page of Monday’s Chronicle, said: “I will get this town back up and moving”. But does that mean forward or backwards?

Perhaps the best news to come out of the election was that the odious Nick Griffin, of British National Party infamy, was finally removed from the political stage. He will not be missed.


Whit Friday — one of the best days of the year in Saddleworth thanks to the band contest, an outdoor service and streets, cafes and bars bursting at the seams with folk from miles around — will soon be with us.

They also have a Whit Friday event in the Gloucestershire countryside during which they roll a cheese, Gouda, down a steep hill and the first person to get to the cheese when it stops gets to keep it. In previous years, health and safety rules have forced the Gloucestershire folk to roll a plastic cheese down the hill but you can rest assured, there will be no cheese rolling in Saddleworth on Whit Friday. But a few barrels of ale could be just the Friday thing...