Labour’s last laugh over the Glib-Dems

THE FRIDAY THING: IT should not have come as a surprise to any local politicians that the Liberal Democrats were up to dirty tricks in the recent council by-election in Royton.

Dirty tricks is one of the hallmarks of the party - just ask David Cameron and his Collision government cronies in London.

Anxious to win the by-election (it’s a long time since they won anything, except perhaps the odd tea towel in the Mayor’s reception tombola), the ruse of the nasty party this time was to put together an election document that looked as though it had come from Labour leader Jim McMahon.

You can just imagine the Lib-Dem comic opera lot tee-heeing as they put their document together including a very clever and really like a genuine (not) message that read: “A message from Labour Council boss Jim McMahon”.

So proud were they of the infantile wheeze that they circulated over 4,000 of the little comics to the unsuspecting folk of Royton South. Fortunately, the good folk of Royton were too smart to be taken in and Labour gathered 938 votes to the Lib-Dems feeble 221.

With Labour and the Lib-Dems getting cosy in Westminster, perhaps it is time for Jim McMahon to have a word in Ed Milleband’s ear, alerting him to what he would have to deal with if he copied Cameron’s example and teamed up with the nasty party. With Ed Balls, Labour surely has enough troubles of its own...


IT is difficult to know what the world’s billion-plus Catholics think of the new Pope. The arrival of Pope Francis was certainly an odd occasion; odder even than a British royal wedding.
First of all he was not replacing a pontiff who had died but Pope Benedict, who had retired.

An Argentinian, the new Pope is accused by some of being involved in repressive acts in his homeland that saw hundreds, possibly even thousands of men and women simply disappear during waves of strife.

He denies any connection with junta in his homeland and will have an overwhelming number of Catholics all over the world entirely on his side. Whether Pope Francis, unlike some of his predecessors, will finally make some effort to get to grips with sexually abusive priests remains to be seen. Action is long overdue.


FINAL WORD: We have heard more than enough of people being denied the right to wear a crucifix at work or being denied the right to celebrate their Christian faith, but there has been a new and sinister twist.
Graphic designer Jamie Haxby applied for a job at a hotel in Essex but was told that he could not have a job because he designed religious leaflets for his church and was a Christian.

He was told that he could not have a job because he would upset the atheists working there.

Imagine the scene if any other faith had been involved in this kind of conversation.