Put down the TV remote and have a vote

THE FRIDAY THING: I CAN safely say I am a big fan of Oldham Council leader Jim McMahon.

He has a rare quality, not seen in Oldham for a considerable timeL: vision. A vision of what Oldham can be and, hopefully, what Oldham will be.

I, for one, believe it.

But I do question Jim’s assertion that he has no time for Oldham’s armchair critics and his plea for these critics to pack up and move out.

If Jim had lived in Oldham for as long as many of his so-called “armchair critics” and put up with years, if not decades of broken promises and visions of great and glorious things to come — that were never more than a pipedream - then maybe he would understand why local people are in “believe it when we see it” mode.

Metrolink, which I have supported since it was first mooted, will be finished eventually, giving Oldham back its streets and highways, free of the clutter of endless fences and frustrating diversions.

It will be interesting to see, too, how many folk respond to Jim’s plea for Oldhamers to decide which of the 600 services currently provided by Oldham Council they would most like to see continue.

It is Oldham’s own “We’re in it together” moment, and all Oldhamers - even Jim’s armchair critics - should put down the TV remote for a minute and give Jim and Oldham Council a list of their priority services.

It’s a great opportunity for Oldhamers to play a part in creating the new Oldham we can afford, and I hope huge numbers will take advantage of it.

This is a critical time for the borough: we can’t imagine how the town centre will look when we have a cinema, a training hotel and possibly leisure areas in which we can sit and watch the world go by.

Yorkshire Street is also in need of a complete overhaul, which must include a much tighter control on charity shops, money-lenders and takeaways, with assistance for businesses that add something positive to the new-look centre. It can’t only be at night that this main artery of the town centre comes to life.


FINAL WORD: A new prince is born and the nation emits a unanimous “Aww” which echoes around the globe. There are of course pro-royals and anti-royals among us but could anyone not appreciate the loving warmth and togetherness of William and Kate (suddenly Katherine, by the way) and wish them and their first-born child health and happiness?