{"id":687,"date":"2021-05-09T17:46:11","date_gmt":"2021-05-09T17:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lancashireloominary.co.uk\/index.html\/?p=687"},"modified":"2021-05-10T17:37:00","modified_gmt":"2021-05-10T17:37:00","slug":"northern-weekly-salvo-293","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lancashireloominary.co.uk\/index.html\/northern-weekly-salvo-293","title":{"rendered":"Northern Weekly Salvo 293"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Northern Weekly Salvo<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Incorporating \u00a0Slaithwaite Review of Books, Weekly Notices, Sectional Appendices, Tunnel Gazers\u2019 Gazette <\/em>and Northern Umbrella. <\/em>Descendant of Teddy Ashton\u2019s Northern Weekly <\/em>and Th\u2019Bowtun Loominary.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Published at 109 Harpers Lane Bolton BL1 6HU email: paul.salveson@myphone.coop<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Publications website: www.lancashireloominary.co.uk<\/strong><\/p>\n

No. 293 May 10th<\/sup> 2021 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Salveson\u2019s half-nakedly political digest of railwayness, tripe and secessionist nonsense from Up North. Sometimes weekly, usually not; definitely Northern. Read by the highest and lowest officers of state, Whitmanites, weirdos, misfits, steam punks, yes women, no men, gay Swedenborgians, cat-spotters, discerning sybarites, bi-guys, non-aligned social democrats, \u00a0pie-eaters, tripe dressers, nail artists, self-managing VIMTO drinkers, truculent Northerners, grumpy Norwegians, absurd Marxists, sleepy Hungarians, members of the clergy and the toiling masses, generally. All views expressed are my own and usually nobody else\u2019s. Official journal of the Station Cat Improvement Network, Pacer Dining Club, Station Buffet Acceleration Council and the Campaign for a North with a capital \u2018N\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us.\u201d \u2013<\/em><\/strong> Jo Cox, maiden speech in House of Commons, June 3rd<\/sup> 2015<\/p>\n

General gossips <\/strong><\/p>\n

We live in interesting times all right, and challenging ones. The election results across England, Scotland and Wales send so many different messages, though none of them are particularly good ones for Keir Starmer.<\/p>\n

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Where now for left-behind towns? Or is it Labour that’s left behind?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He should go. His sacking of Angela Rayner was mean-minded and counter-productive (though now being spun as just a change in jobs). She is the sacrificial lamb for Starmer\u2019s own failings as a leader. When many are saying that Labour has lost trust with the Northern working class, Starmer responds by dumping the most high profile Northern, working class woman in his shadow cabinet. I feel very, very angry. I’m not saying this from a knee-jerk leftist position, scorning ‘Blairite’ Starmer. We need a bit more ‘Blairism’ if it means Labour can win, but it needs a vision that meets the needs of today, not 1945, and not the 1990s. We need to move on from these silly ‘Blairite’ insults which mean nothing to people outside the Left.<\/p>\n

The areas where Labour did well were no thanks to Starmer \u2013 above all Mark Drakeford\u2019s Welsh Labour, Andy Burnham in Greater Manchester and the mayors in Liverpool City Region, West Yorkshire \u00a0and London.<\/p>\n

While the two regional parties standing in Hartlepool didn’t make an impact, Bob Buxton of the Yorkshire Party came third in the West Yorkshire mayoral elections with a very respectable 58,851 votes. Mick Bower, standing in Sheffield City Region elections, came third with an even higher percentage vote. The North-East party won four seats on Durham County Council and 17 out of 22 seats on Peterlee Town Council.<\/p>\n

In this issue of The Salvo<\/em> I reflect at greater length on a possible solution to Labour\u2019s \u2018Northern Question\u2019. I argue that the solution doesn\u2019t lie with a bit of re-branding, nor even a new national leader (though we certainly need one) \u00a0\u2013 but a radically devolved \u2018Northern Labour\u2019 which can develop its own identity and its own policies that can win back support. Apologies to non-Labour readers, but there is a good argument for democracy as a whole which says we need a strong opposition. One other point \u2013 Labour didn\u2019t do badly because it was too \u2018right-wing\u2019. I don\u2019t think people really knew what wing it was, but retreating to a comfortable Corbynite world isn\u2019t going to solve anything.<\/p>\n

By Pendle Hill at Clarion House<\/strong><\/h5>\n

A very good place to go and reflect on current politics is the wonderful Clarion House, on the side of Pendle, up above the former textile powerhouses of Burnley and Nelson. It was set up by the Independent Labour Party over a century ago and its full name is Nelson ILP Clarion House.<\/p>\n

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Sue at Clarion House, near Nelson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The \u2018Clarion\u2019 was the socialist newspaper run by Robert Blatchford in the 1890s which spawned lots of spin-offs, above all the Clarion Cycling Club, which is still very much alive today with sections across the country. There were several \u2018Clarion Houses\u2019, mostly in Lancashire, Yorkshire and Cheshire where cyclists and walkers could visit at the weekend. The Nelson house is the last of a long heroic line. Although not open for inside catering you can get a mug of tea and a Mars bar and sit outside on the comfortable picnic tables. It was good to see the \u2018memorial bench\u2019 for Denis Pye who loved this place, and we enjoyed some demanding back rides to the tea rooms back in the 1980s. Clarion House is one of the very last physical reminders of that ethical socialism which swept the North of England in the 1890s and early 1900s.<\/p>\n

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Lancashire’s fair face: Clarion House is just to the left of the picture<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Inside, there are pictures of the early Labour leaders like Keir Hardie as well as local heroes and heroines like Selina Cooper who helped forge Nelson into a centre of socialist politics and culture. The philosophy of that \u2018socialism with a Northern accent\u2019 was summed up in the words of William Morris \u2018Fellowship is Life\u2019. That reminds as true as ever, and the early ILP\u2019s linkage of region, class and community has a lot to offer the modern day Labour movement. Clarion House will be fully open from May 23rd<\/sup>, on Sundays. It is well worth a trip – and enjoy a walk around Pendle while you\u2019re here. Maybe Keir Starmer might like to visit.<\/p>\n

Taking us to Rivington<\/h5>\n

An equally delightful place to Pendle is Rivington. It doesn’t have a socialist tea room though the Villege Green’s cafe, in the former Unitarian church hall, comes near.<\/p>\n

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A special run for local community stakeholders, thanks to Diamond Buses. We made a slight deviation to Rivington Hall…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It gets thousands of visitors (even over the last year) but it is decades since it has had a bus service. Thanks to South-East Lancashire Community Rail Partnership, with funding from Community Rail Network, Cross Country Trains and Horwich Town Council, it now does. It operates every Sunday and Bank Holiday, running as an extension to the half-hourly 575 from Bolton to Horwich, operated by Diamond Buses NW (part of Rotala). The CRP is exploring other possibilities in neighbouring areas for integrated rail\/bus links.<\/p>\n

Welsh lessons for Northern Labour<\/strong><\/h5>\n

I\u2019m writing this from the perspective of the North of England, and my particular place in it \u2013 Bolton. The results within the region, but also in other parts of the UK, have some important messages for progressive politics in the North. A number of things are clear:<\/p>\n