MBC, Jubilee Humbugs!
June 1, 2012 by rocklifferover
First of all, apologies for the distinct lack of posts over the last few months. Family matters and a heavy workload have eaten into my time. As has a very interesting ongoing exchange of views with cllr Len Junier on Facebook. More about that in the near future.
Well, it’s the Jubilee Weekend and I hope that everyone has something fun planned. And I hope that the weather is going to sort itself out! In case the weather doesn’t put a dampener on your street party, MBC has come up with a way to ensure that the poor, recession-hit, frontline service bereft people of Middlesbrough think twice before believing that they have something to celebrate.
Now that we have a government that isn’t hell-bent on making Britain a heritage-free zone; a government that accepts that non-British residents on our shores are not offended when British people celebrate British culture or fly the British flag, the nation is ready to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee, hosting the Olympics and our part in the UEFA Euro 2012 competition.
However, our Labour council exists through the perpetuation of the myth that the Tories are evil and the cause of all that is bad. Take Labours cuts to local frontline services, they blame them on the coalition government, even though it was the direct decision of our Labour council where the cuts were to be made, with every Labour councillor voting to support the cuts. So, it comes as no surprise that MBC don’t want to see people celebrating (unless it’s done in a way that they can either control or gain credit for) at a time when they are trying to make us feel hard-done-by.
So, how does our council make sure that the Jubilee is something of a damp squib? Well, if the words of one of my Iranian neighbours, who have bedecked their house in Union Flags and bunting, are anything to go by, they apply a £340 fee for anyone wanting to apply for a road closure for a street party. And a £20 deposit for each traffic cone, lest we misappropriate them and use them as impromptu headwear. This fee will make street parties unaffordable to so many communities in our town. But then, that means we will need the council to come up with a substitute.
Meanwhile, over in Centre Square, we have MBC’s own Jubilee celebration offering. As well as broadcasting the Diamond Jubilee Concert and the Service of Thanksgiving and and Carriage Procession on the Big Screen (essentially, they’re going to put the telly on!), on Sunday we will be treated to the Big Jubilee Lunch. Quote MBC’s glossy ‘Middlesbrough in 2012′ booklet: “The aim of the Big Lunch is to get as many people as possible across the whole of the UK to have lunch with their neighbours in a simple act of community, friendship and fun. Join the town’s street party in Centre Square together with Middlehaven Community Council.”
Let’s get this straight. They are using a national drive to encourage people to have community street parties with their NEIGHBOURS, something to promote community cohesion, to market their own offering in the town centre, encouraging people to leave their own neighbourhoods and communities and eat with strangers in an area that has its own community decimated by council-enforced demolition!
This whole idea stinks. In July, Middlesbrough Mela will take place in Albert Park. The Mela is usually funded, at least in part, by money earmarked for ‘community cohesion’, although the Mela itself seems more about promoting ethnic minority communities within the town, to the exclusion of the majority, and on occasion, promoting the Labour Party to those communities. Maybe, this year, that money should have been used to promote to those ethnic minority communities within the town, the concept of the street party, of community inclusion within actual communities and neighbourhoods; real community cohesion in the centre of real communities, with people of all ethnicities coming together to celebrating together. Not some fake, concocted concept of community celebration executed under the glare of the local authorities CCTV in the town centre.
If ever there was an opportunity to promote real community cohesion, the Jubilee celebrations was it. Community cohesion money should have been used to cover the cost of administration of street parties and road closures, with community councils used to co-ordinate efforts and promote real community celebrations in every neighbourhood.
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