Mayor of Desborough called opponent a "prick" and a "sad wanker"

It's all kicking off in Desborough. The excellent NN Journal reports a walk out at last night's meeting of the town council after the mayor refused to stand down:

Last month Desborough Town councillor and North Northamptonshire councillor Bill McElhinney quit the Conservative Party after sending a message to a resident calling fellow town councillor Labour’s Andy Coleman a "prick" and a "sad wanker".

Cllr Coleman has put in a standards complaint about Cllr McElhinney, which is being looked at by NNC’s legal officer, and last night he boycotted the town council meeting along with Liberal Democrat Alan Window. [Hello Alan!]

Cllr Coleman’s three Labour colleagues attended the meeting, but after Cllr Tim Healy’s request for Cllr McElhinney to stand down was refused, the trio quit the meeting.

NN Journal reports McElhinney as saying that he regrets the comments and as complaining that the Labour group "are making as much of it as they possibly can".

He says he has put in a counter complaint about Cllr Coleman. whom he accuses of double standards in the light of his own comments about public figures on social media.

Cllr Coleman's complaint is being investigated by the legal office of North Northamptonshire Council, of which Cllr McElhinney is also a member. I'm not aware that whataboutery is a defence under the act.

The end is near for Desborough's Lawrence Shoe Factory

The former Lawrence Shoe Factory in Desborough is likely to be demolished later this year, reports BBC News.

As I can catch a bus to Desborough and it's unusually pleasant Costa Coffee from across the road when I'm feeling too lazy to walk into town, I went there the other day to photograph the buildings again – maybe for the last time. You can read about their history on the Desborough Town Council website.

There was the usual talk from North Northamptonshire Council's Reform UK leadership of "eyesores" and preventing antisocial behaviour, but there is no sign of the long-sought developer for the site, so it will become wasteland.

At least the derelict shop, which must once have catered for the needs of the workers here, will survive the coming destruction.

The Joy of Six 1458

"Sounding like a mob boss when speaking at Trump’s press conference at the weekend, secretary of state Marco Rubio told the world that the message of the Venezuelan intervention was that when this president says he is serious about wanting something, he gets it. The problem for Europe is that the one thing that this President covets above all is Greenland." Simon Nixon argues that Donald Trump’s "Donroe Doctrine" poses an existential threat to NATO and Europe.

Cliff Mitchell accuses Northamptonshire's two Reform-run councils of ignoring the reality of climate change across the county: "As predicted by climate scientists, Northamptonshire is seeing drier summers as well as wetter winters. Droughts are happening more quickly and becoming more intense. When combined with frequent winter floods, this leads to soil damage and erosion, reduced crop yields, and impacts on livestock grazing and biodiversity."

"It might seem silly or not worthy of attention to look into the Trump administration’s aesthetic decisions, all of the gold ornamentations smeared all over the Oval Office and ballrooms and Arc de Trumps, and etc, but the aesthetic is a way to make the political physically present. It’s a way to rally people’s energies. It’s a way to make it seem like things are changing and like Trump is keeping his promises when he’s actually not." Erin Thompson says Trump’s gilded White House makeover is all about power.

Robin Eagles discusses his work identifying Black voters in 18th-century elections.

"The BFI website suggests that Hell is a City is 'unaccountably overlooked; and suggests that it was ‘as important a film as Room at the Top’ ... They put this down to 'critical snobbery towards its solidly commercial director Val Guest' as well the fact that it was one of the very few non-horror films made by Hammer Studios, not known for its high-brow output." David Rudlin watches Hell is a City, which was filmed  largely on location in Manchester and Oldham in the autumn of 1959. 

Lynne About Loughborough goes in search of the town's forgotten Football League club.

Redevelopment scheme for derelict Desborough factory site falls through – again

It comes as no great shock to anyone who has followed the site's history, but the Central Co-op has pulled out of a deal that would have seen it pay £1.5m for the derelict Lawrence Shoe Factory in Desborough.

It joins Aldi and Tesco in having planned to build a supermarket there and then decided against the idea. At one time it was also expected that 40 council houses would be built on the site.

Now, reports the Northamptonshire Telegraph, the owners, North Northamptonshire Council are back to square one in their attempt to sell it.

When I was in Desborough a couple of weeks ago – I like the Costa Coffee there – the wasteland in front of the old factory was looking particularly unkempt after a summer's plant growth, and the modern buildings more derelict than when I last saw them.

The Telegraph has included a link to the estate agent's particulars in its report in case you feel like buying the site yourself.

Police look into free buffet held by Reform during Corby by-election

Woke up this morning,
Found Reform UK had provided me with the material for another blog post:

Northamptonshire Police are reviewing the circumstances surrounding a free event co-hosted by a Reform UK election candidate in Corby, at which members of the public were supplied with a 'generous and tasty' buffet.

Lee Duffy, who already represents Lloyds ward on Corby Town Council, is Reform UK’s candidate in October 9 election for the vacant Lloyds and Corby Village seat for North Northants Council (NNC).

The by-election for the seat had been triggered by the resignation of Corby Reform UK councillor Robert Bloom after serious racism allegations.

To read more about the buffet, which was put on at a pub in the town, see the report in the Northamptonshire Telegraph.

Reform Corby councillor resigns after alleged racist tirade

Robert Bloom, a Reform UK member of North Northamptonshire Council, has resigned his seat after allegations of a racist tirade against a neighbour.

The Northamptonshire Telegraph says of Bloom, who was elected for the Lloyds and Corby Old Village ward in May: 

A neighbour told this newspaper that he shouted the word 'n*****' at her repeatedly, said he would set the far-right English Defence League on her and told her there'd be 'black body bags'.

The Telegraph goes on to report:

The detailed allegations have been put to Cllr Bloom’s representative who said he did not deny any of them. He said: "He is standing down as a councillor. It has obviously all got a bit too much for him."

A Reform insider told this newspaper that the public should be reassured that Cllr Bloom had no links with the EDL, a defunct far-right Islamophobic group led by Tommy Robinson – real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.

It was a tall order to be more obnoxious that Northamptonshire Conservatives, but Reform looks as though it's up to the task.

Decision to sell Desborough site was taken behind closed doors

It turns out that the Gladstone Street site in Desborough is one of five being put up for sale by North Northamptonshire Council.

Kate Cronin broke the story in the Northamptonshire Telegraph:

The sale of five strategic sites owned by North Northamptonshire Council was agreed without members of the public or press able to listen to the discussion.

NNC’s ten-strong all-Conservative executive met at Corby Cube yesterday (Thursday, June 8) to talk about the sale of the sites across North Northamptonshire. But the item was heard in closed session because the authority said it related to the council’s financial or business affairs.

Only executive members were able to discuss the item – with no scrutiny from backbenchers or opposition members. 

Given Northamptonshire Tories' way with council finances, I'm not sure I'd let them order the teas and coffees without the public present. And this secrecy is bound to unnerve residents in Desborough and beyond.

Because I have taken a shine to this Desborough site, the Northamptonshire Telegraph report inevitably describes it as an 'eyesore'.

North Northants Tories whipped to vote themselves a 10 per cent increase in allowances

Members of North Northants Council have voted for a 10 per cent increase in their basic allowance. Each of the authority's 78 councillors will now receive £14,000 per year, and some special allowances will increase by a greater percentage.

This has not gone down well with the staff of this Conservative-run authority. An anonymous employee told the Northamptonshire Telegraph:

"I haven't had what I would call a decent payrise in years. I'm not unique in this of course, many private sector people haven't too. That alone should make it clear that we are in the same boat. So to see our political leaders even having a debate about how much more money they should be getting at a full council meeting was, frankly, a kick in the stomach.

"Since we all joined up on first 1 April 2021 (trust me, many officers wish it was an April Fools joke too!), people have been jumping ship. They've had enough of the lack of support, lack of opportunities and the arrogance of, in particular, the executive, who are choosing vanity projects to get their faces in the press, over ensuring the council is supporting its communities and staff."

North Northamptonshire is one of two unitary authorities set up to replace the old county council, which effectively went bankrupt in 2018.

The same meeting voted to increase North Northamptonshire's number of councillors from 78 to 99.