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Mayor Ben Houchen: why Tories are winning the North
Freddie Sayers spoke to Teesside's newly re-elected Conservative mayor
There’s a stereotype of England’s North-Eastern cities as left-behind, backward-facing, clinging to a long-gone industrial past. Some Labour politicians have even tried to play up to this image too, but it could not, says Teeside’s newly re-elected mayor Ben Houchen, be further from the truth. According to Houchen, who won 73% of the Teeside vote in last week’s by-election, voters in Hartlepool and Teesside aren’t nostalgic, they are looking to the future. His ambition is to turn Teesside into the Silicon Valley of the UK.
On the Labour disconnect:
On the ideology of Teesside:
On Teeside’s patriotism
On the Teesside freeport:
On Milton Friedman’s influence:
On wallpapergate:
The people ridicule the media for concentrating on it and they ridicule the picture of Keir Starmer in the shop with his roll of wallpaper. They just think it’s a very London centric.
On the 20th of April 1968, Enoch Powell made this speech in Birmingham
You will have heard of this speech the rivers of blood but have you ever listened to it?
So listen to it and tell me that what he said has not come to pass Enoch Powell was a
Profit, but as it says in the bible a Profit is not listened to in his own land?
But all governments have ignored his Profacy why “cheap labour.”
There has never been a job that would not be done by a British worker but they wanted, paying for the work but the ideal rich employers (makes me sound like a communist but I am not) did not want to pay so got the government to get more immigrants to do that work for Penneys
But as time went on they wanted, paying they just got more immigrants in to do it and so the cycle continues.
Now listen to the speech.
On youtube
Enoch Powell rivers of blood. Full Speech
Just wondering when this centrist, “social-democratic”, outlook will dawn on Merseyside…
Great conversation from which I learnt much. It all sounds most exciting and Mr Houchen is just the fellow for the job as he exudes commitment and vision. Congratulations to him and, well, onwards!
I watched this on YT last night. Very interesting, and anything is better than Labour, as we all know.
It’s industrial policy and targeted subsidies — and it’s long past overdue. Good for them for embracing pragmatism and ditching the lunacy that only the private sector, or the public sector for that matter, is capable. As one needs two legs, so the mixed economy needs both working in harmony.
A fast and furious articulation of focused, coherent and well balanced point of views regarding economics, politics, and local constituency needs and wants ever presented by local mayor I have seen. Something NYC Mayor de Blasio will never attain nor comprehend. Mr Ben Houchen has the gifts, talents and brains for a greater good for UK’s future.
Okay; but you mostly get the party line from interviewees like this one so I think Freddie’s on to a loser trying to draw anything very insightful or analytical from figures like Ben Houchen.
Must watch it today. But why do you call it “by election”? It should be the “delayed election”.
In all the election preamble on radio and TV from the North of England I never heard grooming gangs mentioned, or the Labour parties apparent silence on the matter when it was happening. Is it all forgotten in that part of the world or edited out when raised.
The greatest analogy ever spoken was Friedman on the subject of buying gifts, which is on YouTube somewhere I’m sure.
Local Labour councils are the encapsulation of his analogy, right across the north, as well as the South. It’s a ‘red’ thing.
The final part went something like-
When you are spending money on yourself and it is not your money, then you really don’t care what it costs, or, if it is wasteful and pointless . . . Because you are not paying, the Council tax payer does that. Council Tax in Hartlepool for a band ‘D’ is about £2395, whereas in the typical South East, Conservative council, it is £1290. The poorest parts of this nation, with a population on the lowest wages, pay the highest band rate for council tax.
Labour needs to stop throwing money vanity projects and concentrate on cleaning the streets
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