Vote David Lindsay

As long as you do not change anything, then please feel free to copy and paste this, print it off, and distribute it far and wide. Also, please feel free to make your own Vote David Lindsay posters for windows and so on, just so long as they have the very small print at the bottom:

Vote David Lindsay

On 14th March, I was wrongfully arrested in an attempt to intimidate me out of contesting these elections. But I have not been intimidated. On 4th May, I ask for your vote for Durham County Council in the Lanchester Ward (Lanchester, Burnhope and Castleside), and for Lanchester Parish Council.

I have been brought back into active politics as a campaigner for justice for Durham County Council’s Teaching Assistants, as a campaigner against the proposed drastic cuts to hospital services in County Durham, and as a campaigner against the cuts to the public transport on which, as a disabled person, I am reliant. I was a member of Lanchester Parish Council from 1999 until I stood down voluntarily in 2013. I was a governor of Lanchester Endowed Parochial Primary School from 1999 to 2007. I was a governor of St Bede’s from 2000 to 2008. I have lived in Lanchester since the age of 13, and before that I lived from the age of four in Burnhope.

I have supported the Teaching Assistants from the start. Among other things, I secured the endorsement of their cause by several national trade union leaders in the Northern Echo on 3rd August 2016. I secured their landmark meeting with Jeremy Corbyn on the eve of last year’s Miners’ Gala. I secured the signature of Angela Rayner on their petition. And I secured the support that George Galloway expresses for them regularly on his radio programme, and routinely to his quarter of a million followers on Twitter, as well as at least once (23rd November 2016) in a letter to the Northern Echo.

I am a strong critic of Durham County Council’s incompetence. That includes the closure of the DLI Museum, the amassing of vast reserves while services have been and are being cut, the bailing out of Durham County Cricket Club despite those cuts, the mismanagement of relations with the Regional Assembly, the selling off of care homes at discounted value, the scandal of Windlestone Hall, the circumstances that necessitated the award of enormous compensation to a teacher, the substantial additional cost of the failure to pay that compensation promptly, the lavish expense of entertainment by senior Councillors and Officers, and the waste of five thousand pounds on a bus shelter that was not on a bus route.

I regard the current Labour Leadership of Durham County Council as no better than in the 1960s. The Council has awarded irregular contracts, a Council Officer has received only a caution for gazumping on land fees, a decoy candidate has been fielded in an election (watch out for that one), Councillors have been let off for failing to pay Council Tax, Councillors have failed to declare interests, Councillors have promoted their own businesses, Freedom of Information Requests have been ignored, and Opposition candidates have been denied information.

I am already working with trade unions, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Independents, to bring the whole of the Volkswagen Group’s production for the British market to County Durham after Brexit. That would include Volkswagen, Audi, SEAT and Škoda. What a contrast with a Labour Leadership that, for 32 years and counting, has merely managed other people’s poverty.

I am honoured that my Campaign Patron is Councillor Alex Watson OBE of Consett North, who led Derwentside District Council for decades. I support the re-election of all sitting Independent, Liberal Democrat and Conservative County Councillors, and the election of whoever is best placed to defeat Labour in each Ward.

#VoteDavidLindsay

Published and promoted by, and on behalf of, David Lindsay, 13 Foxhills Crescent, Lanchester, Durham, DH7 OPW.

One Does Write In Order To Be Read

On Monday, I blogged, tweeted and posted that the Durham County Hall phone number to request Nomination Papers did not work.

This morning, those Nomination Papers arrived in the post.

Silent Echo

The following letter has managed not to make it into the Northern Echo:

Dear Sir, 

Whatever our opinion of British withdrawal from the EU, it will necessitate an enormous investment in production in the United Kingdom by the Volkswagen Group (including Audi, SEAT, Škoda and several other marques). We intend to bring Volkswagen to County Durham. 

To that end, in view of the closure of the DLI Museum, in view of the amassing of vast reserves while services have been and are being cut, in view of the bailing out of Durham County Cricket Club despite those cuts, in view of the mismanagement of relations with the Regional Assembly, in view of the selling off of care homes at discounted value, in view of the scandal of Windlestone Hall, in view of the enormous compensation awarded to a teacher and the substantial additional cost of the failure to pay it promptly, in view of the lavish expense of entertainment by senior Councillors and Officers, and in view of the appalling abuse of the Teaching Assistants, we welcome, endorse, echo and reiterate the call for the election of no Labour candidate whatever to Durham County Council on 4th May. 

We further welcome, endorse, echo and reiterate the call for a Cabinet position for every non-Labour Group and for those of no Group, with the numbers made up based on their relative size. For the same for scrutiny chairs, obviously never mirroring the portfolios of their respective partisans. And for representation on each committee and subcommittee in proportion to their numbers on the authority as a whole. 

Yours faithfully, 

David Lindsay (2017 council candidate and 2020 parliamentary candidate, Lanchester)

Councillor Ted Henderson (Durham County Council, Barnard Castle West)

As has this one:

To: echo@nne.co.uk 

Cc: general.enquiries@durham.pcc.pnn.gov.uk; PCVC.Media@durham.pcc.pnn.gov.uk; strobes@private-eye.co.uk; team@order-order.com; enquiries@ipcc.gsi.gov.uk; contact@hmic.gsi.gov.uk; inquiries@ipso.co.uk; info@palestinecampaign.org; david.blair@telegraph.co.uk; peter.oborne@dailymail.co.uk

Dear Sir, 

I am the author of Operation Israel: The Rearming of Argentina During the Dictatorship 1976-1983. That is the original and definitive account of Israel’s arming of Argentina during the war with Britain in 1982. From his base in Lanchester, County Durham, the writer and activist David Lindsay is arranging for the forthcoming second edition to be translated into English and published in the United Kingdom, with a preface or foreword by a distinguished British political figure. All of this is undoubtedly known to several Israeli and other intelligence agencies. 

On Tuesday 14th March, Mr Lindsay was arrested at his home and held all day before being questioned by the Police in relation to an incident to which he had no connection, namely the sending of a threatening letter to members of Durham County Council. He was not held overnight, and he was released unconditionally and without charge. Those responsible know who they are. Let them be in no doubt: Operation Israel will be translated into English, and it will be published in the United Kingdom, thanks to David Lindsay. 

Yours faithfully, 

Hernán Dobry

Buenos Aires, Argentina

And this one:

To: echo@nne.co.uk
Cc: strobes@private-eye.co.uk; general.enquiries@durham.pcc.pnn.gov.uk; PCVC.Media@durham.pcc.pnn.gov.uk; team@order-order.com; enquiries@ipcc.gsi.gov.uk; contact@hmic.gsi.gov.uk; inquiries@ipso.co.uk; paula.henley@rcdhn.org.uk; norcross@btconnect.com; editor.norcross@btconnect.com; lee-jasper@live.com; info@obv.org.uk; gensec@momentumblackcaucus.org.uk; peter.hitchens@mailonsunday.co.uk; afshin@afshinrattansi.com; rliddlemonkey@hotmail.com; brendan.oneill@spiked-online.com; mccarthydp@gmail.com; george@galloway.global

Dear Sir,

On Tuesday 14th March, despite having been given no opportunity to accompany the Police voluntarily, the Lanchester-based writer and activist, David Lindsay, was arrested on the “grounds” of supposed similarities between his letter published in the Northern Echo on Friday 10th March, and a threatening letter allegedly sent to Labour members of Durham County Council. When questioned by the Police, he comprehensively refuted the suggestion of any such similarity. He was released without charge and on unconditional bail.

This shameful and shameless political hit job recalls the darkest days of Northern Ireland, with no dividing line between the Police, a massively dominant local political party, and a secret society bound by oaths. It is impossible to rule out an anti-Catholic aspect to this case, and impossible to ignore the fact that David Lindsay is mixed-race.

Other than the Teaching Assistants themselves, David Lindsay is their preeminent supporter. He secured the endorsement of their cause by several national trade union leaders in the Northern Echo on 3rd August 2016. He secured their landmark meeting with Jeremy Corbyn on the eve of last year’s Miners’ Gala. And he secured the support that George Galloway expresses for them regularly on his radio programme, and routinely to his quarter of a million followers on Twitter, as well as at least once (23rd November 2016) in a letter to the Northern Echo.

David Lindsay is also a powerful critic of the closure of the DLI Museum, of the amassing of vast reserves while services have been and are being cut, of the bailing out of Durham County Cricket Club despite those cuts, of the mismanagement of relations with the Regional Assembly, of the selling off of care homes at discounted value, of the scandal of Windlestone Hall, of the circumstances that necessitated the award of enormous compensation to a teacher, of the substantial additional cost of the failure to pay that compensation promptly, and of the lavish expense of entertainment by senior Councillors and Officers.

And David Lindsay is the originator of the proposal that unites the trade unions with Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Independents, to bring the whole of the Volkswagen Corporation’s production for the British market to County Durham after Brexit.

David Lindsay is the natural and obvious Leader of Durham County Council. We look forward to that happy day. Racist, sectarian and partisan hit jobs must not be permitted to prevent it.

Yours faithfully,

Adam J. Young
James Draper
Sean Caden
John Mooney
Krystyna Koseda

Accept No Imitations

As the Notice of Poll goes out, beware of decoy candidates fielded by County Durham Labour Party, the embarrassing relative that the national Labour Party pretends does not exist. The fielding of decoy candidates is one of its several dirty tricks.

Others include the award of irregular contracts, the issuing of a mere caution to a Council Officer who gazumped land fees, the letting off of Councillors who failed to pay Council Tax, the failure of Councillors to declare interests, the promotion of their own businesses, the refusal to respond to Freedom of Information Requests, and the refusal to provide information to non-Labour candidates. Indeed, the telephone number listed on the Council's website for requesting nomination papers does not in fact exist.

It is easy to laugh at the waste of five thousand pounds on a bus shelter that was not on a bus route, and that kind of thing. But the overall picture is very nasty indeed. Such are Jeremy Corbyn's Labour enemies when they are in power.

Cohen’s Assertion Is Laughable

The Observer did not print my letter, or anyone else’s, in response to Nick Cohen, preferring this. But here it is:

The fact that Jeremy Corbyn is the Leader of the Labour Party and the Leader of the Opposition is the reason why Theresa May is even talking about workers’ and consumers’ representation in corporate governance, shareholders’ control over executive pay, restrictions on pay differentials within companies, an investment-based Industrial Strategy and infrastructure programme, greatly increased housebuilding, action against tax avoidance, a ban on public contracts for tax-avoiding companies, a cap on energy prices, banning or greatly restricting foreign takeovers, and banning unpaid internships. 

Two years ago, the only politicians advocating all but one of those were Corbyn and John McDonnell, while the energy price cap, proposed by Ed Miliband, was being screamed down by the people whom Nick Cohen wishes were now running the Labour Party. Those people, including most Labour MPs, are well to the right of the Prime Minister. Cohen’s assertion is laughable that an unnamed Cabinet Minister “and George Osborne used to worry about how Ed Balls and Chuka Umunna would strike back against their austerity programme.” 

Corbyn has won two Leadership Elections as the only candidate to the left of May, opposing the austerity programme while having also opposed every British military intervention of the last 20 years, that period’s privatisation of the NHS and other public services, its persecution of the disabled, its assaults on civil liberties, its prostration to Saudi Arabia, and its demonisation of Russia. All of those have happened continuously since 1997, under the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and New Labour alike.

A Game of Fives

Here's a fun fact from the Durham Teaching Assistants' Solidarity March and Rally. Such is the distribution of the TAs by ward, and so small (contrary to what is often assumed) are so many of the Labour majorities these days, that if each TA and four others voted against Labour, then Labour would lose over 50 seats. Frankly, we can deliver those votes in far larger numbers than that. We can. We must. And we will.

Roar of the Lions

Over a thousand at the Durham Teaching Assistants' Solidarity March and Rally. Superb speakers. A promise from Ken Loach to attend the showing of I, Daniel Blake on 27th April. And a message of "unconditional support for your inspirational campaign" from John McDonnell. That raises the serious question of the precise sense in which the Labour Group on Durham County Council still purports to be anything to do with the Labour Party.

Bring Your Banners, Bring Your Voices

Pride of Lions

In itself, this can be seen as the taking of three minutes to say nothing. 

Nevertheless, “I can today announce that we are now extremely close to confirming new grading proposals which will mark a sea change from where we were previously. Watch for an update on the review being carried out of roles, responsibilities and job descriptions of teaching assistants from Leader of the Council, Cllr Simon Henig.”

We shall, Simon. We shall, indeed.

It is the Teaching Assistants themselves who have fought so very, very hard for this. The rest of us have been the ancillaries here, and proud to be so. I, for example, secured the endorsement of their cause by several national trade union leaders in the Northern Echo on 3rd August 2016. I secured their landmark meeting with Jeremy Corbyn on the eve of last year’s Miners’ Gala. And I secured the support that George Galloway expresses for them regularly on his radio programme, and routinely to his quarter of a million followers on Twitter, as well as at least once in a letter to the Northern Echo.

All credit, though, is the TAs’ own. I could not have been more privileged to have played even so small a part in their justly legendary campaign.

As we approach the County Council election on 4th May, we must all continue to provide powerful criticism of the treatment of the Teaching Assistants, of the closure of the DLI Museum, of the amassing of vast reserves while services have been and are being cut, of the bailing out of Durham County Cricket Club despite those cuts, of the mismanagement of relations with the Regional Assembly, of the selling off of care homes at discounted value, of the scandal of Windlestone Hall, of the circumstances that necessitated the award of enormous compensation to a teacher, of the substantial additional cost of the failure to pay that compensation promptly, and of the lavish expense of entertainment by senior Councillors and Officers.

Some of us are also working on an enormous proposal that will unite the trade unions with the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Independents in very stark contrast to the last third of a century, during which, even while the then Labour MP for Sedgefield was the Prime Minister for 10 years, Labour in County Durham has merely managed the poverty that its own leading figures have so conspicuously evaded.

Everything now hinges on who will be the new Leader of Durham County Council.

The Traditions In Which We Stand

Although, despite several assurances, this does not seem to have made it into print anywhere, it is a matter of record, and it will be pursued:

Dear Sir,

As the proprietor of the whole of Sky, Rupert Murdoch might do some good. We represent positions that the BBC simply ignores. 

The workers, and not the liberal bourgeoisie, as the key swing voters. Identity issues located within the struggle for economic equality and for international peace. The leading role in the defence of universal public services of those who would otherwise lack basic amenities, and in the promotion of peace of those who would be the first to be called upon to die in wars. The decision of the EU referendum by areas that vote Labour, Liberal Democrat or Plaid Cymru. 

Opposition from the start to the failed programme of economic austerity. Against all Governments since 1997, opposition to the privatisation of the NHS and other public services, to the persecution of the disabled, to the assault on civil liberties, to every British military intervention during that period, to Britain’s immoral and one-sided relationship with Saudi Arabia, and to the demonisation of Russia.

Rejection of any approach to climate change which would threaten jobs, workers’ rights, the right to have children, travel opportunities, or universal access to a full diet. Rescue of issues such as male suicide, men’s health, and fathers’ rights from those whose economic and other policies have caused the problems. And refusal to recognise racists, Fascists or opportunists as the authentic voices of the accepted need to control immigration. 

We respectfully request that Mr Murdoch identify and include representatives of the traditions in which we stand.

Yours faithfully,

David Lindsay, 2017 council candidate and 2020 parliamentary candidate, Lanchester, County Durham; @davidaslindsay

Sean Caden, Leeds; @HUNSLETWHITE

Ronan Dodds, Newcastle upon Tyne, @RonanDodds

James Draper, Lanchester, County Durham

Nicholas Hayes, Durham; @Nicholas_Sho

Connor Hodgson-Brunniche, Cramlington, Northumberland; @Randomaited

Krystyna Koseda, Essex; @kossy65

John Mooney, Lurgan, County Armagh

Aren Pym, West Cornforth, County Durham; @arenpym

Gavin Thompson, Newcastle upon Tyne; @GavinLThompson

Matt Turner, Nottingham; @MattTurner4L

Adam Young, Burnopfield, County Durham; @JustALocalSerf

I Challenge Tony Blair

This letter of mine appears in today’s Northern Echo, and may well turn up elsewhere over the next couple of days:

Dear Sir,

At 11 o’clock this morning, Tuesday 21st March 2017, listeners to Radio Four were treated to the latest of Tony Blair’s increasingly frequent political interventions, this time bewailing the disarray of the political “centrism” that is in fact nothing more than his own collection of opinions.

In 2020, I shall be contesting the new seat of Durham West and Teesdale, most of which is where Pat Glass MP will be retiring. I shall be doing so without any party designation, not even the word “Independent”. I am not a member of any political party, but I am part of numerous partially overlapping networks of political interdependence locally, nationally and internationally. 

Since he has taken to reasserting himself in British politics, I challenge Tony Blair to declare that he is the Labour candidate for this open seat here in his old County Durham stomping ground. Either that, or to shut up and go away. 

Yours faithfully,

David Lindsay

Summer Lightning

There are three elections to win this summer.

They are the removal of Labour from Durham County Council (including for a very specific post-Brexit reason; watch this space), the return of George Galloway to Parliament at Manchester Gorton, and the re-election of Len McCluskey as General Secretary of Unite.

All within the context of supporting Jeremy Corbyn and of securing the People's Brexit.

At a rally at the Durham Miners' Hall last night, it was confirmed that Len would be joining Jeremy as a platform speaker at this year's Durham Miners' Gala.

Those of us who will by then have taken control of the Council will also march at that, and, if I may, I hope that at least one of the triumphant Teaching Assistants will also speak.

And, while hoping for him on the platform might be a bit much, one very much hopes to see George, one of the two strongest supporters of the Durham Teaching Assistants among national politicians (with Grahame Morris), and the strongest of all those without constituencies in County Durham, at this year's Big Meeting.

In the meantime, see you all on Saturday at the Teaching Assistants' march, which will begin outside the Gala Theatre at 12 noon, and end in what promises to be a fabulous rally at the Miners' Hall.

We Are Many

Come along to the Durham Miners' Hall on Monday at 7pm, and see this, introduced by your humble candidate. Apparently, I am that important. News to me, but there we are. There is talk of asking for £2:50 on the door, so be prepared. But don't worry, none of that will be going to me.

Morally and Politically Obligatory

Although I am sorry that the names of the other signatories have been omitted, this letter of mine appears in today’s Northern Echo: 

There are five groups on Durham County Council, plus two completely independent independents. But only Labour members voted against the teaching assistants. None voted in support of the campaign that has electrified the trade union movement and the Left throughout the country, thereby earning international attention.

Yet that campaign has been endorsed by the Leader of the Labour Party, at the largest working-class and left-wing event in Europe, the Durham Miners’ Gala, in front of at least 150,000 people and the television cameras. Only the Conservatives abstained, although that does make the Labour Group objectively “worse than the Tories”.

It is therefore not only reasonable, but morally and politically obligatory, to call for the election of no Labour candidate whatever to that Council on May 4.

And then, what? A Cabinet position for every non-Labour Group and for those of no group, with the numbers made up based on their relative size. The same for scrutiny chairs, obviously never mirroring the portfolios of their respective partisans. And representation on each committee and subcommittee in proportion to their numbers on the authority as a whole.

Such is the support that has been attracted by the Durham teaching assistants, the Lions of Durham as once there were Lions of Grunwick, that Labour’s loss of overall control, and indeed its loss of every seat, will be heard from the souks to the favelas, from the Dalit colonies to the Rohingya camps, and from Crimea, to Kashmir, to the scattered outposts of Diego Garcia.

David Lindsay, 2017 council candidate and 2020 parliamentary candidate, Lanchester, County Durham

Action, Not Faction

When a leaflet from Derwentside Independents is favourably quoting the late Davey Hopper, then the world has changed.

The only thing that I would add to this would the scandal of Windlestone Hall. Plus a couple of photographs specific to my own campaign, perhaps.

I seek the guidance of readers as to whether to include another.

As to that original leaflet, it is in circulation in Stanley, which with Chester-le-Street is the base of the Labour faction that now controls Durham County Council.

Against that very faction, I remember the Derwentside Independents providing the line of defence for the rest of the Labour Group on the old Derwentside District Council.

That Group and that Council were led by the great Councillor Alex Watson OBE, who is now the Patron of my campaign.

International Women's Day: The Teaching Assistants

Of course, the great heroines of today are the Durham and Derby Teaching Assistants.

Sent a week ago, we have so far been unable to get the following into print, but here it is:

There are five Groups on Durham County Council, plus two completely Independent Independents. But only Labour members voted against the Teaching Assistants. None voted in support of the campaign that has electrified the trade union movement and the Left throughout the country, thereby earning international attention. Yet that campaign has been endorsed by the Leader of the Labour Party, at the largest working-class and left-wing event in Europe, the Durham Miners’ Gala, in front of at least 150,000 people and the television cameras. Only the Conservatives abstained, although that does make the Labour Group objectively “worse than the Tories”. 

It is therefore not only reasonable, but morally and politically obligatory, to call for the election of no Labour candidate whatever to that Council on 4th May. And then, what? A Cabinet position for every non-Labour Group and for those of no Group, with the numbers made up based on their relative size. The same for Scrutiny Chairs, obviously never mirroring the portfolios of their respective partisans. And representation on each committee and subcommittee in proportion to their numbers on the authority as a whole. 

Such is the support that has been attracted by the Durham Teaching Assistants, the Lions of Durham as once there were Lions of Grunwick, that Labour’s loss of Overall Control, and indeed its loss of every seat, will be heard from the souks to the favelas, from the Dalit colonies to the Rohingya camps, and from Crimea, to Kashmir, to the scattered outposts of Diego Garcia. 

David Lindsay, 2017 council candidate and 2020 parliamentary candidate, Lanchester, County Durham; @davidaslindsay 

Sean Caden, Leeds; @HUNSLETWHITE 

James Draper; Lanchester, County Durham 

Krystyna Koseda, Essex; @kossy65 

John Mooney, Lurgan, County Armagh; @FitzjamesHorse

Please Give Generously

And do spread the word: 

I have been brought back into active politics as a campaigner for justice for Durham County Council’s Teaching Assistants, as a campaigner against the proposed drastic cuts to hospital services in County Durham, and as a campaigner against the cuts to the public transport on which, as a disabled person, I am reliant.

I was a member of Lanchester Parish Council from 1999 until I stood down voluntarily in 2013. I was a governor of Lanchester Endowed Parochial Primary School from 1999 to 2007. I was a governor of St Bede’s from 2000 to 2008. 

Please give whatever you can afford today.