Issue 5 - March 1998
BALLOT BOMBSHELL!
YOUR campaigning Pork-Bolter is throwing down the
gauntlet to the smug and self-interested clique that runs Worthing Borough
Council. We aim to mobilise support for a massive gesture of no-confidence in
our so-called "representatives". Our message to the people of Worthing borough
is STAY AWAY from the Borough Council polls on May 7. Don't give
your vote or consent to any of the creeps who will be looking for a ticket to
hop on board the Town Hall gravy train at your expense!
The situation in Worthing is just a smaller version of what has been happening
locally. After years of blue-rinse brigade old-school-tie Tory rule, many
people will have been genuinely pleased to see the Lib-Dems take over the
reins. But what has happened over the last few years? Like Tony Blair's New
Labour they have turned out to be just as bad as the last lot. The council
still wants to build a motorway over our beautiful South Downs behind Cissbury
Ring, it is still prepared to sell our heritage to business and property
developers in the Goring Gap, Titnore Lane and East Worthing. And the way it
has been bulldozing through its plans to privatise the borough's council
housing department has been nothing short of shameful.
At the end of the day, anyone who thinks that putting a cross on a bit of
paper is going to make a difference is sadly deluded. Time and time again
history shows us that it gets us nowhere. Remember, if voting changed
anything, they'd ban it! The council will be urging you to go out and vote in
May, to give them the mandate and credibility they need. We are asking you to
stay at home or go down the beach or do anything except bolster their
illusions of grandeur by taking part in their sham of an election. Will more
Worthing people vote or boycott the poll? Will our campaign attract more
support than all the other parties put together? It's the Pork-Bolter versus
the rest! And we'll see who's won on the morning of May 8.
NO SECRETS IN WORTHING
LIKE so many snout-faced types, we have been
following with great interest the discussions at Westminster about the role of
masons in the police and the courts. We can't help feeling that the whole
affair stems from a simple misunderstanding and we are distraught at the upset
that the tone of the debate will undoubtedly have caused to so many of
Worthing's most well-known and respected citizens. Surely Chris Mullin MP
can't be serious when he accuses the Mason Community of being secretive and in
some way shady? Men of their social standing and influence? Never, we say! We
are quite sure that if only he would abandon his over-confrontational tone and
ask them politely, the Masonic leadership would gladly provide him with a full
list of its members.
In Issue 2 we were proud to let the world know that Worthing man Ian Lay,
District Judge, had become Provincial Grand Master of Sussex Freemasons. And
in the same spirit, the Pork-Bolter has already written to Worthing
Borough Council, West Sussex County Council,
Worthing Magistrate's Court and Sussex Police
asking them to let us have a list of all freemasons (if any!) in their
establishments. We are confident that they will oblige, we will publish the
names in the next issue and then this whole unfortunate storm in a teacup,
threatening to undermine people's faith in Democracy, can be consigned to the
pig bin of history.
CASH BEFORE COMMUNITY
THE SHOCKING truth about Worthing Borough
Council's high-handed attitude to public opinion has been revealed in its own
agenda papers. Since October, The Pork-Bolter has pig-headedly
led the challenge to the council's plans for the privatisation of all the
borough's council housing. We have
always been against this in principle - the scheme amounts to selling off one
of our town's most important social assets and will mean higher rents and
fewer rights for today's council tenants and also future generations.
But what has really got on our trotters is the way that the council has been
out to sell us all a pig in a poke, bombarding tenants with one-sided
propaganda making out that housing privatisation is the best thing since
sliced bacon. Questions we have asked here and in the West Sussex
Gazette have been blatantly ignored by Sheila Player of Worthing
Homes, who has squealed on and on about the legendary openness and democratic
commitment of her council. So what about this quote from the Special Housing
Services and Policy and Resources Committee meeting of January 28?
Worthing Council says:
"It is also important to balance the need for full democratic oversight
against the bureaucratic delay that this would give rise to."
This really gives the game away, as does the bit about appointing
"specialist consultants needed to ensure that a substantial majority of
tenants support the detailed transfer proposal." It is plain that for
the council, public opinion is not something to be listened to before they
make important decisions, but an obstacle to the schemes they have already
hatched behind closed doors, something to be ironed out and manipulated by
consultant spin-doctors in case it causes any delay to their Master
Plan. They are keen to rush it through because if they can sell off
our council housing before April 2000 they will be able to keep all the money!
After that, 20% goes to the government. And that's what this is all about - a
short-term cash injection. Nothing to do with making life better for council
tenants in the long run. The real reason the council wants to sell off its
homes is to get a big windfall to pay off the £17 million debts. But be
warned - any improvements promised to the tenants by the new company will be
provided by borrowing alone and, of course, the loans will eventually have to
be repaid - with interest! Tenants should wise up to the fact that they are
not being GIVEN anything and even if the existing tenants enjoy limited rent
rises and various improvements in the first five or ten years, eventually
rents will have to be increased to pay off the loans in full. And people
needing a home in the privatised future - including today's youngsters - will
undoubtedly be paying much higher rents much sooner than that! A good move for
the people of Worthing? We don't porking think so!
PORKY PIE'S TIP OF THE MONTH!
How to win an election:
- Form a political party or buy one second-hand
- Get loads of rich people and huge businesses to give you money
- Use the money to tell voters about the wonderful things you will do for
them if elected
- Get elected and drink champagne
- Pay back all the favours you owe rich people/huge businesses and laugh at
the thick voters!
MAI-DAY FOR THE EARTH
WHAT'S going wrong with Worthing and the world
is that multinational companies just don't have enough power! Laws to protect
the environment ought to be stopped, local authorities should have fewer
rights to make decisions and citizens should not have any say over what
businesses are allowed to get up to in their community!
If this sounds OK to you, you probably won't want to object or do anything at
all to oppose the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (known as MAI) which is
being negotiated at this very moment. The aim of MAI is to allow multinational
companies to sue governments or councils if they think their freedom to make
profits is being impinged. Warns the World Development Movement (25 Beehive
Place, London, SW9 7QR): "The MAI will transfer rights from citizens to
multinational companies."
THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE
WHAT is the link connecting a very high-profile
Worthing person with the CIA, Far Eastern child labour camps, tax fraud,
police corruption, male prostitution and the death of Diana? Please write and
tell us - we'd love to know!
BIG BROTHER, BIG SPENDER
OUR lords and masters are still merrily
spending our taxes on spy cameras to keep swine like us under observation and
control. Latest wonderful idea from Sussex Police and Worthing Borough Council
is a £40,000 "rapid deployment camera" for the town. As usual, the point
of this is supposed to be to "fight crime in Worthing". You might well wonder
how are the police going to know where crimes are about to be committed, so
they can "deploy" their camera to the appropriate location. But don't worry
about it too much, because the real reason is nothing to do with crime - it is
to help create a Big Brother police state in which the population is too
scared and submissive to complain about anything or challenge the slick,
gift-wrapped tyranny of our pseudo-democratic business state. A clue to this
effect comes from the massive funding that spy cameras are receiving from the
government - that same body that can't possibly afford more beds for the NHS
or books for schools. Our council is hoping to get the whole £40,000 for
this latest mobile camera, which will transmit its images via dangerous
microwave signals, from something called the "Home Office CCTV Challenge
Competition". A competition! How jolly! And what good fun it must be
demolishing piece by piece what's left of freedom in this town.
WE WON'T GET NO EDUCATION
WELL done all those involved in the action
at Northbrook College supporting the NUS National Education
Shutdown on March 4. All the sites were involved - West Durrington,
Broadwater, Union Place and, notably, Shoreham. The protests were all about
£1,000 a year tuition fees being introduced by the Government as part of
a sinister long-term onslaught against the right to free education which has
not been deflected by the passing of the government baton from the Tories to
New Labour. Said a spokesperson for the Northbrook College Student Union: "The
aim of the picket is to raise awareness of the students' plight. The
Government's plans to introduce fees are part of the Teaching and Higher
Education Bill currently passing through the Houses of Parliament. The anger
of parents and the public can force a rethink on the legislation. The plans
can be reworked." Latest figures have confirmed the impact of tuition fees,
particularly on what are called non-traditional students. For instance,
University applications from students over the age of 21 are down by as much
as 18 per cent, with the true extent of damage not likely to be known until
the take-up of places. Said a NUS spokestudent: "We said tuition fees would
destroy many people's ambitions to got to university and we are clearly
right."
It is not just students who are up in arms. Teaching staff showed their
support by wearing badges on the day. And this is an issue which should worry
everyone, particularly those who have already got their educational
qualifications and had theirs paid for! Education is for the good of the
community as a whole and should not be dependent on the ability to cough up
£1,000 a year. The Pork-Bolter urges Northbrook students to keep
protesting until this nasty little scheme is dead!
PORK SCRATCHINGS
WORTHING'S Tory twosome, MPs Peter Bottomley and Tim
Loughton, are not just the dynamic, caring, well-adjusted, responsible,
loveable chaps we already knew they were. They are also psychic! That is
apparently why they weren't in the House of Commons for the very important
Road Traffic Reduction (UK Targets) Bill on Friday January 30.
Despite national commentators doubting until the last moment whether the Bill
would get through, our paranormal pair just knew there wouldn't
be a vote! (Well, that's their story ...)
* * *
WORTHING Day for Animals is being held at the Richmond Room next
to the Town Hall in Stoke Abbott Road from 10am to 3pm on Saturday March 31.
* * *
THE CAMPAIGN for National Park status for the South Downs
continues. Although the formal consultation period is now over, it is not too
late to have a say by writing direct to John Prescott at the House of Commons,
London.
* * *
Who can put a financial value on human life? The Government can, apparently.
According to local councillor Alison Clarke, quoted in the Shoreham
Guardian it works out whether it is worth spending cash on preventing
road deaths by making "a calculation of the immediate costs of the accident as
well as the contribution to the national economy which would have been made by
the victim." Nice to know that you're valued.
* * *
BRIGHTON'S SchNEWS has published its
third book, SchNEWSannual featuring back issues, photos,
features and 16 pages of contacts. Send £6 and sae to them c/o On the
Fiddle, PO Box 2600, Brighton, East Sussex, BN2 2DX.
* * *
ROAD Raging: Top Tips for Wrecking Roadbuilding is an excellent
tool for anyone seriously opposed to new roads and the greedy businesses
behind them. Send £4 to Road Alert, PO Box 5544, Newbury, Berks, RG14
5FB. There is also a web site to check out -
http://www.hrc.wmin.ac.uk/campaigns/ef/rr/index.html
* * *
RESIDENTS of Tarring, one of the few old parts of Worthing left
intact by post-war property developers and their town planning chums, are
understandably enraged at plans to put up a massive fence around the bowling
green next to the church. Access to the park next door has already been
blocked by a locked gate. Write and complain to borough council leisure
manager John Thorpe at Portland House, Richmond Road, Worthing, BN11 1HS.
* * *
LETTERS of support are being urged for The Portsmouth Three,
some peaceful hunt sabs wrongly accused of an attack on hunt vehicles after a
rather strange incident in Hampshire. Write to the Defence Campaign,
Portsmouth HSA, Box H, 167 Fawcett Road, Southsea, Hants, PO4. Violence
against hunt opponents is increasing at the moment and sympathisers are being
asked to go along and help sabs protest against this obnoxious pursuit, which
would have been banned a long time ago if it were not the favourite passtime
of the rich and powerful.
* * *
SO WHAT'S THE PIG IDEA? The Pork-Bolter is a totally independent but somewhat
pig-obsessed newsletter, founded in October 1997, allied to no political party
and with the aim of defending the ordinary people of Worthing against all the
bastards trying to rip us off, grind us down and keep us in the dark. Our name
comes from an ancient nickname for Worthing people dating back to its fishing
village days, so remember - you are all Pork-Bolters! We welcome information
or articles from our readers as well as any feedback on what we've written.
* * *
JOIN THE PIGWIGS - SUBSCRIBE If you want to make sure of getting a copy
of issue 6, simply send us a stamped, self-addressed envelope. To get the next
six issues send a donation of at least £2. Please think about making it
a bit more if you really want to help us. Copies of issues 1,2,3 and 4 are
also available. Cheques/postal orders made payable to The Pork-Bolter.
email subscriptions also available. Drop us a line: porkbolter@eco-action.org or PO Box
4144, Worthing, West Sussex, BN14 7NZ. website: http://www.eco-action.org/porkbolter
We look forward to hearing from you!
* * *
OFFICIAL WARNING The Pork-Bolter hates the countryside. We must
do because we don't believe in torturing animals (eg: PIGS), keeping the plebs
off the land and treating farm workers as feudal vassals. Also we don't drive
Range Rovers.
and finally ... SEND US YOUR SCANDAL!
