CORNWALL NEWSLETTER - DECEMBER 2011
Our picture shows the leafleting team in Newquay on 5th July for the latest of the Alan Bown Action Days. We had already been to Truro and St Austell. On these Action Days we distribute the leaflet that Alan Bown has donated, and consume a lunch that he has also kindly donated. Apart from the leafleting, these days provide an opportunity for the far-flung branches of Cornwall to get together, make new friends and acquaintances, meet old ones, exchange notes and ideas and even have a lunch-time pint. Our thanks to Alan Bown for making this possible.
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EDITOR’S CORNER
“I told you so” is probably the most irritating phrase in the English language. Those of us in UKIP who have been “telling it so” – about immigration, agricultural and fishery policy, over-regulation, the likely collapse of the Euro, and many other things – need to be careful.
True, the polls are going our way, and we seem to be snapping at LibDem heels for the status of the third-largest political party. But polls are fickle and can swing either way very quickly. 7% today can become 5% tomorrow. I have been long enough in UKIP to have heard too often that our time has come or is just around the corner. On each occasion the dawn proved to be not necessarily completely false, but certainly much delayed. Progress is slow, and we should expect it to be so. Only those endowed with the perseverance, moral stature and doggedness of a Kilroy-Silk can profess their faith and unswerving support only to have it evaporate when things do not go their opportunistic and self-serving way. We have seen too many instances of such back-sliding in the Party: here in the south west the names of David Noakes and David Campbell-Bannerman spring to mind, but there are many others. Don’t pattern yourself on the likes of them.
Another point worthy of consideration is that we do not have to agree with everything in the Party manifesto, or every utterance of our leaders, to support the Party’s over-riding aim: to leave the EU. I personally do not agree with Trident or the death penalty; I think both are immoral and ineffective. I regard with distaste the prospect of one animal riding on another animal’s back encouraging a third animal to kill a fourth animal. But that does not prevent me from supporting and blazoning abroad our policy on British membership of the EU. The other issues are secondary to this. If people ask me what is UKIP policy on, say Trident, I am quite honest about it. I say what the policy is and that I don’t agree with it. We in UKIP are virtually by definition independently-minded people; unlike other parties our career does not depend on sucking up sycophantically and hypocritically to our leaders, or slavish adherence to a three-line whip. Honesty really is the best policy in
the eyes and ears of a public that regards its politicians as fundamentally and congenitally dishonest. We need to convince them, by an honest and logical approach, that we are different.
Consider, too, the way in which we in UKIP leap like slavering dogs on every little bit of EU policy that looks ill-thought out or stupid. As I write, I have just read that the EU has come to the considered conclusion that water is bad for you. Now before I stand up before the local Rotary Club and crow over this latest EU idiocy, I shall do a little research. What is the other side of this? (There is always another side). Has it been inadequately or inaccurately reported? (Knowing the record for impartiality and accuracy of our media, the answer is probably yes.) If I have really good authoritative fact on my side, I will bring up the issue logically and gently, letting my audience become indignant rather than becoming so myself. For we of the UKIP persuasion are always dispassionate, calm and logical ……aren’t we? On the other hand, one or two bits of EU policy may even be good; in this case, acknowledging this can disarm your critics before you proceed with your argument elsewhere.
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North Cornwall
I am happy to say that it again has been a busy few months since the last letter.
Our last ‘Roadshow-Open Evening for 2011 was in Wadebridge on the 4th October. The meeting was well attended and having listened to Trevor Colman’s talk on the impact the EU has on the ordinary-man-in-street, the audience immediately engaged in a spirited discussion and Socratic session. Refreshments were served, the raffle brought in much needed funds and again we were happy to welcome new members. The committee has decided that these shows will continue as it seems an ideal way to bring UKIP to the people.
Our next Open Evening is to be on Saturday 25th February at the White Hart hotel in Launceston, 7-00p.m. for 7-30p.m. Your Chairman Bruce, will perform the opening speech and then welcome our guest speakers Bob Barfoot of Devon, who is an authority on the real truth on Wind Turbines. This will be followed by UKIP’s Executive Chairman, Steve Crowther, who will speak on the political side of things that affect the people of this country. Again there will be a raffle, refreshments are available from the bar, and we aim to make this evening one to be remembered. Please come along and support us. Bring a friend. You may well have read about the proposed boundary changes. These changes stand to affect Nth.Cornwall the most. However we must never forget that we are one huge political party, regardless of lines on maps etc. We must not allow any changes to split us up. We then received an invite for some committee members to attend the AGM of the North Devon group: not only to meet them but to discuss any changes that we need to take on board. We realised that this was an ideal opportunity to forge ever stronger, closer links with members elsewhere. Therefore we will be inviting members from other branches to our own AGM in March (details released later).
Our website is up and running and Janet the ‘Editor’ has taken to doing ‘Spotlight’ interviews of people within the party. I had the honour of being one of her stool pigeons, although she did make it as painless as possible. So log-onto www.ukipcornwall.org.uk You then have to click on Nth.Cornwall, so you will have to look at all the little boxes. It also links to a Blog- page. Janet puts interesting stuff on there and would appreciate feedback, as I would on newsletters. Let me have your thoughts, ideas, suggestions. It really does help.
Do not forget if you can get someone to become a member, to send the form and money to me as the branch can keep it for funds the first year.
Finally may I ask that you all send me your current email addresses so we can send this via email, as post is very expensive.
Many thanks and Best Wishes to you all.
Miriel Damerell-O’Connor, Secretary
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Camborne/Redruth/Hayle
We have been active distributing leaflets wherever we can with our small band of volunteers, and have recently helped in the county action day in Newquay. The newspapers are now showing that our message is sinking home and our exit from the EU is looking more likely, so keep up the pressure by writing to the papers and helping where you can.
Dave Parker, Secretary
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South East Cornwall
The South East Cornwall team, complete with marquee and armed with balloons, flags and much literature, as present at the Liskeard show in early July, and at the Mount Edgcumbe fair in early August. Our picture hows Chairman David Lucas and PPC nominee Stephanie McWilliam with some of our well-dressed visitors!
We have maintained a presence at Liskeard Trago Mills (see picture left), with the display manned from time to time and we have been busy leafleting elsewhere. Callington and nearby villages have now been hit three times, to support our candidates Dave Williams and Stephanie McWilliam in the 2013 Cornwall Council elections.
S E Cornwall has also been well represented at the various Alan Bown action days in Truro, St Austell and Newquay. We hope that our support will be reciprocated when it is Liskeard’s turn!
The accolade of “leafleters of the year” goes jointly to Anne and Joe Cummins, who have indefatigably tramped the towns and villages on UKIP’s behalf – and genuinely seem to enjoy it.
Chairman David Lucas has been giving talks around the county to U3A and Rotary Clubs, in support of Trevor Colman’s initiative. Reaction to the factual presentations is nearly always surprise at the costs to our country of EU membership, doubt about the benefits and questions as to why our politicians with few exceptions are in favour of it. All without a mention of UKIP (unless asked for)!
The now traditional annual Christmas luncheon at the Millennium House in Pensilva will take place on 3rd December. This is a social, non-political event with raffle, bar and entertainment by resident raconteur, guitarist and wit Russ Smith. Members and friends from all Cornwall are invited; tickets at £10 per head can be obtained from Steph on 01579 389386.
Although membership numbers are fairly static – with those falling off the perch about balanced by new members – we have a good band of supporters and reactions to our leafleting and talking are becoming increasingly favourable. We just have to turn these favourable reactions into votes!
David Lucas, Chairman
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• Never say “I told you so”. Let the facts speak for themselves.
• Never assume the dawn is imminent.
• Don’t look for any reward except self-satisfaction. As Polonius said to Laertes “to
thine own self be true”.
• Don’t expect to agree with all Party policy. Concentrate on the main issue.
• Research your facts before leaping into anti-EU mode! Some things the EU
does may actually be good for the country. Acknowledging this is a good tactic
before you return to the attack.
• Be gentle, calm and logical. (NF to note!). Let the others get worked up; you are
above such things.
• It’s dogged as does it.
• Our Country comes first.
David Lucas
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After many years of being involved with UKIP, it takes a lot to surprise me. But today [Friday] has shown in a way just how far the Party has come. We were mentioned in the Telegraph and the Daily Mail. We are mentioned in the Independent. And perhaps more importantly, Paul Nuttall was on the front page of the
Daily Express. See for example http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/284426/EU-says-water-is-not-healthy
although the story is also in other newspapers.
On hearing that the EU will no longer allow water to be sold as healthy, Paul Nuttall said “I had to read this four or five times before I believed it. It is a perfect example of what the EU does best and makes the bendy banana law look positively sane.”
Just a year or two ago, UKIP members would have been jumping up and down with joy about receiving so much publicity - and front page news, no less. I would have had phone calls from my branch and other excited members of the Party. Today, it was just ‘business as usual’. We have become so used to the fact that we’re now generating media coverage on a daily basis that it’s almost as if Party members didn’t notice that we were on the front page of a major national newspaper.
Slowly but surely, UKIP is starting to break through in terms of picking up publicity in a range of newspapers.
Let’s not forget just how far this Party has come in such a short time. We’d all dearly love to be out of the European Union tomorrow but realistically it’s a long process. After all, if there were a simple, straightforward way to achieve that aim – wouldn’t someone have found it long ago? It’s not been for the want of trying.
It may be slow work but it’s good to remember just how much progress we’ve actually
made.
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St. Ives & Isles of Scillly
We sadly report the death of Gordon Parker at the age of 91 years, a great supporter of UKIP for many years. Advancing years confined him to his home in Marazion and although unable to be physically active, he was always pleased to help with admin eg. printing. His distinguished Army career brought him recognition in crossing The Rhine. Accounts of his war experiences, during which he was seriously injured, were told with
huge modesty but could not disguise the many acts of bravery to the soldiers serving under him. I enjoyed my chats with him immensely. His faculties were alert right to the end and he died peacefully at Ponsondane in October. Gordon founded a charity ( Eunice ) in India for orphaned and poor children and worked tirelessly for its ongoing work in Hungary and India. He was a truly remarkable man. Carnell Green Church was full to capacity for his thanksgiving service. His family and many friends paid their respects to a fine christian man and I felt very proud to represent UKIP on this occasion. We send our sincere sympathy, with our grateful thanks, to our members Mr. & Mrs. Bull (daughter and son - in - law) and Iris Parker (cousin).
Our youngest member, Rob Allen (21 years), a keen motor cyclist, took part in the rally and demo on the A 30 against EU rules banning m/cycles over 7 years of age from town centres and forcing riders to wear head to toe reflective gear. Rob took the opportunity of spreading UKIP leaflets in the car park. before the ‘off‘ (see pic). Well done Rob. Nice one ! Sunday lunches are great opportunities to get together, as well as raising funds for branch activities. We were invited by Truro/Falmouth branch on 23rd Oct to their Truro lunch at
which there were some Young Independence members. Five from St. Ives Branch went. It was excellent !
We are hosting lunch at The Lugger Hotel Penzance Promenade Sunday 22nd January 2012 (12.30 for 1 pm). Please come along as everyone in other branches are so welcome. Ring to book (01736 797 830.
On Rememembrance Sunday, we laid wreaths from UKIP at the War Memorials at St. Ives (Roy Britton) Penzance (Mick Faulkner & Rose Smith) and Helston (Brian Bailey).
In November, Brian Bailey is off to New Zealand for six months and, of course, we wish him a happy time there. Brian chairs our Helston Sub-Committee which keeps a watchful eye on the The Lizard and St. Keverne areas. We will miss his energy and drive and need a volunteer (or two) to do this work. We are appealing to members in the Helston / St Keverne areas to take an active part in passing on information and keeping in touch with new enquirers. PLEASE don’t be backward in coming forward. It’s not arduous. Just an hour or so every couple of weeks to do some secretarial work. It’s all worthwhile, particularly as things
generally are moving so well in UKIP’s
Stuart Guppy, Chairman
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Truro & Falmouth
At the end of August, a meeting was held in Carnon Downs village hall to bring as many local area members together and discuss plans to regenerate a stand-alone branch for Truro and Falmouth and to build up enough members to formalise the committee. While we were successful in adding to the group, we still need volunteers to hold at least two official committee positions.
Given events in the EU over the past 30 days, UKIP has a significant window of opportunity to get our message out to a much wider general public right now. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you can spare some of your time to join our local committee and help to swing this branch into action.
On October 23rd we held a pub lunch and raffle at the County Arms pub in Truro. At least 20 people attended including three very impressive UKIP youth members and a good time was had by all. We hope to repeat this type of event at least once every quarter.
Plans are currently underway for a town centre members drive in Falmouth on a Saturday leading up to Christmas. We will have a table outside one of the main shops and will have a good supply of new leaflets and newsletters to hand to passers by. If any of you are interested in joining us on the day, please call us for more details.
Work is also commencing on gathering and documenting local political issues. We have a Conservative MP, Sarah Newton whose voting record on the EU is shameful, to say the least. Whether campaigning door to door or putting candidates up for local, EU, or national level elections, we need to have a well informed group of members, ready to make the case for UKIP as more than just a one issue party.
If you are from the Truro & Falmouth (or surrounding) area and would like to help with any of the activities mentioned above, please do not hesitate to contact your ‘acting’ Branch Chairman, Mairi Hayworth (01326 311 002 or via email at: mhayworth@btinternet.com
Mairi Hayworth, Chairman
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St Austell and Newquay
We had a committee meeting recently and the big news is that we have three, yes three, members willing to stand in the Cornwall County elections in 2013. The young and thrusting Michael Williams will wow them in the Mevagissey ward while the sad old duo of Ian Proctor and Keith Hickman will take on St Austell and St Stephen respectively. We have also commenced creating our second quarterly newsletter, to be published in
December, full of riveting articles which will have our members and suppoprters on the edge of their seats, reaching for their cheque books to make enormous donations to us.
Keith Hickman, Chairman
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EU’s Van Rompuy, the man who would be King, strikes new blow against democracy, telling Italy it doesn’t “need” elections The EU’s hostility to democracy is now so brazen it thinks it has the right to tell European countries when they can and can’t vote for their governments .
In a memorable speech last year at the European Parliament, UKIP’s Nigel Farage lambasted newly appointed (not elected of course) European Council President Herman Van Rompuy saying he had “the charisma of a damp rag and the appearance of a low grade bank clerk.” There can be little dispute about it. But a few moments later Farage went on to talk about Van Rompuy’s intention to become “the quietassassin of European democracy”. On that one, he couldn’t have been more wrong. The man’s shouting it from the roof tops. Here’s what he said after Italy’s Northern League, Silvio Berlusconi’s erstwhile backers, said it would not support the country’s prospective new government and called for a general election: “This country needs reforms, not elections,” he said bluntly.
Who is this guy? No really, who precisely does Herman Van Rompuy think he is in telling one of Europe’s most historic nations that itdoesn’t need elections? It’s jaw dropping stuff. It’s like thinking you’re having a nightmare only for it to dawn on you that this is actually happening. It’s real. Responding to rumours that Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy are considering ways to force countries out of the Eurozone if they fail to bring their public finances into order, Van Rompuy was quite adamant that sovereign democracies such as France and Germany could simply forget it. “Let us be clear: we will not prune the eurozone to a more selective club,” he said sneeringly. The key word in that sentence is of course “we”. But hold on, who is “we”? Certainly not the leaders of the eurozone’s biggest democracies. France and Germany can take a running jump as far as Herman Van Rompuy is concerned, and they can take their democracies with them (not that the current leaders of those countries are particularly supportive of democracy themselves).
So, who’s “we”? Aha! That’s right, he means the unelected technocrats and bureaucrats who run the show in Brussels. He means the people who would turn Europe into an empire. He means those who tell entire countries to vote again in referendums if they give the wrong answer or just ignore them completely. He means Herman Van Rompuy and company. And he means to destroy anyone who gets in their way.
The notion that the EU was an enemy of democracy used to be the preserve of the far fringes of the spectrum. To be sure, there was always some understanding of a “democratic deficit”. The smarter people were aware that, in the absence of a European demos, the transfer of powers from national parliaments to Brussels inevitably entailed a net decline in democratic governance. What seems to have been underestimated by many was the potential for the emergence of an entirely new political class with a vested interest in acquiring ever more power for itself and an inherent hostility to democracy and all that surrounds it. That class, embodied by Herman Van Rompuy, Jose Manuel Barroso and many others, has now gone a good way towards taking power in Europe. And, as they take power, democracy is on the decline because the power structures they have been constructing around them are incompatible with democratic theory and practice. These are dark days for modern Europe. Half of the continent only made it to democracy two decades ago. Spain, Portugal and Greece only consolidated their own democracies a decade or so before that. Democracy is a fragile thing. And far too valuable to be entrusted to the likes of Herman Van Rompuy. It’s time to take these people down. It’s time to destroy the new, emerging class of autocrats and to do so before it’s too late.
The Commentator
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UKIP Cornwall Newsletter FormatWell, this is the last edition of this UKIP Cornwall Newsletter in this form, and my last as Editor. Look out for the next edition at the end of November under the editorship of David Lucas. One of the things that struck me about David's brief biography (and not for the first time) is what interesting lives UKIP members have had. Perhaps David may like to start including short biographies of prominent UKIP members in future editions. Please send future comments, suggestions and articles to David at janddlucas@btinternet.com.
Although I am stepping down as Editor, I am still UKIP Cornwall Chairman (for the time being, anyway) and will continue to be very actively involved. Having successfully completed the Candidate Assessment Centre, I hope to be adopted as a UKIP candidate for the next General Election but also I am working hard to try and become a UKIP Cornwall Councillor in 2013. My work as a Parish Councillor seems to be taking up more and more time so I am delighted that David has agreed to take over this role. He will be ably supported by Russ Smith, who has agreed to manage the design and formatting aspects so that future editions will print more clearly than this version does.
Total valid votes cast 7,696 (Turnout 49.2%) Yes 2535 (32.9%) No 5161 (67.1%)
Finally, thank you to everyone who has contributed encouraged and supported me during my time as Editor. I have enjoyed producing this publication but I am sure it will benefit from a new look and a fresh approach. I look forward to meeting up with many of you at various UKIP meetings and activities as we all continue our efforts and build on our success so far.
Steph
25 August 2011
Welcome from your Chairman
Well, we still don’t seem to have hit summer yet, do we? But we still have plenty to smile about. Membership is growing and public opposition to the EU is growing faster still. It is going to be a rough ride, especially for the people of Greece, and all the signs are that life here isn’t going to get better any time soon. But it does mean that people are more receptive to the idea of supporting, voting for or joining UKIP so we must make sure people know about us and how to reach us.One of our Devon members is organising a car treasure hunt for September. It will depart from Lexdrum at 10am and finish at a pub, unspecified for obvious reasons. There will be a small amount as an entry fee and the prize will be all the entry money paid to their local branch funds. This strikes me as a fine idea but the number of places is quite limited, so I’m not sure there will be room for Cornwall entries. If not, is there anyone out there who might arrange one for us on a similar basis? If you are interested, let me know.
A concise version of our policies is now back up on the main UKIP website and there is work going on behind the scenes to update those that need it. The new draft constitution is going through the process, making steady progress and there is plenty happening to strengthen organisation and communication throughout the Party. The first South West Candidates Assessment Centre took place this month and proved to be a really constructive and enjoyable experience. If anyone is interested and hasn’t sent in their application forms yet, please do so soon, so that we can get another one arranged.
All in all, this is proving to be a busy but productive time. Thank you to everyone who is playing their part in so many ways. It will be so worthwhile when we get our country back, as we surely will.
Steph
Steph McWilliam
UKIP Cornwall Chairman
