onionbagblog

BUZZING OFF ME TITS, innit 💥

Gotta say that the result from the New Town & Christ Church by-election for Colchester City Council was something of a surprise: a Labour HOLD.

For the record:

ALLAN, Angus (Tory) 200

BOURNE, Richard (Lab) 800 ELECTED

CHILD, Simon (Reform UK) 600

MCCORMICK, Alex (Green) 401

PARTRIDGE, Ian (Indie) 38

WHYBOURN, Chantelle-Louse (LD) 657

First things first: the final totals of 200, 800 and 600 for the Tory, Labour and Reform candidates suggests that the counting took place in bundles, or the good folk of New Town & Christ Church are OCD in their voting habits.

Note that no one called for a recount, natch.

The Labour HOLD - and by some fair margin - is a surprise. I’m not telling you anything new when I say that the party isn’t exactly experiencing a national love in.

Locally on the ground in Sunny Colch, and the picture is a little more mixed. There is the view that Colchester Labour has some good eggs, along with some rather unpleasant characters.

It’s the same for most CLP’s around the country, tbh.

Factor in that the seat became vacant after City Councillor Pam Cox managed to get elected as the MP for the Colchester constituency over a year ago, and the Labour HOLD is actually quite remarkable.

If ever there was an opportunity for the national party to get a good old kicking locally, then New Town & Christ Church was a gift horse.

Reform is the other obvious talking point here. They have come from nowhere locally, with little to no organisation or local party structure.

Never underestimate the foot soldiers and data that are required to fight a successful local campaign. Starting from scratch and blagging 600 votes is a bloody good effort, not to mention a rather frightening one.

If Essex devolution ever happens and the new Unitary authority finally gets set up, then you can see how three party politics in the city has come to an end.

Elsewhere and it’s difficult to comment on the level of tactical voting that may - or may not - have taken place.

The progressive vote with the Greens, Labour and LibDems is strong. If any of them can be arsed to enter into informal coalitions, then this is the way to stop Reform at this level.

I wonder how many votes were lent by the electorate to each of these three parties with a view to crowning the progressive poster boy or girl?

Playing 3D chess at the ballot box is a dangerous game.

Overall it means that there is no overall change in the seats at Colchester City Council:

Conservative - 19

LibDems - 14

Labour - 14

Green - 1

Indies - 1

The LibLab love in limps on, although behind the scenes relationships are a little more ahem fractured.

The 29% turn out yesterday was poor, btw. It was pissing it down all day to be fair.

Just kick it until it breaks, etc.

Clever songs, but never too knowingly. Prefab Sprout have always navigated the fine line between polished and smart arse when it comes to their craft.

Appetite is a statement alone; When Loves Breaks Down is lush.

Overall the album does well to capture that transition from early 80’s indie pop to the arrival of the CD audience. It has a delicate touch, but still sounds professional.

Very decent.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Three-quarters of Brits support Green Party’s wealth tax, YouGov poll finds Disturb the comfortable. Comfort the disturbed, etc.

Only Plaid Cymru can beat Reform, only Reform can beat Plaid Cymru (£) Farewell to two party politics. And thank fuck for that.

The team selection was a slight surprise. I wasn’t expecting to see Zinchenko in there. Disclaimer: in there can mean absolutely bloody anywhere on the left hand side of the pitch, given previous performances.

It was good to see the balance on the wings. Forest always play better with width; Brenan, Franz Carr, Robbo - you can trace the lineage.

The reception for Woan and Stone for the warm up alone was a little emotional. Bloody hell - it’s good to see those two Forest boys back at the World Famous wearing the badge.

Dyche’s introduction was rightly downplayed. He did what he had to - which was to make the short walk from the home dressing room to the home dugout. Not as easy as you might think. Ask Big Ron.

Welcome to the World Famous, Gaffer.

It was a rare occasion for me where I unmuted the telly and turned off Sir Colin of West Bridgford on BBC Radio Nottingham. You have to make the most of Fletch calling the shots in the telly gallery.

He didn’t let us down, although I had slight panic attacks each time he mentioned the name Rosario.

The Zinchenko early injury was a worry. Not so much for the game itself, but the nature in which it leaves the full back cupboard a little bare over the coming weeks.

The ref was bloody awful. How difficult can it be to avoid being hit by the ball on a pitch that size? Booking an attacking player and giving a free kick, to then being reversed for a home team penalty is one hell of a reverse ferret, fella.

The MGW pen itself was a little nervy. Don’t fanny about, mate.

POW. Right in the kisser. And thank chuff for that. It was good to see MGW starting to find his puppet master strings once again.

2-0 up and…

Defend! Defend!

Defend! Defend! Defend!

…as we use to sing back in the old Trent End days. We knew how to amuse ourselves each time Wimbledon rocked up in town.

The clean sheet was a bonus. I had forgotten how precious these are.

SHOUT OUT to Big Wily at FT for being the official Forest Cheerleader. Likewise for Ola celebrating in the tunnel. Pretty in pink, etc.

The Premier Grill fireworks were a welcome return. It’s been a while. Forest All Over the World had me singing after my three pints of Bank’s Bitter.

Chin chin.

As for Dyche?

P1 W1

I’ll take that.

There’s a slight concern about McAtee, Kalimuendo, Bakwa (injured?) and the Europa AWOL Hutchinson. This could be the most expensive set of Forest flops since Hartford, Wallace and Fashanu.

Onwards. To Bournemouth.

Oh Lordy.

I ride to work year round. Here are my top tips for making it actually enjoyable through the gloomy months ahead

Physical separation between cyclists, pedestrians and motorists key to safer streets, research shows No shit.

Blimey. I missed this one: the Betas are back playing together live once again. There was a couple of Roundhouse shows earlier this month.

Twenty one years after one of the most spectacular fuck ups in music history, they’re back making a familiar glorious racket.

Brilliant.

The Beta Band should have been a stadium band. Somehow we ended up with shitty Coldplay instead.

Life - and in particular the music industry - is never fair.

They didn’t exactly do themselves any favours back in the day. The £4k velcro suit is the stuff of music industry legend.

But it’s good to have them back, albeit briefly. Just don’t go raising your expectations.

Meanwhile, In Bowie News: I managed to blag a ticket for the V&A Archive for next week.

Hurrah!

A pleasant early autumnal walk along the Trail towards Sunny Colch. Not a bad little place to live, etc.

Billy Bragg has a new book out. Billy Bragg often has a new book out, and they’re all bloody good.

The Andrew Collins biog is pretty much the Bragg Bible when it comes to the official detail, documenting his forty years or so of being the One Man Clash.

Progressive Patriot is worth a re-read during these times of social division.

The new Bragg book is The People’s History. A grand title for what looks like a grand read.

It’s essentially a scrap book of material put forward by fans and Uncle Bill himself. He adds in the commentary to give each artefact a little context.

I really should have kept my ticket stub from the old Mean Fiddler in Harlesden during election night back in 1997 - probably the best gig I’ve ever been to. I hope the dude who bought it off me on eBay appreciates it.

Bragg is a guest on the latest Word In Your Ear podcast - always a decent listen. He’s on fine form as well, promoting the book.

He describes how the contribution of fan culture has led him to questioning his own understanding of what took place twenty, thirty and forty years ago.

It’s a dangerous game to mess with other people’s memories as you put over your understanding of what actually happened.

Which is why a blog is such a bloody good idea.

Ha, bloody ha.

I confess to making little inroads in the fourteen CD Bragg box set that I bought over the summer.

Blogs, box sets, and Bragg - some projects you never really finish, and that’s often the point.

But not if you are already a member of ahem another political party.

The gathering of the clans up in Norwich last weekend looked like a right old bloody rave up. I like the member led direction in which it is all going.

Good luck to the Comrades. They’re going to need it.

Your Party is doing it all over again in my Sunny Colch patch this weekend at the Community Stadium. Comparing the turn out with what Col U draw in these days will be interesting.

Ah - but who is on the up? Your Party or Col U?

I can’t but help think that a spectacular own goal is going to be scored soon.