BLUE IS THE COLOUR
YASIN IS THE NAME!

A promising young Chipping Norton Town Councillor has quit the Labour Party to join ranks with the Conservatives. Councillor Yasin Qadir resigned from the party last week after criticising New Labour for being hi-jacked by a "middle-class feeling of superiority" and letting young people down. He says he feels driven away from Labour because of the Iraq war and its attitude to young people. In his letter of resignation to Town Mayor and Chipping Norton Labour Party Chairman Councillor Gina Burrows Mr Qadir said : I believe Labour has let me and other young people down on their youth policies. The hard-line approach seeing young people as criminals and a threat rather than vulnerable young adults has alarmed me" He later told the Banbury Guardian that Mr Cameron had definitely swung it for him. "His recent words on how biased our perception is of

Your webmaster says: The Labour Party have not so far commented but proofs have already been seen of a full page being prepared for the Chippy News with a picture of the departing councillor overprinted with the word TRAITOR! This will clearly just be a first salvo in the campaign for a District Council election next year when the Conservatives plan to unleash every weapon in their county wide armoury to unseat Eve Coles - the only remaining Labour District Councillor in the whole of West Oxfordshire. Could they even be thinking of getting Yasin to stand against Eve If they asked my advice (which they are not likely to do ) I would tell them not to be daft and to forget about all that. They aren't going to beat Eve. A nice bit of inclusive politics would be to say to us all "Eve is an outstanding District Councillor who only has the good of the town at heart and we won't stand against her" - just like they used to do with John Hannis. That would make some of us think - "Oh well perhaps the Conservatives really have turned over a new leaf. Different from the cynical, opportunistic politicians we remember from the eighties". They could then concentrate on doing what they need to do urgently in this town - which is to take control of the Town Council and turf out the present bunch. Now that would be a real service to our community. Perhaps then we could really start getting somewhere with jobs, youth facilities, and traffic. I wish Yasin well. He has a big future. I only hope that he has not been misled by all the smooth words of Dave. Like Yasin, I am a big supporter of Dave but I am not yet convinced that the rank and file of the Tory Party are really supporting all the liberal stuff which the Leader knows he has to come out with. Indeed, only this week I asked a prominent member of the local Conservative Futures Group what he thought of the "Hug a Hoodie" speech. His response was unprintable. Yasin might have his work cut out. But he is really serious about Youth issues and its time these were pushed harder by young people in Chippy - rather than the retired teachers who have achieved very little so far. Bring on the Internet Cafe!. But by the way Yasin, the Tories are even further to the right on Iraq than Tony is.  On the environment there really is a chance to make a difference. You'll be able to nag the local Tory District Council some more about organising a commercial recycling collection. We've already seen Yasin around town on his Phone Co-Op bicycle. Wait for the solar panels on the Town Hall or a wind turbine on the Guildhall next! And please get the Tory County Council to introduce a weight restriction to stop the HGVs coming through the town. That would get you elected Mayor for life! Anyway - the best of luck. You'll get my vote for the Town Council next May.