Parliamentary Election Hustings

[michael]

The Forest Hill Society and Sydenham Society have arranged a Parliamentary election hustings for Lewisham West and Penge on Friday 24th April at 7pm. This meeting is free and open to all.

Candidates from the five largest political parties in the area (Conservatives, Greens, Labour, Liberal Democrats, UKIP) have agreed to speak and answer your questions on local and national issues.

This event will take place at Holy Trinity Church, Trinity Path, off Sydenham Park, London SE26 4EA. Map available from http://www.foresthillsociety.com/2015/0 ... -24th.html

[Robin Orton]

I am really pleased that our local civic societies have arranged for us to have a constituency hustings again for this election. I hope all those who moan on this forum about various local candidates will turn up and ask them penetrating questions face-to-face.

[Tim Lund]

And here's the official list of runners and riders

So, as well as

• Jim Dowd, Labour
• Russell Jackson, Conservative
• Alex Feakes, Lib Dem and
• Tom Chance, Green

who we knew about, we have

• An independent, who lives in the Thorpes, who had previously announced he would stand to "Save the Beckenham 18"
• A local teacher standing for the newly formed hard Left grouping, "Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition", and calling for Solidarity with Bromley UNITE strikers battling cuts and privatisation
• Some non local person from UKIP
• Our recent friend from Liberty GB, now trading as "No to terrorism, yes to Britain", living in Hendon

[SquashedCommuter]

I am curious to know whether the minority candidates were invited or if they are deliberately excluded?

I am also interested how the deaf candidate will take part. Will it be transcribed live?



I think candidates being resident in the constituency is more significant for local elections. For the general election I don't see the constituency in which the candidate lays their head on a pillow as being very significant. National policy is much more important.

What I also think is more important is where the candidates loyalty lies. All candidates from the large parties have loyalties to their party brand and their party leader which can be at the expense of the local residents. The independent or smaller parties provide candidates which have substantially more freedom to serve and respond to local people.

If you vote for Jim Dowd you vote for Ed Miliband. If you vote for Russell Jackson you vote for David Cameron. If you vote for Alex Feakes you vote for Nick Clegg. If you vote for the main parties you vote for groupthink and political correctness.

[michael]

I am curious to know whether the minority candidates were invited or if they are deliberately excluded?

I am also interested how the deaf candidate will take part. Will it be transcribed live?

No 'minority' candidates were invited, only those representing parties who got more than 1% in the last general election, which happens to be the same as parties with existing seats in parliament (somewhere in the country). The Electorial Commission guidance on running a hustings event suggest that these are reasonable grounds for inclusion when there is a long list of candidates.
Having many more candidates at the hustings would limit the number of questions that could be asked from the floor to the candidates.

Gary Harding, who is deaf, will be assisted by a palantypist, so yes, it will be transcribed live for his use.

I hope that as many people as possible are able to attend so that we get a wide range of questions on issues that matter to all.

[Roger Mellie]

For any who can't make this, or live on the Penge side the same suspects will be lining up at St Johns Church, Penge on April 29th:

http://pengetouristboard.co.uk/event/pe ... -election/

[alywin]

Thanks. I knew they hosted hustings last time around, and wondered whether they'd be doing the same again.

[michael]

I can announce that the Forest Hill Society and Sydenham Society have extended invitation to the hustings to all candidates standing in the Lewisham West and Penge constituency (I can't say whether they will all accept but we have 6 confirmed at present).

No doubt this will limit the number of questions that can be asked from the floor but we will try to cover as many questions as we can in the time available.

I hope forum regulars can make it to the hustings with good questions for the candidates.

[Tim Lund]

Since two hitherto excluded live within walking distance of Sydenham Road, I guess you had to, but I can see it's going to make it a bit cumbersome.

Who is chairing?

[michael]

Since two hitherto excluded live within walking distance of Sydenham Road, I guess you had to, but I can see it's going to make it a bit cumbersome.

Who is chairing?

Reverend Edward Olsworth-Peter has kindly agreed to chair the discussion.

[michael]

Unfortunately we have to announce the cancellation of the hustings on Friday 24th April. This is due to difficulty getting agreement from the candidates regarding who should be included and excluded from the panel.

Initially we had invited only the five candidates representing parties with more than 1% at the last general election to take part. We were pressured by a number of the candidates to extend this invitation to all candidates. Having done this, it then proved impossible to get all eight candidates to agree to attend the hustings due to the presence of a candidate from Liberty GB.

In addition we did not wish to place the local church and vicar in the situation of hosting and chairing an event with a speaker from a party that does not accept religious freedom.

We wish to apologise to all members of the public who were looking forward to attending the event.

Issued by Michael Abrahams, chair of the Forest Hill Society and Annabel McLaren, chair of the Sydenham Society.

[leenewham]

What a shame they have wasted you and others valuable time.

What a pathetic bunch, they can't even agree to meet and discuss what they want people to see.

I might create a window sticker saying 'none of the above'.

[Sydenham]

So which candidates wouldn't accept sharing a hustings session with Liberty GB? And did they give any reasons which can be shared?

[George Whale]

Here's my reply to the organisers.

George Whale, Liberty GB candidate.

------

Dear Mr Abrahams and Ms McLaren

My father, Fred Whale, served this country during the Second World War. He was a teenager when he began his pilot training with the Royal Air Force, as were many of his comrades.

Though he survived the war, he was not unaffected by it. His fingers were gnarled from being smashed against an instrument panel during a crash landing; he suffered recurring nightmares throughout his adult life from having seen his navigator die a violent death; and he smoked heavily, having acquired the habit during long, nerve-racking waits before missions.

I, as a boy, was curious to know what could possibly have motivated him to take such terrible risks, day after day, week after week. And when I asked him, he said simply: "Free speech. Until you've lived in a country that doesn't have free speech, you won't understand how important it is, because without free speech we have no freedom - and without freedom, we have nothing."

It took me years to fully understand these words, and your email reminds me again of their importance.

Had you had the integrity to proceed with the planned hustings event, then the people who accuse me of rejecting religious freedom (an erroneous accusation, incidentally) would have been able to challenge me on it; and more importantly, local voters would have had an opportunity to engage with this crucial issue. That's the whole point of free and open debate. Your caving into (Islamic? Socialist?) pressure is a betrayal not only of the local electorate, but of all those who have given their lives defending democracy and freedom.

I am sure that if they were able to see you now, Fred Whale and his wartime pals, and all the brave Englishmen from Lewisham, Sydenham, Penge, Forest Hill, Crystal Palace and beyond, from every city, town and village in Britain, who risked everything so that we, here and now, could exercise the precious gift of free speech, would be ashamed of you spineless appeasers.

Yours sincerely

Dr George Whale, Liberty GB candidate for Lewisham West and Penge

[broken_shaman]

Never heard of Liberty GB before.

But a quick look at their website indicates they're just another bunch of racists.

[_HB]

What a load of shit. You've made a martyr of a silly racist and his idiotic party.

If you can't openly debate with these morons and make mincemeat of their hateful views then you don't deserve anyone's vote.

[Syd_Stone]

If they're such a weak bunch, their absence on the night would have been telling in itself. Organisers should have gone ahead anyway and let attendees make their own minds up. Even this year's TV debates have gone ahead without one or other party leader.

These people are standing for office. If they can't even turn up to debate even this one dismal forties throwback, then I heartily agree with _HB – they're all utterly undeserving of anyone's vote.

For the love of God, it's just the one election every five years. They've put themselves forward as candidates, they have to be available to debate their competitors. Is that really too much to ask? How incredibly gutless.

Ideologies and get-out excuses about religious freedoms be damned - defending your opinions and political views is the very point of the hustings. Otherwise, all that the candidates are really doing is going through the motions, indulging in spare-time posturing with their pretty coloured rosettes just for the sh** and giggles in a constituency guaranteed to go Labour because of our laughable voting system. But that couldn't actually be true, could it?

[leenewham]

If they can't even agree to meet in a room to be asked some questions, then, frankly, they are the wrong candidates.

#noneoftheabove

[Tim Lund]

What a load of shit. You've made a martyr of a silly racist and his idiotic party.

If you can't openly debate with these morons and make mincemeat of their hateful views then you don't deserve anyone's vote.

Not exactly the words I'd have chosen, but more or less my sentiments.

I'm not so bothered about the cancellation of this meeting, because I think it would have been a mess, but that still leaves any number of ways the candidates can debate their views openly.

Perhaps they could come on here with details of any public meetings where they will be speaking?

Even better, come on this forum to debate their policies, e.g here

How the Greens can build 500,000 council houses

Twitter is also a public Forum, but candidates will always try to slap down challenges, rather than give considered answers



Here's the full local candidate Twitter line up, AFAIK,

Labour - nothing from Jim Dowd, although I follow @perryvalelabour - it being my ward
Conservative - @russellantony
Lib Dem - @alexfeakes
Green - @TomChance
TUSC Against Cuts - @mpdnut

the rest - anyone else know?

[Rachael]

Chiming in to agree. Can someone direct our candidates to this thread and the equivalent one on SE23.com to see how their actions have 'impressed' their electorate?