Saturday, February 12, 2005
Bad postbag for Vaz
Keith has had a bad Mercury postbag of late and it just keeps getting worse...
A costly move
The city council has said organising a referendum for an elected mayor could cost in the region of £200,000.
All of a sudden, Leicester East MP Keith Vaz is organising a petition only a few months into the next general election in support of a referendum for a four-year-term lord mayor.
Does Mr Vaz expect us, the taxpayers, to dig into our pockets or will he dig into his own?
Nationwide polls outlined by the Government suggesting it is popular is a load of Blair, Blair, Blair and that's saying something from someone who has never been approached.
I am against an elected mayor for a term of four years. It would be like having another Prime Minister in each town. Each political party would favour its own candidate and favouritism would set in.
There would be no democracy at the council and freedom of speech would go out of the window.
Maurice Williams, Leicester.
Nice one Maurice. And then there's also...
Should MP be flying this flag?
Last week, I was driving along Uppingham Road with members of my family who had come over from Birmingham when my cousin pointed out a large flag with a red cross on a white background attached to the front wall of the house No 144.
My cousin, who was very alarmed, asked me if No 144 was the headquarters of the British National Party. I told him that it was, in fact, the office of our local Labour MP, Mr Keith Vaz.
Mr Vaz represents a constituency where there are many different ethnic communities trying to live together in peace and harmony.
So why can he not see that displaying this flag, with its obvious association with the far right, is likely to offend and upset many of the people who have voted for him in the past?
Iqbal Sacranie, Leicester.
Iqbal Sacranie is also the name of the secretary-general of the Muslim Council for Britain. Hmm. In any case, I myself have noticed big England flags hanging off Uppingham Road although a bit of research normally reveals that this is around some sort of sporting time. Why aren't they hanging out a Welsh flag?
A costly move
The city council has said organising a referendum for an elected mayor could cost in the region of £200,000.
All of a sudden, Leicester East MP Keith Vaz is organising a petition only a few months into the next general election in support of a referendum for a four-year-term lord mayor.
Does Mr Vaz expect us, the taxpayers, to dig into our pockets or will he dig into his own?
Nationwide polls outlined by the Government suggesting it is popular is a load of Blair, Blair, Blair and that's saying something from someone who has never been approached.
I am against an elected mayor for a term of four years. It would be like having another Prime Minister in each town. Each political party would favour its own candidate and favouritism would set in.
There would be no democracy at the council and freedom of speech would go out of the window.
Maurice Williams, Leicester.
Nice one Maurice. And then there's also...
Should MP be flying this flag?
Last week, I was driving along Uppingham Road with members of my family who had come over from Birmingham when my cousin pointed out a large flag with a red cross on a white background attached to the front wall of the house No 144.
My cousin, who was very alarmed, asked me if No 144 was the headquarters of the British National Party. I told him that it was, in fact, the office of our local Labour MP, Mr Keith Vaz.
Mr Vaz represents a constituency where there are many different ethnic communities trying to live together in peace and harmony.
So why can he not see that displaying this flag, with its obvious association with the far right, is likely to offend and upset many of the people who have voted for him in the past?
Iqbal Sacranie, Leicester.
Iqbal Sacranie is also the name of the secretary-general of the Muslim Council for Britain. Hmm. In any case, I myself have noticed big England flags hanging off Uppingham Road although a bit of research normally reveals that this is around some sort of sporting time. Why aren't they hanging out a Welsh flag?
