The Derby Guardian

1 THE DERBY GUARDIAN

An independent community paper, by email, for the people of Derby

Volume 1 No. 12 January 22, 2004

News of entertainments and the arts in the city includes an anniversary to be observed worldwide. Holocaust Memorial Day is on Tuesday, January 27, and among the events during the week in Derby will be the Metro Cinema screening on Monday evening of All Quiet on the Western Front, the classic anti-war film. The film was based on the book by Eric Maria Remarque, a native of Osnabruck – now Derby’s twin city in Germany.

At the Assembly Rooms on Wednesday, February 4, the famous former steeplejack and now travelling raconteur, Fred Dibnah, is expected to attract a full house. Box office D.255800. Our entertainments lists appear in the Derby Flyer each week. And see below: An honorary degree from Derby University is to be presented to the family of Terry Lloyd, the Derby-born journalist who was killed during the war in Iraq. The father of the city council, former Mayor Ray Baxter, is in the DRI after a collision with a car while walking with his wife, Jose, near their home in Mackworth.

Budding film-makers can challenge the world

Metro raises profile of local talent

A creative teacher in a certain college in the region has started a series of freewheeling but challenging course discussions with the title Creative Connections (writes our film editor). As a simple introduction he asked them to make connections between the ideas and the processes which led many years ago to the production in Derby of the world- renowned Rolls-Royce cars, and a small local company now, which has secured an American contract for a new software programme. Most of the students made that connection, and have now been asked to suggest other fields in which ingenuity and drive could bring success, and also raise the profile of our city. They are eager to take the discussion forward. One has pointed to film-making, and has introduced fellow students (and the tutor) to the competition for film-makers launched by Derby’s Metro Cinema. 2

Metro marked its 20th birthday in 2001 by making Alan Bates its first patron, and early in its 2004 programme is showing one of his early films, The Caretaker. This will be screened on Sunday, February 29, with profits going to charity. The film-making competition could turn out to be one of Metro’s most significant ventures. It is open countywide, and even to anyone who may not now be a resident but has had a Derbyshire post code. Spokeswoman Jane Travis says the deadline to receive entries is February 28, and adds: “They can be sent in on VHS or DVD. Whether your budget was £10 or £10,000 does not matter. We want to show what Derbyshire’s film-makers have to offer.” The entries will be judged by a panel from Q Arts, EM-Media, Metro and audience members. A screening of the finalists will be arranged. Of special interest in the Metro programme next Monday evening is a film to mark Holocaust Memorial Day - All Quiet on the Western Front, based on the anti-war novel by Eric Maria Remarque, a native of Osnabruck, Derby’s twin city in Germany. Details tel. D.347765. The popular introductions to landmark films at the Metro are continuing with Carole Mallai, history tutor at Nottingham University, speaking before the screening of Girl With A Pearl Ear-ring, on Tuesday, February 10, at 6.15pm. Study Days are also continuing, with Jo Butler, lecturer in media studies, exploring the appeal of film noir, followed by Charles Vidor’s classic, Gilda, on Friday, February 27, 12.30-3.30pm (Suitable for GCSE and A-level media students) ______

Former Mayor injured in collision

City Councillor Ray Baxter was taken to the Infirmary on Wednesday after a collision with a car when walking in Brackensdale Avenue, Mackworth, with his wife, Josephine. He suffered injuries to his face and back. Mrs Baxter suffered bruises when she was thrown to the ground. Mr Baxter, now 76, is the father of the council, having been first elected 27 years ago. He was Mayor in 1989-90, with his wife, Josephine, as Mayoress, and they enjoyed a busy year. They live in Hanwell Way, where I first interviewed him some years ago (writes Jim Brennan). He is a stickler for protocol, and helps keep the Labour group on its toes during the often heated debates with the ruling LibDem Tory alliance. He was succeeded as Mayor in 1990 by a Tory member, Barry Chadwick.

Two-pronged attack on local government

Blair and Howard marginalize councils

Behind the welter of change in the regulation of local government there is now emerging a curious and seemingly anti-democratic convergence by the two main 3

parties in a broadly-based campaign against elected councils (writes our local government editor). Derby is no exception, though the city council’s controlling alliance comprises a strong Liberal Democrat group in partnership with the Tories. The Tory’s national leader, Michael Howard, indicates a softer, voter-friendly stance to come in his party’s manifesto, but some of his senior spokespeople make it clear that the old cut-and-slash attitude to council expenditure remains on file. The Labour leader, Tony Blair, insists that local councils and councillors are the backbone of our democratic system, yet presides over proposals to increase the so- called partnerships, and to encourage a new non-council regime, “new localism”, by which groups of unelected activists will take over some council functions. Giving the local community more power (beyond the ballot box) over the management of public services may sound fine, at first hearing. It is not difficult to imagine the likely chaos when, for example, a group protesting against a new traffic system, put into place by the elected council and legally watertight, refuses to accept it, and urges other Derbeians to ignore it. There is also a possibility that the Labour group could encourage anything which upsets the fragile alliance, thus unwittingly helping New Labour to undermine the dmocratic process. Still the largest party, with 25 seats on the 51-member council, Labour’s tactics under the aggressive group leader, Chris Williamson, seem to be aimed at precisely that result. The professionals in local government, as well as councillors, are now questioning this “new localism,” and Sir Jeremy Beecham, Labour chairman of the Local Government Association, is expected to tackle it in a lecture next week.

Standing by the brothers and sisters

Scare headlines are already forecasting doom and gloom over the vote of civil servants in the Public and Commercial Services Union to stop work for two days next week, but a senior civil servant in Derby says they have a justified grievance. City Councillor Philip Hickson, Tory group leader and deputy leader of the council, has spent most of his career as a civil servant, and is a member of the Institute of Professional Management Specialists. He told Derby Guardian: “They have a justified grievance over pay, and the decision to take action was based on five separate postal ballots.” While he deplored any disruption of services to the public, he understood the PCSU members’ frustration over a long period of negotiation.

Terry Lloyd honoured by university

Among the honorary degrees to be awarded by Derby University this week is one to be presented posthumously to the family of Terry Lloyd, the Derby-born journalist who was killed in Iraq. 4

An internationally-renowned reporter, he was shot dead on March 22, believed to be by “friendly fire.” The award is for professional practice and services to journalism, and it is to be accepted tomorrow by his daughter, Chelsey. Degrees were to be presented to more than 2,000 students in ceremonies at the Assembly Rooms on Friday and Saturday.

Derbeians’ eyes on Presidential race

Democrats in Derby, Vermont, were disappointed that Howard Dean, their former Governor and now favoured candidate to oppose George Bush in the November elections, was reduced to third place in the first primary, in Iowa on Monday. As one of the nine contenders for the Democrat nomination, he had been top of the national polls. He had raised more money than the other candidates put together, and had a record number of hits on his web site, www.deanforamerica.com In Derby, Connecticut, supporters of Senator Joe Lieberman were taking stock, after the post-Iowa poll showed him remaining at only six per cent, against the leader, John Kerry, at 30 per cent. The next primary, in New Hampshire on Tuesday, is regarded as the most significant contest of all. The pundits say that anyone seeking to become President of the United States must win the support of the voters in the tiny New England state. For all Democrat candidates, see www.democraticwhip.house.gov

Free morning paper for Derby

An East Midlands edition of the free morning paper, Metro, which is already published in London and other cities, is to be launched to cover Derby, Leicester and Nottingham in May (writes our media correspondent). As with the established editions, it will carry mainly national news, from the owners of the Metro chain, Associated Newspapers (the Mail group), through its subsidiary, Northcliffe Newspapers. It will be given away on buses and trains, between 6am and 9am. The cost is covered by advertisements. Its national distribution is 890,000, and the East Midlands edition is expected to add another 60,000, according to the trade paper, Press Gazette. Metro was launched in 1999 as “a 20-minute read for commuters.” Associated Newspapers has also been named in the feeding frenzy around the troubled Daily and Sunday Telegraph. Last week Lord Black concluded a deal with the millionaire Barclay brothers, in the belief that the sale will not be blocked by the monopolies commission. Associated is reported today as preparing a bid in terms which would scupper that deal, on legal grounds involving the ownership of the controlling shares in the Telegraphs’ parent company, Hollinger Inc., and its subsidiary, Hollinger International.

Moving on

Two distinguished establishment figures are leaving Derby, to go on to bigger things (writes our partnerships reporter). Tim Kitchen (48), managing director of the Derby Evening Telegraph, is leaving after nine years to become MD at Bristol United Press, which publishes a morning and an evening paper. He began his newspaper career as an ad sales rep at the Leicester Mercury in 1978, and worked on other company papers before joining the DET. He takes up his new post on March 1. Another wellknown figure in the city, the Very Rev.Michael Perham, the Dean of Derby, is leaving to become Bishop of Gloucester. Mr Perham (56), came to Derby six years ago, and has been praised for giving the Cathedral a higher profile. His skill in public relations has included persuading the modest Bishop Jonathan Bailey to be photographed for the DET and other papers in pubs around the diocese, pint in hand, and also in attracting big events to the Cathedral. Both Mr Kitchen and Mr Perham have been actively involved in some of the many partnerships which, with leading representatives of business and commerce, now advise councillors and offer expertise in improving the city and its services. ______

Reputations on the line

The day of reckoning

Next Wednesday, when the report of the Hutton inquiry is published, is the day of reckoning not only for Tony Blair, but for Derby’s Geoff Hoon, and the rest of the cabinet, including Derby’s Margaret Beckett (writes our Westminster correspondent). Amid all the sound and fury of the long-running argument about the rights and wrongs of the Iraq war and the death of Dr David Kelly, there is widespread acceptance that the process of the inquiry itself, open to all, has already delivered a verdict on the reasons for going to war. Those long, open meetings, the production of those damning internal emails, the notes written on draft documents, the conduct and the answers of key witnesses, and the thousands of pages of recorded evidence, all conveyed, in the end, a picture of doubt and equivocation on the part of very senior people. The narrow remit given to Lord Hutton, to inquire into the death of Dr Kelly, may mean that nothing definite need be said in his report about the way in which Mr Blair persuaded Parliament to vote (in effect) to join the Americans in invading Iraq. But that is the bigger issue, and the proceedings of the inquiry could not avoid frequent references to the process by which the decision to go to war was made. Lord Hutton did not prevent questions and answers on that subject, and they are on the record. 6

Whatever is said in Wednesday’s report, the actions and the words of both the Prime Minister and the Defence Secretary, during that inquiry and many times since, have convinced many, if not a majority, that Britain went to war on a false prospectus,.

Book Notes There are many booklovers among our readers. Our books editor will welcome all book notes and queries. [email protected]

Our man about town

To the Council House for the Mayor’s reception for Civic Award members. Joe Godward, chairman of Derbyshire Trades Union Council, reminiscing about the old days (not so long ago) reminded me of some local members who have gone on to national prominence. They include Malcolm Wing, formerly an official of the T&GWU here, now with Unison, at London headquarters, and Graham Stephenson, now head of the public transport section of T&GWU. I met Malcolm again at the Labour Party conference at Bournemouth. The last time I saw Graham, some years ago, he was writing a history of unions in Derbyshire. Was it published ? Any news of that will be welcomed. In the corridors of power an encounter with former city council leader Mick (Veteran Labour) Walker, arriving for the monthly meeting of the Derby Jazz Club. He recalled jazz jaunts around the country with another former council leader, Robert Jones (piano) who is a regular attender. Jazz in Derby is very much alive and well, says Mick. The group puts on three gigs a month in either the Darwin suite or the Dance Centre, with an appreciative audience, and has a Derby Jazz Week planned for March. He praised the enthusiasm of youngsters at Saturday morning sessions at the Dance Centre, and also the East Midlands Youth Jazz Orchestra, at Murray Park school, which has younger pupils in the Swing Band, and even younger ones in the Starter Band. ------Albert Longstreet ______

It depends what you mean

Back to the use of language, and last week’s example from a city council document about “business theft” - by which they meant shoplifting, not million-pound fraud by greedy tycoons, writes William Bunting. This week a senior person in the Southern Derbyshire Health Authority was able to solve a minor but nagging mystery. It was about the new development taking shape at the City Hospital. There is no such word as “superhospital” in any official description of this development. This is probably of more interest to journalists and close observers than to most readers. The question arose when a long-running column in the DET included a 7 gentle send-up of the almost daily use of “superhospital” in the paper, even in headlines, suggesting it was a great propaganda coup by the health authority, worth thousand of pounds to the public-relations office. This was thrown out by the editor after the first edition, with no explanation or indeed a single word to the writer. “Not even a government minister would call it that – though a New Labour MP might,” the senior person said.

FOR YOUR DIARY

Derby City Council.

2004 January 22: Planning Control Committee, 6pm. January 26: School Organisation Committee, 6pm. Social Care and Health Commission, 6pm. January 27: Community Regeneration Commission, 6pm. January 28: Full council meeting, 6pm. It is open to the public. January 29: Derby Homes Ltd., board meeting, Cardinal Square, 6pm. Minority Ethnic Communities Advisory Committee, 6.30pm

The wards covered by the council’s Area Panels are listed in our weekly Derby Flyer. Scroll down for subscription details.

Derby Inauguration Ball, and Dennehy at the theatre

Marc Garofalo, Mayor of Derby, Connecticut, and the aldermen and elected officials have issued an invitation to the public to attend the city’s Inaugural Ball. This is to be held at Grassy Hill Lodge, on January 24, at 6.30pm. Local charities will benefit from the admission charge, $40 per person. The Derby Cultural Commission is sponsoring a play, The Exonerated, with former Derby resident Brian Dennehy and Mia Farrow, at the Shubert Theatre, New Haven, on January 25. Tickets $44 include the theatre, bus return to Derby, and the driver gratuity. Reservations first-come, first served. The bus leaves Derby Municipal Parking Lot, Factory St., at 1pm for the 2pm performance. Details from [email protected]

NB. The weekly diary of the Mayor, Councillor Peter Berry, is printed in our Derby Flyer (scroll down for subscription details).

Diary entries welcomed. Please give contact number even if not for publication.

Contacts

Derby City Council. Web site http://www.derby.gov.uk The list of councillors’ names and numbers is published in our Derby Flyer. The web site for city libraries is: www.derby.gov.uk/libraries The council’s community information database of clubs and societies, voluntary groups, sports clubs, and tutors: www.lidnet.org Derby Homes Ltd., Floor 2, South Point, Cardinal Square, DE1. Director Phil Davies. D.711010.

City Cabinet members: Maurice Burgess, Liberal Democrat, chairman –responsible for corporate policy; Philip Hickson, Conservative, vice-chairman - performance management, economic development and housing; Les Allen, Lib Dem., lifelong learning; Evonne Berry, Con., regeneration, social inclusion, youth and community; Lucy Care, Lib Dem., planning, transport and environment; Mike Carr, Lib Dem., personnel, equalities and direct services; Roy Webb, Con., social care; Paul West, leisure and cultural services.

Derbyshire County Council is at: http://www.derbyshire.gov.uk County council matters affecting the city will be included in this newsletter.

Political parties: Conservative. Derby North & South. Agent Paul White. D.832971. Labour. 2a Wentworth House, Vernon Gate. Agent James Shires. D.345636. Labour Party Social Club, 26 Charnwood St. D.364627. Liberal Democrat. City contact Pat Turner, on D.344042. Derby South constituency contact, Councillor Lucy Care, D.721291. UK Independence Party. The Woodlands, Fauld, Burton. 01283-520502.

For our list of local MPs and MEPs, with addresses, contact numbers and emails, see the current issue of Derby Flyer.

Age Concern. 15 Morledge, Derby 299318. Cats’ Protection League, Long Lane, Dalbury Lees. D.824950. Derby Council for Voluntary Service, 4 Charnwood St. D.346266. Derbyshire Chinese Welfare Association, 110 Abbey St. Chairman, Mr L.Y. Leung, D.342436. Derbyshire China Friendship Association, c/o the above. Another attempt is to be made to revive the association by its founder chairman. A Derby journalist took the chair on his return from working in Beijing in 1988, though a committee had already been set up by Henry Rodwell, a Derby Quaker who was born in China, and an exchange teacher, Maggie Aspdin. Successive chairmen have included a former 9

Mayor, Alan Mullarkey. It is hoped that Chinese students now at Derby University will play a part. Derby Fabian Society, meets second Friday evening of the month, Derby Labour Club, Charnwood St. Contact hon sec, Rosemary Key, D.573169. Derby Heart. Campaigning group. Heritage & Environmental Association for Residents & Traders. Chairperson, Ellen Hutchings, 121 City Rd., DE1 3RR. Tel. D.361375. Membership sec., Chris Woodward. D.343575. Derby Homes, South Point, Cardinal Square, Floor 2. Director, Phil Davies. Tel. D.293111. Derby Irish Association, Becket St. D.332842. Derby-Osnabruck twinning. Stephi Pohl took over here from Emma Boyd, who is now back in Germany. Our envoy in Osnabruck is now Anna Drysdale, succeeding Angela Woolvin. The office is at the Council House [email protected] Derby Law Society. President, Michael Copestake. Hon secretary, Susan Woodall, 01283-530333. Derby Area Trades Union Council (DATUC). President, Councillor David Roberts, [email protected] Help the Aged, shops include 62 Babington Lane, D.298824. Park Farm Centre, Allestree, D.558557. Racial Equality Council. 31 Normanton Rd., headed by Tony Walsh, who is also a key figure in organizing the annual St Patrick’s Day celebration (with Father Tim). D.372428. Derbyshire Association of Local Councils (DALC), based at Wirksworth. Contact Brian Wood, secretary/treasurer, at 01629-824797. Derby University Students Union. President, Kieran Patel. D.622238.

Additions and amendments welcomed. More contacts are published in our Derby Flyer. Subscribe now: details below. Paid subscribers get it first !

For national contacts of organizations helpful to everyone, see Jim’s listing in Fairplay UK, in his online Global Journalism Review at http://www.globaljreview.btinternet.co.uk/contacts_fair.htm

For a sideways look at science, see Jim’s Silicon Hollow News, on the same web site. Click on /siliconhollow.htm The editor is a member of the Association of British Science Writers. These files are now being updated.

More key lists for Derbeians are now being prepared. Additions and comment invited as we press on with this community work in progress.

For more about the editor, see his online Global Journalism Review, which includes his own work in progress, At The Margin, about life in journalism after being demobbed from the army in 1946: http://www.globaljreview.btinternet.co.uk/workinprogress1.htm

Reports and comments about Derby Guardian can be sent now to jim@derby- derby.com. This also applies to the Derby Flyer.

NB Our email domains include newslettersrus.co.uk, konichi-wa.com, syonara.com. pressa-z.co.uk, and many more

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