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Papers roll off the presses at Luton Media City

Good for employment though Luton Media City is, the tabloid hacking enquiry might paint a darker background for this story. National newspapers are now being printed in the town. On Monday night, Richard Desmond, who owns Express Newspapers, pushed the button which saw the Daily Star roll off the presses for the first time at [keep reading...]

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Man behind £300m school build cut visits academy

Barnfield welcomes Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education, despite his £300 million axe to Luton schools building. Can he really be described as an “inspirational” leader? Who exactly has been inspired by his few feeble reported words? Education secretary Michael Gove bravely showed his face in Luton to see an academy’s new state-of-theart buildings [keep reading...]

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Does a name change change?

You just know when people start re-describing established norms we have a problem with truth. Not that norms shouldn’t be challenged. What a dead world we’d have if that happened. Or didn’t happen. The way something is described also determines how we think about it. And therefore how we act, what we accept, and don’t [keep reading...]

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New children’s centre to give best possible start

Churlish though it may seem to criticise the Redgrave Children and Young People’s Centre, in Northwell Drive, Marsh Farm – doubtless it will be of great social value – it sounds far more like a glossy business centre when described by Matthew Winn as ” an integrated, one-stop facility for health and social care professionals [keep reading...]

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EDL leader sentenced for assaulting fellow member

There is a certain comedy about the thuggery of the “leader” of the EDL being convicted of assault on one his own members. Why bother to fight against the EDL when they are clearly so good at fighting with each other? A bid to prevent the leader of the English Defence League (EDL) from organising [keep reading...]

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The awards wars – the sequel

Six weeks ago I wrote a post – The awards wars – highlighting the ethos of The Community Awards by contrast to other glossed-up awards schemes. On Friday 4th November, at Venue Central, the Community Awards did it’s thing. I’ve checked out the websites of Luton on Sunday and Luton Today (Herald & Post). I [keep reading...]

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Cash-for-crash gang’s £5.3m fraud results in 22 guilty men

Yet another “cash-for-crash” investigation reveals the depths of dishonesty in the motor claims business, fed, as ever, by greed and referral fees.  This one was locally engineered.  It’s hard to find sympathetic words for the parasitic self-serving individuals who, like the three Pakistani test cricketing cheats, now face time in choke.  Who knows, maybe the [keep reading...]

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Butt gets 2 years 6 months in jail, Asif gets 1 year, Amir six months

Mr Justice Cook has potted (mixing metaphors, sorry) the Pakistan cricket cheats, which is sad story of great and stupidity which may well cause riots in Lahore. Please click here to read the detailed, excellently expressed remarks of the Judge as he sentenced them. Here’s cricinfo’s account of the story. I’ve borrowed the image of [keep reading...]

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“The brains, the boss, the number one”

These were the words of Mr Justice Anthony Pitts describing Samsul Haque at Southwark Crown Court when sentencing him to 5 years in prison. “The brains, the boss, the number one” – whether intended or not, these words sound like the description of a 1930s gangland boss. And perhaps this is how these men see [keep reading...]

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Teachers protest over pensions

Teachers and pensions are a hot topic, but what Gavin Shuker, MP for Luton South, contributes to this debate is far from clear. What is a “race to the bottom on pensions?” Could someone a little more literate who can say something that makes just a little more sense, please stand up? Teachers travelled to [keep reading...]