Why today’s rail increase is unfare

​​ So millions of commuters like me today are being forced to pay upto 3.6% more in their train fares. For me, that’s an extra £36 a month.  I can’t get out of paying it. But this Government are allowing Virgin East Coast to walk away from paying £2b to the taxpayer by allowing them

Goodbye Harry

Harry Woodford will be remembered for many things. Being Lord Mayor of Hull. A legendary Hull City Council Deputy Leader who helped to rebuild a city bombed by the Nazis. And an East Hull local legend. But to me, he was a family friend. A Grandad in all but blood. Harry stood against my father

The gatekeepers to freedom

Yesterday, metres from my office, death drove across the Thames. Outside our window, bodies and the wounded lay across a bridge I run across every other day. And a man I have no doubt met but never spoke to laid down his life to ensure we were safe. The officers on the Carriage Gate entrance

So I’ve voted…

I have good friends working on both Labour leadership campaigns.  And I know many of you on here have different views on who to back. But as I set out previously said on this blog, I never wanted this election.  Corbyn should have been given more time as leader.  Nine months was nowhere near enough

Why I spoke for Corbyn

So tonight we held our Newark Labour leadership nomination meeting. It was a comradely, good natured affair and Corbyn won the CLP nomination 42 votes to Owen Smith’s 11. We had many members speak for their preferred candidate. And I could see the merit in both Owen and Jeremy. But I spoke and voted for

Family sticks together

So fellow Labour Party members. It looks like we’re in for a torrid time. I hope there might be some last minute change of mind. But sadly it really does look like we’re going to go through a bitter and divisive leadership contest. So before it starts, I wanted to say this. The Labour Party

After Brexit, let’s Fixit

Well, we tried our best but it still wasn’t good enough. I’ve spent the last six months campaigning for us to stay in the EU, from running market stalls in Newark to touring the East Midlands doing debates and talking to people. Now our country is divided, our economy is about to go into a

Learning from defeat

They say you only really learn from your defeats. Last Friday I found out. Seeing your candidate win on the first round of voting only to lose on transfers is bad enough. When it’s your father, it’s a lot worse. We knew it would be tough. The Humberside Police force area was technically a Tory

An indulgence we can ill afford

   So on the day Corbyn’s satisfaction rating overtook Cameron, 60% of people are dissatisfied with Osborne as Chancellor and we start to draw level with the Tories in the polls, up pops John Woodcock rallying Labour MPs against Corbyn. People like Woodcock are deliberately short-selling Labour ahead of crucial elections exactly six weeks today – two

Remembering Tosin

   I’ve only just heard of Tosin Olusoga’s passing. Whilst I can’t claim to have had the pleasure of knowing him as well as his friends and family, I just wanted to share my memory of him. I was standing as the Labour candidate for Gainsborough at the last election. I noticed on our membership