Knutton doin', Labour

Politics.co.uk reports today:

"In Knutton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, the Conservative vote shared soared by 25.8% points. Labour came in second with 48.9% of the vote share. The by-election was caused by the resignation of Labour councillor Brian Johnson."

Newcastle turns blue

Good news. Newcastle-under-Lyme has turned blue, and not because of the pong from the Silverdale tip. The Sentinel reports today that:

"Four independent councillors on Newcastle Borough Council have joined the Conservatives – giving the Tories an overall majority on the authority"

Hopefully this might cause a re-think on their 'build on green spaces' stance.

Four months without the 'pong'

It's now been four months here, with open windows and I'd not had a whiff of the Silverdale tip 'pong'. This, as many local will recall, was the 'bad eggs' pong was drifting down into the valley and across Stoke, causing so much concern a year ago. Can we hope that it's finally gone, at least for those not living on the rim of the tip?

Smell hell - gone?

It's been two months now, since Stoke had a whiff of the local landfill that so blighted the springtime and early summer with its 'bad eggs' smell. At least, that's been the case down here in the valley, and for someone with windows open. Mostly likely it's still not too pleasant for those living around the edges of the site.

In a flap

Great news, Stoke's pigeon cull has begun. Sadly it's unofficial. What we really need is a big official cull, right across the city. There are far too many of them, and they're becoming a pest species.

Sun block

What is the Met Office doing issuing an "Extreme Heat" warning today? North Staffordshire was max. 80 degrees today. That's just a normal summer, or it is in those happy years when England actually gets a summer. We don't need yet another dribble of daily alarmism. Thanks goodness I grew up at a time when we lived without constant nannying and scolding and 'soft' hysteria. My advice is to get the relevant addons and filters for your web browser, and learn how to block most of it out. It's not that difficult to select and block individual bits of a Web page, or to block items with certain phrases.

Tip whiff sniffed... no more?

Don't blame me if I jinx it with this post, and flood Stoke with pong tonight. But I'll point out that the last time 'the stink' from the Silverdale tip was wafting over Stoke was in the night of 18th/19th June 2021. This means we've now gone a whole month without having a whiff of 'bad eggs' wafting down here. Which, in this nice bit of summer, is very welcome.

Meanwhile, Newcastle-under-Lyme Council are reported to be considering putting aside a £1m legal fund to take the tip owners to court. Something the owners have anticipated, as they hived it off to a ring-fenced shell company some months ago.

Conservatives take Penkhull & Stoke

Good news, the Conservatives have just taken Penkhull & Stoke in a local councillor by-election. Together with a few defections of councillors to the Conservative group in recent weeks, it looks like the Party is now bedding into Stoke quite nicely.

Hot stuff

We may have nude sunbathing in Hanley, but where's this blistering heatwave that was promised? It's been very nice the last twelve days, but nowhere near a heatwave. Today was supposed to be the big shocker, but no. Just pleasantly warm. I don't even need a fan on, let alone an air-conditioner. Same for tomorrow, with the run of warm weather breaking next Thursday.

The real problem currently is the return of 'the stink' from around the nearby landfill at Silverdale. Last night was it was very strong, despite the stiff wind, and this time it had the added and faintly nausiating scent of sick in it. Lovely.

Another blow to Hanley

Sad to hear that the Hanley Marks & Spencers is closing soon. Seemingly another casuality of the lockdown, along with the other big Hanley department store Debenhams.

Personally I won't miss either. But Debenhams and M&S closing will no doubt be a huge blow to the centre. Especially in terms of attracting "Mrs. Spends £100 per-week on clothes and cakes" and her kids, with the kids being dropped off in somewhere like Games Workshop / the comic shop / the Library. Webberley's big bookshop and the art supplies shop have long gone, and the Library is no draw for me — books now come to me from Amazon and eBay and go to lockers for pickup. Nice to see the arcade record shop and Brassington's shoe-shop are hanging on in Hanley, and that Brassington's website is offering prices that undercut Amazon on brands such as Dr. Marten's. But for me footwear is only a once-in-ten-years purchase, and all my music is now digital.

Thus Rymans is now the only real draw for me in Hanley, and even then only occasionally and only because the big-shed version of Staples on Festival Park closed down. Difficult to think of any other reason to go up to Hanley, and plenty not to — in the form of the druggies and crazy people who are allowed to roam it and yell at the public while the police sit idly by in their car. Which I saw with my own eyes when I visited Rymans last autumn.

My last M&S "new trousers" visit, some years ago now, was actually to the huge out-of-town M&S at nearby Wolstanton. It has to be M&S because only there can you get exact trouser lengths + quality + price + a selection. And they still take seriously menswear for those who are not pencil-slim 19 year-olds, and give it lots of display space. It's a good store, huge and browsable, and with a big B&M next door. Once the big Wolstanton flyover finally opens you might even have some people walking up there from Festival Park, provided the long pedestrian bridge-crossing experience is made pleasant. When I last went it was a bit of a dog's leg to walk there, and the toy-town bus back was late and meh.

So really, Hanley's become a bit pointless for me now. Especially as many things can now be sent to an Amazon pickup on Festival Park. Or had via eBay if they can fit through a letterbox. There's also the B&Q on Festival Park, for the sort of larger or more specialist DIY items that can't be had from Morrisons. But that's the western part of Festival Park, which can hardly be considered to be Hanley. Nor can Ableworld which is far down on the southern edge of Hanley by the canal, and which I may eventually need when the time comes for the zimmer-frame and the ear-trumpet. Now there's a thought. The city centre bosses might find a way to get the big Ableworld up into Hanley, with good parking, and at no extra cost to the chain. That would be a draw for many older people. It might even fit nicely inside the current M&S space. That's if, by then, Ableworld hasn't already found a new space at Wolstanton next to the new flyover and M&S.