It looks like things are now gearing up for the General Election on May 7th – reports are coming in that UKIP’s Nigel Farage was in the area on Sunday, prancing in front of the cameras outside The Old Mill on Plumstead Common.
It’s an interesting tactic from UKIP. The 2011 Census figures show that Glyndon ward is one of the most ethnically diverse in London with only 35.8% of residents identifying as White British.
Glyndon ward stats
At the local council elections in May 2014 UKIP had problems finding enough signatures for their candidate to stand in the ward. This resulted in them submitting incomplete nomination papers and being excluded from the ballot paper.
The rules on council nominations need to change. 10 signatures are too much. Should be 5 signatures
— Tony Williams (@Tony67Tory) April 24, 2014
Until the middle of the last decade Plumstead Common itself was also the venue for a regular Anti-Racist Festival every summer, with up to 30,000 people attending and supporting community relations. The festival started after the racist killing of Rolan Adams in Thamesmead in 1991. Local boy Stephen Lawrence infamously suffered a similar fate in Eltham during 1993. Neighbouring Welling was also the site of a BNP office and activism until 1995 when Bexley closed the site – Plumstead largely escaped this tension.
Since then, and despite resentment at the lack of funding for the area from the local authority, Plumstead has remained an inclusive place and locals are rightly up-in-arms about the visit. The Facebook page for The Old Mill has a humourous discussion from the regulars around the attempted appropriation of their pub for dubious political ends.
Your not wanted here. Ukip, Plumstead’s ahead of the Game; we are a mixed cosmopolitan society and we both love and live it ..!
I know one of the UKIP three and I was told by him ‘it was nice be in a pub for ‘our people” When asked if I wished to join them in a drink – I declined even challenged with ‘we live in a democracy’
Trouble is Paul that they can film if they want. Andy can only stop them using the inside. Unadopted road don’t you know.
It looks like the consensus around here is that you should leave your politics at the door. There also appears to be growing support for a hitherto unknown candidate, Timothy Taylor.
Vote Timothy Taylor! I want to become a party activist.
So, what are UKIP playing at? Any ideas?
What struck me, immediately, was that the Plumstead Make Merry – Greenwich’s longest running community festival (40 years in June!), which is organised for and by local people, attracts 7,000+ participants and celebrates Plumstead’s diversity – takes place on the Common immediately adjacent to The Old Mill. Clearly UKIP has made some very foolish assumptions about Plumstead and the intelligence of Plumsteaders.
We should worry about freedom of speech and democracy in this country as anyone who questions the open door immigration policy adopted by New Labour is labelled racist. UKIP is not a party with a racist agenda. They are looking to allow immigration based only on whether or not people have the labour skills need by the country, regardless of ethnicity, background or country of origin. This is a sound argument.
I couldn’t agree more
If not racist, how do you interpret this exchange: “I know one of the UKIP three and I was told by him ‘it was nice be in a pub for ‘our people” When asked if I wished to join them in a drink – I declined even challenged with ‘we live in a democracy’”? UKIP foolishly chose the wrong pub and the wrong area. That Tony Williams failed to find a mere 10 registered voters to sign his nomination proves that. I’m proud to live in a place where most (if not all) people are tolerant. Oh, and the Labour mug story has obviously passed over the heads of those commenting above.