JANUARY DISCUSSION MEETING

                DRONFIELD LABOUR PARTY DISCUSSION MEETING


TOPIC :           CANDIDATES FOR LABOUR'S NOMINATION AS POLICE AND CRIME
                         COMMISSIONER IN DERBYSHIRE

SPEAKERS :   HARDYAL DHINDSA, GARY GODDEN and CHRIS WILLIAMSON

TIME ;             8pm to 9.15pm

DATE :            SUNDAY, 10th JANUARY 2016

VENUE :         CONTACT CLUB, SNAPE HILL LANE, DRONFIELD

The speakers are the candidates for the position of the Labour nominee for the role of Police and Crime Commissioner in Derbyshire. The ballot to determine who will be Labour's candidate closes at noon on Tuesday, January 26th 2016.

The speakers will each give an introductory talk for ten minutes and then join in the subsequent discussion.

The meeting will provide an opportunity to discuss the nature and role of the work of Police and Crime Commissioners.

Debating Labour : Its History and Future

‘Where’s it been? Where’s it going?’ are the questions being addressed at a series of day schools on the Labour Party starting in Yorkshire next month.

The Independent Working Class Education Network are holding their first meeting on ‘The history and future of the Labour Party’ at Northern College in Barnsley on Saturday 23 January.
The workshop will cover the foundation of the Labour Party, some key 20th century issues and Labour today.
Attendance costs £25 and places are available on a ‘first come, first served’ basis as space is limited.
What: Labour Party: Where’s it been? Where’s it going?
When: Saturday 23 January, 10.30am-4.00pm
Where: Northern College, Barnsley, Yorkshire
To book a place contact Keith Venables by email: iwceducation@yahoo.co.uk.
Go to the Independent Working Class Education Network’s website for more details.
The second day school will be held in south London on 6 February.

Hat tip : Matthew Brown and Independent Labour Publications - click here. 

December Discussion Meeting

             DRONFIELD LABOUR PARTY DISCUSSION MEETING

TOPIC :          GATHERING MOMENTUM FOR LABOUR 

SPEAKER :    TOSH McDONALD

TIME :            8pm to 9.15pm

DATE ;           SUNDAY,  13TH DECEMBER

VENUE :       CONTACT CLUB, SNAPE HILL LANE, DRONFIELD

     

Tosh McDonald is the President of the train drivers union ASLEF (Associated Society of
Locomotive Engineers and Firemen) having joined British Rail 35 years ago as a freight guard at Doncaster Carr locomotive shed.

He played a prominent role in the campaign to elect Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party. Numbers of us heard him make powerful speeches on Jeremy's behalf at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield ; either as part of the massive overflow crowd outside the building or with 900 others inside the theatre itself.

He also spoke powerfully at the recent Labour Party Conference in support of the overwhelmingly endorsed policy of bringing private rail franchises into public ownership as soon as they expire.

"Momentum" is a body arising out of Jeremy's successful leadership campaign. It is working to make Labour a more democratic party, which will produce its own policies and has the collective will to implement them when in government. Click here for their web-site.

See here for Tosh and Jeremy making forceful speeches at this year's Durham Big Meeting. If you have not been to our discussions meetings before, this will be a great introduction.

   

 

November Discussion Meeting

                   DRONFIELD LABOUR PARTY DISCUSSION MEETING


TOPIC  :          WHAT WILL BE THE IMPACT OF THE "SHEFFIELD CITY 
                         REGION COMBINED AUTHORITY" ?                    

SPEAKER :     STEVE HOUGHTON
                      
TIME :             8pm to 9.15pm

DATE :            SUNDAY,  8th NOVEMBER

VENUE :         CONTACT CLUB, SNAPE HILL LANE, DRONFIELD
 


Sir Steve Houghton is the leader of the Barnsley Council and Chair of the recently established Sheffield City Region Combined Authority. This combined authority will have powers over transport, economic development and regeneration in the Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield areas. Yet because of travel to work and other interlinks, its operations will also be of relevance to the interests of Councils in the areas of North East Derbyshire, Chesterfield, Bolsover, the Derbyshire Dales and Bassettlaw. As a consequence these five outside authorities are provided with non-constituent places on the Combined Authority.

One of the characteristics of this new structure is that it is proposed that that it will have an elected Mayor, voted upon by the electorate from its four main constituent authorities. A similar structure is being proposed for the combined authorities in Derbyshire, Derby, Nottinghamshire and Nottingham.

We will be able to consider how this will work out within the areas of both the constituent and non-constituent authorities.

  

October Discussion Meeting

                          DRONFIELD LABOUR PARTY DISCUSSION MEETING


TOPIC  :          REPORT BACK FROM THE LABOUR PARTY CONFERENCE

SPEAKER :     VAL GRAHAM
                      
TIME :             8pm to 9.15pm

DATE :            SUNDAY,  11 OCTOBER

VENUE :         CONTACT CLUB, SNAPE HILL LANE, DRONFIELD


Val attends our Discussion Meetings and runs a similar Discussion Group to our own which meets in the Labour Club at Chesterfield. She is Chair of Chesterfield Unite Community and Chesterfield TUC EC. She writes for "Labour Briefing" and attended the recent Labour Party Conference at Brighton as a delegate.

ILP statement on the Labour leadership election

 

A fine statement on the Labour Party leadership elections and on the way party activists and supporters should respond to its result when it is announced on Saturday, has been published by Independent Labour Publications (ILP).

Its flavour can be found in the following extract - "It is vital that the political divisions laid bare in recent months do not cause irreparable damage to the party's future. All of us in the party - candidates, MPs, members and supporters - should commit to some guiding principles based on democracy, respect, pluralism and participation that will allow us to work together whatever the outcome of the election."

The full statement is worth studying and can be found by clicking here.

It is especially appropriate that the ILP should make a case which could help to save and progress the future of the Labour Party. For the ILP was initially founded by Keir Hardie and others in 1893 as the Independent Labour Party and was a key forerunner and participant in the establishment of the Labour Party itself. For a first rate and recent article on the role which Keir Hardie played, click here  

September Discussion Meeting

                          DRONFIELD LABOUR PARTY DISCUSSION MEETING




TOPIC  :          WHAT NOW ?

                       

DETAILS :      WE MEET THE DAY AFTER LABOUR ELECTS ITS NEW LEADER.

                         WHAT DO WE NOW SEE AS BEING OUR WAY AHEAD ?  

TIME :             8pm to 9.15pm

DATE :            SUNDAY,  13 SEPTEMBER.

VENUE :         CONTACT CLUB, SNAPE HILL LANE, DRONFIELD