What Dennis Skinner Told Me...

By TOMMY HOLGATE

Blue hi . . . hopefully we can say hello to a bit more of this for the next few months

"Aaaaaayyyyoooooo/Yeeeeahhhh Booiii/Coooomme Onnnn!"

What I'm trying to say is: "It's now spring time."

I just looked at the title of this blog for a second and thought of the 90s pop band. But that soon passed.

I hope they're all OK, don't get me wrong.

But before digressing, allow us to gander at the image above and be like, 'yeah, BBQ time is not far off'.

I remember when the clocks went back as a teenager and the general consensus among mates was, 'this is wicked, you can be out playing football till half eight!'

Not-half great, more like.

Of course, it's not just football you can enjoy as a result of the impending light nights.

You could go metal detecting. And the rest.

Speaking of detecting metal, I'm going to have to detect some mettle over the next five weeks.

Nominations week opens soon for the Parliamentary and Local Council elections - both of which I shall be standing in.

It's all very official and I am having to practise patience in swallowing some rules and regulations.

For example, I was due to start teaching a weekly Tai Chi class at the local leisure centre, but am having to wait until after the election as you cannot be employed by the council and also run.

I mean, you could be employed at the leisure centre and also run on the treadmill, but not as a Local Councillor [not sure if it warrants capitals but makes me feel more important].

But this is merely preparation for many instances where red tape will stand in the way of common sense.

One simply has to accept certain inevitabilities with an attitude of patient endurance.

As Dennis Skinner once told me [he rang me back at 8.30pm on a Tuesday, from his Parliamentary office, as I'd left a voicemail on his constituency phone earlier in the day]: "You can't be naive enough to think everybody is going to come round to your way of thinking straight away, but if you know what you are standing up for is morally right, and you're patient, and you live long enough, you just might get to see it happen."
He also asked me why I didn't run for the Labour Party.

I reminded him of the point above, and said: "That's why I'm standing for Peace."

As the chat continued we spoke about his back-and-forth jibes with David Cameron, with the PM having to publicly apologise for calling the Bolsover Beast a 'dinosaur'.

Mr Skinner said: "I've been called worse in the playground."
And with that, the concept concern over one's impending ridicule was washed away.

Cheers Dennis!

Speaking of ridicule, I've heard people say: 

"Isn't it ridiculous how much lying goes on in Parliament."

I know, let's do something about it.

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