At Monday's council meeting, leader of Northampton Borough Council, David Mackintosh gave his final, final, final, decision on reopening Abington Street to traffic. And he was unanimous in that.
However as he chose to ignore his final chance of not going against the majority of the Northampton people, did he lay prostrate on the sacrificial slab his political ambitions in next years General Election?
Mr Mackintosh has proven himself since taking charge a man of dedication to his cause and his place as leader. A local person (as he keeps telling us), with a will to do what (he thinks) is right for his home town. At all costs?
There is something to be admired of someone who has such dedication and belief that what he is doing is correct. However when by chance of life, you find yourself in so much power that you actually can do (albeit locally) almost what you chose, it makes your beliefs and dedication inherently bad to everyone else.
It perhaps comes with the territory of a politician that they can be a little self centred and only interested in their own opinions, except when it comes round to voting time. Therefore perhaps in this respect Mr Mackintosh is the ideal politician. Self interest at all times.
However a touch of humility wouldn't be a bad thing. Knowing you just might be wrong on the odd occasion is useful perhaps. Whether it be that you really shouldn't have claimed for that item on expenses, or maybe this bus station really isn't going to be big enough. It wouldn't hurt the odd politician once in a while to look human. One of us.
However back to the subject in mind here. There is no question that Mr Mackintosh truly believes that his parties plan (it was in the manifesto) to open the street is, unquestionably the right thing to do. So much so, he has totally and thoroughly ignored the majority of the Northampton public, even going as far as to ignore everything that their own "public consultation" found.
So we reach the point of no return? Whether it is successful or not time will tell. Most doubt it will be.
However time will also tell whether Mr Mackintosh, who, let me remind you again, needs your votes next year, will get them.
To be continued...
Tuesday, 29 April 2014
Tuesday, 1 April 2014
Theatre Review: National Theatre Connections - The Wardrobe and Heritage at Royal & Derngate (Royal and Underground)
The National Theatre of ten new plays for young people reached Northampton this week on its countrywide tour, and I was able on the first day to see two of them. Good fun they were too.
The first, The Wardrobe by Sam Holcroft was probably a cleverer idea on paper than the success on stage. The idea was that it told the tale of various interludes through time of the very same wardrobe and was made up of small parts, some of which worked more successfully than others. It was perhaps actually on the part of the performers than some parts felt more alive. Particularly the boys convent section which was superbly played by the group, as well as an earlier part where a young Alan Carr literally stole the show with his upper class performance.
Another thing that jarred a little was the actual staging and use of the wardrobe. It was bizarrely big at times and seemed in one section to have another exit. Fair enough for freedom of the play, but if you are really going to restrict your play idea to a wardrobe, you really need to work with the confines of it for the audience to accept it. A pleasant enough play though with a great idea, but did not really fulfil its promise.
Heritage, written by Dafydd James and performed by Stopsley High School however was a completely different story. Dark, funny and sometimes gloriously rude, this was a wonderful little play. A group of young people have been gathered together to perform a village anthem, but as the play develops, it becomes clear that all is not as it seems.
For the most part this feels like a modern day Lord Of The Flies, with a band of youngsters together, but not really getting on with one another and exchanging insults, potential romance and some really very funny conversations. The young performers were also excellent, with some huge potential in the future I should imagine if they stick with it.
This really is a very dark comedy and it is actually made I think much more powerful by the fact that the performers are so young. A real gem!
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