Council rejects VE Day anniversary parade because it's ‘too elitist'
Dacorum borough council in Hertfordshire has eschewed hosting any formal event to mark the end of the Second World War in Europe on May 8.
This is despite the Lib Dem-run council holding a day-long event last year called '50 Fest' – which included a colourful parade through Hemel Hempstead – to mark its 50th birthday.
Instead, it has told residents to hold their own street parties if they want to commemorate the German surrender to the allies 80 years ago.
Special events are being planned across the UK including a flypast over London, and a thanksgiving service at Westminster Abbey attended by members of the Royal family and veterans.
Asked why there wasn't going to be a military parade, Caroline Smith-Wright, of Dacorum borough council, told a meeting on April 2: 'We have decided at this point to enable communities to come together and have street parties and I think that is for the community, that is for everyone, that encompasses everybody – it doesn't just leave the elite and people to just, kind of, parade.
'This is about normal people celebrating in their communities, bringing people together, sharing food, sitting at a table, celebrating and I think that's a fine way to celebrate VE Day.'
The decision was condemned by opposition councillors on all sides.
Tory Graeme Elliot said: 'I'm very dismayed about the lack of celebrations. My father fought in that war. I had an uncle who died in the Battle of France. That was the golden generation. So you think 50 years of a council is far more important than the men and women who gave their lives?'
Labour councillor Pete Hannell said the council should reconsider its position to honour the 'sacrifices' made.
He added: 'My children and grandchildren are facing a war in Europe now where the aggressor is being appeased in the way that Chamberlain was arguably appeasing Hitler in 1938.'
Jan Maddern, an independent, agreed: 'I'm quite dismayed by this as well. We missed in effect the 75th anniversary of VE Day because we were in Covid. I can remember having street parties where we all sat on our drives in my cul-de-sac, safe distancing from everyone else. I think we should do better.'
She pointed out that the council funded a box of bunting and other street party decorations for the last Royal wedding but would not be offering anything for the 80th anniversary of VE Day.
But in response, Ms Smith-Wright said: 'I do appreciate and understand everyone's strong feelings. As far as street parties go, we invite residents to sign up to have their road closed – that's an immense expense. It costs thousands to shut a road for a street party, it's free currently.'
The Liberal Democrats took control of the council last May but have been mired by controversy after two council leaders were forced to stand down amid allegations of misogyny and bullying.
Eight female Liberal Democrat councillors accused the leadership of failing to adequately deal with the claims and went independent, leaving the council with no overall control.
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Wales Online
8 minutes ago
- Wales Online
'We were right on 20mph, Brexit was wrong and Nigel Farage would be a disaster for Wales'
'We were right on 20mph, Brexit was wrong and Nigel Farage would be a disaster for Wales' Departing Welsh Government cabinet member Julie James gave her no holds barred take as she prepares to leave frontline politics Julie James meeting school children at Lisvane and Llanishen reservoirs in 2021 (Image: Patrick Olner) When Julie James speaks, people listen, not only in terms of her Senedd contributions, where she is more than happy to put her opponents in their place, but her cabinet colleagues too - especially since First Minister Eluned Morgan made her "minister for delivery" a year ago. It is the sort of title possibly more suited for a spoof sitcom, but it's also the sort of job you can only give someone you know will ruffle feathers if that's what is needed. A member of Labour for almost 52 years, she also holds sway in the political party. She was, after all, one of the resignations on that July day last year that signalled to Vaughan Gething he could not resist any longer, and within hours he had quit as First Minister of Wales. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here . Her official Senedd biog reads: "Julie is a committed green campaigner, environmentalist and a keen swimmer and skier. Julie is a member of Unison and is also a member of Gray's Inn" - a varied mix indeed. She has lived around the world, but moved back to Swansea to raise her three children. Professionally she has worked as a lawyer, been assistant chief executive of Swansea council. Now, the clock on her time in frontline politics is ticking, as she is one of the 13 Labour Senedd members who will not seek re-election in May's election. Article continues below Entering politics was a long held ambition, and she finally did it at 53. Brought up in a political household, her father was a Labour Party councillor and trade unionist and, in her words, both her parents were "both crazy climate change activists". It's probably no surprise she is also a lifelong vegetarian, something she describes as being "very bloody weird" when she was growing up. "I've always very firmly been of the view, right from when I was 16, if you want to change something, you have to stay in it. 'Perseverance is everything' "It's a conversation we have all the time, if you've resigned from the Labour Party in principle, then you can't vote for the candidate or make sure the people who believe what you believe are the ones who represent you. So, well done with your principle, but now you don't have a voice. "I've always thought having a voice is important and I've also thought, perseverance is everything. I'm nothing if not persistent. "Some things take a long time. I've been a member of the campaign for one member, one vote, [an internal Labour party voting system] since I joined, we got that in 2018. Fifty years is a long time to be persistent. You get there in the end. I've always been like that." During the pandemic, Julie James was Mark Drakeford's climate change minister (Image: Patrick Olner) Before standing for election to the Senedd she had what she calls a "perfectly good career". A former environmental regulation lawyer, she admits her time in the cabinet "hasn't worked out as quite the little retirement job I had in mind". But had always wanted to do it, when her predecessor in the Swansea West seat, Andrew Davies, said he was standing down "serendipity" saw her selected, and then elected. But six months after being elected, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She kept working. "What are you going to do if you're not working? Sitting at home looking at the wall wondering if you' that's no good for me at all," she said. She had four operations during her treatment, but once she was better, told Carwyn Jones she was ready to join his cabinet. She is now serving her fourth First Minister, with roles like skills and science, local government all on her CV, but the role created for her by Mark Drakeford, whose leadership election campaign she chaired, is her passion despite some very vocal opponents. In his tenure Mr Drakeford axed the M4 relief roads, placed a ban on new roads, set new targets for recycling and net zero, and who can forget it her department, and her deputy Lee Waters who brought in Wales' 20mph law, for example. Public opinion didn't deter her. "I suppose I always felt we were doing the right thing. You get a lot of crap from people who want you to do something that isn't the right thing. "I put a lot of stock by having done the right thing. So yes, we did things that were unpopular. The 20mph is a classic because it has saved tens of lives. It has stopped thousands of people's lives from being changed across Wales. Everyone in Wales now has at least a 10% drop in their insurance, that's the most successful policy we've ever had and sod it, some people didn't like it I did," she said. 'Sheer hypocrisy' The brief was massive, and her deputy, Lee Waters, has since admitted the toll, fronting that policy took on him personally. She says she tried to persuade him from fighting every battle. "There were some people you can persuade and there are lots of people you can't persuade. Don't try, just stick to your guns quietly, carefully, sluggishly, persistently and you'll get there. You don't have to do the warrior thing but it suits some people. "I'm quite happy to quietly do it in the background." For those who watch Senedd regularly, her contributions are the ones you turn your head to watch. She cannot hold back, particularly when the Conservative opposition speaks. She cannot, she says, bear their "hypocrisy". "The Tories spend a lot of time telling us that we should do things faster, whilst also we should cut all the taxes and we should pump a lot of money into businesses that don't need it, take it away from people who do need it, and at the same time we should have done a lot more on, I don't know, salt marshes or something. "That doesn't add up and it's just the sheer hypocrisy." Julie James MS speaking to Conservative Andrew RT Davies MS during the first day of Welsh Parliament at the Senedd in Cardiff Bay in 2021 (Image: Ben Evans/Huw Evans Agency) "The Tory group in the Senedd does my head in a bit because they backed the UK Government big time. Lots of them backed Liz Truss, lots of them publicly. They backed Brexit and then at the same time they stand up in the Senedd and they shout at us about the fact that austerity is cutting our money, crippling our communities, knackering our health service. Brexit has done our trade in. "I can't bear it." But the threat in 2026 to Labour isn't the Tories, they face their own battle to get any seats, but Labour faces a two pronged attack from Plaid on the left, and Nigel Farage's Reform on the right. She knows the threat Reform brings. "It's the same thing as Brexit, isn't it? We failed on Brexit and we failed on Brexit because we didn't understand that a lot of people, just taking Swansea for an example, a lot of people in Swansea could see the largesse of the European Union, they could see the universities they could see, but they had no share in it. "They can see that some people are doing alright out of it, but they aren't. Many worked, for example, in facilities in the university, for example but they were having their hours and wages cut while they could see in their world other people very well out of it. "If you don't share it out, then obviously the people who aren't getting a share are angry, rightly angry, and that's what's happening across the Western developed world and with Reform. 'Taken down a path' "We have a society that, on the one hand, is getting technologically more competent, wealthier, with nicer lives, longer lives and so on and a huge section of that society is sick and poor and struggling and they're bloody hungry. "They're being taken down a path by demagogues who are doing it for their own purposes, and they're going to make their lives worse. "Brexit is a perfect example of that. Nobody can point me to anything that Brexit has done isn't a disaster and of course, if you put that to some of the people who backed it, they say, 'well, it wasn't done properly'. What an absolute nonsense. Isn't that the same as Reform, what they're promising might, on a very surface level, make some sense." Get daily breaking news updates on your phone by joining our WhatsApp community here . We occasionally treat members to special offers, promotions and ads from us and our partners. See our Privacy Notice She speaks of a Reform pledge to give non-doms a chance to avoid paying some UK taxes, by paying a £250,000 fee, and income from the measure would be transferred annually tax-free to the bank accounts of the lowest paid 10% of full-time workers. "Until you talk to people about it and you say, 'well, actually most non-doms would be paying a great deal more than that, they should be paying 40% of their income all the time, and ask 'Do you know how many people in Wales are on the minimum wage?' Think how much it is to give them £10 each per week, which would have to be the absolute minimum for it to make a difference. "When you do that on the doorstep, some people will listen to that but lots of them won't and they'll say they've had a gutsful of 'you lot'. "Until we can get some trust in mainstream politics we've got a problem. We've had 14 years of people shouting at each other, a lot of misinformation. There's no trust in that, people promising them the 'Big Society' or whatever the hell the Johnson one was. it doesn't mean anything to anyone." But, I put it to her, UK Labour has been as guilty, promising change but delivering it via a series of policies which have been deeply unpopular. "Absolutely," she concedes. "UK Labour have come in and they have made a series of decisions which have undermined trust in mainstream politics. They're new. They have four more years to fix it. They will fix it," she is. "But, Labour here is bearing the brunt of that," she said. As deputy skills minister in 2015 Julie James said she was passionate about women in science (Image: Western Mail) When we met, a poll had not long put Labour's support in Wales for the Senedd election at 18%. That is not, she said, being projected on the doorsteps to such a degree but there shouldn't be a lot of hope taken by Labour by that. "In the 80s we used to have 'shy Tories' where people would swear blind they weren't going to vote for Thatcher and clearly were. And we're getting those but for Reform." Her Swansea patch can, broadly, be split into the northern part of the constituency which is mainly social housing or council homes, and the south, with people who work in the university, the hospital or council. It is a patch which tells the story of the threat to Labour in Wales, quite succinctly with the Reform threat in the north, but the Plaid, Green, Lib Dem threat in the south. "What people might think is, 'we don't need Welsh Labour because they're going to win so I can indulge myself in a protest vote', so I spend a lot of time reminding people what happened in Gower when 1,000 people voted Green and they got a Tory MP for the first time in a hundred years. "I personally rang up quite a lot of people and said, 'how's that working out for you?'" The signs are all there that Labour will have a tough time in the election for which she won't be a candidate. "What we've got to do is give people something positive to vote for. I do not want people to vote Labour because it's the least worst option. We've got to do something that means you actually believe in us, which I think we can do. And secondly, we've got to persuade them that even if they're a bit sceptical about that, swapping to a different party and splitting the progressive vote, will put a Reform government into Wales." One of the many narratives she says she cannot tolerate is about immigration and limiting immigration, particularly in Wales. 'This immigration thing does my head in' "In truth, my own view is that Wales should have its arms wide open and say, 'Come, come, come, come, come in numbers' and if you're young, working age, of breeding age, come. We need those people, we need a lot of them. The more highly skilled, the better. And by highly skilled, I mean skilled in care as well as skilled in technology. "The immigration thing just does my head in. I just don't understand why anyone in Wales is even remotely worried about immigration. It's tiny and the immigrants who come to Wales have hugely enriched our society. "Without the Ukrainians where would our care system be?" She is one of those who has seen a new, upstart party come into Welsh politics. In 2016, she saw the Ukip contingent arrive in the Senedd and admits the challenge posed by a new, inexperienced party, was probably good for the institution - in some ways. "For the first time in ages we had to argue from first principles why we were doing what we did," she said. "We didn't have a broad consensus that we could build from. We had people saying that they fundamentally didn't agree with it and I think that's actually quite a decent discipline to have to do". But she saw the weaknesses too. As the group splintered, they did not pull their weight on committees, she says. "They were really disruptive and not because they had an ideology we didn't like but because they were chaotic. "Actually an enormous amount of the work of the Senedd, like any Parliament goes on in the committee rooms behind closed doors and it's long and boring and tedious and very important indeed. On a visit to Coleg Gwent as deputy skills minister in 2016 (Image: Coleg Gwent) "You have to spend hours and hours going through long, awful documents and acts and they didn't show up and the Senedd is tiny so the burden on everybody else is high." She has seen the government machine, first hand for years, what, I ask her, would it mean for the government - away from the political people - if a party like Reform took over. "There's some danger anyway because there's a lot of us leaving," she said. "Even if Labour had its normal share in the polls and whatever, we'd have a lot of new faces coming in." There is work in the government buildings preparing for a new administration, about providing advice and briefings. "You want a government that's got the right information in front of it and so on." But they have also, she said, been putting measures in place so laws cannot be rowed back on easily. "We've been trying to embed a lot of things. We'll make them harder to get rid of, if I'm absolutely honest. I spend a lot of time working through legislation, making sure it's been implemented, and it would have to actually have primary legislation to repeal it so it would be much harder to just turn the ship back the other way. "In the end, we can't prevent them from doing that, but we can make it harder. "I think a Reform government would be a disaster. If they were to do any of the things they're saying, and who knows whether they would, because their policy platform is fluid, at the moment. They're saying that they would abolish the NHS and replace it with an insurance based system. That's pretty disastrous for an old, poor, sick country like Wales, where most people have a pre-existing condition, probably couldn't get insurance or afford it or whatever. "They would absolutely, definitely stop free prescriptions, free parking at hospitals. They would stop the nationalisation of the trains and the buses. "You'd go backwards very quickly. I suspect they would, as they have done in some of the councils they've taken control of, try to stop, as they have done in America, the diversity, inclusion and equality programmes. Article continues below "They would afterwards realise what they'd done and try to scramble to put them back. I think they'd starve public services of money. We protect our local authorities. Most people in Wales do not understand how bad the local authority situation in England actually is."
Daily Mirror
9 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
'I played Hug, Marry, Avoid with Labour MP Dawn Butler and couldn't stop laughing'
The Mirror's new YouTube show Party Games sees familiar faces from across the political spectrum for a party like no other - with a series of games to tease out stories from MPs It is not often you get to play games with elected Members of Parliament. But it is exactly what I am doing on The Mirror 's new show, Party Games, which was launched this Saturday, June 16. In the programme on The Mirror's YouTube channel, I host familiar faces from across the political spectrum for a party like no other. Our first guest is Labour MP for Brent East Dawn Butler. You can watch the first episode on YouTube now. Wearing an obligatory party hat, I spin a wheel of fortune to decide which games to play - with each one having its own special ability to tease out funny stories, emotional moments and, of course, some political jabs from MPs. They include 'Would You Rather?' where MPs have to make a painful choice out of two options, and 'Never Have I Ever?', There is also the 'Ask Me Anything' round and the '30-Second Pitch', where the guest gets to talk for 30 seconds about an issue, cause or campaign they are passionate about. There is also the 'Ask Me Anything' round and 'Hug, Marry, Avoid', where MPs have to choose who'd they'd hug, marry or avoid out of a given list of three people. I have to admit Dawn's reaction including Reform UK MPs Nigel Farage, Lee Anderson and Richard Tice did draw a cackling laugh out of me. "What? What are you talking about?," she said incredulously. "They're not options. They're all the same... I feel like I need help after this. I need therapy now." In an age where MPs face increasingly vicious intimidation, hate and violence, The Mirror's show hopes to allow viewers to get to know the humans behind the pomp of Westminster. Here's a look at some of the best moments from the episode. Have you ever been told off by the Speaker? 'Well obviously I got thrown out of Parliament for calling Boris Johnson a liar,' she said. 'He lied over and over and over again. I was just like, come on, he's gaslighting the whole country. And I'd had enough. I'm that kind of conviction politician, so what is the point in me being here if I'm not going to sort of speak truth to power? The doorkeepers came up to me and said, I had to leave Parliament - the whole estate - straight away, or do I need to be escorted off? And I was like, good job I had my keys on me.' Would you rather be London mayor or Prime Minister? 'London mayor. To represent London - and I'm a Londoner through, born in East London - just having London the way I have experienced it and see it, and just making London wonderful for everyone, and everyone being sort of proud of London and being a Londoner, yeah, I'd love to be Mayor of London.' Asked if she'd be running in the next mayoral election, she added: 'Once there's a vacancy, I will put my hat in the ring.' What was your greatest moment in politics? 'I was the first black female MP to ever stand at that despatch box as a government minister. And when I think back, I think, God, I made history. And a few weeks before, we were talking about the abolition of slavery, and I thought, God, they'd all be spinning in their graves knowing that there's a black woman at the dispatch box representing Her Majesty's Government. And so that's one of my proudest moments.' Would you rather stand out or follow the crowd? 'You have to stand out from the crowd, especially if you're a Black woman, what's the point? You're always going to stand out, right? And I remember somebody saying to me that if I want to be taken seriously as a politician, I need to tone down my dress. And that was it: I was like, illuminate! You're going to need sunglasses when I walk in a room.' Watch the Mirror's YouTube show Party Games IT is not often you get to play games with elected Members of Parliament. But it is exactly what I am doing on The Mirror's show, Party Games, which was launched last night. In the programme on the Mirror's YouTube channel, I host familiar faces from across the political spectrum for a party like no other. Wearing an obligatory party hat, I spin a wheel of fortune to decide which games to play - with each one having its own special ability to tease out funny stories, emotional moments and, of course, some political points from MPs. They include 'Would You Rather?' where MPs have to make a painful choice out of two options, and 'Never Have I Ever?', There is also the 'Ask Me Anything' round and 'Hug, Marry, Avoid', where MPs have to choose who'd they'd hug, marry or avoid out of a given list of three people. The '30-Second Pitch' round is where the guest gets to talk for 30 seconds about an issue, cause or campaign they are passionate about. In an age where MPs face increasingly vicious intimidation, hate and violence, The Mirror's show hopes to allow viewers to get to know the humans behind the pomp of Westminster. You can watch Party Games on YouTube now. What is an issue you are passionate about? 'My summer campaign 2025 is about cleaning up our high streets. At the moment, councils are not allowed to say no to betting shops and adult gaming centres. That's why we have so many in poorer areas. So what I want to do is make sure we change the law - the 2005 Gambling Act - so that councils can have more of a say, so that people can have more of a say, because our high streets deserve to be better, we deserve high streets that are full of beautiful complexity and not so many betting shops.'
Daily Mirror
9 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
Putin's dark childhood from mother's eye gouged out to being chased by rats
Vladimir Putin has become one of the most powerful men in the world, but his childhood was marked by tragedy and violence in Leningrad, now known as St. Petersburg The world has been watching President Trump's meeting with Vladimir Putin with baited breath - and whilst the US leader is determined to forge a reputation as a peacemaker, it is yet to be seen how much success can be found in his Alaska summit with the President of the Russian Federation, with no deal being reached. Putin might now hold a formidable reputation, but he undoubtedly has come a long way since the early years of his childhood, which were mired by poverty and violence in Leningrad - now called St. Petersburg. Some experts have gone so far as to claim the Russian President's unrelenting attitude to his invasion of Ukraine can be traced back to these early experiences. The Mirror looks back at his childhood as Putin warns of nuclear war after unleashing another night of hell on Ukraine. Putin was born on 7 October 1952, seven years after the Second World War ended, in St. Petersburg, then known as Leningrad. His parents, Vladimir and Maria, had previously had two sons before he was born, both of whom had died. Putin is reported to be notoriously reticent about mentioning his deceased siblings, and only the name of one is known: Viktor. The other sibling is said to have died whilst an infant, but Viktor's death during the 872-day German siege on Leningrad is reported to have occurred in "terrible circumstances" - per Psychology Today. Aged just one year old, Maria, who was "near death" due to starvation caused by the siege, put Viktor into a children's home, hoping that he would be protected there. Heartbreakingly, he was no safer in the home in reality, and he died from diphtheria and was buried in an unmarked mass grave - one that Putin is said to visit during official commemorations of the long siege. By the time Putin was even born, his life was marked by tragedy, and not just that of the death of his elder brothers. Before his parents even married, a terrifying attack from Vladimir Senior against Maria is claimed to have been the start of their relationship, due to the "disgrace" he brought upon her with his violence. An explosive book, The Tsar in Person: How Vladimir Putin Fooled Us All, about the Russian President's life, claimed that in a "fit of rage" his father gouged out his mother's eye with a pitchfork. The book alleges that Putin's father went with male friends to Maria's home - who was known as Marusya - when she was there by herself in 1928, according to someone who lived in the village in the Tver region. The young woman refused to let them in, causing Vladimir Senior to become enraged. "They took the pitchfork that was standing by the fence and started breaking down the gate. She got scared, ran out of the house, and raced up to the fence. "And Volodka [Vladimir senior, Putin's father] at that moment broke through the gate with the pitchfork and hit Marusya right in the face. "In short, he accidentally gouged out her eye. He took her to the hospital right away. There, Marusya's eye was removed." This was seen as a "disgrace" so Maria's mother "threatened Volodka: if you don't marry, I'll put you on trial. So they got married. Marusya was very embarrassed about her glass eye later, never looked you in the face when talking, and tilted her head to the side." The villager added that Putin's father was notorious for abusing and terrorising local girls, "He liked to lift up girls' skirts and tie them in a knot over their heads," so that he and other local men could see their underwear. Putin totally denies that this interpretation of his parents' characters, but he has admitted that he had a tough childhood in some respects. In his memoir, Putin described the vermin-ridded neighbourhood he grew up in, and wrote about a time he had an encounter with a rat. "It had nowhere to run,' Putin said. "Suddenly it lashed around and threw itself at me… Luckily, I was a little faster and I managed to slam the door shut in its nose.' Some have argued that experiences like this one, along with the fact that he was scrawny, small and often bullied and attacked in his area as a child, have influenced his attitude that there can be no backing down from a fight. His close pal from his schooldays is reported to have said about him, "He could get into a fight with anyone… He had no fear… If some hulking guy offended him, he would jump straight at him – scratch him, bite him, pull out clumps of his hair." At home his parents are said to have doted on him wildly, but outside of the house, this certainly was not the case, "As he himself admits, it was then, in neighbourhood brawls, that he learned lessons that he has followed ever since – to take on any and all adversaries, never to retreat, and to fight to the finish," reports The Week.
