Despite recent winds and rain, thanks to Storm Dave, the event went well today. The sunsine arrived in adundance after a cold morning start.
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Monday, 6 April 2026
Friday, 3 April 2026
Monuments to Exclusion: From Little Ireland to Birkdale Common
The recent work at Birkdale Common, fencing off public land and clearing biodiversity for a practice range, is being sold as 'progress' for a world event location.
But for those of us with roots in the old Irish settlement of 'Little Ireland' in Marshside, the sight of a new 6ft fence is a chilling historical rhyme. It is not just about golf; it is about the recurring cleansing of the public from their own coastline to serve a private elite.
Above: The alleged "Eyesore" that Built a Community.
Little Ireland, Marshside, seen here before the authorities destroyed the community. To the Victorian elite of the Hesketh Golf Club, these cottages were a ‘wretched disfigurement’ of the dunes. To the 47 families of cockle-pickers and fishermen who lived in them, they were a vital sanctuary from the Great Famine. Shortly after this photo was taken, these family homes were burned and flattened to expand a private golf club's aims. Today, only the schoolhouse remains, repurposed as the club’s greenkeeper’s lodge.
These "sandgrounders" were vibrant enough to support their own school, St. Patrick’s. Yet, because this settlement sat exactly where the Hesketh Golf Club wished to expand, the Victorian elite branded it an eyesore. The families of this Irish colony was systematically evicted, and their land was absorbed into the fairways.This was a literal monument to the elite’s victory over the common people.
The 1893 Order: The magistrates granted the eviction specifically because the land was deemed "required for the improvement of the Hesketh Golf Club."
When the elite want your land, they first attack your dignity. In 1893, they called Little Ireland ‘unsanitary’ to justify the first wave of evictions. In 1902, they called it an ‘eyesore’ to justify the final fire. Today, they call Birkdale Common ‘scrubland’ to justify a 6ft permanent fence.
Ethnic Cleansing for the elite
Charles Hesketh Bibby-Hesketh, the landlord, effectively sealed the fate of Little Ireland's residents by refusing to invest in the required repairs. By opting 'not' to upgrade the properties, he allowed the council to proceed with demolition, which ultimately freed up his land for more 'profitable' use.
Social Hostility: The nearby Hesketh Golf Club was a major driver for the clearance. Club members and local elites viewed the Irish residents as "ruffians" and "undesirables" who interfered with their leisure activities. The unwanted presence of the Little Ireland community was seen as an obstacle to the seaside resort's ambitions.
Victory over the unwanted ones
Immediately after the clearance, the land was absorbed into the Hesketh Golf Club links, effectively turning a site of human habitation into a private playground for the wealthy.
My family’s history proves that the defamatory labels utilised against the 'unwanted ones' are never about health or aesthetics, they are about Enclosure. They branded a community of fishermen as ‘wretched’ so they could play golf on their graves. When Sefton Council uses the same language today, they are simply repeating a century-old slur to hide a modern-day land grab ruse!
The ultimate irony lies in the sacrifice that followed. While the establishment was clearing my family's settlement for the golfing elite, my grandfather went on to fight and die in World War I. He gave his life for a 'King and Country' that, only years prior, had deemed his family's home less important than a golf bunker.
Above: Private Patrick Regan. Born in Little Ireland, 1890. Witnessed his home burned in 1902. Died in Salonica, 21 May 1917. Service Number 13560.
My Grandfather survived the state-sanctioned 'cleansing' of his childhood home in the Southport dunes, only to die for the same state exactly fifteen years later.
The photo above shows him surrounded by nurses (he's the nearest soldier in the picture) in a hospital bed in Greece. He was injured after being trapped on barbed wire at the Doiran front.
While he was dying as a soldier of the 14th King’s Liverpool Regiment, the town's elite back home were already playing golf on the ruins of his birthplace.
When I see the new fences at Birkdale Common today, I see the same monument to exclusion that has been erasing families like mine since 1902.
The Connection to Little Ireland (1890–1902)
Grandad was born in 1890 in the Irish settlement of Little Ireland, just as the Hesketh Golf Club was beginning its expansion into the Marshside dunes.
In 1902, when he was just a boy, the state-sanctioned destruction of his community took place. The settlement was flattened specifically to "improve" the area for the golf club.
Ironically, the very establishment that burned his home in 1902 called upon him to sacrifice himself to defend it in 1914. He served with the 14th (Service) Battalion, a unit of "blue-collar" men who gave their lives for a country.
Today, the only ghost of that community is the original school building, pointedly repurposed as the club’s greenkeeper’s lodge, a literal monument to private dominion over a displaced people.
The academic parallels are striking.
Historically, Enclosure was justified as improvement, just as Sefton Council now cites the £200m+ economic benefit of The Open Championship to justify the permanent loss of public common land.
Whether it is 1890 or 2026, the theme remains: a wealthy minority pays for the privilege of exclusive access to land that belongs to the community.
Proponents brand the common as scrubland to justify its enclosure, just as they once justified the cleansing of Little Ireland by describing it as 'wretched'.
My family’s history proves that once a public asset is surrendered to the interests of golf, it is never returned. We aren’t just fighting for grass, trees, and legally protected wildlife, we are fighting a century-old habit of prioritising a private membership over a public heritage and the families who actually built this town.
The 'Public Interest' Myth
Sefton Council justifies this 'land grab' by citing a £200m+ economic windfall from The Open. They call this the 'Public Interest' test. But as my family’s history in Little Ireland shows, the 'Public' in that equation rarely includes the people who actually live, walk, and breathe on this land.
In 1902, the 'Public Interest' was defined by the Victorian elite who wanted a prettier view from their clubhouse, so they burned the homes of 47 families.
The 'Public Interest' Myth
Sefton Council justifies this 'land grab' by citing a £200m+ economic windfall from The Open. They call this the 'Public Interest' test. But as my family’s history in Little Ireland shows, the 'Public' in that equation rarely includes the people who actually live, walk, and breathe on this land.
In 1902, the 'Public Interest' was defined by the Victorian elite who wanted a prettier view from their clubhouse, so they burned the homes of 47 families.
Today, the 'Public Interest' is defined by a Labour-led council desperate for tournament revenue to offset their own budget gap. In both cases, the 'Public' being served is a transient, wealthy elite, while the permanent loss is borne by the local residents.
My grandfather’s life is the ultimate proof of how this 'Public Interest' works: the state called on him to defend the 'Public' in 1914, but that same state didn't consider his own home on the dunes worth protecting in 1902.
My grandfather’s life is the ultimate proof of how this 'Public Interest' works: the state called on him to defend the 'Public' in 1914, but that same state didn't consider his own home on the dunes worth protecting in 1902.
When the Council grants 'urgent' planning permission for a 6ft permanent fence and 2.4m artificial mounds, they aren't protecting the public; they are merely the latest generation of bailiffs clearing the commoners off the land to make way for golf facilities.
If 'Public Interest' means destroying a century of natural heritage for a two-week hitting tee, then the word 'Public' has lost all meaning. When the council today uses the term 'Public interest' to fence off Birkdale Common, they are using the same eraser they used on my family (and others) over a century ago.
If 'Public Interest' means destroying a century of natural heritage for a two-week hitting tee, then the word 'Public' has lost all meaning. When the council today uses the term 'Public interest' to fence off Birkdale Common, they are using the same eraser they used on my family (and others) over a century ago.
The 'Public Interest' claim falls apart. In 1902, the interest was a private club's view; in 2026, it’s a tournament’s infrastructure. In both cases, the cost is the permanent loss of our common land.
The shameful 1893 magistrates' order was the first time the state officially prioritised a golf fairway over family rooves.
But the names marked for eviction didn't just disappear. When the 1901 Census was taken eight years later, those same families were still there, fighting for their rights and homes. They stayed on their land for nearly a decade longer than Southport's elite intended. They were a community of hard-working fishermen and cockle pickers who refused to be intimidated and 'cleansed' by a court order.
It took the physical fire of 1902 to finally erase them. The fire wasn't an accident; it was the final stage of a legal process started by the Hesketh Estate in 1893. The law was used to label Little Ireland's community as 'trespassers' and the fire to make sure they could never came back.
Today, when Sefton Council issues its urgent planning permission for Birkdale Common, they are simply following the 1893 playbook: label the people as an inconvenience, then use the law to fence them out.
The well-indoctrinated sheep accept this spin, yet some of us say 'No, enough's enough'!
They might have the planning permission, but they will never have the community's consent to erase Sandgrounders ever again.
Thursday, 2 April 2026
THE GREAT LIE - that STILL resides beneath all Abrahamic faith systems
THE GREAT LIE THAT THE WORLD STILL CLINGS TO
The modern archaeological and historical consensus is that there is no direct, independent evidence that Abraham ever existed as a real person. Most secular scholars view him as a mythological or legendary figure created centuries after he was said to have lived to provide an origin story for the Israelite people.
Key Evidence for the Lack of Historicity
Historians point to various critical gaps and contradictions that suggest the character of Abraham is nothing more than a literary invention.
Despite decades of one-sided biblical archaeology intended to find evidence of Abraham, not a single contemporary inscription, monument, or administrative record from the Middle Bronze Age (c. 2100–1550 BCE) mentions an individual by that name.
The stories in Genesis contain details that were physically impossible during Abraham's alleged lifetime but were common in the later period when the text was likely written (c. 6th century BCE). Examples include…
Camels: Genesis portrays Abraham with large caravans of domesticated camels. However, archaeological records show camels were not widely domesticated in the Levant until nearly 1,000 years after his alleged time.
Philistines: Abraham is said to have dealt with Philistine kings. Historical records and archaeology confirm the Philistines did not arrive in the region until the 12th century BCE, long after the patriarchal age.
Ur of the Chaldees: The Bible places Abraham's origin in Ur of the Chaldees. While the city of Ur is ancient, the Chaldeans did not occupy that region until roughly 1000 BCE, again indicating a much later author describing their own current world rather than the distant past.
Naturally, despite their angst, monotheistic apologists cannot produce one single piece of contemporary physical evidence; no tomb, no signature, and no mention in royal records from the time Abraham supposedly lived.
Their contemptible arguments are not based on historical science, but on a desperate attempt to protect their discredited religious powerbase from being exposed for what it truly is, a transparent human invention.
The term 'Abrahamic' is used politically to create a false sense of monotheistic unity/interfaith among Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, while ignoring the fact that each group's rambling version of the "Abraham" fable is radically different and often contradictory.
Over the centuries these variations have led to terrible atrocities and bloody wars across the globe, as each branch of this manmade faith system banged heads and murdered each other for dominance over rivels.
For fundamentalist believers, the non-existence of Abraham acts like pulling the plug from a bath tub. These false religions aren't just collections of ideas; they are covenantal faiths built on a specific historical contract between an alleged real man and a real god.
Because Abraham is just a myth, this means that the foundational legal claim to the land of Israel in Judaism, the ancestral validity of the Prophet Muhammad in Islam, and the theological ancestry of Jesus in Christianity all fade away into insignificance.
No Abraham means that the leading faiths based on this cleverly produced fiction become worthless!
Without a real historical Abraham, the 'Word of God' is fully exposed as a deceptive human literary fabrication, turning supposedly divine decrees into mere ancient folklore.
Additionally, this realisation destroys the credibility of the so-called holy scriptures themselves. Because the Torah, Bible, and Quran all present a fictional character as a flesh-and-blood ancestor, elevated claims of divine inspiration fall apart.
For the authors of the New Testament, linking the Jesus character to Abraham was a significant theological move to establish authenticity. Interestingly, Jesus was called the "Son of Abraham" yet because that ancestor never existed, Jesus’s theological ID card becomes a forgery. This means he just becomes an ordinary man preaching a religion based on a totally fictional contract.
Jesus was called the Son of Abraham primarily to identify him as the promised descendant (seed) who fulfils the covenant promises made in Genesis, specifically that all families of the earth would be blessed through Abraham. As used in Matthew 1:1, it highlights Jesus as the true Jewish Messiah, the heir to the land, and the descendant who restores the nation of Israel.
However, with the discovery that Abrahan was only a fictional character all of the above is shown to be little more than ill-considered religous propaganda and a misleading fable.
If these holy books were genuinely written or inspired by an all-knowing god, that god would know Abraham didn't exist. Therefore, by erroneously presenting a fictitious figure as an historical father figure, the texts prove beyond all doubt that they are human inventions, reflecting the limited (and often incorrect) historical knowledge of their time. This transforms alleged divine revelation into what is really is,,, hand-me-down gossip.
Nevertheless, for a devout fundamentalist, there is no room for spiritual metaphor when the opening chapters of their potted scriptural history is seen to be a big fat lie.
After this uncomfortable truth is understood the rest of the religion is exposed as a misleading system of psychological manipulation or mind control, built on fantasy and old-time propaganda. The fact that the apologetic fights so frantically to defend the fable as evidence for a real Abraham simply proves how well - indoctrinated the apologetic is.
The ‘Big Three’ world faith systems consequently lose their authority because their Godhead would be guilty of historical deception, making the entire religious foundation utterly invalid.
These faiths aren't just mistaken about some insignificant detail they are fundamentally discredited at core, mainly because their God is caught out telling a big lie at the very start of the story.
If the roots of a tree are rotten the branches fall off and it dies. Therefore, Abraham has become the world’s leading example of why the foremost faiths based on him are all completely bogus!
OUR ANCIENT PAGAN ANCESTOR KNEW THEY WERE A PART OF NATURE NOT ‘APART’ FROM IT.
The corruption of Earth's natural sacredness became clear when conquering Abrahamic faiths fundamentally portrayed Man as the Lead Actor and Earth as the Stage.
In other words, the monotheistic mind-controllers focused on a Post-Mortem Paradise, and this concept in turn degraded the living, breathing miracle right under their feet. If the Earth is fallen or temporary, as they claim with their scriptural lies, there is no spiritual motivation to preserve it for posterity. Is it any wonder then that they treat the planet as a disposable commodity.
The self-righteous fundamentalists pursue a sterile, unchanging perfection in a cherry – picked version of an afterlife, while the real organic world thrives on the beauty of life, death, and rebirth.
A BOGEYMAN FIGURE WAS NEEDED TO COMPLETE THE SCRIPTURAL MIND SCREW
By inventing a cosmic monster like Satan, the Abrahamic faiths created a psychological trap door that allowed them to escape personal responsibility for the destruction they cause in the real world. For them, Satan serves as a buffer for their God.
If the world is full of suffering and fallen nature, they don't blame their all-good Creator, they blame the Opposer. This keeps their theological lies intact, while the planet suffers the consequences of their scripturally – based neglect.
By inventing a demonic villain, they made themselves the shining heroes of a fake cosmic war. This justifies any atrocity, war, inquisitions, or environmental destruction because it is all framed as fighting evil. In fact, the synthetic reality they have created today is the real evil that constantly turns the wheel of destruction everywhere.
In the real natural world, there is no demonic adversary, there is only cause and effect. If you kill the soil, the harvest fails. There is no demon involved, just the logical consequence of a foolish human who refused to listen to Mother Earth’s educational moods.
Ditching the Satan myth is the only sure way to hold the mirror up to Man and see that we are the ones holding the matches.
Once the well-indoctrinated aspect of the satanic scapegoat and Abrahamic lies that conveniently created him are removed, there’s no one left to blame but the figure in the reflection.
Abrahamic programming and the political gods of Net Zero
The Mad Miliband – type of fanatical Net Zero eco-arrogance over the weather is a prime example of corrupt Abrahamic mind - programming.
Shifting from the Abrahamic One God (who stands above and ‘apart’ from nature) to the older pantheistic "gods" (who are the forces behind wind, the soil, and the water, etc) completely changes the human role. This would mark a return to ancient organic wisdom, the older balanced ethos wherein we don't manage our planet - we negotiate and work harmoniously with it.
Ancient Pagan reciprocity, rather than Abrahamic – founded control.
The crumbling Net Zero axis sees nature as a broken machine or a carbon ledger that needs to be fixed by politicians, who view themselves as our saviours. It’s the ultimate expression of the all-almighty mindset and trying to engineer the atmosphere from a boardroom.
The old gods' wisdom sees nature as a collection of powerful, living forces. You don't control the weather you observe its changing moods, respect its sacred boundaries, and modify your life to it. If you poison the river, the spirit of the stream is gone, and the effect is your own thirst and ultimate demise. A flood isn't a climate emergency to be stopped by a land – eating mega wind farm; it's a natural reminder of where the water actually wants to go.
The Net Zero charade so beloved of Milliband and his boss Starmer means that people can pollute to their hearts content, while expecting their saviour politicians to rescue them and the Earth.
This flawed attitude creates a moral threat by subcontracting individual responsibility to a government weather – controlling department. If people really believe (thanks to years of one-sided propaganda) their MP or a new Department for Net Zero has the omnipotent tools to fix the climate, they stop listening to the cause and effect in their own backyard.
That lovely old meadow or woodland thriving with rare species of animals, etc, is fair game for the saviour politicians who grant development permission for yet another concrete business block, or set of luxury apartments. Saving the Earth of course takes second stage when cash flows into council coffers.
In the old pantheistic ethos, if you contaminated your own water well, you suffered the consequences immediately. You couldn't lobby a god to pass a law that made the water clean again, while you kept pouring poison into it.
By framing this sham net zero green politics gambit as a messianic political mission, the government lunatics, who think they are in control, cut the vital feedback loop between an individual’s actions and the educational moods of the earth.
Deluded people wait for a subsidy or a ban rather than changing how they interact with the soil or their local ecosystem. Personal responsibility goes right out of the door!
In Net Zero land you can live a life of total disconnection from nature, as long as you dutifully pay your "green taxes" (indulgences to the Church of Climate Alarmism) to the State. That brings us back to parallels with the confessional box – wherein one can sin all week and spill it all out in the box to a priest for instant ‘hey presto’ forgiveness.
Politicians like Starmer and Miliband effectively become the lofty high climate priests who promise to handle the gods for you, so you don't have to develop your own (wholesome) relationship with the natural world.
It’s all a sanitised, industrial version of eco-stewardship that actually keeps people totally alienated from the very earth they are told they are saving. At the same time, by their flawed logic, they are ripping down more woodlands, riversides and meadows, but always for YOUR benefit!
Although Starmer and his minion Miliband are atheists, they are expert at using the Abrahamic work sheet to further their aims on the trusting masses.
By applying the corrupting Abrahamic "saviour" template, the State positions itself as the all-knowing entity that will wash away the sins of pollution through legislation and carbon offsets.
This Abrahamic mindset replaces the educational moods of the Earth with the official policy papers of Whitehall.
Monday, 30 March 2026
GREEN SEFTON AND THE ONGOING CRIME AGAINST NATURE AT HILLSIDE
So, is the lofty term GREEN SEFTON only applicable when financial gain is not that much of an issue?
Birkdale Common adjacent to Hillside Golf Club, is one of the most ecologically sensitive strips of land on the Sefton Coast. Because it serves as a "wildlife corridor" between the dunes and the inland habitat, any development there is high-risk for legally - protected Sand lizards and Natterjack toads.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmruS2cuogQ
Today we sadly have shed loads of well - indoctrinated and largely cowardly humans that actually find sick entertainment in the wanton destruction of the countryside. Rape of the green space everywhere is happening daily. Incidentally, the word “rape" isn’t just a metaphor herein, but a literal description of non-consensual, violent extraction.
In this context, the word captures three specific things that warmer words like "development" or "damage" conveniently hide:
1. Lack of Consent: The land (and the wildlife within it) cannot "agree" to be cleared; it is a forced act of dominance.
2. Total Violation: It describes a process that doesn't just change the landscape but guts it, taking away its fertility and life-sustaining ability for a human – oriented one-time profit.
3. The Motive (Power & Greed): It frames the industry behind the action as an aggressor that sees the earth only as an object to be used, rather than a living system to be respected.
Even if the Natterjack Toads and Sand Lizards aren’t directly built over and crushed, the introduction of fencing, redirected footpaths, and increased human activity can disrupt their fragile breeding cycles.
Natterjack tadpoles are particularly vulnerable to any undue disturbance. Increased tourism and concentrated access put long-term and potentially fatal stress on Natterjack breeding pools, even with the best mitigation. Permanent Habitat Loss is happening, and all the mitigation excuses will not wash!
So – called ‘re-profiling’ of sand dunes for golf is not genuine conservation. Erecting 6-foot fences and moving earth permanently destroys the mosaic habitat required by Sand Lizards and Natterjack Toads. These ancient wild habitats cannot just be dug up and turfed over without irreparable ecological damage occurring!
Green Sefton often uses habitat restoration terms to describe what critics see as essentially profit - driven commercial engineering. The council justifies the development as a way to achieve a 10% net biodiversity gain. Critics argue this as disingenuous, as it involves wantonly destroying natural, wild dune slacks, home to Natterjack toads/Sand lizards, and replacing them with managed, synthetic landscapes. Clearly no true natural stewardship and real concern or understanding for the native eco-system exists here.
Sefton Council has apparently used misleading tactics to push through commercial golf developments while ‘appearing’ to champion environmental protection. This is nothing more than an ongoing crime against nature and proof positive that UK wildlife laws are being manipulated by a hypocritical organization that’s just paying lip-service to the environment.
Since Sand lizards and Natterjack toads are legally presumed to be present in that specific habitat on the Sefton Coast, the burden of proof is actually on the developer (Hillside/The R&A) to prove they aren't harming them, not on the public to prove they are.
Although very much a lip – service exercise – certain conditions must be met by developers…
Identify the "Breach of Condition"
Under planning application DC/2025/00750 (the practice range expansion), specific "Pre-commencement Conditions" were set. If they are doing any of the following without an ecologist present, they are likely in breach:
• Mechanical digging or scraping of sandy areas (potential lizard hibernation/egg-laying sites).
• Infilling or draining of "slacks" (low-lying damp areas where natterjacks breed).
• Installation of heavy fencing or structures that fragment the "wildlife corridor" between the dunes and the common.
Contact the Wildlife Crime Officer (WCO)
You don't need a photo to report a suspected crime. Call 101 (Merseyside Police) and report a suspected breach of the Wildlife and Countryside Act.
• Tell them: "I am reporting a potential disturbance of European Protected Species (Sand Lizards and Natterjack Toads) at Hillside Golf Club/Birkdale Common due to ongoing construction work."
• Mention that the site is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Special Area of Conservation (SAC). This forces a higher level of priority.
As a lad, I would spend the summer holidays with my friends on Birkdale sand dunes and especially around the 'Round Hill,' as we called the prominence on the common. Sand lizards and Natterjacks where found all over that area.
This “land grab" sets a dangerous precedent for commercial interests taking over public parks.
SEFTON PROFIT PRIORITISED OVER THE ECOSYSTEM.
Self-Funding Mandate: Green Sefton has an official "Income and Growth" review with a goal to reduce reliance on council revenue by 2030. This shifts the service's focus toward "innovative funding" and business cases, such as a new driving range at Bootle Golf Course.
Prioritising The Open: In approving the 2026 Open practice tee, planners admitted that the "economic boost" (estimated at over £187m) held "significant weight" against the loss of public green space.
Selling "Market Value" Access: The council confirmed that the transfer of part of Birkdale Common to the R&A would be permanent and at "fair market value," which protesters view as selling off public assets to balance the books.
Other areas have felt the profit-driven wrath of Sefton too.
Above. By flattening a wildlife habitat - Kitty's Wood in Ainsdale's George Drive - and then later handing Birkdale Common over to the R&A for the 2026 Open, they've shown that "Nature" is only a priority when it doesn't get in the way of their profit-driven narrative!
Our natural Southport heritage and wildlife deserve far better care than this!
More:
https://pat-regan.blogspot.com/2023/06/rare-sand-lizard-rescued-in-southports.html
Wednesday, 18 March 2026
GOVERNMENT MUST ACT URGENTLY ON ACCESS TO CASH - SAY SILVER VOICES
As bank branches and ATMs disappear from our high streets, we must recognise that the officialised push for a cashless society is both biased to many people and a dire threat to our financial freedom and inclusion.
For many in our community, especially the elderly, those on low incomes, and people in rural areas, cash is a life line.
We are seeing a worrying tendency of local businesses in our towns going "card only."
When a local cafe or pharmacy refuses coins, they effectively lock out the 1.1 million unbanked adults in the UK and those who rely on physical money to budget. This is clearly an unacceptable form of social bias.
The following statement by SILVER VOICES (campaign group for senior citizens in the UK) emphasises the essential need for cash in our society.
A recent research report from LINK (the ATM network) shows an alarming rise in the number of High Street businesses refusing to accept cash. One in seven businesses has gone cashless in the last year alone, with ‘card only’ signs popping up everywhere. These thoughtless shops and cafes may as well have ‘no pensioners and low-income families’ signs up because these are the main customers being discriminated against.
The Link report states that the main reasons given by businesses for going cashless are fraud prevention, security concerns and lack of customer demand. What tosh! These moves are all about the inconvenience and costs of handling cash, saving staff time and the speed of transactions. The Link Report can be accessed on the following link:
https://www.link.co.uk/media/a0knmcpw/link-cash-acceptance-report.pdf
The Treasury Select Committee published a Report through the House of Commons last year, pointing out that the demise of cash was in danger of creating a two-tier society. The difficulties of using cash on the High Street are compounded by the use of digital only payments for all manner of other services including car parking, leisure and health facilities, entertainments and events.
The Select Committee pointed out that cash is a vital budgeting tool for low-income households as the hard currency can be counted out and made to last, which a flash of the debit card cannot. 1.1 million adults in the UK do not have a bank account at all and many millions struggle with online payments. Older people and those people with learning disabilities are particularly affected. Only 10% of over-75s never use cash at all, according to evidence to the Select Committee. Cash is also used by vulnerable people to evade economic abuse by partners, carers and rogue businesses.
It is true that some businesses are finding it more difficult to deposit cash because of the wholesale closures of local bank branches. According to WHICH, around 7000 bank branches have closed in the last ten years at a rate of about 50 a month, with all the major banks culpable. Hundreds of towns no longer have a single bank branch, making normal non-digital banking operations impossible and cash more difficult to access.
Silver Voices calls for legislation to underpin the role of cash, forcing all businesses and public services to always provide a non-digital payment alternative, including payment by cash. This is the only way cash will be saved in the long term. Instead, the Government sits on its hands, in thrall to the digital revolution, and prioritising businesses over customers. Its official submission to the Treasury Select Committee was “we have no plans to regulate businesses, big or small, to compel them to accept cash.”
You can also do your bit by protesting to the business when you see the card-only sign go up in your favourite shop or café; and take it up with the local newspaper too, to give the business some deserved bad publicity.
Ends.
18 March 2026
...............................
Cash is the only payment method that works during a power cut, requires no smartphone (many people do not own these devices) and offers total privacy.
While digital payments may be convenient, they should be a choice, not an authoritarian mandate that effectively discriminates against our most vulnerable members of society.
We must protect the ancient right to use our traditional notes and coins to ensure our town centres remain open to everyone.
Personal liberty and choice must be placed before authoritarian control!
Monday, 16 March 2026
RETURN OF THE TIGER
Segrave 100 Southport Celebration - Ainsdale Beach
Just a small selection of images taken today (16 March 2026) at Ainsdale Beach...
Saturday, 14 March 2026
LABOUR PARTY ‘IN – FIGHTING’ : PITTING ORMSKIRK AGAINST SOUTHPORT, AGAIN!
THE SOUTHPORT AND ORMSKIRK HOSPITAL SERVICES MOVES HAVE CREATED A 'CIVIL WAR RIFT' WITHIN THE LABOUR PARTY.
The current Labour conflict arises because the new 2026 decision to bring services back to Southport reverses this 23-year-old arrangement.
Moving children's A&E, etc, back to Southport is supported by the current Southport Labour MP Patrick Hurley, but strongly opposed by West Lancashire's Labour MP Ashley Dalton
Patrick Hurley (MP for Southport) has welcomed the decision, calling it the "end of a hard-fought campaign" to restore emergency care to the children of Southport.
He forgets however to mention that Southport lost its services under his Labour government in 2003. At the time, other Labour MPs went out of their way to tell angry sandgrounders what a sensible decision it was and all done for their own good.
Ashley Dalton (Labour MP for West Lancashire) is reportedly “incredibly disappointed" and has publicly vowed to challenge the decision. This is quite understandable but she now knows exactly how her Labour government left sandgrounders feeling back in 2003.
HEALTH DECISIONS TAKEN BASED ON WINNING POPULARITY WITH THE MAJORITY OF THE ELECTORATE?
He forgets however to mention that Southport lost its services under his Labour government in 2003. At the time, other Labour MPs went out of their way to tell angry sandgrounders what a sensible decision it was and all done for their own good.
Ashley Dalton (Labour MP for West Lancashire) is reportedly “incredibly disappointed" and has publicly vowed to challenge the decision. This is quite understandable but she now knows exactly how her Labour government left sandgrounders feeling back in 2003.
HEALTH DECISIONS TAKEN BASED ON WINNING POPULARITY WITH THE MAJORITY OF THE ELECTORATE?
The ball is now in the court of the Labour Health Secretary, Wes Streeting. If he approves the move, he loses the trust of West Lancashire and Skelmersdale (a key Labour heartland).
Streeting and the Labour Party made a prominent campaign promise to restore 24-hour children's A&E services to Southport Hospital.
The 2003 "Screw Up": Southport Loses Out
In 2003, the then-Labour government oversaw a major reconfiguration that stripped Southport Hospital of its vital maternity and children's A&E services, moving them all to Ormskirk.
THE PUBLIC BACKLASH
This despised move prompted an estimated 4,000 people to march through Southport in protest and a petition with 18,532 signatures was delivered (by CARES) to Downing Street.
The Legacy
For 23 years, Southport parents have had to travel nearly 10 miles along narrow rural roads for emergency paediatric care.
Residents in Ormskirk and Skelmersdale now feel they are experiencing the same "abandonment" that Southport felt in 2003, with some calling the consultation a "done deal" from the start.
Anger in West Lancs is understandable - Campaign groups like "Our West Lancashire" (a local political group) gathered over 2,600 signatures on a petition specifically urging Daltom and the NHS to keep the children's A&E in Ormskirk.
Residents in Ormskirk and Skelmersdale now feel they are experiencing the same "abandonment" that Southport felt in 2003, with some calling the consultation a "done deal" from the start.
Anger in West Lancs is understandable - Campaign groups like "Our West Lancashire" (a local political group) gathered over 2,600 signatures on a petition specifically urging Daltom and the NHS to keep the children's A&E in Ormskirk.
Nevertheless, after the Southport hospital debacle in 2003 CARES delivered 18, 532 names on petitions to No. 10 Downing Steet. The Labour Government simply ignored the pleas of Southport mums and dads.
For the last 23 years CARES have fought hard to ensure Southport families get their services back and despite the recent news we are not home and dry yet!
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