Mannisms has run its course. There’s nothing left to say that hasn’t been said already. It’s up to the voters whether they want to keep John Mann, although I think the odds are against it.

I have other fish to fry.

If Mann gets re-elected, he’ll find that he doesn’t have all the local media in his pocket. I intend to make a go of the online newspaper I have set up. It will provide a balanced political view and be a community newspaper in the broadest sense – supporting the community, not criticising it.

Thanks to all of the  bloggers who have provided support and encouragement and thanks to you, dear reader, for visiting this humble blog. I hope you learned something of value.

This time from the editor of the Worksop Guardian, who says in a comment:

All the comments that have appeared on this website relating to myself are not only totally untrue but are also defamatory. If they are not removed then legal action will be taken.
George Robinson, Editor, Worksop Guardian tel: 01909 500500

What about all the untrue stuff you have published on behalf of John Mann, George?

You’re happy enough to dish it out, but start crying when it’s coming in your direction.

One rule for you and another for everyone else, is that it?

Think how this is going to look on your C.V. Newspaper editor threatens blogger with legal action.

Didn’t you learn anything from John Mann’s empty legal threat?

I’ve written here on more than one occasion about the Worksop Guardian weekly newspaper (I use the term loosely) being nothing more than an extension of John Mann’s over-exercised gob and conspiring with the ex-MP to mislead and deceive the people of Worksop.

The traditional weekly local newspaper is a dying species, unable to compete with 0nline news and advertising and the Worksop Guardian is no exception. The current editor has allegedly been fired for failure to meet circulation and advertising targets. Well, he has alienated half of his readership, past and potential, by his unbalanced reporting and many of my acquaintances have stopped buying it over the years for that very reason. It is unlikely that the Worksop Guardian will survive the next year or two.

Several month ago, I did some reaearch into online community newspapers in the US, where the online model has all but replaced the weekly newspaper. Based on that research, an online newspaper in Bassetlaw is a viable proposition. But only when it supports one or two people who carry out all of the functions – reporting, advertising sales, web publishing and maintenance etc. Moving the Worksop Guardian to an online model is not feasible due to the overhead it carries as part of Johnston Press. And they currently cannot report news on their website until it has been reported in the weekly newspaper  (or they won’t be able to sell it), making their website always at least one week out of date.

So, I feel a change of career coming on. Running this blog has given me a hankering to write for a living. Over the past months I have been setting up www.bassetlawonline.com and associated sites for Classified Ads and Jobs.

It will be fully live in May or June, but you can have a look and see where I’m heading.

And with a bit of luck, it will hasten the Worksop Guardian on to its inevitable demise.

Whenever I’m in need of a laugh, I get myself over to John Mann’s campaign website. I’m not giving them a link here – you’ll have to work for it. Google ‘mann 4 bassetlaw’.

They’ve added a cheesy, tacky, rotating piece of nonsense with a load of testimonials they’ve obviously written themselves.

Let’s face it, anyone who has read about Mann’s behaviour on this and other blogs is going to have a really hard time believing, never mind applying, words like ‘honest’, ’sincere’ and ‘integrity’ when referring to John Boy. So forgive me if I doubt the provenance of these flattering epithets.

And like the rest of his campaign material, there’s a distinct odour of desperation emanating from this.

I have risen from the dead. Almost.

I’ve been laid low for the past week by a particularly nasty illness so I haven’t been taking too much interest in my surroundings. But I’m on the road to recovery and normal libel will be resumed as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, over at Fat Councillor Towers, they’ve had the decorators in and there’s a shiny new look. The content – smiting the wicked councillors of South Shields – remains unchanged and it’s always worth a read.

John Mann MP continues on his mission to alienate the voters of Retford.

First, as I reported a week or so ago, he claimed to be the MP for Retford, when in fact, until the boundary changes come into effect, the MP for Retford is Patrick Mercer. He apologised for that in the Retford Times.

Now he has some more apologising to do. In his recent attempt to woo Retford voters, he distributed a pamphlet with the usual self-serving claptrap, mainly suggesting that Retford was a second class town which would benefit from his expertise.

To round off his pitch, the pamphlet concluded with a couple of photos contrasting the market place with a shot of the Clinton Arms, in an area he describes as ‘a neglected backwater’.

The Retford businessman who had recently purchased the  Clinton Arms for £160,000 and is in the process of spending another £40,000 turning it into a retail establishment to compliment the one he owns on the opposite side of the street was less than delighted when he spied the above photograph. He, understandably, went nuclear. Having invested £200,000 in an area he believes to have great potential, he sees it described as ‘a neglected backwater’ by Mann.

And just yesterday, when I went to photograph the area (for future use) I was approached by the landlord and the occupier of the house next door to the Clinton Arms, who were also enraged that a nice house was being ‘classed as a slum’ by Mann.

So there are at least 3 voters who won’t be putting their crosses against Mann’s name.

He claims to be ‘A different kind of MP’.

I can’t argue with that.

And neither would the majority of decent, hard working MPs who would not care to be associated with Mann or his behaviour.