From No Stump City. "LABOUR’S BEEN DELIVERED A MESSAGE – AGAIN The Labour Party in Sheffield was sent a message this bright and chilly morning (25 Nov): we tree campaigners remain in a buoyant mood and aren’t for a second jettisoning our wholly reasonable demands to save our street trees from the chop. The occasion was an unusual cross-city meeting of Labour Party members to start to draft that party’s manifesto for the May 2018 local elections. Called by the Sheffield Group of Labour Councillors, the subject of street trees was - amazingly - ot even on the agenda on their all-day-long ‘buoy up the troops’ meeting [On second thought: NOT so amazing.] So a ‘Let’s Lobby Labour’ event was staged outside the doors of this city centre session. Six tree campaigners pitched up in good spirits to chat with LP members and pass out the NO STUMP CITY flyer: ‘REIN IN THE SCC.’* (See photo) The glum look on the face of council leader Julie Dore as she walked up Chapel Walk alleyway suggested that this was NOT the sight she wanted to see first thing on a Saturday morning. (She refused a copy of the leaflet. And a copy of George Monbiot’s brilliant expose of the private finance initiative (PFI) ** that Dore, Lodge and the LP-controlled SCC so foolishly signed in 2012.) Campaigners had plenty of time to chat with LP members as they stopped on their way into today’s meet. Of course, we did not change that many hearts and minds in 5 minutes; in any event, we are involved in what politicos call “the long game.” But in the short term, I think we did buck up the spirits of LP members who are also tree campaigners and who went into today’s session as “inside agitators” on the trees issue. So “GOOD LUCK COLLEAGUES!” Local Labour councillors may not, sadly, understand much about trees. But they do understand power and what is called “realpolitik”, that is, the “system of politics or principles based on practical rather than moral or ideological considerations.” And so they will instinctively appreciate what Soviet leader Joseph Stalin said about the Vatican in 1935. “The Pope? How many divisions has he got?” This morning, a handful of tree campaigners turned up at an LP event to say: “Get used to it: we aren’t going anywhere….and there are hundreds more like us out there.” Next up? The Christmas Tram Stop party to hand out a Lydia Monks original decoration and card. It’s next Saturday, 2 Dec.; starts at Cathedral Tram Stop at 10:00 a.m. More details soon. Contact: no.stump.city@gmail.com. ‘Independent political action to save Sheffield trees’ "