Its replacement - the Wolverhampton Radiophonic Institute - starts at 7pm on WCR FM on the 13th June! It’ll feature documentaries, debate and live music. Don’t worry, there’ll be plenty of political content, too!

Thanks for listening. Look forward to your company on the new show.

Neville Patten - the new leader of the council - gave <a href=”http://thestirrer.co.uk/red-route-scrapped-0805081.html/”>the details to The Stirrer</a>, where he revealed the following:

<ul>
<li>The unpopular and ineffective A449 red route in Fordhouses will be scrapped.</li>
<li>Kerbside plastic and cardboard recycling will finally come to the city and they’re promising within three months.</li>
<li>There’ll be a review of youth services with the suggestion of more facilities for teenagers.</li>
</ul>

That’s on top of their commitment to lower council tax. I’m hoping to interview Neville Patten on tomorrow’s Wolverhampton Politics Show.

See my site for the live blog.

Studio guests: David Bourne (Conservative) and Darren Husted (Labour).

Originally broadcast: 14th March 2008.

• 03.05: News roundup - school children pledging allegiance to the Queen, Camilla Duchess of Cornwall’s constitutional role, the John Lewis list, new seven deadly sins.
• 33.22: Fair Trade - following Wolverhampton Fair Trade Fortnight, we ask if it really is fair.
• 43.23: Budget 2008 - David and Darren debate the merits of Alistair Darling’s first budget.

Email the show.

Download the show.

Update: so, we now know that Neville Patten has been elected leader of Wolverhampton Conservatives, following Paddy Bradley’s resignation.

There’s a lot in blogs and newspapers suggesting major divisions and rows in the Wolves Conservatives. I gave Neville Patten a call to see if there was any truth to it. Here’s what he said, subject to my ability to scribble it down:

I hope to bring members of the local party together and present a united front to fight Labour and win seats in May’s local elections. I hope to build on that as a foundation for the forthcoming general election.

Reports of division and bad feeling are nonsense. Paddy Bradley’s resignation at this time was unexpected and, following her announcement, the rest of the meeting was held in stunned silence. We knew that she was planning to stand down but expected that would happen after the May elections.

However, both at that meeting and at the meeting to elect a new leader, it was all very civilised. Reports of arguments and unpleasantness are untrue.

While there are natural disagreements - as happens in any group of people - there is no division in Wolverhampton Conservatives.

Studio guests: Colin Ross (Lib Dem), Darren Husted (Labour) and Mark Watson (Editor, Minority Perspective).

Matthew Revell and studio guests put a Wolverhampton spin on the latest in politics.

• 06.00: Who’s going to take over from Ken Purchase as Labour candidate for Wolverhampton North East?
• 16.55: Are doctors surgeries breaking the rule that NHS care should be free at the point of need? David Hickson from the Say No To 0870 community discusses the issues.
• 31.34: Wolverhampton City Council is restructuring for efficiency but these reforms include the creation of two new departments. Can that be right?
• 42.40: What would you knock down in Wolverhampton?
• 48.03: Should we be doing business with China?

http://audio.wolverhamptonpolitics.co.uk/2008/21/wolpol-e21-20080118.mp3

Matthew Revell is joined by Jono Bacon and Mark Watson (Editor, Minority Perspective) to discuss politics from a Wolverhampton perspective.

• 02.30: Are the Conservatives right to suggest a welfare to work scheme?
• 14.23: Jono Bacon talks about software whose creators believe they’re promoting freedom of speech and is known as free software. Examples include Ubuntu, Firefox and OpenOffice.
• 30.21: Should taxpayers subsidise the arts?
• 38.35: Blogger DK of Privacy International’s report that ranked the UK as a surveillance society.

Send your thoughts on the show to politics@wcrfm.com.

http://audio.wolverhamptonpolitics.co.uk/2008/20/wolpol-e20-20080111.mp3

The recording of episode 25 is a bit knackered and I’ve now found the memory stick with the other episodes

Studio guests: Peter Roberts (road pricing campaigner) and Mark Watson (Editor, MinorityPerspective.co.uk)

• 03:30: News roundup. Discussing recent news, including: new supermarket quango, bloke in Stoke arrested when woman on bus mistook his MP3 player for a gun, government blunder gives £2m to Newcastle-under-Lyme that was intended for Newcastle-upon-Tyne, was Australian PM Kevin Rudd right to apologise to Aboriginal families whose mixed-race children were taken?
• 27.52: Hazel Blears proposes “behaviour packs” for new immigrants to show them how to integrate in British society. Is this going to work.
• 44.50: Peter Roberts tells the story of how he came to create the well publicised road pricing petition. What are the flaws that he sees in road pricing and why was he so concerned?

Take part: Email story ideas, news snippets and comments to politics@wcrfm.com.

http://audio.wolverhamptonpolitics.co.uk/2008/24/wolpol-e24-20080115.mp3

Three 2007 highlights and one 2008 prediction each from:

• 02.25: Manohar Minhas (Labour, Wolverhampton Park).
• 14.55: Carl Husted (Conservative candidate Wolverhampton Bushbury North).
• 25.15: Derek Bennett (UKIP).
• 43.38: Colin Ross (Lib Dem).

http://audio.wolverhamptonpolitics.co.uk/2008/19/wolpol-e19-20080104.mp3