Pete puts old art shop in frame
THE Stockport Art Guild member and prizewinning painter Peter Davis has commemorated the demise of one of Stockport’s oldest shops in an exhibition.
Peter’s painting pays tribute to Turners Art Shop on Wellington Road South, which closed in January after 126 years.
Peter said: “Turners was one of Stockport’s hidden gems and so I wanted to do a painting to remember it by. I hope someone buys my artwork who, like me, has fond memories of popping into the art shop.”
When the shop’s closure was announced at the end of last year, their Facebook page was flooded with hundreds of kind comments from customers and Peter has added their messages onto the back of the painting.
The Stockport Art Guild member’s show is the first exhibition at Stockport Art Gallery in nearly 18 months. There are more than 100 artworks to see, and it is open to the public until July 16. The Stockport Art Gallery is free to visit but must be booked in advance via their online ticket website.
GREATER Manchester Police’s new chief constable has said he ‘absolutely would not’ take the knee.
Stephen Watson believes the level of ‘woke’ policing has passed a ‘high water mark’ of tolerance from the public, who would rather see officers catch burglars.
He said the public is ‘fed up’ with ‘virtuesignalling police officers’ and believes that the impartiality of officers could be undermined by responses to campaign groups including actions such as taking the knee or wearing their pins, badges or rainbow shoelaces.
On whether he would take the knee in uniform, Mr Watson told The Daily Telegraph: “No, I absolutely would not.
“I would probably kneel before the Queen, God and Mrs Watson, that’s it.”
Mr Watson, who was sworn in to his new role last month, has vowed to turn around GMP.
The force is still officially in special measures after a damning Government watchdog report, which estimated it had failed to properly record 80,000 crimes.
During his first week in charge, Mr Watson vowed that ‘every crime reported to GMP will be properly investigated’.
He said he would quit if the force is not in a ‘demonstrably better place’ within two years.
On impartiality, Mr Watson told the Telegraph: “Impartiality is in danger of being upset in our urge and desire to demonstrate that we would like to make common cause from time to time with people whose agenda is very difficult to disagree with.
“I do not think that things like taking the knee, demonstrating that you have a commonality of view with the protesters that you’re policing is compatible with the standards of service that people require of their police.
“Officers could put themselves in a difficult place because if you demonstrate you’re not impartial, and you then have to make an arrest, how on earth do you assist the courts to come to just judgement as to you having executed your powers of arrest in an appropriately impartial professional manner?”
Mr Watson added: “I think we’re past the high watermark.
“The public are getting a little bit fed up of virtue-signalling police officers when they’d really rather we just locked up burglars.”
Mr Watson comes to GMP from South Yorkshire, where he has been credited with introducing significant improvements.
Former chief constable Ian Hopkins was forced out of his £200,000-a-year job just before Christmas following a series of crises.
Previously, Mr Watson told the Manchester Evening News how he was going to make local policing the core of the force again.
“It’s early days but what I have set out right from getting the job is to make the point to staff that it is objectively unfair to describe it as a failing police force.
“By the same token it is absolutely the case that GMP is underperforming. “It has vast latent potential.
“We will with immediate effect put in place a significant program of reform to be delivered at pace, creating a clear strategic direction.”
Senior ranks who will be sent out to work on divisions ‘will be expected to go out on patrol’ as he would do also, he confirmed.
The plan was to push officers ‘closer to the public we serve’, he said.
Each division would identify their ‘top ten drivers of demand’ and then create a plan ‘to make those things go away’.
He also promised ‘slovenly people will not flourish in the future GMP’ in a bid to improve the dress code.
PROPOSALS have been made to redraw Stockport’s parliamentary boundaries.
Stockport’s MPs are currently divided across four areas, the main Stockport constituency, Cheadle, Hazel Grove, and Denton and Reddish.
They are represented by Labour’s Navendu Mishra, Conservatives Mary Robinson and William Wragg and Labour MP Andrew Gwynne.
However under the
Boundary Commission proposals, the wards of Reddish North and Reddish South would now fall under the Stockport constituency.
The Manor ward which was covered by Stockport would be added to the Hazel Grove constituency.
The Cheadle constituency would be unchanged, meaning the borough of Stockport would have three MPs going forward.
The borough of
Tameside has three MPs in parliament under the current system, representing Stalybridge and Hyde, Ashton, Droyslden and Failsworth, and Denton and Reddish.
These are Labour members Jonathan Reynolds, Angela Rayner and Andrew Gwynne.
However under the proposed shake-up, Denton and Reddish would effectively vanish - losing the Reddish wards to Stockport.