Tories could tumble like Gloucestershire’s cheese chasers, but there is no mad enthusiasm for Labour
It’s a mucky, hazardous, undignified race that is all about risk and survival.
Competitors in the cheese chasing dash down Cooper’s Hill in Gloucestershire do it for the prize of a wheel of double Gloucester cheese.
Tewkesbury’s annual cheese chase begins
As for general elections, politicians play their game of survival for a place on the green benches in the House of Commons, and with it, power.
On the second stop of our tour with a peoples’ parliamentary bench, we came to Tewkesbury to talk to spectators at the annual event and find out what they want from their next crop of MPs.
Becky Rhode with her partner Tom, her 15-year-old son, and their family dog
Becky Rhode, her partner Tom, her 15-year-old son and her family dog were first to take advantage of the green upholstered bench which we left in a meadow with a view of the cheese chasing contest.
“In rural areas, transport is a lot more expensive, especially fuel prices. Groceries have gone up too,” she said.
Accountant Becky isn’t a big fan of the increases in the minimum wage. She feels it devalues the time, money and effort she has invested in getting her qualifications.
She says there is “no longer a sizable difference” between what she can earn as an accountant or doing something far less skilled.
Her apple orchard farmer partner Tom Spicer, adds: “We need more money or lower prices, really. That’s it, that’s the main struggle at the moment.”
Next in the chair was engineering student Joey Sharma who had travelled to the cheese rolling event from Bristol.
Engineering student Joey Sharma travelled to the cheese rolling event from Bristol
He hasn’t decided who he will vote for yet.
“I’m still a student, so student debt, I’d like something done about that. Public transport, I think that’s a big one, carbon-neutral is a big one too for me.”
Lucy Rickson, a housing association worker, thinks more should be done to help people who need social housing and that they tend to be “demonised” by politicians.
Lucy Rickson says people who need social housing tend to be ‘demonised’ by politicians
She adds: “There are a lot of issues in the southwest, rural regions, small market towns, seaside towns. Politicians need to know about seasonal work, seasonal hidden homelessness.
“If you haven’t got a huge amount of money, there’s not the work to keep your household going.”
Like student Joey, Lucy also worries about the environment and targets to reach net zero.
“I think pushing back all the targets and pushing back all the approaches to a better green world are just inappropriate. We say we can’t afford it, but then we can’t afford a lot of things. We need to prioritise more.”
Gloucestershire is our second stop in the South West, after Newquay in Cornwall, and in both locations the environment has been raised regularly on our people’s bench.
So far, it hasn’t been much of a campaign issue as both main parties have rowed back on green policies.
From Cooper’s Hill Cooper’s Hill, cheese watchers can see Cheltenham. File pic: AP
The view from Cooper’s Hill takes in key battle grounds of the election race.
You can see Cheltenham, along with its famous racecourse, a target seat for the Liberal Democrats, currently Conservative held.
The hill also peers over the town of Gloucester, where Labour need just under a 10% swing to take it. They will need that and more to win the election.
The hill itself is in Tewkesbury, a relatively safe Tory seat, and yet, not much in this election is safe. Even here the Tories could tumble like a cheese chaser.
The Lib Dems need an 18% swing, and they’ve done better than that in recent by-elections.
Labour has support in the area too, so it could turn into a three-way scramble for the line.
Jane Blofield is a urology and oncology clinical nurse
Enjoying a picnic with friends on Cooper’s Hill is Jane Blofield, who we coax on to our bench. Jane is a urology and oncology clinical nurse, and she feels her profession is understaffed.
“It’s not about making wild promises, it’s about diverting money to the right places,” she says. In her view, key among them is the NHS.
Read more from Sky News:
Why are polling companies getting such different results?
Tory candidate says ‘excrement’ put through letterbox
Politicians creating generational divides are ‘outright wrong’
She then says she will vote Labour but adds, “I don’t know if they’ve got the answers, but I certainly know the Conservatives haven’t because they’ve ruined the NHS.”
Pressed on if she thinks Sir Keir Starmer can repair the situation, Jane replies, “No.”
Cheese chasers tumble down Cooper’s Hill
Like the cheese race, the bumping, bruising electoral arena is a place where slip-ups happen.
Sir Keir Starmer’s party is leading in the polls, but from the voices we’ve heard so far on our tour, it doesn’t feel like people are running towards Labour with glee, but rather running away from the Tories in dissatisfaction.
The cheese-rolling crowd in Tewkesbury
Even among those who say they will vote Labour, there’s no mad enthusiasm, certainly not of the type you find on the top of Cooper’s Hill, as they prepare to chase a wheel of double Gloucester down an insanely steep grassy slope.
A workman saved a seven-year-old boy from a burning car in the aftermath of a deadly crash caused by a suicidal ex-pilot, an inquest has heard.
The schoolboy’s rescue came following the collision on the M6, which killed former RAF man Richard Woods and four others, in October last year.
Last week a coroner ruled that Woods, 40, took his own life by deliberately driving his Skoda the wrong way down the motorway while drunk and hitting a Toyota Yaris head-on.
The driver of the Toyota, Jaroslaw Rossa, 42, was also killed, along with his two sons, Filip, 15, and Dominic, seven, and his partner Jade McEnroe, 33.
Cockermouth Coroner’s Court heard on Thursday that Ms McEnroe’s son was also in the car but survived after workman Gavin Walsh came to his rescue at the scene, which was near Tebay services in Cumbria.
In a statement to the inquest, Mr Walsh said he was a passenger in a transit van travelling to Scotland when he witnessed the crash.
He jumped out of the vehicle and used a jack to smash the rear windscreen of the Toyota and pulled the boy out of the burning vehicle.
Mr Walsh said: “We really did try, I can assure everyone we did our best. We only had minimal time.
“I saved a life that day and I hope never to witness anything like that again.”
He added that he has never stopped thinking about the boy, and said: “I hope we will meet again one day and I will give you a massive hug.”
At the time, the family were returning to Glasgow from a trip to Legoland in Windsor, Berkshire.
The inquest heard that Wood, who was travelling at a speed of at least 65mph, would have been charged with manslaughter had he survived.
Recording conclusions of unlawful killing, Cumbria assistant coroner Margaret Taylor said: “I found that Jaroslaw, Jade, Filip and Dominic died as a consequence of the unlawful acts of another driver.”
The inquest heard how Mr Woods, from Cambridgeshire, had served a distinguished 14-year career in the RAF and was a flight instructor for BAE Systems at the time of his death.
Jade McEnroe. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
Dominic and Filip. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
In Ms Taylor’s record of inquest, Mr Woods was said to have been experiencing “a number of stressors in his life” and had a “history of harmful use of alcohol”.
Following the crash, he was found to be nearly four times over the legal drink-drive limit and a two-thirds empty bottle of gin was found in his car.
On the day of his death, concerns had been raised over his behaviour at a work conference near Preston in Lancashire.
Mr Woods failed to return to his seat after lunch and was later spotted driving erratically and swerving across three northbound carriageway lanes on the M6.
After pulling onto the hard shoulder, he then proceeded to U-turn and drove southward on lane three.
Filip, Dominic and Jaroslaw Rossa. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
Detective Sergeant Deborah Story, from Cumbria Police, told the inquest that Mr Woods would have been prosecuted on four counts of manslaughter had he lived.
She said hypothetical charges of murder were considered by detectives but not thought appropriate because of a lack of information that Mr Woods knew the family or anything that provided a link between them.
Ms McEnroe’s parents, Marie McEnroe and George McNellis, told the coroner they thought it was “murder”.
Read more from Sky News:
Luton Airport expansion approved
Prince Harry responds to charity row
Appeal launched to help earthquake victims
A statement from the mother of Filip and Dominic, and the ex-wife of Mr Rossa, Kamila, was read out at the inquest.
She said Mr Rossa, known as Jarek, was born in Poland where they became a couple and went on to have three boys.
He loved playing computer games and had “lots of friends”, she said, and worked at the Wagamama restaurant in Silverburn, Glasgow.
She said she was “devastated” over the deaths, adding: “Our lives will never be the same.
“I am heartbroken at the passing of my beloved angels Filip and Dominic.”
Marie McEnroe said her daughter, a spa therapist, had been in a relationship with Mr Rossa for about two-and-a-half years.
She said Jade had been a “brilliant mother” to her only child, was “really happy” with Mr Rossa and it was “lovely chaos” when all the boys were playing together.
Ms McEnroe added: “Life changed forever that day”.
Ms Taylor praised the “selfless acts of bravery” from those in the aftermath of the collision, including Mr Walsh, who she said went towards the burning car “without hesitation for his own safety”.
The coroner added: “Without his swift response, Jade’s child would also have perished.”
Addressing the bereaved family members, she said: “Your loss is unimaginable but you have conducted yourself with dignity and I thank you for that. I wish you strength for the future.”
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports12 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway