Parky Petition - the latest leadership board

What an astonishing week we’ve had, since this time last Saturday we’ve added 21,000 signatures. Savour that: 21,000 in seven days. We are now at 76,286 signatures - three quarters of the way to our target of #parkypetition100K.

All the Movers and Shakers are profoundly grateful to you lovely lot, we’re fizzing with excitement, spending too much time on the Parky Nightwatch staring at the map.

But there is absolutely no room for complacency. Congratulations, yes - but we’re not resting on our laurels. Let’s crack 80,000 by the end of the weekend.

It’s been incredible, almost literally. We find it very hard to explain what’s happened. We’ve consulted various AIs about it, and they don’t know either. We came up with a list of possible explanations, some predictable, some pretty wayward, the best of which was that it’s all down to Rory’s “daughter,” Sophie.

I checked the leader board itself. Not much movement in the positions again. The story’s in the numbers. Bexhill is over 400 now. And the next five are all in the 300 club. But the real story’s how those numbers tick up. I checked them at 8 o’clock last night, and again before this morning’s tally. Most increased by one or two; some by five or six.

So, what about the rest of the country? It’s steady and incremental.

Well done, Yorkshire! First place north of Shrewsbury, and the only place north of Shrewsbury (252) to get more than 200. Sheffield is on 204, Leeds Northeast 203, and Skipton - hurrah! - 217. Well done all. But these 3 counties of Yorkshire are carrying a lot of weight now. They need to help pull the rest of the country forward.

And speaking of the rest of the country: if you’re anywhere near Aston Villa this morning, head over and wave a QR code in front of the lovely heavy metal fans queueing for Ozzy Osbourne’s last ever gig. Yes, the last one. If you are one of those fans, come on, get that QR code on your phone and ask your fellow revellers to sign up, please. And a few locals too, it wouldn’t hurt.

It’s brilliant that nobody in most of Birmingham and particularly Ladywood, where Villa Park sits, is suffering from Parkinson’s. Because they’ve only got 25 signatures there. Shouldn’t be hard to notch up a 100% increase. I’ll check again at the end of the day.

Mark Mardell

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Leadership board - 05/07/2025

Let’s paint the whole UK deep red. Sign. Share. Compete.