AS most of you know I tend towards right leaning when it comes to politics HOWEVER...

Donny Red · Jun 23, 2017

Jimmy cricket said: ↑

Seems strange to me that the Conservatives are seen as the party of 'law and order'
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BFC Dave said: ↑

Aye it were all green fields 'rahnd 'ere when I were a lad

Spot on though, although there are a hell of a lot of right minded folk of all ages. They don't make good headlines
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Always been the same BFC. We had Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award kids working on clean water projects in Ladakh in India or rowing the length of the Yukon to recreate the adventures of the pioneering gold prospectors.

Try to get a reporter and camera crew along from the Wakefield Express to record them receiving their awards.
Not a hope in hell. They were busy reporting on young people getting drunk, taking drugs, nicking computers or
Twocking. Sadly they hardly ever report the many positive things young people do - only the bad.!

John Peachy · Jun 23, 2017

Donny Red said: ↑

I worked in Local Government for forty three years. The remit of any Local Authority is to care for its citizens from
"Cradle to grave". To do that it has relied mainly on monies given to it by Central Government.
Some of the bigger Authorities employ Financial experts who enhance the LA's income by speculating in open markets and
selling land and buildings for public development. A lot of Councils have large sums "invested" as contingency funds although
some took a massive hit when the Icelandic banking crisis affected them. A colleague in a Kent confided at the time that they lost millions.

When the present Government came in they introduced a policy of austerity by imposing year on year cuts to Council
budgets. This led to some selling off or cutting back on front line services. Some have also chosen to supplement the shortfall by dipping into their reserves created by their Finance teams.

The aim of the cuts was to encourage dissent amongst the public to the point that pressure would be brought upon politicians and Senior officers within Councils to offer the more " lucrative money making services" out to public tender in the hope they would be operated more efficiently at cheaper cost. Legal pressure was also brought to bear ( e.g LG Land Planning Act).
We've seen this happen over the years re- Architecture (NPS), Housing ( Berneslai Homes), Education ( Academies), Refuse Collection , Street Lighting, School Meals etc etc.

You will find that when this happens all existing LA staff are transferred to the new employer ( TUPE). Experience has told us that that process usually involves re-negotiation of rates of pay and in a lot of cases gradual phased redundancies.

Also as unfair as it seems Private Sector firms can bid to do work in the Public Sector but the Local Government Goods and Services Act 1972 prevents Local Authorities from bidding for work or trading with the Private Sector.!
Something slightly unfair there methinks.!!

Usually around Local election time a lot of cash is suddenly made available for things like Council house repairs, facelifts in the Town etc. This is to create a feel good factor so that the electorate put their cross in the right box on polling day.
I would guess that the £100 rebate by K&C Council to its wealthiest charge payers occurred around that time.!

With regards to the fire in the Grenfell Tower, we know now it was caused by an exploding refrigerator. We have to reserve
judgement until the Public enquiry reveals everything that happened before any blame can be apportioned.

Looking at what we've been told so far " somebody" could have countermanded the Architects specification to fit fully fire resistant panels in deference to flammable PE, the instruction to stay put until rescued now seems to have been the wrong one given what happened with the panels, the fact that there was no sprinkler systems, inadequate fire door protection and it would now appear no fire extinguishers to help residents fight the fire when it first took hold.

The certainties to emerge from this tragedy will be a total overhaul of public building fire safety and even though tax rises may ensue will bring about the end of seven years of austerity that to my mind having seen it first hand has contributed to quite an amount of hardship amongst the less fortunate in our society in that short cuts and cost saving measure have done nothing to enhance the average citizens life.

When Private Companies take over they make profit their "God" and costs and quality are usually pared to the bone re-
they use British Standard or Equal ( which covers a multitude of sins.) which means they gravitate to the lowest price.

We need to pray and pray hard that if the proposed privatisation of Water goes ahead that the safeguards to protect all of us are in place with respect to storage, treatment, effluence, pipework systems etc otherwise I shudder to think what might happen to all of us in the pursuit of profit.!!
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Great post. Very informative.

John Peachy · Jun 23, 2017

Donny Red said: ↑

Just seen Philip Hammonds speech at the Mansion House. Said that the Government had thought it had
got its spending plans right but the result of the recent Election has told them that they were wrong.!

Their policy was "Bleak House" for another 5 years and whilst probably not achievable Labours was " here you go
grab what you want it's all free" ( done purposefully in the knowledge they could probably not win by the way.)

What it has done howeverhas now prompted Hammond to say that austerity is not the answer and that investment in business and local services is. In part effectively a "stealing " of Labours clothes .

I wonder if the Open University will start a new course " The Philip Hammond Degree in stating the bleeding obvious"!
People of all political persuasions have been telling the parties that since they came to power in 2010 re- Tory and
Lib Dems.
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The Tories went more Pride & Prejudice than Bleak House this time.

AS most of you know I tend towards right leaning when it comes to politics HOWEVER...

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AS most of you know I tend towards right leaning when it comes to politics HOWEVER...

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