7 November (Part 4) - Two more firsts
Today was not the best day to ‘house sit’ at a friend’s place to await the
Openreach man due to install fibre broadband this morning. He turned up in the
early afternoon and then I was lumbered with installing a network printer on
every machine on the network. Easy, but very time consuming. Spending a total of
116 minutes on Bexley’s congested roads is not my idea of fun either.
So any chance of a council meeting report today has evaporated but what are these two
extra firsts? One is a blog submission from Mr. Barnbrook; he supplies Bonkers
with loads of material but this is the first time he has prepared it for
publication. And what is the second first? His subject matter. For the first
time at a council meeting, Bexley rejected every single question from genuine members of the
public and accepted questions only from political stooges.
They’ve been close to it before, two of
the previous meeting’s questions came from
political plants who could have asked their questions at the bar of their
local Conservative club any time they wanted. But that wouldn’t give an
opportunity for political grandstanding by a cabinet member. Last time it was
Lesnes ward candidates Elizabeth Anderson and Keima Allen licked the cabinet
members’ boots. This time it was Conservatives Tosin Femi-Adedayo
and Conor Lucking, aided and abetted by Labour hopeful Andy Smith. Let Mick
Barnbrook tell you what happened before the meeting had even started…
Intending to complain about the continued use of political plants to exclude
public questioning, I approached my ward councillor Katie Perrior before the
meeting and asked if she would take up a complaint on my behalf if I wrote to
her? She asked me what was my complaint.
I said it was the fact that three council candidates were asking questions in the period
set aside for ordinary members of the public thereby denying them the
opportunity to engage in the democratic process. She said she would not accept
my complaint and when I asked Why? she said “It is of no interest to me”.
I then spoke to a young man and asked him if he was Conor Lucking, a candidate
in next year’s election. He said “yes”.
I said why are you asking a question at the meeting when there are other forums
open to you to obtain the same information?”. He replied, “Because councillor
John Davey asked me to”.
Councillor Philip Read spoke to Miss Tosin Femi-Adedayo
before the meeting and again during question time.
As mentioned earlier today, John Kerlen who was sitting immediately behind Miss Femi-Adedayo,
has reported the incident
and with additional facts and it really ought to be read in conjunction with the above. It is remarkably free of rude words,
by Olly’s standards anyway.
Mr. Barnbrook’s rejected question queried the payment of allowances to a
councillor who is unable to fulfil her obligations due to ill health; she was
not at last night’s meeting. By hiding the fact from the public, depriving them
of representation and making payments without justification Teresa O’Neill ought
to be guilty of a criminal offence. Maybe she is.
List of
Conservative candidates for the 2014 council elections. Four of them, if
they manage to get elected, have ensured themselves a warm welcome on Bonkers.