30 August - Mock outrage from one, delusion from the other
Soon after the
local election in 2014 with Bexley Conservatives safely back in power they began
cutting services right left and centre. One was street tree planting, they said
they would not do any more. If a resident wanted their street tree replaced
after a road traffic accident, a fatal drought or vandalism, (s)he would have to stump up £230.
You can still read about it on
the Bexley Times website although somehow or other it passed
largely unnoticed by Bonkers.
Residents who don’t attend Council meetings - that’s pretty much everyone - will
not be aware that with another election approaching tree planting is one of the
cuts that Bexley Council is back tracking on.
In March this year Cabinet Member Peter Craske announced
a raft of back
tracking policies, among them the reversal of the no tree policy. He planned to
plant 200 of the things later this year.
Most residents will not know that because very little has been said about it and
the tree planting programme is still some way off.
However Councillor Craske clearly feels somewhat indignant that residents are
unaware of one of his election winning stunts.
I was pleased to see that
some fly tipping was cleared up somewhere within the hour but not so pleased
that when I took the trouble to take photos of someone
filling one of the large
street bins with builder’s rubble the useless Steve Didsbury took no action
whatsoever, even when specifically asked to do so by my ward Councillor.
It’s probably not reciprocated but I quite like Councillor Craske, he is a
showman and good entertainment and since his brush with the law avoids the most blatant of lies.
Not so his colleague Philip Read.
I have no real doubt that this
morning’s Tweet was aimed at me although it is hard to make sense of it
I don’t think the Northumberland Numpty has any idea what a troll is. I rarely
contribute to other people’s Twitter posts but consider it legitimate to ask
local Conservatives to justify the more outageous of their claims or provide source
data. Never once have they been able to do so. Much easier to simply
manufacture another lie.
Where Read gets the idea I am a Labour troll from I have no idea. Utterly
ridiculous, no time for Corbyn, no time for Blair and as for consulting with
Labour Councillors, even more ridiculous. One lives in the next street to me.
Seen him five or six times over several years and
never got beyond discussing the weather or health issues.
I told Danny Hackett (one of my ward Councillors) about the local traders’
request for an Alcolhol Free Zone
on 10th August because Wilton Road is on his patch too but so far no formal reply. (See footnote.)
When Conservatives suggested that no Labour Councillor attended
the formal
opening of The Belvedere Beach I asked Labour Leader Daniel Francis if that was true - it wasn’t.
In June I updated Stefano Borella (Labour, North End) on a police investigation in which he has an
interest for which he thanked me but apart from the foregoing there has been no contact
with Labour Councillors this year.
Sometimes it would be really helpful if I could contact someone on the Labour
side for confirmation of a date or vague recollection that a search on Bonkers
will not satisfy, but no such relationship exists.
And as for checking things out with the Numpty himself
as he suggests, has he forgotten that he blocked me on Twitter the day I made my first comment?
Note: Murphy’s Law, Danny has just responded to the Traders’ request.