28 December (Part 1) - Politics, it is a funny old business
Politics here is a bit, well, err, bonkers isn’t it? Here I am having never voted anything but Conservative
in General Elections since 1964, sometimes through gritted teeth, but spending far
too much time looking for the bad things that Tories do. Locally it is the Conservatives who have been in charge
for nearly 16 years so no one else has been in a position to make serious mistakes. Mistakes which have
stolen so much
from the quality of life in the borough. Except where they made things really
really bad and pulled things back a bit (Children’s Services) nothing very
obvious has been improved in Tory Bexley. I have asked several times for
evidence of any highways development that proved to be totally satisfactory and
welcomed by all. The response suggests that there have been none beyond a Zebra crossing or two.
Nationally the Conservatives are not in charge, we have a Coalition headed by a spineless Liberal in
a blond wig supported by Labour and unless a Conservative leader emerges my life long voting record will come to an end
quite soon. What a Carrie on!
Well that’s the intro, what’s the point?
I have come to the conclusion that my view of Conservative politics is not far removed from
some Bexley Councillors because the choice of who I can contact
to confirm or otherwise any gossip that comes my way slowly increases. Three different sources
confirmed the
list of nine Conservatives who will call it a day come next May. Inside info
never comes from Labour Councillors, not since Danny Hackett went Independent
anyway. It was a Conservative Councillor who dropped it into the conversation
that Joe Ferreira (Labour, Erith) and Brenda Langstead (Labour, Slade Green)
would not be seeking re-election.
Goodness knows who will take their place. The current Labour Group mainly
occupies the middle of the left leaning road but some of their leading
supporters are far from level-headed. One has said
via a solicitor’s letter that she will report me to the police for harassment if
I ever mention her name here, which was funny because until I received the
threatening letter I didn’t know her name. (I thought I did but my Labour
informant got it wrong!)
When the election comes I may have the boys in blue banging on my door again. Actually I doubt it. The
days when the Council Leader could trot down to Arnsberg Way and collude with a
compliant copper or seek the retrospective falsification of CAD records seem to
have gone. Remote Basic Command Units were not all bad after all.