13 August - From Russia with more love
When I first took an interest in Bexley Council more than a dozen years ago I never dreamed that the whole
edifice might be built on lies. The man since promoted to be Bexley’s Head of
Highways, Traffic and Infrastructure for his dubious achievements wrote to tell
me in 2009 that my criticism of his road wrecking exercises were
ill-informed because his schemes
were fully supported by Transport Research Laboratory reports numbered 641 and
661. The idea was to firmly put me back in my box.
So I invited one of the report authors to Bexley for a really professional
opinion and he said that Bexley had not even paid lip service to the TRL recommendations.
I once made a complaint about a Councillor and the official reply excused him. When I drew attention to the
fact that I was supported by the minutes of a meeting the Councillor invented a different excuse. It was Councillor Craske, but you will have guessed that wouldn’t you?
I have pretty much given up on reporting every lying statement by Bexley
Council; they may be less blatant than they used to be, most people are not
interested in Council business until the bins are not emptied (oh dear!) and I have lost enthusiasm for it. Anno Domini and all that.
Fortunately I have a possible successor in the shape of
May’s Independent candidate for
Sidcup otherwise known as @tonyofsidcup. He has exposed a number of Bexley
Tory lies and in particular the false claims made in
the Conservatives May 2022 election Manifesto.
Every promise made since 2006 fulfilled 100% and similar BS.
Last week he sent me a lengthy essay on the subject with an interesting
introductory passage of him growing up in Russia in a family closely affiliated to the Communist Party.
Being the father of a young daughter, @tony has a particular interest in education and naturally critical of Bexley Tory’s claims for it.
(All schools rated Good or better.) 
When @tony first asked appropriate questions he didn’t get
answers but later he was told that the claim only applied to schools that actually
achieved a Good or Outstanding rating. The few Council “maintained” ones and not something mentioned in the Manifesto.
To be pedantic even that was not achieved until after the Manifesto was circulated.
The excuse is no consolation to parents whose children go to the ‘wrong’ school.
Wrong schools are 78% of the total.
@tony has dug deep into the OFSTED figures and among other things noted the
inconsistency of OFSTED reports. Only 31% of pupils at Erith’s Parkway Primary School
met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths. Just down the road the
John Fisher Catholic Primary School has pushed that score up to 95% but both are said to be Good.
Whilst critical of Bexley’s false school accounting; @tony is not entirely negative, he concludes
his three page PDF with a summary of what newly
appointed Cabinet Member for Education, Richard Diment, might wish to look at.
Only a third the number of Council run primary schools in Bexley compared to
Greenwich and a third of them described as being in pretty bad shape by OFSTED despite their Good rating.
Twitter users will know that @tony is not very popular with Bexley Councillors.
One can understand why but so far he has not been honoured with an interview by Bexley Council’s military wing
or been maliciously prosecuted by them. Presumably if it happens his mother will be able to offer useful advice.
Those who didn’t read the PDF
will not know what I am talking about.