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News and Comment August 2022

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27 August - The sting in the tail

Wasps nestThis short blog should have come to you yesterday but a couple of unwanted problems got in the way.

I had left some tools in the loft after I changed a ball valve up there at the beginning of the year. I opened the trap door and found the space above buzzing with wasps. Under a cloud of aerosol killer spray I retrieved the tools unscathed and shut the door.

Pest Control is one of those services dropped by Bexley Council many years ago so if anyone knows of a reliable expert in a white suit…

The tools were required because I decided it was time to give my gas boiler its annual check. It has been turned right off since March because it is more than 35 years old when pilot lights were a thing and it makes no sense to burn it through the summer when the solar panels take over water heating.

Spare parts are not easy to get hold of but mainly it only needs cleaning and mine being the only boiler in the cul-de-sac not maintained by British Gas it has been the only one never needing replacement. One neighbour is on his third gas boiler.

However my luck has run out and something has gone wrong with the burner. It looks like a carbon monoxide generator to me.

So if anyone knows a competent engineer who might have to fit a new unit into a tight space…

For the record, my Smart Meter said that fiddling with the boiler for at most a couple of minutes, cost 22 pence.

I know of two people who have Air Source Heat Pumps and very pleased with them. The latest ones seem to be quiet and more efficient than before but there is no point in having 300% efficiency if electricity costs four times as much as gas per kilowatt hour.

The only way around that is a battery filled on an overnight cheap tariff to run the ASHP during the day. That is a serious amount of money and I suspect I am too old to ever get the money back.

What should have been reported yesterday was the feedback from Thursday’s report on Manifesto lies. I was reminded of the fairly obvious. If the excuse for spinning lies is that the mistake was made honestly and sincerely is actually true then the Leader of Bexley Council is totally incompetent and far too gullible when it comes to reports from senior Council officers. I am expecting @tonyofsidcup to vigorously contest the whitewash.

Chief Executive's payI think I too prefer the original explanation whereby the Leader relies on her Directors to write lame excuses for lies. But that sort of loyalty comes at a price.

Depending on which of Bexley’s out of date web pages one consults, the value of the Chief Executive’s pay package went up from £220,205 to £236,535 this year (†) with similar increases right across the board. The Taxpayers’ Alliance put the figure at £244,972.

† Part of the difference comes about due to changes to the Employer’s National Insurance contribution.

 

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