31 October - Old problems ignored
If every document relating to Bexley Council is filed away for 20 plus years,
sooner or later one runs out of space. I spent much of yesterday recycling as
much old junk as I could and in the process found quite a lot of Council letters
dated 1999 to 2001 with references to letters dated 1992 - most of which have not yet been found.
It would seem that senior Bexley executives were just as arrogant and
dictatorial back then as they are now, the difference being that that
if you wrote to the Chief Executive 20 years ago there was a good chance that it
would be his signature on the reply. Not that they actually answered any of the questions.
In 2001 Chief Executive Christopher Duffield told me that he was disappointed that I believed him to be supremely arrogant so I
told him why and referred him to the evidence.
The
document tidying revealed that my complaints about inconsiderate parking and the
danger created at the junction with Carrill Way go back 30 years. (See this weekend’s photos.)
In 1992 I asked for yellow lines to be considered and the
Group Engineer (Traffic and Road Safety) turned down my request on the grounds
that “yellow lines cause considerable inconvenience to most residents”.
By 1999 his opinion had gone though a 180° reversal and a Controlled Parking
Zone was proposed. The correspondence reveals that end on parking was a problem
then just as it is now and the area designated for use as as a "turning head"
only should be subject to the CPZ. My request that parking bays be marked out in
a conventional manner was ignored.
In the event the proposed CPZ boundary stopped well short of my road and everything suggested went unheeded
for 20 more years. They called themselves The Listening Council.
30 October - It is definitely ugly
The number of reports that the new Bexley Council owned three screen cinema In Sidcup is
a bit of
an eyesore had reached the stage when a photographic expedition was required.
The only spare time round about now was this morning so I left home just before
eight, umbrella and water resistant lenses in the boot of the car.
Usually it is possible to park early on a Sunday a few yards to the east of
Waitrose, but not this morning. The road was dug up; pretty much the norm for Sidcup one might say.
I do not know Sidcup very well, it is the sort of place one wants to get through
quickly, Thames Water permitting. The visibility was poor but I toured the back
streets looking for a parking space but without success. All I found was road humps every
few yards, an incredible number of No Entry and No Through Road signs and temporary traffic lights.
Without
stopping I headed home which is a shame because I had intended to watch a film
at the new cinema and I now realise that may not be possible. A combination of
Bexley Council’s parking policies and Southeastern’s withdrawal of the Abbey Wood to Sidcup train service.
In my youth I was the projectionist’s occasional assistant in an Odeon but I
have never in 35+ years been to a Bexley cinema. A review of Bexleyheath’s Cineworld gave graphic descriptions
of flying popcorn and urine soaked seats. I would hope someone was exaggerating but I played safe.
Occasional forays into cinemas elsewhere - nothing since Midway and 1917 so not
very often - has found me complaining to my companions about the indifferent
sound quality and if I ever get inside the Sidcup fleapit it will mainly be to check that out.
I have read all the planning documents relating to acoustics and I hope the
insulation is good enough to protect adjacent screens. A modern cinema
requires at least twelve speakers and the sound pressure level needs to reach
85dB or more to keep me happy. (Films are generally designed for that level.) Imagine something like Top Gun Maverick playing
next door to a Hitchcock classic.
Where a cinema might win over a blu-ray disc on the best TV is in screen brightness.
At the moment, if you spend enough money, you can buy a TV which is colour
accurate and approaching cinema brightness. But not for much longer.
The European Union has decreed that the power consumption of TVs must be further
limited. Bigger ones will be allowed to use more electricity but the effect will
be that all 8k screens will be banned as will all the 2022 models from Sony and Samsung that
use the latest QD-OLED technology. As yet no other manufacturer does.
8k TVs are probably a big waste of money because there is next to nothing of
that resolution to show on them. With four times as many pixels as 4k to be
illuminated there is no way they can get under the EU imposed limit but - good
news - the Americans are understandably up in arms about the limitations especially as the
best 4k sets will be banned too. The manufacturers appear to be unwilling to split
their production lines but maybe they will rebel against European dictators by
hiding something in the engineering menu.
My 4k disc of Top Gun Maverick complete with IMAX sequences and Dolby ATMOS sound is due here tomorrow, Royal Mail strikes
permitting, so if you hear any low flying jet planes hereabouts you may safely blame me.
29 October - Helping the local economy and financing the national one
In a clear sign of impending senility I was surprised to see Councillor Andy Dourmoush
chairing October’s Finance Scrutiny meeting. I was under the impression that he
was still persona-non-grata for not being entirely convinced by
the auditor’s Good News Story
a year ago. As the most successful - only? - businessman on the Council who better to keep an eye on its finances?
However it seems I had entirely forgotten last July’s Finance meeting report.
It is good to be reminded that Ahmet is back.
The first Agenda item was entitled Social Values which is an obscure way of
describing responsible local procurement policies designed to benefit Bexley people whenever possible.
Councillor
Frazer Brooks (Conservative, Falconwood & Welling) asked how such local contracts
are monitored and if penalties are imposed on any business which may not live up to
their promises. It was at first said that it is too early to comment on either point
but the Finance Director stepped in to say that monitoring will be carried out.
Labour Leader Councillor Borella asked how local people were benefitting
economically but there was no obvious answer. (Misoperation of microphones might have been a factor.)
Councillor
Larry Ferguson (Labour, Thamesmead East) expanded on Frazer Brooks question by asking if contracts
could be rescinded for not fulfilling local contractual obligations. The Finance
Director said that such a move would likely prove to be unviable. How quickly
could a contract be replaced? Cabinet Member David Leaf thought that sometimes
companies would find themselves unable to fulfill local provisions and if
contracts were tighter might increase their prices to counter such eventualities.
The Chairman appeared to take a tougher line and said “penalty clauses must be
controlled to give the best possible services to residents”.
Councillor Cameron Smith (St. Mary’s & St. James) asked how local is balanced against best value. The
Finance Director said contracts are weighted towards price. “70% price based.”
Social Care Services may be tipped in the other direction.
Councillor Daniel Francis (Labour, Belvedere) said that some contractors
sub-contract especially in the field of temporary accommodation. How could
that work? Councillor Francis was promised an answer later and the Chairman
asked for it to embrace all contracts not just those related to accommodation.
The next item was entitled Bexley’s Borrowing Strategy and
it envisages “additional external borrowing over the next few years”.
Councillor Francis asked when it was written because the financial situation was changing by the
hour. (The meeting was held the day before Prime Minister Truss threw in the towel.)
The answer was that the figures provided referred to 9th August and it was admitted that nothing had improved since
then. Bexley was paying even more interest while debtless Bromley was paying
nothing. 24 London boroughs are in a worse borrowing position than Bexley.
Councillor Peter Reader (Conservative, West Heath) mischievously wondered in which direction Croydon’s £1·52
billion debt would go now that the borough has gone Conservative and likewise Wandsworth’s £69
million now that Labour is in charge. Bexley is on £250 million and has not
taken on any new borrowing over the past three. Nothing since September 2019.
Cabinet Member David Leaf said that Croydon is a warning to anyone thinking of voting for a Labour Council.
The Chairman concluded that things are changing so quickly that updated versions
of the Strategy should be provided to the Committee via training sessions at the earliest opportunity.
He also suggested that with future borrowing inevitable it might be wise to go
earlier rather than wait until the last minute when interest rates would likely be higher.
The rubbish recycling contractor was required to update Bexley Councillors a year
after taking over the contract from Serco. They did so on 18th October 2022 and
once again there was a slide show.
The company was pleased that the traditional Bexley Summer bin strike lasted for
only two weeks this year. CountryStyle staff are now paid at comparable rates to other local contractors.
Two vehicles are now dedicated to collecting missed bins.
Labour Councillor Ogundayo (Thamesmead East) asked how new vehicles will help
with Assisted Bin Collections and noted that some operatives did not seem to
know the way to some addresses. There was an admission that the missed bins
target was itself being missed but I didn’t hear an answer to the Assisted Bins question.
Regular teams and their accumulated knowledge is seen as an important priority
but can be affected by holidays and sickness. Bins are collected up to one metre
from the property curtilage. Bin replacement remains an issue and there are “bad days”.
Councillor Hinkley (Labour, Belvedere) said that Fix My Street
reports are still not being handled or updated correctly. It was accepted that
some street cleaning and fly tipping complaints did come via FMS and “things
sometimes went wrong”. There are about 18,000 FMS reports annually and more need
to be automated to take the load off of staff who inevitably fall behind.
Councillor Davey thought the bin collection service was pretty good and attracts
few complaints to his Inbox, however overflowing litter bins are a problem.
Bigger bins are on the way to affected locations, space permitting.
Councillor Lucia-Hennis said that in her Crayford ward
it is obvious that the use of food bins has reduced since they were discouraged
during Covid. Education via leaflets and personal contact takes place to combat
the problem. The cost of living crisis is tending to reduce the amount of food waste.
Councillor Ward Willis (Crook Log) said that weeds in the gutters was becoming a
problem. She had noticed that food waste was being tipped into green bins but
assumed that this was transferred into a separate vehicle compartment. Her
observations were confirmed but she thought the use of a green bin might confuse residents.
Councillor Slaughter (Sidcup) said that repeated bin misses and the delivery of
new brown bins seemed to be a problem. Once again the issue was seen as a
priority and there has been some improvement in the statistics. There was no
answer to the brown bin question.
Councillor Betts (Falconwood & Welling) said that some emptied bins are just
slung in the general direction from which they have been taken and end up
blocking the pavement. How is that monitored? The Chairman drove the meeting on without waiting for a definitive answer and
Councillor Ball (Labour, Erith) was encouraged to ask if anyone actually looked out for weeds
growing in the gutters or assessed the amount of bin contamination?
There was no simple definitive answer
any of the questions except that supervisors do get out of the office to monitor
staff attitudes.
Note. I had to cross the border into Greenwich to find weeds in gutters.
27 October (Part 2) - Make your BID
Bexley’s
Places Scrutiny Committee devoted ten minutes of its last meeting to BIDs
which if you wade through to the end of its Agenda report you will eventually
find translated to Business Improvement Districts. For the uninitiated that is
an organisation which operates under the auspices of Bexley Council - they used
to share both premises and email addresses - and has the power to levy extra ‘taxes’ on shops and
for inexplicable reasons, Sidcup schools too, with the aim of making them more profitable.
Their ambition is to extend their powers beyond
Bexleyheath where it has operated for about twelve years
and Sidcup to Welling and Bexley Village and Cabinet Member Cafer Munur appeared keen to make such a move.
“Wherever we can create a BID we will do so.”
Councillor Cameron Smith (Conservative, St. Mary’s & St. James) thought that
successful BIDs may disadvantage the smaller High Streets economically.
He said the Traders’ Association in Bexley Village is very active but how can they
compete? Is there any scope for joint BIDs with other small shopping centres?
For the record the Abbey Wood (Wilton Road) TA was a victim of Covid and effectively dead having not met since February 2020.
Cameron was told that there were as yet no joint BIDs but it may be possible to provide support to Traders’ Associations.
27 October (Part 1) - Feed back
When Councillor June Slaughter (Conservative, Sidcup) was complaining about the chaos caused
by Thames Water’s protracted works in The Green she also mentioned a similar
problem on Hatherley Road but not a word about Clarence Road. Maybe that is
because, according to residents’ feedback it is Bexley Council that has caused the
disruption to continue for longer than necessary.
The report is that Thames Water promised that the water main replacement
would take five weeks starting in the first week of August. True to form Thames
Water failed to put men on site every day but eventually packed up and went away
on 21st October. Everything was left clean and tidy.
But not for long.
Last Monday they returned to rip up all the lovely new paving. Enquiries have
revealed that Bexley Council objected to the colouring. They would prefer them
to have a pinkish hue rather than plain grey.
For the record, Thames Water told the Council that although repairs and
replacement has been taken back in house the same does not apply to restorative
work. That is still contracted out.
Nearer home there was further comment on
parking post-Crossrail.
Residents of a road that spans the CPZ boundary say that parking
beyond it is similarly getting out of hand and it being a bus route (14 an hour
in each direction) there is even more scope for road blocking.
I was informed that the “Incorrect parking” website reporting restrictions may be circumvented in a
way I will not reveal in case the loophole is blocked and a phone option is
also available. 020 3045 3000 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday.
I share my informantְ’s view that the only way that single yellow lines are
likely to help significantly is if the restricted hours are extended from the
usual - in Abbey Wood - 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
The
Elizabeth line continues to cause parking chaos in the streets just outside the
old Abbey Wood Controlled Parking Zone and the first residential road beyond its boundary is mine.
When Bexley Council more than doubles its parking charges
in three weeks time things will only get worse.
What is Greenwich Council doing to tackle the problem? Consult on an extended CPZ. What is Bexley Council doing? Sweet FA.
Around 1:30 today I managed to get my car out on to the main road and in doing
so noted two cars parked across dropped kerbs, the ones that are there to assist road crossing, not private driveways.
When I returned half an hour later a third vehicle had similarly added to the chaos and I literally
could not get home. I was able to do so only by reversing to allow a large van
to get through and both of us driving over the footpath for a short distance.
Somewhat annoyed about it I went on the Council’s website to report them but was
not able to. Apparently I was supposed to have photographed the offending
vehicles and noted their registration numbers as I drove by. I gave up and so Bexley Council
has missed out on a couple of hundred pounds.
I am not absolutely sure about it but I think I would have had to make three separate reports.
The photos above are recent stock shots. The silver car is parked across a
dropped kerb although it does not show clearly. The number is obscured because I
noticed it belonged to a nurse on call. I doubt Bexley Council would be that sympathetic.
The white van is trying to get past the red one which inconsiderately leaves its
back end obstructing the junction. Sometimes it too has caused me to use the footpath.
The only way to solve the problem is double yellow lines around every junction,
marked parking bays to prohibit end on parking and single yellow lines
everywhere else to deter commuter parking. Every property has at least one
designated off road parking space. There is no excuse for Bexley Council
leaving residents to suffer.
Bexley’s
recent Places Scrutiny Committee was chaired by Councillor Cheryl Bacon - whose
name once appeared in a Misconduct in Public Office file submitted to the
Crown Prosecution Service - following the elevation of Councillor Seymour - who is
on record as signing an inaccurate police statement and continuing to support it in the Crown Court - to a Cabinet position.
Neither was sanctioned by the discredited Boris Johnson’s favourite London
Councillor but for reasons unknown the outspoken Councillor John Davey was
expelled
from the party for an ill-judged joke.
You may conclude that double standards and maybe an element of dishonesty
pervades Bexley’s Conservative leadership but if you are sitting on the fence consider this.
When former Labour Councillor Danny Hackett on his own initiative resigned from
that party the Council Leader took away his Committee Memberships,
however John Davey was able to grace the Places Committee unimpeded.
It was good to see him there but it is further evidence that Bexley Council is
never far away from double dealing and general dishonesty.
The first item on the Agenda was a presentation by that bane of residents’
lives, Thames Water. How many millions did they cost our economy by their massive disruption
to Sidcup’s road transport infrastructure throughout much of this year? (It
should come to an end in a month’s time but resume in February 2023.)
It was revealed that around 70% of their pipes etc. continue to be of Victorian
vintage and their representative came equipped with
a slide show. Possibly good
news is that Thames Water has sacked its road digging contractors and taken the job back in house.
The first question came from Councillor June Slaughter (Conservative, Sidcup)
who naturally enough referred to the protracted water works in The Green which
caused chaos to tens of thousands. Work went on from the 3rd August
until 30th September and is still not completed. I was pleased to hear that Bexley Council is at last getting
tough with Thames Water, they managed to cause me a great deal of inconvenience too.
TW said that the long periods of little or no activity on site is caused by the unforeseen.
Often safety related. Councillor Slaughter thought it would be of benefit if
local Councillors were kept informed of such problems.
Councillor Davey proved his worth by asking about broken Fire Hydrants which
Thames Water had failed to repair. A fire in his ward could not be tackled
immediately because a hydrant was rusted shut. He also asked about water
availability. In West London it is impeding housing development, Does the same apply here?
The aim is to repair faulty Fire Hydrants within 60 days. (No comment
necessary!) Water availability is an issue but new infrastructure will keep potential problems at bay.
Councillor Lucia-Hennis (or Loser-Hennis if you take the webcast subtitles
literally) said that Crayford was closed for three weeks by Thames Water and
unattended leaks are widespread. Thames Water had never made any contact with her
despite what was claimed during the slide show.
Councillor Cameron Smith had another communications problem in Bexley Village
which was Thames Water telling business owners different stories to that related
to Councillors. As a result of road closures some business had gone whole days
without taking any money. What compensation is on offer? The answer was that there
is no legal liability for destroying small businesses because of road closures,
(Flooding is a different matter.)
All the evidence suggests that Thames Water will remain
the least customer focused of the utility company for some time to come.
20 October - A greener climate aware Bexley
Bexley’s Cabinet “does not believe in throwing all our toys out of the pram and declaring
a [climate] emergency etc., we quietly get on with delivering and making the
changes which we believe are right for our residents”. We know that because that
was the Leader’s opening statement when climate issues came up for discussion last week.
They consider their Climate Plan to be part of the Local Plan
reported on a few days ago.
Councillor Craske said that the Council had already achieved a lot while
Councils that declared emergencies had achieved nothing and are still planning to do
things that Bexley did ten years ago. “No grand gestures!”
Greenwich is still thinking about installing LED lighting. In Bexley it saved 84%
of carbon emissions and a lot of money. Greenwich has overspent on street
lighting by half a million pounds because of increased energy prices while Bexley has saved more than that each year
by switching to LEDs quickly.
He went on to say - with zero useful details - that textiles and electrical
items are now included in recyclables collections.
Cabinet Member Munur did what he does best. Waffled. This time about sustainable
living, net zero, green jobs and green infrastructure.
Councillor Leaf said that residents had done their bit by investing in solar panels and electric
cars. In Bexley we do not glue ourselves to roads or smash the windows of banks.
“We do not need top down diktats imposed or a green agenda imposed under the guise of
socialism.” Referring to a conversation with Greenwich Council he said they were
unable to understand how Bexley had switched to LED lighting before first declaring a Climate Emergency.
Labour Leader Stefano Borella said that there should be “a Cabinet Member
singularly responsible for Climate Change. It is a very important issue. We
should be doing more”. The reduction in the number of trains and
the route restrictions
will cause more residents to drive. He made it clear that he was against fracking and more oil exploration
but did not explain how we are going to avoid freezing to death.
Councillor Nicola Taylor representing riverside Erith for Labour was concerned about rising
sea levels. Pesticide use was not mentioned in the Climate Change plan and she thought it it should be.
Councillor Dourmoush (Conservative, Longlands) said that there were nine new
commitments in the plan listed on page 48 of the Agenda and wondered what else Councillor Borella had in mind
and it was premature of him to have said that he would not be supporting the Local Plan.
The commitments listed are…
• Protect our natural environment
• Reduce, reuse and recycle
• Send no waste to landfill
• Enable a greener economy
• Empower residents and businesses to make positive changes
• To keep an open mind and go further
You are absolutely right. That’s six commitments.
The Cabinet approved the plan which will go to Full Council.
Note: A blog dated 24th July 2021 tells
a
different story about Greenwich and LED lighting.
19 October - What’s the problem?
Did
I ever mention that I used to live in Plumstead? As a refugee from the Hampshire countryside I hated it.
Kept awake all night by the sound of police sirens and disturbed all day because
the new build flat had no sound insulation. The builder had forgotten to put it
in which was fully admitted but because retro-fitting would disturb the
upstairs neighbours and benefit only me he was denied access.
I could have drowned my sorrows in the nearby Plume of Feathers where a naked lady show
was hosted most nights but I never did, honestly. For a start I knew no one locally with whom to share a pint.
Now the Grade II listed Feathers is associated with a different sort of stripper, Bexley Council’s preferred and favoured asset stripper.
First mentioned, very briefly, on BiB last May.
In July Greenwich’s Planning Committee,
in the space of a few seconds, deferred
an application (1/4575/F and 21/4576/L) to build nine residential units in its
back garden until they had made a site visit. One must assume they are not very
keen on Mr. Singh’s ideas and presumably there are no questionable behind the scenes links with a Labour Council.
The matter was due to be debated again a week ago
and was listed in the Agenda dated 11th October 2022 but although previous and
subsequent webcast meetings have been placed in the video archive the one
relating to the Plume of Feathers is missing. Unless someone was able to view it
in real time - and I wasn’t - there is no way of knowing if planning permission was granted.
The Planning portal continues to show “Awaiting decision”.
Is Greenwich Council, unlike Bexley, an influence free zone?
17 October - Fraud. Pure and Simple
Two
of Britain’s oldest institutions are on a suicide mission. One is the
Conservative Party and the other is Royal Mail. Both deserve to die.
Hoping that you don’t notice, the Royal Mail is still selling through its various
agents - the Post Office being a different organisation - postage stamps which
have an expiry date of 31st January 2023.
You must either use them before that date or send them unsecured to an address in
Edinburgh. Exchanging them at a Post Office is far too simple and runs the risk
of the Royal Mail not profiting from those who don’t bother to poke them into an
envelope and probably never see the replacements.
The Royal Mail instead ask you to download a PDF form which if their extremely unhelpful Twitter
account is anything to go by is a data harvesting operation demanding your full
name and address, email address and phone number.
You can’t get the form from a Post Office and if you have a large number of
stamps a Recorded or Insured Service is recommended. Guess who pays?
It would not be possible to design a more unfriendly system if they had tried - and probably they did try.
I had already decided to stop sending out greetings cards, the postage rates are
far too expensive but I did have three 1st class and 12 2nd Class stamps left
over from last year to enable a few exceptions.
One is the Del Boy stamp you see above. The only people who will be millionaires
next year are the Royal Mail managers who devised this get rich quick scheme.
I will get my money back by not giving the postman his usual Christmas tenner. Sorry Nigel.
And I will stop sending mail. Well I pretty much have as must be obvious from
still having 15 stamps left over from last Christmas.
I can remember exactly where I was the day that the price of a stamp rose from
2½d (a penny in ‘new’ money) to 3d. It was headline breaking news. What else
has gone up 100 fold in less than a lifetime? (Err, broadsheet newspapers actually!)
15 October (Part 2) - Bexley Cabinet meeting. Same old, same old
Bexley’s
Cabinet met last week to debate their latest self-satisfaction plan.
It is titled ‘Making Bexley even Better’ which pretty much encapsulates all
that is wrong with Bexley Council. Almost nothing gets better, certainly not
taxes, fees and charges and they fail to recognise it.
The Conservatives plan to convert their ideas into a website. As presented to Cabinet the plan is
the usual ambition to get someone else to pay for any possible improvements
which represents no obvious change of direction. Almost everything changed possibly for the better
over the past ten years has come from the likes of Cory Environmental, the
Lottery Fund. American golfing companies and Network Rail.
There is absolutely nothing new in the
latest 34 page report; working with partners, early
intervention and prevention, happy healthy lives, listening, (yes, really!) open and accessible. Growth, better transport, cleaner and greener, thriving economy,
safe and inclusive, affordable homes. The usual fine words that crop up in every report.
It is not strictly accurate to say that the Cabinet debated the report. They’d
had their staff knock it all together and already agreed the contents so it only fell to
them to say how wonderful it was. Councillors Read, Seymour, Diment, Craske,
Leaf and Munur lined up to thank the authors, praised the regurgitation of old
ideas and generally slap a few backs. (Cabinet Member Sue Gower was not present.)
Councillor Borella’s description of the plan was not too far removed from mine and added that
it merely embeds the Conservative Manifesto
into policy which may be no bad thing except that the 2022 Manifesto contained no promises and few ambitions. “A
lack of ambition” to quote the Labour Leader. “Efficiencies mean cuts.” he said and the
Council only goes “for Statutory minimums”. He could not foresee how the
Labour Group could possibly support the plan if it is just a dressed up version of
the Tory Manifesto.
There was a brief and probably unnecessary reference to
John Davey’s unfortunate
words which were “beyond belief and atrocious”. He did not want to see John Davey come back.
Councillor Nicola Taylor (Labour, Erith) made similar points but in a more
unforgiving tone reinforcing my view that my Labour voting days are over. #bekind.
It did nothing to persuade me that the Labour reaction to John Davey’s final
Tweet is not hypocritical. It is not all that long ago that a Labour Councillor
had to resign following an unintentional error of judgment. I don’t intend to
give chapter and verse on it again although the details were reported on BiB at
the time. There was a minor technical breach of the Local Government Act so
arguably far more serious than an ill-judged Tweet.
Conservative John Davey may have ‘misspoke’, to quote our former Mayor, but he
wasn’t in breach of the LGA. The Labour Councillor came back. Why not John Davey?
Why is it only me who remembers all these old law breakers and not the Labour front bench?
The plan was approved and will go before Full Council.
15 October (Part 1) - Bexley Council accelerates war on motorists. Parking fees more than doubled
Next
time you hear Bexley Conservatives bleating on about the unfairness of Sadiq
Khan charging £12·50 a day to move your car from the kerbside you will know that
the spiteful crew is totally insincere.
From next month they will charge £15 to stop by the Abbey Wood kerbside. A 114%
increase on the previous outrageous price.
Not long ago they said at a public meeting that a 30% across the board
increase
was neither here nor there. What is 114% in their book?
Presumably such a charge will drive yet more motorists to park beyond the
existing Controlled Parking Zone boundary and my road will look even more like a lorry
park. Four large Transits there yesterday.
Labour Greenwich Council has taken steps to counter this Crossrail inspired blight on
residents’ lives by extending their CPZ. In criminally inclined Tory Bexley; nothing, zilch, nada.
Nothing except that Belvedere Labour Councillor Sally Hinkley has taken up the
cudgels on residents’ behalf.
And been rewarded with, well sod all, so far.
Bexley Tories. Liars who are not one bit worried about the cost of living.
14 October (Part 2) - Wanna laugh?
It has definitely not been a good week and I don’t just mean the political
shenanigans both here in Bexley and in Westminster. Personally I am not happy
about having paid for a bit of electrical equipment back in August after being
assured that 50 were in stock and now being told I must wait until 7th November at best and that
cannot be guaranteed. Not a local company but they claim other Bexley customers. Maybe a Name ‘n’ Shame is due.
The following anonymous message gave me a chuckle so at the end of a long week I hope it does the same for you.
Maybe it came from a Councillor, it wouldn’t be the first time
Well done that man, a lot of people will be rejoicing if Teresa O’Neill leaves Bexley. Some say she already has
but that requires further investigation.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/political-peerages-2022
BTW, what happened to all women directors in Bexley? There was a time when the
line up was entirely female. I wonder if I can find my photo.
14 October (Part 1) - Not to be Trusted with your child’s education
It
is a whole year since I first mentioned the saga of Thamesmead’s
Jubilee School where a young lad with mild autism had been slung into something
close to solitary confinement and given a minder, not a teacher. When his
parents complained they were banned from the premises and banned from phoning and emailing.
In retaliation the Head reported the parents to Social Services accusing them of
neglecting their son’s medical needs presumably in the hope of getting the
father into trouble. However both the boy’s consultant and GP certified that
that was nonsense and Bexley Social Services gave the family a clean bill of health.
At my suggestion the father submitted a Subject Access Request but was told by
the Head that it came under the same heading as the ban on emails and denied.
The Trust took a slightly different view and accepted a complaint and hired a
solicitor to look into the case. No doubt mindful of possible future fees she
ruled in favour of the school; and from there the information source dried up.
There is an Index to related blogs.
However in recent weeks I have been advised of a similar case and this parent
has been perhaps more proactive. He has managed to gather together a small group
of similarly affected parents who feel they are being manipulated by Bexley Council and
the Trusts to disadvantage their children’s education. Their leader is a man of
some standing in the borough with links to the news media.
Their struggle for better SEN education is at an early formative stage but they
are already getting some political support so if you too are involved in the SEN
scene, and especially if it is adversely affecting your child, then some way of
getting extra help may soon be available.
A number of communications schemes are being debated and a downloadable contact
form on which to express an interest may soon become available and if anyone
volunteers to run a Facebook group so much the better. Meanwhile a few words via
the Contact page would be welcome too. Nothing more than an “I’m interested”
would be enough for the time being.
13 October (Part 3) - What did he do to deserve that?
The big mystery surrounding Councillor
John Davey’s expulsion from the Conservative Party
is what he had really done to justify such a draconian reaction. Not even the most rabid Socialist can possibly
believe that John wanted
to see Nazanin back in an Iranian jail. I didn’t
believe them when rabid Socialists conspired
to crowd fund a trip to Dignitas in Switzerland to have me euthanised for voting Conservative.
Rabid Socialists are everywhere it seems and so are mad Tories.
What John said was ill-considered by a momentarily
disengaged brain, no doubt about it, but his colleagues have done
far worse things without any sanction.
As already mentioned,
the Council Leader refused to take action against a
Councillor who abused his Council credit card. It was
well reported in the local
press (one of several reports) at the time but Bexley Councillors remained
loyal to their old boss; certainly in keeping him away from the clutches of the local police.
Peter Craske’s arrest is fairly well known and hopefully
too that the police traced the
offences to his phone line but not a single Councillor publicly criticised him for it.
There are several similar cases.
I witnessed one Councillor perjure himself in both a Magistrate’s and Crown
Court and I have both the actual evidence and his signed statement about that
evidence in my files and there are important differences which change the meaning
dramatically. The Councillor was supported in his
truth suppression by a Labour Councillor who left Bexley in 2014. No one criticised him
for it, indeed he has progressed through the ranks since then.
Cabinet Member Read used to abuse me regularly to the extent that another
Cabinet Member wrote to me personally to apologise for his behaviour and another
agreed with me when I said that Read was “nasty”. Again in writing but Read
remains a leading Conservative Member of Bexley Council.
I have video of the late Linda Bailey (†) assaulting a member of the public and
Councillors were not in the least bit concerned when I posted it on BiB.
Greenwich police reported Councillor Cheryl Bacon to the Crown Prosecution
Service when she allowed her name to be added to a Bexley Council document which
was pure fabrication. Three Labour Councillors made a bit of a fuss about the
alleged Misconduct in Public Office and so did one Conservative but officially she got off Scot free.
Councillor Geraldene Lucia-Hennis organised a strip show in a pub that was not
licenced for such entertainment and a number of Councillors turned up to watch
including the Mayor who made the event official by having the date entered into
her Council diary. Labour Councillor Stefano Borella did his best to
ensure that the licence rule breaking was acknowledged but it never was.
Along the way there have been some less serious misdemeanours. On one
occasion a Councillor admitted in Court to being a liar and admonished for it but no one locally took
any action except that privately a well known Conservative name made it clear to me that he considered that
to be a mistake. Twice have would-be Conservative Councillors been dropped at the
selection stage for minor skirmishes with the law; but that is as bad as any punishment has ever become up until now.
Something doesn’t smell right about the events following John Davey’s ill-judged
words. If I was him I’d resign from his West Heath ward today and watch Labour romp home while Liz Truss remains under a cloud.
All this staggeringly inept episode has proved is that neither of the main
parties can be trusted to make rational decisions. As my ninth decade approaches
I think I am sick of all of them. Political Parties that is. I remain of the opinion that
not all politicians are bad but would I trust any of them absolutely? Probably not.
Correction; absolutely not.
† She may have been provoked but I doubt John Davey would have got away with it.
13 October (Part 2) - If you can’t beat them, join ‘em
Occasional blog diversions into the price of energy have provoked a few
enquiries on how best to make economies. I am not alone in thinking that despite
the massive subsidies provided by the new Prime Minister for this Winter (two
whole years actually) energy costs will cause hardship to many. Massive the subsidies might be but energy prices are still
double what they were a year ago.
Throughout this millennium I have considered government energy policies to be
total madness and if I could see the likely end result why couldn’t they. It
started under Labour and was made worse by the Lib Dem influences on David Cameron’s
coalition government. However the fact remains that the Conservatives have had
twelve years to put things right but have instead emulated Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus Nero.
In 2010 I decided that some aspects of the green agenda were complete idiocy but
with no way to put a stop to them I may as well join them. About £10k. went
on 14 solar panels. They’d be much cheaper now but Labour’s generous subsidy
formula puts around £2k. a year into my bank account. Money for old rope at the
expense of people who struggle to pay their bills.
Not only £2k. but the sun provides enough energy to heat my water - the gas
boiler has not been switched on since last April and is still off - and there is
enough left over to cover all my motoring needs. I do about 500 miles a month
and it has cost not a penny in fuel.
The subsidies were total madness and guaranteed by government until the end of 2035.
(They do not apply to new solar installations.)
But the madness does not stop there.
More
out of curiosity than real need I have for the past six months or so tried to
drive my energy use down. LED bulbs everywhere. Chuck out the old plasma TV
which guzzled up to 500 watts, using the microwave whenever possible, pond
waterfall stopped overnight and switch off more of my computer equipment.
My electricity bill for the past month was £68·50 which I think most people
will consider to be low. Looking towards the bottom of the bill summary you may
notice that our wonderful new Prime Minister has paid £66 of it. Thank you Liz.
The electricity bill is effectively £2·86 for the month, one week of which is at the new higher rate.
Beyond that I will soon receive £179·59 for the electricity generated on the
roof during those 30 days. Don’t tell me that the energy policy is not absolutely mad.
The gas bill by the way was a couple of pence for the occasional use of a
saucepan and the rest is standing charges.
Thanks to the energy supplier it is not all plain sailing. The more expansive PDF
version of the bill spells out that my electricity unit charge has increased to
more than 56 pence but querying it resulted in an immediate written response
from Octopus - their customer service is pretty good - assuring me that I will
only (ha! ha!) be charged 35·6 pence. Nearly 20% above what it was last month.
It would appear that the PDF bill shows the pre-subsidy price which is much
higher. It is no wonder that it is so difficult to fully understand energy bills.
(Even the date in the heading on mine fails to correspond with the detail.)
Reducing consumption to the level I have tends to take the fun out of life. Not
only are microwave meals monotonous but it involves silly things like only
blogging when the sun shines so that the solar panels power the computer. (There
are special reasons to make an exception today.)
I am moving slowly towards a move to a ‘cheap’ overnight tariff and storing
energy in a battery for use during the day and evening. I have been buying components to enable this and there is
now a rack of batteries sitting here as yet unconnected. Hence
the new DIY consumer
unit. I think when it is done I will have to call in a qualified electrician to
check whether I have torqued all the connections to the recommended levels and
do whatever the regulations say they have to do.
Now that Dear Liz has limited the price rises I am less convinced than I was
that the pay off period will be reasonably short, but it may be a fun project.
13 October (Part 1) - Trains chopped. (Not Tory Councillors this time)
I am not sure what motivated Bexley Labour to send a differently presented version of their
Press Release on the Southeastern railway cuts but overnight one arrived. (First
published here on 3rd October and old version deleted from
archive.)
Like every railway user they are “appalled” by the cuts to services on all three
of the borough’s railway lines made with no consultation whatsoever and still
without any publicity at railway stations. The Woolwich line peak hours Victoria
service hit the buffers many years ago but now Charing Cross is no longer at the
end of the line. Southeastern’s priority is not to use expensive sets of points
and if passengers are inconvenienced their reaction appears to be “tough, it’s what we do”.
Why else do London bound trains at Abbey Wood stop at the far end of Platform 1
and make last minute passenger arrivals run a third of the length of the
platform? (Because the driver’s departure screen is in the wrong place for
trains shorter than twelve cars.)
My occasional journey to Richmond is made more difficult and friends in Bexley
can no longer visit me via the loop line. Until Sadiq Khan runs their old diesel
Peugeot off the road next year they will have to further congest Bexley’s mean streets.
Then they will join the ranks of elderly people confined to barracks.
Bexley’s Labour Councillors are trying to save residents from such fates and seeking a meeting with Southeastern. What are Bexley
Conservatives doing? Nothing, while far too busy stabbing each other in the back.
12 October - Sanctimonious tosh
My Councillor until 2014, John Davey, uttered the words “Can we send her back and
get our money back?”
He was referring to Nazarin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the
illegally held hostage of the criminal gang which murders young women on the
streets of Tehran and hangs gays from the jibs of cranes, when there were
suggestions that she may be being courted by Labour.
John Davey is Bexley Council’s Court Jester and prolific Twitter user and I
assume it was his idea of a joke because that is both his track record and
forté. For that misjudgment he has paid with his political career.
Until last May John was Chairman of the Erith & Thamesmead Conservative Association but
that is a time limited appointment and he was replaced with the nonentity who is
Aaron Newbury. Aaron is a sensitive soul who the electors of Northumberland
Heath had the good sense to reject five months ago. He blocked me on Twitter
because I was critical of him for impersonating a genuine member of the public at a Council meeting.
The pathetic snowflake decided to kick John Davey out of the party on account of his Tweet. He would not
have done that without permission of the ruling elite. Can we really believe
that John Davey is an ignorant racist pig without anyone noticing during his
tenure of Association Chairmanship? Of course not and that is because he is not an ignorant racist pig.
The present Council Leader refused to report a Councillor colleague to the
police when he dipped his hand into the proverbial till. For such a dubious lack
of integrity she is apparently to be elevated to the Lords. But she is content
to see John Davey crucified for a few ill-chosen words.
Self-serving hypocrite.
Her most senior Cabinet Member, Peter Craske, is often said to be the power behind
the @bexleynews Twitter propaganda channel. He is no angel. The police arrested him for
Misconduct in a Public Office. I have it in writing from Scotland Yard that they
traced the following comments - just a selection - to his internet connection and found more of the same on
his computer all ready to go.
Within two hours of Council Leader Teresa O’Neill being officially notified of
Craske’s obscenities they were withdrawn from the web. It is difficult to
imagine how that could have happened so quickly if she did not know exactly
where to go to find the author. John Davey has a long way to go before reaching
the same level of misjudgment as Bexley’s longest serving Cabinet Member.
Did the Leader punish Craske? Did she hell!
Probably there was a quick call to London Mayor (and effectively London’s Police Commissioner) Boris Johnson to call in a
favour. Whether that is true or not, and the then Borough Commander indicated to me that it
might be, the investigating officer was instructed to call the Crown Prosecution Service and
in conjunction with Bexley Council have a meeting to “resolve Craske’s situation”. In other
words a stitch up to ensure that the perpetrator escaped justice. Peter Craske was de-arrested.
The Independent Councillor for West Heath will have every right to feel aggrieved.
Naturally
the local Labour party is moved to motivate their attack dogs. Not only the well
known activists who rarely think outside their tiny political bubble but also elected Councillors all
displaying their superficially Holier than Thou morality.
None annoyed me more than that which came from my own two Councillors. When I
read the one from Sally Hinkley the two words that immediately came to mind were “Sanctimonious Tosh”.
My second thought took me to the correspondence file that former Labour Councillor Danny Hackett sent to me after
he had expressed his dissatisfaction with the Labour Party and subsequently left it.
It is never likely to appear here but at the time I could barely believe the
venom that was coming from Labour sources including my own Councillor.
When voting for her last May I consoled myself with the thought that the words
signed off by Sally Hinkley must be something like ‘following orders’ but now I know
that they might well have been her own.
Although my first reaction was Sanctimonious Tosh I am coming the the view that
the final few words are spiteful nonsense. “This awfulness”. Sally must have led a very sheltered life.
Can we really believe that John Davey is an ignorant racist pig without anyone
noticing during his long governorship of Bedonwell School? Of course not and that is
because he is not an ignorant racist pig. He is nothing worse than a possibly not very good comedian.
I think I have cast my last Labour vote.
For the record during my 13 years of reporting on Bexley Council only three
Councillors have ever approached me in a friendly fashion AND shaken me by the
hand. One is John Davey, another is James Hunt and the third is Peter Reader. All Conservatives.
Not a nasty thought between them.
11 October (Part 2) - Rail wars
Following Southeastern’s publication of their new anti-passenger timetable
and the consequent mud slinging by politicians on all sides I always like to
regurgitate my old 1988 timetable.
Back then my favourite train home was the 17:08 from Cannon Street which pulled into Abbey Wood station a mere 23 minutes
later. An underpowered slam-door train operated by the much maligned British
Railways. There were several with the same or very similar timings.
Today the best that Southeastern can do just after 5 p.m. is 29 minutes
with some taking four minutes longer.
11 October (Part 1) - The Wokerati speaks
My few days away from the computer was due to preparing the ground for yesterday’s big event.
Providing a couple of new circuits on my electrical consumer unit, or fuse box as it used to be called.
I had called in an electrician but on arrival a couple of weeks ago he refused to tell me how he planned to do
the job without disrupting the surrounding area too much and eventually got around to telling me that I was “just a silly old man”
(who presumably knows nothing) so I told him none too politely he could leave immediately;
which he did. His apprentice or whatever he was quietly told me he was “seriously
embarrassed” and seen his sparky boss behave in that way before.
After
checking the regulations (who knew that cable clips like these are considered to
be a fire risk?) and buying some specialist tools I did the job myself
yesterday. The mechanical rearrangements took far longer than the cable connections
but by mid-afternoon the job was done and power restored.
On my return to the internet I soon noticed that the name John Davey was close to trending on Twitter. What had Dear John done?
A jokey comment too far it would seem and Labour Members, their teenage activists and Sidcup’s Champagne Socialist
had been wound up into a frenzy while I had been more concerned with terminating 2·5mm cables. Where were they when Councillor Craske went far
beyond John Davey’s ill-considered Tweeting and the police arrested him after
tracing internet obscenities to his IP address? Craske was not sanctioned in any
way by the Leader and is her longest serving Cabinet Member.
Councillor Davey is now on the receiving end of official complaints to anyone who might be prepared to listen.
John Davey,
like me, is just a little disappointed that Nazainin Zaghari-Ratcliffe became a
political activist almost immediately after being released from her unjustifiable
imprisonment by the murderous Iranian regime of mad Mullahs.
I was always very sympathetic towards Nazanin and her family and followed her various Twitter accounts. There was even a
supportive blog last year
and understanding when on her release she was immediately critical of Boris Johnson’s (as
Foreign Secretary) idiocy. He said that she was not just a British citizen
who had innocently gone to visit her mother. Just what one needs when
languishing in a rat infested cell.
The political situation was admittedly difficult. Iran had paid £400 million for British
armaments and then a change of regime caused trade sanctions to be imposed.
Someone in Whitehall decided that Iran could not get their money back and the criminals in Tehran took their horrible revenge.
It is impossible to imagine how confinement in some dank hell hole will affect
any personality and if bitterness towards feeble minded politicians is a consequence
fair minded people should accept it even if they think a better course might be
to make up for lost time with family and young daughter.
But political activism is Nazanin’s chosen course. As people of my age used to
say “it's a free country” so who can object to that? I suspect that Councillor
John Davey would agree with almost every word written above but his Twitter
comment is less than sympathetic to the trauma which Boris Johnson helped to
bring about. Where was the joke emoji?
As
misjudgments go it is a pretty big one and the Wokerati has spoken. One might
ask how many years has John served Bedonwell school without them ever noticing that
he is whatever they now think he is?
At least ten years to my knowledge.
It is the knee-jerk reaction of the previously unobservant.
Maybe it is John who is “the silly old man” and not me but he has at least
flushed the hypocritical and spiteful out of the woodwork. The Chairman of the
Erith and Thamesmead Conservative Association, the unelected Aaron Newbury, has
suspended Councillor Davey’s party membership. Davey was Chairman for the past
ten years so once again we have people who never noticed that he is whatever he
is supposed to be when it suited them.
Note: It will be interesting to see how many more
Guardian reading trolls I will have driven into a messaging frenzy.
8 October - Health issues in Bexley
Bexley Council and its NHS partners discussed its Winter plan earlier this
week. Hospitals have been unusually busy during the Summer months so there is
some concern for the months ahead. The NHS people explained their biggest problems to Councillors.
Social care is particularly challenging following the [enforced] staff losses during the Covid pandemic and new people
are not replacing them in sufficient numbers - a national problem. All hospital
staff are paid at least the London Living Wage but retirements are at a very
high rate. Normally about 50 per year but already 120 in 2022.
There are severe problems of “flow” within hospitals and slow discharge is “a
significant element” with its knock-on effect on bed occupancy. “If we run out of
beds there is a severe problem at the front door.” The Emergency Department and
Ambulance Service is hit hard. Patients are held in A&E and ambulances are
unable to discharge new patients and they have to queue in an excess of an hour
and not able to respond to further calls. “Bed capacity is the number one thing.”
Repurposing surgical beds is not an option because of the effect on waiting
lists. “This week we have had up to 95 patients who were fit to be discharged
but with nowhere to go. It is totally unacceptable. The system is under
intolerable pressure and things are deteriorating.”
Councillor Nicola Taylor (Labour, Erith) asked if the energy crisis was
impacting the NHS, people not heating their houses or not running home medical
equipment. The Council Officer said advice was being offered but there wasn’t
much that could be done. From the NHS came the comment that the home situation
was definitely a factor in discharge delays. All hospital discharges are fully
assessed but some risk balancing has to be accepted. “Demand always exceeds
supply and there is no magic bullet.”
Bexley Council’s Health Director said it was currently near impossible to recruit new
social care workers and Councillor Borella reminded us that Bexley had almost the worst population to GP ratio anywhere.
Who would have thought that the long standing policy of reducing bed numbers and
more recently sacking unvaccinated care workers would have caused a medical crisis?
This
morning’s Daily Telegraph is reporting that the Leader of Bexley Council, Teresa
Jade Teflon O’Neill is to be elevated to the Lords - on £323 a day presumably.
The full list…
6 October (Part 2) - The poisonous Left
I would guess that political comment on BiB must be in the region of 95%
anti-Tory. Bexley Council may have improved over the
years but it remains fundamentally secretive and dishonest and nationally the
Conservatives have done little to please me. The restrictions on freedom imposed
by Johnson were completely unforgiveable and the money wasted on futile stunts
by his Chancellor helped to bring the country to its financial knees. Obviously
the failed energy policies of the past 30 years and an inept Bank of England are
factors but we have had a Conservative government for the past twelve years which
couldn’t see where it was all leading.
Hence my preference for Ministers who want to take a different path and
a disdain for Labour ideas. In very nearly 60 years of voting I have seen where
their old ideas took us and the newer ones have generally been the failed policies of
Johnson and Sunak but with bells on. More of all the bad things but for longer.
For expressing such views I get hate mail and I find it both amusing and
reassuring. It is welcome reassurance that I should continue to resist Labour politics
nationally despite the reaction flying in the face of my local experience.
Over the years I have been at the same table in a pub with two Labour
Councillors and shared a car journey with three. (Zero Conservatives for both.)
Twice I have been invited to Labour Councillor homes and on a third occasion presented with an
unexpected gift. Only once did I reciprocate but not to the same person. There have
been several Christmas cards and once again the Conservatives score zero for all these things.
After careful thought I have voted Labour at every Council election since 2014.
There are seven Councillor names on my mobile phone contact list and only two
are Conservative and two of my closest friends were union reps in former lives.
I could add that I would welcome any Bexley Labour Councillor as a next door
neighbour but there must be at least half a dozen Tories who would have me
running to the nearest Estate Agent.
So
why am I not tempted by Starmer over Truss?
I first
alluded to it five years ago. A big part of It is because the Labour Party attracts the
dregs of society and always has done. The danger of them being influenced by it is too great for me.
Their abusiveness and occasional violence may be seen outside every Conservative Party Conference and it was apparent
earlier this week when a Labour supporting nurse wanted to see every Conservative voter dead.
I experienced the same after Brexit and quite recently it was suggested I should
be euthanised for voting Conservative.
Yesterday I received three emails, all from Labour supporters. Two sources were names
everyone reading this will know well who pointed me towards current news items and the third, who uses a pseudonym, not for the first
time indulged in anonymous abuse. No one is allowed a political opinion that differs from his
and his only source of enjoyment is invective.
I would have preferred Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng to have directed more of his largess
towards people such as me existing on incomes somewhat below average wage
levels. A move towards quelling rampant inflation. Perhaps some tinkering with VAT on
fuel but to condemn him totally for ‘wasting’ £2 billion on reducing a tax level
to what was last seen under a Labour Government is idiocy. Does his party really
deserve such a thrashing in the polls for putting the brakes on the highest tax take
since I was a post-war toddler? The only consolation
is that the furore exposed what I suspected all along. A lot of Tory MPs are a long way
from being Conservative.
6 October (Part 1) - Rubbish on repeat
SloppyStyle has completed the cycle once again by clearing away the mess that
they helped create. Not a perfect job, the plastics bin is unlocked and
completely full and the lockless paper bin has been put in place back to front.
Ultimately it is local residents and a few itinerant fly tippers who are at
fault but bins without locking lids do nothing to help the situation.
5 October - Best of the bunch? She could well be
It
is very depressing that the Leader of Bexley Council - or Sutton if you believe
the Local Government fan-boy website - is considered
to be among the best Councillors in the country. Boris Johnson once said she was
best in London and now Teresa O’Neill is in the running for best anywhere.
Can it really be true that someone who failed to notice that her one-time boss had his finger in the till and
apparently didn’t know that her favourite Cabinet Member was committing a
criminal offence (but somehow managed to put a stop to it within a couple of
hours of being told the game was up) is the best local government has to offer?
So incompetent that she managed to impose Council Tax rates that have increased
at a greater rate than other London councils and despite 16 years of Tory rule
in Bexley not very noticeably improved the borough in any meaningful way. (Parks
that survived the bulldozers are in reasonable shape but beyond that one would search in vain.)
Most of her manifesto promises have not been fulfilled and Freedom of
Information requests and senior Council Officers confirm it but she steadfastly claims otherwise.
At a time when no better candidate for Prime Minister than Liz Truss
and Rishi Sunak can be found (†) it is entirely believable that Teresa O’Neill will be among
the highest rated Councillors in the Country. In political circles the ability
to preside over disasters and remain in charge for 13 years is a skill Liz Truss can only dream about.
Is she saying “Let’s get rid of Khan?”
† To answer a lone phone enquiry I still prefer Truss to Starmer.
3 October - Nationalise the railways
The Southeastern rail representative at
Bexley’s recent Transport Users’ meeting
said that a revised timetable was to be issued the following week. As I left the
building with Councillor Sally Hinkley (Labour, Belvedere) I predicted that it
would be another exercise in running trains for the convenience of the operating
companies rather than for the travelling public.
And so it has proved to be.
The priority is to avoid using sets of points with the result that all
Southeastern trains through Erith and Abbey Wood will run only to and from Cannon
Street. Trains through Bexleyheath will suffer the same fate except in peak
hours and the loop line trains providing a service from Sidcup to Abbey Wood
will end. The Elizabeth Line services will be put out of reach of those living
to the south of the borough.
Total idiocy.
As the Bexley Labour Group say in
their Press Release, this has been done without consultation or any regard
for passengers, particularly the disabled, the platform interchanges at
London Bridge having been designed to maximise passenger inconvenience.
Unsurprisingly, the Labour Group (and others) are saying that “the railways should be brought
back into public ownership in the interests of the travelling public”.
Who is going to tell them that Southeastern was nationalised in October 2021
after £25 million of taxpayers’ money was misappropriated by the franchisee?
It
is probably nothing to be proud of but I derive a small amount of satisfaction
from the fact that I almost never go shopping in Bexleyheath. It doesn’t make sense to pay for
car parking and risk a fine for misjudging a yellow box junction when it is so
simple and convenient to go on line and click a button. However on Friday I made an exception.
The watch strap which was originally fitted in H. Samuel’s was about to break and the only
local shop I used to occasionally browse and possibly make an impulse purchase
is back in town. The HMV record store has reopened. Not that it has much to
do with Nipper the Dog any more, it is a Canadian company.
With the watch strap repaired for 70% more money than five years ago I went into
HMV fully expecting to come out £20 poorer, but I didn’t.
The UHD blu-ray display cabinet was small but
reasonably wide-ranging. However the discs
were stacked from floor level to rather less than chest height with only their
spines on display. There was no way I was going to get down on
my knees or crawl on the floor head on one side to look for an interesting title. And to find
three discs in their three for £30 offer would have required me to remove every single one!
Vinyl disc enthusiasts didn’t have to suffer this indignity; the discs were
stacked in the traditional flip over way. I may possibly return on big
issue release days but Top Gun Maverick is already ordered - from hmv.com.
Note: Shop Talk was a BBC Radio 4 programme which was
abandoned a dozen or more years ago. It was produced weekly by my daughter.
1 October (Part 2) - The preferred weapons are demos and strikes, definitely not nukes
The
day that electricity prices go up by 20% and gas by 40 may be a good one to put on the record what happened at
last week’s ‘Fightback’ meeting in Abbey Wood. Any
thought that it might be housewives suggesting that tumble dryers should be
abandoned in favour of washing lines and that one big washing up session per day
will save a lot of hot water were dispelled when I sat in the back row five
minutes before the meeting was due to start. Next to me were two gentlemen who
had worked out exactly why prices generally and energy costs in particular had
gone through the roof pretty much world-wide.
The cause was “Western Imperialism” which had provoked Vladimir Putin into
starting “an entirely justifiable war” and if the West behaved more like Putin
the world would be a happier place. Fortunately they were interrupted by the start of the meeting chaired by
former Bexley
Councillor Dave Putson. He introduced himself and his principal speaker Councillor
Larry Ferguson (Labour, Thamesmead East).
I had not heard Larry Ferguson speak before but I was quite impressed. Whilst his politics are no doubt some
way to the left of mine he said nothing with which I could seriously disagree. The emphasis being on seriously!
Larry said that inflation and the associated cost of living crisis was primarily due to the
pandemic lockdowns, with Brexit being a factor and the Russian invasion not
helping. I am inclined to agree. How much did Test and Trace cost? (Some 200
times as much as reducing the 45% tax rate to what it was just over a decade ago.)
This comment caused the gentleman to my left to leap to his feet with a defence
of Putin’s murdering spree. An audience member put him firmly back in his box.
Councillor Ferguson continued to make his more reasonable points. Many of us
will be reduced to “heat or eat” and “the Government is not on your side”,
lifting the cap on bankers’ bonuses being the proof. “The Conservative party is
the political wing of the super rich.”
The first speaker from the floor was critical of the lack of support from Abena
Oppong-Asare MP. He wanted to see practical help provided locally but there was no sign of it coming.
It was alleged that MP Abena Oppong-Asare was still fiddling
around wondering what she might write in a leaflet.
Other speakers reminded everyone that the problems we are seeing in the UK were
being repeated in lots of countries. A small number were concerned about climate
change and one made it clear that he thought anarchy and superglue was the
answer to all the country’s ills. There was yet more criticism of the Erith and Thamesmead MP.
The Putin supporter jumped to his feet again. Vladimir has all the answers and the
discussion here is “bollocks and bullshit”. After suffering another put down the
enthusiast for blowing civilians to bits and attacking nuclear power stations
said he was going to find the toilet. He was never seen again.
I noted that every time someone in the audience indicated a wish to speak,
Chairman Dave Putson made his invitation by name. This meeting of 25 men and five
women (approximately, there were some comings and goings) was very much a closed
shop of union activists and officials.
Their line was that the only way forward was demonstrations, “a priority”,
leading eventually to a General Strike. “A powerful weapon”.
“Get on to the streets and do something” was the message and to that end as many
as 50 groups planned to meet at King’s Cross today and march to Parliament Square.
Presumably no one had told them about the rail strike.
I didn’t agree with everything I heard but the obvious dislike of the present
government was not balanced by any confidence in Keir Starmer and his crew; at
one time someone said “there is no opposition”.
Dave and his friends clearly want to bring the Conservative government down and the Poll Tax riots inevitably
got a nostalgic mention but right of centre as I am, I could not honestly label them
extremists. Except perhaps the man who got lost in the bog and the guy who buys superglue in bulk.
1 October (Part 1) - Utterly shameless
I get occasional requests to report stories that would-be
contributors believe might shame Bexley Council into action. I
always advise against it. Bexley Council is shameless and beyond embarrassment
and there is always the danger that their spiteful nature will provoke some sort of retaliation.
Now that it is an established fact that Bexley’s rogue developer
is a very close associate of Bexley Council at the highest level
as reported yet again on
26th September, a resident/reader took issue with the too cosy relationship and wrote
to Mayor Nick O’Hare (Conservative, Blendon & Penhill) and his Deputy Rags Sandhu
(Conservative, Bexleyheath) to in effect ask just what they
were thinking of when hob-nobbing with people who flout planning law, Health &
Safety regulations and indulge in dangerous high speed car chases against any
resident who might get in their way.
If the resident had asked my advice beforehand it would have been “don’t bother”.
Councillors Nick O’Hare and Rags Sandhu, once elected, are no
more likely to care about what residents think than any other run
of the mill Conservative Councillor.
The prompt reply from the Council’s tame lackey, Dave Easton (Head of Mayoralty
and Members’ Services) merely said “The contents of your email have been noted”.
Extraordinarily arrogant, pretty rude and utterly shameless. I expect Mr. Easton
was under orders to not cooperate with anything that might shed even a glimmer of light on
unhealthy relationships within their midst.