Labour candidates on lookout for alternative funding

So the GMB union is to cut its funding to the Labour party, bizarrely it appears because they disagree with giving their members a right to choose whether or not they actually want to join the Labour party rather than being affiliated automatically. 

Credit should go to Ed Miliband for this rare demonstration of common sense and fairness. Presumably the GMB are afraid that a substantial number will chose not to join and this will impact on their ability to dictate which Labour candidates should be selected and hence diminish their influence.

The move if carried through will be costly for the party as a whole, and will also mean individual elected Labour members will have to look elsewhere for funding – heaven forbid they may even have to fund their own campaigns!

Pontypridd AM Mick Antoniw for example could find himself at a few more fundraisers.  His record of interest at the Assembly states that he received £5000 from the GB for election expenses.  It also states he has received a little over £15000 in gifts and hospitality form the GMB and Unite unions.

I have in the past ranted on numerous occasions about the incestuous relationship between the Labour party and the unions.  It is undemocratic.  Unions should be there to represent the interests of their workforce and not to play politics and interfere in the democratic process.

 

 

Reduce, reuse, recycle

The RCT Cabinet this week gave the go ahead for changes to waste collection in the County Borough. The plan is to collect black bag waste one a fortnight instead of weekly as at present. This will no doubt spark a great deal of debate amongst residents not to mention in the Council Chamber.

There are two reasons why this move has been made in the majority of other Councils. The first and the reason that is apparently driving this change is to save money. The other is to try and increase recycling rates. The hope is that people will recycle more in order to keep their black bag waste to an absolute minimum. With so many materials being collected for recycling, including food waste, there is no reason why people should not recycle more. The system works quite well in other places.

There are a couple of glitches in the RCT system though – one of the most annoying because it is one that seems so simple to solve is the inability to keep residents supplied with plastic recycling bags. They run out on a regular basis, and despite the Council having various means of ordering them – online, by phone, with stickers on the bags, red lines that denote you have come to the end of a roll of bags – many residents are complaining that they do not get any delivered. As the Council flatly refuse to take away recycling in anything other than their bags then no doubt there is a fair amount of recyclable material going to waste.

Of course there also needs to be a change in the mindset of people in order to drive up recycling rates. Some will not recycle no matter how easy it is made for them, and there will also be those who continue to dump rubbish wherever they feel like. That will not alter no matter how often refuse is collected – although it could be argued that it may increase if people have to store black bags for two weeks. (There are also differences across the County in how refuse is collected. Taff Ely has wheelie bins, whereas Rhondda has black bags.)

The main reason why people will feel aggrieved about this is that they were promised it would not happen – and make no mistake, from a political point of view we will be reminding everyone of just that. The Labour party went into the 2012 Council elections with an unequivocal promise that they would keep weekly collections, they did not say they would try or that they would consider it – they said they would do it.

Now before anyone mentions tuition fees, yes I know. It could be argued that the position is the same. However, we were new into Government, and thanks to Labour’s lack of openness the true state of the nation’s finances were not revealed until the coalition took power. Who could forget ex Labour Treasury Secretary Liam Byrne’s note to his successor “there's no money left".

Labour in RCT on the other hand had been on power since 2004 and knew exactly the state of the finances here. They kept going on about cuts and hard times and pressure on public finances – so why make the promises

Then again they promised to keep the paddling pool knowing they had no intention of doing so. Some could see that as manipulation - or to put it more simply, a pack of lies.

Labour’s hypocritical streak showing again Owen?

The Western Mail today carries a report on the newly elected Police and Crime Commissioner for North Wales, Winston Roddick, who apparently intends to carry on practicising as a Barrister whilst carrying out this role.

Pontypridd MP and Shadow Welsh Secretary Owen Smith is quoted as saying he finds it “extraordinary” that he is not treating the post as full time.  Now whilst I don’t necessarily disagree with Mr Smith on the principle, the hypocrisy and political opportunism exhibited is getting tiresome.

Would Mr Smith have been so keen to condemn this if the individual had been a Labour party member?  I don’t seem to remember him knocking former leader of RCT Council Russell three / four / five jobsRoberts for not sticking to being a full time leader of the Council.

Not a single word of criticism was heard from any Labour member as Russell raked inevery penny he could from the public purse. Now admittedly we may be talking slightly higher figures here, but the principle remains the same.  Although, as we are very much aware here in RCT principle and the Labour party are miles apart.

Arrogance, pig-headedness, sheer stupidity - Labour at its best

Well I’ve had more than 24 hours now to calm down after the Council meeting and try and suspend my incredulity at the actions of the Labour group in relation to the paddling pool.

I have been at this business for quite a while now and little surprises me with regard to their arrogance and pig headedness in RCT but even I was staggered by the sheer overwhelming stupidity and ignorance theydisplayed.

The 2077 people who voted to save the paddling pool are to be completely ignored.  They are not going to think about it, or reconsider their options, or hold a meeting to explain why they feel keeping it is not an option.  They are not even going to pretend to do so.  No, this bunch of self-satisfied, egotistic idiots are not even going to pretend to listen, or that they care. 

Just how stupid are they?  Or is this just another example of the over confidence that comes from being in an area where traditionally the public vote for a donkey with a red rosette on?  As they keep saying over and over at every meeting, they were returned in May with an overwhelming majority with 60 out of 75 Councillors in RCT.  They can do what they like, and they will.

 Of course the votes for these 60 members are spread out across the whole of RCT, so having done the calculations they probably feel that 2077 across 9 wards is not a huge number of people for them to worry about.  Also of course the next elections are still four and a half years away, they hope people will have forgotten by then.

On the other hand, Owen Smith MP should, you would think, be looking at that number and wondering what on earth his Council colleagues are playing at.  Those 2077 people are almost all in his constituency (not quite all of course as Cilfynydd and Glyncoch are in the Cynon constituency) and they don’t have quite as long to forget before the Westminster elections.

The paddling pool fight is not over by any means, if anything the people who have been in touch with me by phone, email and facebook are now even more determined.    The Labour party keep saying this is all down to us, the ‘Lib Dems’ stirring.  As I have said before we are more than happy to take our fair share of the credit / blame whichever way you want to look at it.  But those 2077 people weren’t all politically motivated not by a long way.  In fact many of them I spoke to were Labour supporters – or used to be.

Democracy may appear to be well and truly dead in Rhondda Cynon Taff at the moment, but have no fear, we will be doing our utmost to restore it.  They don’t get rid of us that easily as they should have learned by now, and they won’t get rid of the members of the public who think they are wrong to remove the paddling pool.

The endless hypocrisy of RCT Labour

Anthony Christopher spent many years as deputy leader in the shadow of his former colleague and leader Russell Roberts, but it seems he learned a few tricks from him along the way. The art of hypocrisy for example, and a certain penchant for conveniently forgetting anything that doesn’t fit into the fairy tale they keep peddling to the public.

His column in today’s Pontypridd Observer is again the sort of imaginative tale of which the Brothers Grimm would be proud. A fanciful tale of big bad wolves and knights in white armour riding to the protection of the underdog.

I quote

“In October, we received the provisional local government settlement from the Welsh Government. Thanks to the cuts being imposed on the public sector by the Tories and Liberals in London, it makes for very grim reading.  The Welsh Government has once again done all it can to protect local government and the important public services we provide from these swingeing cuts being imposed on Wales.”

Heart rending stuff isn’t it?  Or vomit inducing, depending on your point of view.

The Labour party everywhere have a habit of either trying to rewrite history or forgetting that it existed in the first place., nowhere moreso than in RCT.  Luckily I keep records aplenty and am always more than willing to jog their memories and those of others.  And one of the great things about the internet and having a web site is that it is easy to refer back to letters to the press such as this one.

Their message was getting tired even then (Sept 2011) - Labour good, Westminster Government bad. They complained about cut backs in Council budgets, blaming it entirely on Westminster, overlooking the fact that their budget came from the Labour Welsh Government as it has for years.

The letter refers to some interesting quotes.  On 3^rd January 2008 Russell Roberts was quoted as saying

"We have approached Rhodri Morgan (Labour First Minister) and Ieuan Wyn Jones (Plaid Deputy First Minister) to try to get an increase but we haven't heard from them since. We do now face some serious challenges in terms of providing local services"

In a letter to the Local Government Minister Brian Gibbons (Labour) at the time Russell wrote

"Given that the total Assembly pot is increasing by 4.8%, we are disappointed again with the lack of priority given to local government in the draft Assembly budget"

 

A year later again complaining about the budget settlement.

"The totally inadequate level of Assembly support has now forced us into reviewing service provision and fees and charging arrangements. The council's strong financial stability will not be comprised, which will ensure we maintain our core services that are being given short shrift by the politicians in Cardiff Bay."

So when Labour were in power in Westminster then the budget cuts were the fault of the Welsh Government.  But the minute the coalition Government took over in Westminster then cuts were all their fault, and the Welsh Government, who up until then had been the evil ones in all of this suddenly shined up their halos and put a protective shield around the good people of RCT.

Really.

As reported here the situation this year is far from new and there have been several very critical comments appearing in Council reports over recent years.  Yes times are hard, yes cut backs have to be made, but this degree of hypocrisy shows the Labour party for exactly what they are.

 

RCT Labour lacking communication skills

The Labour party in RCT really haven’t got the hang of this communicating with the public lark.  I mean take their websites.

There is a Tonyrefail Labour one which really needs updating – I know it must have been hard for them to lose their leader but it was a few months ago now and they should acknowledge the fact.

There are only two pieces of news, the last poster in April.  Some things appear to have disappeared – the piece about how Russell had saved the Police Station for instance, maybe they decided such a blatant piece of misinformation was just a step too far,

 Rhondda Labour is well worth a look, of you want the refuse collection dates for last Christmas.

 Whoever was running the RCT Labour site seems to have given up, the last piece of ‘news’ being from June.  The lie about the paddling pool is still there though, haven’t bothered to remove that..

So glad they are doing their utmost to connect with residents

RCT Council antics make Yes Minister look like a documentary

Just what size catheter I wonder is being used by RCT Director of Strategy and Public Relations to extract the urine these days?

At least I am assuming it is this gentleman who is giving political advice and direction to the Cabinet.  The position is after all a political appointment – albeit you would never get the Labour party to admit to it.  He is a former Labour Council candidate and son of a Cabinet Member. He was with the Labour contingent at the election count, and is ever present at meetings keeping a close eye on things.

He also somewhere in his department has a responsibility for tourism, although quite why I have never been able to fathom, suppose it says a lot about RCT Council’s attitude to the potential of that for economic development.  The Lido renovation is going to bring tourists to Ponty in droves apparently, so it is only natural he should take an interest.

But I digress. What you may ask has brought about this cloud of wonderment at the ways RCT Council find to extract the proverbial?   Well not surprisingly it is the latest in the farce surrounding the decision to renovate the Lido in Ynysangharad Park and remove the paddling pool.

I am not repeating the whole story as enough has been written about that both here and at www.pontylibdems.org.uk  but in summary the Labour Cabinet made a decision, Welsh Lib Dem Cllr Mike Powell instigated a call in to ask Scrutiny Committee to ask them to look at it again, Labour who have a huge majority on that and every other committee voted no.

There have been doubts expressed all along about the level of public consultation – even the Labour MP for Pontypridd said it was poor.  But it was ok because the Trustees of the Park were fully in favour.  The Director of Regeneration said so – they had been consulted and had no objection at all to the plans.

Why then has a special meeting been called of the Trustees on the 15^th August to look at the same report yet again with a view endorsing the decision?  Or not?  Don’t think Paddy Power will be taking bets on that one.  Who are the Trustees in question?  Why it's a subcommittee of the Labour Cabinet.

You really couldn’t make it up could you?  Yet this is what passes as democracy in the totalitarian state of RCT.

Don’t know what size catheter they are using but I sure know where I’d like to pour what they are extracting.

Permission to c**p all over us Sir

I went along to watch a Council Scrutiny meeting this morning.  It was a special meeting of Overview & Scrutiny following a call in request initiated by Cllr Mike Powell and supported by the Plaid Members on the committee. It was to discuss the scheme to renovate the Lido in Ynysangharad Park and remove the paddling pool which has caused some considerable degree of consternation amongst locals.

It was a perfect reminder if ever I needed one of what arrogant, pig headed, ignorant individuals the Labour party in RCT are.

There were 13 members of the committee present not including the Labour Chair, plus a Cabinet Member (Deputy leader Paul Cannon) and three other Labour Members watching from the sidelines.

Mike opened the so called debate, and then the two Plaid members spoke.  Not a single Labour member opened their mouths.  Not a question, not a comment. They sat there in silence and then at the appointed time all dutifully raised their hands in the air to vote against asking the Cabinet to look at the decision again.  The details of the meeting are here – one has to ask between the Officers and the Members which are the organ grinders and which the monkeys as they defend each other so perfectly.

The whole thing was a joke.  Around about 50 minutes of time wasted as they didn’t even have the intelligence to pretend to take an interest or to consider the proposal in front of them.

And the most galling thing is that they do this with the authorisation of the people of RCT. So keen were the majority of those to do as Labour suggested and ‘send a message to Cameron and Clegg’ that they forgot the message they were sending to the local Labour party was quite simple.

The message was that they were willing to continue being c*****d upon from a great height.  That they are happy for Labour to carry on as before.  To carry on taking no notice at all of public opinion and having no regard whatsoever for the people they are allegedly elected to serve.

Labour lied - simple as

Spent a couple of hours this morning handing out leaflets in Ponty town centre about Labour's plans for the Lido.   Nobody I spoke to seemed to realise that the plans mean the loss of the existing paddling pool.  But then why would they, it hasn't been mentioned in any of the Council's press releases.

And of course they had Russell's word on it before the election didn't they?  People thought it was 'all sorted.'  So did Owen Smith MP, according to his remarks in his June Pontypridd Observer column.  He is going to be left with a bit of egg dribbling down his chin.  Any chance of his next column condemning his Council colleagues for lying?

And what of Slick Antoniw?  Where does he stand in this?  Well nobody is quite sure, he hasn't mentioned it, but then living in Newport he probably doesn't realise just how much locals value the paddling pool.

Nobody I met this morning said the paddling pool should go, people were appalled at the idea.  Now many of them will have been the same people who voted Labour in with an increased majority in May.  They were taken in by Labour's lies then, and will unfortunately have to live with the results.

The shame of the Welsh Government

I am developing an increasing liking for the columns of Matt Withers who, it seems, hits the nail on the head more often than not these days.

Take his column today in which he looks at Nick Clegg’s criticism of Carwyn Jones and his Welsh Government.  

‘The Welsh Government was guilty of “the politics of grievance, blame and finger-pointing”, he said, with “an increasingly shrill and narrow and ungenerous approach to how the spoils are divided within a increasingly devolved union”.

This, he added had made him a “staunch opponent” of fiscal devolution to Wales until the Welsh Government was prepared to shoulder more accountability and drop its current approach.

The sound in the background was Carwyn Jones’ advisers readying their responses. Angry words for the First Minister to hurl at Welsh Lib Dem leader Kirsty Williams in the chamber this week. Anonymous briefings against Mr Clegg and his UK Cabinet colleagues, perhaps, to follow’

Mr Withers has certainly got Carwyn pegged

‘Carwyn Jones has cleverly set himself up as the only Minister of the Crown to also be a leader of the opposition. As the most senior elected Labour figure in Britain, to the outsider it can appear his role is to attack the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats first and be First Minister second.

Witness First Minister’s Questions, where he long ago gave up giving proper answers. To the Tories, he “will take no lessons from the party opposite”. To questions on the NHS, and controversial hospital restructuring in particular, come answers on Andrew Lansley’s even more controversial changes in England.

The Lib Dems’ questions are met with answers about propping up the Tories in London, and on supporting regional pay. Even Plaid Cymru, who are not and never will be in government at Westminster, are labelled “human shields” for the UK Government for letting them off the hook and attacking Labour in Cardiff Bay instead.’

The attitude of Carwyn and his followers makes a mockery of devolution.  Playing the blame game helps nobody. With greater powers comes greater responsibility, and those in charge owe it to the people of Wales to ensure those powers are used to best effect.  Or do they?  After all it was the people of Wales who allowed themselves to be duped by the Labour spin and who turned to them for perceived salvation from the dreaded Tories and us evil Lib Dems who are backing them.

As Matt points out

‘Perhaps that is all people want from their devolved government, after all – something to vent their anger and frustration at the administration in London. Mr Clegg may be furious about that. Others may just think it’s a bit of a shame.’

It’s that alright – a real shame, a shame for all the children who are not getting the standard of education they deserve, for those who have to put up with a below standard health service, for those who cannot get jobs because the Labour Welsh Government are too busy blaming the coalition to do anything useful themselves.

 

Same old lazy Labour ways

So the Council elections are over, Labour won a resounding majority in RCT, and so of course have reverted to their usual stance, cruising along just taking the public for granted.

They don’t have to make the effort now you see, as is evident from the local websites.  RCT Labour site shows the last update was on 11^th May - the new leader’s local press column.  Since then nothing.  The banner still reads vote labour on May 3^rd.

The Tonyrefail Labour site still features good old Russell no jobs, the leader who lost his seat last month, and an extremely outdated story about a candidate who left Plaid to stand as an Independent.

No doubt there will be a dearth of leaflets from Labour Councillors too.  After all they have got what they wanted for now, they can take it easy for a while.

Russell Roberts' greed knows no bounds

Anyone who wonders why I hate the Labour party quite so much need only to look at this – yet another tale of Russell Roberts’ greed.  He is now on five jobs paid for from the public purse.

"RUSSELL Roberts, the Labour leader of Rhondda Cynon Taf council, has a fifth job on the public purse, taking his salary past six figures, it has been confirmed.

Mr Roberts is paid £2,593 a year as a member of the London-based Local Government Improvement and Development Board. That takes his annual earnings to as much as £102,443 a year.

In 2010-11, he picked up £58,962, including £1,177 in travel and subsistence, from his work as leader of the council. He also received £23,544 as chairman of South Wales Police Authority and £13,344 from Cwm Taf Health Board. Earlier this month, Plaid Cymru revealed that Mr Roberts, as deputy leader of the Welsh Local Government Association, received £4,000 a year,"

The greed and arrogance of this man knows no bounds.  And the bunch of self serving parasites who keep him on as leader and are complicit in this disgraceful behaviour are no better.

There is no defence for this, yet his pathetic army of followers keep trying to come up with excuses.

The man’s snout is so far into the trough it is a wonder he can still breathe.

Labour blatant in use of public money for their propaganda

The latest copy of Labour’s election magazine arrived today.

Well, it claimed to be RCT Council newspaper, and is paid for from the Council budget, but it is hard to tell the difference.

It has had a revamp, changed format slightly, and is now called Outlook News.  The RCT Council website says it is available to download here.  In fact at the time of writing that does not have the latest issue on there.

The publication NEVER features any non Labour Councillors, and this particular edition is quite blatant in its efforts to blame the Westminster coalition for all the ills in the world.  There is a large section on Housing Benefits which claims that RCT are being over-run with extra work because of benefit changes imposed by the coalition. 

The piece on the budget and the raising of the Council Tax by 2.49% lays the blame with the Westminster Government and the cuts they have imposed on the Assembly.   Funny how this doesn’t seem to have affected Cardiff or Swansea in the same way!

The Labour party in RCT are completely shameless when it comes to milking the public purse.

It is not enough their leader is the highest paid Councillor in Wales, and their Cabinet Members take every penny they can wring out of the system. Not enough to employ the son of a Cabinet Member – himself a Labour party member and former council candidate  – and promote him without interview or the job being advertised to head up the public relations department.  Not enough to waste money on their jollies, to which they are ferried in the Council chauffeured car.

They are using  - some may say abusing - Council resources, paid for by the taxpayer, for their own publicity and political ends. Their local party website is full of Council press releases and photographs that they apparently paid the grand sum of £180 for using. The person who would have given them permission is presumably the aforementioned head of Public Relations and Strategy.

We are not sure if the parents of the children who appear gave their permission for their photos to be used in political material.

They are using taxpayers money to subsidise their election material.  Cllr Mike Powell got a telling off recently when he referred to them in the Council Chamber as ‘hypocritical parasites.’  Maybe you should make up your own minds on that one.   Personally I could think of a few more descriptions that would fit – although I am too polite to post them here.

Standards Committee to judge on Cabinet Member

Take a look at this

It is the report going to RCT Standards Committee on Wednesday following an investigation by the Ombudsman into allegations against Labour Councillor and Cabinet Member for Education Eudine Hanagan.

The Ombudsman finds that there is sufficient evidence of breaches of the Code of Conduct to refer the matter to the committee.  They can impose a sanction of up to 6 months suspension.  Whether or not they will is another matter entirely.

The report makes interesting reading for several reasons. It exposes the attitude of Cllr Hanagan and, in my opinion, her extreme naivety if not ineptitude.

It also shows yet again the hypocritical nature of the Labour group.  Their submissions constantly refer to the happenings in the Chamber that night as being part of the cut and thrust of debate.

Yet these are the same bunch who has been responsible for a stream of complaints against Cllr Mike Powell and indeed some against Cllr Bell for far less than this.   Councillors who pretended to be so upset over Mike referring to them as ‘hypocritical parasites’ (cut to the quick they were, such a personal attack on such lovely people) appear to think that Cllr Hanagan rubbishing John Bell’s professional ability as a EBP mentor is nothing more than banter.

The attitude of Labour Councillors is appalling – and for once available in black and white for all to see.

Teresa Bates who states that “I tend to switch off when Cllr Bell speaks.”   Cllr Craig Middle says the reaction of others was “amusement and bewilderment.”   (to potentially libellous remarks?)

I particularly like the comments of Paul Cannon – who is a particularly obnoxious character with ambitions to become Police Commissioner.

"I remember that after the meeting in the foyer outside the Chamber, Cllr Hanagan was approached by Ms Karen Roberts, a former Councillor, and an active Liberal Democrat (the same political party as Cllr Bell) and threatened her with the words “we’ve got you now.”  This suggested the attack was premeditated."

Premeditated?  Hanagan launches an attack on John Bell about his work and we have planned it?  I’m good but not that good, especially when I was in the public gallery.  And come on people 'we've got you now' does that sound like me?  I seem to recall it was more of a friendly smile and a "you messed up a bit there didn't you?" - she wasn't impressed.   But then this is the woman who once launched an attack on me in the car park in front of an Echo journalist for nothing more than being with Mike Powell at the time.

Cllr Jackie Jenkins “I tend to switch my brain off.” Really?

Cllr Jayne Ward says she sits behind Cllr Hanagan and cannot hear what is said if she is not using the microphone, and is across the Chamber from Cllr Bell and did not hear what he said.  Handy for debates then?  She obviously plays a full and active part and understands every time just what she is voting for????

Cllr Mark Norris seems to have trouble with hearing what is happening – odd as I could hear perfectly and I was outside of the Chamber itself.   He apologises for the lateness of his response as the form got lost at home.  Maybe he needs a secretary to organise his correspondence.  Or a sense of priority.

Cllr Maureen Webber states that members did “as always when this sort of thing happens, jeered, booed, told Cllr Bell to shut up.”  Sums up the behaviour of the Labour group perfectly.

The report also highlights the undemocratic processes which operate in RCT.

“You will note that it is the practice ein this Council not to set out a detailed note of the input of elected embers but to record the decision taken.  I took no notes of the exchange between Members at the meeting and the Committee Clerk, as is usual practice, destroyed her notes after preparation of the minutes.”

This from the Monitoring Officer who is supposedly responsible for ensuring Members do not breach the Code of Conduct.   Absolutely disgraceful.

But then democracy is still a word that exists only in the dictionary a far as RCT Labour are concerned.

Compare this to Welsh Lib Dem led Cardiff council where meetings are actually web cast and so there can be no doubt as to what is said.

What are we paying the PR department for?

It seems we are paying Christian Hanagan Head of PR and Strategy at RCT CBC a tidy sum to churn out not only endless Labour propaganda but endless repeats of Labour propaganda.

A department that costs over a MILLION POUNDS  a year in staff salaries alone and this is the level of press release we get.  (Please note this is attributed to RCT CBC, the link to their site.  Wouldn’t want them to go un-attributed.)

“Thanks to representations by its local Councillors, Tonyrefail town centre is the latest area to benefit from Rhondda Cynon Taf Council’s £10m Highways Investment Scheme.”

Now when they did the roads in Trallwn where was the mention of local Councillors then?  Or the regeneration scheme in Pontypridd?  Why the difference?  Oh, of course they are not Labour wards.

Presumably Mr Hanagan wants to make sure he keeps in with his dear mother – make sure he is in the will, or perhaps she just does a terrific Sunday roast!   Because of course she is none other than Tonyrefail Councillor and Cabinet Member Eudine Hanagan.  She is pictured alongside Russell Roberts and Bob McDonald.

But to really rub salt in and emphasize just how much they are extracting the urine take a look at this

Yes, the RCT CBC website again.  And yes the same photo and even the same opening paragraph.   Three months ago.

“Thanks to representations by its local Councillors, Tonyrefail town centre is the latest area to benefit from Rhondda Cynon Taf Council’s £10m Highways Investment Scheme.”

I know RCT are trying to up its recycling rate but this is ridiculous.  And just in case you miss it on the Council web site then you can see the same story and picture on the Tonyrefail Labour party site.  Work is obviously cracking on apace.

Taxpayers’ money being spent for their benefit.  What was that again about hypocritical parasites?

Labour complacent - surely not?

Wales Online reports that Carwyn Jones is determined “to fight complacency in Welsh Labour.”

“I think that complacency is a great enemy for us” he told his Conference.  “We have to fight for every single vote. We have to have solid policies that people believe in and we will take nothing for granted.”He could have a point for once.  Complacency is certainly creeping in amongst the Labour party in these parts.  Take a look at this for instance:

Minutes of the meeting of Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council held at the County Borough Council Offices, The Pavilions, Clydach Vale on Wednesday, 25 January 2012 at 5 p.m.

Questions to Cabinet Member for Community Safety Paul Cannon from Welsh Lib Dem Cllr Mike Powell

“As they ( licensing saturation zones) are effective in Cardiff, would it not be possible for a Community Safety Partnership Scrutiny Committee to look at this matter?”

Response from County Borough Councillor P.Cannon, QPM

What they do in Cardiff is irrelevant to what we do here. I don’t think I have to respond to that question.

Cllr Powell “Would the Cabinet Member comment on the low take-up rate with regard to the townscape Enhancement Programme in Pontypridd?

“Is the process of actually applying for grants too complicated with the criteria too strict and if that is the case, what does the Cabinet intend to do about it?”

(Out of 70 alleged expressions of interest only four applications have been made and three grants awarded.)

Response from County Borough Councillor P.Cannon, QPM

No, the process is not complicated. It is working extremely well and I propose to do absolutely nothing to alter its present position.

How is that for complacency, and this from the man who wants to be the Labour candidate for the post of Police Commissioner.  It doesn’t bode well does it?

Labour losing touch?

Neath MP Peter Hain has been pontificating at the Labour Conference this weekend.

According to the BBC Mr Hain said: "We have got to be constantly on guard to make sure we don't repeat the disease which afflicted us in Westminster - which is the more you stay in power the more managerial you get and the more you lose touch with your supporters."

Maybe he could pop up and have a bit of a chat with his mates in RCT.  He could start with dear Leighton, although in his case maybe arrogant is a better word than managerial.  Now there is a man who has lost touch not only with his supporters but with reality.  He knows best, and he doesn’t care who disagrees with him, he is not for turning.

Then there is the loveable bunch of rogues in the Council Chamber.  Well, ok, maybe not so loveable, but again completely out of touch with the people they are elected to represent.  They announce a Council Tax increase of 2.5% so they can continue to protect public services.  Well how much more could they protect them if they didn’t spend £65K on their ‘Outlook’ magazine – nothing more than a Labour propaganda rag.  Then there is the £85K on newspaper advertising  - which they think buys them the right to dictate to the press what they can and cannot print.

The £1million they spend on salaries in the Public Relations and Strategy department could be tailed back.  But then what would there be for Mr Hanagan to manage?  Who would take the photos that are then used by Labour on their website?  Nice that, wonder if they would acre to send a photographer out to take some for us?

Their supporters don’t have chauffeurs to rely on to run them around to free events – at the taxpayers’ expense.  It turned my stomach to see Russell Roberts and his wife along with the then Mayor Simon Lloyd quaffing back large quantities of free booze at the inauguration of the Llantwit Fardre mayor last year.  Especially when two chauffeurs were hanging around all day waiting to take them home.  Taxi not good enough for our Russell. 

The problem is that there are still too many people who allow themselves to be taken in by the veneer  - the outward gloss that says Labour is the party of the working class. They vote Labour because they have always voted Labour, as did their parents.  They rage about the waste of money and the laziness of their Councillors and the state of the streets, but many of them won’t do the one thing that would make a difference – don’t vote for them!

Labour Cabinet Member faces possible 6 month suspension

A meeting of the RCT Council Standards Committee was held at Clydach Vale on

Thursday, 12 January 2012.

It all appears to have passed very quietly and without comment which is odd considering that the subject of the meeting was a Labour Cabinet Member.  Eudine Hanagan in fact the Cabinet member for Education.

The meeting was admittedly only the initial meeting on the subject – following a referral from the Public Services Ombudsman. 

As the minutes state

“The Committee had to determine, either, that there was no evidence of any failure to comply with the Code of Conduct or that the County Borough Councillor concerned, should be given the opportunity to make representations either orally or in writing in respect of the findings of the investigation and any allegation that she had failed or may have failed to comply with the Member’s Code of Conduct.”

Now there are no details given of what offence Cllr Hanagan is alleged to have committed, but the fact that the Ombudsman has investigated and decided to refer it suggest that he at least is satisfied that there is cause for concern.

A further meeting will now be called where she will be invited to give evidence.

“Following consideration of the contents of Ombudsman’s report, it was RESOLVED that County Borough Councillor Eudine Hanagan as the person who is the subject of the investigation, should be given the opportunity to make representations either, orally or in writing, in respect of the findings of the investigation and any allegation that she has failed or may have failed to comply with the Code of Conduct.”

No date is given for that meeting but one would hope that the Monitoring Officer will see to it that is it convened with all due haste.  After all there is an election coming up and the Standards Committee have the authority to suspend her for up to 6 months.

I wonder how her son, the Head of Public Relations and Strategy will spin that one.

Lunatics have taken over the asylum

On the subject of education and Local Authorities and the part they need to play in raising standards  I can’t say I have a great deal of faith in RCT’s education department and even less in the ability of the Labour Cabinet Member and her colleagues.

The recently appointed Director of Education Chris Bradshaw is a money man.  He started out in the finance department.  In 2007 he was the Director of Strategic Policy & Continuous Improvement.  He presented the grand plans for Ynysangharad Park to Cabinet in June of that year setting out the case for regeneration of the Park and Lido.  Five years on and the plans have got no further – they are still talking about putting a business case together.

He had a spell in charge of Communities First and made absolutely no impression at all. 

Then he made the move to the education department – with only one aim in mind, to save money.  His first plan there was the closure of all sixth forms in RCT which met with outrage in many quarters – including amongst RCT Welsh Liberal Democrats.

He has no education background and on the face of it little understanding of educational systems.

On the political front it is even worse.

Now I have made it very clear what I think of school banding – it is a nonsensical system.  However, it is surely the cause of some embarrassment for the Cabinet Member for Education in RCT that the school at which she has been a governor for some considerable time – Tonyrefail Comprehensive – is rated as the worse performing school in RCT.

If she has not been able to influence standards in her own school then what hope can we have that she can make any meaningful contribution to raising them in other schools.

But of course she can always rely on the support of her colleagues, all with their finger on the pulse.

Several of her Labour colleagues sit on the same Governing Body as I do.  Last week we carried out our annual performance review with a presentation and some debate about our performance across the key stages.

The subject of the apparent demotion of science by the Education Minister cropped up, with comments similar to those I expressed on a previous blog post cropping up.

One Labour Councillor who also sits as one of the reps on the Education Scrutiny Committee announced with disgust that of course this was a result of directives from Westminster.  Now I know they like to blame up for absolutely everything, but this idiot actually believed what he was saying.

I pointed out that he was wrong, that education is devolved – this accompanied by much nodding of heads and murmurs of agreement from staff in particular.   He dismissed this as just being a technical point, that they were just doing what they were told.

I rarely lose my temper at governors meetings, and I try to never bring politics into it, but the sheer idiocy of this man did get the better of me.  I pointed out in no uncertain terms, whilst he sat getting more and more flustered, that the banding system and decisions regarding key competencies and curriculum and everything else were the remit of one man and one man only, his Labour colleague at the Bay.

It is quite frightening to know that this is the level of understanding of people supposedly running this Authority.  It is also a mark of just how blindly the Labour lot follow like sheep. Never questioning, never deviating from the Party line - even when they have it completely wrong.

The (unofficial) RCT Council minutes 27th January 2012 - part 2

So having endured the sickening sights and sounds of the Labour sheep bleating in unison about how terrible we are I could hardly wait to see how they reacted to the long line of questions that had been submitted by the man they all love to hate - Mike Powell.

Now I am not going into details here as they have already been fairly well covered by Mike here and here and indeed here.  Not to mention a letter from Cllr John Bell here.

Even I was surprised by how blatant their contempt was – it is a shame that there are not more members of the public there to see their playground antics.  No wonder they are not prepared to follow the leave of Welsh Lib Dems in Cardiff and broadcast their Council meetings on the web.  Here in RCT they ban any form of photography or recording of meetings.  Open and transparent Labour.  Got to love ‘em.

The session really showed the Labour Cabinet up for the idiots they are.  They come with their officer prepared statements to answer the original question, but then flounder completely when asked a supplementary because they are incapable of individual thought.  What on earth do we pay these idiots for?

Time and again we heard the words “I’ll respond in writing.”   Paul Cannon’s answer when asked what he was going to do about the low take up of the Pontypridd Townscape Enhancement Programme was classic

“I propose to do nothing whatsoever.”

Sums it up nicely – and this man wants to be the Police Commissioner for South Wales.  Heaven help us.  It’s enough to make me want to campaign for Alan Michael.

The Mayor was nothing short of a disgrace as she hassled Mike, obviously as impatient as her colleagues at actually having to waste their time on answering questions on such non important issues as education and economic development.

The bunch of hypocritical parasites cackled on and heckled from the sidelines, never once brought back into line by the woman with the bling in the Chair.

At least one person answered a straight question with a straight answer.  Russell Roberts confirmed that he doesn’t agree with Ed Balls that public sector pay needs to be frozen. 

Quite what he meant by his follow up remark that “Councillor Powell you could be having difficult questions fired in your direction soon” is anyone’s guess.  But then it is not the first time he has made threats in the Chamber.  It’s the kind of nice guy he is

The debate on the Boundary Commission review tugged at the old heart strings.  Pauline Jarman even brought a photograph along of people from Plaid and Labour getting together before the formation of the unitary authority to save the Cynon Valley.

Russell is ‘appalled’ that the Cynon constituency will be ripped apart under the proposals and the “Cynon Valley will disappear from the map.”  Quite how that is going to be the case I don’t know.

A cross party group is apparently needed to discuss the issue.  Alas whilst Pauline and Russell gave rallying speeches on how politics had to be put aside for the greater good the camaraderie was somewhat ruined by the Deputy Council leader Anthony Christopher stated that ‘the two main parties’ should work together, as he didn’t suppose that anyone of the others would take part ‘given their attitude.’

Any wonder that attitude exists Tony?

Just after this point Mike, who had kept his temper through all the nonsense far better than I think I would have, decide enough was enough, and without any fuss or comment gathered his things and left the Chamber.

Cllr Andrew Morgan (Labour of course) asked that it be recorded in the minutes that he had left.  Now considering that at least four Labour people has left already without comment from anyone this may seem a little strange.  Mike's colleague John Bell pointed this pout, and was actually backed by Plaid's Pauline Jarman, but the Labour lot don't allow little things like consistency to get in their way.

They really are a bunch of ......................