You Can't Make a Butterfly by Sticking Lipstick on the Labour Caterpillar
Just eight weeks into Labour's return to power at Lambeth Town Hall an all too familiar pattern is emerging from the sham of their election manifesto promises. First they shut down the Redfearn Centre at Lilian Baylis School for young adults with learning difficulties that opened in a blaze of publicity from government as part of a successful PFI. Next it's a children's playground heading for the chop. And finally, in an act of stealth almost invisible to other elected councillors, the GB pounds 500,000 annual libraries' book fund is cut by a third and a moratorium imposed on buying any new books.
If that were not bad enough none of this has happened in line with any strategy or published set of priorities from our new socialist masters. True, the Leader of the Council wrote a letter to the Chief Executive on May 11th full of New Labour babble urging him to carry out various urgent reviews of services and promising a highly visible tour of Town Hall staff in June and July. When questioned about whether there was a reply, a great deal of shuffling took place on the Mayor's rostrum and the next morning your Conservative Leader submitted a Freedom of Information request to see it. We're not holding our breath.
With both the Leader and his deputy taking a fortnight's holiday each in June/July the scope for a victory walkabout is much reduced. In an indication of what really is a priority the Leader phoned in from his holiday EasyJet to The Sun with an account of substance abuse in an airliner toilet by the lead singer of Babyshambles. Clearly, this media exposure was more important that setting the direction of travel for a GB pounds 1 billion local authority.
Not that this New Labour Group has had a particularly good start on the ethics front. One of its key people still owes GB pounds 120 for legendary Arsenal and England goalkeeper David Seaman's gloves won in a charity auction held in memory of the late Mayor Tim Sergeant on May 7th. Given the performance of the England soccer team those gloves might come in useful in the post Sven era. Labour and the footie are, of course, as much a duo as Marx and Engels so the July Council meeting was delayed by 24 hours in case Sven's men overcame Portugal in the quarter finals.
Having scrambled through June without making any policy statements, our beloved leaders are facing judgement day over the re-siting of the dustcart fleet to make way for the Shakespeare Road Academy promoted by New Labour scion and former Southwark Council Leader Jeremy Fraser. What a surprise that some of the recycling fleet is being sent to Gipsy Hill Ward - no doubt as a collective punishment for the residents who voted the wrong way on May 4th according to Labour bosses.
And finally, local Conservatives were treated to a barnstorming performance by former Chancellor of the Exchequer Ken Clarke when he spoke to the annual dinner of the Dulwich and West Norwood Conservative Association. Clarke, who was once described as a man who crosses the street to pick a fight, wasn't there to talk about hugging hoodies. What he did say was hugely supportive of the Cameron leadership, middle of the road on Europe, and very much the contribution of a man who is prepared to put his weight behind winning the next general election.
Labels: Dustcarts, Ken Clarke, Labour Lambeth, Libraries, Lilian Baylis School, Shakespeare Road City Academy
posted by Cllr John Whelan on Thursday, July 13, 2006
click here to have your say on this issue and read the
0 comment(s) so far
click here to view other web pages linking to this post
