Bonkers, loons and co education

Lord Bonkers was drawing our attention to The Telegraph story that Tory members were defecting to UKIP because of the so-called 'loons' smear.

Now given Farage's reception in Scotland and given my distaste for banding around derogatory remarks usually aimed at people with mental ill health I got to thinking about loons

It is, as I pointed out to his lordship, a perfectly good Scots word defined as: loun [lun]
n. A youth, boy, fellow, rascal.
dim. lounie, lounock(ie)

You can hear it here in a poem, Co Education by John C Milne,  written in the 'doric' the characteristic speech of the NE of Scotland. The poems is read by my mother and recorded 20 years ago. She had known John Milne before WW2 in Aberdeen. She died several weeks after recording this and a number of other poems in her native speech.

rate payers multi million losses down to poor governance under Sefton Lab new info

Bootle Labour Councillor

Dowd's legacy of extravagant waste

'the lack of prudence beggars belief'-Liverpool Post

No apology, unrepentant and unreconstructed Mark Dowd sits on the Labour front bench at Sefton glowering his defiance. His colleagues protect him and rubbish every report issued that details his outrageous behavior describing them as 'tawdry and rubbish'. How much more is there to come out? When will the Labour party act . 

To date we know about what the Daily Post calls:

...............'the monstrous black elephant that is Merseytravel's monolithic HQ at Mann Island' which it describes as having 'entered the realms of the extravagantly bizarre' and goes on 

'This particular exercise of corporate vanity is gobbling up our money to the tune of £4m a year'  

The full story of how they entered into that mega loss making deal, when they had a perfectly serviceable HQ already, needs to be told. It reveals what happens when decisions are made behind close doors with no opportunity for the proper checks and balances

Now we learn that he was responsible for pouring millions into a loss making exercise like a drunken gambler unable to break his addiction. But it was our money they were pouring down the drain.

We already knew that Dowd refused to put in place the usual opportunities for scrutiny. All issues raised by the Post, and much more besides, were unknown to most elected members

It is symbolic that he had a credit card from Merseytravel that he used for personal expenditure

They wasted Millions on buying steel rail for a tram that was never built-even though their own government indicated as much

At the last minute, and without briefing or reports they scrapped the policy of running and intergrated (rail and stock) railway despite having spent mega sums lobbying the government to be allowed to do so! (co incidentally the NUR were against the idea)

And as the Post revealed last year the Auditor was concerned that they entered into contracts without all the proper procurement procedures being undertaken 

When brave individuals like Andrew Makinson challenged Dowd they got the fully Bootle Bully Boy treatment, by which I mean that (at Merseytravel's expense) top legal firm Hill Dickinson was hired.

When we raised this at Sefton Council, Dowd is a Sefton Councillor, we were treated to rants that dismissed and rubbished all the reports no matter how detailed the reports or qualified the authors. And they kept nominating Dowd to Merseytravel as a Sefton rep and used constitutional maneuvers to prevent us challenging the nomination -even though there was more than enough evidence to question the appointment. Take a look at Dowd expences

Liam Robertson, the man who finally ousted Dowd as Chair, has done a good job. Now he must rise above the tribal party loyalty that has protected Dowd for so long and establish a full independent inquiry. Nothing must be buried or covered up. The police must be be informed and given all the evidence.

Not since the days of Militant have we seen outrageous, high handed behavior like this. Like Militant he got his way because there were no proper challenge to his actions, many of them were unknown to members. The audit and the 151 procedures failed-and if this was due to the way Dowd and Scales ran the organisation-that must be fully established  

The Daily Post report begins:

MORE than £6.5m of taxpayers money was wasted by transport authority Merseytravel on the purchase of a smartcard company that never made any money.

An internal audit has found that Merseytravel’s acquisition of Livesmart delivered “little tangible benefit” to the organisation or the taxpayer.

The Post has seen parts of the audit, which is being kept under wraps by Merseytravel.

The review, which was overseen by St Helens council, said “significant failings in corporate governance” by Merseytravel led to the huge loss.

Read more: Liverpool Daily Post Merseytravel wastes £6.5m of taxpayer’s money on smartcard company - Liverpool News - News - Liverpool Daily Post http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2013/05/16/merseytravel-wastes-6-5m-of-taxpayer-s-money-on-smartcard-company-99623-33336056/#ixzz2TdUnM6VU

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50 years a Southport Councillor Ronnie Fearn's presentation photos



IBB,(Group Leader) Ronnie and Joyce Fearn

I posted recently about Ronnie reaching 50 years service as a Liberal/LD councillor

Last night we held a celebration at Auberge Brasserie in Southport

The picture shows Ronnie and Joyce  having received a cut glass rose bowl in recognition of his service.

Ronnie joined the Southport County Borough Council at a time when there were 23 Liberals out of 45 members. He went on to serve as Leader of the Group, MP and is now in the House of Lords. By any measure he is the most successful Southport politician of his generation. He is well known as a champion of the town and and as youth worker. His regular appearances in the annual All Souls Pantomime will live long in the memory and those who saw his Tina Turner impersonation wish now that they had taken a video camera.

Congratulation to Ronnie and all his team

SEFTON COUNCILLORS’ EXPENSES FOR 2012/13

Earlier this week I wrote about Bootle Labour’s problems with ‘transparency and accountability’.  This has prompted my Birkdale colleague Councillor Simon Shaw to send through full details of his expenses claims from Sefton Council for publication in the interests of transparency.

Simon is one of just a handful of Sefton councillors who make any expenses claims at all.  Since 2007 councillors have to bear the cost of travel to committee meetings etc themselves.  However cost of travel outside the Borough can be claimed for and Simon is involved with two activities which qualify:

1. He has been a member of the Local Government Association’s Human Resources Board and the Local Government Pensions Committee since 2005, which meet in London.

2. He has been a member of the Merseyside Police and Crime Panel since 2012.

An analysis of expenses for 1. is to be found here: Expenses 2012/13

In summary, for last year, Simon has claimed:

• £658.15 in total, for 8 trips to London
• an average of £82.27 per trip, which includes rail fares, tube fares and also hotel & subsistence on one trip (this compares with the Standard Open Return from Southport to London Euston which costs £299.00)
• £54.60 for mileage for 4 round journeys to Police & Crime Panel meetings in Huyton (168 miles @ 32.5p per mile)

Just checked 10 Select Com Chairs Lab.

Last night at the Council meeting the appointment of committees and their chairs was on the agenda. It is pretty dry stuff-and yet beneath it there are important principles which if not observed undermine democracy .

These committees are the checks and balances on the Executive. This is how, in a mature democracy, the policy and actions of those in charge are challenged, scrutinised and reviewed. This is the mechanism that put a break on corruption and holds people to account. Failures in corporate governance often leads to bad decision making, wasting public funds and make corruption much more likely. Those who hold power need to checked up on, or as Lord Acton said 'all power corrupts'

Last night Labour's strategy of closely down avenues for challenging their actions continued. The took all the chairs of the Scrutiny and Review committees including the Audit and Governance Committee. They have reduced the meetings of Area Committees and render pretty well useless the arrangement for the central area of the borough. Questions in Full Council are not answered and the meetings of the cabinet are over in a few minutes-I think the record is 4 mins 10seconds.

When confronted with his actions Labour were struck dumb. Only the Leader spoke and he went off on a rant about the Government and how wicked it was. He failed totally to answer the question about why he was destroying the checks and balances on the executive. To hear Cllr Dowd speak you would believe that the government doesn't have a system of select committees or that if they did they were all creatures of the whips-like his Scrutiny Chairs. Well, just for the record here is a list of the Opposition led  Select Committee chairs:





Scottish Affairs: Mr Ian Davidson LAB and Co-Op

Transport: Mrs Louise Ellman LAB
Business, Innovation and Skills Mr Adrian Bailey LAB Co-Op
Communities and Local Government Mr Clive Betts LAB
Environmental Audit Joan Walley LAB
Home Affairs Keith Vaz LAB
Political and Constitutional Reform Mr Graham Allen LAB
Public Accounts Margaret Hodge LAB
Science and Technology Andrew Miller LAB
Work and Pensions Miss Anne Begg LAB


Oh, and if you want to see how they deal with folk who have the audacity to ask questions look at the answers given under item 6 of the Council Meeting on 28/02/13

Southport and the negative impact of Labour rule. BBC Politics Show

Why have Labour chosen to balance their budget by adopting charges that hit Southport far more than the rest of the borough?

Rising £500,000 extra from parking charges when 85% of all parking fees are raised in Southport

The green wheelie bin tax hits Southport

And they want to close our Libraries-leaving one in Southport and keeping three open in Bootle. (one Bootle Library only had 35 000 items issued in one year compared to 115 000 in the Birkdale Library-but it is Birkdale they have proposed to close)

This has given some folk the impression that they are willing to raise the money in Southport and spend it in Bootle

Bootle Labour seem congenitally incapable of giving up their old ways

Polly Toynbee  “the worst of the old Labour party, the knuckle-dragging neanderthal tendency, emerged to roaring opposition to the guests. David Blunkett, John Reid, Jack Straw, Diane Abbott, now unleashed from government, reminded the world how backward, how unprogressive, tribal and sectarian much of the People’s Party still is”.

I caught Peter Kilfoyle (formerly Labour MP for Liverpool Walton) talking on Radio 4 about his time fighting Militant in Liverpool (oddly he didn't mention that he spent some of the key period in Australia) When asked what was so bad about Militant the first two things he mentioned-before even the thuggish intimidation- was that they lacked 'transparency and accountability'.

Many of us consider that under Bootle Labour we have a crisis of accountability and transparency  today in the Sefton Borough.

• The have used the chairing of Overview and Scrutiny Committees as a bit of patronage. All the chairs are Labour, even the chair of Audit and Governance. Under Labour Chairs the committees have been neutered with many meetings cancelled. The executive has been given a soft ride
• An alternative path for challenging the executive is via the Area Committees. Labour cannot put their own people in to chair them all as in 1/3 of the borough they have no councillors at all. So they have cut the number of meeting and in central Sefton have produced an area committee which combines vastly different communities across a large geographical area with no public transport adequately linking the communities -Formby,Hightown, Crosby, Blundellsand, Maghull, Lydiate etc
• Of course we could (and do) turn up to observe the democratic process in action. Legislation compels them to meet in public. But guess what? The decisions are made elsewhere and the public meeting which used to discuss and debate decisions now  last a few minutes. Hatton Style.
• The Labour Leader usual response is to blame the Government.  This threadbare excuse completely unraveled at the last Council meeting when we were appointing the Health and Wellbeing Board. In line with their usual practice all three places were taken by Labour. This situation was worse than it as first seems as the Southport and Formby Area have separate commissioning arrangements for Health than the rest of the borough and not one local councillor was appointed. The needs of the Southport area with its concentration of elderly people are distinctly different to those in Bootle, but so determined were they to keep all the places to themselves they denied the area any say in the Health and Social Care policy. And they couldn't blame the Government it was in their power to behave properly, but they just could help themselves.
• I guess the other way to hold the Executive (made up entirely of Bootle Labour Councillors) is to ask questions in public at full council. Observe the response. So respectful of democracy and transparency and aware of the need for accountability. 

As Lord Acton observed: All power corrupts

COUNCIL – 18 APRIL 2013

QUESTIONS RAISED BY MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL

 Question submitted by Councillor Dawson to the Cabinet Member – Communities and Environment (Councillor Hardy)

            “Could the Cabinet Member provide her Department’s current best estimate of the likely number of Green Bins which will become redundant when charging comes in (based upon the estimated price for charging included in the 2013-2014 budget assumptions), together with the original (or current replacement) purchase price of those Green Bins in:

            (a)       The Sefton MBC area as a whole

            (b)       Southport

            (c)        Formby

            (d)       Sefton East parishes

            (e)       Crosby

            (f)         Bootle and Litherland”

Response:

“Providing the best estimates at this stage would be inappropriate.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well that is, what the kids would describe as, 'pathetic'. We have a right to know and a duty to challenge. What is going happen to the 64,252 green wheelie bins that they expect to be 'given up'? What is the cost of disposal? How much extra will be pay in land fill tax as a result of people putting garden waste in the 'non recycling' grey bin. What is the cost of the fly tipping that will result?How robust are these estimates based on the experience in the Wirral. I ferreted the information out for myself, but frankly the executive should have made the data available without me having to do the job for them. 

The policy is based on 70% of people giving up their bins so why is it inappropriate to tell us? 
Grossly embarrassing, yes, but not a reason for the Labour Part to keep us in the dark 

Sum of green bins by bin type & ward
Wards	G1100	G240	Total
Ainsdale	1	4,987	4,988
Birkdale	0	5,527	5,527
Blundellsands	0	3,739	3,739
Cambridge	5	3,364	3,369
Church	0	1,573	1,573
Derby	0	1,876	1,876
Dukes	1	2,695	2,696
Ford	0	4,971	4,971
Harington	0	4,928	4,928
Kew	0	4,973	4,973
Linacre	0	1,107	1,107
Litherland	0	2,403	2,403
Manor	0	5,124	5,124
Meols	0	5,021	5,021
Molyneux	0	4,922	4,922
Netherton & Orrell	0	4,794	4,794
Norwood	0	5,495	5,495
Park	0	4,625	4,625
Ravenmeols	0	4,995	4,995
St Oswald	0	4,921	4,921
Sudell	0	5,560	5,560
Victoria	0	4,181	4,181
Total	7	91,781	91,788

The leaving of Southport Town Hall -and the waste that resulted

The ruling Bootle Labour cabal at Sefton council are keen to pile on to Southport residents extra taxes. We will soon have the Green Wheelie Bin Tax- a flat tax of £46, then we have the massive hike in car parking charges aimed at bring in £500,000 which will hit Southport's economy hard-85% of all parking charges are paid in Southport.




John Pugh and IBB outside the Town Hall

So here are a few ways the could save some money. Southport Town Hall has been practically empty for months. I have raised this several times. I am repeated told there are no plans to close the building down. So why is it so empty for so long? And why do the Council continue to rent high cost offices elsewhere in the town? It is a waste of our money. I've heard some daft excuses in my time but when I was told that the offices were the wrong shape, I despair. Have they changed shape since the council moved all the lawyers and the committee clerks to Bootle. No.


Who left and when:



Mayor’s Office – April 2007

Legal Services – May 2011


Town Centre Management– June/July 2012


Electoral Registration – August 2012

Committee Section – August 2012

Another couple of ways to save money:


Cut the number of Councillors

Cut the generous allowances for the 7 member cabinet (all of whom come from Bootle)

A most welcome Romanian migrant overheard in a country church

I was away this weekend joining in the celebrations of friends birthday. We were staying in Chipping Camden. Around lunchtime wandering around the town we came upon the village parish church of  St James and, as is my habit, I went inside to look around. It is one of the finest wool churches in the country.

The church was the venue of the Chipping Camden Music Festival and was laid out ready for a concert with a Steinway Grand Piano alone on the stage in front of the chancel. I sat down for a moment and a young lady came in and approached the stage. She removed the cloth from the piano and began to play.

The young women was Alexandra Dariescu, a Romanian who came to Britain to study at The Royal Northern College of Music and has since played with pretty well every major orchestra in pretty well every major concert hall.

Now there are some folk who wouldn't let her in the country if the were British born artist who could do the job. There are some who would demonise all her country folk and try to frighten us about what would happen if Romanians were allowed into this country. I do not doubt that there are some that would complain about her programme of Beethoven, Scarlatti, Schumann and Chopin-not a Brit amongst them. And yet there could not be a more perfect example of how we are part of a shared culture that has been enriched by contact with Europe. Without Ravel there would have been no Vaughan Williams -that most English of composers. Russell Johnson often used to speak powerfully about our shared European heritage- Bach, Burns and Goethe.

After the birthday celebrations in the Ebrington Arms we returned to our Guest House Seymour House (highly recommended) . In the morning at breakfast we met the other guests including another artist playing at the Festival Steven Osborne all the way from Edinburgh. His concert consisted of one work 'Vingt regards sur l’enfant-Jésus' by Messiaen. Now there is a composer to whom some folk wouldn't give house room.

Stop wasting money on renting offices -use the empty Town Hall

John Pugh and IBB outside the Town Hall

The ruling Bootle Labour cabal at Sefton council are keen to pile on to  Southport residents extra taxes. We will soon have the Green Wheelie Bin Tax- a flat tax of £46, then we have the massive hike in car parking charges aimed at bring in £500,000 which will hit Southport's economy hard-85% of all parking charges are paid in Southport.

So here are a few ways the could save some money. Southport Town Hall has been practically empty for months. I have raised this several times. I am repeated told there are no plans to close the building down. So why is it so empty for so long? And why do the Council continue to rent high cost offices elsewhere in the town? It is a waste of our money. I've heard some daft excuses in my time but when I was told that the offices were the wrong shape, I despair. Have they changed shape since the council moved all the lawyers and the committee clerks to Bootle. No.

Another couple of  ways to save money:

Cut the number of Councillors

Cut the generous allowances for the 7 member cabinet (all of whom come from Bootle)

50 years of Ronnie and counting

guess the date?

I'm writing this in the certain belief that Ronnie Fearn 'doesn't do computers'. 2013 marks his 50 years as a Southport Councillor and tonight at the Mayor Making there will be presentation to mark that achievement.So if you bump into him before the meeting this evening don't spoil the surprise.

 I did start writing up a fuller history of his contribution but it began to sound like an obituary and that seemed totally inappropriate as Ronnie is still very much alive. But just consider 50 years, 24 years longer that Alex Ferguson, and he topped the poll in Norwood Ward last May.

There are at least two Councillors still living in the town who pre date Ronnie. Joy Lucas who was a Councillor in Park Ward between 1957 and 1960 and Bob Burnett Hughes who was on the Council between 1958 and 1973. When Ronnie arrived on the scene we had by my calculations reached our high water mark* with 23 Councillors out of 45 with 100% representation in Central, Craven,  Scarisbrick, West, Birkdale South, Ainsdale, two councillors in Hesketh and a Councillor in  Birkdale West (J. Smith-Hughes), Marine  (M Goldberg)and Park (John Campion)  with around 4 Aldermen. 

I noticed Southport Labour Party were drawing attention to their Parliamentary Candidate during this time -one John Prescot. This was at the time of the pact so there were five Wards which we left to Labour. For those not familiar with Southport politics there was a strict Lib/Lab pact in the town. We fought 10 wards and Labour 5. We even helped in each others by elections! Richard Wainwright was always fond of drawing attention to this arrangement to balance the coverage given to the pacts in Bolton and Huddersfield. When the time finally comes when Ronnie decides to step down one of the important bits of history that will be told is Ronnie's part in the breaking of the pact

Anyway, congratulations to Ronnie-and remember not a word to him if you see him today

* 23 out of 45 Councillors is the highest number of Councillors we have achieved but by another measure I guess you could say that winning 6 out of the present 7 wards in the town in 2012 was a better performance or again you might think 1981 when we won 5 of the 6 county wards was better