Wikileaks and the 'right to know'....

The Wikileaks saga slowly unfolds and its getting more domestic coverage because some of the leaks relate to UK domestic figures. Malcolm Rifkind has just been on the Today programme on Radio 4  sharing the view that these leaks are damaging to national interests and security. Specific mention was given to the pressure that Saudi Arabia is putting pressure on the USA to attack Iran and when asked if the public (in the UK) should know about this, Rifkind took the usual patronising position that these were matters to be discussed in private. But of course, should the USA decide to give in to Saudi pressure, I'm sure the USA would ask for a 'coalition of the willing' and I'm sure that British service personnel would be sent off to die on foreign soil (as they do today) as a result of 'private conversations'.

And this reminds me of Somerset County Council and the conversations that 'Kutter Ken' and his chums have been having with George Osborne with regard to Somerset County Council's budget. Who is going to be affected by the budget cuts? Not people in some foreign land but you and me, so why aren't we told what exactly is planned? These people are elected representatives and they are there to represent you and me not Central Office. But, most probably, the truth is just too ugly and it might cause people to wonder just what the leadership in Taunton is up to. Equally, it might cause people to wonder whether or not this was what they voted for.

Looking back at ex-Chairperson Mountain's email to me, he suggested that our elected leaders make their policy statements on the run-up to the election, we vote on that basis and then we leave them to get on with the job. But then we discover that their agenda isn't quite the agenda that they published in order to get our vote. In fact, their agenda isn't driven by any 'local' circumstance but is, in fact, driven by a national policy upon which we didn't get the right to vote.

And this is my own argument for a constantly engaged electorate who don't simply hand power over to polictians and elected representatives and leave them to it. If we've learned anything about our elected leaders it is that most of them are liars and con-persons. Judged by their actions (Nick Clegg being a prime example) they'd sell their children into slavery in order to get their hands on the levers of power. And when they succeed, they don't pull those levers for you and me but for their chums.

Till next time, I'm Niall Connolly

The death of dissent

Hello Sheila!

Earlier this week I decided that I should take the time to write to Sheila Wheeler, the Chief Executive of Somerset County Council. I decided that I should share with her my concerns about the chopping noises that are emanating from County Hall and I reproduce the letter below (as ever, click or double click to see a larger version):

At the same time, I shared with Sheila a little diagram that I've been working on. Its an attempt to illustrate how the money-go-round (capitalism to you and me) how this carousel works. What I'd like to know more about is the bit where money 'cascades down' from County to Parish. I'd be very interested to know where the Town & Parish Councils and their Precept, where does that show up in the accounts.

Anyone who can advise me on these little matters, please get in touch. And that goes for you as well, Ken.

Till next time, I'm Niall Connolly

This is all very familiar........

Any follower of M&B will know that one of the drivers behind M&B's enquiries into the activities of the old Somerton Town Council (ie the Keenan/Canvin administration pre 27th October 2009) was the old Town Council's refusal to answer perfectly reasonable questions. Looking back on the enquiries in question, its easy to see that they went pretty much straight to the heart of the concerns about the Etsome Terrace/Tin Dunny asset swap. Its also clear to see, in part with the benefit of hindsight, why the old Town Council and the ex-Vice Chair in particular, would have wanted all the documentation to stay completely hidden from public view. And today, M&B is faced with another remarkably similar situation but this time it relates to enquiries made of Somerset County Council.

A couple of weeks ago, and in the light of the increasingly worrying statements coming out of County Hall, I decided to email the Leader of Somerset County Council, Ken Maddock, with a few questions. The text of the email is reproduced below (click or double click to see it in a larger version).

Now I don't think that these are unreasonable questions and I'd have assumed that they could be answered quite quickly, or at least acknowledged, but, thus far, silence. And I suspect that there might be a reason for the silence and the reason might be embodied in the Matthew Parris quote that adorns the top of this page.

Its my suspicion that Ken and his crew don't have a plan and, because they don't have a plan, they have't thought through the impact of the cuts. However, as ideologues (see Pol Pot, Chairman Mao etc etc) they don't actually care what the impact of the cuts is going to be. They only care about the final objective (or should that be solution?) and that was probably outlined in instructions that they received from George Osborne. George probably told them what the likely figure was that County would receive from Council Tax, Uniform Business Rate etc etc and George probably suggested that they get going with the chainsaw.

Now I'm just as concerned as the next person about 'debt' and if County is carrying unsustainable levels of debt then its only right and proper to get those debt levels down to manageable levels. But the timescale applied to that reduction is important. The longer the timescale (4 years to the next election) the smaller the chance will be that Ken will hit George's schedule. The shorter the timescale, the more drastic the cuts, the more in the way of asset disposal will be required. Rather like a choice between between a decent landing and taxi to the terminal or a belly-flop which will probably destroy the aircraft and kill the passengers. George probably wants the latter because it will satisfy his timescale and, speaking as a passenger, I'd prefer the former.

The question is, "How badly does Ken want to feature in the Birthday Honours List?".

Till next time, I'm Niall Connolly

Cutting beyond the bone.......

So the economic terrorists have arrived at County Hall and they are definitely not taking any prisoners. But sadly, we are all hostages. We can't run because we live here whilst Ken and his crew of Central Office apparatchiks are determined to cut debt and they don't care who gets hurt in the process.

I've seen a few of the budgetary documents and they are stuffed full of the term 'pressure' which is their speak for 'we're gonna cut this'. On the other side of the 'balance sheet', there is the term 'risk' which usually describes the manner in which the community is going to pay for Ken and his chums slasherfest. So less road maintenance means more accidents. Reduced Social Services means more children at risk. Ken and his boys know that this is how the equation works and they know that there is going to be collateral damage - but it won't be them.

Now, what you need to be clear about is that whilst Ken is busy reducing services, he's not going to reduce the charges that he makes for less services. What he's going to do is keep your Council Tax exactly where it was, if not raise it. This means that Ken gets a peck on the cheek from his pal Osborne whilst we, the taxpayers, pay off the debt that County has accrued.

And there is a sting in the tail. Ken's boys are busy pointing out that the 'Precept Scam' is a way of Town and Parish Councils grabbing extra cash. Ken and his boys know that Town and Parish Council's aren't capped so they can increase their precept demands and use that money to buy the services that County isn't providing (but are charging for). In this way, the taxpayer is going to pay at least twice for services and probably get a second rate service from their Town and Parish Councils.

And all taxpayers need to consider this - just how qualified will Town and Parish Councils be to try and buy services that they have never bought before. Probably not very qualified and probably prone to getting it wrong. But there will always be your friendly Councillor who also jst happens to be a contractor who will be able to help out................

See you in the Poor House.

Niall

Dodge that bullet........

It is looking increasingly as if Somerton as a whole, as well as the taxpayers within the influence of Somerset County Council, owe a debt of gratitude to the residents at Badgers Cross. How so, you might ask? Well, as the draconian cuts currently being implemented by the ideologues at County Hall are rolled out, we see that Household Waste Recycling Centres are being closed. Somerset Waste Partnership's plans have been dramatically scaled back and, thankfully, the Badgers Cross project didn't get to the contract stage.

It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if Teflon, ably assisted by the alluring Pauline, had managed to push the project through Planning. I'm sure that there would have been an indecent rush to sign SWP up to some sort of unburstable contract which would, most probably, have included compensation should the project not proceed.

The clock would then have moved forward to November 2010, the drastic cuts would be implemented at County Hall, and Teflon would have walked away with a taxpayer funded payoff when Somerset Waste Partnership were forced to pull out of the deal. Talk about a close shave.

All hail the Badgers Cross residents who saved the taxpayer a bundle.

Till next time, I'm still Niall Connolly

What to make of it.......

So, Somerton's electorate, or 25% of it at least, have spoken and they chose a new face to join the Town Council. It would be easy to draw conclusions with regard to that choice but it might be that the best candidate won and the best candidate lost.

Since October of 2009, Somerton Town Council has pretty much been about 'renewal' and the new Town Council have been faced with a mountain to climb regarding the (still) ongoing investigation into the accounts and practices of the old Town Council. On top of that, everyone now faces the drastic cuts that are being imposed by Somerset County Council so funding is going to be in desparately short supply and the new Town Council is going to face even more challenges.

As I stood in the Wessex Rooms last eveing awaiting the results I had time to consider the two candidates and something that Brian Raybould said stuck in my mind. Explaining why he stood for election, he observed that the last time around he had been co-opted onto the Council and he felt that gaining election through the ballot box had more credibility. Its therefore something of a shame that Brian would go the extra mile only to loose but I did say that maybe the best candidate lost and by that I meant that being a Councillor can be a double-edged sword.

Brian has a reputation for being a volunteer and his skills have been deployed around the town to the benefit of the community.

Somerton Byelection Result

On a turn-out of just over 25%, the result of the Somerton ByElection was:

Sharon Anne Coates - 585 votes
Brian Walter Raybould - 431 votes

Sharon Anne Coates is therefore the newest Councillor on Somerton Town Council

The Chair of the Council, Michael Fraser-Hopewell and the unsuccessful
candidate, Brian Raybould, congratulate Somerton's newest Councillor with
Cllr Ian Neale looking on.

Its decision time......again

I'd encourage everyone who can vote in Somerton's latest election to get out there and put their cross on the piece of paper. And remember, contrary to the views of the 'old guard' your responsibility doesn't stop there. Get involved with the Town Council beyond the ballot box. Just imagine how things would change if everyone gave 2 hours a month to the community. Lets imagine that 1/3rd of the population of Somerton were able to give 2 hours per month, that would mean 1500 x 2 = 3000 person hours and divide that by 8 gives you 375 person days of work a month to be deployed to help the community and the town. Can you imagine how much could be achieved if that sort of resource was available to the town. It would be the equivalent of 10 townsfolk doing an 8 hour day, each and every day for the Town. Is 2 hours a month too much to ask?

And before anyone says it, I'm up for it. Who do I call. What's the number of the volunteer hotline?

See you at the polling booth.

Niall

Democracy and all that bunk.........

Recently I was clearing my 'virtual desktop' and came across an email written to me in the aftermath of the 'great resigning' of October 2009. It was written by a longtime Chair of Somerton's Town Council, Mr Pat Mountain and, with the imminent election, some of its contents make interesting reading. (The full text of the email is reproduced below, click or double click on the image to open a larger version.) Titled 'Democracy and all that bunk……' and referring to M&B, Mr Mountain writes:

You are fond of making a point that the councillors should represent the interests of the broad spectrum of the public. This is a popular conception and it is wrong! Councillors are elected solely on the basis of the views that they themselves hold and which they are able to promulgate before an election.

Read off the surface, it seems like a reasonable enough position were it not for the reality that most politicians, be they local or national, will lie in their teeth to get our vote then they proceed to do whatever occurs to them as a good idea or suits them in the moment. Mr Mountain then says:

If the voting public put into power those who are incapable of carrying out their duties efficiently, honestly and with spirit, and with whom they subsequently disagree on points of local concern, then that is their fault.

Speaking personally, I can't wait (and I'm sure that neither can you) for the External Auditor to publish their report and describe to us, the electorate, the misconduct of the old Somerton Town Council and its employees. Given the culture of secrecy and exclusion that dominated the old Town Council, its hard to see how the electorate could be held responsible for the activities of that Council but Mr Mountain saves the best for last where he says:

At the same time it is a crying shame that the good people of Somerton seem to have abandoned the Council to its own devices, take little interest in what happens in the council chamber and only surface when they feel that their toes are being trodden on. Shame on them all.

Having seen the way that the Keenan/Canvin regime treated anyone who dared to speak out against them I find Mr Mountain's sympathy for the old Town Council somewhat misplaced. When the old Town Council faced 100+ residents at two meetings, their only response was to throw a hissy-fit and resign. The fact is that the community of Somerton was abused by the old Town Council and for Mr Mountain to suggest that it was all the community's fault is nothing short of shameful.

But this email illustrates the gulf between my own position and that of Mr Mountain. When Mr Mountain blames everyone but the Council and its Councillors, he treads that well worn path trodden over decades by hack politicians when they blame us, the electorate, for their failings and excesses. If they were accountable and the electorate failed to hold them to account then I would agree but the fact is that our elected are only accountable in as much as we can vote for a different liar the next time around.

Remember that on the 11th.

Till next time, I'm still Niall Connolly.