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DAMESATHOME@GMAIL.COM
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Friday 27 September 2013

TIME QUEEN'S GATE VOTERS DUMPED THEIR IDIOTIC TIMELORD'

Readers will remember the Dame did a little piece on the greed of Danny Boys not long ago.
She is pleased to know that senior journalists read her little 
musings.... Well done, Ross..
Can Moylan finally be certified as a lunatic with delusions of grandeur? 
Every job has flopped:no one wants to work with him. This was why Boris was forced to remove him as head of the Olympics Legacy Board...council leaders and property developers thought him an overbearing joke. 
He couldn't even get the job as leader of a local council!
He has nil qualifications for any of his transport roles and the Boris Airport is now buried deep in the Thames Estuary.


THE IDIOT WHO THINKS HE IS A TIMELORD
Updated: 10:35, 27 September 2013
AN aide to Boris Johnson has become the best-paid local politician in the country after being given three jobs by the Mayor.The Standard
Daniel Moylan is able to earn almost £150,000 a year by adding his £75,000 salary as aviation adviser to his pay for roles on Transport for London, Crossrail and as a Kensington and Chelsea councillor. That takes his total potential earnings above Boris Johnson’s £143,911 City Hall salary.
Critics say it is an “extraordinary amount” for a Tory politician known for his uncompromising style,(bullying style) especially while chairing the Olympics legacy board.
As aviation adviser, Mr Moylan spends about three days a week gathering support for Mr Johnson’s desire for a new airport to be built east of London, either on an artificial “Boris island” in the Thames estuary or by expanding Stansted.
He earns £24,000 a year for sitting on the TfL board and £40,000 at Crossrail, which he joined as a TfL appointment in August. In addition, Mr Moylan receives £10,597 a year at Kensington and Chelsea, where he has been a councillor since 1990.
Mr Moylan, 55, said he would not earn more from City Hall than deputy mayors such as Isabel Dedring and Richard Blakeway — who earn about £128,000 — as his aviation salary would be reduced from next April. He said he could not be appointed as a deputy mayor outright while remaining a councillor.(you got these jobs because you happened to be a cllr: not because you were qualified to do the job) He added: “I’m somebody who does a job who also happens in their spare time to be a councillor. That is what council work is meant to be like. You need to stop thinking of me as a councillor with other roles. Think of me as someone who has a job in the real world.”(no, we think of you as someone who was handed the jobs because no one else could apply!)
He described himself as a “timelord” who was able to cope with four jobs and said he was “not busy enough”.
He said: “What they don’t like is that I’m good at my job.(Please provide an example of this...) I have no difficulty working eight days a week. The one thing that people have never complained about me is that I don’t do my work, reply to emails or return phone calls. It’s the old adage: If you want something done, ask a busy man.”
Mr Moylan said that for part of the year he was earning less than £100,000: “You could do a sob story about this poor guy who has only been getting £99,000 for the last six months.”(weird logic, Cllr!)
Andrew Dismore, a Labour member of the London Assembly, said: “It’s pretty outrageous to get that sort of money from the public purse for doing three jobs that are essentially the same one. They’re all to do with transport

Wednesday 25 September 2013

A SHAKEN DAME.... EX DEPUTY MAYOR FOR LONDON AS YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN HIM BEFORE

The Dame has been shocked to receive this email from someone called Red Ed. 
Now the Dame is unshockable old thing, but to see Cllr Barnes in this state left her reaching for her smelling salts. What on earth did Boris's mate think he was doing? 
At least Red Ed had the decency to put up a warning.
For the sake of propriety the Dame will not reproduce the images: suffice to say they show Cllr Barnes taking 'selfies' with his trousers down!!!!!!

WARNING
If frontal nudity offends you, please DO NOT open the attachments.
If you are under 18 please DO NOT open the attachments.
By opening the attachments you confirm agreement to the above.



red ed <red.eddy100@gmail.com>
18:58 (3 hours ago)


to damesathome


At around 6pm until around 6.25pm Cllr Richard Barnes, ex Deputy Mayor for London and Cllr in Hillingdon had some very revealing photos uploaded to his facebook page.They have now been removed.

But not before they were screen captured.

Someone may be having some issues with the new iOS7?




CREAM RISES! CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR NEW CHIEF EXECUTIVE



TOP MAN!
 "Following competitive interviews on the 4th September the Member panel felt they had not found their candidate for the post of Joint Chief Executive for both Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham.

I am pleased to tell you that subsequently an internal process was run to appoint someone to step into the role and Nicholas Holgate, Town Clerk and Director of Finance RBKC has now been offered this opportunity and has accepted. He will retain his formal finance role for RBKC.

This appointment will take effect from November."

The Dame hears staff at Hornton St were throwing their hats in the air and cracking open bottles of champagne at the news the very popular Nicholas Holgate was stepping up to replace the less than popular, Mr Myers. Mr Myers was universally disliked and was inextricably meshed with the ludicrous Pooter.

Nicholas Holgate is a very different kettle of fish. 
Whereas Mr Myers was a ambitious social worker made good, Mr Holgate was a top flight civil servant and previously Director of Welfare Reform at the Treasury. 
Nicholas lives in the Borough and said on his appointment as Finance Director,“It will be great to contribute the work of such a vibrant organisation; and as I live in Olympia, the borough affects my quality of life outside the office too.”

The Two Nicks will make a great team.


An perceptive comment from our friend, "Worked at RBK&C"
The other thing that might be worth a FOI request would be 

to ask how much money they spent on the recruitment 

process that was unsuccessful. RBKC HR have always 

believed that there is better outside the borough than the 

existing workforce which on the other hand they say they 

take pride in the high level of skill and competance of.

There were strong internal candidates at the time Myres got 


the job and Moira Gibb springs immediately to mind. She 

went off to Camden and did and excellent job of turning 

round somewhere that was failing while Myres and Pooter 

snuggled up together and caused chaos taking the place into 

a downwards spiral.

How Moira was overlooked remains a mystery but the dirty 


hands of the HR team were definitely in there and possibly 

she was much too straight talking for Pooter. Then again, 

Moira was at the forefront of tackling the poor practices in 

the HR team at the time so that may explain it.
Reply

Tuesday 24 September 2013

A BLACK BOW TIE WEARING COUNCILLOR!

CLICK ON IMAGE
This excellent article refers to a councillor wearing a 'foppish black bow tie'.....can anyone advise the Dame as to the identity of this affected nincompoop? 
Surely, in a sophisticated Borough like ours it cannot be possible....so common and vulgar...




Planning officers line up along a table, councillors along the other side – each group oozing its own self-important mediocrity. A council official called Luke Perkins usually presents the applicants' causes, interestingly deploying the first person plural possessive as he highlights their projected plans with a laser pen: "This is our gym, here our cinema. Staff quarters here, and our pool". This was a "development" in Phillimore Gardens, where a house between two "developments" fell down as a result of the pressure, and its inhabitants, of flats for the elderly, forced to "re-locate". Objectors this time invoked council bylaws banning change to the character of a street, to be told they no longer applied.
You can tell who's who: applicants have year-round tans and expensive suits; objectors wear worried brows; and behind them are phalanxes of architects, "developers" (they used to be called speculators), basement-extension businessmen and parti-pris surveyors. Historical and architectural heritage groups compile meticulous objections, invariably dismissed. The newcomers tend not to partake in residents' groups, which are left to the old guard that also opposes the madness, in vain. At one meeting a lady in Ladbroke Road feared that light to her house would be blocked by an extension, apart from the racket in the basement. But: "If we always voted for what we'd like, we wouldn't get any development", decreed the chairman.
My turn came weeks later: three minutes during which to plead for quiet in the street, my mother's sanity and security. The chairman, wearing a foppish black bow tie, stared back as though I was a mad, errant schoolboy ranting before a staffroom panel. "Are you going to speak to the planning regulations?" he interrupted with a bored sigh. The old-Harrovian applicant next-door insisted his plans were so "very minor" – which they are, compared with some – he will stay in his house during the building (inevitably, they've moved out). As on most occasions, it sails through.
This is the end of neighbourhood, in that sense of shared space and responsibilities to one another

Monday 23 September 2013

TESCO TELL LOCAL RESIDENTS TO GO TO HELL



CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE













Another victory for the RBK&C Noise Nuisance Team led by Tim Davis. 
A comment on the previous topic of noise nuisance suggested this was a department that should have more resources allocated. The Dame agrees......

Mr Davis and team are essential to the Borough.


This case is interesting. Clearly, the contractor, Longcross Ltd and Tesco arrogantly ignored appeals from residents and the Noise Nuisance Team. 

One assumes they were so keen to get on with the job and have profits rolling in that fines of a few thousand pounds were neither here nor there.
Can one imagine Waitrose treating the community in this way? 
And it seems that Westminster Council have just successfully prosecuted Tesco having found huge four legged rodents in one of their stores....disgusting Tesco! rodents

Residents can punish Tesco and tell the Longcross MD what they think of his selfish behaviour 

mark.english@longcross.co.uk

Longcross Ltd have a nice line in bullshit. Here is how they describe their working practices...


"At Longcross we are committed to conducting our business in a professional and ethical manner. We take our corporate responsibilities seriously and work hard to manage the social, environmental and economic impact of our work on the world around us.
Our excellent record in the 'Considerate Constructors' scheme demonstrates our commitment to the local communities within which we work". 



Friday 20 September 2013

DON'T DO AS I DO: DO AS I SAY

An addition to the housing stock has to be a good thing, but the Dame was astonished to find the rather silly Fielding-Mellen crowing about the addition of three flat units created from surplus office space. Why, you might ask, was the Dame being so grudging about what must be a 'good thing'....

Click to enlarge
Well, sharp eyed readers will remember the Dame ridiculing the Council for seeking a blanket exemption to the Government's very sensible plan to relax planning requirements for the conversion of unwanted commercial/office space to provide housing. 
Had the Council not sought the exemption thousands of new residential units could have been created to satiate the huge demand for housing. 
So what the hell was Fielding-Mellen thinking about in preventing the conversion of useless and unneeded commercial/office space into decent housing?


Click to enlarge

Thursday 19 September 2013

STOP PRESS! THE EVENING STANDARD POWER LIST:


Congratulations Cllr Borwick...a credit to RBK&C!
Just where she should be...onwards and upwards....


Also in the list... Kit Malthouse and Phillipa Roe, Leader of Westminster 

Oh, yes and Danny Boys is, as usual, there. 
The Dame congratulates him as one of the most successful local government entrepreneurs of all time! 
He is now the country's highest paid quadruple jobber with nearly £150,000 a year from taxpayers. How the hell does he do it!


Baroness Borwick
Statutory deputy mayor

Enthusiastic and refreshingly genuine. The Mayor makes the most of Victoria Borwick’s natural charm and ferocious work-rate to represent him at meetings and events across the capital. Some City Hall colleagues regard her as a ribbon cutter, but they underestimate her determination. Would stand in for Boris if he fell under a bus — or returned early to Parliament — and is thought to have her eye on the top job herself.

RBK&C NOISE NUISANCE SERVICE GETS PLAUDIT FROM THE DAME


Our Borough tends to attract residents, who, in times past, would have lived in 'sunny places for shady people' as 
Somerset Maugham so succinctly described certain grubby, 'money rich/taste poor', residents of Monaco & the Riviera.




These people now infest our charming Borough importing with them a total lack of consideration for their neighbours. 
They hold rowdy, charmless parties for their gormless friends extending into the early hours of the morning and disrupting the lives of those who have honest livings to make.
Fortunately, they come up against a noise nuisance service with zero tolerance for such selfish, anti social oafs who make life hell for their neighbours.
All of us know the misery these unpleasant types create for those wishing to quietly enjoy our property. 
Well done, Tim Davis of the RBK&C Noise Nuisance Team....keep up the good work.

Next week the Dame will be reporting on the noise polluting activities of the spoilt brat son of a Pakistani(Sindh) tycoon. 
(The Dame has received this correction to comment about the origins of the family: for some reason they prefer to say they are Indian)
His ear drum breaking parties continue into the early hours of the morning.They seem fuelled by substances of greater strength than mere alcohol.......so could be a matter of police interest......

Wednesday 18 September 2013

NICK ROSS SHOULD RESIGN!

Nick Ross, the former Crimewatch presenter is President of the Kensington Society.
The KS, under the leadership of hard working chairman, Amanda Frame, is assiduous about protecting our heritage so
she must be sad to read how Ross plans to wreck the elegant house he has just bought. 
His plans represent everything the Kensington Society loathes.
Nick is a nice guy, thus one imagines the driving force behind this money grubbing scheme is Mrs Caplin.
VULGAR

Nick Ross and his harridan of a wife, Sarah Caplin(No, Sarah...it's not defamatory: you know why ITV parted company with you...fired for bullying) are in serious trouble with their Westminster neighbours over their hideous plans for their new 'mansion'. You can read all about it here

Fortunately, Nick's supporter and chairman of the Westminster Planning Sub Committee, Robert Davis, says he likes it....well, he would wouldn't he!
Davis is the former partner of the late Simon Milton, the ex leader of WCC and Shirley Porter's partner in crime.

Davis is a frightful vulgarian so no surprise that he would like this 'Russian Oligarch' style development.




CAMPDEN HILL RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION HITS OUT OVER SWIMMING POOL

Jealous types accuse the dear old Dame of stealing stories from Miss Horrox of the Kensington & Chelsea Chronicle. 

As a sort of variant of imitation being the sincerest form of flattery the Dame sees no harm is plagiarising Miss Horrox's excellent work.
For those who have not seen the paper the Dame links to her article here David White

The redoubtable Chairman of the Campden Hill Resident Association pulls no punches in attacking the Council over the Holland Park School pool fiasco. 
White is a well known City personality and his views carry a great deal of weight.

Keep up the good work Miss Horrox.....

Monday 16 September 2013

AN URGENT MESSAGE FROM THE KENSINGTON SOCIETY

Dear Members

Hopefully you all received my email sent on 12 September about the public consultation on the future of Notting Hill Gate at Astley House (entrance next to Barclay’s Bank).  There is still time to drop in and give your comments directly to the Council officers:

Monday 16 September 10am-2pm
Wednesday 18 September 3-7pm – including workshop
Thursday 19 September 10am-2pm

There is an on-line questionnaire which we encourage you to respond to, however, we feel there are other issues which the questionnaire does not address.  You can complete the consultation questionnaire online.   Questionnaire

If you are not able to make it to the consultation but have strong feelings about Notting Hill Gate, you can send me your comments and I shall forward them to the project team.  As an aid we have come up with a  few guiding questions which follow the Council’s questionnaire format.  These are presented as a guide and not prescriptive.  What is really needed is your views on what you want for the redevelopment of the area.  There are three main developers and though you may not like it,there will be redevelopment.  Campden Hill Towers, the residential block above McDonald’s, is not part of the redevelopment.  There is the possibility of the redevelopment of the Book Warehouse site along with three buildings to the east.  The Jamie Oliver site is a suggestion as well as the Marks & Spencer and Gate Hill Court sites.  Newcombe House and the buildings running along Kensington Church Street to Kensington Place and along Notting Hill Gate to Farmer Street, just east of the Gate Cinema, will certainly be demolition and redevelopment.  It is a very large undertaking and the area will radically change.

I have followed the structure of the Council’s questionnaire.  If you do go on line and answer the questions, at the end of each section there is the opportunity to add your comments.  You might use these questions as an aid, or just send your reply to me and we shall forward it to the correct officers.

Issue 1: Strengthening the identity of the town centre
  • Do you like the area as it is?  and if so, why?
  • What do you think there are problems with the area?  If so, what specifically are the problems?
 Shops:
  • Do you want more shops and if so, what type of shops? To meet your daily needs or to serve a wider area?
  • Which of the shops that exist are important to you?
  • What shops would you really like to see in Notting Hill Gate?
  • Do you want the area to become a centre for fashion to compete with Westbourne Grove?
  • Do you want to ensure the antique shops are protected or, at least encouraged, to remain on Kensington Church Street?
  • How successful do you think Jamie Oliver has been and do you want more of the same?
  • Do you want more cafes and street life, similar to the South Kensington end of Exhibition Road?
  • Is the Farmers’ Market important to you?
·         How else would you like to see the space used?
 Housing:
  • Do you want luxury flats?
  • Do you want more housing?  If so, what proportion should be affordable?
 Offices
  • Do you want the offices retained?
·         Would you like more offices?  If so, a large office development or small one?
 Culture
  • Do you want a “dynamic new museum or art gallery” in the middle of the area?  

Issue 2: Improving the streets and public spaces
  • Do you think that with so much redevelopment, the opportunity must be taken to improve the Underground station?   
  • Do you think it would improve things if it were easier to cross the roads, such as removing the railings, the central islands or making the road narrower and providing new pedestrian crossings?
  • Would you be opposed to the loss of the car parking on Notting Hill Gate?  (there is a proposal to remove 6 of the short stay spaces).
  • Do you feel the area can take more visitors and more pedestrian traffic?  If not why?  If so why?
  • Do you think that there should be a priority to pedestrians and cyclists?  Or for cars and lorries?

Issue 3: Improving the buildings and architecture
·         Do you feel the existing height of Newcombe House should be the set height for future developments?
  • Do you want taller buildings?
  • Do you feel the density of the area is at its maximum or do you feel that the redevelopment can allow for an increase in density/height?

Since we cannot have everything, what would be your top three priorities for:
  • the role Notting Hill Gate should play?
  • how the streets should be improved?
  • what type of buildings/architecture we should seek?

Friday 13 September 2013

WELL DONE CLLR PAGET-BROWN

The Dame is hearing some extraordinary news from the most unexpected of quarters....
It seems that the Grenfell Action Group invited Nick to meet them. Not only did he do so-on their turf-but actually LISTENED to what they had to say,


Around and about the Borough compliments are
flying in the direction of Nick Paget-Brown.
The Dame feels quite smug: she has always wholeheartedly supported Nick as the best replacement for the awful Pooter.

The Dame has known N P-B over the years. He has always been a Ward councillor who, in a positive way, would respond quickly when asked by residents for help.

Leadership is an intuitive thing. If Nick continues, as he is, he will go down as a notable and reforming influence in the Borough.

Keep up the good work, Nick!

Thursday 12 September 2013

LEAKS ABOUT LEAKY HOLLAND PARK SCHOOL SWIMMING POOL


A report about leaks has been leaked to the Dame.
The headmaster of the £90 million educational extravaganza has been told, to his horror, that 'what lies beneath' has rendered his new glitzy pool unfit for purpose.







The school has been vaunted as an architectural  masterpiece. 

Let's hope that it is not more about style, rather than substance.......

This is the dire news the HM would prefer to be kept sub rosa.


"We discovered over the summer, water leakage into the swimming pool. The water was drained for investigation. We have now established that a substantial amount of ground water has been building up under the pool linings, so much so, that the pressure has blown holes into the concrete slab. It is unclear how, or from where, this water (in essence stagnant water) is entering the pool.
Shepherd Construction are now awaiting instruction from RBKC to begin intrusive investigation. They may of course establish that the problem is not isolated to the pool area. 
(this bit is very worrying for it implies that there are ground engineering problems going far beyond the swimming pool area)
I have been advised that the pool will be out of use for at least the autumn term. 

An unexpected and unfortunate start to the new year."

THE DAME PICKS UP THE GAUNTLET

The Dame makes quite clear on her home page that she has no political adherences so when she gets a letter entitled:

Re: Is the Dame really as unbiased as she claims?

she has no issue about reproducing it, despite the inference in the letter that she is biased: she is not...so Mr, Mrs, Miss Vashtar...here is your answer and the leaflet you asked me to reproduce. 
The Dame is a free spirit!

Dear Dame,
A comment was recently left on your website regarding Labour Councillor, Todd Foreman, that alleged that he was no longer living in the Royal Borough and had turned his back on his Notting Barns constituents to work hard at seeking election as a Labour MP in Bath. 
The same Councillor Foreman, meanwhile, continues picking up a substantial salary for his supposed work as a Notting Barns Councillor while admitting that he currently only has one focus and that is to represent Labour in North East Somerset. 
There is a call locally for Todd Foreman to resign as a RBKC Ward Councillor and let someone who genuinely cares about the area take his place. 
Why, after all, should we be represented by someone who no longer wishes to live in the Rotten Borough and whose total focus is, by his own admission, clearly elsewhere.
It seems that the Dame is very quick to put the boot into Conservative Councillors (Cllr Neal, Moylan, etc) when they misbehave but she is not so quick off the mark when it comes to picking up on the same kind of abuse by members of the Labour or Lib/Dem Groups.
So come on Dame, if you are as genuinely unbiased as you claim, then at least point a spotlight on Todd Foreman's cavalier behaviour and his contemptible treatment of  the Notting Barns residents he was elected to fully represent. Do you dare?
Regards,
Sredni Vashtar.
Click to enlarge




LONDON TAXPAYERS PAY MOYLAN £152,000 A YEAR...THERE IS MONEY IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT!

Shed no tears for Danny Boys Moylan on losing the RBK&C leadership battle and it seems that the Dame has an excellent rival in Steeples Times which has been regaling its many thousand local and international readers on the greed of local cllrs and MP's. Keep it up Mr Steeples!
The Dame hears that he has been appointed to seriously non profit making Crossrail as a non executive director.
This appointment comes as result of being a non executive director of Transport for London.
THE LUCK OF THE IRISH

Now most would think that the fee for this very part time job would be a very nominal fee....say £12,000 a year: after all he is getting a huge wedge from Tfl. 
Wrong! The going rate for this little Crossrail sinecure is a staggering £40,000 a year, plus expenses. This is in addition to the near £24,000 a year Danny rakes in as a non exec on Tfl.

So from Tfl and Crossrail Moylan is collecting £64,000 a year...thanks to Boris. And Boris's generosity with taxpayers' money does not stop there: Boris decided to give Danny a further £75,000 a year as his hopeless Aviation Adviser....so now we have reached £139,000 a year
And it does not stop there....he picks up £12,000 a year from never being around to serve his residents in Queensgate ward bringing his taxpayer generated income to £152,000 a year!

And the poor benighted shareholders of the hugely loss making property trusts he is non executive director of pay him £42,000 a year

So, all in all, Danny Boys is on close to £215,000 a year(with expenses)...eat your heart out,David Cameron!


Wednesday 11 September 2013

MORE ON CLLR MATT AND MUM

L&Q ON THE CASE
It seems London & Quadrant, the housing association which owns 100b Holland Rd, are extremely keen to discuss the property interests of Cllr Neal's mum, Mrs Halina Davis.

It would seem that they were unaware that under her married name she owns a property.
We can be sure that if this was the case she would have had to declare this to L&Q who would not have let one of their properties to her.
Failure to do so would have meant that L&Q would have taken back the property now occupied by Cllr Matt.

It all looks very murky.....

Sunday 8 September 2013

SCRUTINEER...... SCRUTINISE THYSELF

The Dame is anxious to verify some interesting information about Cllr Mathew Neal.....
It appears that Cllr Neal lives at 100b Holland Road: a property owned by London & Quadrant and that Matt's Mum is the leaseholder. However, the same source tells her Matt's Mum, Halina Davis, also owns a flat in Fulham so why would she need two commodious properties when there is a long housing list? The silly old Dame is getting confused.....
and refuses to believe that Matt, an ex employee of a highly successful City PR consultancy, would use accommodation set aside for those in dire housing need. 

Cllr Matt describes himself as a communications expert:sadly such expertise is never made available to those he represents on Cremorne ward. Most residents have never met the man and he makes it even more difficult by refusing to give a contact phone number... just a council email address!  
So the dear, kindly old Dame decided to provide contact details for the phantom Matt.....
Anyway, Matt is a member of the Housing Scrutiny Committee, which ensures that no one abuses housing stock, so the stories must all be mischievous.
But, you can always give your councillor a call on his office or mobile below and ask him to deny these probable lies......

CLICK TO ENLARGE