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| BRAIN SCANNER |
A Labour councillor has just told the Dame the following...
"Buckmaster has secured a 'pound for pound' promise to augment his charity funds, plus managed to do a deal with the manufacturer, so they will have TWO brain scanners which is pretty amazing."
All the Dame can say is "Well done, Councillor Buckmaster....that is an incredible feat".
It has been a stellar Mayoral Year for both the Mayor and his Deputy, Cllr Borwick.
Let's hope the new mayor and his deputy can deploy the same energy and enterprise.
Interestingly, Buckmaster made a very good point. He commented that the role of mayor was non political and thus there was no reason why a future Mayor should not be drawn from the Labour side(not Lib Dem and not Dezzie...please note)
When James Cecil, in a moment of naivety, suggested
something to the same effect he was called up to Pooter's
penthouse suite and told that if he carried on in this way he
could kiss goodbye to a safe seat!
Funny to think humble old Pooter had power of life
and death over the political career of a Cecil!
You will find that James Cecil reminded Cllr. Cockell that he is a Cecil and did not need K+C to promote his political career - should he choose to take one up.
ReplyDeleteSigns of some Labour independence at the COuncil meeting. Their councillors refused to wear "robes" which were paraded by the fashionable Tories and Lib Dem poodles. Cllr Mason made a stirring speech in which he pointed out that most residents struggling to pay their bills and cope at home would not recognise the frippery of the Mayoral nonsense. He rightly observed that we live in two worlds.
DeleteThey hadn't given Cecil a "safe seat".
DeleteSouth Stanley was a Labour ward with two hard working Labour councillors. It's transformation into the Cremorne ward was little more than an act of gerrymandering and even then the Tories only won it by a very narrow margin in 2002. It was far from certain that they would be able to repeat the performance in 2006 when Cecil stood. The Tories did win, but they could have just as easily lost.
The close-run by-election in 2010 following Cllr. Daley's resignation was a less than gentle reminder to the Tory party that the tide could yet turn in Cremorne - Cllr. Hargreaves has a majority of less than 20 votes. End result: the ward is to be extended eastwards yet again in yet another example of gerry-mandering-in-all-but-name in the Royal Borough.
At that point the ward will finally become a "safe" Tory ward, although it is far from clear that this is to the actual benefit of residents; by which I mean those who actually live there, as opposed to those who merely jet in and out and vote Tory (by post).
But then we really can't have any pinkos in the heart of Chelsea can we?
The Council meeting last night was a meeting of contrasts. Buffy did well to raise so much money and secure two machines - but he also enjoyed boasting about it. Was the initiative for his benefit or the benefit of patients? I hope he is certain that the hospital has the budget to train and recruit the extra staff to operate the machines. External interference in the running of a complex organisation like the NHS needs a very sensitive approach
ReplyDeleteFor years Labour has proposed one of their own councillors as Mayor and voting has always been tribal (ie along Party lines). No consideration of who is best for the job. The Tories were obviously stretched for quality last year when they felt they had to nominate a person who had done the job before! And this year they really dredged the barrel by intending to propose Cllr Moylan as Mayor until the Dame put a stop to it. After that, it was the last name on the list of councillors that turned up
ReplyDeleteTo be fair to Cllr. Buckmaster he did try to make the same point during his farewell speech, noting that the office of Mayor was non-political and that this should be reflected in who is elected to the post.
DeleteUnfortunately I doubt many of his colleagues were actually listening. If the back row was anything to go by many of clearly find their share portfolios far more interesting than anything Cllr. Buckmaster might say.
Fig you are spot on. Any casual glance at the younger Tory councillors on the back benches during Cll Paget-Brown's acceptance speech showed them to be completely disengaged. W0rking on iPads, reading papers and yawning. No rapt attention, no listening, no looking at the new Leader. Clearly they think that a plonker is in the job and they will turn easily against him. Nick, be careful!
DeleteThe big event at the Council meeting was the election of the new Leader, Cllr Paget-Brown. Nice words in his acceptance speech about the need to make the Council more resident friendly. Lets see what happens
ReplyDelete"Making the council more resident friendly" is a huge task. Anyone who has run a business knows that reaching out and connecting up requires humility and access. And success for complex organisations depends on a million small things - the Leader alone cannot do everything. It is about the culture and values of the organsation. Cllr Paget-Brown has his work cut out to turn around Hornton Street. Small things speak volumes. The Public Gallery was closed for the council meeting last night because a member of staff made off with the keys and the doors were locked (the first test of ACCESS for residents failed). Cllr Cockell's portrait as ex Leader was already hung in place on the main staircase even before he handed over at the Council meeting (the test of HUMILITY failed). The web site still has not been updated to show the names of the new Cabinet and the new Leader. The home page features a prominent video by Cockell about the glory of his years. Pure self promotion and hubris of the worst kind. There is a huge job to do to turn around and change this culture
DeleteThe access issue to the public gallery is a direct result of staff changes at the desk. Permanent staff have been replaced by contractors (no doubt as a cost saving measure). The contractors are clueless - they seemed to be completely oblivious to the fact that there was even a Council meeting, let alone that members of the public should have access to it.
DeleteThis is the third time that members of the public have tried to attend a Council meeting to find that the door to the public gallery is locked and no-one at the desk knows where the keys are.
Some of the members of the public who attended yesterday's meeting actually ended up having to go through the chamber to get to the public gallery. They had to do the same to get out.
Cllr Borwick made a well judged speech as the outgoing Deputy Mayor. Polish and presence. A future Leader in waiting
ReplyDeleteBuffy is not the most humble person around and loves to puff himself up. Why on earth did he need to tell the meeting that he could not stand in for Princess Alexander at a function when she pulled out at short notice because he was busy with Prince Charles!
ReplyDeleteChristopher is what he is. Lots of good stuff there too. But it was amusing to hear that he nearly missed the Thatcher funeral at St Pauls because he got stuck in a traffic jam. He should have taken the tube like everyone else - except he wanted to look important arriving in the Bentley (which of course he never did manage to do). A lack of the "common touch" as my grandma would say
DeleteThe photo at the top of this article is a bit misleading - it appears to be a photo of a "bog standard" MRI scanner.
ReplyDeleteFrom what was said at the Council meeting Cllr. Buckmaster has actually fund raised for something far less "bog standard" (x2):
http://www.sonowand.no/technology-innovation/sonowand-invite/
That's a seriously nice bit of Scandinavian technology you have there!
Apologies...the Dame is not terribly good at this sort of think.
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