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Pooter Cockell, when leader, sanctioned the spending of £200,000 on a horrible old bit of Gormley metal because he loved the idea of being a patron of the arts using our Money
Those knowing this ex fag salesman and faux Medici know he hasn't a cultured bone in his tubby little body!
For young children, books are a vital part of their growing up: books allow them to escape from a grey and threatening world.
So when the Dame read this report in the Standard she was fuming.
We are the world's richest borough: we have close to £300 million in reserves-through over taxation, yet have no money for precious books.
We can waste hundreds of thousands of pounds co-sponsoring the NOUR Festival with the repressive dictatorship, Qatar, but need to call on charities to fill the empty book shelves of the Kensington Aldridge Academy....a school educating children in the most deprived part of the Royal Borough.
It's about time this council decided what is important....nebulous art projects-or our most precious natural asset-our children.
And before the idiot Palmer accuses the blog of being a Labour blog the Dame just happens to be one of those relics of the past....a Tory who believes in fair play.
Cockle spent £100 million to build Holland Park School hoping that the "splash" would get him a place in the House of Lords. The Dame put paid to that.
ReplyDeleteN Kensington carries no social cachet so Cockle only managed to find £24 million to build a new school. No designer chairs or Gormely sculptures. In fact no art at all. And books, of course, are out of the question. Most of the students do not speak English anyway.
I have first-hand knowledge as a parent and I can assure you that the students do speak English. Please take your prejudices elsewhere.
DeleteI think they were trying to be ironic
Delete12:35
DeleteWith respect, you are incorrect in your assertion that RBKC is not paying for any art at the new, but still unfinished, Kensington Aldridge Academy.
There is a plan for the Rotten Borough to spend nearly £200,000 on a piece of junk art for the Academy.
Propping up the KAA Art Steering Group and deciding how this money should be spent is none other than local Labour Councillor, Judith Blakeman.
Thank goodness for the press. This story is a political and practical failure for the Tories in Kensington. Paget-Brown is fast becoming the "banana skin" Leader.
ReplyDeleteWhat about that other "representative of the people", the MP Rifkind? Nowhere to be seen or heard.
The new Conservative Party HQ is in N Kensington and running on a cut price budget after the reptiles were turfed out of 1A Manor Street by the Cadogan property developers. The traditional "functions" activity in 1A has died the death. No one is interested in risking Ladboke Grove after dark or getting the A to Z out of the bottom drawer to find the way. Time therefore for fragrant Howells and absentee Rifkind to start taking an interest in their patch.
DeleteOpera for the toffs in Holland Park but no books for the kids in North Kensington. Hornton Street has got it about right.
ReplyDeleteThe Council pays Fitzpatrick and his PR Department £500k every year. Why did Mr Fitzpatrick not spike this story? Or stop it? What is the point of this PR Department?
ReplyDeleteMy information is that the shelves were cleared of books in order to carry out a deep clean to avoid the spread of ebola.
Again, please take your prejudices elsewhere.
DeleteRBKC's motto has long been: "Take from the Poor and Squander for the Alleged Benefit of the Rich."
ReplyDeleteAs for Rifkind, since fox hunting has been outlawed, RBKC residents should engage in a new blood sport: MP Hunting! By foot or on horseback residents of all classes can chase their elusive prey - unseen except on TV pontificating on the "World Stage."
When will Mathew Carrington start to put himself about?
DeleteAs chair of the parliamentary security committee, Rifkind appeared on the Andrew Marr Show this morning. He looked about 90, which may be considered rather too old to hold our secret services to account over Guantanamo etc. However, he's apparently a mere 68 and was first elected to parliament in 1974. Forty years as an MP is too long. We deserve someone capable of responding to us.
ReplyDelete