In business, cost cutting is always tough: in local government it's tougher.
Emma Dent Coad has written a sensitive, highly charged blog about the importance of prioritising cuts and so the Dame is happy to share HER THOUGHTS with readers.
This is not about politics: it's about what is right and proper.
The reign of Pooter Cockell was notable for profligacy and gross excess with our money....Chelsea Care....£1 million squandered; the £1million year Opera Holland Park; that £27 million 'white elephant' Exhibition Road and Pooter's play for a peerage, the £97 million extravagance, Holland Park School....
And, of course, emblematic of it all the folie de grandeur £120,000 Bentley......
So this should be an era when we are generous to those
unblessed with material riches.
Children in our cities have a tough time and play areas are hugely important in their developing lives.
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This is the time for Nick to say, " I won't agree this; we have £280 million in reserves for this sort of eventuality and I intend to deploy it here."
Nick is a good man....let's hope he will do what is right and save the play centres.
An excellent blog with a new epithet for the rotten borough - Realty Brokers of Kensington & Chelsea! So accurate.They'd sell off the very air we breathe to the Chinese if they could work out how to package it!
ReplyDeleteOn the pretext of "privatisation, on Wednesday evening the Council will debate closing closing play areas for the community's most vulnerable children - doubtless in order to provide yet more millions for HPO.
One wonders how many needlessly deprived local children will eventually get into trouble with the law - ending up in jail at taxpayers' expense - costing more than Eton.
Dear Dame, I respect the way you run this blog you are truly the only independent voice that lets residents know what the elected members are up to on their own behalf. I realise that you seem to have a high regard for Pagett Brown but we have yet to see any action. He wafts around the Borough and does precisely what?
ReplyDeleteThe demolition of the play service into private hands or the hands of head teachers is a mad and ignorant plan. Each have their eye on how much money they can make for themselves, not on what can be done to develop the local community. The skills that RBKC Play Service had for all children but especially those that were deemed hard to reach or troublesome is second to none. The service has literally been a lifeline for children and families including children who are young carers who rarely get an opportunity to play like other children. We are told time and time again this Borough has to save money yet on NPB watch, Conran was given a loan because he needed it for his vanity project, Holland Park Opera given millions. This money could have secured precious services that matter to local people, but then of course the culling of the community continues for the rich and not so present. What does NPG actually do about it...grin his way through it. Deplorable.
Nick needs time. He is a cautious soul who finds himself as the unexpected Leader of K&C. None are more surprised than he himself. Once he gets into his stride he has one or two things to prove to himself which have been a long time coming. But the muddle is getting worked out.
ReplyDeleteA very interesting observation. Nobody expected Cockell to go. A man consumed by hubris and corrupted by power and supported by poodles. The expectation was that he would continue for a long time. It was only the ruthless campaign by the Dame to expose him for what he had become that created the totally unexpected Palace Revolution. And a somewhat bewildered but thrilled Paget-Brown emerged as the man in the middle of Moylan and Fielding-Mellen.
DeleteBut FOTW, 'goodness' is not enough. A leader needs to be competent. Poor NPB lacks the skills and vision. He is out of his depth and doesn't have the 'savoir-faire' (eg lying skills) to talk his way through it. A man defeated, and getting rather depressed. Sad days for RBKC.
DeleteNick is the winner. He is the guy that we need to work with. There are others who have been rash enough to put their names forward for the Leadership - too awful to contemplate. And then there are others who thought about it but went off in a hissy fit because they did not find support. Also too awful to think about.
DeleteSo Paget-Brown is our man. In future years lets hope that the spirit and high calling of Public Service returns to Hornton Street. This will act like a magnet for people of quality to stand as Councillors. The whole tone of the place will change.
Sounds a bit like Gordon Brown. Longing for the leadership but came in with no plan and paralysing indecision - except where the arts are concerned.
ReplyDeleteMake no mistake, NPG is perfectly capable of lying like a trooper when attempting to extract himself from a perceived tight corner. Having said that, he's still by far the best on offer. The alternative was and remains too ghastly to contemplate.
ReplyDeleteSorry, it's NPB of course.
ReplyDeleteIts a Labour blog. Pathetic
ReplyDeleteWhat in particular is 'pathetic'? Wanting to save Children's Services? Voters find that "Admirable". Perhaps you're "disgusting"?
DeleteNick Paget Brown may be a decent, honourable man trying his best in difficult days, but as a leader he is weak, ineffective and a prevaricator, desperate to keep his thuggish councillors happy.
ReplyDeleteCllr. Moylan would know how to lead.
lead us all into disaster.....
DeleteMoylan hasn't managed to keep the various jobs he's been given, just to keep him out of the way. He's a menace to others.
ReplyDelete