THE SLEAZIEST PM SINCE HAROLD WILSON

Those of the Dame's vintage will remember Harold Wilson's Lavender List prepared by his secretary/mistress, (Lady)Marcia Falkender...

The List, printed on lavender coloured paper, featured a roster of dodgy characters who had paid money to the Labour Party.

Sleazy Boris Johnson has nominated his brother for a peerage as well as the mysterious Lebedev boy who provides Prime Ministerial vacations. (If the Dame had known BJ could be bought with a holiday she would have invited him to cruise on SS Hornet)

'Boy' Lebedev cemented his peerage by making George Osborne editor of his dreary freesheet but questions are still being asked about how the 'Boy' is refinancing his freesheet with mysterious Saudi money.

One person fulminating about the peerage given to Danny 'Boys' Moylan is his former boss, the very dim and greedy Sir Merrick 'Pooter' Cockell.

The Dame put in a call to Sir Pooter to get his reaction. 

The words used by Sir Pooter left even the unshockable Dame trembling and shaking

A CHAINED LEADER TELLS US TO BRUSH OUR TEETH DAILY

Every other day a Mr Price-Thompson, head of the million a year Council Communications dept excitedly rings the leader...."Leader, we have another exciting new 'initiative' to patronise residents and waste more of their money"

This time it's a patronising and infantile publication called 

packed with condescending advice to residents and one particularly annoying one from the Leader about 'keeping safe'.

The point of this dimwitted publication is to try to show the Council as 'caring': instead, it comes across for what it is: a cynical attempt to exploit fears....and why is the Leader wearing a rusty chain....is it a piece of civic regalia or a warning that we may soon be chained up to stop us going out?

A VICTORY FOR COMMONSENSE

Cllr Ian Henderson is a battler and we need more of his sort in local government. 

Fresh from saving Sutton Estate from the rapacious Affinity Sutton Ian turned his attention to the provision of disabled parking access for those visiting Chelsea & Westminster, the Royal Marsden and Royal Brompton Hospitals.

Ian's hard work means RBKC has now agreed to expand free disabled parking in the Borough from one to four hours.

The result of this is that disabled patients will be able to park in streets close to our splendid hospitals....

Good work, Ian

SAUDI MONEY AND THE PLANNING DEPARTMENT

Olayan is a massively rich Saudi company currently engaged in a major development on Knightsbridge.

To further enhance the profitability of its scheme Mrs Olayan persuaded the Council's planning team a section of Basil Street between Sloane Street and Pavilion Road was so little used closing it off would have no adverse impact. 

 

The Council's planners then used data harvested during the lockdown period to back up the Saudi plan.

What the Council failed to tell residents was that:

1. The traffic flow 'research' was undertaken when London was a ghost town

2. The 'research' was funded by the men in Jeddah keen to get their own way.

The Council was at gross fault in not disclosing this 'research' was flawed, useless and driven purely to support the greed of yet another Middle Eastern investor.

WILD WEST IN SOUTH KENSINGTON BUT IT'S OK CI BOOKER SAYS NO CRIME AROUND US

A boy and a girl were quietly enjoying a coffee in South Kensington when they were violently attacked by a couple of bicycle riding thugs. 

The girl was left with a broken clavicle and cheekbone. 

The Facebook extract gives graphic detail as to what happened. 

Chief Inspector Booker is our local police boss. 

He says there is little crime in the area so that's ok then!

He's also the guy who has shown such little interest in the supercar crime. 

He prefers to deploy policemen in Hyde Park harassing harmless breachers of social distancing. 

Rather than incarcerate thugs like this in soft UK prisons we need to come to an arrangement with East European governments. 

The deal would be that we pay for our violent prisoners to serve their sentences in Bulgarian and Romanian prisons. 

Everybody benefits...UK violent crime subsides; our Eastern European neighbours get a new source of income. 

Our violent thugs would learn a new language under the tutelage of a friendly East European prison warder aided by his steel capped boots and baton.

WILL HE WING IT?

There is much concern over how  Cllr  'The Doc' Marwan Elnaghi might acquit himself tonight.
As Labour head of Adult Health and Social Care, he will be responding to questions on the Brompton. 


'The Doc' has rather a reputation for skating on thin edge when it comes to briefing himself up so there is much breath being held....

THE STEEPLES TIMES DELIVERS A KICKING

The Dame may have an acid tongue but nothing like the punishment meted out by her  fellow  blogger the hard-hitting https://www.thesteepletimes.com/brainstorm/royal-rotten-borough/

'Our Borough' evidently goes out to around 90,000 homes. When business is being crushed by business rates and rents it would seem sensible for the Communications Department to have at its fingertips the production and distribution costs of this massive propaganda exercise.

Not to be able to answer a journalist's question on costs smacks of arrogance born of very deep pockets.

TROUBLE IN PARADISE!

Dear Dame,
In the light of the Housing Scrutiny Committee meeting- chaired for the first time by novice Chair Cllr. Kasim Ali, Tory councillors are scrambling to check the rules to find out if a Chair can be removed for not knowing what scrutiny involves. 

The meeting was dominated by a lecture from an academic chum of Chairman Ali - to the extent that there was no time for the items that Tory members of the committee actually wanted to scrutinise. 

Knows nothing about housing

It was over an hour before the speaker even touched on anything that could generously be described as relevant to the Royal Borough.
THINK has some interesting thoughts on this sorry bunch!

Having speakers intended to glorify the academic connections of the Chair threatens to become a habit for the new Labour Chairs and follows the precedent set by Cllr. 'Doctor' Marwan 

Elnaghi who got a chum from Brunel University to irrelevantly wile away the hours during his first committee as Chair of the Adult Services and Health Committee. (And is now rumoured to be on the look out for another speaker of the same ilk for the next meeting) . 
After all, there is currently so little else to discuss in the areas of Social Services and Health is there?

But one must not blame the ingenue Chairs for their ignorance and inexperience. 
Responsibility for this farce lies solely with the current Labour Group leadership who have determined to organise the group solely on the grounds of loyalty to  Dent Coad/Lari, and who have bought the loyalty of the younger members by flattery and stuffing their mouths with gold from the public purse. 
And who cares that they are clueless about scrutiny? 

Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, the ‘old guard.... experienced and competent members sit on the backbenches with nothing to do but plot and despair. 

Yours truly

'one who knows'

A QUIRK OF NATURE: ARIADNE'S NEKTAR

Loved local asset

Ariadne's Nektar is one of those quirky pubs/bars so loved by locals and its neighbours.
So why are these planning arrivistes from East London trying so hard to close it down?

Foster  and Reid

THINK has the inside track on the shenanigans.

THE DEPT OF IDIOT IDEAS

Hidden deep in the bowels of the Town Hall is a room
peopled by mad men and women charged with coming up with idiot ideas to waste taxpayer's money
Their latest is 'street ambassadors'

'What are you doing out'? Go home'

This is the Nanny State at a local level. 

Local business has no need for this trite and ineffectual PR: it needs a council fighting to save local business from the murderous impact of business rates.
RBKC collects on behalf of the Government £375 million from local business. 
As a 'kickback' the Council is given £53 million. 
Does any of that go back to support local business?
Not a bloody sous!
Instead, the money is used on 'projects' totally unrelated to the local economy.
Councils need to stick to their last instead of finding things to do to make itself seem relevant.

A BOASTFUL DAME THANKS HER MANY READERS

Residents don't bother to read the expensive propaganda churned out by the million pounds a year RBKC Communications Department. 

Instead, they tune into the Hornet's Nest. 
Like This is North Kensington THINK  the Hornet's Nest is seen as a beacon of truth in a sea of lies.
Yesterday, nearly 1200 unique visitors dropped in!
When you think the Dame is not a social media 'adept' this really is quite remarkable. 
It demonstrates there is an insatiable thirst for truth on the part of residents too intelligent to be conned into believing 'consultations' mean anything more than an attempt to pacify and seduce.....

The Hornet is not per se anti Council: in fact, it loves to praise good councillors who are truly committed to residents. 
Soon, THINK and the Dame will be compiling a Who's Who of every councillor....the good; the bad and the downright stupid, greedy and useless. 
You can discreetly email the old Dame with your opinion/s.

EMMA DENT COAD THROWS HER WEIGHT BEHIND MERCILESS CHINA

Corbyn's bonkers ex girlfriend

Dear Dame,
Our ex-MP, Emma Dent Coad, joins crazed Diane Abbott in defending China.
You can watch her spouting  DRIVEL and accusing Trump and Johnson of racism.

The Chinese hold black people in total contempt as befits the most racist country in the world. 
The ruthless way the Chinese economically exploit the African continent underlines their sheer nastiness.
Yet Abbott and Dent Coad seem to see the Chinese dictatorship as a paragon of virtue rather that the repressive anti-democratic force it is.
What a narrow escape we had from these two...

Yours sincerely


A very shocked supported of human rights

IT'S ABOUT PRIORITIES

The Dame was recently at that pinnacle of global excellence, The Royal Marsden.

Talking to one of the brilliant young nurses she heard a heartbreaking story-one clearly unexceptional.

This highly skilled cancer nurse had to travel from her home in Finchley to Marsden Sutton on a daily basis.
How can anyone doing such physically and emotionally draining work manage a gruelling daily journey like this?

When Cllr Ian Henderson beat off Affinity Sutton he knew that Sutton Estate was perfect for accommodating key and critical medical staff.
Yet, he had to fight tooth and nail to maintain it as accommodation for those like the Dame's nurse friend.

We really need to focus on the important things....

CYRON GETS PLAUDITS FROM UNLIKELY SOURCES

A significant opinion former and campaigner in North Kensington had this to say about Cllr Anne Cyron.

" I like her....she's bright, likeable and has worked well with campaign groups in  North Kensington-fact, the only lead member to do so."

That same opinion former seemed to obliquely suggest that Anne had a sufficiently strong base to be much more assertive....

Let's hope Cllr Cyron with her impressive business background, takes a long and hard look at the Community/Resident Engagement team who some say let her down badly. 

Well done, Cllr Cyron....keep up the excellent work.

Residents of Allen St? 

Cyron should be your 'go to' ward councillor. 

ALLEN STREET RESIDENTS? KNOW YOUR ENEMY!

The Dame is a shameless old hussy with no compunction in stealing stuff from THINK LINK

What she has 'lifted' will be of particular interest to residents of Allen Street as they fight "The Doc" Quirk's planning recruits from Newham, Hackney and Lewisham.

This is what This is North Kensington has to say about 'the terrible trio;

"These days we have more suits  (senior staff) than ever before and also less accountability and transparency than ever before.

The RBKC  Leadership Team  (Cabinet) do keep telling us that there will be no regeneration – so why are they hiring so many suits who have cut their cloth in regeneration in other London urban areas then? Let’s look at three from Lambeth….

These suits do not come cheap: Sue Foster – now our Director of Planning and Place received a £90K “golden goodbye” from Lambeth before arriving here and Rachel Sharpe   – received £84K.  
Before she danced off to Lambeth, Rachel was  Head of Strategy and Regeneration at Southwark. 
But Rachel has itchy feet  and has recently walked off to  sunny Brighton"

You can read the full story HERE

A NEW ONE FROM NEWHAM!

Doc Quirk, our bombastic CEO, is a man who likes his own way. When a neighbour tried to extend his Newham property the Doc and his wife, Katherine Kerswell,, ex CE of Newham Council, prescribed some nastily expensive legal medicine and got it stopped. HERE
It seems the Doc and his wife still have connections in Newham. 
Barry has appointed yet another East Ender to shake us all up. This time is Amanda Reid, ex Newham Planning head. 
There's no constancy under the reign of the Doc.

Doc and Mrs Quirk

Amanda from Newham!

THE NEW PLANNING PERSON....FOSTERING DISLIKE ALREADY!

Sue Foster, the new planning boss, clearly has contempt for residents-or at least for those in Lambeth/Hackney.

She might find that pushing residents of RBKC around is a different ball game.

Her bullying style has so infuriated residents that the Dame senses difficult days ahead..

The residents she is trying to kick around are a very different kettle of fish!
The Dame has plucked out this comment by someone who knows all about Sue's little tricks.
Sue? We are watching you! 
The residents around Allen St have the measure of you and your games......

"About Sue Foster while at Lambeth....new borough same old tricks

Sue Foster’s Hackney Mafia forcing the eviction of Lambeth residents

Sue Foster, ‘place shaper’ extraordinaire, steamed through Hackney pushing out the locals and making space for the developers. 
At the moment she’s in Lambeth and it’s a re-run of her Hackney gentrification process.

She’s recently brought in Simon Matthews, ex-Hackney councillor and dodgy hatchet man. 
Try and negotiate to buy your home and you have to deal with Foster & Matthews concocting inflated prices out of thin air: the borough valuers don’t get a look in. 
The situation is mind-bogglingly filthy.

Lambeth’s councillors are generally too gutless to stand up against this onslaught, and if they do try and make a stand then they get deselected… witness Helen O’Malley’s disgusting treatment at the hands of the Clapham Town Labour Party.

They seem to want to keep Lambeth residents in check; ghettoise the low waged, free up street properties for developers, landlords and speculators....and they want everyone to toe some invisible line.

Lib Peck, pull yourself together.

What is Sue Foster’s agenda? 
What was she asked to do? Who asked her to do it?

What line does Clapham Town Labour Party, toe?

Bottom line… where is the money going?

Say goodbye to democracy, or protest against the betrayal of ordinary Lambeth residents by a Lambeth council that’s slavishly enthralled to some ‘behind-the-scenes’ corporate interests."

TREATING US LIKE CHILDREN

Is it just the Dame?
Every time Johnson or one of his hopeless sidekicks-Jenrick/Shapps/Hancock-open their mouths it's to tell us to behave or we will be sent back into isolation.

Treating us like children

Conservatives are supposed to be the party that encourages individual responsibility. 
Having these clowns threateningly tell us to behave is really quite humiliating. 



Treating the British people as if they are infants is not a good look.

BIMBO HART; HIS SOCIAL ALCHEMIST BIMBO AND A CASCADE OF LIES

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

The Dame often feels she needs a 'social alchemist' in her little Hermes 'toolbox'.

Having your own personal 'social alchemist' is now all the rage.

In fact, Bimbo Hart in his efforts with RBKC's planners has let loose his own 'social alchemist' on them.

Cascade PR are retained by Hart to bluff residents into believing that the new development plan has support by cynically using the support for the previous and acceptable plan. 

Is this the sort of dishonest duplicity that Cascade's Petronella considers socially responsible? 

The Dame thinks it's 'socially reprehensible'.

THE DAME HAS ERRED

The Dame does make mistakes and when she does she is abject in her apologies. Sue Harris is head suit for Environment and Communities-not planning. 
This Sue was the idiot who gave the green light for the Carrabino piano legal fiasco. You can read about that waste HERE



To the left in every way in every way is Sue Foster who now runs RBKC planning. 




Sue has done well out of local government picking a close to £100k payoff funded by the poor bloody ratepayers of Lambeth.

We K&C folk must hope we don't get turned over!

Sue must be a bit overwhelmed having to deal with highly educated and articulate Kensington folk.
Sue, coming from Hackney and Lambeth is probably used to getting her own way: she might find life not so easy doing battle with residents living near Avon House.

Foster seems to think she can just ignore residents and steamroller the planning committee into granting permission for mysteriously rich Swiss-based 'Bimbo' Hart's disgusting redevelopment of Avon House in Allen St. 
To catch up readers to need to read THIS
But then why would Sue care? 
Like Bimbo she doesn't live in the Borough. Here' s what a resident had to say about Foster's ludicrous statement supporting Bimbo.

Dear Dame,

I am writing to you as a resident of Kensington who lives adjacent to Avon House, Allen Street. I read with great interest your 'expose' on Harry Bimbo Hart, a connected financial investor who is behind the redevelopment into an “ultra-luxury” care home. 

The Director of Planning has just released an addendum to their original report recommending the planning committee approve the proposal. Some of the statements in the report, however, are so very clearly biased that I feel the Director of Planning should be ashamed of herself. For reasons known only to herself she is deliberately misleading elected councillors.

For instance, 16 Allen Street have had their own surveyor assess the light impact which results in reduction in daylight distribution of 54.1% (down from 55.9% before the amendment of this current design). This is very significant and much more than the 20% BRE target value. 

Yet  her report then says “ Despite this conclusion from the neighbour's consultant, it is clear that the revised scheme has helped to reduce the impact upon 16 Allen Street in terms of loss of light. Nonetheless this impact would not so significant as to result in a harmful impact upon the living conditions of the occupiers of this property.”

It is wholly irrelevant if the revised scheme has “helped reduce the impact” when that impact is a very tiny improvement from 55.9% light reduction to 54.1%. 

How can a light reduction of this magnitude not be harmful? More than half the light in that room is gone. 

This is truly disingenuous...actually, it is a lie from a highly paid Council officer.

RBKC gave permission for a double basement for purposes of a neurological care centre. 

Yet now we read “The proposal includes two levels of basement accommodation, as established by an extant 2016 permission and in order for the care home to function successfully” 

So do care homes without a second basement not function successfully? 

Sue Foster must think the Planning Committee are idiotic to accept such a dimwitted claim!

This exception was for a specific medical purpose yet this purpose no longer exists. 

How RBKC can endorse this development when there are 127 objections to date with 20 support statements is truly astonishing especially when this care home will be an “ultra-luxury” care home. 

We all want the site to be used to good purpose and a thoughtfully designed care home to be operational. Yet an “ultra-luxury” care home developed by financial investor Melford Capital will not likely generate the benefit to our community which we all seek. I would strongly encourage RBKC planning to revisit their endorsement, consider their statement that a 50%+ daylight reduction is not harmful and respond to residents' emails. 

In other words, RBKC planning officers should do the job taxpayers pay them to do.

As per your previous article on this matter I now truly wonder what “pull” Harry “Bimbo” Hart has in RBKC and their planning department.

AN ALLEN ST  RESIDENT

DOC QUIRK: EMPIRE BUILDER.... SANS PAREIL

Click to Enlarge

This chart shows the extraordinary rapid build-up of senior-level council officers. It doesn't even touch upon the mid-ranking officers. 
This has all happened under Doc Quirk's watch. The Doc needs to take one of his scalpels to it! 
Oh, but I forget, he's not a real doc!

No wonder the council will soon come running to residents cap in hand for more dosh!
And, remember, our council is one of the UK's mini ones.....
Councillors, if on the side of residents, should never have allowed this outgrowth of non jobs at a time when the economy is in stall mode.