SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITY ALLOWANCES AND JOBS FOR THE BOYS & GIRLS

The meeting at the Town Hall to demand answers from Thames Water was a  sheer waste of time.

Cllrs Lindsay and Pascall held Thames Water to account in a way that did them credit but the chairing of the meeting was so amateurish as to be embarrassing. 

For well over an hour Cllr Rossi, the Scrutiny Committee chair read out 'filtered' questions from non-attendees. 

This ceased only when Justin Downes forcefully interrupted to say victims who had taken the trouble to attend were being timed out.

Most victims came to hear whether they would be compensated and the clear answer was NO.

Cllr Rossi says there will be a further Town Hall meeting in December. 

The advice from the Hornet is don't bother attending. 

These meetings are pure PR. Nothing will come out of them. 

Cllr Rossi is paid close to £30,000 a year to chair the Scrutiny Committee. 

It would seem the only qualification for the £2,400 a month 'job' is 'time served'. 

It is not so much the money wasted but the fact that she is unqualified to head up a vital overseeing and scrutinising function. 

When asked whether the Council's Legal Dept might seek Council's Opinion Rossi snootily rejected the suggestion.

Surely there must be a lawyer/accountant councillor to give this committee edge?

Rossi is not the only councillor unfit for purpose and being paid a huge allowance. 

The Dame will be looking closely at others in the next few weeks. 

This is our money and we need to ensure it is not a question of 'jobs for the boys and girls.

On the other hand, there are some excellent councillors who well deserve their SRA...they too, will be named and praised.

A TEETOTAL CHANCELLOR POSING WITH A BEER SWILLING BUFFOON?

Rishi Sunak seems to be falling into all sorts of 'beer traps' set by the buffoon, Boris.

Most intelligent people see through Johnson and that must include the very bright Sunak. 

So why does he allow Johnson to force him into joining his drearily puerile publicity shots? 

The only answer must be it's Johnson's clumsy way of undermining him.

Sunak should be ashamed of himself for falling for Johnson's stupid stunts.

IS THAMES WATER JUDICIALLY BULLET PROOF? RBK&C? YOU HAVE A DUTY TO US RESIDENTS

The lives of thousands of residents have been wrecked by Thames Water. 

Thames Water says any claims arising from the mid-July floods will not be met as it has not been negligent. That position needs to be tested in court.

It is only right that the Council stands behind residents and pays £20,000 or so for a top counsel's opinion. 

So, no excuses, Cllr Campbell. Show your mettle. 

Tell your 'boss' Doc Quirk you want an opinion on your desk within the month!

LAGOS COMES TO THE ROYAL BOROUGH!

 

Who on the Council authorised this appalling street mess in Earls Court? 

The Dame is a much-travelled old thing but has only ever seen such hideous 'catering tents' in the rougher parts of Lagos.

Which councillor or officer thought this mess was a good idea?
They would never have allowed it on their own street.

ANOTHER 'SUEZ' CRISIS!

Above...a rare beast

Dear Dame,

Mr. Oliver told last Monday's Town Hall meeting that RBKC/Suez had cleansed the 4 gullies on Portobello Road on Sunday 11th July yet by Monday12th all four were blocked!

Mr. Oliver is a very nice man. 

He genuinely believes that the cleansing was carried out because he has Suez’s paperwork to “prove” it. 

RBKC is tiny with a tiny and still declining population. 

There's no industry or agriculture. 

Despite this RBKC pays £25million a year for its waste contract - twice the going rate. 

Statistics related to this contract fail to stand up to scrutiny. 

By law, all businesses must pay for all their own waste; except in RBKC. 

Here, residents pick up the tab.  

Suez claims this is because it provides a “gold-plated” service - except when it doesn’t!

It is self-evident that since four gullies in Portobello Road were cleaned on Sunday yet all four blocked by Monday, all RBKC gullies must be cleansed every day!

Regards,

Marion Gettleson

THE DAME WARNS A YOUNG POLITICIAN

 

This is Roberto Weedon-Sanz, the interesting choice for Queen's Gate. 

His credentials are impeccable: a part-time copper, volunteer and President of The Oxford Union.

Lordly Moylan was also an OU president and a Catholic. 

The Dame surmises that Roberto being ex St Benet's Hall may also be a Catholic and putting 2 and 2 together wonders if Lordly has befriended Roberto....

Anyway, Roberto is obviously destined for a glittering political career.

But, Roberto, a word of advice: on no account become the protege of the sinister Lordly Moylan. 

All councillors loathe Lordly and to be seen as his 'creature' will do you no good....

CLLR HEALY TO HIT MASON AND SIMMONS WITH LIBEL ACTION

The Dame hears that Cllr Mason and Claire Simmons will be receiving a lawyer's letter and a claim for substantial damages for libel.... plus legal costs.

Mason and Simmons could mitigate their potential losses by begging for forgiveness and apologising: let's see.

MARION GETTLESON CONJURES UP A FLOOD OF GULLY CLEANERS

Once never seen....now everywhere

At the Council meeting last Monday, Terry Oliver, director of Cleaner Greener and Cultural Services said that gully cleaning was part of Suez's contract yet NO ONE had ever seen one of these machines in operation.

Suddenly, they are everywhere....a bit like waiting for a bus for ages and then several turn up.

Residents sent the Dame images of two of these beasts. One assumes that Mr. Oliver read the Riot Act and Suez hired in a few.

Cleaning gullies is an essential part of flood prevention. Suez should be punished for breaching its contract and contributing to the floods.

Incidentally, Mr. Oliver's portfolio seems odd....street cleaning & Culture don't spring to mind as bedfellows.

TMO'S ROBERT BLACK ATTACKED MACKOVER, A MAN OF PROBITY

 

                                    

After Mr. Black expressed concern that Mr. Mackover had been “very negative about the TMO”, Ms Johnson replied: “In short Cllr Mackover knows nothing about this issue… We’ve been through this before and I refuse to open this up again as a subject for Cllr Pascal [another member of the scrutiny committee] to dwell on.”

To get the context of Black's criticism of Sam Mackover's deep and well-held concerns this LINK to the Inside Housing article is instructive

OUT THROUGH THE QUEEN'S GATE

Out...Woodger

Back...Mackover

It's not just Norland Ward having 'up's and downs'.... it seems that there's been a purge in Queen's Gate. 

Those 'in the know' say Milord Moylan is the 'eminence grise' behind it all. 

Evidently, some PR chappie who worked for Shaun Bailey is being 'fitted up' for the ward and his Lordship is deeply involved.

So out go Cllrs Woodger and Palmer to be replaced by excellent ex councillor Sam Mackover whose personal integrity was well recognised by all. Welcome back, Sam!

But what about Cllr Chauhan: he seems a good egg? Is he to be pushed through the Gate too?

Yes, Dame...he's out too. It's a clean sweep!

AN IMPORTANT FAREWELL LETTER FROM CLLR PRESS

 Dear fellow Colville Labour members and neighbours,

It's been an honour and privilege to serve as your Labour Colville Councillor since May 2014, when I and labour colleagues reclaimed Colville as a Labour ward - taken back from 2 Lib Dems and I independent.  And I am proud that our work and record resulted in the doubling of my own vote in the 2018 election.

So it is with regret and disappointment that I am informing you I am not re-standing at the next election in May 2022. I feel unable to continue and stand as a Labour candidate as I am unable to support and represent the current CLP (Constituency Labour Party) leadership and the K&C Labour Group of Councillors leadership.

I am a left-wing socialist and I fully support Jeremy Corbyn's 2017 and 2019 Manifesto, but I am also a social-democrat and my life's career has been actively promoting and supporting democratic socialism, civil-society organisations and human rights movements in the Middle-East, Palestine, Iraq and Eastern Europe, and I am devastated that it is back here in this country, in the Labour Party, in Kensington, and since 2017 I have come up against such extreme authoritarianism, factionalism, bullying, intimidation and repression of alternative voices as is current in the Kensington CLP and Labour Group of councillors.

A very small number of Labour Councillors now control leadership of the Labour Group, the CLP Executive and CLP branches. The same few individuals dominating each branch of our local party. And since early 2020 they have made new members feel very unwelcome and publicly intimidated and attacked their views at CLP and Branch meetings and reduced active attendance to a handful.  They have presented slates of uncontested and unknown names as nominees for CLP Exec elections resulting in a cabal of @26 CLP Exec members who control our local CLP:  using the creation of job-shares to create a party within a party.

They have also ensured through bullying and intimidation, and disregarding Labour Party rules, that mainstream Labour councillors have been stripped of all positions on the Labour Group and Council's scrutiny committees - even if it means that there are Labour vacancies on some key committees - resulting in little or no scrutiny of the Council leadership by the Labour Group since 2019. 

They do not represent the Labour Party and this Kensington CLP where we now have a majority of mainstream socially-democratic members.

Seven Labour councillors, the majority, have submitted complaints of bullying and intimidation to London Region but given other priorities these have yet to be looked into by headquarters. 

I am therefore not re-standing as I feel my energies and experience are better used as a local activist and campaigner and outside the Kensington Labour Party. 

I will continue to be a local Colville activist, especially as regards social housing and the local economy and markets, as I have been for the past 25 years, and look forward to working with you all as we continue to campaign together on relevant local issues.

I hope you will support my colleagues  Ian Henderson and Nadia Nail as they stand to continue to represent Colville members and residents as your local Labour ward Councillors.

In solidarity
and warm wishes

Monica
Councillor Press

PRESSED OUT OF OFFICE

out on the streets helping people during the COVID 19 crisis

The Dame managed to get a copy of this letter. It was not for general circulation but we all know the Dame can get her bejewelled fingers on anything!

It seems that Cllr Monica Press can take no more of the puerile antics of the Certifiable wing of the Labour Party: she has thrown in the towel. 

Press was one of the good RBKC councillors who took her role helping ALL residents seriously.

The Council can ill afford to lose a councillor of this calibre.

WILLIS TOWERS WATSON REJECTING ALL FLOOD CLAIMS AGAINST THAMES WATER

If your lives and livelihoods have been wrecked by Thames Water the Dame has more bad news.

At the Scrutiny meeting at the Town Hall clumsily handled by Cllr Rossi( the Dame was astonished to see this lady is picking up an allowance of close to £30,000 a year-who said councils were strapped for cash!) victims were handed out claim forms.

It now transpires that Thames Water's broker is rejecting all claims on the basis that there was no negligence. 

So, Thames Water was cynically misleading victims and Willis Towers Watson is claiming the Independent Review's remit will not cover potential negligence.

What a waste of everybody's time.

JUDICIAL REVIEW ON MAD CYCLING LANE

 

Dear Dame,

After a two-month hiatus Better Streets for Kensington Chelsea have finally managed to make a statement regarding the £12,206 resting in their account.  They are seeking to reinstate Kensington High Street cycle lane through a judicial review.  They're probably back from sunning themselves in foreign climbs! 

"PERMISSION KLAXON after a long summer & a lot of back and forth we have a good news update.

A huge thank you to all of you for your vital support, a massive thanks to ELF Law and our pro-bono legal team, today we succeeded in being granted a full hearing for Judicial Review of RBKC ripping out the  lane on High St Ken

What’s next?

For the JR we’ll wait to get a date for the hearing & swap notes with WeAreCyclingUK. We’ll keep campaigning to make our streets safer, greener and fairer. And we hope RBKC take a breath & turns a page - we’ll be more than happy to help.

Again, thank you all!

JK

GULLED BY SUEZ

at last!!

Two companies have responsibility for the disastrous flooding in July.

They are Thames Water and the Council's Gully Cleaning contractor, Suez.

At the Town Hall meeting, voices were raised in fury at the absence of any form of gully cleaning by French-owned Suez contributing to the flooding caused by Chinese/ Middle Eastern-owned Thames Water.

The redoubtable Marion Gettleson (aka Mrs. Portobello) smashed Council claims that gully cleaning tankers were regular sights on our streets. The reality is that Suez lie about gully cleaning and never bother with this part of their contract.

Thanks to Marion we are at last seeing the Council forcing Suez to do their job.

Are we now so enfeebled as a nation that we have to rely on the Chinese and French? If we are it's doing us no good!

FUNDING THE BARRY QUIRK'S OF THIS WORLD COST CLOSE TO THE NATIONAL DEBT OF £2.4 TRILLION

A Fat Cat Town Clerk

When 'Baz' Quirk (as he was sneeringly known in his Lewisham days) rambles on about Council tax having to rise to pay for 'services' think of another reason.

A report just published comes up with the terrifying figure of £2.2 trillion to fund final salary linked pensions Baz and tens of thousands of his ilk benefit from.

In the private sector, you can forget that sort of deal: such vulgarly extravagant pension schemes were abandoned years ago.

Quirk costs local taxpayers a little short of £300,000 a year. When he retires he will collect £120-135k a year.

A myth pushed out is these outrageous amounts are needed to attract and retain top people. 

The reality is that the private sector would have no interest in whatever skills Doc Quirk claims to have. 

The Public Sector has fixed the pensions system to its own outrageous advantage and we pay the price in the taxes we pay.

A PLAY FOR OUR 'PLACE' AND OUR TIMES

 

Dear Dame,  

At the Tabernacle Theatre I saw a great piece of theatre and a thought provoking performance.

Grenfell was an accident waiting to happen because of long term neglect.

The inflammable cladding is a separate issue. 

Tragically, it made the fire much worse. But the cladding is an example of a dishonest manufacturer concealing the flamable nature of the material and exploiting the Value Engineering process-one designed to save public money. Facilitating all of this was a complacent and contemptuous TMO.

Sitting atop of all this is a tricky political situation.It needs clear and strong local leadership to get results not the usual box ticking, buck passing and bureaucracy. 

K&C is a long and thin Borough. The centre is immensely wealthy: the ends very poor. The well invested parks and public realm in the centre is enjoyed by residents who earn (or inherited) big money and pay huge taxes to beautify and enjoy their public realm.

 

Residents at the poorer end pay little or no tax (and many are on Social Benefit) but their housing and public services consume vast amounts of money. Balancing up means redistribution of income. Because of the extremes of poverty and wealth in this Borough stark choices have to be made.

 

RBK&C has got the balance wrong. We make matters worse by splurging on vanity projects that inflate the egos of self interested local politicians.

 

Until recently, for example, K&C had the only civic opera in the UK (Opera Holland Park). About £20 million of Council Tax was used to subsidise this so councillors could have their 'Glyndebourne in the Park'. But no sprinklers in Grenfell………

The “balance” problem in K&C is the result of monopoly. The voter turnout is around 30% and we mostly vote Tory on autopilot. There is a huge Conservative majority as has been for more than 60 years. This does not make for balanced judgements - just corrupted power.

My hope is that the tragedy of Grenfell will be a catalyst  to allow conditions for a strong local Leader.....the Leader of the Council....to emerge and replace the puffed up, self servers who have filled the position for far too long. But this is going to require people of rectitude and intelligence- supported by the media- to keep agitating for change.

Some of the participants at the post play Q&A session last night were calling for a new political order. This won’t happen. But we need good, strong and sensitive Leadership and some serious trouble shooting concerning the stewardship of public housing.

 

Dame, in case you and your readers have not seen it, the video below  summarises very well the disconnect between rich and poor in the Borough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcJPlkqOYX0

I am Conservative and yet a great critic of our Council.

 

I have seen countless examples of wasted money....money which could have been used to invest in poor areas. The Leader of this Council wearing another hat boasted that the construction of Holland Park School cost taxpayers nothing as it was funded by the sale of council land. What she seemed incapable of grasping was that diverting the proceeds to build the school cost £40 million more than was needed. So, not only did it cost a very big 'something' but  more than double what was was necessary.

 

No secondary school, as Michael Gove said should cost more than £40 million HPS cost over double that. 

  

 

THE DAME FLEW OFF FOR A FLU JAB

 

Darling Dame,

We 'oldies' were raised not to dwell on health issues....it was considered  'pas comme il faut'.

So I was fascinated to see in the Council 'communication' published by the £650k a year Council PR Dept an image of the £75k a year council leader having a shot in the arm.

Is this a prelude to a series of 'heath-related' shots?

I really don't think I care to see pictures of her bunions being excavated or the good Dr Quirk taking her blood pressure.

Enough of this cult of the Leader, please

Yours fondly,

The Duchess of Rutland

RENATIONALISE THAMES WATER

This is Nick Land. 

He's the senior non-executive director of Thames Water. More relevantly, he's deputy chairman.

The chairman is not well so chairing the company falls to Land. That means ensuring the Chief Executive, £800k a year, Sarah Bentley does her job.

To be fair to Ian Marchant when Hackney was flooded by a burst water main Marchant turned up to meet residents.

Good leaders lead from the front: lousy ones hide behind their junior staff. 

Last night, the Council's Scrutiny committee held a meeting for residents whose lives and health have been destroyed by Thames Water's incompetence.

Nick Land, as deputy chairman, should have forced Bentley to attend last night's meeting. 

Insiders suggest that Bentley has been 'rather absent'  so, rather than deigning to turn up, she left it to George Mayhew, Director of Corporate Affairs to take the flak. This he did with courage and skill.

Thames Water has form for treating customers with cavalier disregard. Well done, the Council for putting this dreadful company's feet to the fire. Cllr Lindsay read an especially heartfelt letter from a resident whose life had been turned upside down

According to George Mayhew Thames Water is turning itself around under Bentley's 'leadership'! 

So far, we have seen little leadership from the over populous executive and non executive board of this dud company,

Tiny Rowland saw non-execs as decorations on the Christmas Tree; maybe the old rascal was right!

THE DAME HITS HIGHS AGAIN

 

The Dame has been asked about numbers: yesterday 950.

The French Marxist, Monsieur Le Marquis de Florence claims that no one reads The Dame's musings. 

The figures show that Marxists are congenital liars and only fools believe them.

A MISGUIDED WOMAN

 

Dear Dame, 

This is my take on Emma Dent Coad

• She is misguided in the way that she treats Henderson. She is setting her stall out to make a come back at the next General Election. She knows that Henderson commands respect and is an obstacle to her getting back in.

• She was misguided when she served on the TMO Board for four years and four months and allowed the TMO to see off Council tenants - toeing the collective responsibility line at all times.

• She was misguided when she was Convenor of Opposition Group Councillors for a year which is why they sacked her and brought in Atkinson to do the job.

• She was misguided when she repeated nasty comments about Shaun Bailey supposedly made to her by a Black woman. She repeated these highly prejudicial racist remarks because she agreed with them and they suited the point that she wanted to make. How horrid!

• She was misguided when she told a woman who objected to her expressing support for the Fire Brigade after the Grenfell Tower fire that "she had not decided what her position would be." That poor woman whose husband had jumped to his death had very real concerns about the Fire Brigade on that night and the Moore Bick Inquiry agreed with her. She did not heed the warning she was given.

• She was misguided when she "liked" an antisemitic Facebook article containing a virulent antisemitic trope that a well-adjusted ten-year-old child would know was wrong.

• She was misguided when she objected to the appointment of Sir Martin Moore Bick as Grenfell Inquiry Chairman. She told the BBC that she had always taken her lead on these things from the people she represented and her constituents did not want him. One of her constituents did not want her singing the praises of the Fire Brigade whose practices were found later wanting.

• She was misguided when she commended the Council over its decision to refurbish Grenfell saying that it proved that the Council had listened.

She can of course disagree with Henderson but the nastiness is misguided and wrong.

Faithfully yours

"Up In North Ken"

FRIENDS? DO NOT SELECT A TRUSTAFARIAN TROUBLE MAKER

 

Dear Dame, 

It has come to our attention that Labour is soon about to likely select Claire Simmons for Notting Dale ward in North Kensington.  

We are residents of this ward  and are very concerned about the behaviour of Ms Simmons & the possibility that she could soon be councillor here in this ward  home to Grenfell Tower & representing some of the council's most vulnerable residents.

It has not gone unnoticed that Ms Simmons has been behind spreading vicious false rumours about residents & Grenfell survivors. 

An example of this was of her spreading the complete lie that a Grenfell survivor was having an affair with RBKC Grenfell Director Robyn Fairman. 

This caused real upset & distress to the survivor & his family & friends.

Members of this community, both individuals & groups have been the subject of nasty lies from Ms Simmons, including some resident associations and Grenfell United. 

This has caused tensions & infighting locally. 

We are surprised that Labour would even consider such a divisive & insensitive candidate. 

How is this supposed to be helpful to a community which is suffering?   

Residents also question Ms Simmons' lack of experience & knowledge of social housing as most of the ward is social housing as well as what level of professionalism she would bring as this sort of behaviour certainly isn't very professional & neither is the recent behaviour towards Cllr Healy that your blog has reported.  

The Labour Party ought to reconsider & instead select candidates who will help & unite people in this ward &  not cause distress & division. 

Notting Dale residents

HEALY HITS BACK HARD AT HARD LEFT NORTH KEN TRUSTAFARIAN CLAIRE SIMMONS

 

A Hard Left Trustafarian with style....Classy Claire Simmons

A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

 

Is this the Miss Claire Simmons who accused Cllr Healy of stealing Party funds and failing to canvass?

 

 

CLLR HEALY AND A LATE NIGHT POLICE VISIT....WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN THIS COUNTRY?

In dictatorships, honest and long-serving politicians always feared that late-night knock on the door. 

Imagine how a clinically vulnerable and well-regarded local politician felt when two local police officers (probably at the behest of the extreme left-wing local Labour Party) bashed on Cllr Pat Healy's door at 10.00pm.

At the moment the Dame is constrained in what she can write.

Claire Simmons who encouraged the police to behave in this unorthodox manner may well become the target for a well-justified action for defamation.

The police claim they are too stretched to deal with street crime yet two officers had the time to disturb a senior and elderly councillor late at night. 

Had they information she was going to flee to an old people's home?

The Borough Commander need to give some 'words of advice' to PC Parker and his colleague and then tell us 'lessons have been learned'

There is much more to this story. 

The Dame has copies of letters bandying about quite outrageous and untrue claims concerning Cllr Healy. 

It is now a question of 'watch this space'. 

The police and the local Labour Party have questions to answer....

----- Forwarded message -----

From: "Pat" <pat.healy30@gmail.com>

To: "matthew.parker2@met.police.uk" <matthew.parker2@met.police.uk>

Cc: "lucy Daniels" <lucyad2000@hotmail.com>

Sent: Fri, 8 Oct 2021 at 15:02

Subject: Your visit

Dear Mr Parker

 

With reference to your unannounced visit to my home late last night, please can you confirm that you have received the statement on this matter that I sent to you last night.

 Could you also inform me what your next steps are, please?

 And please note that if you wish to interview me again, it would be helpful if I could have prior notice and that a female officer accompanies you. 

As an 80 year old woman who is regarded by the NHS as clinically vulnerable, I find it unacceptable that 2 male officers knocked on my door just as I was about to go to bed.

 

Regards

 

Pat Healy

A GOOD MAN SAVED

The Dame remembers the days when local councils were peopled by independently minded councillors. 

They stood as Independents so as to follow their conscience without some Little Hitler/Stalin/Mao of a Council leader telling them what or what not to think.

On RBKC we have Ian Henderson, councillor for Colville Ward. 

Ian defied the Certifiable wing of his party to join a cross-party food delivery service for those in need.

This caused such a ruckus the 'Certifiables' decided that he be cast into utter political darkness for daring to be filmed with Conservative councillors.

Fortunately, commonsense intervened and a first-class councillor, popular with everybody, has been allowed to carry on doing what he excels at....helping those who elected him.

NAME AND SHAME TAX DEFAULTING COUNCILLORS!

 

click on image to enlarge

This is not good enough! 

Councillors are paid a basic allowance of around £12,000 a year plus expenses.

For a councillor with this additional income to refuse to pay Council Tax insults the hard-pressed residents the idiots claim they represent.

When the Dame finds out who they are(and have no doubt she will) you will read about it here.

It is simply abhorrent.

THE REAL PRICE OF MR PRICE-THOMSON

 

If you click on the image to the left you will see what happens when idle PR men are given big budgets. 

The stuff that is pouring out of the Council's Communications Department is as unwanted as spam. But the £130k a year head of PR has a problem. 

He needs to spend his £650,000 a year budget to prove he actually has a role.

The Dame knows just a little about the PR Game. Were she running things there would never be an in-house team. 

There are myriad agencies out there who would happily do whatever needs doing for £150,000 a year or less.

Mr Price-Thompson and his team are just wasting resident's taxes at a time when councils are moaning about budgets.