The Evening Standard loses millions because it's so bloody awful.
That should be a good enough reason not to read it: another better is because of the mysterious family behind it.
However, the good news is that Alexander Lebedev is a good friend of Mr.Putin so maybe Boris's friend, Baron 'Boy' Lebedev(a newly created 'aristo' like Lordly Moylan) can join his fellow oligarchs in seeking peace.
As Lordly Moylan told the Dame..."we aristocrats must stick together"
Lordly Moylan has told the Met to butt out of investigations into Boris and his rule breaking parties.
His Lordship said his parties were not 'acid house' and thus ok.
How desperate is Lordly to grease up to Boris in the hope of a job....
Readers in the Daily Telegraph were astonished and comments far from friendly towards Lordly.
Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail called his Lordship a dimwit
Daily Mail but the funniest was someone calling this working class lad from Brum a toff!
One reader said Lordly was 'as thick as sack of spanners'!
Few residents are not 100% behind the Ukrainian Government but what is extraordinary is to find the Leader of a local council using the moment in the way 'Elizabeth' has.
Central Government is responsible for making for these sorts of statements below: local councils are there to ensure the streets are clean and rubbish collected...oh, and ensuring it and Thames Water protect us from sewage flooding into our homes.
As to the 'Lighting Up' the Leader refers to...this is not something this council should be wasting money on.
It has been said before and needs repeating.....Local Councils need to stick to their last and not abuse international disasters for cynical promotional reasons.
Sorting out the aftermath of Grenfell and holding Thames Water to account is the priority. Imagining itself to be a branch of C. Government is not what some little council should be doing.
Stop thinking you are a reincarnation of Mrs. T 'Elizabeth' because you are certainly not!
It is impossible not to be moved and feel anger about the events of this week, and all eyes are rightly looking at the UK, the West, and NATO to lead by example and stand up to Putin.
Many Councils, organisations, and businesses will be lighting up in Ukrainian colours, or flying flags, in support of the people who are already suffering in the early days of what could be a long conflict.
I understand why, but I wanted to set out here why Kensington and Chelsea Council will not be lighting up for Ukraine.
This is something we have never seen before in a generation. If we treat the issue the same as we do many others, by lighting up buildings, putting pictures in a special frame on social media, we risk becoming numb to the events happening right on our doorstep.
This is war in Europe. People are going to need real support and Putin will need to see real action in response to what he has done.
K&C is home to the Ukraine embassy, so we have a special connection already to the people of the Ukraine, and we have residents in the borough from both nations. We care too much about what is happening in the Ukraine to just light up our building, we will be writing to the Ukraine embassy and asking them if there is any support of any kind this local authority can provide.
It would also be wrong of us to assume that all Russians support the actions of one man and his army. As early protests have shown us, Russians are also taking to the streets in protest at this invasion, it would be wrong for this Council to make those people feel marginalised here in our own borough.
Finally, every time we light up a building for a cause, it costs the Council and our taxpayers between £2,000 to £4,000 – for equipment, installation, and operation. Money that could be far better spent. We would prefer to make this a K&C donation to the charities that will be providing humanitarian support in the coming days, months, and possibly even years ahead.
I would urge everyone across the borough to do the same – do what we can to support, not just acknowledge. The people of the Ukraine will need every one of us.
We have made the area outside the Town Hall available to faith groups, should they wish to hold peaceful vigils, prayers, and bring communities together. And, just like we did for Afghanistan last summer, this Council stands ready to support people fleeing conflict and persecution.
At a time of war, our actions will speak far louder than our words.
Thank you,
Elizabeth
It is really worrying that the FM is planning to kick Putin up the arse....
The Defence Secretary Field Marshall Benjie Wallace said, "The Scots Guards kicked the backside of Tsar Nicholas I in 1853 in Crimea – we can always do it again. Tsar Nicholas I made the same mistake Putin did. He had no friends, no alliances."
The FM seems to forget that Mr. Putin has a rather important friend and ally in China. Still, the Dame is sure Ben and Boris are more than a match for Putin and Xi
Really, where do we find these half-witted politicians?
Dear Dame,
I have just read Business Matters put out by the £1million a year Council PR Dept.
It is appalling the Council puts out this infantilising and patronising nonsense authored by people remote from the extreme difficulties of running a business.
Business does not need to be told “that there was storm, check for damage and contact your property manager.
We also don't want to know that the self-aggrandising leader, Cllr Campbell has shared a self-serving 'a message of thanks' to staff which, in effect, is a social media message saying “I am a most important person”.
For the PR dept it is another way of trying to trying to ingratiate itself with the Leader..sickening stuff.
Living With COVID? Why does the Council need to spend Council Tax to repeat messages already the Number One communications programme and already funded by taxpayers?
If the Council REALLY wants to help and support local business it should be spending time and money to force the government to sort out Business Rates.
No business can afford to pay 40% of rent in Business Rates.
The Council has a vested interest in maintaining the status quo as its gets 20% of the Business Rates raised so it can fritter it away on nonsense like Business Matters!
They have no power and in presentational terms send out a very poor message.
It is time a cost/benefit analysis was carried.
Instead of wasting money on these purposeless people, it would be far more effective to have properly empowered police on the streets: this couple would scare no one.
Yet more public sector salaries and gold plated pensions to fund.
It seems that the Council is kicking Wimbletech out of our libraries but is going to compete with local co-working spaces on the same unfair basis as Wimbletech.
THINK in this excellent PIECE sums up the wrongness of putting out of business local co-working spaces who have overheads the Council never has to bear.
No private co-working space can compete against the Council.
We need answers to these questions
1 Will the Council be providing desk space at below-market rates
2. What type of tenant will be allowed to occupy and is the price being offered at a loss to the Council on a realistic costing basis
3. Is Mr Fletcher being compensated and will he compensate his licensees
4. Will he pay for the removal of licencees' goods
5. Has the valuation officer been informed about the change of use
Support to vacate our libraries
We recently announced our plans to launch K+C Co-works, a flexible co-working space for freelancers and businesses on 4 April 2022. Please join our mailing list here to stay up to date.
You will need to vacate:
Please remove your belongings. We understand this may be an inconvenience especially for bulky items. Therefore, we are here to offer some assistance.
For Brompton Library clients who need help moving or storing large items
At your request, boxes, labels and IT crates will be available to clients on Friday 25 February to pack-up large items, such as monitor screens, desktop printers, and chairs (not boxed) for the following reasons only:
If you have booked a fixed desk at Westminster Business Library
Westminster Business Library has no step-free access, so we can transport your large items for you. You are responsible for packing and labelling your IT items and unpacking and setting them up once they arrive. We ask that you use the lockers where available to store your IT.
If you simply need somewhere to store large items until 4 April 2022
We can transport your items for storage to Kensington Central Library. Please note, you will not have any access to these items until they are transported back to Brompton Library for the reopening on 4 April 2022, so please consider this as part of your planning. You are responsible for packing and labelling your items.
We are unable to transport equipment to any other locations.
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His name is Dave Fletcher. He claims his business, Wimbletech CIC is in partnership with the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and other councils.
Dave's business model is a simple and highly profitable one.
He approaches councils and takes on library space and then sublets to individuals and companies. He pays no business rates and rent totally disconnected from market rents for prime space.
In effect, the Council sublets to a man able to drive local competitors out of business by using council resources to undercut competitors who do pay massive business rates and rent!
But Dave's really clever ploy was to convince that astute businesswoman, Cllr Lady Faulks that his Community Interest Company, was not in it for 'dough'
However, no one thought to ask Dave whether he would be paying himself a salary and how much: Dave seems very reluctant to disclose to anyone how much he is making from the abuse of our assets.
BA has an appalling reputation for its disagreeable, puffed-up staff with a lousy attitude towards those foolish enough to fly with them.
Seasoned travellers avoid BA like the plague...one of the reasons its share price is on the same bumpy descent as its planes.
It's not just the staff who are rude and unpleasant.
The back-office idiots insist on overbooking causing the sort of needless incident Charles Banner and his young family faced.
To involve the police when a BA manager could have come aboard was typical of the 'drama queen' cabin staff who get a thrill from abusing those who pay their wages.
Normally, Daily Mail readers love the idea of a barrister being pushed around but interestingly 99% of the many hundreds of comments back Banner to the hilt.
Let's hope that he can find a way to outlaw this greedy and amoral practice of overbooking with the misery it causes.
BA, with its crude and dishonest trading standards, got this so wrong and the bulk of people are rightly on the side of Banner.
If you want to avoid being treated like cattle avoid BA.
Eva? Are you 'avin a larf?
The Dame has no dough but can send you some more red balloons to show your Party loyalty. You have so much hot air you won't have a problem inflating them.
How dare you bully a vulnerable old-age pensioner?
This is what pissed off EVA REDUT
Yorkshire people are the country's hardest working and most entrepreneurial of people.
Some of our most successful entrepreneurs... James Dyson and Jim Radcliffe have come from this fine county.
It is one big hive of entrepreneurial activity generating vast tax revenues to fund the life of the likes of Lordly.
In this article, LORDLY MAKES IDIOT OF HIMSELF by expressing concern that as he embarks on a Yorkshire weekend shooting with the Marquis of B*********CKS he might be upset by meeting crowds of county spongers.
Lordly claims to be a merchant banker: not true. After his short-lived career in the FO(no names: no packdrill) he flogged government debt at County Bank.
He then decided on a career in politics. Sadly, this second career never took off and he ended up as deputy leader of our council.
So, over the last twenty years or so it is Lordly who has survived on government handouts. The Hornet has often pointed out Lordly's expense-grabbing EXPENSES all at the expense of the taxpayer.
Despite coming from solid working-class Birmingham stock Lordly seems to take a delight at sneering at the class he escaped from....such a dreadful snob!
Dick has been the worst Met Commissioner in living memory bar the very weird Hogan Howe.
This is the moment to lure to London Roy Watson, the Greater Manchester Chief Constable.
Watson comes from a service family and believes in traditional policing.
When asked to produce a business plan his officers expected 100 pages of nonsense.
Instead, Watson's Business Plan was a one-pager precisely reflecting what the people of Greater Manchester wanted.
“We need a plan of action, and we need it very quickly. If people can’t get insurance and they can’t get flood defences put in before June, then this hell is all going to happen again to them".
These were the words of Stephen Cowan, Leader of Hammersmith & Fulham addressing Thames Water at a H&F organised resident's meeting held on February 2
You can read what happened at Cowan's meeting HERE and see what happened HERE
Felicity Buchan's meeting was not recorded on the spurious grounds that it might breach data protection so we have no record of what went on: in other words...a secret squirrel meeting!
But the real difference was the very open, resident backing approach of Cowan.
The Buchan meeting was like a Cotswolds village fete committee: the Cowan meeting was a no holds barred, full-frontal attack on Thames Water's incompetence.
Thousands of residents are on tenterhooks waiting for the next downpour and enduring yet another flood of sewage.
Thames Water needs to tell residents its plans in the short term....not what it can do in 10 years time
The Motion below has been submitted for debate at 2 March Council meeting.
This will be Motion No. 3 on the agenda as two Motions have been carried forward from the January meeting:
Well done Cllrs Lindsay and Schmetterling for all your good work on behalf of victims.
“The Council notes that there has been serious flooding at various intervals affecting large parts of the Borough over the past decades and more.
The Council further notes that Thames Water is responsible for the combined sewerage, rain water, and domestic waste water network.
While the Council supports the Independent Review into the flooding of 12 July 2021, and awaits the outcome with great interest, the Council also notes that any significant recommendations will take years to implement - thus leaving residents at risk for that time.
The Council accordingly asks the Lead Member responsible to report back on his meetings with Thames Water and others as appropriate, to reassure residents that the Council is doing everything it can to support this process."
Moved by: Cllr David Lindsay
Seconded by: Cllr Dori Schmetterling
School Streets is a smart RBK&C initiative to encourage parents to act responsibly when dropping off and collecting their offspring.
All schools in traffic dense areas have embraced the system.
They know it is for the safety of their charges....all except Hill House.
Whereas other schools move on parents who flout this very sensible measure Hill House adopts its usual laissez-faire stance.
When the school was asked why parents were allowed to park in a way that endangered children and other road users the school replied,"we don't want to upset parents!
What a terrible example to set the children...engines idling polluting the atmosphere and hindering traffic and road safety
Thames Water's greed in diverting profits to overseas owners and not investing in sewage improvement schemes wreaked havoc and misery last July...a repeat of the 2007 sewage flood.
It now seems that insurers are revoking policies or demanding staggering premium increases from victims and their neighbours.
This email below from a victim graphically describes the impact on local communities...
"My buildings insurance renewal terms came in yesterday and the insurer - RSA - will no longer insure the shop and basement at my address for any storm flooding damage and loss.
RSA have increased the premium, raised the amount payable by the insured for each claim, requested that the building be subject to a professional revaluation, and removed cover for storm flood.
The REFLOOD insurance scheme that RBKC offers only applies to residences, not to commercial premises.
Smaller independent shops and businesses will not be as resilient financially as the chains and international retailers and I am wondering if our Council is considering a scheme to help out these businesses who may find themselves uninsurable.
This situation impacts on the landlords, but the biggest impact of all will be on our neighbourhood shopping areas because if shops that were affected by the storm/weather caused floods such as happened in 2007 and 2021 do not get some help from the Council or the Government, they are more likely to leave the area as soon as they can. There is the spectre of increasing numbers of failed businesses and closed shops."
