THIS IS NOT LIKE IRAQ! IT'S FAR MORE DEVIOUS

Did I dream the whole economic deficit episode? Were we not so broke last week that our County Council were sacking lollipop wardens and turning all the lights off at midnight? Did I imagine the government making newly trained pilots redundant and scrapping orders for new jets to sit on now plane less aircraft carriers?

I must have done because now all three main political party's are falling over themselves to sound out the War Clarion as Britain engages in yet another costly campaign in the desert and pretends to us all again that it has nothing to do with OIL

How stupid do they really think we are? and having armed and sucked up to Gaddafi for so long are we now expected to just forget the huge part we played, right up to the release of the Lockerbie Bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi in protecting his reign?

And is a civilian life taken in Yemen or Bahrain by their government forces worth less than the life of a Libyan citizen?

These are all questions we must all ask ourselves and answer before we accept any moral justification for Britain involving itself in yet another Middle East meltdown. Why o why a nation like ours supposedly bankrupt wants to jump in both feet first is any ones guess.

Gaddafi is not liked in the West and few from any side would mourn his passing but Libya is a country divided The North and West in favour of Gaddifis reign continuing under him and his son Saif and the East equally determined to overthrow the state. Therefore the UN resolution to enforce a no fly zone and to prevent attacks on civilians was just in its formation and supported by the Arab League with its votes because it made sense.

But is there anyone out there still willing to believe the British or French military when they say they are simply endorsing the UN resolution? Shots of a Libyan jet being brought down on Saturday morning were used as an example of Libyan government aggression against the rebels. Then just a few hours later when it was no longer possible to deny that the fighter jet actually belonged to the rebels and was being used against government forces the BBC changed its tune but not composer by describing its bringing down as still an act of Libyan Government aggression but this time by ground to air troops against a rebel plane!

It seems now as if the civilian rebels have tanks and planes! This has all the hallmarks of a bloody civil war with little signs of an early victor.

This conflict for the West is about Regime change. pure and simple, Gaddafi has had his day and they now need to dispose of him and interfere in the election of tommorrow puppet to the West, and the realisation today (Monday 21st March 2011) that voices in the Arab League are questioning the intent and actions of those carrying out the UN resolution paint a dark picture for the west's involvement from here on in. Already the end game is uncertain, the planning? non existent and the questions as to compliance with the UN resoltion already being questioned by the Arab League, India and others. Call me old fashioned but shouldn't we set the plan for all to see and have clear objectives laid out and decided upon before we start shooting people? Shouldn't we ensure that those plans accord with international law before we go messing around in the internal conflict of another sovereign state

I am not a pacifist. I don't like war, who does? I voted against the Iraq war in the Commons because the case was not proven and I equally supported the action on Serbia/Croatia because it was and it was obvious to anyone that only force alone would stop an humanitarian crisis from continuing, but who are our current political leaders kidding when they try and tell us that civilians dying at the hands of British supplied arms in Yemen and Bahrain are less deserving than civilians dying at the end of a British supplied gun in Libya.

But the real nasty taste left in my mouth from all the weekend news was the race by Clegg and Milliband to jump aboard any passing war horse. we are fully behind the Prime Minister and his actions they said. Well did they ask their respective memberships? of course not and it sums up all that is wrong with British Politics today. Around the Country Labour and Lib Dem candidates will be knocking on doors before the local election polls trying to defend the stances of their respective parties which they themselves had no say in formulating. as we speak a vote in the Commons will be conducted with a Free Vote (if you believe that then you really are gullible) to decide on whether or not we undertake Military action which has already begun!

Over in Palestine there will be continued confusion as to why only some UN resolutions are acted on by the West whilst others are ignored for years and years and years. And in Yemen and Bahrain families will be burying their loved ones with no hope of international support or intervention simply because their OIL flows are either not significant or they flow in a different direction!

Forced regime change in Libya? NOT IN MY NAME. Selective action to cover up the self interest of the West? NOT IN MY NAME. A Party leader telling me how to think and who to support? NOT HERE

CARELESS DRIVING COSTS LIVES

I was once a passenger in a vehicle when the driver inadvertently ran over and killed a small black and white cat.

The driver concerned for the cats owners stopped and made enquires as to its keeper. The first door knocked gained him the information that the cat belonged to an elderly lady next door. He knocked on the Lady's door and when she answered he said

"Sorry to trouble you my love but I understand you used to have a black and white cat?"

The lady was distraught but under no false illusion as to the nature of his question.

Sometimes being blunt can be the best option!

At the other end of the spectrum we have Northamptonshire County Council Tory Group who faced with telling the public that their services are to be decimated at the request of their political masters (Tory and Lib Dem) in Parliament continue to prevaricate and avoid telling us the truth. So far they have revealed just £53m of the total £68m cuts without in many cases explaining how they will be implemented. In addition there is another £15m of cuts still not identified even though the public consultation ends next week!

In fact it gets even worse as at this mornings Full Council Meeting (called by the opposition parties, after the Tories cancelled the December meeting) Cllr Parker, the Tory portfolio Holder for finance informed us all that it is now a further £20m of cuts not £15m! Making it £73m in all.

Now I don't want to draw too much on the analogy of the poor squashed cat, but the driver then was driving well within the speed limit, whereby the pace and speed that the Tories are forcing through these cuts both locally and nationally risk more than the lives of a domestic pet.

Get this budget wrong and inquest after inquest in the future as to lives possibly lost through lack of care provision of the elderly left without attention in their home, of Mental Health sufferers unable to cope with life after reductions in their care programme, of young schoolchildren involved in accidents on our roads where no lollipop man/lady are present to help them, all these will come back with the same verdict, a local authority who cut too fast and too quick the services that very vulnerable people rely so much.

So for every ones sake I ask them to collectively  take their foot off the peddle to slow down, to think harder and longer on what they are doing, and above all I ask them to come clean now as to how severe these cuts really are, so we can all judge the folly of this Conservative and Liberal Democrat Coalition decimating Local Government Services way beyond what is safe, all in the name of political expediency and ideology.

TIME TO COME CLEAN NBC

In the recent article below:

http://tonyclarkeindependent.blogspot.com/2010/02/pinky-and-perky-get-their-sums-wrong.html

I explained that Lib Dem Leader of Northampton Borough Council Cllr Brian Hoare told us recently that we "might like" the efficiency savings they were making in this years budget, but that we were unable to judge at the time whether or not we would like them ,because there was no details given! What did they entail we asked?

"Things like savings on electric and gas" shouted Perky (Cllr David Perkins) as answer to what these efficiencies were. The audience at the time however not convinced with Perky's explanation asked how many redundancies would be involved, No answer was forthcoming.

Well now we know, after a trawl through the various "efficiency and reorganisation and restructuring plans we can reveal that at least 94 posts are proposed to be removed from the Councils workforce.

These are being 'Consulted on' with staff as we speak and some of those consultations finished on Monday and others continue right up until the day the Cabinet Set the budget next Wednesday, meaning that as Councillors we have to respect the privacy of those consultations by not revealing which posts are under threat.

So next week we will set a budget, the results from the public consultation, which took place in limited form won't say much because the Public were not told much. Alternative options from opposition Councillors will be few and far between because like the public, we have also mainly been kept in the dark, trying our hardest to glean information here or there but being told. "There are no redundancies planned as yet, only consultations"

Now don't get me wrong here, I never thought for one moment that the Council would be able to balance its books without some reductions in the workforce, and if asked I have plenty of suggestions as to what could be cut (The West Northamptonshire Joint Planning Unit for a start)
But Councils are supposed to be about elected members meeting to take part in full and robust debate on a range of options where we can make real choices and all strive to do what is best for the town.

They should not be about the ruling administration colluding with officers on secret plans, not disclosed to the public which are then presented as a Fait Accompli to backbench councillors and the public let alone the staff who may lose their livelihoods in the process. A Council is the whole sum of all its parts, administration and opposition, and on important matters such as this we should do more to act as one rather than the ruling party trying to play party politics by revealing the good news to us all whilst hiding away the bad from our eyes and ears.

I still can't tell you which jobs will finally go, as that would breach the confidentiality of the information which I have gleaned from the Council but expect less staff to be maintaining our housing stock next year, and less working in our parks and our cemeteries, and less cleaning of our streets, expect less neighbourhood management and less partnership working with the police on the anti social behaviour which troubles so many of our communities, expect less staff working on the recovery of our local economy, and expect less staff to manage our museums, expect less staff to manage or look after our community centres and expect at some time in the future for many of these services to be hived off to the private sector now that they have been made "procurement friendly" by hiding all of the on costs of managing such services.

But the Liberal Democrats will tell you that everythings fine, the public won't notice the difference, and then they will ask you to look at the marvelous new fountain on the Market Square and the not so shiny new paving slabs in Gold Street as proof of their "Improving Council"

It doesn't wash with me, and I don't believe it will with the public either because they didn't have the decency to inform them, instead you have to learn about it here, and wonder why they bothered in the first place to hold public consultations if they were hell bent on keeping the details from us.

If they had been upfront and honest then maybe there could have been some agreement between us as to how to proceed, maybe we could have put some alternative suggestions up for consultation? but their actions have been underhanded and their deception of the public unforgivable.

This lot are not Liberal and they are certainly no Democrats, they shame the very basis of their national parties founding aims and objectives, and those within their fold who know that what is not being said, but being done in their name should have the courage of their convictions and be as critical as the opposition are in their responses to next weeks budget, not just in their group meeting but in the Council chamber as well.

Its a rat trap NBC and you've been caught

Following yesterdays post on NBC,s astonishing dereliction of duty in respect of local pest control I looked deeper into what was and was not agreed by the Council when it set its budget in February 2009.

In appendix 7 of the budget report which identified cuts (sorry, service reductions) it identifies the following £10,000 saving "Introduce full pest control charges except for rat treatment. Subsidised fees for those in receipt of benefits will stop for treatment of mice and insects"

So we voted for a service, albeit with some charges? and my constituent with a rat infestation irrespective of him being on benefit should have recieved a free service, right?

Well wrong according to the Council, you see another saving was identified below the above which read as follows "saving £29,980 - cease pest control provision by direct contract when current contract ends in 2009/10 - additional savings to above"

Which means what exactly? Cease provision by direct contract? does that mean we will provide by non direct contract? which means what?

And when you look at the list of agreed charges for 2009/10 also set in the budget and voted on by Councillors in February it lists all the various charges for pest control including "Rats - Free" and tell us that "Prices for 2009/10 are "subject to tender July 2010."

Any sensible person would suggest that all the above means that we may go out to tender and the service may not be directly provided in the future. But not that the service is to be scrapped altogether and that residents will simply be told to use the yellow pages!

This is dishonest budgeting and it is disreputable for the council to scrap the service without proper authority by Council or proper explanation to councillors.

Someone therefore has some explaining to do.

One bit of good news though. I spoke to Ray Weaver, Managing Director of Pest Express in Corby who up until July was the Councils contractor, to ask him what he would charge me to pay my constituent a visit to help him. (I don't make a habit of doing this, but it did seem a good use of my council expenses) Ray said, he would do it for free for me. So 5 stars to them (there phone number if you ever need them is 0800 542 67271)

Pest Express offer a service to a number of local authorities and are a "preferred supplier" to many others including North Norfolk District Council who had also closed their in house service, and they offer discounts to benefit recipients.

I still hold out that rat infestations should be treated for free by the council in order to prevent a wider habitation, and I will fight for the service to be reinstated, But why can't NBC at least give a direction to people when they phone them up instead of effectively saying "phone around a dozen companies yourself until you find a company willing to give you a reduction?" phoning around is not cheap either when you are on benefits.

So top marks to Pest Express, and no marks at all for NBC, and a huge row brewing as to what exactly we did vote for in full council at the budget meeting in February.

But one resident in Semilong at least can hopefully get a bit more sleep knowing his house will eventually be rat free.

The real rats are at the Guildhall

An ex sailor contacted me today from St Andrews Road in Northampton, desperate for help because his house has been overrun with rats!

Several mild winters, his proximity to the river via Millers Meadow and refuse sacks being placed on the street days before collection have made him and his family a target for hordes of rattus norvegicus, and his is rightly concerned of the damage this could have on the health of his two young children (10 months and 2 yrs) and his disabled partner. Being an ex sailor he understands very well the dangers of Weil's disease and his weekly shopping bill has also increased by the need for him to disinfect all the surfaces in the kitchen prior to cooking.

The trouble for my constituent though is that he is living on benefit because his wife is disabled, and he is the main carer for their two young children, so money is tight. So he phoned the council in a cry for help to reduce the infestation. He has also tried domestic rat poison but to no avail. So in desperation he rung the council.

"Can't help you" came the reply, "budget cuts"

As of April 1st 2009 the Liberal Democrat council has withdrawn its free service to those on benefits to save a few bob. But as many of us predicted would happen, it is not those who can afford to call out a pest control operative at £65 a time that would suffer, it is those who can't afford a private service that are being placed in the front line.

What sort of false economy is this? I can understand to a degree reductions in any subsidised service for those who can afford to pay, but by the council not dealing with infestations in houses where the option of a paid service is not a realistic expectation then all they will do is make the problem harder to deal with in the general area and spread the colony.

Local Authorities have a duty under section 2 of the "Prevention of Damage by pests act 1949" to take action to ensure any infestation is avoided and dealt with, but it seems that our friendly Liberal Democrats at the Guildhall believe that their duty ends at serving notices and fines to householders irrespective as to whether or not they can afford to take action themselves. How about some action being taken against Network Rail? or the Environment Agency? or Anglian Water? or even themselves for cutting back on treatment on their own land?

Surely it is in the whole community's interest for them to take collective action as a local authority in such circumstances? They must act NOW!

Day by day, week by week the real problems facing people everyday as a result of the massive cuts implemented by the Liberal DemocRATS at the Town Hall are being revealed, supplys of black bins are in very scarse supply and not being delivered to residents on time, street sweeping has been reduced, flytipping out of control, grass not being cut as regular as it was turning the roadside into the new "wildlife areas" so trumpeted by the portfolio holder at the time the cuts were sold to us as service improvements.

So how will they sell this one? Free Pets for hard up families with under fives?

So today I am calling on them to get real for once, and accept that this crazy, ill thought out policy needs badly reviewing and changing immediately before the problem escalates into a real infestation, with real health consequences for local residents. I don't think the rats mind one bit whose house they infest? and once they are in one house they can breed far more easily in the warm, and then move in next door, and so on.

What would the cost be of reinstating a free service for those on benefits? or even a subsidised service at an affordable level? And what will be the cost of them not doing so?