Hello there!

Visiting the Tilly-sur-Seulles Commonwealth Cemetery in Normandy.

There is something really wrong with some people. Bad enough as it was when that drunken student in Sheffield behaved inappropriately on a war memorial, but the theft of the infamous “Arbeit Macht Frei” sign at Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland is pretty unspeakable. (BBC News carried it here)

I have had the privilege of organising and leading several tours to world war battlefield sites over the last few years, and our visits to the Commonwealth War Cemeteries in particular are always incredibly moving for all. The engravings on the headstones from friends or family get to me every time.

I have also experienced Auschwitz-Birkenau twice, most recently in August, and I shall hopefully do so again in February. The scale of the Holocaust is unimaginable no matter how hard you try to comprehend, but visiting somewhere like this you begin to appreciate the utterly devastating and inhuman nature of it all.

Gareth at the memorial to those murdered at Auschwitz-Birkenau

It could only be a good thing if more students were given the opportunity to visit a Commonwealth War Cemetery during their time at school, because hearing the tales and seeing the numbers is never as powerful as walking past the graves of teenagers who died in combat. And if we can avoid war, we can avoid the most heinous of all crimes; genocide.

Gareth.

Hello there!

Labour tried to start a class war at Full Council tonight! Must be a national tactic gone local. More of that shortly.

Here is my bulletin from tonight’s full council meeting.

• BOUNDARIES: Labour and the LibDems voted against the council consulting with you on our proposals following the Boundary Committee’s Draft Recommendations on our new ward boundaries. They cannot get over the fact that both the council and then the Boundary Committee rejected their rather potty ideas for 75 single member wards. Their response is clearly to stop you having a say on the matter as you probably won’t agree with them either

• 

  Gareth in the perfectly suitable, and free, councl chamber in Wyvern House, Winsford.

  MEETING LOCATIONS: the Council was deciding where and when to hold its meetings next year. Most committees including Overview & Scrutiny, Planning and the Executive are to rotate all over the Borough, including here in Ellesmere Port. Full Council meetings however will take place in the only venue we have which can accommodate 72 councillors, plus officers and the public and where everyone can be seen and heard: the council chamber in Winsford. The Lord Mayor-Making will take place at Chester Town Hall once a year. Labour wanted us to continue to cycle full council around, even though the other places we have tried are just not suitable AND are very expensive to set up too. Their suggestion was voted down. In times when we have made major savings and redundancies it would be ludicrous to spend £thousands on this when we can do it for free at Winsford.

• HOUSING and CLASS WAR: Having been finally found out about their terrible record on council housing in Ellesmere Port & Neston (see here for details) Labour are now desperately scrabbling for anything they can throw back at us. Their attempt tonight was to complain about a Christmas card we sent to tenants, and for those who are in rent arrears this card reminded them to pay as soon as they can and directed them towards help and advice if they needed it. One Labour councillor suggested that this was “The Cheshire Set” who could “lend some stables” for tenants to live in. Cllr Lynn Riley pointed out that our new approach differed from Labour’s last Christmas in control when they sent out stark letters reminding people to cough up and then evicted 17 families over the holiday season. That’s caring Labour for you!

And our Christmas present to Labour? We gave them an EXTRA place on the Corporate Scrutiny Select Panel which they also have the Chairmanship of. Under the legal regulations they are not entitled to this extra place as they have too few councillors, and on the old council they gave the opposition nothing even when we were neck and neck. Shows which side really wants to involve people methinks.

TTFN!
Gareth.

Hello there!

Had a great evening at school tonight as I hosted our school Christmas Convert. Loads of work had gone into it from the Performing Arts Faculty especially and it showed. More than that though, the talent of our students is superb, from doing their own contemporary choreography and writing new Christmas songs through to reinterpreting Christmas favourites such as “Twas the Night Before Christmas”.

Well done to all concerned and Year 11, I hope you enjoy your 2 bonus days off. Lucky or what?

TTFN
Gareth.

Hello there!

I spent a useful evening with Neston Town Council tonight. With Cllrs Dowding, Loch and Mealor we met with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Town Council (Cllrs Moira Andrews and Michael Wellman) prior to the Full Town Council meeting to talk about how we could work together more closely. We are both still relatively new organisations who are finding our feet, however much good work is already underway and we can only improve that in future. Find out more about the Town Council on their website here.

Cllrs Dowding, Anderson, Wellman, Loch, Mealor, Andrews and Andrews.

Town and Parish councils have the potential to make a difference to the people in their area where they work well, and I believe Neston Town Council is already doing that. I am yet to be convinced though that we need them in those areas of the Borough, like Ellesmere Port, which currently do not have them. Having just spent millions to get rid of two-tier local government, recreating a lower layer of government, along with the extra council tax, seems needless, especially in this economic climate.

TTFN

Gareth.

Hello there!

It seemed inevitable that at some point during this fortnight, developing nations would stage a walk-out from the COP15 conference in Copenhagen. It is understandable too methinks, richer and more powerful nations insist that everyone must share the difficulties of reducing carbon emissions, yet the developing world has yet to feel the benefit of the growth that we all had, but they have suffered from some of our worst excesses.

China and the USA in particular must make more strides towards reducing their emissions. America’s lavish use of fossil fuels is shocking.

Nobody could have escaped the sudden flurry of “sceptics” being aroused during this latest debate, but I think that there are three inescapable points here:

Overwhelmingly scientific opinion states that the climate is changing and human activity is almost certainly having an impact on that.

• Fossil fuels are finite and dirty, so the more we can do to move to renewable sources the better. They are free, near limitless and comparatively emission free.
• Governments can do far more than the individual, but that doesn’t mean the individual should do nothing. After all, using an energy saving bulb is good, but if governments create an environment where they are powered from solar/wind/wave/biomass energy they are even better.

It all seems eminently sensible and simple. Yet in international politics the simplest things are often the hardest to achieve. It would have helped if our Labour government hadn’t sat in its hands for 8 years doing nothing about our own impending energy crisis.

TTFN.

Gareth.

Hello there!

With a March election now seeming increasingly possible, I note with interest that Alistair Darling has continued with Gordon Brown’s habits in his shambles of a Pre-Budget Report. At least it will save them the trauma of having to return to do a full budget right before the election when it would become totally obvious what a complete hole they have got us in!

Here is the “Brown 10-Point Budget Method”, first established 1997:

1] One budget a year is not good enough. For maximum news impact have a budget, preceded by a Pre-Budget Report (PBR). (note, this works especially well in good economic years)

2] Announce all new spending commitments to the press prior the Pre-Budget Report

3] Announce all new spending commitments to Parliament in the Pre-Budget Report.

4] Announce all new spending commitments direct to the public in press releases in the 2 months post the Pre-Budget Report.

5] Announce all new spending commitments in the Budget.

6] Deny that this is not “new” money. It makes £1billion seem like £4billion but at no extra cost! (© “Numbers By Enron”, 1996).

7] Take the average growth figures provided by Treasury and all outside organisations and increase by 50% if positive, halve if negative. People like optimism.

8] Likewise for borrowing requirements, only the other way round obviously!

9] Never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever mention really unpopular stuff in any of the above (e.g. cutting Disability Living Allowance for Pensioners). It all has to be in paragraph 3.7, subsection d, page 364 of the Treasury documents anyway so if people really want to know they can look there.

10] Deny all knowledge of anything if asked by a pesky journo or opposition MP.

TTFN!
Gareth.

Hello there!

Our water supply should be restored by 6am, according to United Utilities.

Those of you who called me asking about it I have left voicemails if I couldn’t get through to you.

TTFN
Gareth.

Hello there!

In 1979 the previous Labour government managed to rack up national debt at 7%, and we scurried to the IMF for urgent help. It took many years of Conservative government to sort out that mess.

In 2009 the present Labour government has managed to double their previous record, taking us to a 14% debt – the highest in the developed world. This is increasing by £5,500 every single second. Who may well be left to sort out this dire mess I wonder?

And if you want to see the numbers for real, it took the sides of Battersea power station to take them all….

TTFN
Gareth.

Hello there!

It seems to me a shame that Labour are so desperate to win the next election that they are going to be personal about it, but then my experience of the Labour party locally means that this should come as no surprise to me.

I received a good, comprehensive, state education in the 1980s and 1990s, and it never bothered me once that some people went to selective state schools or even that some people had private education that their parents paid for. So this snide attack of the Prime Minister’s got me thinking: how many of our party leaders in the past decades went to private school?

For Labour: Gordon Brown: Comprehensive. Tony Blair: Private. John Smith: Grammar. Neil Kinnock: Grammar. Michael Foot: Private. James Callaghan: Grammar. Harold Wilson: Grammar.

For the Conservatives: David Cameron: Private. Michael Howard: Grammar. IDS: Naval Training School. William Hague: Comprehensive. John Major: Grammar. Margaret Thatcher: Grammar. Ted Heath: Grammar.

The final “score” is:        Comprehensive: 1 all

State selective: Labour 4:5 Conservative

Private, free-paying school: Labour 2:1 Conservative.

So come on Gordon, grow up! As a fellow comprehensive school student, I think you need to get that chip off your shoulder and realise that the privately educated are TWICE as likely to become leader of the Labour Party than they are of the Conservatives.

TTFN
Gareth.

Hello there!

It seems to me a shame that Labour are so desperate to win the next election that they are going to be personal about it, but then my experience of the Labour party locally means that this should come as no surprise to me.

For Labour: Gordon Brown: Comprehensive Tony Blair: Private John Smith: Grammar Neil Kinnock: Grammar Michael Foot: Private James Callaghan: Grammar Harold Wilson: Grammar

Conservatives: David Cameron: Private Michael Howard: Grammar IDS: Naval Training School William Hague: Comprehensive John Major: Grammar Margaret Thatcher: Grammar Ted Heath: Grammar

I received a good, comprehensive, state education in the 1980s and 1990s, and it never bothered me once that some people went to selective state schools or even that some people had private education that their parents paid for. So this snide attack of the Prime Minsiter’s got me thinking: how many of our party leaders in the past decades went to private school?

Hello there!

The “safer route to school” that was recently created in Willaston is now no longer as safe as we would have hoped it seems. Bad weather arrives and it floods and becomes impassable, as the pictures will show.

I have flagged this up with the relevant teams at the Borough Council and await a reply. I shall keep you informed of this.

Also unpleasant news of some unpleasant neighbours behaving in a rather antisocial way by refusing to clean up their dog’s mess from the same area. This is just not acceptable and I am looking into this also.

TTFN
Gareth.