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You need to go back to the
You need to go back to the oft cited Not Just Bikes vlog on shopping habits.
Cambridge: Mill Road Bridge
Cambridge: Mill Road Bridge bus gate fines ‘the worst decision ever made‘
Readers have shared their thoughts on the bus gate installed on Mill Road bridge which has seen thousands of fines issued
No clickbait was harmed in the making of this article. Actually the comments (on effectively comments) are pretty supportive of the ongoing closure.
4,600 penalty charge notices (PCNs) were handed out in just under two months – one to remember whenever the “cyclists / RLJ” trope is wheeled out.
Cornwall café staff abused by
Cornwall café staff abused by ungrateful customers over parking charges
The café was trying to save its customers money after introducing a new system
It said: “Please be aware we have sadly had to make the decision to withdraw the discount offer of one hour parking (£1.20) deducted off your bill that we gave to customers if they spent over £10 in the Cafe.
“We have had a difficult few weeks with customers being rude to our staff over the offer where the terms were clearly written and displayed in various areas around the cafe and near the parking machine. Today has been the final straw so to speak.
Drivers warned over parking
Drivers warned over [scam] parking tickets that can take every penny in your bank
Anyone paying the ‘fines’ could end up with a bill for thousands of pounds
I’d have thought a clear conscience about where (and for how long) you’re parked would be a key factor in knowing what’s going to be a scam.
Victory for common sense etc
Victory for common sense etc
Hirsute wrote:
Already mentioned ! (and it’s all bollocks) Another failure from a plc that has no idea what to do.Hopefully the Yahoo News version more people will be able to see. It’s carrying on with Brexit that the country can’t afford.
Hirsute wrote:
That’s a big risk to allow unknowns to have sensitive data. I wonder if there are any powers that allow such a directive. There’s also the issue of how this team can be held legally accountable for getting access to sensitive data and what they do with it – gdpr and all.An article (below) implies a visit on-site, rather than a correspondence course. As CEO you’d probably have to say to the council Leader that she can see all the information and where it is commercially or otherwise sensitive, she can see it on that basis only.
Assuming there’s some kind of non-disclosure agreement you can put in place, what’s the rest of the governance around the council’s relationship with the unnamed mystery man (referenced below)? E.g. being so talented, etc he’s likely to want paying.
Reform UK sends in auditors to council – and they’re coming to Staffordshire too
It mirrors the Doge unit run by Donald Trump and Elon Musk
Reform says its UK version will be led by a yet-unnamed man described as one of the country’s “leading tech entrepreneurs with a specialism in data analytics who has also been a turnaround CEO”. The party said that the unit will use artificial intelligence, advanced data analysis tools and forensic auditing techniques to “identify wasteful spending and recommend actionable solutions”.
https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/stoke-on-trent-news/reform-uk-sends-auditors-council-10230645
PS The more prosaic demands on potholes are still out there https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/stoke-on-trent-news/drivers-demand-action-over-pothole-10230537?int_source=nba
Edit/ update:
Mr Farage spoke about Reform’s plans to send a team of software engineers, data analysts and forensic auditors to comb through the county council’s finances in order to identify savings. The unit, led by 28-year-old tech entrepreneur Nathaniel Fried, has been labelled DOGE after the American Department of Government Efficiency, previously headed by Elon Musk.
cue: The Apprentice music (dum de dum de dum de dum de dum de dum de / dum de dum de duumb dee)
The DOGE team, which Reform says will be working for free, started work at Kent County Council this week and will be visiting all 10 authorities controlled by Reform over the course of this year.
Windfall?? I took Private Eye
Windfall?? I took Private Eye this week and the Number Crunching panel of cost of Brexit caught my eye. Yet we remain weirdly indifferent and continue to dance around it – if we cut down more trees, degrade people’s working conditions, kill more newts it will all come right.
AI overview on search “cost of Brexit”
“Estimates for the annual cost of Brexit vary, but generally range from £100 billion to £140 billion per year. Some sources suggest the UK economy is 2-5% smaller than it would have been if the UK had remained in the EU. The BBCreported that the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) estimated a 4% reduction in the long-term size of the UK economy, equivalent to roughly £100 billion. Cambridge Econometrics found that Brexit has cost the UK economy £140 billion, with the average Briton nearly £2,000 worse off in 2023.”
Dorset driver caught using
Dorset driver caught using phone at wheel: ‘It was baguette’
She said: “I was on my way to collect my son from nursery. I saw police outside an address. I wasn’t using my phone; I was eating my sandwich.
https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/25209584.dorset-driver-caught-using-phone-wheel-it-baguette/
I guess this fits neatly with
I guess this fits neatly with the general direction of degrading public service in every way they can think of.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/reform-end-gold-plated-pensions-160840821.html
While I agree with Hirsute
While I agree with Hirsute and quiff, the fact is that the rise of Reform plc in the localities they now control will very likely lead to less cycling and more deaths and injuries for cyclists, so I think it really matters to us as a topic.
If you are a cyclist, Road Addict, and this becomes an issue in national politics remember that many of the people who comprise Reform don’t want you to exist.
Sure, you can (as examples) in a Reform world just about be gay, black, trans, Muslim or a cyclist (I get that you can’t just stop being black in the same way as you could stop being a cyclist) but you need to accept your lot, humble though it may be, keep your head down, certainly don’t expect any special treatment, while the majority, whoever happens to be in favour this week, does as it pleases.
Farage has a point when he
Farage has a point when he asks “where has the money gone?” The problem is that whole flipping internet knows the answer.
“Local authority ‘spending power’ – the amount of money authorities have to spend from government grants, council tax and business rates – fell by 17.5% between 2009/10 and 2019/20, before partially recovering. However, in 2021/22 it was still 10.2% below 2009/10 levels.”
https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/local-government-funding-england
Reform UK to send first Elon
Reform UK to send first Elon Musk-style ‘Doge’ team to look at Kent County Council spending
So it’s a “letter to the Council” (no mass email to staff like in US govt depts) from the Council leader and in this context, two nobodys, saying they are going to ask for a bunch of financial information (including “whistleblowing reports relevant to financial matters” – hell, you wouldn’t want to know if someone was being bullied, would you?) all capped-off with a threat to pass a motion compelling this if resisted.
We request that all relevant council officers provide the Doge team with full and prompt access to: Council-held documents, reports and records (electronic and paper), relevant finance, procurement, audit and contract data, meeting minutes and correspondence concerning major procurements, any internal investigations or whistleblowing reports relevant to financial matters, any additional documents that might be of assistance.”
It added: “Should you resist this request, we are ready to pass a council motion to compel the same and will consider any obstruction of our councillors’ duties to be gross misconduct. We trust this will not be required.”
It is signed by council leader Linden Kemkaran, party chairman Zia Yusuf and party leader Nigel Farage.
Gotta love Zia’s slogan – you couldn’t make it up!
Is this a pilot exercise, or are similar letters going to drop at the other Reform controlled councils?
First, they came for the KCC officers
But I didn’t mind
Because Dave down the pub
Says they’re a bunch of overpaid *******
Watch this space!
Interesting commentary by
Interesting commentary by Nick Tyrone today
I don’t understand what the Labour Party is doing. I don’t think many non-partisan people do either
https://nicktyrone.substack.com/p/i-dont-understand-what-the-labour
EDIT : To respond to Tyrone’s headline question, I think it’s something like “trying to navigate government with a very hostile media and with an increasingly mis-trustful populace”.
I had one reservation about this pitch : the stuff about about folk all voting Farage because Brexit is so marvellous / all the main parties agree thereon – Brexit killed the Tories; they needlessly ran towards it 10-12 years ago and nationally at least the party continues to be gripped by the ensuing death-spiral. I guess choosing, and then trying to defend Boris Johnston for months in 2020/21 didn’t help matters.
Labour have fared little better at choosing leaders – Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn – both mismanaged the opposition to Leave. The party’s failure in 2010 to choose a good successor to Blair/Brown (probably David Miliband) will I think come be seen by historians as a pivotal moment for them too.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/sep/25/ed-miliband-wins-labour-leadership
Starmer is 11 months in – past any “early days”. Brexit comes for all its children, that means its promoters and I think anyone who doesn’t oppose it.* Gonna say it again, and I get that this is a toughie, he’s condemning himself to one term and the party to a long period in the wilderness, along with the Tories if he doesn’t do something radical and distinct.
*apart from one who as NT says seems adept at surfing the wave
Hirsute wrote:
I find it hard to believe anyone spending less than £2 is also running a car. Traders overstate by some margin the people who come by car to shop.c4,000 transactions /yr @ <£2, 100% arriving by car, 100% thinking better of it.
Oats @ £1.79/ kilo. https://www.grapetree.co.uk/jumbo-oats-1kg