What? A hypocritical politician?

It's awful hard sometimes to prevent oneself from feeling that some people in politics are intent on feathering their own nest.
A quick look at a couple of our local Yorkshire M.P.'s expenses shows the following:

David Curry:

• 2001/2 - £81,825
• 2004/5 - £131,533

Anne Cryer:

• 2001/2 - £88,780
• 2004/5 - £146,955

Their answer to this is simple, abandon the Freedom of Information Act, but only for M.P.'s and then we won't know what they're taking in the way of expenses.
Brilliant!

Curry supported this exemption along with around 80% of other M.P.'s by the teflon method of abstaining.
Cryer, however, was at the forefront of this tacky little scheme for hiding expenses, a scheme thought out by one David Maclean, a happy chappie who scoots around on his top of the range quad bike (paid for by us) whilst visiting his multitudinous mistresses, one of who he managed to install into two well paid jobs, working for the government of course. His present mistress is single mother Jane Rapson, who is coincidentally secretary to David Curry.
Cryer was an early signatory to this bill, along with Straw and Jowell, and she bleated that exemption was needed to protect the anonymity of her constituents - totally untrue, as was proven just yesterday.
Her personal aide was standing as a councillor in a safe Labour area of Keighley, having reportedly tossed out - sorry 'deselected' - the standing councillor. This didn't seem to sit too well with the electorate, and it became a Tory victory.
So Cryer told Parliament that people had told her, in confidence, that dirty tricks had been used by the winner of the election. She wasn't going to name names, to protect them.
Oh!
Wait a minute!
That's not hypocrisy is it?
Claiming that exemption from FOI was needed to protect the anonymity of constituents?
Nope, it's just plain old fashioned lying.
Now who could have imagined a politician lying?

Good news week.

Apparently good common sense reigned last night in Skipton, when the council decided that the chief executive officer - she who had received a 37% increase in 4 short years, and was on a performance related salary - was quite well paid enough, thank you very much.
Since joining Skipton as chief executive, Gill Dixon has overseen a 23% increase in staff, and seen staff wages rocket from £5.6 Million to £7 Million in two short years, as much in wages as the total tax take from the poor suffering tax payers and the government!
Craven district council's pensions deficit went from £7 Million to £17 Million in 4 years, and Craven's assets over those same 4 years went from £51 Million to a mere £9 Million.
What is truly amazing is that some people think that records like this deserve rewarding with a 16% hike in salary, backdated some 4 months, when it's only public - OUR- money, then it seems the sky's the limit in what they can spend. Of course the recommendation to increase the salary came from the soon to be defunct 'Local Government Yorkshire and Humber' (Employers' representative one Carl Lis, leader of Craven district council) another quango which seems good at getting rid of our money.
For those interested in such parochial matters a link to how the voting went will be up and running as soon as it's released.

No to unitary, and more council logic

The news has just been released on unitary authorities, and North Yorkshire is not to become one. Looks like Craven will have to sort its own financial mess out, so those there can look forward to seeing yet more of the family silver being sold.
Apparently the pressure to increase the salary of the chief executive - she who's overseen massive increases in both debt and staff numbers - is from herself!
The 37% increase in 4 years and the performance related pay element are inadequate for one of her calibre, and, or so we're told, when she's applied for jobs elsewhere and mentions her salary they laugh!
So council tax payers who have had nothing like the increases she's had over a few short years are being asked to give more to ease her ego!
Later today the news will be out concerning her 16% additional increase, I'll let you know.

Misfortune and Carelessness.

Despite Craven District Council being in a hell of a mess financially, with a £62k per employee pensions debt, a total of £17 Million, they are very quick at spending money. Whilst they may soon find themselves out of business should a unitary authority be decided upon, they have never the less decided that they need new offices at £7 Million plus to replace their 50 year old ones. They have also decided to meet this Wednesday to give the chief executive officer (ceo) a 16% rise.
That ceo has already had a 37% increase over her 4 year tenure, obviously not enough.
She's also on performance related pay, but as the whole income of CDC is now spent on staff wages - she having increased staff numbers by 23% - perhaps that's inadequate?
The recommendation to increase the salary has come from the soon to be disbanded 'Local Government Yorkshire and Humber Assembly' and the employers' representative is one Carl Lis, coincidentally the leader of Craven District Council, and also one of the people who will be voting this Wednesday on the increase.
Carl of course has never been an employer, having spent all his life working for Hansons Quarries, and is therefore in an excellent position to judge on such as employees' salaries, and what can be afforded for them.

Note: Craven District Council have increased council tax 22% over the last 4 years guided by this chief executive and under the leadership of Lis, but somehow managed to lose two Directors of Finance in the space of around 12 months.
To lose one director may be regarded as misfortune, to lose two does smack of carelessness.

Instant action!

First posted 23rd July 2007 @ 16:39:39

A report just out stating that Yorkshire Forward, the huge quango charged with reinvigorating Yorkshire, have promised to invest £6Million of our money already, into improving Scarborough.
The council will no doubt spend this at least as wisely as they have with previous money, (see item 'Gorgeous') so we can be assured of good value here!
And councillor Derek Bastiman (portfolio holder for regeneration for Scarborough) has said:
"We want to be back where we believe Scarborough belongs, queen of the coast!"
No doubt Betty Legs Diamond (star of 'Funny Girls' in Blackpool) is already quaking with fear.

"Power without responsibility....."

First posted 22nd July 2007 @ 20:11:37

John Prescott may have been a two-timing two-Jags lardy hypocrite, (http://www.urban75.com/Punch/prescott.html)
but at least he wanted the Yorkshire assembly to be an elected one.
Now it appears that Yorkshire Forward, a totally government selected and unelected bunch, are to take control of Yorkshire's economic strategy, a strategy which will extend to Yorkshire's long term economic, social, housing, and environmental objectives.
This body, whilst subject only to Whitehall rules, is given the sum of £2.50 per week per person for each of the 5 million people in Yorkshire, and there's no prizes for guessing where this money comes from!
So having tossed out Prescott's idea of an elected assembly, we're going to have a government super quango forced on us, one for which we'll pay, and one over which we shall have no control whatsoever.
Someone (James Otis) once wrote that there should be 'No taxation without representation' but it appears the government doesn't like that idea.
Perhaps the government could make it even more efficient by farming it out to the call centres in Mombasa, Bangalore, and Delhi - Now there's an idea!

Oink Oink!

First posted 20th July 2007 @ 11:16:05

Little old Craven District Council (CDC) is in a terrible financial mess, and you can see this in the 'MONEY' archive.
The Chief Executive, aided by councillors, has increased staff numbers by around 25% in 4 years, coincidentally increasing her own salary by 33% to around £72k. The councillors, not to be outdone, took a FIVEFOLD increase in their own allowances over that period of time, just to show how it really should be done.
This Chief Executive has overseen the council losing two Financial Directors in just over a year, whilst the council has rung up a bill of £62k per employee in pension debt, an eye-watering £17MILLION debt for a council which rakes in a total of around £3 Million from council tax payers!
Apparently the council were to have a meeting on Tuesday 24th to discuss increasing the Chief Executive's (Gill Dixon, e-mail Chiefexec@Cravendc.gov.uk) salary by £12k/annum, but they've decided to postpone that, until after the decision as to whether Craven forms a part of a new Unitary Authority.
Rumour has it that this increase will be 'nodded through' as most increases are, after all, it's only our money, not their own.
Of course if it becomes a Unitary Authority a lot of Chief Executives will bite the dust, but a good boost - around 15% plus in this case - ensures that any subsequent pay off will be nice and large!
Trebles all round!
Oink ink!

Hyper efficiency and Democracy

First posted 20th July 2007 @ 11:06:33

It's a little known fact that town and parish councils are exempt from the capping limits which government set on our rates. This enables them to soar away on heights of grandeur and profligacy. Not all take it, some are conscientious and thrifty, but one town which has learned from the example of waste set by its district council is Skipton.
This little council had as an income up to April 2000 the grand sum of £100,000
It also had 4 staff.
Now in 2007 it needs 10 staff, including the grandiosely styled Chief Officer, and it pays more out in wages than it received in total income those few years ago.
This has meant that it has had to almost quadruple the amount it takes from the pockets of the ratepayer, not least to fund the sickness levels which have increased fivefold in days lost over the last two years.
Many of the councillors at Skipton town are the self same councillors as at Craven District Council, now THERE'S a surprise!

A fine example of democracy in action Skipton town council style was set by the town's new Mayor, Carol Manley.
When they were one councillor short after the elections, they asked for volunteers, and got three.
After voting between two of them was tied, new Mayor Manley used her second vote (which Mayors get) to elect......

Wait for it!


Her husband!

And Pouting

First posted 19th July 2007 @ 20:30:14

More on the gorgeous pouting Jane Kenyon, of many jobs fame.
In addition to her council work for Scarborough, and her hospital Board work for, er, Scarborough, Jane is also councillor for North Yorkshire County Council.
Last posted notes there state that she received a mere £8k for attending 9 out of a possible 17 meetings, but that was in 2006, so one can only hope that allowances have increased.
Meanwhile she can eke out her poverty stricken existence with some of her other jobs, such as Director of the Yorkshire tourist Board, or Chairman of the Police Authority.
Now that really IS a plum job!
That Authority have increased Police Precept colossally over the last few years, so that instead of around £1/week we now pay close to 4 times that. Fortunately this self selecting quango have increased their allowances equally dramatically, so that our Jane now receives around £18k for attending about 4 meetings a year.
A just reward for getting us Della Cannings as Chief Constable, surely? For was not Della, after being pilloried by the government for having unrealistic expectations and unconstrained expenditure (around £2 Million) in her investigation of Ray Mallon (Robocop) when she was Deputy Constable of Cleveland, whom Miss Kenyon cleverly had promoted to Chief Constable of North Yorkshire?
And didn't Della set the world alight with her purchase of many nice new leather trimmed and unmarked Volvo V90's and RangeRovers for some of her force (who were enabled to buy them after a few years at bottom auction valuation) and then show us some style in £28k showers?
Another feather in Jane's cap!

Gorgeous

First posted 19th July @ 20:10:26

It now appears that Scarborough NHS Trust (Motto on its website front page "The Trust offers excellent career opportunities and flexible working conditions to balance home and working life" is to axe one third-600 people-of its workforce.
I wonder how many will be managers, Chief Executives, etc. and how many will be other staff?
One of the Trust Board members is one Jane Kenyon. A lass of many faces our Jane, with around 10 other jobs, including Scarborough Council.
This is the council which became famous for at least two reasons, one was for attempting to part with money buying land which they already owned, and the other was their sea wall defence, as explained in the BBC's website:
"The sea wall was estimated to cost around £28m but ended up doubling in cost to £53m. It was then discovered that the council illegally awarded the contract for the project and then tried to cover up a damning report which exposed its mistakes."
It's hard to find out how much Jane gets in allowances from Scarborough, because the website details only allowances for 2003 at a minimum of circa £6k - but it does tell us that she has attended 8 meetings already this year out of a possible 12.
Well done Jane!
Haven't residents of Craven, Hambleton, Harrogate etc. something to look forward to when we have a unitary authority (which we will, make no mistake) and Scarborough can mop up all the spare money available!

Hospital News

First posted 19th July 2007 @ 19:39:48

Let's start with a bit of good news, let's face it, we all need some.
Airedale Hospital has pioneered a 'lean' system whereby scan/diagnosis/treatment can all take place in around 24 hours, instead of the present 6 weeks.
Great news, a tribute to the staff at that hospital, and maybe even to the management there.
A vast change from a few short years ago, in 2005, when the finances were in a horrendous state, wards were closing, and staff being laid off.
It's always interesting to see the difference between the two parts of a business like Airedale, when times are hard. At Airedale, 'front line' staff such as nurses were being laid off. The Chief Executive (Bob Allen) was allowed to take a 12 month secondment instead of helping get out of the mess for which, as Chief Executive, he was partly to blame.
You'll be relieved to know that he didn't need to finish that secondment, instead he was allowed to end it six months early, not to sort out his mess, but to take early retirement with an extra 1/4 Million or thereabouts in his pension fund.
The Chairman quickly retired, and the Director of Finance (Janet Crouch) was swiftly spirited away on another secondment.
As an accountant she was obviously ideal for her new role.
In Information Technology.
And we all know what's happening with Information Technology in the NHS!
Why does it always seem too feel that failure in large organisations means the sack for those at the bottom, and the trousering of large wads of cash for those at the top?