3% DECREASE in COUNCIL TAX passed by Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council, well, It Should Have Been!

Sometimes in life we don’t deserve what we get and we certainly do not deserve the budget that was passed last night in the Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council chamber.

During the financial year nothing is certain regarding the financial status of a borough council.  Sometimes windfalls occur such as some that you may have heard about through local news channels, there are other smaller ones that no-one will have mentioned.  The fact is that council budgets are set annually and we have to cut our cloth according to what we have.  The difference last night was one of philosophy.  Labour proposed to keep more of your wealth in their hands whereas the Conservatives proposed to give more back to you to decide what to do with it.

Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council is in a healthy financial position contrary to what others may lead you to believe and there were three options.  Keep the cream in the bank, invest it in the fabric and services of the borough or give it back to the public by reducing council tax.

Before I go any further I will say that in the past I have a mixed voting record at budget setting meetings.  This is the most important Full Council meeting of the year and, as is my way in every meeting, I weigh up what is best for the people of Barpool Ward (and incidentally myself because I live on Barpool Road if you are a new reader) and vote accordingly.  Labour or Conservative makes no odds to me as I have never been either.  I vote for the best budget whichever side of chamber it comes from.  Last year I was the only Cllr to vote against the Labour budget because all of the Conservatives walked out of chamber at the beginning of the meeting.  I have presented a budget myself in the past which balanced and fully presented and seconded but both sides refused to debate it.  Such is the state of local democracy.

As is customary the Leader of the Council (Cllr Dennis Harvey Labour) began proceedings by presenting the Labour budget.  The main points of the Labour budget that interested me were: a proposed a 0% increase in Council Tax and the freezing of all fees and charges that the council is responsible for.  Theirs was a pretty plain budget with a few things I didn’t like based on a theme of securing the boroughs finances for the future year.  Fair enough.

The bits I particularly didn’t like were as follows:

On the front page there was a trumpeted extra £5,000 for revitalising town centres but on the next page £11,000 to be removed from town centres budgets to be later identified by management. (-£6,000 for town centres then).

On the pet projects front Labour’s ‘Breakaway Club’ for children to which last year only one child from the boroughs top ten most deprived wards visited received an extra £30,000.  The point of the club was for children from deprived areas.  It only runs at The Pingles and Civic Hall and is very poorly attended in comparison to the play rangers which is attended by literally thousands and is extremely popular in deprived wards.

Voluntary Service providers in the borough  with the Citizens Advice Bureau being the best known, provide fantastic services to residents in most need and are crying out for cash.  I was surprised to see a £5,000 reduction in their budget.  They have managed to save this money themselves by relocating and making other efficiency savings and I expected that they would be able to then use this money to further their work.  Apparently Labour thinks otherwise.

So, a £6,000 reduction in town centres budget which was trumpeted as a rise,

£30,000 for a pet project

and a cut to the subsidy of the Voluntary Services of £5,000 from the Labour Party?

I don’t like it but if it gets residents a 0% council tax increase and no rises in fees and charges then I will swallow it.

Unless the Conservatives can come up with something better.

The opposition leader (Cllr Des O.Brien Conservative) presented the Conservative alternative budget.  The main points of the Conservative budget that interested me were: a 3% reduction in Council Tax, the reversal of last years car parking increases and a reduction in market stall rents to help the town centres, a £150,000 Community Fund to be allocated to projects in the borough to be decided in consultation with residents, and three new posts; one for an External Funding Officer to help community organisations based in the borough to source grant funding, one for an Animal Warden and the last for an Environmental Enforcement Officer (among other things getting graffiti cleaned up).  This is much more exciting stuff, but you know I am going to say it, there were a few points that I did not like.  At first reading I was not even sure that it was deliverable if I am to be honest with you but more on that further on.

The bits I particularly didn’t like were as follows: Saving £70,000 by no longer funding union officials.  A Conservative central office populist hot potato this one.  The Conservatives themselves increased the number of union reps in the council when they were in control because they recognised the benefits that they brought to the organisation.  On the face of it a very popular point with their voters whereas in practice a saving that would cost more if implemented, and they know it!  An increase in bus station charges from 40p to 50p per departure.  This is per bus not per passenger but I don’t like it.  Buses almost by definition are used most by those with the least and finding underhand ways to take extra from them is never going to be popular with me.  This ‘poor tax’ was increased by Labour last year which has clearly signalled to the Conservatives that it is fair game.

So, a false saving which reduces union representation,

and an increase in fees which only hits our poorest residents was part of the offering from the Conservative party.

No contest really was it?  Both budgets have negatives which is always the way of it and always will be.  Labour’s 0% council tax does not compare favourably to the Conservative 3% reduction.  Similarly the Labour freeze in fees and charges does not compare to the cuts in fees and charges proposed by the Conservatives.

Don’t forget that these promises all have to be funded

and the council left with sustainable reserves.

Both budgets were examined by the Section 151 Officer (Chief Financial Officer) and shown to provide robust estimates of income/expenditure, a risk assessment of the assumptions provided, and the proposals for balancing the budget were accepted as being achievable.

The reserve position of the council (General Fund plus Housing Revenue Account) would be £10.2M with the Labour budget and £9.5M with the Conservative budget at the end of the next financial year.  Incidentally they are predicted to be £11.2M at the end of this financial year, can’t you tell that there is an election in May?

I agree with the Chief Financial Officer in the council that these reserves are adequate.

So, time to vote.

Whereas it is a foregone conclusion that every Conservative hand and every Labour hand will rise when their leaders does on every single occasion I have the choice.  On this occasion I voted for the Conservative proposals outlined above.  On balance in these hard economic times I felt that giving more back to the taxpayers by reducing council tax and reducing fees and charges overall is the correct thing to do as it in no way threatens the sustainability of the finances of the authority.  Unfortunately more of you voted for Labour than anyone else at the last election so democracy rules and you will have to pay more council tax than you otherwise would, the town centres will be further impoverished and I do hope that none of you need the services of the voluntary services sector, or at least if you do that you are prepared to wait longer.

A final observation if I may.  There are some good brains on both sides of the council chamber and once again, when presented with two separately prepared full budget statements, I found myself wishing that at local level when it comes to setting the budget the two teams could work together.  If they could then you really would get a cracking budget!  Sadly I suspect that this will never be the case.

This Greek farce explained

Merkel and Sarkozy are offering the economy of Greece as a sacrifice to German and French banking giants and even this is but one play in a Europe wide gambit.  This is the unpalatable truth of the crisis that we see unfolding before us in the Eurozone.

Using historical precedent from South America and Asia it is quite possible to offer a couple of solutions to the Greek financial position as it stands today.  Interestingly neither would beggar the population for future generations.

From the viewpoint of the German and French people it would be beneficial to them for Greece, and other countries that so spectacularly cannot yet manage their economies, to leave the Euro.  The reputation of what has become a trading and minor reserve currency would shine and its value stabilise at a sensible level.

Think back, if you are old enough, to the misty financial practices that took place at the time of the formation of the Eurozone.  Governments were encouraged to lie about their financial positions to gain access to the promised financial riches that awaited them in the Eurozone.  The aim then was to cover as much of the map as possible in the single currency.  It worked too!  The downside story however is twofold:

On one hand the newly formed single currency did offer treasuries across Europe access to more money than ever before at lower interest rates than they had ever formerly been offered.  Eager to show their people the benefits of the experiment, and I am sure against the advice of many treasury officials who recognized the folly, governments went on a borrowing frenzy.  Money was available for projects that had previously been only a pipedream and the number of public sector workers grew. 

At the formation of the Eurozone German bankers in particular and to a lesser extent the French were only too eager to lend any quantity asked for by the newly empowered governments.  Bankers were in effect 'buying' sections of national economies.  Bankers had never been happier 'lending' money 'created' at the touch of a button and receiving repayments in real money from the governments involved.

Increasing debt levels to the extent that they are unpayable is unconscionable to you or I.  Accession governments did so however and one day there had to be a realisation moment.

It would be easy, and lazy, to lambast the politicians and bankers for their lack of foresight.  To do so would be to underestimate them both spectacularly.

Across Europe there is a ruling political class of people from whom our political, academic and financial minds emerge.  To them the promise of a united federal republic of Europe is a dream.  Economic stability and military security could be more readily afforded to all of the people of Europe.  The world would have a second major trading and reserve currency to rival the US Dollar, whose status as global reserve currency has irked said European ruling class since the abolition of the gold standard, and a completely new structure of laws could be enshrined to bestow cultural and social harmony to hundreds of millions of people.

The only problem for the ruling class is that they are limited in number and we live in democratic nations.  Many millions have been spent to 'educate' populations to no avail.  The majority of European citizens do not want a federal Europe.  Another method had to be found.

Everyone presently is talking about the Greek economy and to some extent those of Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Italy also.  Simply put they are all Eurozone nations that have borrowed far to much from bankers who demand payment.  This is unsustainable and populations across Europe are waiting for deals to be done.  The principles of these new deals I believe were set several years ago.

The preferred method of the ruling class is simply to voluntarily reduce debt burdens across the Eurozone to manageable proportions (they only owe it to themselves and it was only 'created' money anyway so nothing is really lost) in return for which full European Union will be the price demanded.  The referendums, when they come, will be set across a backdrop of austerity and depression (financial and personal for those dependent upon the real economy) with the certain knowledge that the future will be just as bad for the next generation.  Grateful populations will then have given up their very cultures and nation states to the dream of the ruling political, academic and financial class.  Once the Greek population has been forced into negotiated bondage the other nations will follow.  Populations of larger nations simply led to realise that if the periphery owes money to the centre and stops paying the centre collapses as well.  Game over!

Not quite. There is still the possibility that the Greek people will be strong enough to force their government along a different path.

The timeline for European integration is medium term I believe so don't look for announcements in the next two or three years.  Five at least would be my guess.  Sufficient time to impress upon populations how limited their lives are going to be before offering the preferred alternative.  Lots of colourful rhetoric to be absorbed before then.

I know not how strong the Greek people are.  I shall watch from the sidelines with much interest.

I shall also do everything within my power to ensure that the UK ruling class does not force us into the maelstrom.

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Argentine humour, Real IRA, Greek farce and Journalists getting their collars felt

Argentina would win the award for ‘Plank comment of the week’ this week if there were such a thing.  Their major expose that our nuclear powered and armed submarines were potentially in violation of a nuclear-free zone and their subsequent protest to the United Nations left me speechless.  Are our nuclear subs in contravention of a nuclear-free zone?  I have no idea but if there is one they damn well had better be!

Terrorism is on the news again as a Real IRA gunman who shot dead two sappers is handed a twenty five year prison sentence.  Having asked for leniency on the grounds of his cystic fibrosis I am pleased to say that he received none.  He is expected to die in prison.  I cannot help but wonder if he would have preferred the option of hanging?  I find all terrorists equally contemptuous irrespective of cultural background.  Long prison sentences for attempted or planned atrocities and the death penalty for atrocities carried out should become the norm.

In Greece protesters are firebombing riot police as feelings intensify with the approach of the deadline for the signing of their latest financial bailout.  Many Greek people feel that they are being hocked for a lifetime by their politicians, their futures sacrificed in the name of political union.  Negotiated details are unknown to me but I see only bad times ahead for the people of Greece.  I think that defaulting from the Eurozone and reinstating the Drachma, though humiliating in the short and medium term, will prove the better course for the long term future of Greece.  Politicians in many countries need to stop thinking about the next quick fix and address the core problem.  This is unlikely because in many places their careerism is the core problem!

It is well reported that journalists from that (sarcasm warning) beacon of journalistic integrity ‘The Sun’ have been arrested by detective investigating inappropriate payments to police.  The (pass the bucket) National Union of Journalists said that their members have been thrown to the wolves in a witch hunt.  I would like to point out to any journalists who might find themselves reading this that at least your brethren will be presumed innocent until proven guilty, even by me.  This is a lot more than you are prepared to do for Nationalists against whom any allegation is routinely given prominence in your publications and yet when the accusations are proven unjustified you have no interest.  I have personal experience of this.  No crocodile tears please.

Cameron the commentating clown

David Cameron needs someone to remind him that the office that he holds should command respect. He is supposed to act with dignity. He is, as if we can forget, the Prime Minister to the Sovereign. A position from which leadership is sought. Not for the first time I find him engaging in scuttlebutt akin to the contents of a society columnist, or yet worse, a jingoistic gutter journalist. Regardless of his perspective on off-field footballing matters that may be considered newsworthy at the moment I would much prefer that his attention was occupied by loftier affairs.

The Falkland islands are in the news again. The Argentine government have found a handy public distraction from domestic issues. Just like they did the last time they needed one in the early eighties and we all know what that brought about.

Quantitative Easing to the sum of £50,000,000,000 has been announced today by the Bank of England. Bankers and some economists are rejoicing, as well they may, but in the real world pensioners will be worse off for the remainder of their lives. Annuities today are down 25% in value from as recent as 2008.

The debacle over foreign aid has not played out its last yet. Questions are being asked and I have a feeling that there will be more on this issue in coming months.

Over in America the decision by the high court of Georgia that Obama is not eligible to stand for election there, and cannot therefore be voted for in that state, is being challenged. This one will run and is receiving attention stateside but not as it might by the mainstream media.

I have to go now. Have a good afternoon.

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Foreign Aid, Abu Hamza, failing Head Teachers and Pagans

Foreign aid is in the news again and particularly that given to India.  A country that by it’s own admission neither wants nor needs it and actually asked last year for it to be stopped.  It is embarrassing to them amongst other reasons because they have a foreign aid program of their own which gives out more than they receive.  We are simply passing on cash to a foreign nation for further dispersal to destinations unknown.

Abu Hamza is in the news because MP’s are visiting him in prison to consult with him would you believe.  I personally don’t care what he has to say.  Unless he is being consulted upon his request for his final meal he should be left to rot.  Terrorists and their sympathisers will receive no sympathy from me.

The Chief Inspector of Schools has stated that a quarter of England’s 21,000 primary and secondary schools have underperforming head teachers.  They are apparently failing to get a grip of substandard teaching and trotting out lame excuses such as poverty and social deprivation.  Neither of which in my view are valid.  Many top students come from poor backgrounds.  Very few heads have ever been sacked for any reason at all.  Under 40 is the figure I read.  This cannot be helping the situation.  A well paid job for life at the top with no possibility of censure does not bode well for the pupils.  He is correct to say that OFSTED inspections should be unannounced as I have said before.  He also needs to bring the stick nearer to the gold plated carrot.

I have a lot of time for Pagans.  Paganism predates Christianity and has been embedded into the culture of these lands for further back than written records go.  The history of Paganism may not be the friendliest but modern Pagans wish no harm to others and peacefully coexist with their more modern, in their view out of touch, Christian neighbours.  That’ll do for me!

Socialism failed spectacularly

Every now and again I think it worth mentioning that Socialism, the much loved political philosophy of the left, has been thoroughly tried and tested and failed at every turn.

If you have any doubt about this dear reader ask yourself a couple of simple questions.

Firstly on the everyday side of things: is there or has there ever been a sustainable Socialist economy that you would like to live in?

Secondly on the issues of fairness and diversity: has there ever been a Socialist infested state yet spawned from the devils gut that had a tinge of either?

Thought not. Please notice that I have politely stayed away from the gulags, executions, purges and genocides that routinely dot history and are doomed to be repeated unless the truth is told now and again.

Better dead than truly red.

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