Friday 18 October 2013

Letters to the Editor: Councillor​s Should Bring A Packed Lunch

Dear Editor,
A constituent who provides care for an elderly lady in Tameside recently contacted me in distress. Every now and then this lady goes to Gorse Hall Day Centre in Stalybridge, where pensioners can go to get out and socialise with one another. It's highly popular and provides a valuable service for pensioners and their carers. To their surprise, they received a letter stating that the service is to be stopped due to a need to save money.
The Council’s main reason was that it was costing £8.50 per head to provide tea and toast in the morning, with a two course lunch later on. A Freedom of Information request I did to Tameside Council some years ago on the cost of meals to councillors before their full council meeting showed that our politicians often get served steak and chips, washed down with a glass of wine and followed by a dessert. Guess how much this comes to? Only £2.95 per head!
What adds insult to injury is that this meal starts at 4pm, before the full council meeting starts at 5pm. Often the full council meeting only lasts for half an hour, so the meal lasts longer than the meeting itself. If councillors are that hungry and require a meal I suggest they bring a packed lunch or do what most working people do and wait until they get home. If the cost of this meal is so much cheaper than tea and toast for pensioners then perhaps we should invite the pensioners to the town hall and give them what the councillors have before full council.
It's amazing how creative Tameside Council can be with the figures when they want to justify something for themselves. It also shows that Tameside Labour councillors would rather keep meals for themselves rather than support our pensioners who have worked hard all their lives and paid their taxes.
The Conservatives have demanded that the number of councillors be cut by a third. This would save over half a million pounds in allowances and election costs. This would more than pay for Gorse Hall Day Centre to remain open. Tameside Labour are against this; they would rather see a day centre for the elderly close at the expense of keeping their own allowances and perks. It's time that we put our money to good use, rather than protect the political class.
Liam Billington

The letter to the editor above should have appeared in the current edition of the Advertiser however it did not appear in print, can anyone guess why? The Gorse Hall Centre featured in the Manchester Evening News back in 2005 following a "political furore" sparked by rumours. Cllr Taylor vowed to "put the matter right once and for all". Read the article here and take a look at the main picture outside 'Gorse Hall'? Tameside Citizen

34 comments:

derail the Labour gravy train said...

Good to see the Conservatives are campaigning to reduce the ridiculously high number of councillors in Tameside.

you get who you vote for end of story said...

The head of social services brilliant.

Anonymous said...

A £50,000 saving to TMBC when most Councillors and their other married/partners
Councillors are bloody money
pirates.
These leeches and parasites
want to blame the Government because their 2014 Election
objectives HAVE ALREADY STARTED to return Labour by
blaming everything TMBC do on Government.
So the immigrant Voters are being increasingly cultivated and snippets of
money are being spread across wards out of the financial pot stashed away ready to use some of it for 2014 votes.
These shysters are the lowest of the low in society,and should be treated like the scum they are when seen,read about,or listened too.

A Very Nasty Man said...

It's no good just moaning about it on blogs, get out into the community post leaflets about the scams and the coming oppression of political opponents.
Look at the Labour thug that roams the streets, because he's confident there's no opposition.
The police turn a blind eye to what goes on during local elections in Tameside.

Anonymous said...

I wish people would write on here what they have to say rather than post a link to youtube. If you got a point to make then say it. To access the content you need Flash Player. It wouldn't take genius to put a rogue posting on here that allows the poster to back door you. Click on links at your peril.

Anonymous said...

Well get one then dummy

McAfee v Norton said...

The poster at 16.05 makes a valid point about back door Trojans and clicking unverified links.

Anonymous said...

Surely this concerns everyone?
GPs condemn David Cameron's open-all-hours surgery plans
Dr Clare Gerada, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs said: 'you do not find a solution by beating us around the head constantly, but by supporting and investing in us.
In February 2013 she was assessed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4.
But the idea - floated by RCGP chair Professor Clare Gerada earlier this month - was backed by prominent GP academic Professor Azeem Majeed.
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the GP committee at the British Medical Association, warned that weekday GP services would suffer
Only 100 (1%) of the 9,871 surgeries in England listed on the NHS Choices website are currently open for part of Saturday
................
Other senior GPs, such as Professor Steve Field, the new chief inspector of primary care, and Dr Michael Dixon, president of NHS Clinical Commissioners, have strongly backed longer opening. (pity these are in the minority ??)
...................
Are Tamesiders happy with their Doctors on 4.5 or 5 day weeks,and even some doing just part time in their surgeries each week,so who are the losers ??? those with limited surgeries,no emergency out of hours visits by their GP`s,no continuity which GP you see.or the GP`s stashing large £ amounts for less productivity.
Who are these dominating GP`s at the top of BMA ?? are they installed Labourites

Bill said...

Dr Pratt, my old doctor years ago in Droylsden, certainly knew the meaning of dedication.

Alone, she operated 3 surgeries a day, 7 days a week and made house calls as well.

The present medical practices don't know how lucky they are.

Anonymous said...

Hey listen, the vast majority of Drs and hospital nurses like to take it easy outside of 'civilised' hours. Look at the number of staff in the places at weekends etc, they're like a ghost town. Fortunately no-one gets ill outside office hours either do they.
Every c**t in the real world (i.e. private sector) works stupid hours and shifts now, including those being paid a f***ing pittance, so why aren't Drs and NHS staff made to do a lot more of it as well.

Great article I must admit said...

.....................................

Curmudgeon said...

Bill, I too remember the dedication shown by Droylsden's Dr Pratt. Her surgery was based in her ivy covered 'listed' home which was bulldozed in order to build TESCO's

She was a brilliant doctor who stood no messing and had no time for malingerers!

Bill said...

TC, I think the property was called Fairfield House. It was a fine building with a large lawn at the rear backing on to the Courtaulds factory.

I remember there was another doctor in the practice, a Dr Lang who could often be heard playing his violin. He never seemed to do much work though.

Dr Pratt had an excellent memory, she could remember all family members by name. She was a one off, the like never to be seen again.

Bill said...

TC, I have just found a 1966 photograph of Fairfield House on the Tameside archives.

http://www.tameside.gov.uk/history/archive.php3

It is on the left of the photograph before the bus stop and the old Council offices. I think the building rising above it is the old Co-Operative factory on Greenside Lane.

Bill said...

The link doesn't work but it takes you to the archives. If you type in 'Fairfield House' in the search box it will shown the picture which is second on the list.

Clicking on it will enlarge it.

Bill said...

The last image on page 1 and the first 4 on page 2 show it in more detail. I should have looked before I posted, sorry about that.

Alf Garnett said...

ON the subject of big houses ? has any one receive a letter about Monorial yet ? I know of a few and its to do with mines and minerals under your land . and you had till the 12th of October 1013 to protect them if you could as in some cases you may own the top of the land but that dont meen you own below the crust . and its all to do with fracking and thats why they changes the law .

Alf Garnett said...

sorry it shlould say Manorial right

Anonymous said...

No Alf, what is it, a mining company?

Planet Killer said...

Fracking in America is utilised on a massive and growing scale. The US has been able to vastly reduce its imports of oil and gas and even more significantly is exporting enormous amounts. It has also reduced industrial energy costs in many areas by 25%. Meanwhilke in EU marxist land we're saddled with lunatic 'Green' taxes domestically and industrially and have to rely on foreigners to build our nuclear power stations.
The UK has gigantic reserves of shale gas and coal, but hey let's wait until the lights go out, when the eco nutters will be nowhere to be found.
Technology and cleaner use of fossil fuels to reduce air pollution are the solutions, but then there'd be no excuse to 'moral-tax' people and industry to death.
The root of the problem is the 9 billion plus people on the planet, THAT'S what needs tackling and the place to start is the Third World, but as we all know they're untouchable and uncriticisable.

Anonymous said...

The good news is they've nearly cured malaria so expect a massive surge in the number of Third Worlders very soon.
Remember they must be given this cure, given it free, given it with absolutely no strings attached (apart from bullshit 'education' programmes about having smaller families - i.e. less than ten - which they'll totally ignore) and above all they must never be told to STOP F***ING BREEDING LIKE COCKROACHES.

Roy West said...

TC I think you should publish the letter Andrew Gwynne sent us recently.
I think the letter goes nicely with his recent efforts to save the poor cat (see the advertiser)

SerpentSlayer said...

Tracking is another example of us destroying the planet we live on so that we can live in untold luxury while the human race grows, becomes more mixed and essentially destroys any value it has. It is driven by greed, we are shutting nuclear power stations while drilling the ground from under us, it is very short sighted.
I would be happy to see the lights go out and stay out, all this technology is fun and all but a world without electricity would be a good thing for our species.

Anonymous said...

Hindley gives support to the arch enemy of all nationalists.
No genuine patriot would ever dream of lending any support or encouragement to a snake this.

Alf Garnett said...

Hang on one minute Leigh Drennan is a nice lad and hes worth 10 of you west ?

10/07/2013 07:09

Anonymous said...

Roy West said...
TC I think you should publish the letter Andrew Gwynne sent us recently.
I think the letter goes nicely with his recent efforts to save the poor cat (see the advertiser)

Maybe your right RW seeing I appear to be off the free distribution list.

Anonymous said...

No BNP candidate could ever give support to a man like Leigh Drennan.
I was at the election count that night, were he ran up to a female BNP candidate and screamed in her face "you've lost all your Councillors in Stoke"

Anonymous said...

If you are looking to get support from Andrew Gwynne MP then forget it,
he's firmly behind the Council Mafia.
Andrew Gwynne MP ‏@GwynneMP 18 Oct

Great spot of #LabourDoorstep in Dukinfield this morning. Happy 65th birthday to Councillor @JohnWagTaylor too! pic.twitter.com/hU6A1k3OgG
View photo

Anonymous said...

TC I will send you Andrew Gwynne's letter to be published on the citizen.
Gwynne's priorities are helping stray cats, rather than looking into the injustice of a vulnerable woman being dragged through the courts.

Anonymous said...

Diesel, unleaded and... COW GAS? How digestive emissions from cattle could be used to power cars of the future.

Plenty of such animals in the TMBC hierarchy with plenty of foul gas which could certainly supply the Council fleet.
Look out for TMBC vehicles with a shackled Tameside person running behind and towed ready for a run out of fuel occurrence

Anonymous said...

Labour MP Lucy Powell Manchester Central said: “I’m delighted to be appointed as Labour’s new Shadow Minister for Childcare and Early Years.
WOW

Having a child in May 2013
has she bonded yet with her kid ???,takes all types to produce a child even if they prefer to virtually dump their offspring for someone else to bring it up.

Alf Garnett said...

Have you read this sh-t again ? Leigh Drennan comes from a very nice family and yes hes a nice lad and as for him screaning in a womans face ? well im just not havin it and when i see him about i will ask him about it and i know now it will be you thats full of sh-t ? long live the BNP

Alf Garnett said...

hay and he knows im in the BNP and hes always been right with me and that the difference with me and you west ? every one that meats me like me now can you say this ?

Anonymous said...

Hindley death by his own words

Roy West said...

Rest in peace Trevor I will miss you.
He died last night of heart attack outside Asda.