I'm Back

It's been a while but but I'm back in the land of the Blogosphere and hope to be posting regularly again soon.

Meanwhile you have let it all go to the dogs. Where has all of the piss-taking gone. Surely the big clunking fist deserves more than he's getting. Labour are paying the price of their own corporatism. As they moved away from community values and individuals and tied themselves firmly to capitalism they are suffering from the credit squeeze in the same way as the banks and financial institutions they have come to love. The English middle classes, don't you just love them. They have reduced voting with your wallet to an art form. Labour are getting what they deserve in the English local elections, but the Tories under Big Dave Cameron are no better, in fact they are remarkably similar.

The SNP have made a complete arse of things in Scotland. They have not increased the council tax, but instead have cut services to the most vulnerable right through the country. But surely the same price for less is an increase. Perhaps they should re-introduce 'O' level arithmetic. They carry on with PFI schools and hospitals even although they opposed them previously. What happened to those extra police, student debt, a referendum and an end to the council tax Oh, and by the way, where is Sir Sean's new house?

The Lib/Dems, well, anything at all for a taste of power please, including kissing Salmond's arse.
They have become a parody of themselves. Remember when they stood for something, even if it was something different in every town. Now they stand for nothing.

That's enough to start back with.

Forth Estuary, Thames Water, and the Sewage Spill

Having been brought up on the Firth of Forth I feel a bit distressed about the estuary being polluted with untreated sewage as a result of a pump failure in a treatment station operated by Thames Water.

My first reaction to the reports was that the Forth is a long way from the Thames, and if you want to operate local resources perhaps it is better to operate them by means of local authorities, rather than PFI booty capitalists, who have at heart the interests of their shareholders in the City of London rather than local people.

Mechanical breakdowns in machinery are not unforseeable, they are inevitable and predictable given proper inspections and maintenance, and if the back-up systems are not in place to deal effectively with these failures then it is because someone decided not to have these systems. It wasn't an accident, it was a conscious decision motivated by minimising cost and maximising profit.

PFI / PPP and the Larbert Hospital (specialising in the treatment of burns caused by 'pants on fire'

We were at a demo today at the Falkirk wheel, where Laing O'Rourke, one of Labour's donors and a major player in the £300 million contract to build the new Larbert hospital, were holding a Jobs Fair. We were noisy, but for Laing O'Rourke to fabricate a complete lie about applicants being man-handled and ask for us to be moved on because of it only shows how rattled they were by a group of very wet protesters. All I can say is they must have been easily upset, but for the record, not a hand was laid on any applicant or member of Laing O'Rourke staff. Not a single person was approached in an intimidatory way. They were offered leaflets, most accepted, some refused them, but no one was touched or even shouted at directly. The PA system made shouting unnecessary.

Laing O'Rourke were asked to meet us and explain their allegations (by PA and by invitation via Wheel staff) but refused to meet us or to repeat the allegations which Wheel Staff said were given to them second hand.

I have no hesitation in stating that these allegations were LIES told by LIARS, and if anyone thinks people like that should be running healthcare in this country, then they have my sympathy.

Their profits, their practices, and now it seems their people are obscene.

As for the jobs fair, I've seen more interest in watching paint dry.

PFI / PPP Schools and Hospitals : BBC Poll and Brown's Lies

Looking at the results of the BBC poll here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/6526715.stm#table
it seems that the Scots don't have a very high regard for PFI / PPP as a means of providing public services.

They seem to recognise a pig in a poke when they see one, but to explain the reasoning I offer this.

1. The stated aim of the Government in PFI / PPP is to bring private finance into public projects
2. Contractors are so stupid that they will make a net input to the project
3.The treasury will have a net benefit

No, that doesn't make sense so let's try again

1. The stated aim of Government in PFI /PPP is to bring private finance into public projects
2. Contractors are so cunning that they will manipulate the contracts to make a profit thereby taking money out of public projects
3. The treasury will have a large net loss which taxpayers up to 25 years down the line will have to pick up

Yes, that seems a lot more likely, but the present lot will be long gone by that time, so they don't care about anything but the next election down the line.

But voters (as the poll shows) are not so stupid as politicians think they are. They know that contractors , far from having their money levered into these projects are tripping over themselves to get involved because of the large amounts of money that they can take out. To believe otherwise is just plain silly.

If you want to get this money from big companies into public services, why is company tax about as low as it has ever been in modern times? I await an explanation from Gordon 'the big clunking fist' Brown or even someone more local if Scottish Labour still have any say in the matter.

Terry Kelly Schools Etc.

Just to add to my previous posts on this subject, I am informed by documents obtained from the Council that one of the schools he brags about was delivered so late that the start of term had to be delayed and the contractor was penalised £25,000. Can't be the best way to start the school year, but it gets worse.

I am informed by more that one of the pupils that in the recent wet weather rain water guttering had to be set up inside the school to channel the roof leaks into buckets.

Doesn't it make you proud.?........well it does Terry

Councillor Terry Kelly and the Ferguslie Schools

I am not posting this to Terry because as explained in earlier posts (mine and his) he will not debate the issues with me unless I also allow him to attack me personally. There can be no other reason to insist that I post personal details on the internet before he will engage.

The schools that he brags about are evidence of the disgrace which Labour have brought upon the people of this country. Both income and wealth are so unevenly distributed (and going from bad to worse under New Labour) that we cannot seemingly afford to provide our kids with schools except on the never-never, and this in the 10th (or 11th depending on your measurement system) richest country in the world.

Terry, you and your cronies should hang your heads in shame rather than blowing your own trumpet.

Councillor Terry Kelly and the Ferguslie Schools

I posted the following comment to TK on his blog today, but as he has censored me I repeat the posting below :-

Sorry to rain on your parade, Terry, but aren’t you just leasing these schools under a PFI / PPP deal and wont it be left to the future generations to occupy a school up to 25 years old for which they will still be paying top dollar?

Aren’t the schools designed, built, owned and operated for profit by a contractor?