STOP GOVERMENT SUPPORT FOR THIS FAILED INSTITUTION !

As Sunderland FC were crushing the Magpies yesterday afternoon it occurred to me - Why is the Government propping up that nearly bankrupt football club ?

Northern Rock was the first bank that the Government decided to bail out, with a full scale 'nationalisation' package. However, is it really appropriate for the Northern Rock brand to be sponsoring Newcastle United FC, particularly sociopaths like Joey Barton ?

SHOPPED BY HOFTON !

Charlotte Hofton was poking fun at me again in the County Press today regarding my non-attendance at the ceremonial starter to Full Council last week,

"The council chamber was packed for this special ceremony. There were lots of councillors, though not, of course, Cllr Geoff Lumley, who was probably down at the working men's club reading his copy of Tribune, in proletariat protest at all this flummery.

Cllr Lumley would not have liked the ceremony. Apart from the councillors, the Rent-a-Nob pack was out in force, with the seats around the chamber and in the public gallery full of the Island's finest."

I love it ! She has my approach to these ceremonies spot on, though I haven't read Tribune in quite some time. And I wasn't the only one not there.......

THANKS BRIAN MOSDELL - R.I.P.

Last night I made my latest visit to Brian Mosdell in the hospice, but learnt from the staff on arrival that he had taken a turn for the worse. This morning he died. Like many who knew him I feel very sad.

I got to know Brian well after the 2005 Council elections, and particularly during our Scrutiny investigation into Wightcare during 2006, when that wonderful Council service was under threat of privatisation. Deborah and I guessed he would be a hard-faced Tory about it, but he proved to be a man of great compassion and integrity, who knew the value of a public service not just the price.

When he stood down from the Council Tory Group in the summer of 2007 I was not surprised. He was far too 'One Nation', too much of a democrat, for that bunch. He was to remain estranged from the party he had been a member of for many, many years due to his active opposition to the Tory Education Betrayal.

I am pleased that I got to know Brian over the last three and a half years. We didn't often agree, but we disagreed with mutual respect and a great deal of humour.

My heartfelt condolences to his widow Shirley and the rest of his family.

SHANKLIN TORY SHENANIGANS

Word has it that the remaining Tories who have been subject to the Standards enquiry into a planning application for over a year now - Sutton, Bishop, Churchman and Peacey-Wilcox are being barred from being selected as Tory candidates for next year's local elections until the enquiry is over. As that is apparently being strung out by 'unnamed persons', that would mean that it will not be concluded until after the elections next June.

All very convenient for two Shanklin incumbents, a town where three wards will become two next year under boundary changes. Barring Bishop from selection will give them - Pugh and Williams - a potentially free run, subject of course to the local party members.......... Bishop has never left the Tory party, just the Council Tory group, and is currently Chairman of Shanklin Conservatives.............

ISLAND TORIES, IT'S NOT POCKET MONEY...........

At last night's dreary Full Council - all the business over in 55 minutes, probably because Deborah and I weren't much in the mood for battle - I asked the Cabinet member for Schools if he knew anything about a projected major overspend on the new Cowes Secondary School pathfinder. This is the school where the government has given the Council £32m, they had to contribute £1.5m, and in June they had to up that a further £2.5m - see my blog of 18 June.

He claimed not to know anything though we have been reliably been informed that the projected cost is now in the £40 millions. Still we will find out whether our information is correct as we have asked the Schools Minister to look into it in the public interest.

ISLAND TORIES, STAB IN THE BACK

Tomorrow night at Full Council the Tory Council leader plans to take away the Council's Local Government Association (LGA) position held by his predecessor for the past three and a half years.

Does he know something we don't, I wonder ????????

ELECTION LESSON

Last Thursday's by-election to the IW Council - with an annual budget of £325 million that touches everybody's life - secured a turnout of 32%.

On Friday a by-election for a Resident Member of the Pan Neighbourhood Partnership (PNP) Board - with a Government budget of less than £400,000 pa for 7 years, that is making real and positive changes to the lives of many Pan resident's - secured a turnout of 31%.

The PNP election was entirely postal. Maybe there is a lesson to be learnt here ?

POOR SOD

Back in 2003, two years before my success in Pan, I lost an IW Council by-election in Newport North by 32 votes on the day the allied forces were occupying Baghdad as part of the massively unpopular invasion of Iraq. I felt like the unluckiest Labour candidate in history, especially when I always opposed that war.

However, the last month has seen my 'unluckiest candidate' crown taken over by the Labour candidate in the Mount Joy by-election, Steve Cooper. For the last month he has seen the world economy crumble around his ears thanks to the greed and incompetence of banker cretins in the USA , UK and elsewhere, who have now taken state bail outs from governments who have still taken all the blame for the crash - whether Labour - or Republican.

Tonight Steve reaped the tail end of the worldwind at the vote counting. Although Labour clearly did not expect to win we expected to poll our usual 15-20% in this ward when the by-election was declared back in August. Sadly our vote crumbled to just 38, or 6%, tonight as the reality of our doorstep experiences over the last couple of weeks hit home.

The Tory won - with 45% of the vote - which tells you everything you need to know about what Islanders are currently thinking about political parties. The Liberals got 25% and the Independent (no school changes) candidate got 24%.

ISLAND TORIES, WASTING OUR MONEY

The following article in the Sunday Telegraph this week reminds us of how Tories govern - by feathering the nests of the few, at the expense of the many:

"When Joe Duckworth resigned as chief executive of Isle of Wight Council to take on the best-paid job in local government at Newham, his decision to leave after less than two years in the post surprised and angered many on the island.

Mr Duckworth had promised to turn around the Isle of Wight's fortunes when he arrived there in 2006.

But the island council, which had been awarded only two out of four stars in the Audit Commission's annual quality ratings for 2005 and 2006, received the same low grade again in the 2007 ratings published earlier this year.

A two star rating is defined as "only at minimum requirements". Only one in six councils has a rating of two stars or lower.

In its report for 2007, published this year, the Audit Commission said Isle of Wight Council was "improving well" overall, but also found that it was the only council in England which had worsened over the course of the year in the key performance area of "financial standing".

Mr Duckworth, a father-of-three and a keen mountain biker and surfer, has worked in local government since 1991, with previous stints at York, Surrey, Hackney and City of Westminster.

He was paid £150,000 a year as boss of Isle of Wight Council, far above his predecessor who received only just over £80,000 a year. His policies included striving to turn the island into an "Eco Isle". But he appears to have alienated some local councillors.

"His departure sparked very mixed feelings," said one councillor who asked not to be named. "People were very cross with him because he achieved very little. But at the same time there was a collective sigh of relief that he was leaving.

"When he arrived we were a two-star council, and we are still a two-star council now he has gone."

Critics on the island claim his time in office was marked by expensive pipe dreams and low morale at the town hall. His personal manner and communication skills were not to everyone's liking.

One female councillor, who asked not to be named, said: "He swore like a trooper, stamped his feet a lot and shouted. You wouldn't think of it when you first met him, but that was the way he operated.

"A lot of people used to complain about that, but they were too scared to complain to his face. There was a real atmosphere of fear at the council."

Mr Duckworth dismissed the complaints about swearing as sour grapes. He said he had curtailed his use of bad language after the matter was raised with him on the Isle of Wight"

MOUNT JOY VOTERS - DON'T MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY

On Thursday there is a by-election for an IW Council vacancy in the Mount Joy ward in Newport. The Labour candidate STEVE COOPER is a resident of Ventnor, but if that is important to you you should also know that he works in Newport at the IW College and has many connections in our town.

Island Labour didn't ask him to be our candidate because we were desperate, as theTories seem to have been judging by their campaign literature. We selected him as candidate because we know what an excellent councillor he would be for local people.

I hope that he does well on Thursday and is able to join the most effective opposition Group at County Hall.

(posted and published by Geoff Lumley on behalf of Steve Cooper, both c/o 30 Fairlee Road, Newport, IW)