I was in London and passing through Liverpool Street station and feeling in need of comfort food I stopped by the Pasty Shop and chose a steak and stilton Cornish pasty. It was only as I was walking away that I noticed that in addition to the usual varieties available (lamb with mint, etc.) they also had a pasty filled with fish, chips and mushy peas – all the necessary vital foods for life. Certainly something to put on the list for next time.
In the meantime my favourite council is embarking upon a series of consultations. One of which focuses on the support we give to families with their Council tax and rents. We will be abolishing the discount for second homes (if you can afford a second home you can afford the council tax!) and also we (the taxpayer) will not be paying for houses which have an above average assessment. (Large families would be accommodated by other pockets in the benefits system).
A survey by the Taxpayers Alliance has discovered that super-sized families are being housed by councils across the country in huge mansions that many mortgage payers could only dream of. The biggest council house provided was a 10-bedroom abode in Southwark, while East Riding Council placed a family into a nine-bedroom home in Bridlington. Robert Oxley of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “This is why the Government must press ahead with its proposed cap on housing benefits”.
Patience Wheatcroft in Monday’s Evening Standard makes the interesting point that most business people would say that what they want most is for government to provide a stable, low-tax environment, and educated and properly skilled workforce, and then get out of the way. Which I can go along with, provided we have adequate safeguards for people and their environment – otherwise we might just as well start breeding smaller children so as to facilitate chimney sweeping and provide employment.
Nice Things
Tilting at Windmills
Whilst in Paris we took the opportunity to treat ourselves to the International Herald Tribune which combines the New York Times news services together with features and articles from elsewhere. It made a refreshing change from the U.K. national papers and we did consider swapping our Telegraph subscription for the I.H.T., relying on the internet for more U.K. centred news.
One breakfast meeting was made joyful by the news that Spain is bidding to host the Olympic Games in 2020. A Wall Street Journal article contained the following extracts:
·“We need two different things: power for the economy and an element of enthusiasm for the population,” Víctor Sánchez, managing director of Madrid 2020,
·Skeptics point out that Madrid is among the most indebted cities in Spain. Ratings firm Fitch recently downgraded Madrid’s regional government, predicting its debt could more than triple—to €23.7 billion ($29 billion)—in 2014 from 2010. The country’s economy, meanwhile, is enduring a double-dip recession and the government is pushing through a €65 billion austerity program.
·“This is not the moment to be thinking about this kind of event,” says José García Montalvo, an economics professor at Barcelona’s Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
·”In these bid documents, there is always an element of unreality,” says Matthew Burbank, a political-science professor at the University of Utah who studies the Olympics.
·The IOC gave Madrid the best score of all three finalists, but added: “Careful monitoring of Spain’s progress on economic issues is needed to further assess future risks of delivery.”
It’s good to see optimism combined with ambition in these dark days. On the other hand the lunatics are thinking that they may be in charge of the asylum. The full article may be viewed on:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303644004577524684025592386.html
The Fair Haired One
We have been in Paris for a week’s break. I decided one day to visit the church of St. Sulpice in Saint Germain des Prés. Overall the visit to St. Sulpice was not as fulfilling as I would have liked. I had been impressed by books recommending the Delacroix murals. It may have been that the paintings needed cleaning or that the lighting was inappropriate (it was a cloudy morning) or that I couldn’t stand back far enough to take in the mural of Jacob Wrestling with the Angel as a whole. St. Sulpice remarkably seemed to have found its pastoral role quite early and includes in its alumni St. John Baptist de la Salle (founder of the Christian Brothers) and St. Vincent de Paul. Surrounding shops are famous for containing religious medals and other devotional items (of varying quality). I declined to purchase an icon apparently showing St. Raphael. I thought it a bit so what-ish especially as this angel did not have wings nor did it show a dog. The morning was saved. My footsteps were guided by a caring angel (possibly St. Raphael – the patron saint of travellers) to The Coolin (The Fair Haired One) – an Irish pub. The steak sandwich was cooked nicely rare.. The waitress was a young Irish lady and the red wine eminently passable. My mood had mellowed by the time coffee was finished as can be seen by the photo of yours truly. Is this a vision of heaven? – Just look at the background!Overall I recommend the Coolin and it was quite well patronised by local people.
What No Bunting!
We have no street bunting in Hadleigh for the Queen’s Jubilee.
According to the Suffolk Free Press Town Clerk has said that “the authority has been informed the bunting was not allowed in the (High) street which is a conservation area, for fear of the damage it would cause to historic buildings. Under health & safety regulations, and due to the listed buildings we can’t put the bunting up”.
But yesterday the E.A.D.T. reported that the Town Clerk had confirmed that the reports were simply untrue. Instead “It would be physically impossible to attach it (the bunting) at a high enough level for vehicles including big lorries that regularly use the road to avoid it. Meanwhile the Town has commissioned the local Brownie and Guide groups to design and make bunting which will be zig-zagged across the street this week end when it is closed to traffic. If this is logistically impossible it will be draped from the buildings instead”.
Apparently Long Melford which is equally historic has bunting. There is no across the street bunting in Hadleigh but plenty on our buildings.
The newspaper advertising boards say it all:
On the Buses
For som
e time, Simon Wills, Shelley Pingo, Kathryn Grandon and I have been agitating for Suffolk County Council to restore the subsidy which was previously given to the later evening bus services from Ipswich to Hadleigh. Simon provided the legal research and a lot of lobbying muscle, Shelley collected over 3,750 signatures and Kathryn & I provided our political skills and connections in getting the idea in front of the right people. The funding was withdrawn last year and the bus operator stopped operating the service. Since that time Hadleigh has faced an evening curfew and has been marooned on Sundays and Bank Holidays. On these days we could be a desert island as far as public transport collectively is concerned. This has had social, educative, community and economic consequences for Hadleigh. Our residents have no local train options, entertainment options or higher education options. To take the train, visit the cinema, attend college and many other things residents have to visit Ipswich. And if that involves a journey after 6 p.m., they are stuck. Such opportunities are open to those who have access to a car. Suffolk County Council allowed us to speak to the Council on Thursday. I was delegated to do the deliver my speech of a lifetime. Thankfully the Council had listened to our earlier presentations and have agreed to a trial six month restoration of the later evening, Sunday and Bank Holiday bus services. This will aid economic recovery , enhance sustainable growth and plug the social gaps.
Because whether you are in catering, retail, hospitality, leisure, medical or manufacturing work patterns require you to be able to get home after six fifteen in the evening! We need the bus service – otherwise we are cut off from economic development, educational opportunity and enhanced leisure activity. Thankfully from August onwards we shall be back on the road after 6.15 in the evenings.
Well done, Suffolk County Council.
Hadleigh Show
Today is the day of the Hadleigh Show. A great day out. But the foundation of the Show is its agricultural underpinnings and the countryside it supports. More details can be found on http://www.hadleighshow.co.uk/
After the Floods
Today is the day of the Hadleigh Show. There has been much discussion as to whether the ground would be too soft for the fair and other heavy footprint machinery. But the rain held off and in the afternoon it was quite sunny. The River Brett is back to normal as the following show:
Dusty the dog is man’s best friend
A happy story to brighten your day.
The EADT reports (Matt Hunter Wednesday, April 18, 2012 9.00 AM ) as follows:
The saying goes that a dog is a man’s best friend – and in one Suffolk village those words are particularly true. Jason Bloomfield, of Creeting St Mary, is celebrating after he was allowed to keep the puppy he saved from an A14 lay-by bin last month. The council worker discovered the aptly-named Dusty during one of his shifts but had an anxious 28-day wait before he knew whether he could keep the pup. It remains a mystery as to how Dusty ended up in the bin but it is believed his previous owners must have dumped him there. He said: “When they said he could stay we had a little party and a get-together to mark the day. “I walk him every morning at 5.30am and he’s up waiting for me – he’s an energetic little dog. Everyone takes a liking to him, he’s a lovely old boy. “He is absolutely brilliant, he loves his ball. I think he has done a little bit of training, he comes bounding back all day. I love him to bits.” Mr Bloomfield will take Dusty to the vets in Stowmarket to be vaccinated and micro-chipped in the next few days. “He does miss me during the day,” he said. “He knows exactly when I’m coming home, he gets up and goes to the door at 4pm. “He loves getting on my lap but if I’ve got tea he looks up to see if he can come up – but he won’t until I tell him.” Dusty and Jason have now become local celebrities, with people approaching them in the street to see how the pair are. “It’s weird being famous, I go into the dentists and Asda and they say, ‘tell us about the little dog’. “I find that everyone seems to know me at lots of places, they say ‘you’re the bloke off the telly’.”
http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/creeting_st_mary_dusty_the_dog_is_man_s_best_friend_1_1351915
Small Successes
Today’s meeting of Babergh District Council’s Overview and Scrutiny (Stewardship) Committee was a quite sparky meeting with much debate focussing on the Finance, Risk And Performance Management – Quarter 3 Monitoring Report (35 pages of facts and figures). The general complaint was that although we are told when targets are not being met – we are not told what is being done to correct the position. Cynics would say that the mushroom principle applies. The view being that it is not the Councillors’ role to understand what is going on but merely to note (and if appropriate approve) the reports. But deep in the data is the wonderful news that Babergh Matters (The Council’s publication for residents –sometimes up to 24 pages of photos and pufferie) has not been published this financial year generating a saving of £41,000. It’s possible that the £41,000 could be carried forward into 2012/13. But a saving is a saving and I have campaigned against the publication since I was first elected in May 2007. Consequently my day was cheered up immeasurably.
FIND (Families in Need)
Tomorrow (Saturday) 
FIND (Families in Need) is holding a fund raiser at St. Mary’s Church Hadleigh from 10 until 2. With the current changes in the economy FIND is having to provide basic necessities like food to families in need. This is a local charity which deserves our support. If you’re free and in Hadleigh on Saturday, drop in to the church and see what’s happening. Short term (three hours) car parking in Hadleigh is free until noon on Saturdays. Thereafter parking is free for all of Saturday afternoon and evening. If you are visiting Hadleigh be careful of using the long term car parks which although they are also free for the first three hours will require a parking ticket up to 5 p.m. FIND is a Christian based charity that was founded in 1990 to provide emergency assistance to families or individuals affected by poverty or dispossession. FIND is also able to offer ongoing friendship and support to those in need. WHAT DOES FIND OFFER? The charity provides, free of charge: food; cooking utensils; clothing, toiletries; baby equipment & nappies; bedding; survival sleeping bags; curtains & furniture; white goods; Christmas hampers & gifts, etc. FIND also befriends people without judging them, offers advice when required and gives support for as long as it is needed. WHO DOES FIND HELP? Anyone living within 25 miles radius of Ipswich who is deprived of a minimum standard of living, be they single, families, lone parents, children, elderly, sick or disabled. Referrals may come from: Social Services; General and Psychiatric Hospitals; The Homeless Family Unit; Victim Support; Salvation Army; Asylum & Refugee Support Agencies; Women’s Aid; The Probation Service; YMCA & YWCA; Ipswich Community Resource Centre; Family Centres; Health Centres; other charities.
brian riley's blog 