Suffolk County Council: Wasting money

last night I attended the latest attempt by Conservative run Suffolk County Council to persuade people that a single unitary would be best for Suffolk. No members of the public attended!! There were 3 County Councillors, 4 District Councillors, 2 senior officers, 1 Town Councillor and the wife of a County councillor.
Otherwise, no one.
I was told that the best attendance so far is 9 !!!!
The County are wasting taxpayers money hiring venues, wasting staff time and pushing a propaganda for their preferred option. It is disgraceful. The sooner this issue of local government review is put to bed the better. The public are not interested while councils (not Babergh to their credit)concentrate on protecting what they see as best for their own power bases.

Vince Cable: The Storm

This Easter holiday has been one of reading Vince Cable's account of the economic and financial crisis that faces the UK and the global economy. Securitization, amplification, special investment vehicles and figures in the trillions of $dollars. It is a remarkable, clear explanation of how the contagion spread. Of how people thought they were being clever by spreading the risk of their high risk actions and how high street banks, investment banks and the insurance industry were hit never mind the housing market and the wider economy.
There is a Facebook group called Cable so Able in appreciation of the man the Times called "A heavy weight in anyones cabinet."

BBC Panorama and care of elderly scandal

Tonight's BBC Panorama was truely shocking. The lack of care, the lack of time given to vulnerable elderly people in their homes reliant on home care uncovered by this programme means politicians must act.
Minimum standards ignored. Light touch inspections failing. The commissioner/provider model failing. Companies defrauding councils of cash for payments for set hours and carers not turning up due to understaffing. The low paid, desparate staff shown. The pain inflicted on terminally ill or confused patients.
The test of a society is how it treats its elderly and vulnerable and this programme showed that in several areas of the UK, we should be ashamed. How many more areas exist like this?

What makes my blood boil is that on Tuesday, I sat listening to someone in the NHS extolling the view that competition from the market will drive up standards in health care. Well this BBC programme showed contracts given to the lowest bidder, showed examples of awful care and a national charity unable to bid to provide care to the elderly in one council area as the price was so low.

It needs sorting, it needs to be done now and Councils and Government need to remember you often get what you pay for. Would anyone want that shown tonight on their parents?

As postscript, I hope the programme team get an award that was worth the license fee alone and a true public service.

Lib Dem councillor surgery in East Bergholt

Yesterday I joined some of my Lib Dem Babergh councillors who had a coffee morning and councillor surgery in East Bergholt.
2 main issues struck me. Firstly, the need for affordable housing or local needs housing for people within East Bergholt or neighbouring villages to live here. Yet residents who came said the local Parish Council had gone very quiet on the issue. Thankfully, some of the residents had been searching for suitable sites in and around the village. I was struck by how those of a right wing persuasion think that affordable housing will bring problems.
Secondly, the lack of transport integration in this country. Why can't a bus link up with the train at Manningtree station so that commuters to Ipswich, Colchester or London can use the public transport option not always use the car. In a rich economy, is integration not possible or is it because private companies dont talk to each other or the government dont demand it?
Suffolk has pretentions to be the Greenest county. Well, we need to start setting the bar higher and achieving what our European neighbours seem to do easily.