Friday, 21 March 2008
Thursday, 13 March 2008
Cigarettes n' whisky n' wild, wild, wimmen!
Older readers will recognise the song. It is about wild living dragging a man down. The budget seems a bit of a contradiction, the government introduced 24 hr drinking which has resulted in an increase in binge drinking and alcohol fuelled violence and now wants to try to tax it out of existence. They seemed to think we would adopt the continental mode of sitting outside cafes sipping an aperitif. We are of course of Anglo-Saxon stock and they were notorious for drinking themselves unconscious and then starting again. But then this government does tend to ignore the lessons of history.
This has been a varied week. On Monday Keith attended the Cabinet to talk about the Birmingham Children's Plan. This is good news for all our kids but just needs a tiny bit of fine-tuning.
On Tuesday there was a meeting of Northfield Community Safety Partnership. There were some excellent figures on the reduction of crime. We still maintain that low level anti-social behaviour is the main concern of residents and needs the 2 pronged approach of cracking down on the yobs and providing more facilities for youngsters. That evening we went to the Meadows school for a meeting with residents of School Close who are suffering from anti-social behaviour. The police were there in strength and hopefully we can get something done and give them some peace. Our Labour Councillor turned up and showed his ignorance of the problems. He also put his new leaflet on all the seats but only about 2 were picked up. It is quite a poor leaflet but then he hasn't put one out for over 4 years and he has to introduce himself to the thousands of people who have never heard of him.
On Wednesday Keith caught an early train to London for an LGA conference on Children's Services which looked at the latest research, methodology and legislation affecting the services for children with disabilities in the near future. A really interesting day but why are conference halls so hot? Back on a hot train to a hot Council House for an update on the Local Area Agreement. This seems to have had the difficult and surprising affect of annoying Councillors from all parties. Ructions ahead.
Sue was at the Fostering Panel for most of the day. This involves the most incredible amount of reading for days beforehand on some really complex cases but Sue does enjoy it. She was also at the LAA meeting and we took the opportunity to go for a curry afterwards at a local place in Alvechurch Road. An excellent restaurant called Thania Spice, we can recommend it.
This has been a varied week. On Monday Keith attended the Cabinet to talk about the Birmingham Children's Plan. This is good news for all our kids but just needs a tiny bit of fine-tuning.
On Tuesday there was a meeting of Northfield Community Safety Partnership. There were some excellent figures on the reduction of crime. We still maintain that low level anti-social behaviour is the main concern of residents and needs the 2 pronged approach of cracking down on the yobs and providing more facilities for youngsters. That evening we went to the Meadows school for a meeting with residents of School Close who are suffering from anti-social behaviour. The police were there in strength and hopefully we can get something done and give them some peace. Our Labour Councillor turned up and showed his ignorance of the problems. He also put his new leaflet on all the seats but only about 2 were picked up. It is quite a poor leaflet but then he hasn't put one out for over 4 years and he has to introduce himself to the thousands of people who have never heard of him.
On Wednesday Keith caught an early train to London for an LGA conference on Children's Services which looked at the latest research, methodology and legislation affecting the services for children with disabilities in the near future. A really interesting day but why are conference halls so hot? Back on a hot train to a hot Council House for an update on the Local Area Agreement. This seems to have had the difficult and surprising affect of annoying Councillors from all parties. Ructions ahead.
Sue was at the Fostering Panel for most of the day. This involves the most incredible amount of reading for days beforehand on some really complex cases but Sue does enjoy it. She was also at the LAA meeting and we took the opportunity to go for a curry afterwards at a local place in Alvechurch Road. An excellent restaurant called Thania Spice, we can recommend it.
Saturday, 8 March 2008
Still at it
It may be the weekend but we are still working hard.
This morning Keith was at a meeting of the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital Foundation Trust Members Council whilst Sue was invited to the opening of the new stand at Kings Norton Rugby Club, which just happens to be in Bromsgrove. Julie Kirkbride MP performed the opening, Cllr Roger the Leader of Bromsgrove District Council was also there. Julie has been a huge help to us in the past and we see Roger frequently at the Joint meetings with Northfield and Longbridge Councillors. Keith was supposed to join Sue but the meeting went on until after 2pm by which time the ceremonies were over. Still, good luck to the club. They have been here for 25 years and our son remembers playing there for the Old Salts.
On Wednesday evening Keith did a round of local police stations in his role as a Custody Visitor. He has been doing this for about 5 years and has just had his term extended by a further 3 years. The custody suite at Bournville Lane was packed and they started to divert new detainees to other stations. It seemed that Mr Blair's "Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime" soundbite was just that.
We are now being contacted by parents who are worried because their child has not got their first choice of school. We have 2 very good schools in the area. Colmers is excellent but one parent told me that she sent her son to Frankley and not Colmers because of bullying. Another wanted to get her child in to Colmers and not Frankley because of , yes, you guessed it....bullying.
Frankley has improved immensely over the last few years but it can be difficult to lose a bad reputation. We will keep working with the school to make it even better and make sure everyone knows about it.
On Friday there was another sad occasion with the funeral of Hon Alderman Don Wilson.
We met him for the first time at a Mayoral dinner. He was always immaculately dressed and a marvellous raconteur. He spent a lifetime devoted to public duty and his sudden passing was a shock for us all. Our condolences to Dereen.
This morning Keith was at a meeting of the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital Foundation Trust Members Council whilst Sue was invited to the opening of the new stand at Kings Norton Rugby Club, which just happens to be in Bromsgrove. Julie Kirkbride MP performed the opening, Cllr Roger the Leader of Bromsgrove District Council was also there. Julie has been a huge help to us in the past and we see Roger frequently at the Joint meetings with Northfield and Longbridge Councillors. Keith was supposed to join Sue but the meeting went on until after 2pm by which time the ceremonies were over. Still, good luck to the club. They have been here for 25 years and our son remembers playing there for the Old Salts.
On Wednesday evening Keith did a round of local police stations in his role as a Custody Visitor. He has been doing this for about 5 years and has just had his term extended by a further 3 years. The custody suite at Bournville Lane was packed and they started to divert new detainees to other stations. It seemed that Mr Blair's "Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime" soundbite was just that.
We are now being contacted by parents who are worried because their child has not got their first choice of school. We have 2 very good schools in the area. Colmers is excellent but one parent told me that she sent her son to Frankley and not Colmers because of bullying. Another wanted to get her child in to Colmers and not Frankley because of , yes, you guessed it....bullying.
Frankley has improved immensely over the last few years but it can be difficult to lose a bad reputation. We will keep working with the school to make it even better and make sure everyone knows about it.
On Friday there was another sad occasion with the funeral of Hon Alderman Don Wilson.
We met him for the first time at a Mayoral dinner. He was always immaculately dressed and a marvellous raconteur. He spent a lifetime devoted to public duty and his sudden passing was a shock for us all. Our condolences to Dereen.
Wednesday, 5 March 2008
Here we go again.
An interesting couple of days. On Monday we were on the Bristol Road South standing on the central reservation for a photo shoot. Sue managed to get there between 2 Advice Desks. Our local Labour Councillor was supposed to do the second one but didn't turn up. Sue went along just in case, just as well really. The central reservation has been cleared of overgrown shrubs and we actually found some nice trees in there. The area was a magnet for litter and rats were nesting in there. John Scott who is chairman of the Loynells Rd Residents Association asked us to get the work done. All we did was find some money for it from the Great Park Section 106 funds.
On Tuesday Keith went to Northfield fire station for the launch of Northfield Energy Efficiency Partnership (NEEP) which is offering cost price/free cavity wall insulation and loft insulation in Northfield. It is free to over 60s and people on benefit, we think, check for details. John Lines was there to do the launch along with some rather keen photographers. Luckily one of them was Nick from the Bromsgrove Standard who took the photos on Monday.
Sue was at the Town Hall for the launch of the Extra Care Village charity appeal. There are plans to build one at Egghill and talks about one at Cofton Hackett on the former MG/Rover site there.
Later we met up at Forestdale School for the handover of the project to the Landscape practise Group and Thomas Vale who will firm up the quote. It looks at about £500K. The project has grown like Topsy and finding the money will be hard work but we believe so much in the Park that we are determined to succeed.
On Tuesday Keith went to Northfield fire station for the launch of Northfield Energy Efficiency Partnership (NEEP) which is offering cost price/free cavity wall insulation and loft insulation in Northfield. It is free to over 60s and people on benefit, we think, check for details. John Lines was there to do the launch along with some rather keen photographers. Luckily one of them was Nick from the Bromsgrove Standard who took the photos on Monday.
Sue was at the Town Hall for the launch of the Extra Care Village charity appeal. There are plans to build one at Egghill and talks about one at Cofton Hackett on the former MG/Rover site there.
Later we met up at Forestdale School for the handover of the project to the Landscape practise Group and Thomas Vale who will firm up the quote. It looks at about £500K. The project has grown like Topsy and finding the money will be hard work but we believe so much in the Park that we are determined to succeed.
Sunday, 2 March 2008
A welcome break
On Saturday Keith had an advice desk at Frankley. People were queuing when he got there and kept coming. He was supposed to finish at 11am but it was after 11.30am when he finished. He and Sue had planned to go over to Tyburn to help out Derek Johnson but phoned to say they were too late. Derek was quite happy because so many people had turned up that he had run out of leaflets so we were not missed. That afternoon we went to watch Mosley RUFC play London Welsh. The wind made things difficult and LW ran out 13-6 winners. It was a good afternoon except for the result and a chance to relax and talk about something else other than politics. Good news for the Bluenoses there but a bitter disappointment for Keith when the Gunners equalised in the 93rd minute.
You may not realise it but the Labour Party are in town for their Spring Conference. It is ironic but fully deserved that this non event has been completely wiped off the front pages and TV screens by the frenzy about Prince Harry firstly being in Afghanistan and then flying home. This am the papers are full of him. Talk about a good day to bury Broon news. It seems there is some justice in the world after all. What goes around really does come around.
You may not realise it but the Labour Party are in town for their Spring Conference. It is ironic but fully deserved that this non event has been completely wiped off the front pages and TV screens by the frenzy about Prince Harry firstly being in Afghanistan and then flying home. This am the papers are full of him. Talk about a good day to bury Broon news. It seems there is some justice in the world after all. What goes around really does come around.
The art of taking photos.
On Friday we broke off from leafleting to support the Friends of Balaams Wood in a tree planting on the Meadow. This is paid for by a grant from Trees for Life and involved the planting of 15 young oaks on the edge of the Meadow which lies between Balaams Wood and Ormond Road.
As politicians this is an opportunity for a photo as we don't actually plant the trees, no, honestly, there was a team of guys to do that. We don't get our hands dirty, we may sometimes but not in public.
In the first photo you can see our sensitive MP doing his famous impression of a letter box and leaning on a spade. The two local residents with him may seem a bit intimidated but he is harmless really.
The next two photos show Sue and Keith with Penny Moore, a great local stalwart and driving force behind the Friends. As you can see we look as if we are doing something and are enjoying it. Here is another tip, always dress for the occasion. A suit is an essential item for many formal occasions but NOT a tree-planting, it just looks false and set up, but then again....
As politicians this is an opportunity for a photo as we don't actually plant the trees, no, honestly, there was a team of guys to do that. We don't get our hands dirty, we may sometimes but not in public.
In the first photo you can see our sensitive MP doing his famous impression of a letter box and leaning on a spade. The two local residents with him may seem a bit intimidated but he is harmless really.
The next two photos show Sue and Keith with Penny Moore, a great local stalwart and driving force behind the Friends. As you can see we look as if we are doing something and are enjoying it. Here is another tip, always dress for the occasion. A suit is an essential item for many formal occasions but NOT a tree-planting, it just looks false and set up, but then again....
Saturday, 1 March 2008
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