I HAVE JUST BEEN ROBBED OF £2,021. No, I didn’t call the police, because it wasn’t a mugging, or a break-in, but the amount demanded for my council tax. Had my modest property been built just a mile further east towards Dartford, the tax would have been £1,868, saving me a worthwhile £153.
Yet our well-rewarded council leader has missed no opportunity of informing us how hard they have worked to keep the current increase below inflation, as if I should feel grateful and doff my cap in appreciation. He conveniently ignores the fact that Bexley has one of the highest levels of council tax to begin with, so any increase is too much and we shouldn’t allow ourselves to be fooled by this illusion.
The borough has been awarded 2 per cent less from central government this year, yet councillors have still managed to reward themselves a backdated pay rise plus unspecified expenses from last May, (which is in addition to their current increase). This suggests they must have worked some kind of miracle, until you realise that this has been at the expense of reduced care for the elderly, sick and disabled residents. Nothing to crow about Mr. Clement!
If you want to know more about Bexley’s town hall salaries, pensions and councillors pay, see the March and April editions of Bexley Chronicle for the facts. I guarantee these will astound you, when you learn how much of your council tax is creamed off by this elite group of middle managers and elected representatives. Personally, I contribute around £40 each month to their generous £9 million gold plated index linked pensions and goodness knows how much to their equally generous over-inflated salaries and perks. I think the recent Derek Conway affair has diverted our attention from what is happening under our very noses.
According to published figures, as well as the basic £9,105 that all councillors receive, plus all sorts of extra’s for committee work and expenses, it is revealed that there are 214 employees paid over £1,000 A WEEK. Then the Chief Executive’s salary of more than £3,500 plus allowances A WEEK and a couple of other senior officers on £2,500 and £2,700 A WEEK. Do you realise some of these people are paid more than the Prime Minister of Great Britain, which surely cannot be right. Just think how much could be done for the disadvantaged in Bexley, if these top salaries were brought into line with reality. Back in the world where most of us live, we have to gamble on the financial viability of our companies and pension investments to determine our annual income.
Now here’s a thought! If these people lived in the same world as us mere mortals, they might even be in a position to declare a ZERO rate increase in council tax next year. Or better still – A REDUCTION? And pigs of course might fly as long as we allow them to continue to rob our pockets for their own personal gain.
Footnote: Latham Road in Bexleyheath was named after a Doctor Latham, who in the 18th century shot dead a highwayman in the area. If only the good doctor was still around to deal with today’s daylight robbery called council tax!
STAYING WITH THIS SUBJECT, consideration is being given to basing future council tax on among other things, the view you get from your windows. Well I shouldn’t worry about it, considering the eyesore created by those ugly waste collection bins in our gardens that have been forced upon us by the council. This may even be a case for a tax REDUCTION!
“EASTER WAS EARLY THIS YEAR.” Really! The truth is, most of us don’t have a clue when Easter should be, or for that matter, Shrove Tuesday, or Ash Wednesday – except that they always fall on a Tuesday and a Wednesday. These events have never occupied my mind for very long and when I have given Easter any thought, I believed it to be connected with the anniversary of the Crucifixion and Resurrection in the Christian calendar and therefore a date fixed in time.
How wrong could I be. The fact is that Easter was decided way back in the fourth century by a coterie of astronomers, mathematicians and religious teachers, who decreed that this takes place on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. So there you have it; no wonder we are so confused. One thing we can be sure of though, is that Christmas Day will fall on December 25th this year, so make a note of it in your diary.
THE BEATLES have never done it for me, but in the interests of fair play – neither has Frank Sinatra, or the ‘Strolling Bones.’ The mass hysteria that worshipped this daft-named group of show-off Liverpool lads, left me puzzled and bewildered, wondering what all the fuss was about? Their tuneless tunes and silly lyrics had in my opinion, very little to do with music and more to do with hype and mind bending, when they took the world by storm in the sixties. By no stretch of the imagination could this noisy and some will say likeable quartet be compared with the brilliance of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice and their wonderful music. You may think differently, but I ask you to compare just for a moment “She Loves You – Yeah, Yeah, Yeah” with the beautiful words and music from ‘Phantom of the Opera,’ or the catchy songs of ‘Joseph.’ Well?
But I have strayed from what I intended to say. The unedifying spectacle of the McCartney’s divorce has left Sir Paul £24 million worse off – not that he will notice it, from his vast fortune, said to be upwards of £800 million. The recipient of this money couldn’t have looked less pleased with her windfall, as she ranted that it was not enough for her and their child to exist on and nothing less than £125 million would suffice. The point I want to make is that this money has mostly come from the pockets of those screaming teenage hero-worshippers, who had to choose between a new pair of shoes, or the latest Beatles record. And ironically, £24 million of this has now found its way into the pocket of someone who was not even old enough to have been a teenage fan of the ‘Fab Four.’ Now that IS ironic!
THIRTEEN IS UNLUCKY FOR SOME! It certainly is for me, when it comes to altering all the timepieces in my home, to comply with BST and GMT. As well as the obvious clocks on the walls, there is the cooker, the Hi-fi, the video recorder, the car, wristwatches and radio alarms. Fortunately the computer looks after itself in some mysterious way? This quirky twice-yearly ritual takes up far too much of my valuable time and I would welcome any political party that campaigned to have it abolished.
Sorry – I must go; I’ve just remembered the central heating boiler clock and the telephone recording machine. So that now makes it FIFTEEN.
SO THE N.U.T. have voted to walk out because they consider the pay rise they have been awarded is not enough. Many parents will be disgusted that those entrusted with setting a good example to their children can act in such an irresponsible manner. Their clear message is – if you can’t get what you want, down tools until you do. My own equally clear message would be – if you refuse to work, then don’t bother coming back.
Teachers often complain about their pay and seek sympathy from the long suffering public. Personally, I don’t believe they are too badly paid, but don’t take my word for it, let them be honest and publish their comprehensive pay scales, including their very generous annual holiday entitlement and their index linked pensions on retirement at the age of sixty. Then the public will be able to decide if they are getting a raw deal?
Had they been going on strike because of the breakdown in classroom discipline and the lack of support they receive from the government and the law, then they would have my whole-hearted sympathy and backing. But don’t they understand that their selfish attitude in the workplace is encouraging this breakdown of discipline? If they can’t see this, then they are in the wrong profession. (And before any teachers write me angry letters, I would inform them that three of my immediate family are employed in education).
READERS OF THIS COLUMN will recall in the December Chronicle that I criticised those intent on vilifying the McCann’s after their daughter Madeleine disappeared. Several national newspapers who led this campaign against them have now received their come-uppance and I am pleased we pointed them out long before the McCann’s contemplated libel proceedings.
The accusations levelled against them were cruel and unfounded and could only add to their grief. The newspapers involved have now issued a public apology and paid out substantial damages to the ‘Find Madeleine Fund.’ It would be a welcome irony if this extra money was significant in finally discovering what has happened to Madeleine and resulted in her being returned safely to her family.
A VERITABLE ARMY of 600 police officers in riot gear advanced menacingly on a north London street and my hopes were raised that at last the initiative was being taken to remove guns and knives from this notorious area. But these hopes were soon dashed, when I learned that their target was just mobile telephone thieves.
DOES ANYONE REMEMBER when the Dartford Tunnel was opened, a government promise to remove the tolls once it had paid for itself? I’m convinced I’m not imagining this and I suppose only a long trawl through Hansard would confirm it. Well of course, the tunnel and its twin bore has long recovered its construction costs, and so has the bridge, so why are we still paying? And even more to the point, why has the cost of using it recently increased?
This I believe is a very real issue for the people of Bexley and one which should be rigorously challenged by its three MP’s and I was pleased to learn that David Evennett has tabled an Early Day Motion on the subject. Well done David.
WHY DO SOME PEOPLE feel it necessary to apologise for making perfectly reasonable observations, just to appease the politically-correct bullies? For example, the Medway councillor who commented on a young woman currently in the news, who has seven children by five different men. Wasn’t he saying what we were all thinking, as she appeared on our tv screens, accompanied by her latest ‘toy boy’? The councillor was making a serious point about ‘breakdown Britain’ and the number of people habitually living on benefits at the expense of the taxpayer. You will hear this discussion in any bar on any night of the week. Yet – his party leader labelled his comments “deplorable” and another said “I don’t know what planet he is on.” Well I do, it’s called Planet Earth and he is painting a picture all too common in modern Britain. So he has absolutely nothing to apologise for, although his critics certainly have.
SIXTY YEARS AFTER being conscripted to serve down the mines, the Bevin Boys have been honoured with a commemorative badge. The way they were selected was that the secretary to the Minister of Labour, Ernest Bevin, drew numbers from a hat and if these corresponded with a young man’s National Service Registration Number, he was compelled by law to serve his time underground in a colliery.
I have always thought these were the bravest of the brave, even though they wouldn’t come face-to-face with the enemy. And I imagine that most of those selected to serve their country digging out coal in damp, dark, dangerous conditions underground, would have been stunned and hugely disappointed to have drawn the short straw. Many of them must have envied those who would be wearing uniform and joining a regiment to ‘do their bit.’ But there was no choice in those distant days of austerity and they were just as important to the nation as those in the front line. But I am eternally relieved that the last of the Bevin Boys were demobbed before I was called up for National Service.
THE STATE VISIT of the Sarkozy’s in March was a welcome diversion from our awful weather and failing economy and brought some typical Gallic charm into our colourless lives. Just one thing bothered me. As Prince Philip was seated next to the frisky third Mme. Sarkozy at the state banquet in Windsor Castle, surely he wouldn’t drop a clanger on this occasion by asking her about our local boy, ‘rubber lips’ Mick Jagger? You don’t think that’s why he ended up in hospital do you?
COME ON BE HONEST! Were you inspired by the three main candidates for London Mayor? Their lack-lustre performance during visits to tv and radio studios did none of them any favours at all, as they squabbled childishly between themselves, rather than present clear-cut policies for Londoners. Personally, I was much more impressed with some of the other runners further down the field.