With 2010 now under our belts and a new government things have changed for the worse (but that’s a post for another day). Unfortunately for us in Swindon, the council is still as useless as ever, failed promises, failed partnerships, failed dreams and crushed aspirations for so many of the electorate.
With the cuts coming into force ths year and thousands of families re-evaluating their stance on the economic board, I cannot feel anything but sadness and hopelessness for those who have been betrayed by all the major political parties not just by the local political figures but nationally. The many thousands of families let down by Roderick Bluh of Swindon Borough Council, with inconsistent leadership and general lack of common sense, we are now on a steep slide into local economic dementia. We of course do not need to let this happen, I have heard that local businesses and residents of Abbey Meads have been cautious of a local councillors mannerisms and general attitude, I am of course talking about the Chair of the Licensing Committee…one particular individual was verbally thronged/whipped at a local election last year.
If Swindon is to have any chance of getting through this onset economic difficulty which has been forced onto the people of swindon by the local administration, small businesses and traders are the key to success yet the council is completely blind to this fact. I’m not an economic expert and I can see it. Also with the austerity measure’s the private sectors cannot soak up as many jobs as the local administration or government thinks.
The local opposition need to get their leadership into gear aswell, local elections this year and all outs next year. They cannot be relaxed nor complacent like they have been and letting the local administration turn into a Dicktator and his generals, that is labours fault. Simple, bad leadership, failure to hold the administraton to account. The Lib Dems have failed aswell for not doing the same as labour and holding them to account, is it fear? Respect? Who knows but the joke is on the taxpayer and hard working people of swindon.
That brings me onto my next point, political assistants, not a mandatory role yet we are shelling out £80’000 a year for them. Surely in a time of austerity it would make more sense to bin the non-mandatory roles within the council and keep the mandatory services going but again this is a failing of the council leader, rather then saving the workers of swindon he would sacrifice them to keep his non mandatory political assistant going (who was for some reason suspended from the london conservatives).
I have no problem with political assistants, the problem I have is while everyone is making sacrifices, voluntarily or forcefully. The leader of the Council has protected himself and his own interests rather then show some willing and sack non mandatory staff to at least keep a few essential staff in work. And when I mean essential staff, the hard working electorate of swindon. I can easily see that amongst many of the people wwho have been sacked by the council because of Cameron and Clegg’s austerity measures, for some it will end families, which begs the question “are we really in this together?” But judging by the local administrations behaviour, its a case of Us (the real workforce) and Them (Self interested poltical vampire).
But back to Political Assistants, what exactly do they do? I can’t really see the leader of the councils Assistant doing a lot apart from browsing the web all day and sending pointless emails. Or perhaps they have been delegated out to represent the council at a function……are they allowed to do that? I don’t know. Besides I think it shows clearly that the leader and deputy leader of the council would rather send a non elected official to a function that they should have been at….lazyness? embarrassment? Or paranoia? Or the simple fact that it just doesn’t interest him or hs interests.
