It’s bulletin on the railings time again

I am pleased to announce that his majesty continues to respond well to treatment. His blood numbers are normal except for one which continues to fall rapidly in the right direction. We will not make any further announcements of this kind unless his majesties condition worsens.
The reality, things looking good but would be happier if the rouge blood number was nearer the norm. I saw the best and worst of the NHS today. Treatment first class but because of events outside of their control the consultant was running 1&1/2 hours late. This would not have been a problem but the support staff knew this and never thought to tell the patients. In fact they became a little miffed when I pointed out that it was easy to calculate how behind they were and that perhaps they should tell the patients. I wouldn’t have minded so much if they were rushed off their feet but they were hanging around waiting like the rest of us. What time I have left on this planet I want to spend constructively not waiting around unnecessarily in hospital waiting rooms.

Welcome to Brum David

So the Tory party binge comes to brum this week. I watched the shadow chancellor’s speech at lunch time yesterday and I have to say a little disappointed. Plenty of attacks on Gordon & Co but very little substance. I warm to the prospect of having council tax frozen for a couple of years but that’s only for participating councils and I can’t see our lot collaborating with them. Perhaps whilst you are in town David you could get together with our opposition over in Sandwell and try to organise them into a coherent lobby so that we have an effective opposition and perhaps you might also have a little whisper in the ear of the leader to perhaps consider stepping down or altering his stance on talking down our town. Thank you in anticipation. Osborne mentioned that Gordon had had his hand in the pension’s pot robbing many of us of our pensions. What he never divulged was how he would put it right in fact he never mentioned their policies on pensions at all. This will not get the pensioner vote any more than dear Gordon so a sorry time ahead I fear. I look forward to his speech later in the week.

Catch up

I haven’t been posting much lately and that’s because I don’t know how to find the time. How politicians manage to post as regularly as they do is a mystery to me. I’m retired and although very busy in the voluntary sector in effect I can to a greater extent please myself how I manage my time. Politicians I know are renowned for talking to much they also write a lot. Recently I bought some capital equipment for an organisation I am involved with and have had to spend a lot of time working out how to work this stuff. I must be getting old or perhaps all modern equipment is getting more complicated. One of the items is a document visualiser, which when linked to an overhead projector acts a bit like the old overhead projector but capable of showing almost any sort of image. It can be linked to a microscope and makes even grotty old photos look good on the screen. I’m spending the awards for all money we were awarded recently. I never thought it would be so hard spending other people’s money.
This week on Wednesday is United Nations International Day for Older People. In Sandwell we are having a fun day at our new arts centre call THE PUBLIC the event is called Full of Life Festival and is being funded by Sandwell Council and PCT. I will be participating and presenting at this event. I do hope some of our cabinet attend because I will be asking some awkward questions. Unfortunatley I have to leave to go to hospital for my regular treatment mid afternoon. I wonder? Parliament being in recess and our MP’s office being just across the road will he appear? Should get plenty of publicity this event so unless Gordon needs him I guess he will and a bunch of councillors. Ummmmmmm

Flat Stanley arrives in Sandwell

I had a lovely letter yesterday from my 8yrs old grandson in America. Thank you Oscar.
Flat Stanley is a character created by Jeff Brown. He apparently gets flattened by a bulletin board. Stanley has a lot of adventures when he is flat. By sending his version of Stanley to me he wants us to show him around and send back some souvenirs. The exercise is to help the children learn about other communities. What a good idea. We’ll be taking Stanley around and sending some souvenirs back.
Any ideas where we might take Stanley? One of our first visits must be to THE PUBLIC next week for “Full of Life Festival”
The picture is Oscars drawing of what he thinks Flat Stanley looks like. Not bad for 8yrs old well done Oscar.
His sister Lola did a similar thing about four years ago so Stanley is welcomed back. We better find some new things for him to do.

Parallel Universe

Since I retired I have often thought I am not living on the same planet as most of the younger generation and certainly not the same universe as most of our politicians. Regular readers (both of you) will know I am not a fan of Gordon Brown. I made the mistake yesterday of wanting to give him a fair hearing so I watched his speech on the box. I must say in places I was impressed. I like the way he used his wife to do the introductions and although BBC did not show the video Labour have done a lot of good stuff since they came to power. Sadly they have failed a lot of what should be their core supporters.
The good news I suppose was that the party gave a display of unity which was good. Divided parties don’t win elections and Cameron & Co don’t seem to have any better pensioner friendly policies than Labour are offering at the moment.
Gordon actually mentioned pensioners in his speech which is extremely rare for him. Some of the references though were ambiguous and no doubt will fool some. He mentioned security and dignity in old age which was linked to keeping people in their own homes for longer with care in the community and touched on home owners not having to worry about loosing their home to pay for care but in none of this did he say how or when. He mentioned sales people who do not reveal the product but his references to the above was typical Brown rhetoric which does not endear him (I wouldn’t buy a used car from him). Free prescriptions for cancer sufferers are great but in Scotland and Wales all prescriptions are free. A similar thing with personal care in Scotland. His reference to why he went into politics left me wondering. He said it was to do his best for his country which of course is Scotland. Pensions are to be linked to wages which is very nice. Nothing new here he has been promising that since the Turner Report. This should have been done 10 years ago.
So marks out of ten 5. Do I trust him any more? NO. Will pensioners against Brown continue? Oh yes it will.

Sandwell rides rough shod over pensioners

Once again Sandwell Council penalises its older population for getting old.
In what can only be described as another act of pure meanness they have decided to close three Sons of Rest buildings and insist that four more become self funded.
I have reported on this before but I never expected them to finally do the dastardly deed. This is not really a political decision because the three areas mostly affected do have labour councillors but ours is the weakest. The closure will not affect that many people but the way it was done is nothing short of shot gun tactics. No consultation not idea what will happen to the buildings. Presumably they will fall into disrepair become vandalised and an eyesore to the area. Saving will be miniscule.
As far as I know there have been no proper investigations into what other uses these buildings can be put to or indeed how the wider community could get involved and use them when SoR are not. Council tax payers deserve better than this.
Councillor Horton you should be ashamed of yourself as should your cabinet colleagues. You are at least in breach of the spirit if not the letter of the report of the select committee on older people. I’m ashamed of you.

As for the lead officer on this my views on his professionalism are unprintable.
This is not Sandwell’s finest hour.

Community Forum

I mentioned our local community forum briefly in a couple of posts recently but I thought a more detailed post was necessary.
Ours is run by one man, a retired, community spirited ex councillor who organises it, takes minutes and does follow up letters and actions. The town team type up the minutes for him. I was particularly miffed with our local councillors who want to be seen at these meetings but don’t want to help. The chair pointed out that more people attend our forum than the West Brom town committee.
We have had some sheds broken into recently and our police showed some very positive pro active policing by providing free shed alarms for anyone who wanted them. We had reports from police on crime figures. Education, but this is confined to our local children’s centre and a debate on whether our newly formed academy would eventually have provision for swimming pool.
The Red House in the park of the same name is having a difficult time with the friends group trying to get a resolution on the future of the house. I for one do not feel that this property is of sufficient historical value to warrant spending millions of tax pounds to restore it. I’m afraid I upset the Chair of the Friends group over this. I have in the past tried to help them with advice on how they should get listed status for the park and a proper constitution for the group so that they can apply for funding from a variety of sources. They don’t seems to be listening unless you go along to their meetings which according their chair most councillors don’t.
Usually you get our local councillors who are happy to blame the council for pretty much everything. They are of course in opposition and it is easy because no one from the controlling labour group attend. This time however the newly elected labour bloke for our ward was present and I’m impressed, he’s learning fast and gave several well argued support for items blamed on the council. When it came to offering to do something he was again the only one who did. I had to point out to him his enthusiasm was commendable but one item he was offering to deal with was not on his patch. The councillor who’s patch it was never volunteered to do anything.
Planning items are always contentious with this one being no different. There appears to be a lot of concern and very little knowledge on the part of planning committee members what the new regulations mean. I think they mean it’s a free for all as long as you meet building regulations it’s do as you please.
It’s a big well done Tony who organises these meetings because this must be one of the longest surviving and best attended forums in Sandwell. I feel guilty because I can’t help him with the meetings. One of the most vocal of concerns is usually litter with one of our local pubs being a big offender. I like the labour bloke’s style he offered to visit the landlord that afternoon and get it sorted. Action Man Hosell. It’s a pity the wider electorate don’t see this.