The latest controversial decision to be voted through this month is the merger of our own Council with fellow Tory authorities Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea. A 100 page dossier, reports the BBC, has been prepared and involves the merging of key services and their management structures resulting in hundreds of posts becoming redundant. The BBC has the finer details here.
Living in Hammersmith & Fulham at the moment is like witnessing George Osborne on amphetamines - the cuts can't come quick or deep enough for our Council at the moment and I'm expecting them to bring in David O'Leary from Ryanair to advise them on how to charge residents a "pavement surcharge" for every time we want the added luxury of walking out of our front door.
After all, they've hiked residential parking charges, so they might as well go for those costly two footed types as well.
Every time I hear the latest wheeze to sell something off - usually a service for very vulnerable people who have no voice of their own - I'm reminded of that Monty Python character who would come in, half way through, and demand an end to this "silliness". Sadly, this time it isn't make believe. But as fleeced passengers on Ryanair increasingly mutiny, I wonder where the backlash might come from in our neck of the woods.
Alternative headline: "H&F Council merges with Westminster, K&C: public's money to be spent more efficiently"
ReplyDeleteIt is very simple - less money means we have to spend less. The idea that we can continue to spend as before is cloud cuckoo land. Anyone who has ever run a business, or even a family budget, can tell you that... spend too much one month, you have to cut back the next.
Seemingly no-one at the BBC has any understanding of what actually drives economic growth. Spending more taxes does nothing to help the economy - quite the reverse in fact.
Very easy to tell that so few people in public life (BBC, press, politics etc) have any experience of actually running a profit-making business. They don't seem to understand old-school financial stability any more - this is the primary purpose of government (inc local government)... everything else flows from that.
Rant over! Great blog by the way...