Snapshot of the candidates.

Inspector Knacker · April 23, 2018, 09: PM

I read the Mail tonight and was drawn to the candidates page for the Fens and Rossmere. The PHF and Green candidate came across ok, however the Silohuette Tory started by banging the message out that the choice was between Labour or Tory candidates followed by an extended chunter that ended with the classic sentence, 'Can you trust independents?'
Another classic was, 'If you want the councillors representing your ward to have any influencing in maintaining and improving your area, then only the two traditional parties can help.' Followed by the incredible 'Only Conservatives can hold the Council to account.' Seriously?
We have a Tory candidate promoting the Labour Party as the other 'traditional' option and all this from a real minority party.
Then there's the Labour candidate telling us how he and his fellow Labour Councillor have 'secured' £549,810 in funding to redevelop Rossmere Park.
So, who provided the funding?

Gustaf I of England + BWH · April 23, 2018, 10: PM

Quote from: Inspector Knacker on April 23, 2018, 09: PM
Then there's the Labour candidate telling us how he and his fellow Labour Councillor have 'secured' £549,810 in funding to redevelop Rossmere Park.
So, who provided the funding?

They were touting that load of miss-information around before final approval had been given. Strange how two (so called) Labour councillors knew how the vote was going to go before it happened. Stranger still how anything of any perceived benefit to the town is deemed to have happened as a direct result of the intervention of some (so called) Labour councillor or other. Or at least it would be strange if this were not Hrtlpool.

Inspector Knacker · April 24, 2018, 05: AM

Farcical how when money for such projects arrives we get the the tale of how they secured it. Sounds as though they had to fight for it or sometimes you get the impression it's their money.. We know it comes from government funding but they always seem leave that snippet out of the much trumpeted announcement. The Government only gets a mention when the 'cuts' mantra is trotted out.
Still baffles me how vanity projects get a grant but potholes and other vital but unnoticeable everyday necessities get ignored. They're like a car owner who'd py for an eye catching paint job on their car while the floors have rotted away and the engine sounds like a bag of hammers. All front to catch the voters eyes, no substance.

Inspector Knacker · April 25, 2018, 03: PM

Someone just showed me the latest snapshot for the local elections in the Mail. Can I ask if the Tories are working from a script? These silhouette Tories have a remarkably similar thought process it would appear.

mk1 · April 25, 2018, 06: PM

Quote from: Inspector Knacker on April 25, 2018, 03: PM
Someone just showed me the latest snapshot for the local elections in the Mail. Can I ask if the Tories are working from a script? These silhouette Tories have a remarkably similar thought process it would appear.

I didn't check the latest batch of paper Tory candidates but in previous years they all had the same wording on their Mail Profiles.

Inspector Knacker · April 26, 2018, 12: PM

Could the Tories explain how candidates who have to be shown in silohuette and have similarly worded election manifesto begs the question are they fit to be elected?
I would not vote for someone who enters an election unwilling to show their face and would appear cannot write a small manifesto of their own.
The strange wish to be shown in silhouette has me asking myself are they viable candidates or what?

Lucy Lass-Tick · April 26, 2018, 12: PM

The Tories have their own little fiefdom in Rural West. In my opinion, that suffices to fulfil their ambitions ... a coalition (and the associated benefits) suits them quite nicely, thank you. This isn't the first time that they've barely bothered to make an effort to be elected. I do wonder whether the national Tory party (who, presumably, expect some representation in local elections) are aware that they're largely fielding paper candidates. Keeping it in the family, too ...

fred c · April 26, 2018, 01: PM

Why bother to have the complication of having another 3 or 4 Tory councillors, when everything they want they get by voting with labour...... lets face it, they have been going through the motions for years with no real ambition for Wells being able to form a ruling Tory Council.

Inspector Knacker · April 26, 2018, 03: PM

The Tories ave up the ghost years ago and have no stomach to challenge Labour. They're happy in their political peninsula complete with mental drawbridge and moat. They've been lead to near obscurity, apparently happy to slip quietly away.
More a political home for distressed gentle folk than political party.

mk1 · April 26, 2018, 03: PM

Last week (over 7 days ago) Carl was out (canvasing?) in Thornton Street. He was sat in a car parked right next to the carcass of a fridge-freezer upright combo that had been dumped in the pedestrian area. He was asked by a resident to see if he could get it removed. He promised to 'get it sorted tomorrow'. More than 7 tomorrows have come and gone and it is still there only now in several large pieces spread around the area.

He has no opposition, his seat and allowances are safe. Why should he waste his valuable drinking and eating time sorting anything as unimportant as a constituent's concern?

fred c · April 26, 2018, 03: PM

Quote from: mk1 on April 26, 2018, 03: PM
Last week (over 7 days ago) Carl was out (canvasing?) in Thornton Street. He was sat in a car parked right next to the carcass of a fridge-freezer upright combo that had been dumped in the pedestrian area. He was asked by a resident to see if he could get it removed. He promised to 'get it sorted tomorrow'. More than 7 tomorrows have come and gone and it is still there only now in several large pieces spread around the area.

He has no opposition, his seat and allowances are safe. Why should he waste his valuable drinking and eating time sorting anything as unimportant as a constituent's concern?

One things for certain he will be cheaper to keep for a week than a fortnight.

mk1 · April 27, 2018, 06: PM

2012 v 2018 just the same broken record..............

Inspector Knacker · April 28, 2018, 08: AM

Well, they had their vote and got back in then. What did they change?

Hartlepudlion · April 28, 2018, 05: PM

NOWT

Inspector Knacker · April 28, 2018, 06: PM

I think I can see the problem after reading the candidates address for the Manor House ward and the comments by Marjorie.
She starts off by bigging up the 'strong Labour team'.. The bragfest follows. Then the inevitable denouncing of the Tories ( odd considering the local Tories are being so very deferential and acting like the Uriah Heep of politics to their Labour colleagues) then she lists what she has supported.
Trouble is it's all about little things, Spring Clean initiatives, turning verges into parking spaces, award budgets, Holiday a Hunger, school uniforms, but nothing at all about the bigger picture, jobs for starters, but none of the big things that really matter, just parish pump politics.
Or are those things left for the politburo to decide on?
If I'm voting for my Councillor I want yo know where my town is going, not wild flowers, burgers and when the next skip will be arriving.