ANOTHER BOUT OF RHETORICAL POLITICAL CLAP-TRAP!

"The bottom line is, I want to be heard in the corridors of power!"

Reading the ‘open letter’ to the people of Tameside and hearing reports of the Executive Leader and his side-kick’s usual recent speech to the full council, it’s clear that the main man made full use of this ritualised opportunity for another bout of rhetorical, clichéd riddled  set-pieces.

For instance, in following his declaration of local political victory, the two main protagonists appear to have conveniently dismissed the fact that the Labour Party were totally blown away in the General Election; the reason being that its leadership was so out of step with the voters, who on the day, showed continuous mistrust in a party who are financially brain-dead which results in them continually leaving the nation struggling under mountains of debt when they leave office.

John Taylor in his usual manner then takes first prize for irony by having a go at the Conservatives saying: The Tory administration thinks that they have a God given right to rule! – Ironically this is from a career councillor of some 31 years! - If it wasn't so tragic it would be worthy of a spot on comedy hour!

It must also be extremely comforting for those among us who are genuinely struggling to make ends meet, to know that Kieran Quinn and his missus, who take home about £70 grand between them in ‘allowances’ and his top 8 executive officers who collectively take home well over £3/4 of a million per annum, are standing ‘shoulder to shoulder’ with us!

(Strangely though, they are nowhere to be seen when they commission a group of bullies in the guise of council bailiffs to frighten women and children by threatening the removal of family goods and other seizures, which only adds more financial misery on the growing number of fiscally stressed residents, who miss paying their unnecessarily increased council tax bills)

  

He then goes on to say, “Many of us have gone into public service to help create the best possible world for our sons and daughters, our children and our grandchildren, our nephews and nieces.

Well when the family contrive to form a husband and wife or councillor and partner collaboration to jointly ‘get on t’ council’ (and Tameside has more than the average of these couples) it’s not surprising that their sons and daughters and the rest of their families are languishing in the best possible world!

We can all look after our sons and daughters on £70 grand a year Kieran!

He then asks, "Why are 18 million people still unable to afford adequate housing?"

Well, Kieran, could the fact that you and your predecessor sold all the council houses off to your mates and did not reinvest the money in building bigger, better and more suitable houses for the growing population? 

All this grousing and groaning about ‘cuts in funding’ has been the mantra of this group of creatively challenged councillors for well over 5 years now, and frankly, it’s becoming boring!

If they cannot function within their means or create and recognise the many opportunities presented to them in order to bolster their coffers by maximising the many fantastic assets they hold, then they should retire and let others who have sufficient acumen and business foresight and who possess the know-how of how to fill the void, operate the borough in their stead!

Just to finish my thoughts, I came across this other gem of wisdom from Andrew Gwynne MP, who said, “Boosting productivity is a much better guarantee of increasing the amount people earn.”

Never a truer word was said, Sherlock, but I was talking to a start-up company the other day who told me that when they told the council they were wishing to expand their operation to add more staff and encourage more trade, they were immediately slapped with threats of an extra £1600 per annum on top of their existing business tax bill, which meant that the company’s expansion plan was cancelled!

That’s how our council encourages business expansion in Tameside!