Or just more woeful handling of public money, mixed with a little soupcon of identity politics? A controversial plan to scrap the free parking enjoyed by more than 10,000 Blue Badge holders in the New Forest is today at the centre of a new row. Civic chiefs have been accused of wasting public money after accelerating plans to replace equipment installed only nine years ago. It seems they need to…
…until you realise you’re the one getting stuck with the bill: A 14-year race discrimination court battle has cost the taxpayer almost a million pounds. Equality campaigner Natasha Sivanandan won £420,000 in compensation after a council-funded anti-racism group turned her down for a job. A job..? In what department, I wonder? The row began in June 1999 when 58-year-old Ms Sivanandan, from Wood Green, north London, applied for a job as a…
…when the lunch is still free: Patients discharged from hospital could be given a breakdown of how much their treatment has cost the NHS. Because that will miraculously cause them to care, you see, and rethink their spendthrift ways… Hospital bosses are considering the move to raise awareness of how much various tests, procedures and visits cost, encouraging patients to “value” and “appreciate” the service. Those who are inclined to…
Warden Elizabeth Fairbank battled for two years against charges of fraud from an elderly resident in her care at sheltered housing complex Alexander Hutchinson Court in north Hull. She was in charge of handling one resident’s finances when almost £9,000 was left unaccounted for. Miss Fairbank claims she used some of the savings to decorate the woman’s flat. The police were handed bundles of receipts, which Miss Fairbank claims prove…
New Culture man-at-Westminster Ed Vaizey: To emphasise this point he has decorated his office with items that signify his areas of responsibility; a framed tribute from the Brit music awards, a painting by John Hubbard and, in pride of place, the Oscar won by Cecil Beaton for costume design for My Fair Lady in 1964. He would like to make a further addition but, to his chagrin, his requests for…
Stefan Stern on the ‘rumblings’ in the Civil Service: All is not well in the Civil Service. Ministers are unhappy. Engine trouble is afflicting the “Rolls-Royce machine”. I really don’t think what we have now can be said to be a ‘Rolls Royce’ machine. In fact, it’s more like a Skoda. Even the fabled independence and impartiality is no longer a given: Yesterday, there was new speculation over an apparent…
Chemistry teacher Jack Goodwin lost his job at Beverley Grammar School after being charged with causing grievous bodily harm. Mr Goodwin, whose father Chris is a former head teacher at the same school, is now appealing the academy’s decision to dismiss him. The 36-year-old faced a seven-month ordeal waiting for his court case, only to be told on the day of his trial the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) was offering…
Peter Threlfall is a man after my own heart: he wants to migrate to Australia. Okay, in fairness it must be said that he wants to move to South Australia where, I am reliably informed by Mrs Exile, they’re all a bit weird (no idea, I think it might some long standing rivalry over who’s got the best arts festival or something). And also he wants to be a cop,…
Police forces struggling to make 20 per cent cuts face spiralling costs to pay for caging “devil dogs” under the Government’s crackdown, ministers have admitted. But don’t worry! Our useless government has a plan! Agriculture minister Jim Paice said he hoped the figure would fall to about £1.1million a year as the number of prosecutions dropped. He also claimed the costs would be offset by a £490,000 saving from allowing…
Pupils at primary and secondary schools across Brighton and Hove will be given “early intervention” lessons to prevent abuse. The lessons for boys and girls from six years up will teach them not to hit, to be nice and how to build healthy relationships, as part of a £500,000 council strategy to cut domestic violence in the city. I’d have thought that would be better spent on teaching them to…
Natasha Dye, of New England Quarter, Brighton, wrote to David Cameron desperately seeking help. Her three-year-old daughter, Scarlett, suffers from chronic lung disease and other serious health problems and they live in one of the worst streets in Brighton and Hove for air pollution. Yeah, yeah, really sad story, just like lots of others. Got nowhere with the council (she claims) so tried the old ‘Write to the PM’ route.…
Croydon Council has been hit with a £100k fine after it failed to keep details of a child sex abuse victim secure. The breach happened in April 2011 when an unlocked bag belonging to a social worker was stolen from a London pub. Oh, good grief! The worker was taking papers, including information about the sexual abuse of a child and six other people connected to a court hearing, home…
More than one in four youngsters in the UK are growing up in families facing multiple challenges such as parental depression and financial hardship, according to new research. Ah, I guess this is the new, politically correct term for ‘dysfunctional’ or ‘problem’ families. It’s a nice, cosy term, isn’t it? It implies that these ‘challenges’ are totally outside the family themselves, and outside their control. Just acts of god, really.…
Crimes against the elderly should be treated in the same way as racist or homophobic hate crimes, a retired police inspector has claimed. What?!? “The law regarding elderly vulnerable people needs changing,” said Mr Howard, of Farm Drive, Shirley.”In the case of racist or homophobic crimes, police are required to pursue whether this is the motive behind the crime. “It is given a higher punishment because it’s classed as a…
A community worker died after drinking too much at a wedding reception and taking a “wildly excessive” amount of pain killers, an inquest heard. What sort of ‘community worker’? Ursula Gilbert was a well-known member of the New Addington community who worked for Foodlink, helping to promote healthy eating. Ah. Great. Someone paid to lecture everyone else on self-control and abstinence, in other words. And apparently, lacking any yourself is…
Latest Comments