Following my article about the arrogance and lack of integrity in Alex (the spiv) Salmond’s statement of interests in Holyrood, we now have the leader of Renfrewshire Council Cllr. Derek Mackay exhibiting the very same unsavoury traits; I wonder if he could be a clone; a kind of “Stepford Cllr.” Labour MSP Wendy Alexander had a large expose story in the local Paper; the Paisley Daily Express about the callous SNP education budget cuts. Here were the facts laid out and merciless; the further damage being done to Renfrewshire’s children incontestable; between this year and last a total of £6.9m slashed from the education budget; it’s unforgiveable educational vandalism being carried out by the SNP/Lib. Dem. Administration supported predictably by the Tories, just like Holyrood, “the next best thing to a Tory administration is one which acts like a Tory administration” look at the SNP, it’s a true saying.
Wendy’s expose listed 81 job losses on top of secondary school cuts already made this year;
twenty eight more teachers will go
eight classroom assistants will lose their jobs
seven instrument instructors are earmarked to be axed
all foreign language assistants will go
ten school secretaries are in the line of fire.
N.B. the council hopes to achieve this by offering voluntary early retirement. The 27 year Labour guarantee of no compulsory redundancies is gone; there will be more job losses outwith education and there will be no guarantees of how they are achieved, workers/Unions beware you are about to see the SNP’s treatment of it’s workers and it is not going to be nice. “the SNP/Lib Dem administration ensured education was protected as far as we could” (Cllr. Mackay) 'as far as we could' doesn’t amount to much does it, a contemptible inadequate response from someone who is supposed to be the council leader.
Knowing that the limelight was going to be on him and knowing its glare would be harsh he slipped into Salmond (the spiv) mode by coming out with this piece of disingenuous double talk; “When faced with the facts, no wonder even Renfrewshire Council’s Labour Group rejected Wendy’s views in their opposition budget last week.” Labour Cllrs. were left asking each other what he was talking about; as well as asking if anyone had been asked about this by the reporter, no one had and, no one had a clue what he was on about. This was the panic reaction of someone whose sins are catching up with him; his tenure has been a disaster especially for education and he knows it, he froze and made this up or, perhaps he truly wants people to believe that Labour Cllrs. and their MSP are really in disagreement about our reaction to £6.9m. of SNP/Lib. Dem. cuts in education in the nearly two years of their administration.
You must make up your own minds up about this suggestion, presumably he hopes to be taken seriously on this; he is after all the council leader, honest he is, strange I know but; true honestly!
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22 comments:
Terry,
I hear that Derek McKay has broken into his emergency DVD of David Cameron's book of postures and double standards.
What on earth is Mr Mark Ferguson doing for the staff that now will lose their jobs, I bet he is still sucking up to the Nats, many of the staff feel that he, Mr Ferguson is now a stooge for the SNP.
Rumour has it that he has been promised bangles, shinny objects and a signed photo of Derek in his Sunday best.
This Administration has passed all our expectations, unfortunately not in a positive way.
Some of you bloggers have mentioned some of the unsavoury characters in this Nat Administration.
Cllr can you confirm that the Paisley Observatory is being mothballed; my son's class was due to visit but have been told to hold fire.
I will say one thing, I will not be voting SNP again, nationally Salmond has/is back tracking on his manifesto pledge to remove the unfair Council Tax, locally we have a Leader who has lost all credibility, both with the public and with the towns business Leaders, Cllr MacKay is trying to sweeten people up with promises of candle lit suppers in the Town Hall or afternoon tea with the Provost with assorted gifts thrown in. I can recall an SNP opposition who were very hostile to then Provost Alison, come back former Provost all is forgiven, Provost Alison is now regarded as head and shoulders above Provost Celia Angelic Lawson.
In closing Councillor how long has this town got before the Nats Administrations damage is permanent.
Lastly Cllr Kelly have you ever thought of standing for national office, you do appear to be made of the right stuff, unlike Cllr McKay who is made of straw, just like his best bud, the used car salesman, George (made of straw) Adams.
Aye yours
Jonathan Quinn.
Any idea where the £6.9 million is being diverted?
(Jim) 24/02/09
Perhaps the SNP would sing their own praises if you asked them; you could do it yourself couldn’t you.
I can tell you however where the £6.9m is not going; it’s not going to prevent teachers from buying materials out of their own pockets, it’s not going to employ a single trainee teacher, it’s not going to reduce the class sizes to 18 as promised, it’s not going on classroom assistants who are being slashed, music teachers likewise, administration staff likewise etc. etc. these are the facts, the reality of what an SNP administration means, lost jobs and lost facilities and more to come.
(Anonymous) 22/02/09
I’m not in direct contact with Mark Ferguson but, I do know that he is heading for a turbulent time with this administration’s plans which look more and more like cuts in jobs and even more cuts in services.
I have spoken with the appropriate dept. and they say that there are no plans that they know of to mothball or close the Observatory.
“Cllr MacKay is trying to sweeten people up with promises of candle lit suppers in the Town Hall or afternoon tea with the Provost with assorted gifts thrown in”
If you reference to “assorted gifts thrown in” is a suggestion of impropriety then I would suggest that the correct procedures be followed; otherwise I will assume you mean the normal courtesy gifts which Renfrewshire Council hands out.
Obviously my vote would go to Nancy Allison but; I’ve never thought of Celia as angelic and I doubt if she has.
Some of the nationalist damage is already permanent; school closures, nursery closures, sports facilities etc.
“Lastly Cllr Kelly have you ever thought of standing for national office”
Cllrs. Mackay and Adam are indeed men of straw, and probably everyone in politics thinks about standing for national office at some time but I have to tell you that years ago I stated that I would run for office at a meeting (I wasn’t serious) but the meeting heaved a sigh of relief when I started laughing; the general consensus seemed to be that the country was not quite ready for my brand of socialism. Still I’m only 60 years old and I have another 2/3 rds. of my life to go.
"Perhaps the SNP would sing their own praises if you asked them; you could do it yourself couldn’t you."
You've highlighted £6.9m being cut from education budgets, but haven't said where it's being diverted to. Interesting that you think it may be praiseworthy though, so I can see why you wouldn't want to highlight something positive from your political opponents.
Mr Kelly,
I was reading that the Labour council in Glasgow are closing schools for much rhe same reason given for the closure of South Primary school in Paisley.
The main difference is that they are going to close 13 schools and also believ it or not 12 nurseries.
One of the main reasons given for closing these schools and nurseries was the fact that many of them were as low as 40% full (South Primary was even worse than any of these @ 36% full).
I am sure that you will fully condone these closures and offer your outrage and sympathy to the parents and children at the savage way they are being treated by this Labour controlled council who obviously do not care about them and are only interested in saving 3.7 Million pounds from their education budget as has been stated.
In fact they stated that theae schools will not be replaced and that pupils will be decanted to other schools as per the quote below.
"In the past, when we have closed schools we have built new ones, but in the current global financial climate we cannot afford to build new schools and nurseries and we can no longer use PPP," said a spokeswoman."
Seems that even Labour councils have run out of expensive long term credit arrangements.
(Jim) 14:18
“Interesting that you think it may be praiseworthy though”
I think you know well enough that I was saying that ‘self praise is no praise at all’ but you prefer to be devious.
If you want to justify £6.9m of educational cuts and explain where the money went which was more deserving, be my guest.
Perhaps you could include the teachers, classroom assistants, secretaries etc. who will lose their jobs in your answer, tell them why the SNP sees them as surplus to requirements, I’m sure they would be delighted to hear it.
What about including the EIS, perhaps you could even find the courage to give your name?
(mother abigail) 15:38
If you had any confidence in your disingenuous argument you wouldn’t be in hiding would you?
“expensive long term credit arrangements”
Are you aware that the SNP’s funding methods are the same as Labour’s with a different brand?
“Glasgow are closing schools for much rhe same reason given for the closure of South Primary school in Paisley”
Not true, you seem to be getting even lazier. “every penny saved will go back into education” S. Purcell.
South School was closed for one reason only; money, it’s a new school; did you even know that? No one in the administration has once said anything different; it was money alone, not what was best for the children.
Not only is there no reinvestment but there is another educational cut of £2.5m.
Try reading my reply to (Alan) 24/02/09 on the “You can’t fool all the people” post. And try telling the truth you’ll be surprised at how well you will feel.
Not true, you seem to be getting even lazier. “every penny saved will go back into education” S. Purcell.
What you believe Mr Purcell?????
Oh course you probably sit next to each other at the football, that's the way it works, isn't it?
"What about including the EIS, perhaps you could even find the courage to give your name?"
You've got my name.
Is it true that South Primary school was only operating at 36% capacity as inferred in one of the other comments?
What is that actual class size figures in Renfrewshire now like?
Can you back up your hubris with actual facts rather than emotive claims about teachers job losses at a time when the entire country is facing job losses.
My own workplace with a workforce of ~150 are currently in consultation over 70 proposed redundancies. It's a much more significant hit than a few dozen Renfrewshire council employees working in under utilized schools.
Why don't you try explaining to the thousands of workers losing their jobs now why a few council workers positions should be sacrasanct?
(Anonymous) 25/02/09
I adhere to the well tried and tested theory that; if you scratch a sectarian bigot you usually find a nationalist underneath.
(Jim) 09:17
“You've got my name” no I haven’t but; more importantly neither do the people whom you traduce in such a callous way.
Why not write to the press and ID yourself with your opinions, my money says you are too much of a coward.
The decision to close South School was not taken on educational grounds it was taken to save money;no one from the administration has ever tried to deny that.
Approx. the same amount of money BTW which they gave to senior officers in wage rises of 17.5%.
Two years into an SNP administration which promised class sizes of 18 for primary 1,2 &3 and they still haven’t managed to get them down to 25 which they are now promising, they lied about lots of other things as well.
"the people whom you traduce in such a callous way."
Such an elegant and emotive turn of phrase Councillor. What a pity that it's neither accurate nor helpful in the circumstance - perhaps you're unsure of what it actually means; how many were in your primary class?
81 posts (out of how many) are being forfeited through redeployment, early retirement and voluntary redundancy.
That's a lot easier to bear than entire workforces being forced onto the dole, none of whom will have the privilege of having Alistair Darling working on their golden handshake.
I'm happy to state again that noone should think their jobs sacrosanct in the current climate, resulting from 10 years of Brown at the helm and 2 years of Darling's bumbling.
Jim <- my name
(Jim) 19:53
See you Jimmy, Have you any idea how many Jims there are? This is terrible; I can’t be bothered to comment.
Terry,
What are your thought on the new CIS scheme proposed by Labour for under privileged areas?
I am completely against this and cannot believe that this is being proposed on the back of the recent farce of the Digital Inclusion Scheme.
Surely the money proposed to be spent on this so called initiative could be better spent on other more relevant and needy purposes.
(Anne) 27/02/09
Any scheme which enhances employment opportunities in under privileged areas is to be welcomed.
The Digital Inclusion Scheme was not a farce; it was butchered by the SNP.
Your opinion on what are more relevant or needier purposes is just that; your opinion.
(Anonymous) 28/02/09
“hired an additional 250pen pushers”
I find this difficult to believe and the fact that the SNP don’t seem to know about it either makes it even harder to believe; would they not be telling everyone about it?
They are cutting jobs they are now not bothering to deny it.
Cllr Kelly.
I read last week in one of the broad sheets, that since the last Council Elections, Renfrewshire Council has hired an additional 250pen pushers, how can this be, I thought reading your site that they, the SNP were cutting posts.
(Anonymous) 28/02/09
I actually wanted your opinion on the new CIS scheme proposed by Labour for under privileged areas
(Anne) 28/02/09
Why not tell me why you are opposed and who is more deserving, exactly what is it that bothers you about this scheme. I know that the CIS scheme has been around for a while but no one has ever written to me about it; give me your opinion and I will try to answer you.
I wasn't sure that you were aware of the Caviar Inclusion Scheme
(Anne) 19:39
CIS – Construction Industry Scheme?
What can I say Anne well done; coruscating wit; what are you going to be like when you reach the big school.
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