Thursday Feb
12 20 15 09.30 am The Renfrewshire annual budget meeting was convened,
as is often the case on these show piece occasions there are protests and demonstrations
from fringe groups and minor fringe political Parties. On this occasion there
were no fringe groups and the minor fringe parties were represented by Cllr.
MacLaren of the Tories, Cllr. Eileen McCartin of the Libdems and Cllr. Paul
Mack of The Paul Mack Party, all 3 parties have 1 member each, ergo all 3 are
party leaders, this is one of the delightful eccentricities of politics, indeed
2 of the three are well established eccentrics, though “lovable” does not apply
to them. The sensible 1 of the 3 being the Tory James MacLaren about whom it is
said that he was just pipped for the part of Private Godfrey by Michael Gambon in
the new version of Dad’s Army. There was also one member of The Scottish
Socialist Party who sat quietly and well behaved in the public gallery, ‘what
are things coming to I hear you ask’?. An element of tension pervaded the
opposition benches as the snp’s truly awful new leadership team of Cllrs.
Nicolson and Cameron took their places with the recently suspended ‘gang of
four’ arsonists seated behind them with their eyes watching and 'burning' in to them with
undisguised contempt. Having shown themselves as true bravehearts by torching a bin they have been betrayed and ousted, help ma boab the ill feeling was tangible ‘so it wis’ this bad feeling will ‘burn’
slowly as the gang of 4 clearly see themselves a the keepers of the
independence ‘flame’ and see the members of the coup as traitors.
The usual appeals for good behaviour were made by the chair
Provost Anne hall who reminded us all that we were being filmed. Budget day is
always predictable in that the administration’s budget will always get a
majority and today was no exception. Given that historical context it would be reasonable
to expect that the meeting would be brief but, remember this is Renfrewshire
and, sitting there in opposition across the chamber are the most disreputable
and badly behaved snp group in Scotland plus the two aforementioned “unlovable
eccentrics” McCartin and Mack who sound like a wretched end of the pier comedy
duo in a grubby seaside backwater town.
For those readers of a strong disposition this meeting can
be seen on the council’s website, throughout the meeting viewers will be aware
of a low rumbling noise in the background which they cannot explain. The
explanation for this is that the policy is only to show the head and shoulders
of the person speaking who is the only one on the microphone, this is a
precautionary measure designed to mitigate the embarrassment to Renfrewshire
Council regularly caused by some of the people mentioned above. For your
information I can advise you that when you hear the clearly exasperated Provost Hall pleading with Cllrs. Audrey Doig, Andy Doig, Lorraine Cameron and Brian
Lawson to behave and stop disrupting the meeting she is addressing snp
Councillors, the dark mysterious snp Cllr. Mags Maclaren continues to fascinate as
she diligently keeps herself hunched over her desk while continuing to heckle,
all we see is the top of her head and we hear her high pitched squeak
constantly, when she leaves her chair the heckling stops, oh well I suppose it
takes all kinds. Then we have the famously arrogant bully ‘Big Mac’ McCartin
Libdem, not to be confused with ‘Wee Mack’ independent, she who continues to
contribute to every subject from dog fouling to brain surgery, there are very
few nasty, ugly situations that the arrival of this charlatan cannot make
worse.
At the end of the meeting I was left considering 2 main
points. 1/ the cost to the tax payer of the behavior of these people which
caused the meeting to overrun by approximately 3 hours which is about £5,000
paid for by you and me folks and 2/ Audrey and Andy Doig of the snp are man and
wife and I was wondering again if this was the way they usually behave and if
so are their neighbours entitled to any recompense for having to live next door
to them?. I urge everyone once again to get along to witness this at the next
full council meeting.
8 comments:
Yet again Councillor Kelly, you see opposition to labour policy as a 'waste of time'. The other parties 'dragging out' a council meeting is called representing their voters.
Mind you, i did watch the whole meeting and found you noticeable by your complete silence, outwith one paltry input towards the end.
So? who is wasting taxpayers money? The people in opposition questioning the administration, like they should, or the congealed mess of a Councillor who has far more to say on his vitriolic blog than he does at a Council meeting.... where he should be speaking.
You my friend are the charlatan.
Dave Irons at 14:56 Wednesday, February 18, 2015 2:56:00 pm
The snp rabble are not representing anyone they are wasting time like spiteful weans and costing the council tax payers a fortune.
There were at least 8 snp Councillors who did not speak at this meeting, that makes you look like a total idiot Mr. Irons. I had little to say except to correct Cllr. Lawson’s lies because all the points I would have said had been made and I am not so inadequate that I feel the need to speak when I do not need to. “You my friend” I am not your friend, I have some standards.
Cllr Kelly said - ‘gang of four’ arsonists: - Once again Councillor your use of hyperbole knows no bounds. The snp councillors burned a document over a bin and no reasonable person would describe it as arson. "snp rabble are not representing anyone" I would suggest that like you they are representing the constituents who voted for them and were quite right to challenge the budget if they thought it necessary. You also seem to be criticising some snp councillors for not speaking while criticising others for speaking? "she is addressing snp Councillors" a minor point but I believe Cllr Brian Lawson is an Independent and not an snp councillor as alluded to by your good self. A freudian slip? Finally Councillor as I have said in previous posts healthy debate is good and shouldn't be personalised including posts that vilify you personally. May I respectfully suggest that (while I accept your right to reply in any way you want) would it not be better to rise above these types of comment and respond in a more constructive manner. Just a thought and not intended to be a criticism of you.
Thursday, February 19, 2015 2:12:00 pm John Jones at 14:12
Arson – “The criminal act of intentionally or recklessly for some improper reason setting fire to property “ Collins English Dictionary”, no hyperbole required.
I made no reference to whether they had the right to challenge the budget, this was ignorant and intemperate heckling and abuse at a time when they had no right to be speaking let alone shouting over people and deliberately obstructing the meeting. Every Councillor present is obliged by the rules to follow procedure when they want to speak, that is that they must indicate their intention to the chair and only start speaking when the chair calls them to speak this ‘mob’ did not do this, are you following this?. All 4 arsonists had their suspensions lifted before this meeting.
I agree that healthy debate is good but if this is your idea of ‘healthy debate’ you and the snp clearly have no inkling of what healthy debate is.
arson - Criminal Damage Act 1971 - Chapter 48 Para 1. Destroying or damaging property.
(1)A person who without lawful excuse destroys or damages any property belonging to another intending to destroy or damage any such property or being reckless as to whether any such property would be destroyed or damaged shall be guilty of an offence.
(2)A person who without lawful excuse destroys or damages any property, whether belonging to himself or another—
(a)intending to destroy or damage any property or being reckless as to whether any property would be destroyed or damaged; and
(b)intending by the destruction or damage to endanger the life of another or being reckless as to whether the life of another would be thereby endangered;
shall be guilty of an offence.
(3)An offence committed under this section by destroying or damaging property by fire shall be charged as arson. My point is and was Cllr that what the councillors did burning a document(childishly and stupidly in my opinion) cannot reasonably be described as arson in the legal sense. You have not quoted the Collins Dictionary in it's entirety either Cllr as it would then be down to interpretation.
On your second point, I agree with you completely that anyone (especially those holding public office) has a duty to follow procedures and obviously on this occasion councillors who "heckled and or obstructed" the meeting were completely out of order, their actions cannot be defended as they brought their own position, as representatives of the people who voted for them and any party they represent into disrepute. I for one would hope that all snp members MSPs, councillors, activists etc would act in accordance with the everyday rules of convention and society by respecting others and their view while disagreeing with them. As amember of the snp I would fervently hope the Party leaders at every level would endorse this view and take action to ensure it happens.
So why the fuss about me calling them arsonists.
As for your second point I suggest you attend some full council meetings and see how your snp colleagues behave. The snp have known about them for over 20 years.
What Councillor Kelly isnt telling you is that Labour repeatedly heckled during that council meeting.
Also Councillor Kelly has described ALL communication from the Opposition as "obstruction" repeatedly.
It seems anything that isnt being proposed by the Labour party is an obstruction!
The same Councillor Kelly who thinks that a full council meeting which "runs over" (he has it in his head a council meeting should only be 2 hours long, anything over is an inconvenience to him) because opposition councillors are.... opposing and ultimately speaking for their voters. He sees this as malicious yet he is quite happy to sit in a full council meeting and say nothing.
He ultimately wants the Labour administration to run the council the way he runs his blog, with an iron fist keen to shut up any dissent.
This Councillor is part of a previously rife political class who have taken the assumption that the uneducated masses will just vote them in. They still live on the premise that you could 'put a Labour rosette on a monkey' (ironic) and he would be voted in.
Well slowly but surely the masses have become educated and an en masse scunnering is taking place with narrow minded people like Councillor Kerry unable to see the writing on the wall and unable to change the damaging behaviour which is pulling the rug from under their own feet.
People are looking for credibility and a party which issues instructions to vote for every other party to avoid letting the SNP in is not the answer.
Councillor Kelly isnt going to post this i know but he has read it and its either planting the seed of doubt or he's ignoring the big red writing on the wall only if to further prove his close minded idiocy.
Dave Irons said...Wednesday, February 25, 2015 11:23:00 am
After hrs. Of snp heckling and interrupting, Labour cllrs started to retaliate this can be verified by viewing the webcast of the meeting. All interventions from the opposition when they have not been called to speak are obstruction. If you check the running times of similar councils I’m sure that even someone as challenged as you will see that Renfrewshire is the worst, that is down to snp obstruction which is not an inconvenience to me it is an unnecessary expense to the tax payer and an embarrassment to Renfrewshire. No councillor is prevented from speaking as long as they obey the rules. Unlike the snp mob I speak when I think it is relevant. I prevent anything from appearing on my blog which consider to be unsuitable, I am quite happy to print the inane drivel posted by you for instance.
Your post is just about as dumb as they come but I have printed it because I want people to read it for themselves and see what kind of snp drivel gets sent to me.
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