Et Tu Brute?

Perhaps Kay Cutts had better rehearse Julius Caesar’s dying words as Brutus stuck the knife in.

Her latest right hand man Cllr Eric Kerry who handed over £5,000 to Cutts saved from money earmarked for Beeston and then imposed a new tax on those hapless residents seems to have turned. He not only presented a petition with an amazing 2,500 signatures to save the Middle St Resource Centre, which sits on a very valuable piece of building land which Kay Cutts is determined to sell, but spoke well and favourably for its salvation. So eloquently in fact that he drew a round of applause from the opposition benches.

It has been heard whispered how extremely courageous Cllr Kerry has been and others are waiting see what support he has before joining his faction.

Standing up for Beeston

A Beeston reader tells me that I get a positive mention in the local independent paper; "The Beeston Express". I'm glad to stand up for Beeston & Chilwell as none of the Tory County Councillors seem to be doing so.

Their Conservative Councillor Eric Kerry certainly has a problem. Having imposed the home place parking levy and returned £5,000 of money earmarked for Beeston to Kay Cutts, for her spin doctor's rise in salary he now has been asked, by a group of residents to present a petition to full council on Thursday. This is about the Vogon plan to close the Middle St resource centre (the land is worth a fortune; right on the tram route with a stop next door). At first the local MP; Anna Soubry supported Kay Cutts in this closure so did Eric Kerry. Now, as popular opinion swings against this, the MP has done a 180 degree turn and opposes closure (she did exactly the same with the Bramwell care home sell off). What will Eric do, lose chances of promotion within the County or fall out with his other boss? I suggest that he takes a leaf out of the Quidsins book; see here how situations like this are dealt with, Retford fish wife style.

Library staff to go

A highly confidential source tells me that plans are at an advanced stage to reduce the number of full time staff in each library to a maximum of one. The other jobs will be done by volunteers drafted in from the community.

If a library can't get enough volunteers then it closes.

This is all very well for the leafy suburbs such as West Bridgford, Arnold or Beeston where no doubt volunteers will be found from the masses of middle classes with time on their hands. Not so good for places such as Ollerton, Worksop and Retford - but as one senior Tory was heard to mutter - "who cares?"

A Home Fit for a Vogon????

Word on the street is the Vogon wants a new leafy residence in the same way the PM has Chequers. It is being whispered that she wants to take over Newstead Abbey from the City as it sounds a nice place. Unfortunately, as she has never been north of the Trent for fear of meeting a working class person, she does not know it's a ruin and won't be able to move in.

What we think it's about is that she does not want the City to have anything in her patch. How (against officers advice it is said) she can want to take this on (and the costs) while making CUTTS to vital services is yet to be explained.

Snouts in the Trough

Q. How do ex-miners from Ollerton, Blidworth, Mansfield or Worksop get to travel first class?

A. Become a Tory County Councillor or get a top paid job at County Hell or leafy Rushcliffe Borough Council.

See here for details.

Ollerton - thanks but who cares?

Ollerton was the scene of the first conflict in the bitter miners' strike, in the mid 80's when a Yorkshire picket lost his life. The Ollerton miners worked throughout the strike but to show the government's gratitude were dumped less than 10 years later. On the afternoon of Tuesday 20 September 1994 Kay Cutts hero, Margaret Thatcher's dream of shutting the Pit came to reality and 1000 miners were chucked on the dole. Fortunately for them we had a more caring County Council at the time and a major regeneration program created the "Sherwood Energy Village", which brought in 1,500 new jobs on to the derelict site. However, it soon became clear that the road infrastructure would become inadequate and needed improvement if the energy village were to expand or even survive; read here how the County Council were to do this. Unfortunately the Vogons then landed and once the new administration realised that Ollerton was up north, full of ex-miners and not part of leafy Rushcliffe or Broxtowe a U turn was done. The road improvements were cancelled. Now of course the pay off has happened and the Energy Village has gone bankrupt, see here for details.

Of course this will simply be water off a ducks back to the administration at County Hell, just as 1000 miners on the dole was to the Conservative Government in 1994. Neither have the faintest idea, or interest in where Ollerton is.

Top Heavy Council

Following on from my item last week, which followed one of your valuable leaks more detail has become available regarding one of the posts I alluded to below and the story broke here last Thursday and makes the Sunday Telegraph tomorrow, see here for the article.

Please keep the information coming; once you've exited by the back door (unless you are senior enough), from home computers of course.

I understand that I'm still getting under Kay Cutts skin and she may soon be spending another £80,000 in a futile attempt to find me.