Forum Topic

Any guesses who said this?

"It is scandalous that the Mayor and local authorities in London are squandering our Council Tax to puff themselves and at the same time unfairly competing with local press who will add commentary about real performance and value for money."Any guesses who said this?

Dawn Ryder ● 6383d21 Comments

Borris?

Faith Wardle ● 6382d

No. Try someone more local.

Dawn Ryder ● 6382d

P Taylor?

George Knox ● 6382d

Dawn,Please put us out of our misery...I for one have been unable to sleep.Who,pray,spewed forth this damning indictment?

Keith Iddon ● 6378d

http://philtaylor.org.uk/?p=30may be of assistance.

Alan Brainsby ● 6378d

Re  ...I for one have been unable to sleep.Who,pray,spewed forth this damning indictment?        xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx      I think you will find we are witnessing a " private " spat in public by a person of the opposite political party to the " accused ". Quite frankly I do not see anything so bad as portrayed by the author of this and another recent thread on exactly the same subject and nature. Why she makes such a fuss re something that doesn't really exist is worrying.

Tony Price ● 6378d

It's worrying that Tony thinks that hypocrisy doesn't really exist. The fact that people holding public office condone wasting public money on puffery by themselves but not by their political rivals is worth making a fuss of.

Eric Alan Leach ● 6378d

It was indeed Phil Taylor in 2006 just before he got elected. Back then Mr Taylor accused the Greater London Council's publicly funded London-wide publication of allowing 'the Mayor to tell his lies and half truths, unchallenged, at our expense.' He also said it was an example of how 'how the State in its various forms can spend lots of our money to praise itself while avoiding the local press who will add commentary about real performance and value for money.'Will he be consistent and say the same now that his administration is busy 'puffing themselves' at Ealing residents' expense?

Dawn Ryder ● 6378d

Tony, At the last local elections this councillor led people people to believe he was against this sort of puffery at our expense. Back then he said it was public sector waste. If you are happy that the people we elect change their views to suit themselves after their election then that's fine - but I know that a lot of people are not happy about our council tax being used in this way to fund what amounts to marketing the local Tory party.This is not a 'private' spat as you put it - I do not know Phil Taylor from Adam. And I'm not from the opposite political party. But I have read his blog and I do pay council tax to Ealing Council and don't want it squandered on any political party's puffery.I think also that we have a right not to be deceived like this by those we've already elected to represent us.

Dawn Ryder ● 6378d

DawnKeep posting please, if there are any more snippets, and do not be put off as it is important to air this hypocracy from elected politicians who say the opposite when they gain power. I don't know if you have tried to post on Cllr Taylor's own blog but he hardly allows any contrary views on it, so this is the only public arena that he cannot censor as it is out of his control.

Ali Khan ● 6377d

Re  condone wasting public money on puffery by themselves           xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx      I cannot say I have seen any blatant self praise or aggrandisement, hence my conclusion this is more of a personal matter as opposed to one of genuine public concern.

Tony Price ● 6377d

Re  we have a right not to be deceived like this by those we've already elected to represent us.              xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx    Dawn, if they didn't, they wouldn't get elected. Sadly politicians are no longer honest, hence the public distrust of them and the weariness of voters. But, I am not as " perceptive " as you, in that I do not read into Around Ealing etc etc as self promotion of individuals or local government itself. Any publishing of local successes is automatically the work of the current local administration, so I do not regard it as self promotion of a political party as such.

Tony Price ● 6377d

Didn't Boris Johnson get rid of The Londoner - which to me seemed to be a very political paper.Around Ealing reflects whatever the current Council is doing.  It tells the people of Ealing what Council services are available.  As for Phil Taylor's blog - it is his blog and so you would expect him to censor some of the responses otherwise it could end up like some of the threads on this site - whch perhaps he would prefer it didn't.  Have you ever tried to post something that didn't agree with a Daily Mail stance about a Daily Mail article on that site?  Party politics sadly stops progress in solving problems so often which is why big changes in services tend to come at the beginning of a new regime.

Philippa Bond ● 6377d

Tony,Perhaps you concentrate too much on a single issue - immigration - to notice the self-promotion in Around Ealing.I wonder if you would be more 'perceptive' of the current administration's 'spin' if the regime in control in Ealing was Communist or Muslim Fundamentalist rather than right wing.

Dawn Ryder ● 6376d

Wouldn't one solution for Around Ealing to have it written by the staff who actually implement the good works?This would surely make it far less political. It would then be for the civic-minded workforce to praise the councillors as they see fit.

Alan Brainsby ● 6376d

A good idea Alan I think. The mag would be better if council officers just gave straight-forward information about council services. The councillors should not be mentioned apart from their surgery details. How many people could have named previous council leaders I wonder? But now Around Ealing seems to making Councillor Stacey into a brand in itself.

Dawn Ryder ● 6376d

Re  if the regime in control in Ealing was Communist or Muslim Fundamentalist rather than right wing.        xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx        the answer to that Dawn is undoubtedly  in the affirmative. Either, but especially the latter would be so intense with their propaganda  and perversion of the truth that self promotion would be abundantly apparent. And they would do their utmost to stifle any opposition. Don't under estimate the threat either pose.

Tony Price ● 6376d

Precisely Tony. The current Ealing regime may not be so obviously extremist and its spin may be more subliminal but  it's compromising the impartiality of our publicly funded local government communications through its self-promotive posters, banners and publications. This state funded propaganda, subliminal as it may be at the moment, has no place in a democracy and tax-payers certainly should not be funding it.

Dawn Ryder ● 6376d

Unless it's overt and declared.i.e. state funded propaganda for all parties in equal measure. Not sure if I think that this is a good idea but at least it would be measurable, equal and open.

Penny Crocker ● 6376d

You could just end up being too PC which then defeats any common objective.

Philippa Bond ● 6375d

Is it not the point here that we do not want our council tax being used to propogate one political parties over another and we do not want councillors once they have been elected doing complete about turn on what they have said before because it suits their cause? It is also very telling that P.Taylor has chosen to ignore this thread as he is not usually this quiet.

Ali Khan ● 6373d