June 22, 2008
No comments on my previous blog.  Probably because nobody read it, and if they did it was obviously not contentious enough.  Oh, well!!
today, I want to comment briefly on a comment I heard on the radio last Friday.  A representative of the English Local Authorities was talking about recycling and stated that "if residents do not like what their council is doing regarding recycling, they have the opportunity in our democracy to vote them out".
The trouble with this though is highlighted in my constituency of Hastings.  All the councillors of the three major parties voted to support the proposals for the introduction of the recycling scheme last year, despite the fact that there was an overwhelming majority of the residents who did not support these proposals.  So come the elections on May 1st, who could we vote for who would do something to get the decision reversed?  The answer, of course, is nobody.  Where is the democracy in that?
One answer could be to start an anti-recycling scheme party, but a one objective party has no chance of succeeding.  There is no democracy on Hastings council.
This is emphasised by the fact that the conservatives, despite having no overall majority, have hijacked all the seats on the committee that makes the decisions so that most of the residents of our town now have any representation where the decisions are made.  Disgusting.

I am writing this, my first blog entry, just four days before the local council elections of 2008.  Despite the closeness of the election, I have only received one written communication from the three hopeful councillors in my ward.  They represent the three main parties of the country and yet two of them cannot even bother to communicate with me.  Even a written communication is, in my opinion, rather poor.
I want to talk to these hopefuls to find out what they really believe.  What they really intend to do for the ward and the town in which I live.  Do they agree with fortnightly collection of rubbish?  Do they agree with the current council’s obvious dislike of motorists?  Even though the council, along with Central Government, seem to want to drive the motorist off the roads of Hastings, do they not think that they should provide a better bus (and train) service?
As a resident over 60 I have a free bus pass, for which I am grateful to the government, but I cannot travel free before 9:30am in Hastings (unlike many other free bus pass holders in other parts of the country), so I cannot make early doctor, dentist or hospital appointments unless I wish to pay to get there.   It is certainly not because the buses are full before 9:30.  Apparently it is due to the cost, but unless I am mistaken, the amount of money allocated for the free bus pass scheme in Hastings
Still, not to worry, I can travel free up until 11:00pm (like the rest of the country) ...except that, certainly where I live, there are no buses after 8:00 in the evening.  So I might be able to get out but I will not be able to get home unless I walk - not easy at my age walking up Park View, an extremely steep hill, to get home.  I could of course hire a taxi, but my pension increases are way below the rate of inflation on the things I buy (like food, electric, gas, petrol, community charge, water, etc.) - perhaps I should buy more flat screen TVs and SatNavs - I believe these items keep the government's rate of inflation in single figures.
I cannot travel free on Sundays or Bank Holidays because, again, there are no buses.
Just as well I have kept my car, because, despite the ever reducing speed limits and widespread use of “traffic calming” inconveniences, the ever greater restrictions and cost of parking, the ever growing numbers of traffic wardens (or whatever PC name they are now known by) I need my car in order to live a "normal" life.
But, how many of the three prospective local councillors for my ward feel as I do?  I don't know, I have not been given the chance to talk to them.  In fact, in the 31 years I have lived in Hastings on only ONE occasion has a prospective local councillor ever knocked on my door to talk to me.  So why should I vote for any of them?
Well, I do believe that everyone should vote.  After all, it is part of our democratic system that (nearly) everyone has the right to vote.  However, we all know that, in practice, it doesn't matter how you vote, either in local or general elections because the three main parties are virtually the same - full of people out to feather their own nest with as little interference from the public as possible.  They want us to vote for them on Election Day, and then they ignore us until the next Election Day. was increased in this year's budget by about 60%, but we are told there are insufficient funds available to allow us to travel free between 9:00 and 9:30.

Why is it we want to impose democracy on the rest of the world while our own democracy is continually eroded by MPs and councillors who ignore us, and an increasing number of un-elected quangos and busybodies who rule our lives – and I haven’t even started to talk about the common market!!