Goodbye to your Money

The one good thing that come out of the Council meeting on the Rose, was that the names of all the lib/Dems who voted for the use of out council tax to be spent this way, were recorded.
That means that when the next election comes they will have to explain why they closed down Hobkirk House, why there was no money to bring up-to-date
Cocks Crescent, why they cut £50.000 from local budgets for things like road and pavement repairs.
And many other questions, but one thing Cllr Osbourne got wrong, that is when he said it would take up a small piece on our leaflet, just wait and see if that’s correct.
The residents of Kingston (not just the Town centre) will have their say, and the lib/Dems will pay for not consulting fully with those who work hard to find the money to pay for the largest Council tax in London, and one of the largest in the country.
The Mayor of London have said that he will Freeze city taxes, when asked by the conservatives to do the same Cllr Osbourne said NO.
One thing for certain, things do not look all that rosy for him and his followers, one hardened supporter of the Lib/Dems have told me that they have gone to far, well we all now that.
The Kingston Guardian website reported that late last August Council leader Cllr Osbourne pledged to close the public purse after handing an extra £250,000 to the Rose fit out. But in May, the company set up by the Council to fit out the theatre was forced to ask for an extra £350,000 to pay for the cost of overruns on doors, wiring and footwells, taking the final price tag to £7.15m – more than £638,000 over the original budget.

Thats New Labour

Teachers have been told that they should no longer make their corrections to school homework in red ink, in case it both “demoralises” the pupils and stands out too much, in an oppressive manner, on the page. They should use a pencil, instead, so that the corrections can be rubbed out. Do you suppose there is any connection between the way children are treated while in school these days and the way some behave when they have left?

Getting Ready to take over

Gordon Brown yesterday finally gave his approval for David Cameron and the shadow cabinet to hold meetings with Britain's most senior civil servants to brief them on Tory plans for government

Cost of the Rose around £800.000 per year

Are you happy for this amount of your Council Tax to be devoted to this use for each of the next three years when we are short of money to pay for other services that cannot be funded any other way?

Support from on high

The Archbishop of Canterbury joined the Tories' criticism of Mr Brown's economic measures yesterday, saying a greed-filled consumer boom had caused the crisis while cutting the VAT risked repeating past mistakes. "It seems a little bit like the addict returning to the drug," Dr Rowan Williams said. People should not "spend to save the economy", but spend on things that provided for their needs.

UK Traders Win, thanks to conservatives MEPs

Under the measure, agreed without a vote at a second reading in the Strasbourg chamber, traders will also be able to display imperial and metric measurements side by side in shops and elsewhere.
"The Government may be eager to scrap the pound as our currency, but at least we can say we have saved it indefinitely - as a measurement at any rate," said Giles Chichester, a Conservative MEP.
"Under this law, shoppers will be able to continue using the measurement they prefer."
EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen called the parliamentary decision "good news for the people in the UK and Ireland who prefer to use pints and miles as current practices will remain in place."
"Today's agreement will also ensure that imperial measurements can be indicated alongside metric - a measure that will lower costs for industry by allowing them the same labelling for their exports, whether in the EU or elsewhere in the world."
The United States is the major imperial trading partner for Europe.
Under the previous scheme, by the end of 2009 Britain and Ireland would have had to give firm dates for scrapping the imperial measures.
The parliamentary vote assures that milk bottles and draught beer may be sold as pints and road signs marked in miles, under a special deal for Britain and Ireland.
For other goods "supplementary indications" may be retained by all EU nations, eurospeak for allowing imperial measurements - pounds, ounces, pints etc. - to be used alongside metric ones.
One imperial casualty, though, is the acre. The European Commission had said that this imperial measure is no longer used for land registration in either Britain or Ireland and would be "repealed".
Also, Ireland has already switched its road signs to kilometres and metres, leaving Britain as the only EU nation using miles for speed limits and distances.

Savers

It is the fable of the ant and the grasshopper reversed...the grasshopper gets rewarded, the diligent ant suffers.

All ones life one saves and sometimes goes without, in order to put a bit by for retirement or to enjoy the golden years, but Labours new policies makes you think of the above.
and the LIB/DEMS think you have a bottomless purse.

Success

SUCCESS AT LAST: NORTH KINGSTON PARENTS WIN CAMPAIGN FOR NEW SCHOOL
For more than two years, North Kingston Parents and local Conservatives have lobbied Kingston’s Lib Dem Council to provide a new secondary school. On November 17th, in a last ditch effort to be heard, a hundred and fifty parents gathered at the Hawker Centre for a public meeting organised by Conservative Parliamentary candidate, Zac Goldsmith. Now, finally, the Lib Dem council has announced plans to provide for a new 6 form entry secondary school and to expand neighbouring Greycourt school in Ham. Local parent, Angela Norton-Bilsby, who was responsible with local Conservatives for collecting 3,000 signatures calling for a new school welcomed the announcement. She said: "I am thrilled that at long last the council has acknowledged the need for a new school. I am also delighted that Grey Court is included in the BSF strategy. With the option of both of these schools, parents in the north of the borough will at last have a choice of secondary school. However, we won't be celebrating yet. We now need to work to ensure that the school is built as soon as possible.” In her speech to parents at the Hawker Centre on the 17th, Mrs Norton-Bilsby told residents; “The conservatives have helped to steer us through the processes, helped us to garner information and generally keep us informed where the current administration would have left us in the dark.” In November last year, Susan Kramer described the Conservative campaign for a new school as “deeply irresponsible”. Kingston’s Conservative Education spokesman, Cllr Nick Kilby, said “What a difference a year makes. Susan Kramer and Derek Osborne are both on the record for saying that the parents and Conservatives were wrong! We will now push the Council to agree a suitable location for this new school and to get it open as soon as possible. In the meantime we welcome the inclusion of Grey Court into the BSF programme. Without its expansion we cannot deal with the short term problem, and parental choice can only be achieved with both Grey Court and the new school. Well done to the parents of North Kingston! It has been a pleasure to support them.” Zac Goldsmith said, “Because of the recession, more and more people are going to have to think again about whether or not they can afford to send their children to private schools, and the pressure on existing state schools can only escalate. This is welcome news.”

Older Peoples Day
Helen with day visitors
Cllr Ken Smith with Ada Hopin who was celebrating her 100th BirthdayHelen Whately, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Kingston and Surbiton, spent Thursday morning speaking to some of the older residents of the borough in preparation for Older Peoples' Day. Mrs Whately visited Cloyda care home and Age Concern's Raleigh Centre in New Malden. She was accompanied by Cllr Ken Smith. Wednesday 1 October is Older Peoples Day, an opportunity to celebrate the contribution older people make to families and communities.Helen Whately commented after her visit; "I really valued the chance to speak to some of the older people in the borough. They have wonderful stories to tell and so much experience of life. It reminded me that I don't spend enough time with my own grandparents. Older Peoples' Day can help us focus on what we're doing for older members of our community. Many people work incredibly hard to care for older relatives and friends, but as a society we don't do enough."