The situation in Libya seems part of the madness that comes out of that part of our world
Gaddafi is an evil so and so but also an extremely experienced in manipulating the various revolutionary councils in the districts of Libya.
Reducing his fairly poor and ancient air power will not topple him from power and is most likely to strengthen his position via his total control of the media.
I find the words used that we have to enforce a no fly zone to prevent civilian deaths in Benghazi a bit hollow. Gaddafi has been murdering his opposition on a daily basis for the last 40 years and is not going to stop now.
There is a vital self interest to the West… Oil Where were the champions proclaiming their commitment to saving innocent civilians in Rwanda , in Srebrenica in Cambodia where we stood and looked the other way.. But there was no oil there.
Is it the politicians who drive us forward to launch us into in this case a bombing campaign of Libya with all the risks of escalation into a full scale war in the Middle East, giving all those extremist organisations great material for their recruitment campaigns?
No thought again appears to have been given to ‘what next?’ an exit strategy, any plan b , c or onwards. Seems as dangerous as giving children matches to play with... I can only hope there are some seriously hard headed advisors in the decision making department of the MOD who are not swayed by any politician!
We must win the propaganda war both in Libya and elsewhere in the Middle East... we have excellent pathways via BBC world service and no doubt we could beam in our own TV channel. We can disrupt his supply chain to his troops at the front line at Benghazi, try and stop arms reaching Gaddafi. We still need to be offering ways out for Gaddafi who is a totally arrogant and self cantered person but if peace for the residents involves us giving him some meaningless plastic bauble ..So what/?
The whole lot of the nations in the Middle East are a total disaster when you look at the field of human rights. Seems we are selective to the point of blatant hypocrisy... why do we allow the politicians to get away with it?
what do you think
Ian Roibertson Councillor and chair walsall Amnesty International group.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
What future the health of or NHS?
We had the promise of more spending on our NHS.. now we have a report from the TUC suggesting 50,000 jobs in our NHS could be lost. The senseless waste of money.. some £1.8 billion .. to tear up the fabric or organisation of our NHS... this would pay 15000 nurses for 3 years. This Tory/LIb conalition is pursuing a path of partnerships with private companies whose sole responsibilty is to bring back profits for their shareholders... do we really beleive that our NHS is safe in the privatised hands of the Tories?
Ian Robertson
Friday, February 25, 2011
The axe man cometh but where will he actually hit?
The Tory budget for spend in this next year was passed last Thursday with not a whimper of dissent from the Tory ranks. we know that around £17 million was cut with around £35m more over the next 4 years. on top of the national cuts such as the increase in vat to 20%, the extremely high cost of fuel and transport.. everyone will see their budget cut. there are a good number who 'feeling the pinch' will revolve on perhaps only going out to eat twice a week and maybe reducing their holidays to 3 year from 4. for the rest of the ' market will decide' as in any good Tory world.
faced with loosing 6 seats straightaway in may by closing a local library as revealed by the cabinet member at last council.. there had to be a delaying of the announcement until the summer when around £600k is due to come out of libraries.
this Government has 'promised' to maintain central government grant at to the borough wide music service..but this council has cut 4 full time music teacher posts at least.
severe cuts to the care budget leaving those most vulnerable with the bare minimum cover and forking out from their own allowances for such items as transport.
£100k off youth services.. so expect to see more hanging around street corners.
a lot of the cuts happen due to cuts in external grants and it is difficult to uncover all the front line effects which will happen...for example scout groups got £12k a year towards room hire and training costs.. this has now gone.. a kick in the teeth for many 'wrth their weight in gold' volunteers who cost us nothing and do priceless wok in our community.
as usual it will be the lower earners ( stretching into the lower middle earners) who will suffer.. there were ways the cuts could have been cushioned as taking too much too quickly will wreck our communities.
we have lost inevitably this battle.. the war starts with the build up to the May elections. We in Walsall Labour are ready to take on that challenge.. will you join us?
regards
cllr ian robertson
faced with loosing 6 seats straightaway in may by closing a local library as revealed by the cabinet member at last council.. there had to be a delaying of the announcement until the summer when around £600k is due to come out of libraries.
this Government has 'promised' to maintain central government grant at to the borough wide music service..but this council has cut 4 full time music teacher posts at least.
severe cuts to the care budget leaving those most vulnerable with the bare minimum cover and forking out from their own allowances for such items as transport.
£100k off youth services.. so expect to see more hanging around street corners.
a lot of the cuts happen due to cuts in external grants and it is difficult to uncover all the front line effects which will happen...for example scout groups got £12k a year towards room hire and training costs.. this has now gone.. a kick in the teeth for many 'wrth their weight in gold' volunteers who cost us nothing and do priceless wok in our community.
as usual it will be the lower earners ( stretching into the lower middle earners) who will suffer.. there were ways the cuts could have been cushioned as taking too much too quickly will wreck our communities.
we have lost inevitably this battle.. the war starts with the build up to the May elections. We in Walsall Labour are ready to take on that challenge.. will you join us?
regards
cllr ian robertson
Friday, February 4, 2011
Time to man the barricades ! Come the revolution!
Come the revolution.
Man the barricades before it is too late! We stand at a crossroads where we are poised to slide into a Walsall where the slogan will be ‘Survival of the fittest !’ ‘Let the market decide! ‘
The proposed cuts or more like amputations that are revealed in the budget proposals for Walsall to be passed without a wimper at full council on 24th February will hit at the very heart of this Borough.
6 libraries to be closed… without any doubt in the most disadvantaged parts of Walsall serving such wards as Pleck, Birchills Blakenall Palfrey Willenhall and Darlaston. However that has now changed with the promise of no closures this year.. amazing what a bit of fear of what will happen in the ballot box!
£100,000 off the music service plus a national cut of up to £850K which will end music support in Walsall apart from those in the more affluent areas who can afford to pay. Plus more cuts to the museum and art gallery.. so some of the reasons to live here in Walsall are getting crossed off the list as we move to being just an ordinary Town living in a cultural desert.
An end to Community transport service now to be mainly run by a private company.
A serious cut to current levels of support for social services support of over £7 million with imposition of charges of up to £89.35 a week . A direct attack on those most disadvantaged in Walsall.
Cuts of nearly £3 million in Leisure which will mean almost certainly as well as 6 libraries, all but 6 of swimming pools attached to schools will close and cuts to park maintenance and cover.
£600,000 off young services provision … no doubt more young people to be seen hanging about street corners. A requested cut of £2.5 million off the contract held by SERCO to deliver education in Walsall schools while we languish still very near the bottom of the league for education results in England.
When you cut £25 million off a budget at a stroke, the fall out for front line services will be major, especially for the disadvantaged fellow members of the human race in Walsall.
At the sharp end there will be many small community projects that will be closed. I note that the £12,000 yearly grant to the scouts to help pay for premises rental and training costs will cease which will mean some groups will close.
The problem for Walsall is that power rests with one individual almost alone… bit like in Egypt really … however the people there are showing what they think of him and people power after 18 days has got rid of him! See you in Liberation Square in Bridge Street, Walsall or maybe on the election trial. Although we have the luxury of a democratic process.. let us hope that especially the residents of Pheasey excercise their vote wisely.
Man the barricades before it is too late! We stand at a crossroads where we are poised to slide into a Walsall where the slogan will be ‘Survival of the fittest !’ ‘Let the market decide! ‘
The proposed cuts or more like amputations that are revealed in the budget proposals for Walsall to be passed without a wimper at full council on 24th February will hit at the very heart of this Borough.
6 libraries to be closed… without any doubt in the most disadvantaged parts of Walsall serving such wards as Pleck, Birchills Blakenall Palfrey Willenhall and Darlaston. However that has now changed with the promise of no closures this year.. amazing what a bit of fear of what will happen in the ballot box!
£100,000 off the music service plus a national cut of up to £850K which will end music support in Walsall apart from those in the more affluent areas who can afford to pay. Plus more cuts to the museum and art gallery.. so some of the reasons to live here in Walsall are getting crossed off the list as we move to being just an ordinary Town living in a cultural desert.
An end to Community transport service now to be mainly run by a private company.
A serious cut to current levels of support for social services support of over £7 million with imposition of charges of up to £89.35 a week . A direct attack on those most disadvantaged in Walsall.
Cuts of nearly £3 million in Leisure which will mean almost certainly as well as 6 libraries, all but 6 of swimming pools attached to schools will close and cuts to park maintenance and cover.
£600,000 off young services provision … no doubt more young people to be seen hanging about street corners. A requested cut of £2.5 million off the contract held by SERCO to deliver education in Walsall schools while we languish still very near the bottom of the league for education results in England.
When you cut £25 million off a budget at a stroke, the fall out for front line services will be major, especially for the disadvantaged fellow members of the human race in Walsall.
At the sharp end there will be many small community projects that will be closed. I note that the £12,000 yearly grant to the scouts to help pay for premises rental and training costs will cease which will mean some groups will close.
The problem for Walsall is that power rests with one individual almost alone… bit like in Egypt really … however the people there are showing what they think of him and people power after 18 days has got rid of him! See you in Liberation Square in Bridge Street, Walsall or maybe on the election trial. Although we have the luxury of a democratic process.. let us hope that especially the residents of Pheasey excercise their vote wisely.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Will the Music be turned off for our Children?
Searching the Internet which can be a quite addictive pastime, I ended up looking at areas completely different from the original search! I came across the so called Henley review which has been looking at funding for music support services to Councils over the country. The reason I found it as there are a number of Boroughs who were looking anxiously at what would be in this report as it was promised before Christmas and delayed now so long that many music services will run out of funds at the end of March. This would include Walsall's most outstanding music service based at Forest Arts achieving such excellent results in areas of serious deprivation such as the ward I represent in Blakenall. This service which consistently receives the highest possible rating marks from their OFSTED reports. Supplying every school in Walsall this cut of a massive £850,000 , if the news due in 2 weeks is a cut as expected, is a dreadful kick in the teeth for the dedicated and talented team based at the Forest Arts Centre and to all those young people who have responded to their teaching.I can hear the alarm bells ringing and I hope that the noise of protesting by all those thousands of pupils from every school in walsall who make music and benefit so much from that experience will be deafening to the those short sighted Philistines who seem to wish to make Walsall a cultural desert.
Prepare to mount the biggest and noisiest ever demonstration in protest seen in Walsall if those in the current Tory/ Liberal alliance down in London decide to pull the funding..
published by electronic means by Ian Robertson 87 Belvidere Rd walsall WS1 3au tel 01922 634642.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
There are fair cuts and on the other hand there are amputations.
Are we being ripped off, vandalised and abandoned by Walsall Council ?
I read that Walsall council have ‘saved’ over £1million each year on the contract for recycling by renegotiating the contract. We learn that there are negotiations to reduce the cost of the SERCO contract that Walsall by £2.5Million to look after education in Walsall. Walsall signed an extension of this contract for another 12 years . This in spite of the fact that education standards in Walsall are at a dismal failure being 151st out of 171 in the Country. We have improved a bit but basically we continue to fail most of our young people.. if we did not have the results from Queen Marys’ schools we would be even lower. I suspect that now Walsall education is the only education contract run by SERCO ( all other councils have given them the sack) all failing schools will be forced into becoming Academies to allow SERCO to make a good profit for their shareholders and not lose out by imposition of any penalty clauses… our children are of course not the priority… the shareholders are!! Such a rip off! How long have we been overpaying for these services?
Then we have the Tarmac contract with clauses here which cost us dear when we wish to install for example dropped curbs at pavement level to allow wheelchair access where the cost has jumped from £350 under the Council to over £1000 under Tarmac. What value for council tax payers of Walsall.
We had the AMEY contract that cost us Council tax payers £7.5 Million due to a set of clauses so badly checked by Walsall Council allowing another private company to walk all over us and take us again to the cleaners.
We have at the moment the tabled acts of vandalism …
Closing 6 libraries and I suspect more next year.
Closing school swimming pools
Serious risk to all of the Walsall Music service
Cut to the Debt counselling service at a time when they are needed more than ever.
More cuts of support to the Domestic violence support service ( report due out in early February)
What support will be there post end of March for LINK… the local watchdog checking on our local health service?
What chance to properly repair our roads , especially with a private company Tarmac setting the price?
What effect on the most vulnerable in our society who depend on Walsall Social services for respite for their carers.?
Will SERCO sell off all the failing schools to private companies and form more academies to leave only those under Walsall Council those which are ‘profitable’ to SERCO?
More items to come as the budget cut debate unfolds.
What sort of Borough and Council will we be left with? Not the sort to be proud of or to attract new communities vital to our futures
published by electronic means by Ian Robertson 87 Belvidere Rd walsall WS1 3au tel 01922 634642.
I read that Walsall council have ‘saved’ over £1million each year on the contract for recycling by renegotiating the contract. We learn that there are negotiations to reduce the cost of the SERCO contract that Walsall by £2.5Million to look after education in Walsall. Walsall signed an extension of this contract for another 12 years . This in spite of the fact that education standards in Walsall are at a dismal failure being 151st out of 171 in the Country. We have improved a bit but basically we continue to fail most of our young people.. if we did not have the results from Queen Marys’ schools we would be even lower. I suspect that now Walsall education is the only education contract run by SERCO ( all other councils have given them the sack) all failing schools will be forced into becoming Academies to allow SERCO to make a good profit for their shareholders and not lose out by imposition of any penalty clauses… our children are of course not the priority… the shareholders are!! Such a rip off! How long have we been overpaying for these services?
Then we have the Tarmac contract with clauses here which cost us dear when we wish to install for example dropped curbs at pavement level to allow wheelchair access where the cost has jumped from £350 under the Council to over £1000 under Tarmac. What value for council tax payers of Walsall.
We had the AMEY contract that cost us Council tax payers £7.5 Million due to a set of clauses so badly checked by Walsall Council allowing another private company to walk all over us and take us again to the cleaners.
We have at the moment the tabled acts of vandalism …
Closing 6 libraries and I suspect more next year.
Closing school swimming pools
Serious risk to all of the Walsall Music service
Cut to the Debt counselling service at a time when they are needed more than ever.
More cuts of support to the Domestic violence support service ( report due out in early February)
What support will be there post end of March for LINK… the local watchdog checking on our local health service?
What chance to properly repair our roads , especially with a private company Tarmac setting the price?
What effect on the most vulnerable in our society who depend on Walsall Social services for respite for their carers.?
Will SERCO sell off all the failing schools to private companies and form more academies to leave only those under Walsall Council those which are ‘profitable’ to SERCO?
More items to come as the budget cut debate unfolds.
What sort of Borough and Council will we be left with? Not the sort to be proud of or to attract new communities vital to our futures
published by electronic means by Ian Robertson 87 Belvidere Rd walsall WS1 3au tel 01922 634642.
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