Tory thought police strike again at County Hall

One of the prominent members of the International Brigades that came to the aid of the Socialist government in Spain in 1936 as they fought to save their country from the ravages of the Franco-led Fascist rebels, was George Orwell. He related some of his experiences in one of his most poignant works, Homage to Catalonia.

Amongst Orwell’s other famous literary gems was the brilliant 1984 in which he foresaw a world where the ‘Thought Police’ would constantly monitor people’s actvities and their loyalty to the ruling elite and where history would be rewritten and retold whenever it was expedient for the establishment to do so.

How ironic then, that the Tory ‘thought police’ at County Hall are to remove an information board dedicated to those who died in the Spanish Civil War in order to sever links with any remaining vestige of the previous Labour administation and with anything vaguely socialist.

George Orwell foresaw a world where Big Brother would be watching us but the County Council, with leader Kay Cutts firmly established in her ivory tower overlooking the Trent, seems to have quickly established an authoritarian regime presided over by Big Sister.

Agreeing with Cutts? Someone call me a doctor…

I find myself tonight in the very strange position of supporting some of the proposals being made by the Wicked Witch of County Hall, Kay Cutts, in an effort to reduce the County Council’s costs in the face of a potential £83m budget deficit.

Although changes to staff terms and conditions will save a mere £2.9m, I cannot really disagree that some of these are reasonable and timely

Miners on the County Hall facade. Wonder what they think? (Photo: BBC)

For instance, removing three days’ additional annual leave for employees with ten years of service and reducing mileage rates to 40p per mile. Public service employees have always enjoyed ample holiday allowances and it seems relatively painless to lose a few of these in the light of the strictures many other people are facing in the recession. As for mileage allowance… get on the bus or a bike… or car share. Be creative.

Next, changing the redundancy policy to bring it into line with other councils and offering a maximum of 45 weeks’ redundancy pay. The bare  minimum will apparently be 30 weeks. This still seems pretty generous to me and is far more than most people in the private sector could expect.

Subsistence payments for expenses such as food and drink will now only be paid in exceptional circumstances. I’m not sure what counts as exceptional but, again, most people are accustomed to buying their own lunch and why it should be possible to claim this on expenses just because you’ve been sent to Newark or some far-flung corner of the county on business is beyond me.

Disturbance allowance (!!!) which appears to be an additional mileage rate available if staff move offices, will only be paid for two years. Grow up. Disturbance allowance? Is this to account for the trauma of moving from County Hall to the council offices in Daybrook or vice versa? For the stress of having to pack up your pot plant and pictures of your family and then go to all the trouble of reprogramming the sat nav or finding a new bus route?

And finally, pay protection for staff who are redeployed to a lower graded post will be reduced to two years from the existing three to five-year period. Another public sector whinge. That’s two years of being over-paid then… two years to find a new job… not as easy as three to five years but then life isn’t easy is it?

But, having said that (and no doubt made enemies of every one of the 16,000 staff employed by the County Council), I will also say this. This is the first round in what looks like some savage cuts at County Hall. There is talk of hundreds, if not thousands of redundancies. So please take heed Councillor Cutts and cronies…

In any situation like this managed by the Tories, they normally start at the bottom and work up. Front line staff get axed first (along with our services) and the fat-cat, time-serving, politician-placating, line-toeing, bloated, over-paid directors, assistant directors and the like, survive to waffle and creep their way a bit further up the career ladder or further along the path to retirement.

If the axe is to fall, let it fall first on those who cost most and deliver least. They’re the ones in the big offices, Councillor Cutts, who doff their bowlers when you walk in. The ones whose salaries are about two or three times more than a social worker or a teacher. I’m sure you get my drift.

Oh, and just for good measure… forget the Gedling bus plug. Leave it as it is, save the money and let the Burton Joyce Range Rover crowd suffer.

Child migrants history trashed by Tories

The Tory administration at County Hall has been criticised yet again, this time for removing a board erected two years ago to give people information about child migrants sent from Britain to other parts of the Commonwealth in the 1940’s and 1950’s.

Photo: Child Migrants Trust

The Child Migrants Trust was set up 20 years ago by Notts social worker Margaret Humphreys to put children who became victims of this scandalous social engineering scheme, back in touch with their parents.

Apparently Mrs Cutts and co. say that they’ve taken the board down because it had deteriorated (a bit like democracy and accountability in the county) and they plan to replace it with a board detailing the history of County Hall (form an orderly queue to view this please…).

This decision says an awful lot about the Tories’ priorities and interests and is yet another unfeeling, uninformed, curmudgeonly action by an autocratic and arrogant administration led by a woman who is starting to make the hated and hideous Margaret Thatcher look quite nice by comparison.

Sadly, she’ll probably see this as a compliment.

Patriotism is first refuge for Tories at County Hall

Well, there’s a surprise. One of the first things that the new Conservative County Council administration decides to do is hoist the Union Flag and the St George’s cross outside County Hall.

Apparently it’s to demonstrate their pride in our national heritage and to show respect for ’fallen servicemen’.

I don’t have too much of an issue with the first of these as I too am happy to acknowledge many of the positive things that Great Britain has stood for in the past and to recognise some of the excellent things that British people have achieved throughout history.

For Queen and Country?

However, being British (or being English, which seems to be much more important to many people) is merely an accident of birth and the notion of being proud of  a country (any country), the achievements – or faults and crimes – of which, you have no power over (and very little say in these days), seems a bit odd. 

If we’re proud of our heritage, are we equally ashamed of our part in the slave trade, the subjugation of other countries through colonialism and our contribution (politically or militarily) to a whole variety of wars and conflicts stretching back hundreds of years?

Which brings us to the military connection. The Nottingham Evening Post article that reported on the return of the flags emphasised the various military backgrounds of the main movers within the County Council for this new patriotic display and it seems that this was perhaps a greater motivation to the Union Jack going up again than anything else. Which is very sad.

It seems that we are never able to separate our national flag from conflict (and ultimately death). Possibly this is because we are such a belligerent nation and our flag has become synonymous with warfare; possibly because fighting and making weapons is one of the few things we are still good at… or because we still cling to the archaic notion that military service (and particularly dying in battle) is the greatest and most admirable purpose that any true patriot can aspire to… Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.

I don’t think it should be and I don’t think the most honourable use for our national flag is for it to adorn the coffins of dead soldiers returning from Afghanistan or Iraq.