The silly politics thread

[Frank Blank]

Looks like (if the reports are true) the EU is preparing to fold on the state aid issue. Thing is, the deal is about 80% done, so I'm glad to see there's one area where the EU is now seemingly disinclined to pi$$ about. Still, we shall wait and see.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-brita ... KKBN24Z1MF

[dave m]

Ian Smith voted twice For the Bill,

voted Against MP's having time to scrutinise the Bill (i.e. Read the "small print")

Voted Five times Against the House of Lords amendments

Voted For withdrawing the whip from Tory MP's who wanted more time to read the Bill

And now says that "hidden in the small print" are details that he didn't read?

[C.A.Versham]

Just had a leaflet from one of the parties standing in the May local elections.

The candidate has three aims (or are they objectives?). All very worthy (e.g better education on animal welfare) but not especially local to the Ward. Unless I missed it no mention of ensuring value for money in terms of Council spend, improving leisure facilities, tackling potholes, improving the fabric and resource in local schools or curbing antisocial behaviour from those keen on setting off fireworks close to midnight. Still they are keen to show their support for what is probably the lost cause of keeping a bank branch open in in Caversham.

Recycling bin collection day tomorrow which is useful.

[mikejee]

Perhaps some candidate might fight for keeping proper bank branches in Reading central. Not sure what other firms are doing but found out a few days ago that if you have the misfortune to bank with Natwest and want to access money in excess of your normal machine limit you cannot now visit the Reading branch and just get it, all you can do is request an increase n your machine limit. The Natwest here does not now actually deal with money, only via a machine

[OLDMAN]

I saw some news at the weekend and a further report last bight
WeBC have now withdrawn their part of the funding for Readibus!
That means the service is being stopped in WeBC area so any poor / old / disabled people who use and where dependant on it won’t be able to use it
WeBC say they are going to prevail alternative arrangements but according to last night report its not that good!

I felt sorry for the 2 old dears sat crying when discussing it – Hope Alok Sharma hangs his head in shame considering the money that’s just been spent on his little jolly away that could have been done over Zoom.............................

[C.A.Versham]

West Berkshire Council are projecting an underspend this year of £3.3 million.

Perhaps the residents of West Berkshire who live close to Reading should petition to change the boundary. They can then access Readibus, the tip and pay the higher level of council tax to help pay for it all. (Band D in West Berkshire is £1565.26, in Reading £2076.83 I believe).

[mikejee]

West Berkshire Council are projecting an underspend this year of £3.3 million.

Perhaps the residents of West Berkshire who live close to Reading should petition to change the boundary. They can then access Readibus, the tip and pay the higher level of council tax to help pay for it all. (Band D in West Berkshire is £1565.26, in Reading £2076.83 I believe).

The borders around Reading confound sensible thinking both regard to West Berkshire, who are mainly interested in the immediate Newbury area and their affluent bird-shooters and foxhunters, and Wokingham who would far more sensiblybe split between nearby councils.

[Pooneil]

Reading will continue to be a mess so long as the greater conurbation is split between 3 different councils (or 4, if you include the imminently developing northern fringe that falls under S.Ox.

[MickEdge]

I agree it’s a mess and a fine example of silly politics. The last local authority reorganisation created a rag bag of different types. Whilst it left many two-tier counties as they were, like Oxfordshire, Berkshire, a small county, was split into six unitary authorities. By comparison, Cheshire has four and the other unitaries only two or three. I’m sure at the time, spurious reasons were given why it was a good idea. Presumably, if Reading had been defined by its natural urban border, then West Berkshire and Wokingham wouldn’t have been viable on their own.

[OLDMAN]

West Berkshire Council are projecting an underspend this year of £3.3 million.

Perhaps the residents of West Berkshire who live close to Reading should petition to change the boundary. They can then access Readibus, the tip and pay the higher level of council tax to help pay for it all. (Band D in West Berkshire is £1565.26, in Reading £2076.83 I believe).

The borders around Reading confound sensible thinking both regard to West Berkshire, who are mainly interested in the immediate Newbury area and their affluent bird-shooters and foxhunters, and Wokingham who would far more sensiblybe split between nearby councils.

The Readibus runs all the way to Newbury and some surrounding areas - or used to be
Its a dial-a-ride bus service for people with restricted mobility and will continue to run under RBC and WBC

They said on the news last night WeBC will be running their own system based on cars / minibuses and 'volunteer drivers' - in other words it sounds like a cheap unregulated non-timetabled system to me!
https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2021- ... th-council
https://www.newburytoday.co.uk/news/bit ... y-9194687/
https://www.getreading.co.uk/news/readi ... d-20342846

[C.A.Versham]

When the Berkshire councillors considered the break up of the Council they wrongly thought that the whole country would change to smaller unitary authorities in order to bring councils closer to their communities. How wrong they were.

Various models were considered including 3, 4, 5 and 6 unitaries. I'm not sure anyone thought that six would be viable but local interests overode that.

But hey ho, why have one leader of the council and chief executive when you can pay for twelve!

[mikejee]

West Berkshire Council are projecting an underspend this year of £3.3 million.

Perhaps the residents of West Berkshire who live close to Reading should petition to change the boundary. They can then access Readibus, the tip and pay the higher level of council tax to help pay for it all. (Band D in West Berkshire is £1565.26, in Reading £2076.83 I believe).

The borders around Reading confound sensible thinking both regard to West Berkshire, who are mainly interested in the immediate Newbury area and their affluent bird-shooters and foxhunters, and Wokingham who would far more sensiblybe split between nearby councils.

The Readibus runs all the way to Newbury and some surrounding areas - or used to be
Its a dial-a-ride bus service for people with restricted mobility and will continue to run under RBC and WBC

They said on the news last night WeBC will be running their own system based on cars / minibuses and 'volunteer drivers' - in other words it sounds like a cheap unregulated non-timetabled system to me!
https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2021- ... th-council
https://www.newburytoday.co.uk/news/bit ... y-9194687/
https://www.getreading.co.uk/news/readi ... d-20342846

Completely agree, though whether ANYTHING of any use results is dubious.

[lizwing]

We lived in West Berkshire and never had any desire to kill birds or foxes and we certainly weren’t affluent Readibus was a God send for my mum she used it a lot, without it she’d have been very isolated it’ll a huge loss if it’s discontinued.