AIJ                Not forgetting Nottingham                                                   20 March 2008

Notting Council do have some good points.  They are not that consistent that they are bad all time time.  By the amount of paper that they distribute asking people what they want, one would be expected this one to be the highest-ranking council in the country.  According to published figures, they are not the worst, but they are a long way down from the best.  I have a list below of some of the things that I don't like  These are different things to what I complained about when I was a rate-payer of Richmond on Thames.

It is true that I now have more contact with the Council than I did in Hampton on Thames (within the Richmond area),  but Richmond seemed to be more organised.  There may be an explanation for an overall low standard up here; there is a war on between the Chief Executive and the Council Leader.  One councillor I spoke to told me that they both have enormous egos and that could be part of the problem  They are each responsible for what the Council does, but in quite different ways.  A Councillor is not supposed to tell an employed Officer what to do, and it seems that frustration at lack of action is making some councillors do just that.  The officer then complaints to his/her boss, the Chief Executive.  The C.E.O. then has a row with the councillor telling him to keep his nose out of other people's business.  But, of course, the councillor is responsible to his/her electorate and gets a bad name when a complaint put to him/her is not put right.  Bad systems lead to wars and I have no detailed knowledge of day-to-day working except that it is common to be told that "I will look into it and call you back".  This seems to be the regular ploy to get rid of you, presumable to let them get back to their cup of tea. that your phone call so rudely interrupted.

Nottingham has got through three chief executives in six years.  And the tax-payers have been landed with an enormous bill each time.  I presume that each person had made damn sure that his contract is watertight before taking on the job having seen the events with their predecessors.

 There are one or two areas in the City that are deemed to be "deprived areas".  This is the code words for "areas where the most useless slobs live".  What incenses many people is that areas where the hard-working and industrious folk live get starved of cash to do really necessary maintenance after paying through their nose for the privilege of living in a non-slum area. You can see why the Germans voted Hitler into power.  They are not a lot different to us Brits.  Hitler's failure was that he was a bit too simplistic.  He didn't like to admit that the black and brown races have their strengths too.  How he consoled himself with allying with the Japanese, is beyond my ken.