Dirty Deeds at the Council House.
I’m talking as though this is exclusive to my own town of Walsall, but I guess we are probably not alone.
Like many places, Walsall is facing hard times. High levels of unemployment, cuts to council services and most of the shops are shut because it’s too expensive to park in the town. Plus, nobody has any money. Nobody except our ruling councillors, that is.
The greedy sods, elected by the people of Walsall, this week stuck two fingers up to the residents by voting themselves a whopping big pay-rise. This is at the same time that hardworking council staff face their own cutbacks, many of whom have had wage reductions.
Sheriff of Nottingham Walsall, leader Mike Bird gets an increase of £4,500 a year while Sir Guy of Gisborn (deputy Adrian Andrew), gets an astounding £9k rise. Talk about robbing from the poor.
Despite widespread criticism, the ruling Conservative (in it for themselves) party proposed this outrageous motion. It was widely condemned by other groups and had the opposing Labour party not abstained from the vote, it would not have been passed.
Good going, Labour. When elected, you are given a vote in council and you should be duty-bound to use it. Not these useless bunch of cretins. Basically, Labour played their faces, pretended to say they were against the motion, but did not vote against it. They abstained. Now, they too will benefit from the rise. Nice for them. Well done. Two main parties in Walsall. One failed the people due to their own greed, the other failed by doing nothing about it. Which is worse?
And on the big stage …
There’s a big fuss about benefit reform at the minute. Yes, the system does need an overhaul but seeing the likes of Iain Duncan Smith with his holier than thou attitude, makes my skin crawl.
Iain Duncan Smith, a man so bad at his job when leader of the Conservative party a few years back, his own MPs got shot of him. Now he’s there again in a position of power, sending sick people back to work while telling us the poor can survive on £70-per-week. This is the parasite who spent £39 on a breakfast … then claimed it all back in expenses.
Hope he chokes on his hash brown, next time.
Is this really the best headline a national newspaper could find?
There must really have been nothing going on in the news that day.
Jealous lover, Rob Davey shaved his girlfriend’s prized shih-tzu when he thought she’d been lying to him. He has now, rightly been fined heavily and had his punishment. But this … a major headline?
Okay, I know it’s really not funny, but I can’t help laughing at it. Come on, it’s not like the thing was injured. It’s a bloody dog. And why the hell did the paper black the dog’s eyes out; was it to protect its identity? I think you’d know if you saw it shivering in the street while trying to pee up a lamppost.
Still, I must show some sympathy. Imagine having your canine rights infringed like that. What a bad owner. A right little shi-tzu.
Heroes to Zeros …
Now that I’ve got the political tosspots and stupidity out the way, let’s have some music talk.
When I speak of heroes, one of my greatest has to be David Bowie. From my teenage years, I had the lot. Every new release, then collecting the back catalogue, all of them on vinyl. Heck, I even had the Deram stuff complete with the Laughing Gnome.
So it was with great trepidation that I clicked You Tube to listen to Where Are We Now, his first release in ten years. Well, my fears were not unfounded. David, you’ve done bugger all decent since 1983 (bar a couple of tracks here and there), and this is no different. It’s dire.
Now I know the bandwagon are going to be wetting themselves but the guy is fallible, and has been during all the time I speak of. Yeah, I know it’s good to have new stuff. I often criticise those living in the past but in this case, I think I’ll stick to Aladdin Sane and a bit of Cracked Actor.
And another hero … but this one going out with a bang.
I was really saddened to hear about Wilko Johnson and the fact he’s been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. I can listen to those early Dr Feelgood tracks and still want to lose myself in the intoxication of jumping around the room. I finally saw him and his band a couple of years ago and it was some experience. Wilko has opted not to have any treatment but while he is still able, plans to do a farewell tour this year.
Don’t know if I could go. Bit emotional and I’m sure there are fans far more devoted than me who deserve the tickets to see him play. But … what an performer.
And scraping the bottom of the barrel of music …
A few weeks ago I reported that One Direction karaoke singer, Harry Styles, was dating the beautiful Taylor Swift. Well, it now seems old Harry has blown it and he and Taylor have split up.
What a plonker. I mean, who would want to blow Taylor Swift?
Don’t answer that.
Farewell for this week …
I’m off to register myself as standing to be a local councilor. Don’t want the job but at least this time next year, I can award myself a massive pay rise after doing bugger all to deserve one.
Cheers.
Nick
Antony N Britt - Author 
Hi Nick,
I had my shih-tzu shaved in hospital once, it’s not funny. I was sore for a month after… The people of Walsall must be gutted having lost the Turner prize, half a million down the drain and now they have to pay the parasites that did it too. Never mind, get in the queue for Wonga and make the best of it. I tried to find out what Sandwell was spending money. They spend £720 for evry man, woman, child and babby in Sandwell. That’s £2,200 for each adult and they wonder why they have to cut down. I think half of that goes to Stavecon for doing bloody speed humps…
I’m now informed that the £471k would have been what was spent had we got the Turner Prize in Walsall and that the bid cost next to nothing. Hmmmm. Should I believe our council?
a. Congrats on running for office. I’ve always wanted to see “None of the above” win an election.
b. I agree, the shih-tzu shit is not national news.
c. Taylor Swift has a passing fair voice and her music is original. She has complete production and distribution control. The kid is well on her way to becoming one of the wealthiest women alive. My granddaughters love her. Unless she writes a song about him, no one will remember her boyfriend’s name in another year.
Have to admit, Taylor Swift is not my normal rock music choice, but when I’ve seen her on TV, she sounds good.
oh come on nick pay rises for the gov is not new news theve been doing it for years .. they moan that we all have to tighten our belts for the good of our country while living the good life themselves .. and benifits come on we all know us people are lazy scroungers that spend our money on booze drugs and i phones … we dont deserve to get any payrise … ino i for one dont deserve anything i did 15 years ago remember having a glass of wine and ive taken several asprin and i do have a phone its one of them old fashioned ones that has a long coiled wire attatched only goes ring ring and does not play a tune .. and i agree that bowie song iikkkkky 🙂
Do I detect the slightest hint of sarcasm today? 🙂
The Bowie track is very charming, and he has done plenty of good stuff in the last 20 years.
Jump They Say, Strangers When We Meet, Buddha of Surbubia. Little Wonder and Thursday’s Child are all ace.
I just love his voice now, showing the age and the weariness. Can understand his 70’s fanatics finding it dull but I think it’s gorgeous.
Perhaps it’ll grow on me. Yes, I do like some of those you mention. I did have all the CDs, until I realised I hadn’t played the latter ones for years. I think I still have Heathen and Reality, though. As I say, I was a huge fan (until he made a prat of himself going down on one knee and reciting the Lord’s Prayer at The Freddie Mercury Tribute). I even bleached my hair Let’s Dance style in 83 😳 and no … there aren’t any pictures. I made sure ate them all.