I see on BBC London News today that someone from the Taxpayers’ Alliance would like councillors to fill in timesheets to. I should be happy to do so.
For the record I spend an average of 2-3 hours daily dealing with emails and phone calls coming from Council officers, constituents and several outside organisations. This includes weekends. On average I attend four meetings of Council committees and working parties at about 2- 3 hours duration each; some are longer than this. Whenever possible I attend outside meetings on Health and Community matters.Then you could add the preparation time before each meeting.
I reckon my working week lasts about 30+ hours all told. Well, I am retired and a front bencher, so I’m not complaining. I am not by any stretch of the imagination unique in this degree of time commitment.
The C-pod in action
The C-pod was in action again yesterday morning in Oakhill Road. Helen Whately, Nick Kilby, Janet Bowen -Hitchings, Mavis Cracknell and self were in attendance. So were numerous people doing door knocking and delivering literature throughout the area.
Local residents came along in sufficient numbers to keep Janet and me, who stayed on the pod, fully engaged in dealing with local problems from 10.30 to after half past 12.
A very successful morning’s work – followed by a trip to Chessington North and Hook in the evening for a ‘Beetle Drive’. This has become a Chessington Tory tradition, going all the way back to at least 2002. I can assure you that no actual beetles were injured in the process! If anyone doesn’t know what a beetle drive is, I will explain on request.
In case the dear old Telegraph doesn’t publish my letter, here it is.
Sir,
It is a pity that your headline of yesterday (3rd. November) accused David Cameron of ‘reneging’ on his commitment to a referendum on Lisbon, when in fact he had no choice in the matter.
The pledge he gave in 2007 was sincere and would have been implemented if it lawfully could have been. Very sadly, now, it can’t. If this broken Parliament had been dissolved after four years like the previous two we would have a new government by now and the referendum would almost certainly have occurred. The Irish changed their mind in their referendum, encouraged no doubt by the intervention of Nigel Farage of Ukip in the Republic’s domestic affairs. The Czech President has attached his signature to it. And Gordon Brown continues to cling on for dear life as the Parliament Act permits him to, more’s the pity. So the ghastly treaty has become Law, but David Cameron is not responsible at all for any of this.
The ‘reneging’ was done by Blair and Brown – and their Liberal Democrat fellow travellers – not by Cameron. However some of your correspondents want to punish the innocent Conservatives by voting for Ukip or some such. When will they ever learn that fragmentation on the right in politics merely lets in the left? If they want another five years of Gordon Brown and his Lib Dem Europhile allies, let them vote Ukip by all means. But let them be aware of the consequences and not expect to find much left of the Britain they have known and loved at the end of them.
Readers will have gathered from the exchange between self and Martin de Kauwe (see Recent Comments) that I am an ex-teacher. In fact I taught History to secondary age boys and sixth formers of both genders for 32 years all told.
Recently I was asked along with other councillors to volunteer to have a young person work alongside me for a short time so they could get an idea what councillors actually do. It’s part of their citizenship education, I think. I could hardly refuse, given my background.
However I was apparently unsuitable because of the absence of a recent CRB check. As it happens I had a CRB check about 5 years ago and still have the Certificate to prove it. I have served continuously as a councillor ever since, so the Council knows whether I have done anything criminal during that time. But it appears that the check was out of date and would have to be renewed – at cost, of course.
These vetting procedures sound all very well in theory but one wonders whether the supposed need to repeat them regularly is a real one or a job creation scheme wrapped up in another revenue raising scam by You Know Who.
Very useful meeting this afternoon with leading Southborough residents. Subject: driving schools! Apparently there are 90 of them operating in the Southborough area. I saw 5 separate ones in as many minutes on my way home.
It would be greatly appreciated all round if there could be an agreed code of conduct on these operations. The attraction is the width of the roads and the proximity of the Test Centre in Douglas Road.
Excellent attendance last night at Kingston and Surbiton Conservatives’ annual dinner.
Apart from a great meal we were treated to an amusing after dinner speech by Justine Greening MP, just coming to the end of her first term as MP for Putney. It was very appropriate as she and Helen Whately have much in common and we’re all hoping that Helen will join her as one of a growing body of young Conservative women in the House after the Election.
I was particularly heartened to meet new people from Surbiton Hill who have recently joined the Association and one of our candidates in St. Mark’s Ward who helped to organise the very successful Farmers’ Market in Maple Road last Saturday.
It really is great to see the energy and dynamism of new people coming into the party these days. For myself I am more enthusiastic about the quality of the slate of candidates we have ready for next year’s Council election than I have been since Wansdyke in 1976. I can’t wait to see what they’ll do in the Guildhall!
