A popular fireworks display has been axed by a London council which says budget cuts mean it "simply cannot afford it".
Funny how they never axe the ‘Stop Smoking’ teams, or the ‘Five A Day Co-ordinator’, or the ‘Race Awareness Champion’, isn’t it?
Lambeth Council's cabinet member for neighbourhoods Cllr Jane Edbrooke blamed the decision to call off this year's event on central government cuts.
Of
course he did.
"We simply can’t afford to fund everything in the way we once did and so we have to prioritise the things our residents care about most."
And the things your residents care most about are
having inflation-busting staff wages,
soaking local businesses for extra taxes,
pointless vanity propaganda and
reducing traffic speed expensively and unnecessarily, I suppose?
t is always handy for councils to hit the visible areas for cuts. People see those and then can be pointed in the direction the council want.
ReplyDeleteI would argue myself that an area that is not a holiday destination and doesn't require activities like this to bring in the punters could justify this anyway.
..... and the continued (hugely expensive) defined benefit pensions for staff which are largely paid for by council tax payers. The recent changes to the local government pension scheme were a figleaf and many employees are now accruing higher benefits than before. There are similar machinations in my former Council, Harrow where they now don't cut the grass or empty the bins in the local park, blaming it on "the cuts", rather than taking an axe to the assortment of non-jobs which exist in the council, or making some sensible but real changes to pension provision which would enable the vast majority of councils to not have to cease any services such as libraries, park maintenance etc.
ReplyDeleteThis is actually Bonfire Night - which, as an old English tradition, must of course be disposed of.
ReplyDeleteBring on Divali!
"People see those and then can be pointed in the direction the council want."
ReplyDeleteYou mean, it works because people are stupid?
"This is actually Bonfire Night - which, as an old English tradition, must of course be disposed of."
Good point!