Rejoice: Suddenly it’s not so grim up North!
I am man enough to admit when I am wrong & hands up, I retract everything I have said about the Dreaded North because tonight dear readers we celebrate one Peter Davies, retired schoolmaster & now, the newly elected Mayor of Doncaster. Set aside if you can the catastrophic failure of Westminster , the extent of which has become apparent of the last twelve months & let’s review what new Mr Mayor chappie has been up to since the chains of office were placed on his surprisingly broad shoulders
On his first morning as Mayor of Doncaster in South Yorkshire , Peter Davies cut his salary from £73,000 to £30,000 then closed the Council's newspaper for "peddling politics on the rates".
A reasonable start, but since then...?
Now three weeks into his job, Mr Davies is pressing ahead with plans he hopes will see the number of town councillors cut from 63 to just 21, saving taxpayers £800,000. Mr Davies said: "If 100 Senators can run the United States of America , I can't see how 63 councillors are needed to run Doncaster ".
Now I know that many of you on the left hand side of the pond might hold strident views about that particular comment but taking a knife to the size of the political class, if not literally (shame) then figuratively has to be a step in the right direction in the lamentable absence of mass public executions.
Next up...
He has withdrawn Doncaster from the Local Government Association and the Local Government Information Unit, saving another £200,000. Mr Davies said, "They are just talking shops"
...as well as...
" Doncaster is in for some serious untwinning. We are twinned with nine other cities around the world and they are just for people to fly off and have a binge at the Council's expense".
I can find little to fault this chap with thus far & trust me dear readers when I say that it gets better still under the fold....
He has promised to end council funding for Doncaster 's International Women's Day, Black History Month and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History Month.
This is why if you put his name into Google you can find thousands of links to incandescent tofu munchers who would seem to have taken a break from sitting around all night drinking herbal tea to get really upset about what normal sane people call eminently sensible cost cutting measures. Mind you the removal of free translation services for immigrants seems to have induced a pandemic of apoplectic fits in the trendier parts of Hoxton that it has put swine flu in the shade. Good. I hope you all choke.
Now I know that there are many of you out there that will be asking “what can I do help”. Sadly I am off on holiday shortly so I won’t building any barricades this week & the noose will have to stay on top of the shotguns in the back of the Land Rover for a while longer. However as an interim measure you could always email Mayor Davies & not only commend him on his policies but like me, encourage him to seek higher office in due course.
Comments
Well done. I've just emailed him to say I wish we had men like him in politics here in Australia.
Gotta love the fact that he started by cutting his own salary. One of our state premiers, on being booted from office after only 18months, was very concerned to make sure he received all the lifetime perks for his 'service' of the state.
Go Mayor Davies.
Posted by: Richard Mason | July 28, 2009 1:22 AM
Afraid not:
http://odeo.com/episodes/24695389-peter-davies-toby-foster-bbc-radio-sheffield-08-06-2009
Posted by: Cookie | July 28, 2009 1:47 AM
Cookie
Apparently the new Mayor's plan of action does not meet the civic standards of the BBC, and thus are illegal and very, very mean.
But is Mr Foster and expert on local government?
Cheers
Posted by: J.M. Heinrichs | July 28, 2009 5:15 AM
But is Mr Foster an expert on local government?
SNIP
Having dealt with enough "experts" in my time, what are his qualifications for being regarded as such? Has he ever run a unit of local government or a major subsection thereof? Or his he just another reporter who's been given space to fill with his opinions and who now rejoices in the title of "columnist" or "special correspondent"?
From my experience, people like this "expert" are like eunuchs, they know all the theory and can talk endlessly about it, but have no experience to back it up.
I won't gp into about how the goal of liberalism seems to be being generous with other peoples' money.
Col Beausaber
Posted by: Beausaber | July 28, 2009 6:19 AM
Wow!...rather unexpected and rather cheering,I shall email immediately.
Posted by: thud | July 28, 2009 1:37 PM
I'm in Chicago. Can we borrow him?
Posted by: Bob K | July 28, 2009 7:08 PM
I thought it was brilliant. He is correct about the Senator comment...heh.
I certainly don't take offense at that.
Posted by: Cricket | July 28, 2009 8:38 PM
If only we had more possibilities to directly elect our mayors as is done in usa. we could really start to shake things up! Bet no westminster politicians of any colour will want to 'roll out' the idea further.
Posted by: Rastrick Crusader | July 29, 2009 8:06 AM
I live in New Zealand, and we need him too - , with bureaucracy and political correctness out of control.
The only downside is that he will continune taking money from the ratepayers to spend on the things of his choice, instead of just not taking so much from the people he continues to rob.
Robin Hood was a bad guy - Theft is theft no matter how you hold your tongue when you say it.
Posted by: Graham Clark | August 4, 2009 6:58 AM
I wish he was in Chorley, Lancs. I have just sent the following to our local press:
So our Council is ‘saving’ £500,000pa by cutting nine posts. That means those being dispensed with have been earning an average of £55,000 each! (We don’t, of course, know just how much this is going to cost us in redundancy packages.) If these job cuts can be made now, why have they not been made before? On top of that, three new directors will be appointed at a salary of around £100,000 each! Not to mention the gold plated pensions which each of these posts will command. How can earnings of this nature be justified?
As I understand it, the Council already outsources Health and Safety, Parking control, Housing, Waste Disposal, Highways Maintenance, Parks and Gardens, etc. The list just goes on. The question must be asked, just what is there left to do that commands such inflated salaries? Politics don’t come into this; serious questions need to be asked and honest answers need to be given.
Perhaps we need someone at the top like the Mayor of Doncaster, who, on gaining office cut his own salary to £30,000! Use this link to find our more: http://www.fmft.net/archives/004002.html
Posted by: Graham Archer | November 12, 2009 7:24 PM