Following Mr UPVC's kind mention of discounted compact fluorescents at
Tesco I thought I'd detour past my nearest one today to see if they had
any stock.

It's been closed for ages for a total rebuild so thought I'd check first
to see if it was open again:

1. Website says yeeeey, these are our opening hours but please check
with the store, number given.

2.1. Call store, are you open? Yep, sure are.
2.2. Ooh great, when did it reopen after the refurb? silence
2.3. You know, has it been a month, a few days, what?
2.4. Oh yeah, we just reopened last week.
2.5. Great, thanks for the help, see you tomorrow.

3. Detours past store to check today and the place is still a building
site, security fenced, no access, building not even closed to the
elements.

In summary, web site wrong, call centre op (as it turned out) lied
through his teeth and Tesco don't give a flying f'ck.

So, I'd like to nominate Tesco for the supermarket **** list this week.

Any other nominations?
--
fred
FIVE TV's superbright logo - not the DOG's, it's ********

fred wrote:
Following Mr UPVC's kind mention of discounted compact fluorescents at
Tesco I thought I'd detour past my nearest one today to see if they
had any stock.

It's been closed for ages for a total rebuild so thought I'd check
first to see if it was open again:

1. Website says yeeeey, these are our opening hours but please check
with the store, number given.

2.1. Call store, are you open? Yep, sure are.
2.2. Ooh great, when did it reopen after the refurb? silence
2.3. You know, has it been a month, a few days, what?
2.4. Oh yeah, we just reopened last week.
2.5. Great, thanks for the help, see you tomorrow.

3. Detours past store to check today and the place is still a building
site, security fenced, no access, building not even closed to the
elements.

In summary, web site wrong, call centre op (as it turned out) lied
through his teeth and Tesco don't give a flying f'ck.

So, I'd like to nominate Tesco for the supermarket **** list this
week.
Any other nominations?

Yes, I'd like to nominate Tesco for selling **** food - seriously, I've
never had anything from there that's been nice - their pies, sausage rollls
and cold meats have got to be the worst available in the developed world -
how can you **** up boiled ham? - I've no idea but they manage to make it
taste like salty polythene with added gristle.
Their bread is stale when you buy it and tastes like cardboard and the veg
have usually rotted away before you've got them home....I can't be certain
but I think they're buying Asda smart price stuff that has passed it's sell
by date and repackaging it as their own

--
Phil L
RSRL Tipster Of The Year 2008

In message , fred writes
Following Mr UPVC's kind mention of discounted compact fluorescents at
Tesco I thought I'd detour past my nearest one today to see if they had
any stock.

It's been closed for ages for a total rebuild so thought I'd check
first to see if it was open again:

1. Website says yeeeey, these are our opening hours but please check
with the store, number given.

2.1. Call store, are you open? Yep, sure are.
2.2. Ooh great, when did it reopen after the refurb? silence
2.3. You know, has it been a month, a few days, what?
2.4. Oh yeah, we just reopened last week.
2.5. Great, thanks for the help, see you tomorrow.

3. Detours past store to check today and the place is still a building
site, security fenced, no access, building not even closed to the
elements.

In summary, web site wrong, call centre op (as it turned out) lied
through his teeth and Tesco don't give a flying f'ck.

Or -you dialled a slightly different number and the person on the other
end, getting fed up with these phone calls, was winding you up

--
geoff

DILLIGAF

In article , geoff
writes
In message , fred writes

In summary, web site wrong, call centre op (as it turned out) lied
through his teeth and Tesco don't give a flying f'ck.

Or -you dialled a slightly different number and the person on the other
end, getting fed up with these phone calls, was winding you up

Possible I suppose but he must get quite a few calls, he had the,
"Hello, Tesco, Nick speaking" off to a tee.
--
fred
FIVE TV's superbright logo - not the DOG's, it's ********

In message
,
1501 writes
DILLIGAF


Ooh look - a clueless ****

--
geoff

On 6 Aug, 17:03, fred wrote:
Following Mr UPVC's kind mention of discounted compact fluorescents at
Tesco I thought I'd detour past my nearest one today to see if they had
any stock.

It's been closed for ages for a total rebuild so thought I'd check first
to see if it was open again:

1. Website says yeeeey, these are our opening hours but please check
with the store, number given.

2.1. Call store, are you open? Yep, sure are.
2.2. Ooh great, when did it reopen after the refurb? silence
2.3. You know, has it been a month, a few days, what?
2.4. Oh yeah, we just reopened last week.
2.5. Great, thanks for the help, see you tomorrow.

3. Detours past store to check today and the place is still a building
site, security fenced, no access, building not even closed to the
elements.

In summary, web site wrong, call centre op (as it turned out) lied
through his teeth and Tesco don't give a flying f'ck.

So, I'd like to nominate Tesco for the supermarket **** list this week.

Any other nominations?
--
fred
FIVE TV's superbright logo - not the DOG's, it's ********

And I'll nominate Tesco (spit!) for their ****e 60Watt pearl
incandescent bulbs. Bought a dozen and they ALL blew with a
fourtnight. Email them and they tell me to take the packaging back to
get a refund. Who FFS keeps their cardboard bulb cartons?.
(and their "food" is third rate ****e as well

Never eat Asda "own brand"...

Low calorie - we made it smaller.
Chocolate pudding - diamond core dust is more edible.
Bread - congratulations you got the bag of salt.
Diet hot chocolate - brilliant, you'll never want to eat again.
Ham - mechanically recovered, from the ceiling of the chainsaw
massacre.
Extra Special - more sugar than Tait-n-Lyle's inventory.
Toilet Paper - forget diamond dust, this stuff is worse. Better than
chocolate pudding though.

Sunday, the day when you probably want 24/7 opening - they shut at
4pm.

Only good thing is the branded stuff is cheap if you time things
right.

Overall the simple question is why is the most profitable UK business
a Supermarket or "Warehouse". I guess the same reason banks are paying
0% and charging 6-33%. Some farmers do ok, many are stuck between the
poor house & self-sufficiency if you are a rabbit. I guess the old
adage, don't buy the crap product they sells like hot cakes, buy those
selling it.

On 7 Aug, 00:20, "js.b1" wrote:
Never eat Asda "own brand"...

Low calorie - we made it smaller.
Chocolate pudding - diamond core dust is more edible.
Bread - congratulations you got the bag of salt.
Diet hot chocolate - brilliant, you'll never want to eat again.
Ham - mechanically recovered, from the ceiling of the chainsaw
massacre.
Extra Special - more sugar than Tait-n-Lyle's inventory.
Toilet Paper - forget diamond dust, this stuff is worse. Better than
chocolate pudding though.

Sunday, the day when you probably want 24/7 opening - they shut at
4pm.

Only good thing is the branded stuff is cheap if you time things
right.

Overall the simple question is why is the most profitable UK business
a Supermarket or "Warehouse". I guess the same reason banks are paying
0% and charging 6-33%. Some farmers do ok, many are stuck between the
poor house & self-sufficiency if you are a rabbit. I guess the old
adage, don't buy the crap product they sells like hot cakes, buy those
selling it.

I did some technical work for a Tesco sub-contractor. They explained
Tesco's business practice wrt suppliers.
The first year is always good business with Tesco, lulling the
supplier into a false sense of security. Once essentially locked in
and from then on, year by year, Tesco turn the screws until they have
the suppliers by the balls.
I've never had much truck with 'poor' farmers but in Tesco's case this
is the result. It's either continue dealing with Tesco or write off
everything and try to start again.
Yes, a profitable company. Even then, their labyrinthine accounting
structures seemingly display only a selected part of the real
profits.

"js.b1" wrote in message
...
Never eat Asda "own brand"...

Low calorie - we made it smaller.
Chocolate pudding - diamond core dust is more edible.
Bread - congratulations you got the bag of salt.
Diet hot chocolate - brilliant, you'll never want to eat again.
Ham - mechanically recovered, from the ceiling of the chainsaw
massacre.
Extra Special - more sugar than Tait-n-Lyle's inventory.
Toilet Paper - forget diamond dust, this stuff is worse. Better than
chocolate pudding though.

Sunday, the day when you probably want 24/7 opening - they shut at
4pm.

Only good thing is the branded stuff is cheap if you time things
right.

Overall the simple question is why is the most profitable UK business
a Supermarket or "Warehouse". I guess the same reason banks are paying
0% and charging 6-33%. Some farmers do ok, many are stuck between the
poor house & self-sufficiency if you are a rabbit. I guess the old
adage, don't buy the crap product they sells like hot cakes, buy those
selling it.

If you need to re-sole your shoes, Asda beef. I also object to some of their
offers, similar to £2.50 each or 2 for £3. Just shows what profit they're
making and the poor old biddy who doesn't need/want 2 gets screwed (bad
choice of word).
Tesco - They built a new Tesco near us (selling crap as usual) and
effectively killed the town and markets. Why is it that nobody bothers to
look in the town and buy decent quality stuff? 50 yards from Tesco carpark
and folks could buy proper food.

On 7 Aug, 01:01, "brass monkey" wrote:
"js.b1" wrote in message

...



Never eat Asda "own brand"...

Low calorie - we made it smaller.
Chocolate pudding - diamond core dust is more edible.
Bread - congratulations you got the bag of salt.
Diet hot chocolate - brilliant, you'll never want to eat again.
Ham - mechanically recovered, from the ceiling of the chainsaw
massacre.
Extra Special - more sugar than Tait-n-Lyle's inventory.
Toilet Paper - forget diamond dust, this stuff is worse. Better than
chocolate pudding though.

Sunday, the day when you probably want 24/7 opening - they shut at
4pm.

Only good thing is the branded stuff is cheap if you time things
right.

Overall the simple question is why is the most profitable UK business
a Supermarket or "Warehouse". I guess the same reason banks are paying
0% and charging 6-33%. Some farmers do ok, many are stuck between the
poor house & self-sufficiency if you are a rabbit. I guess the old
adage, don't buy the crap product they sells like hot cakes, buy those
selling it.

If you need to re-sole your shoes, Asda beef. I also object to some of their
offers, similar to £2.50 each or 2 for £3. Just shows what profit they're
making and the poor old biddy who doesn't need/want 2 gets screwed (bad
choice of word).

True, although some people are so stupid. "I bought 2 and I didn't
need the other one so I chucked it in the bin". Freeze the stupid
thing. Just about anything will freeze. Same with reduced price offers
'cos the date is nearly up. Freeze it, and the use-by date is
suspended !
And the best value ham I've found is "offcuts" from iceland. Sometimes
its rubbish (check through the plastic wrap), but often its small
pieces of pretty good ham. I've got 3 in the freezer at the moment.
£1.50 a pack.
Simon.

brass monkey wrote:
Just shows what profit they're making and the poor old biddy who
doesn't need/want 2 gets screwed (bad choice of word).

That seems *really* unfair to me. I feel like taking the offer and then
flogging them at the reduced price at the door, but I don't have the time.

Tesco - They built a new Tesco near us (selling crap as usual) and
effectively killed the town and markets. Why is it that nobody bothers to
look in the town and buy decent quality stuff? 50 yards from Tesco carpark
and folks could buy proper food.

Because the Councils are making it impossible to drive into town and if
you can be bothered, the parking charges are horrific. Years ago,
Swansea I think it was, had two lanes in up to 3'oclock, reversed to two
lanes out for the rest of the day, which seemed a good idea ! Now we're
restricted by bus and cycle lanes, which rarely see a bike, congesting
the town even more. I live on the outskirts of a largish city and rarely
go in there. Mind you, if they did attempt to resolve the imbalance, it
would be by charging for parking at the supermarket, not the other way
round, that's for sure. I've always felt it should be free to park in
your own town anyway.

Andy C

On 7 Aug, 00:56, wrote:

Yes, a profitable company. Even then, their labyrinthine accounting
structures seemingly display only a selected part of the real
profits.

no sh1t sherlock..

they declare just enough for the market boys to keep the share prices
up i.e. a corporate "all is well" signal - just like the bankers -
"oooh we made a bit sure but no don't be silly, we can't pay you back
anything just yet" maybe soon......

great stuff!

Jim K

On 7 Aug, 06:46, Andy Cap wrote:
brass monkey wrote:
Just shows what profit they're making and the poor old biddy who

*doesn't need/want 2 gets screwed (bad choice of word).

That seems *really* unfair to me. I feel like taking the offer and then
flogging them at the reduced price at the door, but I don't have the time..

Tesco - They built a new Tesco near us (selling crap as usual) and
effectively killed the town and markets. Why is it that nobody bothers to
look in the town and buy decent quality stuff? 50 yards from Tesco carpark
and folks could buy proper food.

Because the Councils are making it impossible to drive into town and if
you can be bothered, the parking charges are horrific. Years ago,
Swansea I think it was, had two lanes in up to 3'oclock, reversed to two
lanes out for the rest of the day, which seemed a good idea ! Now we're
restricted by bus and cycle lanes, which rarely see a bike, congesting
the town even more. I live on the outskirts of a largish city and rarely
go in there. *Mind you, if they did attempt to resolve the imbalance, it
would be by charging for parking at the supermarket, not the other way
round, that's for sure. I've always felt it should be free to park in
your own town anyway.

Andy C

"Use by" dates are just ********. Suff doesn't just suddenly rot on
the use by dates. The real purpose is that stuff is sold in the
correct rotation. Ie you don't get year old produce at the back of the
shelf.

wrote in message
...
I did some technical work for a Tesco sub-contractor. They explained
Tesco's business practice wrt suppliers.
The first year is always good business with Tesco, lulling the
supplier into a false sense of security. Once essentially locked in
and from then on, year by year, Tesco turn the screws until they have
the suppliers by the balls.
I've never had much truck with 'poor' farmers but in Tesco's case this
is the result. It's either continue dealing with Tesco or write off
everything and try to start again.

Indeed.

I can't decide what I find more surprising.
The fact that such a vast percentage of the population are happy to give so
much of their hard earned to an unscrupulous, tax dodging, peddlar of ****e
such as Tesco.
Or that when someone comes up with a new product they are happy to roll over
and hand it to Tesco on a plate for next to nothiong.

On Sat, 07 Aug 2010 12:49:37 +0100, Tim Streater wrote:

Ha! I know that one! They do the same in Lewes. Small panels distinguish
between residents' parking and PAYG spots. But the small panels are 20
feet up lamp posts. Also they have this trick where its free at
weekends, but *not* on bank holidays.

Here in Herne Bay, they've just done a similar thing. The main shopping
street is actually not very near the only large car park (which is
expensive anyway). But it's very near the seafront, and parking *was*
free. They've now started charging, and we now find that the town centre
is deserted (it was today, a Saturday morning). And nearly all the spaces
on the seafront were...empty. The shopkeepers (nearly all small
businesses) are not happy.



--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

*lightning protection* - a w_tom conductor

Tim Streater wrote:
In article ,
(Andrew Gabriel) wrote:

Yes, seen many a town centre die after the council introduces car
parking charges, removes free parking spaces, etc.

[snip]

I'm not claiming town centres could carry on just as they did 30
years ago in the age of the interweb, but the destruction in this
case was almost entirely council driven.

I think in some places, there are issues with shortage of parking. In
Ely, f'rinstance, too many free parking spaces were being taken up by
commuters from the surrounding area parking all day where shoppers might
otherwise park.

What you need is *low* parking fees. In Newmarket we always used to find
the long-term car park absolutely full, until they introduced sensible
limits and parking fees of 20p/hour. Suddenly, you could park there and
go shopping.

Cambridge, by contrast, they're trying to charge 20p for 10 mins in some
places.


Didn't know you were in Newmarket Tim!

I totally agree, that low or zero parking fees make it the destination
of choice for us.

Long term there are streets available as well.. for free.

I never pay for parking there.

Sadly they have at least one dick brain on the council, who keeps adding
traffic lights and snarling up the traffic.

It is not possible to go into Cambridge at all without paying. Every
single possible public parking space has some kind of restriction on it.
They even patrol at 9pm and issue parking tickets.

Only the park and rides are free, BUT the bus fare in is not.

The net effect on any visitor is 'You are here on sufferance, we will
only let you into to our marvellous city at all if you pay' to which my
final response has been an overall 'well **** YOU then' since as Andrew
pointed out in the Dunstable case, the policy eventually forces closures
of any town centre shops of interest anyway.

Tim Streater wrote:

Ha! I know that one! They do the same in Lewes. Small panels distinguish
between residents' parking and PAYG spots. But the small panels are 20
feet up lamp posts. Also they have this trick where its free at
weekends, but *not* on bank holidays.


One of the craziest schemes I've seen and it only lasted a week, was in
Haywards Heath, when you suddenly had to enter your car registration
number, each character being selected by moving a cursor along to the
appropriate letter or number. It was absolute chaos. Funny though.

Andy Cap

On Sat, 07 Aug 2010 13:14:06 +0100, Andy Cap wrote:

Tim Streater wrote:

Ha! I know that one! They do the same in Lewes. Small panels
distinguish between residents' parking and PAYG spots. But the small
panels are 20 feet up lamp posts. Also they have this trick where its
free at weekends, but *not* on bank holidays.


One of the craziest schemes I've seen and it only lasted a week, was in
Haywards Heath, when you suddenly had to enter your car registration
number, each character being selected by moving a cursor along to the
appropriate letter or number. It was absolute chaos. Funny though.

Our local hospitals used to operate machines a bit like that - only they
just used the numeric keypad, with letters entered a la mobile phone. The
keypad mode had to be changed (with an obscure operation) to swap between
letters and numbers.

After a while they gave up, had the machines modified and now you only
have to enter the numbers.

This 'enter the number' thing was a good way of preventing ticket
trnsferral, until the 'new' car registration number scheme came in a few
years ago....now it's pretty useless, so I don't know why they bother...




--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

*lightning protection* - a w_tom conductor

On Sat, 07 Aug 2010 13:09:53 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

Tim Streater wrote:
In article ,
(Andrew Gabriel) wrote:

Yes, seen many a town centre die after the council introduces car
parking charges, removes free parking spaces, etc.
[snip]

I'm not claiming town centres could carry on just as they did 30
years ago in the age of the interweb, but the destruction in this
case was almost entirely council driven.
I think in some places, there are issues with shortage of parking. In
Ely, f'rinstance, too many free parking spaces were being taken up by
commuters from the surrounding area parking all day where shoppers
might otherwise park.
What you need is *low* parking fees. In Newmarket we always used to
find the long-term car park absolutely full, until they introduced
sensible limits and parking fees of 20p/hour. Suddenly, you could park
there and go shopping.
Cambridge, by contrast, they're trying to charge 20p for 10 mins in
some places.


Didn't know you were in Newmarket Tim!

I totally agree, that low or zero parking fees make it the destination
of choice for us.

Long term there are streets available as well.. for free.

I never pay for parking there.

Sadly they have at least one dick brain on the council, who keeps adding
traffic lights and snarling up the traffic.

It is not possible to go into Cambridge at all without paying. Every
single possible public parking space has some kind of restriction on it.
They even patrol at 9pm and issue parking tickets.

Only the park and rides are free, BUT the bus fare in is not.

The net effect on any visitor is 'You are here on sufferance, we will
only let you into to our marvellous city at all if you pay' to which my
final response has been an overall 'well **** YOU then' since as Andrew
pointed out in the Dunstable case, the policy eventually forces closures
of any town centre shops of interest anyway.

AS evidenced by all the empty parking spaces & shops in the town centre.

Andy Cap wrote:
Tim Streater wrote:

Ha! I know that one! They do the same in Lewes. Small panels
distinguish between residents' parking and PAYG spots. But the small
panels are 20 feet up lamp posts. Also they have this trick where its
free at weekends, but *not* on bank holidays.


One of the craziest schemes I've seen and it only lasted a week, was in
Haywards Heath, when you suddenly had to enter your car registration
number, each character being selected by moving a cursor along to the
appropriate letter or number. It was absolute chaos. Funny though.

Andy Cap
Oh yes, to prevent what I always used to do, walk up to the parking
meter thingamabob. And give my unexpired ticket to anyone standing
there. At one time people used to paste their unexpired tickets on the
machine for use by someone else.

IN Cambridge, the councillors proudly state that their parking policy is
a 'complete success' because it 'pays for the park and ride' and has
made 'park and ride pay for itself'

If success equates to restricting the town to its cycling residents, and
ripped off tourists, that's true.

If it equates to it being a vibrant market town and a destination of
choice to its natural catchment area, its totally false.

On 07/08/2010 13:09, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

It is not possible to go into Cambridge at all without paying. Every
single possible public parking space has some kind of restriction on it.
They even patrol at 9pm and issue parking tickets.

Only the park and rides are free, BUT the bus fare in is not.

Bike in the back of the car. Though when I travel to Cambridge I do park
on the street without restriction, so your statement about parking
spaces is clearly somewhat overblown. Of course I may have more
effective legs than you.

The net effect on any visitor is 'You are here on sufferance, we will
only let you into to our marvellous city at all if you pay' to which my
final response has been an overall 'well **** YOU then' since as Andrew
pointed out in the Dunstable case, the policy eventually forces closures
of any town centre shops of interest anyway.

Cambridge has had years to have that problem, and it seems to be doing
pretty well without your custom. Parking there was a nightmare 20 years
ago, and that's got to be long enough to see your predictions of doom
come true.

Ditto London.

If your city is big or special enough in its own right to attract
people, which both Cambridge and central London are, the parking is
irrelevant. If your town is just another repeated provincial high
street, it may well be more important.

It's interesting to look at Hebden Bridge. Congested roads, no free
parking, doing really well due to genuinely interesting shops rather
than the normal chains.

On 7 Aug, 16:41, Clive George wrote:
On 07/08/2010 13:09, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

It is not possible to go into Cambridge at all without paying. Every
single possible public parking space has some kind of restriction on it.
They even patrol at 9pm and issue parking tickets.

Only the park and rides are free, BUT the bus fare in is not.

Bike in the back of the car. Though when I travel to Cambridge I do park
on the street without restriction, so your statement about parking
spaces is clearly somewhat overblown. Of course I may have more
effective legs than you.

The net effect on any visitor is 'You are here on sufferance, we will
only let you into to our marvellous city at all if you pay' to which my
final response has been an overall 'well **** YOU then' since as Andrew
pointed out in the Dunstable case, the policy eventually forces closures
of any town centre shops of interest anyway.

Cambridge has had years to have that problem, and it seems to be doing
pretty well without your custom. Parking there was a nightmare 20 years
ago, and that's got to be long enough to see your predictions of doom
come true.

Ditto London.

If your city is big or special enough in its own right to attract
people, which both Cambridge and central London are, the parking is
irrelevant. If your town is just another repeated provincial high
street, it may well be more important.

It's interesting to look at Hebden Bridge. Congested roads, no free
parking, doing really well due to genuinely interesting shops rather
than the normal chains.

Pontypool & Cwmbran. All free parking. I don't live there any more.
But I won't pay to park, I've paid my road tax. I know all the local
places to park a short walk from town centre.

In message
Tim Streater wrote:

In article ,
(Andrew Gabriel) wrote:

Yes, seen many a town centre die after the council introduces
car parking charges, removes free parking spaces, etc.

[snip]

I'm not claiming town centres could carry on just as they did
30 years ago in the age of the interweb, but the destruction in
this case was almost entirely council driven.

I think in some places, there are issues with shortage of
parking. In Ely, f'rinstance, too many free parking spaces were
being taken up by commuters from the surrounding area parking all
day where shoppers might otherwise park.


The council car park in West Kirby is 60 pence for an hours
parking but loads of people use the adjacent Morrisons car park
instead.

This is a wealthy town but some people still use Morrisons car
park to go to the beach because it is free for two hours, until
they overstay, maybe the poor souls can't afford the 60p charge.
Meanwhile shoppers who can't get to park in Morrisons car park
have to pay in the Council car park.

Stephen.

In article H%g7o.65365$pW4.42422@hurricane, Corporal Jones
writes
When will local government realise that it is the commercial sector
that pays their wages and if we feel the squeeze they must also make
cuts, cloud cuckoo land,... huh.



When the councils return to being run by the councillors rather than the
officers (assuming that the councillors understand basic economics).


Adrian
--
To Reply :
replace "news" with "adrian" and "nospam" with "ffoil"
Sorry for the rigmarole, If I want spam, I'll go to the shops
Every time someone says "I don't believe in trolls", another one dies.

On 7 Aug, 20:54, Adrian Simpson wrote:
In article H%g7o.65365$pW4.42422@hurricane, Corporal Jones
writes

When will local government realise that it is the commercial sector
that pays their wages and if we feel the squeeze they must also make
cuts, cloud cuckoo land,... huh.

When the councils return to being run by the councillors rather than the
officers (assuming that the councillors understand basic economics).

splutter! y'mean those self same selfless councillors who (majority)
all took the X% pay rises earlier this year "without a thought for
themselves"?

being a councillor currently has "no ethical status" hence their
collective need to define one - in todays currency that equals
monetary greed

I know local councillors who were objects of ridicule at my school
(thru background or "hand of god"), sad, but all kids aren't born
equal, it's like watching them play out their equality fantasies
taking everything as their compensation -

open question Who TF wants to be a councillor?? and why not??

Jim K

Adrian Simpson wrote:
In article H%g7o.65365$pW4.42422@hurricane, Corporal Jones
writes
When will local government realise that it is the commercial sector
that pays their wages and if we feel the squeeze they must also make
cuts, cloud cuckoo land,... huh.



When the councils return to being run by the councillors rather than the
officers (assuming that the councillors understand basic economics).


When the councillors have the authority and take responsibility for
local wishes.

Maggie ripped teh councils apart to stop loonie lefties wasting mioney.
She centralised te funds. Labour LOVED that, they could dictate social
policy centrally, get the decisions rubber stamped by the councils who
took the flak, and turn every where into a clone of a sink estate, full
of natural labour voters.

Its all very well to give power back to the local authorities IF they
are then able to be held to account by the citizens.




Adrian

In article ,
Adrian Simpson writes:
In article H%g7o.65365$pW4.42422@hurricane, Corporal Jones
writes
When will local government realise that it is the commercial sector
that pays their wages and if we feel the squeeze they must also make
cuts, cloud cuckoo land,... huh.



When the councils return to being run by the councillors rather than the
officers (assuming that the councillors understand basic economics).

Both my parents were councillors back when I was at school (different
councils). In those days, it wasn't political, indeed neither of my
parents were members of any political party, nor would they have made
their political views known publicly. It wasn't paid either.
They both bailed out as it became increasingly political and
independent thought vanished. My mum was also chairman of governors
at a local school (not the one I went to). She hung on to that a bit
longer, but bailed on that too as the local authority applied
increasing pressure to turn it into a political post.

If you could somehow get the politics out of the local councils, get
some representation from local storekeepers and other businesses,
make the roles unpaid (as they used to be) so you don't end up with
professional politicians, it might be that they would start working
properly again. Perhaps we need a mass movement to vote in
independents?

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember (Andrew
Gabriel) saying something like:


Dunstable
I'm not claiming town centres could carry on just as they did 30
years ago in the age of the interweb, but the destruction in this
case was almost entirely council driven.

Yep, I knew it well, and used to shop there regularly. The free car park
in front of the library/central arena was excellent.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Clive George
saying something like:

It's interesting to look at Hebden Bridge. Congested roads, no free
parking, doing really well due to genuinely interesting shops rather
than the normal chains.

Is that where that mad parking attendant is?

On Sat, 07 Aug 2010 21:25:17 +0100 The Natural Philosopher wrote :
When the councillors have the authority and take responsibility for
local wishes.

Maggie ripped teh councils apart to stop loonie lefties wasting
mioney. She centralised te funds.

Yes, AIUI local authorities keep parking penalties whilst business
rates just go into a central pot. Sound economics dictate having an
unforgiving parking policy even if all your shops shut down as a result

--
Tony Bryer, Greentram: 'Software to build on' Melbourne, Australia
www.superbeam.co.uk www.eurobeam.co.uk www.greentram.com

Tony Bryer wrote:

www.greentram.com

Are you aware that some parts of your web site (using sda.co.uk) are
being redirected to sedoparking.com?

On Sun, 08 Aug 2010 08:20:21 +0100 Andy Burns wrote :
Tony Bryer wrote:

www.greentram.com

Are you aware that some parts of your web site (using sda.co.uk) are
being redirected to sedoparking.com?

Thanks - there shouldn't now be any links on the site that go to
sda.co.uk - superbeam.co.uk is now the primary software site - but,
yes, I missed a couple. I can't do anything about links on external
sites.

The sda.co.uk domain is up for sale with Sedo since Survey Design
Associates ceased trading nearly two years ago. I'm a little surprised
that no one is rushing to make an offer - I emailed all the obvious
candidates to tell them it was available.

--
Tony Bryer, Greentram: 'Software to build on' Melbourne, Australia
www.superbeam.co.uk www.eurobeam.co.uk www.greentram.com

The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Didn't know you were in Newmarket Tim!

I totally agree, that low or zero parking fees make it the destination
of choice for us.

Interestingly we went into Cambridge by car yesterday afternoon. Couple
of hours in the botanic gardens (parking on Trumpington Road for free),
and then into the middle of town for dinner at Anatolia (1.20 for
parking at Parkside). Made a bit of a change from the nearly 20 quid we
paid to park in the Grand Arcade for a few hours one Saturday earlier in
the year.

--
http://lnr.livejournal.com/

Adrian Simpson wrote:
In article H%g7o.65365$pW4.42422@hurricane, Corporal Jones
writes
When will local government realise that it is the commercial sector
that pays their wages and if we feel the squeeze they must also make
cuts, cloud cuckoo land,... huh.



When the councils return to being run by the councillors rather than
the officers (assuming that the councillors understand basic
economics).


Late on the case due to holidays, but I believe that at least some
councillors are now paid. A cunning plan that New *ankers brought in to
compromise the councillors' positions.