ripples in a tea cup
What are we to make of the departure of
councillor Reuben Atkinson from the twilight
zone of the Lib-Dem group? The Councillor,
who will still represent the Dyke House ward
but now as an Independent, seems to have
had a tiff with Lib-Dem Leader, Arthur Preece
over the allocation of paid, committee roles.
Cllr Atkinson is currently chair of the contract
scrutiny committee, which comes with an additional allowance of
£1,100 but claims he had to fight to get that position. Despite
telling leader, Councillor Arthur Preece, he would like a position
on the fire authority, (additional allowance £2,000), he was told
another group member would hold both that position, plus the
chair of the contract Scrutiny Committee. Ouch!
The allocation of committee positions which come with additional
allowances is often claimed to be one of the great interests of
Councillors and the few opportunities to do so granted to the Lib-
Dems by the Labour Group in return for their complicit support is
perhaps the only instrument of power available to Lib-Dem Group
Leader, Arthur Preece.
With only five Councillors to think about, Cllr Atkinson’s
exclusion would certainly seem to fall into the category of slap in
the face. Perhaps at only 68, Cllr Preece is jealous of Cllr
Atkinson’s youth.
the iguana blinks
a friend of mine has what’s called
a Terrarium complete with a
green Iguana called Freda. I’ve
never understood the fish-less
aquarium hobby myself. The
Terrarium requires both heat and
light to run, yet for the most part,
Freda just stands there on her
branch apparently lifeless. In fact, if it wasn’t for the
occasional blink from one of her rotating eyes, you could
be forgiven for thinking you were looking at a display from
the local taxidermist. All of which brings me to the local
Tories. Hartlepool has its own Terrarium; commonly
referred to as the Park Ward. The Iguanas that inhabit it
obviously would like a bigger Terrarium - but that’s another
story.
There’s not much opportunity for foul play within the local
Tories; the scope for plots and counter plots is rather
limited when the whole group of
councillors can fit into a Nissan Micra.
Nevertheless, not to be outdone by
their Lib-Dem counterparts, our local
Iguanas have themselves apparently
blinked. It now looks like they have
done the decent thing and dropped
Cllr John Coward as Conservative
nomination for the Park Ward for the
forthcoming local elections; he will
now instead contest the wide open
ward of Throston. It is understood Coward feels stabbed
in the back by his party colleagues. Shame really,
especially when he seemed to have just got the idea of
attending meetings after all these years.
keeping it in the family
Well they’re consistent in one thing anyway.
Hot on the heals of Cllr Hargreaves doing her
best to secure a safe labour seat for her dad,
we can now reveal that Cllr Chris Simmons
daughter, Sarah, close friend of Cllr Carl
Richardson, has got the Labour nomination
for Grange ward. This could well upset
some party stalwarts who may have looked to
have a nibble at a supposed Labour safe
seat; but then there’s the ever smiling Cheshire cat, Cllr Tumilty
(they can’t be his own teeth, surely)
no return for the living dead
There is no greater crime within the
Hartlepool Labour Group than to lose a
safe labour seat, especially if you do it
more than once. In spite of political re-
education in a Gulag and an attempted
personality transplant, ex-leader of the
Labour group, Moss Boddy, has once
again failed to find a seat to contest in
the 2010 local elections. Rumour
suggest that Jonathan with an ‘a’ is rather keen to ensure
there are no threats to his leadership and that the best way
to do that is to ensure any potential rival is denied a ticket
in the raffle. Apparently, 'the Boddy' has been reburied
under the patio and will continue to be so whenever he
raises his bald head. Oh well, . . .
Meanwhile, Maureen Goosey (now Waller) has also failed
to secure a seat. Her track record is equally poor, having
once lost Greatham Ward to 'lucky Jim Allen'; she went on
to be given the labour banker of 'Owton Manor' which she
also promptly conceded to the frail ditherer, Bob Flintoff.
So it looks like at least another year in the political
wilderness for Maureen, unless a sudden bi-election pops
up.
the black cat
column
