waste

Big cuts coming!
Birmingham is starting to cut council jobs, it will be interesting to watch for a number of reasons. Tradition has that all cities in the UK are solid, first old, then Nulabour. Gordon Brown and the government have tried to suggest that the voter will turn and run from any party even thinking aloud about cutting 'services'. But is this so?

Birmingham stopped being solid Nulabour in 2004, this was the time of the original Nulabour vote rigging scandal, there have been others too. Also the voters are not stupid, they know that each and everyone of those Outreach Officers has to be paid for.

At the moment there is a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition running the city, it will be watched closely to see how it holds up when the cuts begin take effect. This coalition took over when council spending was thought of as being like breathing; it came naturally, there was no reason to stop! The current overspend is firmly in the area of Social Services.

Ribble Valley

The EU's 1999 Land Directive is part of the green credentials of the EU. On the positive side the aim is admirable, namely to force governments to recycle waste, save energy, reduce emissions and protect the environment. However, as with many of such edicts there are unintended consequences and things are rarely as simple as green campaigners would have us wish. It is as if anyone who criticises such simple solutions is an 'environmental denier' and wants to ruin the environment. However, there is always another side of the coin and this side may be equally important. There have been protests and pages of newsprint regarding the great bin debate. Should they be collected fortnightly or weekly? Should there be charges? Only now is the mainstream media mentioning that this is a result of the landfill Directive and Britain's belated awareness of this.