My Wife, Two tired public servants and an Agony Aunt.

[bobby47]

Mind, you never know what your going to find when you read the Dear Deirdre Letter's page of The Sun newspaper.

Imagine my disappointment to read the words of my own wife of forty years who, without consulting me, wrote to Deirdre complaining about my lovemaking techniques and I quote, 'Deidre I do so hate his fat face. Is it still illegal to poison your spouse?'

But this ain't the reason for my posting. Not at all! I mean you'd be a fool to disclose this sort of sensitive information that relates to ones manly ability to pleasure his wife. After muttering, 'you brazen strumpet and rotten old cow', my eyes, both of them, were drawn to another letter posted by two men who's names I immediately recognised as being familiar. NEILL and FEATHERSTONE!

Straight away, I thought, 'hi up. Funny' and I read their letter. Basically, they held positions of power within a Council, both acknowledged being cruel and heartless toward a group of people with disabilities and both were now suffering with insomnia because of dreadful images of what lay before them when they entered Hell.

Deirdre, clearly a woman familiar with the plight of Rosé Tinted Rags, replied, 'a curse on the pair of you. I pray to the God that slew Kane and Able that you both suffer an eternity of anguish and regret for the way in which you helped destroy the lives of Gods innocents. Get stuffed. Clear off and put right all you've done wrong.

Then, frankly,it all got out of hand. This bloody agony aunt took things a bit to far claiming that if she ever bumped into the pair of them in a public place she'd kick off, thrash them with her handbag and get me involved in the fracas.

And I ain't having it. I'll be damned if this woman, albeit for good and honourable reasons, drags me into a fight with this loathsome, greedy and insensitive pair of public servants who've brought hurt, anguish and sadness to my dear and good friends at The Tann Brook Centre.

[silent bull]

It always surprises me how you think this stuff up Bobby 'but' if it wasn't for you and your 'ramblings' then this site would be a very boring place to visit!!

Keep it up Bobby (supple joke there sorry)

[dippyhippy]

Good Lord!

 

That it's come to this.....even the nations favourite agony aunt has had to resort to violent tactics!

 

(That conflict resolution training Deirdre was sent on, clearly hasn't helped...but the assertiveness course was money well spent!)

 

I've seen the size of Deirdre's handbag....Neill and Featherstone don't stand a chance!

[Mick]

It always surprises me how you think this stuff up Bobby 'but' if it wasn't for you and your 'ramblings' then this site would be a very boring place to visit!!

Keep it up Bobby (supple joke there sorry)

 

Bobby is amusing but I would't agree, I find this site the total opposite of boring to be fair, slight insult to HV me thinks

[Bill Thomas]

Bobby is amusing but I would't agree, I find this site the total opposite of boring to be fair, slight insult to HV me thinks

 

I had the same thoughts, I find HV very informative and Colin very rarely (if ever) edits or removes members posts unlike the HT and some other websites and should be congratulated on such a well run site, not criticised or branded boring!!! Nice compliment from silent bull 

[Alex]

I had the same thoughts, I find HV very informative and Colin very rarely (if ever) edits or removes members posts unlike the HT and some other websites and should be congratulated on such a well run site, not criticised or branded boring!!! Nice compliment from silent bull 

 

Maybe he should stay silent with comments like that Bill     

[bobby47]

Steve, a good post my friend and I take on board your view fully. Whatsmore, Im sure you are right that those mentioned in my lampooning are good people. Despite the obvious insanity of my writing style, Im not out of control and I am mindful of what I can say and what I can get away with without being dragged before the Magistrate howling and screaming for some habeus corpus. I am very careful in what I transmit and whilst I know its got a point to its tip, I know that nothing I ever say is deflamatory. Indeed, I make sure that's it's 'me' who appears to be the fool and not the people in aiming my comments at.

It's lampooning. It's a legitimate way of getting a point across and keeping Rosé Tinted Rags in the news. That's it Steve. Mind, I'll say this, because I never take anything personally, I do assume that others take things the same way as me and so, if I have hurt you or anyone else including Tony Featherstone, then I offer my sincere appology. It's never my intention to hurt another. It's not personal and I'd like to think that Tony would see me for what I am. A bloody idiot with an over active imagination. My very warmest regards to you.

Mind, I'll be damned if I stop. I want Rosé Tinted Rags to be given some help.

[Frank Smith]

It always surprises me how you think this stuff up Bobby 'but' if it wasn't for you and your 'ramblings' then this site would be a very boring place to visit!!

Keep it up Bobby (supple joke there sorry)

 

There are other forums and websites around if you are finding this one too boring, I agree with the other members that your comments are unfair, bobby47 is a valued member and his contributions are excellent and often very amusing too but so are contributions from all of the member here.

[bobby47]

Well Silentbull my good and dear old friend. You died on your arse there mate. Given, the level of objection to you and your post, Im now minded to say, 'you are a rotter and a ninny and you ain't no ally of mine'.

Actually lads, I know exactly what you mean and knowing Silentbull as I do, he didn't mean it in the way that it reads. Silentbull is a great lad and his post just reads badly that's all.

Of course there's nothing boring about 'us' , this site or any of the views expressed upon these pages.

[dippyhippy]

"Of course there's nothing boring about "us",this site or any of the views expressed upon these pages."

 

 

 

You speak for yourself Bobby!

Whilst your posts are never boring - I must hold my hands up, Guilty as charged!

 

Last December, Our Glenda started a thread "River Wye Flood Warning."

Over the course of about an hour, I posted six, yes six, weather related updates!!

I have just had the painful experience of re-reading them.....watching paint dry would have been more exciting!

 

We've all posted the odd comment without perhaps reading it through properly.....Silent bull as Bobby says, is as good as gold. I honestly think the true intention of his post has been mis-read!

[megilleland]

I have never commented on any forum before, and probably won’t again, but Bobbys post just seemed so unfair to me. . .

 

. . . One observation I have is that there does seem to be a new breed of very senior officers brought in from ‘elsewhere’. They have no affinity or love for Hereford or the Shire – and they seem to have no problem with forcing through changes regardless of collateral damage. I am amazed that Councillors (as the employers of the officers) don’t employ someone from Herefordshire as Chief Executive - someone who would have personal pride in the city and shire - and take responsibilty. But then again perhaps they know that such a person would see their failings as Members and they need an uncaring ‘hatchet’ man to do their bidding.

 

I think you need to do a bit of research into Common Purpose and you will see the agenda that is being played out against the electorate. An interesting post here reveals that Herefordshire Council was involved with this organisation way back in 2007

 

I am however able to disclose the sum total of the training with Common Purpose, which is £63,097.50 inclusive of VAT.

 

Ten members of staff attended of various levels of seniority in different departments of the Council. We consider, more detailed information about them to constitute personal data and thus exempt from disclosure by virtue of Section 40 of the Act.

 

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request or wish to request a review of the applications of the exemptions please contact Mr Geoff Hardy, Principal Lawyer - Litigation, telephone: 01432 260187, e-mail: ghardy@herefordshire.gov.uk.

 

Linked to Common Purpose is Localities where a select group of people are consulted about issues which arise in specific parts of the county and set priorities. You can see this lately with the Balfour Beatty job advert here.

 

Balfour Beatty is introducing a new team of thirteen 'Locality Stewards' - these are new roles for a new way of working. Our Locality Stewards will be based in, and responsible for an area of the County. They will develop an understanding of the needs of the community by listening to the public, elected members and parishes alike, and by first-hand inspections of the issues. We want to talk to individuals who know how to build good relationships. They will need to be very good at listening, and they'll need a very strong sense of personal responsibility for getting things done. And sometimes - like recently in all the floods we've been having - be prepared to work long hours to ensure residents are safe and happy with the services we provide. We're keen to talk to people from all sorts of backgrounds. What will count will be personality, tenacity and commitment. We need to make the best use of our resources, and Locality Stewards will ensure that we minimise the impact of reducing budgets for routine activities such as street cleaning and grass cutting. Training will be provided for individuals that demonstrate the right approach for the roles.

 

All this is set up to confuse and complicate simple issues so that we residents will go away and give up complaining. 

[megilleland]

Locality Strategy for Herefordshire

This document sets out our vision and objectives for locality working within Herefordshire. It is about developing local solutions and empowering and working in partnership with our communities

 

Terms one comes across in the above document:

 

Herefordshire Partnership

Shared Services Venture

Integrated Care Organisation

Herefordshire Pathfinder GP Consortia

Rising to the Challenge transformation programme being undertaken by Herefordshire Public Services (HPS)

Reaching the Hearts of Herefordshire

The Big Society

National Citizen 

Service for 16 year olds

Localism Bill

Community Infrastructure Levy

Sustainable Communities Act

2011 Charter ‘A Shared Community – working relationships in Local Government in Herefordshire’

Parish Plans

 

All this just to get the grass cut regularly and the litter picked up.

 

[twowheelsgood]

 

 

All this just to get the grass cut regularly and the litter picked up.

 

 

Actually, despite ALL of this, we STILL can't get the grass cut or the litter picked up ...

[silent bull]

Oh dear, while most of my posts can (I believe) come across as 'maybe' insulting, straight forward or passionate ( i say what I See and live with my heart on my sleave) the time when I thought I was being amusing people get insulted by it???

I 'apologise' if you thought I was putting this site down (i wasn't)

And 'yes' it is a "well run site" (I never said it wasn't)

now let's start talking about how the council always seems to get away with it eh ;-)

[twowheelsgood]

The Council were asked under FOI a little while ago about how much they had spent on CommonPurpose training (a certain Mr Bull being a CP graduate) - they said £0. When the invoices for £63k were shown to them and they were asked why they had supplied incorrect information, they refused to respond.

[Roger]

My advice to anyone would be DON'T BUY THE SXN ... It's a useless rag that has caused misery for 25 years ... Plenty of alternatives out there ... 

[gdj]

Alas Geoff Hardy was a victim of redundancy last year.....just in case anyone fancied giving him a ring.

 

I'll bet he knows where a lot of skeletons are buried.

 

He used to get very frustrated with the directors and other senior officers for telling him lies, which he passed on to FoI requesters in good faith , or refusing to comply with the FoI or Data Protection Act , particularly when it was he, and not them, who ended up issuing grovelling apologies or dealing with the Information Commissioners Office.

 

Perhaps any councillors reading this could comment on whether any elected member committee or group ever runs an eye over the Council's performance in relation to Freedom of Information/Data Protection.  Both in terms of promptness and accuracy/honest of replies.  

 

The theoretical position stated in this thread is that the elected council employs the officers.  However I feel that in Herefordshire it is the directors and the chief exec who rule the roost - controlling the information to councillors etc.  

[gdj]

Alas Geoff Hardy was a victim of redundancy last year.....just in case anyone fancied giving him a ring.

 

Although, thinking more clearly now,  it must have been very uncomfortable for our senior, highly paid staff to keep meeting in the corridor or car park someone who had evidence of their dishonesty and who knew they had lied to him.   It wouldn't have been fair for the senior officers to have to live with that embarrassment.   My suspicion is that they came to the only reasonable solution to this problem, one that would draw a line under things and let them move on.

 

Or maybe I'm being cynical - perhaps the FoI part of the legal department was so underworked and overstaffed that it made sense to restructure and reduce the number of posts -.