Sebaileyus_PhD

Hi guys Just to add my 2 cents on this. Applying to councillor positions you are required to declare any POLITICAL affiliations you have, but no other interests,vat least at this stage. after election I believe you have to declare business interests. So, leaving aside the religion as a business or religion as political debates, people running for these positions do not have to declare a faith or church membership etc. Nor should they in my opinion. In doing so they open themselves to criticisms that they may not deserve. For example gay marriage, not everyone who opposes it is Christian and not everyone who is Christian opposes it. With reference to giving money away, what I believe you are mostly referring to here is (as a Google search reveals) a tithe, which translated means tenth. Many Christians give away 10% or more of their income to charities. This is usually a church, but also often mission and aid work in the form of sponsored children's educations, well digging, school building etc. So before stones are cast and inferences made, how much do any of you give to charities out of your pay each month? When you can say you support projects across the UK and rest of the world to the tune of 10% of your earnings, then you can start telling people how to spend their earnings. I get paid 5k a year at present and 10% goes to british charities, such as the hope support services in ross. County councillors are given their 7k a year taxable income In exchange for their duties performed. It is not "spending public money" any more than any council employee spending their wages on a McDonald's is spending public money. Seb

How many £ signs in the IOC material? Or for that matter, any number crunching/economic thinking at all? Myself I didn't see any, but I'll put my hand up and say I'm dyslexic.

Reading back over this forum since I last logged in is pretty disparaging. I actually spent Sunday taking 3 homeless people (Amanda, Wayne, Trevor) out to lunch, out of my own pocket, and then at my in-laws for lunch. Re: wing clipping, I have been to 2 meetings and not once has anyone mentioned my appearance on here. If they had, I'd tell you. I don't hold with bullying or leaning on people, least of all myself. My reasons for not posting recently are simple: my materials became available and I've been dedicating my councillor time to travelling around the ward, meeting people, talking Turkey etc. this has taken up my days until about 3pm when my feet hurt, at which point I drive home and put in about 6 hours research time for my PhD. This is on days without evening events and meetings, which often run past 10pm. While pulling 14-16 hour days, 6-7 days a week I'm sad to admit I don't tend to go forum browsing! All the best to you guys. I may not be back for a week or so, I still have a large square mileage of ward to cover.

I have NO association with freedom church barring 2-3 acquaintances. I do not approve of a number of their methods, even if their intentions are good.

Denise- not one of the candidates for holmer lives in the ward,or within walking distance, and only 1 lives within the city itself. So while I may be at a slight disadvantage, although it means I will need to actually talk to people rather than assume I know their issues because I live nearby, I don't think it makes a lot of difference. Certainly not as much as getting involved in more committees would help. Cloudberry- I'm still reading through a LOT of paperwork around housing, development and county economics so I couldn't honestly comment with anything more than speculation at present, maybe in a week or two? It takes a while to catch up on years of this stuff sadly. What I will say is that I will be fighting for as many property market entry houses/flats as I can. Having just bought my first 50%ownership for under 100k, I know the difference it makes to a family to make that step. Wirralpc- you certainly have a bee in your bonnet over this bullying thing. I will not "put it down", if I'm elected I will look into this as far as any powers I have will let me. Bearing in mind it will probably be another councillors issue. In a months time the council will be re-established and an MP in place. You may then be able to have a reasonable face to face meeting with someone who can do something constructive instead of posting online where very few will read about it and take action. If you are this upset with the current state of affairs I would suggest you run for county council next time and make that change.

to clarkester - ive been VERY busy of late, im involved in a number of research projects aside from my own PhD, i help charitable causes 2-3 times a week where my schedule permits and on top of it all, i do most of the housework as my wife works full time. as such i chose to get a lot of projects pushed into final phase (and wont be signing onto more if elected) before i was a confirmed candidate for holmer ward so that i could spend the time AFTER i was nominated canvassing and looking for links to the people. i only found this site 2-3 days ago and will be making a lot of use of it! i can assure you i am not a complacent looking for a cushy job who has just decided to look like i care and want to converse with the people of the city. moreover, my lack of involvement has been due to making room in my life in order to fulfill the role adequately. i have meetings upon meetings booked with councillors, local figures and party members to look at what the job will actually entail beyond the job description in order to make sure i am adequately trained up before i may take up my role. bobby - thank you for your comments, i hope ive taken them correctly this time around!! i would ask you to bear in mind that Hereford county council is (for the most part) divorced entirely from the westminster elite, out link to them is through our MP, the same as you. we have to do as we are told by the government of the day. if we see a labour win, i will still be sitting on the council as a conservative. voting for MPs dictates the direction of the country and voting for Councillors dictates the way the county moves.i would never ask anyone to vote for me because of my party, if they felt so inclined, so be it. i am aligned with a party so that people can clearly see what my intentions are in general. however, i have no hesitation about voting on any issue as the people of my ward ask me too. you may feel disenfranchised, but if thats so next time we have a county council election, stand, and see where it gets you. i believe change, like charity, begins with people standing up and saying " ill do that, ill make it better". if you dont vote, you have no right to complain about the government. if you voted against them, then tell others why. democracy works when people stand up and debate the issues instead of letting the stroll past. i have a good friend standing as a labour councillor in a staunchly conservative area for that reason. we differ greatly in our politics and opinions, we correct each others opinion posts and conclusions derived from stats and it works well to make us both better at what we do. thanks for all your positive comments - keep the suggestions rolling, i have pages of A4 paper now filled out with suggestions and outlined plans to take to the council.

i dont know who lives where, but ill be canvassing all of holmer (every door i can find!) starting saturday.

if its something you guys think would be a good idea, at least at local level, if elected i will look into it and find out where its been done and with what degree of success. i certainly think its a good idea, as i said above. perhaps a national initiative isn't needed here :) if bill tanner tries to take me down on this im counting on you all for backup !

i agree with what youre saying Cambo, but can you imagine the headlines about "tory home theft" if they seized even a few empty properties? even if they bought them at market value, there would be an incredible backlash. especially as im thinking a few of these are owned by expats who may return to the UK to find themselves homeless. it would be career suicide for any politicians or civil servants involved. :(

It's a common problem in our roundabout laden town! When I was out gathering support to stand in Holmer ward (I think where these problems are located) there were a huge number of people complaining how dangerous it was to cross the road, particularly for those with disabilities. I will talk with the current councillor(s) about this and see if there's anything to be done to reduce the crossing time (if it's a long one). the one opposite the sixth form used to be highly responsive and change back very quickly, may be that similar patterns can be employed. If not what would people think of pedestrian bridges? It's the only other solution to easing congestion, but they are quite an eyesore. Seb