Roger

I think you should cast your vote. I agree you should not just cast your vote for the sake of voting. I would prefer people voted for a reason. I include 'tactical' voting in that. Not overly applicable in the National Election in the two Herefordshire seats. I think the Tories are home and dry but the local election wards (53) are up for grabs. Minus the odd uncontested seat.

I don't think expenses are at issue here this time. Not for the moment. I think it's about Candidates/motives/agenda's. I immediately became wary when all the grass cutting machinery came out twice in Churchill Gardens in the last two weeks or so. Funny that! Election on May 7 ! I had to disappoint Brian Wilcox today with the information that I won't be voting for him. He timed his visit in such a way that I expect postal ballots via my letter box tomorrow! On a side issue his visit (not his fault) resulted in me rushing to the door .... (as the dogs were going crazy reacting to my door bell) and I neglected my lunch I had just bought from the College Green Chippy ..... After the chat at the door I returned and found it was gone .... £3.55 I will never see again! Learning curve for me!

HT £35 parking ticket wrote off as 'expenses' .....

This 'Freedom Church' story has been bubbling away, locally, for a few months now. If a candidate for Council was playing any sort of role in that Church which was above the usual sort of radar (attending/worship) then I would be disappointed if they never mentioned it in their leaflet. I have accrued loads of leaflets recently.

To my way of thinking this is all getting tendered/farmed out to far flung parts of what used to be the NHS ~ which can only attract a degree of people sitting behind desks (at inflated salaries) just sorting it all out over the internet. Plus another tier of Management (on even more inflated salaries) sorting out the people in the Office ~ who are directing the front line with unrealistic targets. I heard that it may be coming in (proposal) that after a birth a mother may just get one health visitor visit in Herefordshire. Correct me if I'm wrong if anyone knows any different.

Isn't CAMHS in Hereford farmed out to Gloucester .... ? 2gether Has Hereford tendered a bid to sort out Immunisations in Herefordshire ? I heard not. Will that go to Gloucester or somewhere else? All a bit crazy with the NHS at the moment.

Hereford was a bit of a Tory/Lib Dem Marginal seat until the Tuition Fee fiasco with the Lib Dems (and them getting into bed with the Tories). Their National poll rating is pathetic. UKIP will get an increased knee jerk poll boost I think but their candidate has only been in place 5 minutes. I expect a Jesse Norman walkover for Hereford/Hereford South.

Have IOC (as a group) got any particular view on the crazy parking we now have in the County? Like the charges applying until 10 PM in half empty car parks. And the on street restrictions applying to 10 PM as well. Where you get attendants creeping around issuing tickets when there's a vast number of empty spaces anyway. Or will it just be left as it is and any blame for the bonkers cash cow of a system can just be redirected at the previous administration.

Kip Waistell has a letter in The HT today ... Basically he is having a go at the Council ... He is quite prepared to submerge the Council with a deluge of paperwork if prodded to do so! Hereford Times

The rat problem is back outside the shop. I was walking out of the side pedestrian exit at about 17.45 last night and a foot long rat run into the bushes on the right of this picture. Historically they had infested the bushes by the side passage that runs behind the Charcoal Grill ...

Here The letters may come .... Who knows! Don't pay!

Apparently it was a 56 minute overstay in a 2 hour 'free zone'. How that equates to a pre-estimate loss of £85 baffles me. Plus there were quite possibly free spaces in the car park so the loss to the owner of the car park may have been nil. All very baffling! Essex Chronicle

I think Hereford (Shire) Police and their reputation is in tatters at the moment .... The spate of sackings and jailing's is on the record. I feel sorry for the people there who aren't involved in controversy and who work hard ....

Great News! I'd echo bobby47 's advice ... Don't take a soft option of getting a cosy resolution with handshakes and apologies if, indeed, that was offered up ... Persevere with getting a proper look into this by the dept. that deals with this all the time. Don't let it get filed away with any shortcut option.

My wife does out of hours work in Hereford City Centre on Thursday evenings and tonight she parked in Blackfriars Street car park (which is a private car park) anticipating she would be less than 1 hour. Her ticket was for one hour ~ valid until 18.26. The rate there is £1 per hour. She was unexpectedly delayed and went slightly over. She got back to find a private parking notice on the window issued at 18.29 by Corporate Services of Hereford. So an allegation of evasion of 5 pence. The ticket (which will not be paid) demands £100 (reduced to £60 if paid within 14 days.) If nothing is paid within 28 days apparently the legal hounds of hell will be unleashed. I think Corporate Services are well known around here ... They cause grief in the KFC car park ...

Jeremy Vine on Radio 2 tore Ed Miliband apart at about 1.15 PM today on Radio 2 ... He number crunched some figures and it suggested that people who owned a house worth over £3 Million would get an added tax bill of over £36K a year. With the Mansion Tax .... Ed never had an answer to the point!

This topic has attracted publicity and I am well aware of who will have read it! You may be right that it might just be a 'plea' thing but the papers must have had a second glance to make sure it was fit for purpose. Hope it all goes as well as it can tomorrow!

Strangely I know how local elections work .... I'm very engaged actually ... Roger Goodwin (who lives on the College Estate) missed me when he rang my doorbell on Sunday. I was elsewhere. He is more than welcome to ring it again. My ward (according to a certain candidate) has 2500 voters with 300 classed as postal (approx) ..... His figures and not mine. I've already worked out that 1% of all postal votes in my ward are at my house ....

I'm pretty sure some/most Councillors will spend some of their expenses on doing various stuff that I wouldn't spend cash on ... If the cash was claimed correctly then I'm not bothered. I don't really know how/why Mormons are being heavily featured here .... There are obviously Mormons here in Hereford but I'm not aware of any standing for Election ....

That'll save her quite a bit. No need to sort out potential extra litter and no need for that costly guard she said she was getting. That has been discussed a fair bit in a different thread. I don't think we got to the bottom of whether the CIZ has been expanded yet or not. The map has been posted a couple of times about the proposed new area but has it been ratified?

If an elected Councillor wants to send abroad 10% of their lawfully claimed expenses then that isn't on my radar to be honest. What I do care about tho is the 0.7 % of GDP which the Govt. sends abroad as Foreign Aid. Is it something like £50 billion? I know it's coming to an end but I think it's bonkers sending aid to India when that Country funds a space programme instead of sorting out it's own poor and destitute. Just to clear up any doubt I'm basically pretty much non religious. Apart from attending Weddings/Christenings/Funerals ... I have no connection whatsoever with The Freedom Church.

That is their loss .... They seem to be donating their own money? Lawfully claimed ..... Still not sure about the point being made here .....

I don't like posting directly after my own post but Roger Goodwin and Paul Andrews (candidates for College Ward) have registered on this forum in the last few days and are viewing content .... No posts from either yet! But this forum is obviously hitting the political radar! Which I think is good!

I take it that was a typo and you meant Freemasons? Yup .... Obviously. .... Loads there! Not my bag I'm afraid ... I am not a member and never was. They do seriously good Charity work but I never liked the other elements around it!

If no hot food is being offered then you don't need a licence ... Has this been confirmed that the venue only wants to sell 'cold' items? The only point of going thru the Council hoops for 23.00 - 05.00 trading is if you want to sell stuff over the ambient air temperature .... If she fails the application then she can get round the rules by installing a hired vending machine for hot drinks inside the premises (operated by coins by the buyer) and cutting out any hot items like steak baguettes or warmed up pies/pasties .... The important fact to consider here tho is people like 'hot' food at the end of a night out ... Not a cress sandwich ....