Notorious notes:
Every month, we nominate highlight the actions of people who has gone over and above the call of duty when it comes to forgetting the wants and needs of the people who originally put them into positions of power...
February 2012:
A little breathing space this week and chance to highlight a running sore in local politics. Regular visitors will recall that no-one has anything particularly nice to say about Cllr Phil Hardy who stuck two fingers up to his constituents in Thorpe Hamlets a few months when he defected from the Greens to the Conservatives. After being particularly vocal in the past about how environmentally damaging the proposed incinerator at King's Lynn will be, Hardy has gone strangely quiet since he started taking the Tory dollar. The people who elected him are understandably miffed about the fact that 80% of them voted Green at the last election and all of a sudden the man they trusted to represent their views has found his mouth inextricably joined to the backsides of the Tory leader and his deputy instead.....
A petition has been started to get him to stand down and trigger a re-election (see link below) but this lady ain't for turning and Hardy says that he will continue to sit tight and do Derrick's bidding until 2013 citing that his new 'Green Advisor' role at NCC will allow him to follow his heart and push his old Green agenda whilst his balls remain firmly elsewhere. And guess what? According to him, it's far too late for this to include doing anything about that boring stinky old incinerator now.... and for keeping mum, we're betting that the Police Commissioners job is in the bag for him when it comes up later in the year!?
For a brass neck the size of a chimney stack, Cllr Hardy gets our coveted 'Git of the Week' award. Again!!! Congrats, Phil!
15th January 2012
Well, it was handbags at dawn over at Martineau Lane on Monday as the Tory cabinet laid on a belated panto for bemused members of the public. Cllr's Casimir and Smith returned to their old double-act ways of imagining that the whole world must like the sound of their voices as much as they do, whilst new boy Phil Hardy gazed up at his leader with tearful admiration as Murphy had a pop at the Lib Dems for trying to make him sound like he was the instigator of a McCarthyist plot. *cough* This was followed by lots of brown-nosing by all those who know which side their allowances are buttered on.
The best bit (so far) was when Tony Adams got up on his hind legs to state that the proposed incinerator at Kings Lynn had 'been thoroughly discussed by a number of panels and committees'. He should know this better than most, seeing that he had been in email contact with the Dear Leader regarding the party decision to award the contract just a few days before it was, er, 'discussed' and rubber stamped by his mates. Nice one Tone!
Despite there being so many people to choose from, our coveted 'Git of the week' award goes to Cllr Phil Hardy. Mr Hardy is busy sheltering behind his new mates because he's been given his seat back on the Police Authority and has decided to return the favour by standing back from anything to do with the incinerator. You may remember that, as a member of the Green Party he had a pretty 'anti' sort of opinion but now? Surprise surprise - no comment to be had! We're hoping he's taking his position on the Planning committee seriously but given his performance over the last couple of weeks, we're not holding our breath!
8th January 2012
A great deal of news surrounding the inhabitants of the Alligator Pit at Martineau Lane during the Christmas break - it appears that the Devil really does make work for idle hands!
Firstly, Green-to-Tory turncoat Phil Hardy is about to get his 30 pieces of silver from biking buddy Derrick Murphy in the shape of his continued existence on the Norfolk Police Authority... the moment that Hardy jumped aboard he lost his Green seat but his conservative colleague John Perry-Warnes got a fit of the vapours and stood down to let his new buddy jump into his shoes instead. Phew, what a lucky coincidence!
On a more local front, the residents of Lynn were further penalised this week in the shape of NCC withdrawing funding for the West Lynn Ferry thanks to another Tory reptile, the cabinet member for transportation, Graham Plant. (This comes just a month after NCC suspended a cool £1m from the NORA scheme.) We should all spare a thought for Cllr Plant who is SO committed to public transport that so far this year he has claimed exactly NIL for using buses and trains but has managed to trouser over £2.5K driving his own car to and fro to County Hall. Well done Graham, your commitment is an example to us all. Not.
And finally, our coveted 'Git of the Week' award goes to Cllr Ian Monson, the man who has been behind the Lynn Incinerator since day one. NCC's planners met on Friday to reject a biomass incinerator in Thetford and at the same time, Monson went on Radio Norfolk and started spouting all sorts of hypocritical rubbish about visual and environmental blight to the surrounding Breckland area. Quick question to Cllr Monson - how do you sleep soundly in your bed at night?