The Boys are coming home

The Boys are coming home

We owe every last one of these lads and lasses every thanks we can give that includes not only the regulars but the territorial’s who also saw active service.

As a mark of respect we should line the streets in thanks

Sandwell Tory said

We kept our promise to bring them home from Teflon’s war

My special thanks go to a Regular and a TA officer you know who you are, I owe you a pint, we all do  

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2011/10/22/homecoming-parade-for-black-country-soldiers/

Labour wants your home

Labour seem to have a Policy

Let’s get this right, you work hard, you save hard, if you’re lucky you get a deposit for a home and for the next 20 odd years you pay off a mortgage.

You have kids and work some more then one day when your own hair is grey your kids tell you they are leaving home and off into the big wide world, after 30 odd years of slog, your back bedroom is empty.

Then along comes a report on “Hoarding of Housing” which it seems Labour are supporting and according to the press report a Labour MP sponsored the report's launch in a Commons hospitality room

This housing report goes on to say that 25 million bedrooms are empty in England's homes, it also states that 51.5% of over-65s live in homes with two or more bedrooms that they do not need.

.

Take a look and read more

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2050800/Over-60-bedroom-blockers-taxed-homes.html

Sandwell Tory said 

So Labour has apparently endorsed a report calling for higher council tax on single people, and higher taxes on family homes, I firmly believe people should not be taxed or bullied out of their homes, having worked hard and paid their taxes all their lives.

Our Government is working with families to build more homes and increase choice. This is another kick in the teeth to the baby boomers who are still getting over Labours massive tax on their pensions and from a Party that on average doubled council tax when in office

I wonder if Sandwell Labour will state their opinions????

Labour start to squeal

Looking around the net I found this excellent article, it gives another reason why Labour are shouting.

It's a few words from Eric Pickles

Getting our nation's finances back on the right track has been challenging. I've seen first hand the inefficiency and incompetence of Labour. Take FireControl – John Prescott's plan to regionalise England's fire service. His vanity project spiralled out of control, wasting half a billion pounds of taxpayers' money. Now you won't hear about that on money supermarket dot com when John's on. There's nothing to show for it – apart from a series of empty bunkers, each kitted out with deluxe chrome coffee machines costing six grand a piece. Now that's Labour's idea of national resilience.

Come hell or high water, Labour Ministers could still demand a Venti Skinny cappuccino. What a waste! You can get a big pack of Yorkshire Tea for a fiver... Now if my Coalition Mucker Chris Huhne tunes in today – that's what I call a Tea Party, Chris. Or take the example of Labour blowing £5,000 on my department's officials having a staff away day at a club. Not a working men's club. Not a Pall Mall Gentlemen's Club. No, a different kind of gentlemen's club – a club which features Showgirl Sensation Amber Topaz and her exotic chum, Lady Beau Peep.

I've never thought of the civil service as lost sheep. And I'm not sure why they flocked to that particular establishment. But no more – I've cancelled these plush away days.

Labour Ministers were at it too. With their corporate credit card – the so-called "Government Procurement Card" – Labour and their staff wined and dined at the finest restaurants at your expense. Boisdales. The Cinammon Club. The Wolseley. And in the very heart of Prezza-land, close to the mouth of the Humber... Mr Chu's China Palace. Unlike Labour, I pay for my own Chicken Chow Mein.

Read the whole article

http://www.publicservice.co.uk/feature_story.asp?id=17385

Sandwell schools

 
Sandwell appears to be missing out on the Governments school programme for new Free Schools & Academies, Why we don’t know.

Let’s have a look at what it’s all about; the new Governments plans will give parents, teachers and charities the chance to set up Free Schools. They will be schools within the state sector. They can be set up by teachers, parents, charities, universities or businesses. They are established in response to real demand within a local area for a greater number or variety of schools. Proposers must apply through the Department for Education, which then subjects each proposal to a rigorous approval process

Please see here,  (DfE, What are Free Schools?, 21 March 2011, link).

Free Schools are free from local and national bureaucratic control. They have: freedom from the National Curriculum; greater control of budgets; more opportunities to work with other public and private organisations; freedom to change the length of terms and school days; and freedom from local authority control.

24 Free Schools will open this September.

The first 24 Free Schools will open this year after they reached funding agreements with the Secretary of State. Of the 24 Free Schools, 17 are primary schools, five are secondary schools and two are all-age schools. They were selected from a total of 323 applications

Please see here (DfE Press Release, 28 August 2011, link). The first 24 Free Schools are listed below:

o   Aldborough E-ACT Free School, Redbridge

o   All Saints Junior School, Reading

o   Ark Atwood Primary Academy, Westminster

o   Ark Conway Primary Academy, Hammersmith & Fulham

o   Batley Grammar School, Kirklees

o   Bristol Free School, Bristol

o   Canary Wharf College, Tower Hamlets

o   Discovery New School, West Sussex

o   Eden Primary School, Haringey

o   Etz Chaim Primary School, Barnet

o   The Free School, Norwich, Norfolk

o   Kings Science Academy, Bradford

o   Krishna-Avanti Primary School, Leicester City

o   Langley Hall Primary Academy, Slough

o   Maharishi School, Lancashire

o   Moorlands Free School, Luton

o   Nishkam Free School, Birmingham

o   Priors Free School, Warwickshire

o   Rainbow Primary School, Bradford

o   Sandbach School, Cheshire East

o   St Luke’s Church Of England Primary School, Camden

o   Stour Valley Community School, Suffolk

o   West London Free School, Hammersmith & Fulham

o   Woodpecker Hall Primary Academy, Enfield

A further 281 groups have applied to open Free Schools in September 2012.

·         Fair funding. Like academies, Free Schools are funded on a comparable basis to other state-funded schools. They receive per pupil funding and the pupil premium in the same way and cannot be run on a for-profit basis

Please see here (DfE, What are Free Schools?, 21 March 2011, link).

·         Fair admissions. The admissions arrangements of any Free School must be fair and transparent. Free Schools are expected to be open to pupils of all abilities from the area and cannot be academically selective. Free Schools need to take part in their locally-coordinated admissions process, and so parents apply for places for their child in the same way as any other local school

Please see here (DfE, What are Free Schools?, 21 March 2011, link).

·         Proper accountability. Free Schools are subject to the same Ofsted inspections as all state schools and are expected to maintain the same rigorous standards. Free Schools falling below floor standards will be treated in exactly the same way as other schools

 Please see here (DfE, What are Free Schools?, 21 March 2011, link).

We firmly believe Sandwell needs new Academies, Free Schools

Treatment of the Elderly

I firmly believe that everyone admitted to hospital deserves to be treated as an individual, with compassion and dignity and that’s why we commissioned a report. I also feel we must never lose sight of the fact that the most important people in the NHS are its patients.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) looked into the treatment of older patients who use services. They saw some exemplary care, but some hospitals were not even getting the basics right. We feel this is simply unacceptable.

In the future we want local HealthWatch organisations to be able to carry out unannounced independent inspections and hold local services to account. This will be helped by drawing on experience from patients and their families.

Working with the CQC, Healthwatch will shortly be champions for patients’ quality of care.

Its aim will be to achieve the systems described in the Government’s NHS white paper where:

• patients are at the heart of everything the NHS does
• health care outcomes in England are among the best in the world
• clinicians are empowered to deliver results

We are also currently working with the Department of Health to design the HealthWatch and throughout 2011, we will set up the structures and systems needed for the launch.

http://www.cqc.org.uk/aboutcqc/whatwedo/improvinghealthandsocialcare/healthwatch.cfm

If you wish you can see the report for you local hospital via this link

http://www.cqc.org.uk/newsandevents/newsstories.cfm?FaArea1=customwidgets.content_view_1&cit_id=37661

For raising a complaint see this link

http://www.cqc.org.uk/contactus/howtoraiseaconcernorcomplaint.cfm

Without labouring the point

Well I get home from work and read the local paper and see that Sandwell’s strange approach to Car ownership as struck again

So far we have

Some of Sandwell towns making just pocket money from the ticket machines

Great Bridge car park next to the indoor market,  I must remember to send that car park a birthday card, when I drive past because that's been closed for almost a year.

The new West Brom Police Nick with no parking, oh boy!

The new College, seems devoid of spaces  

And now according to the press we have the Albion fans about to turn red with parking restrictions close to their ground.

I have to ask what is it with Sandwell do they want 30,000 fans on pushbikes? because I read the other night that the horses in Tipton have gone as well.

Is this a cunning plan to get everyone to walk?

  

Like our Police the Albion need our support and are a wonderful asset to our borough brining in money and international acclaim, I dread to think what message we will be sending to the away supporters.

Park in Dudley and walk it mate   

It’s a right Labour to park

While our Police are looking at saving money by entering partnerships with external organisations which could really reduce their costs and our Chief Constable has said they will be able to continue to provide a top-level service to the public.

West Brom’s Police seem to have a new more serious problem, Sandwell’s new multi million £ Police station has opened with not enough parking places for its staff

.

Sandwell seems to have a thing about the motorist, The car park in Great Bridge closed  and the traders at the indoor market complained, to no avail

Car Parks in West Bromwich closed, again traders complained and even raised a petition, 

I await an outcome to that

I also see the local Tories have said in the local paper that parking could well be free when you consider

some towns in the borough only make a few quid a day on parking tickets and this would help trade, 

But I doubt if that will succeed.

But how could a brand new police station be built with not enough parking spaces?  

    

I have to wonder if Sandwell’s parking wardens will soon be nicking our Cops for parking in the street?

Sandwell Tory said 

“ We should be helping and praising our Police not forcing them to cycle to work at 2 o’clock in the morning”