or woman scribbled this graffito.’
A ‘singular’ politician Philip Davies is a candidate in the June 2017 Westminster election. Like other former members of parliament, by rights he should not currently be titled MP.
A ‘singular’ politician Philip Davies is a candidate in the June 2017 Westminster election. Like other former members of parliament, by rights he should not currently be titled MP.
The Directly Elected Mayor:
The Civic Mayor for Doncaster (2016/17) is Councillor David Nevett
History
Doncaster Mayor
English Democrat Peter Davies replaced outgoing Doncaster Mayor Martin Winter having campaigned for a cut in councillor numbers from 63 to 21. He pushed the Labour candidate into third place winning on the second preference system. The anti-EU former schoolteacher has also called for a referendum on the future governance of the borough and the end to council literature being translated into other languages. He is quoted “We have had a corrupt and spendaholic council and Doncaster is laughed at all over the country. I will get rid of the dreadful political correctness and introduce a refreshingly open regime.” Doncaster was put into government intervention in 2010. The running of children’s services, was overseen by the government since 2009, has now been transferred to an independent trust.
Rosier View
Rosie Winterton (Minister for Yorkshire and Humber and Department for Work and Pensions at the last count) and MP for Doncaster Central grew up in Doncaster and is proud of the town’s rich and varied history as well as how it has helped shaped the country today according to her web site. ‘Doncaster stands on the site of the Roman settlement Danum. It is the largest geographic Metropolitan Borough in the country with an area in excess of 225 square miles… Transport coal and steel have been the core industries around Doncaster and Rosie reports how it was the first public proclamation that helped create the original Labour Party:
‘Thomas R Steels was a railway signalman working for the Great Northern Railway Company who moved to Doncaster in around 1891. In March 1899, Steels drafted a famous resolution, at the Good Woman public house on St Sepulchregate, on labour representation in Parliament. The motion called on the TUC “That this congress, having regard to its decisions of former years, and with a view to securing a better representation of the interests of labour in the House of Commons, hereby instructs the Parliamentary Committee to invite the cooperation of all the cooperative, socialistic, trade union and other working class organisations to jointly cooperate on the lines mutually agreed upon …….’
So I am left wondering if much has really changed?
Don Valley MP Caroline Flint is now the former Minister for Europe. Well I think least said! Flint was one of 98 MPs who voted in favour of legislation which would have kept MPs’ expense details secret but then decided to work from the back benches.With ‘the house’ expenses scandal maybe we have got a ‘Flippin’ Government’ with lots of fishy smells.
Summary
Doncaster has been badly served by local and national politicians for decades. They are not alone and several venerable northern communities are in similar circumstances. Changes at Doncaster need time to evolve and it will be interesting to see how the town copes over the next decade.
In business there is a style of management referred to as Kipper Management, ‘Two Faced and no Backbone’.
It is 6 years since the first rant was published – see below
Only now are there any signs of getting to grips with the myriad problems for this town.
In a couple more years I will revisit the improvements and local governance changes.
The more we see and read the more perverse the world of social services seems to be. The ‘politically incorrect brigade’ who removed children from foster parents because they are members of a political party are rightly in the firing line.
Should someone resign for fostering the children with these parents in the first place?
Certainly someone must now depart from their job or elected office because they must be wrong from the start or dead wrong now when they take the kids away.
Sadly no one in public life seems inclined to own up and takes responsibility by resigning (unless the pay out is worthwhile).
In Rotherham they were kipping on the job but it is the kids who will find it hard to kip as they are moved from home to home.
Secrecy seems to trump commonsense in many of these situations. We may never know what has gone on behind the scenes as the truth is often covered up in the guise of protecting the children. Christopher Booker writes in the Daily Telegraph ‘Our ‘child protection’ system is severely dysfunctional, but it has not come to the centre of national attention because it hides its workings behind a veil of secrecy ………’
Blame culture, self interest, financial chicanery, obfuscation and buck passing have become national diseases. I have half a mind to vote for a different set of politicians (if I thought they would make a difference) and half a mind is all you need to vote in our current party system. Come on Rotherham show us how to do it in your by-election
Photo credit Rotherham … GREGGS. by BazzaDaRambler CC BY 2.0