The shit has really hit the van for Birmingham City Council’s Tory Cabinet Member with responsibility for Transportation and Street Services, Councillor Len Gregory.
Councillor Len Gregory, you see, is the Cabinet Member with responsibility for ensuring the council’s bins are emptied every week. Last week, in a bitter dispute about the way the Tory/Lib Dem coalition have completely mishandled negotiations over Single Status, the majority of Birmingham’s refuse collectors, together with thousands of other workers, went on strike for two days.
All across the City a trail of black bags began to build up (see the picture, left) including in the Kings Heath Ward where our Len resides. The rubbish that built up remained there until after the weekend… and residents were getting pretty ratty about it too.
All except the residents of Hollie Lucas Road, in Kings Heath, and the road that leads directly on to it, Chesterwood Road. Mysteriously, they managed to get their bins taken away on the Thursday, right in the middle of the strike!
Go on, you’ve guessed it… who lives at No.17, Hollie Lucas Road? Yes, none other than 
our old friend with responsibility for emptying the bins, Councillor Len Gregory!
If you lived in the immediate surrounding area, Cantlow Close, Ardencroft Road, Wheelers Lane, Wroxall Grove and Chamberlain Road, you would still have been looking for a refuse collector on Saturday morning whilst the rubbish mounted on the pavement. But Hollie Lucas Road… things were looking decidedly spotless (see the picture, left).
A City Council spokesperson said… “It was a complete coincidence that Councillor Gregory’s Road was done and the others in the vicinity were missed out.”
As one angry resident living in nearby Wheelers Lane told the Birmingham Evening Mail…
“It’s an absolute disgrace. That road is definitely part of the Thursday round, like the rest of us but, as you can see, there is rubbish all over the place for us and none for him.”
Perhaps the voters in the Billesley Ward in Birmingham would like to send a message to Councillor Gregory on Thursday telling him how much they believe in coincidence.
Ha, what a moron.b
The voters did send Cllr Gregory a message – they re-elected him comfortably. The real message in Birmingham is Conservative success and Labour failure – for both local and national reasons.
In Hartlepool they elected a bloke who dressed in a monkey suit. These things happen.
What measure are they using for Conservative success at National level, do you think? John Major? Or perhaps the Ealing Southall byelection? Difficult to know really.
In Hartlepool (not exactly a Conservative stronghold), a monkey beat the official Labour candidate. You tell me what that says.
As to your second point – an old friend of mine used to say that, if you don’t know the answer, there’s no point in explaining, because you still won’t understand.
However, I’m kinder than she was, so: Every time an opinion poll comes up that’s adverse to one (or other – to be fair) party, they always claim that it’s real votes in real ballot boxes that count. Like Thursday, for example. Labour got hammered – they went down from a low base.
As to Parliamentary by-elections, Crewe & Nantwich wasn’t Conservative even during the high points of the 1980′s, so a win there by them would be a staggering disaster for Labour. In the council elections, the Conservatives were well ahead of Labour, so the ground has been laid for an interesting result.
Your first answer was better than the second; that may be because you made some attempt to answer the question (perhaps you should have got your friend to do it).
As for the monkey result, the lesson I’ve drawn from it is the same as that for Johnson. The voters decide on something other than political issues.
Ah, the first defence of the loser, Bob – personal insults! Followed closely by the second – it wasn’t down to politics (in this case), there were “other” reasons. I can’t speak to Hartlepool (though if forced to make an educated guess, I’d say that the electorate didn’t want a Labour mayor, but were too ingrained in not voting Conservative to switch that way. Hence, an anti-Labour “protest” vote led to that result first time round. As I said, just an educated guess). As to London, the outer boroughs were clearly motivated to vote in numbers that hadn’t previously been achieved, and that vote wasn’t for Ken.
When I started a politics course at University, the lecturer’s first words were:”Everything is political – getting up in the morning is a political decision.” An exaggeration, perhaps, but not much of a one. Whether people voted FOR Boris, or AGAINST Ken, the principle is the same as at any General Election – do you want to maintain one party in power, and if not, who do you vote for in order to achieve that aim. We know people vote for or against governments at least as much as they vote for or against oppositions. A positive vote or a negative vote is equally valid at the ballot box. Why should London be any different?
Actually, as you confess to knowing nothing about it, I was suggest it is in fact a totally uneducated guess.
Your second point is so convoluted and confused I am wondering whether that poor sod of a lecturer got any joy out of his job at all. I think you have now crawled so far up your own arse you have forgotten the point you were trying to make in the first place.
Oh,dear – having been nice to you on a later post of yours, I come back here to see you’ve returned to form. The fact that an argument is complex may mean that you (specifically) are unable to follow it, it doesn’t make it wrong. Remember, for every problem, there is a solution that is simple, easy to implemet, and WRONG.
Life is complex, so answers are complex. Live with it.