Why are they not afraid?

I think this is the weirdest article I ever wrote for this blog. It’s because I have to write it in the way that you, my dear reader, will find true meaning in my words by yourself. You, reader, have to connect the dots I will spread in front of you.

This whole article is an answer to a question I asked in the previous article of S247- Why Labour Party is not afraid of the dire financial situation of the town. Why are they not scared, and why we taxpayers should be frightened.

DOT ONE

Labour Party economics problem

Many years ago, when the Labour government knew that their policies would ruin the country, they decided to rescue the budget by… selling something valuable. To prop up the books and pretend that everything is all right. To tell people hired by the government that their jobs are safe and secure… Blair had based his 2001 re-election campaign on the extremely unpopular PFI. Still, there was an even more blatant example of horrible economic policies. History calls it “Brown’s Bottom” (from Gordon Brown who was principally responsible for the decision to implement that policy).

In this instance, they decided to sell British gold reserves at the lowest price in 20 years. This move cost British taxpayers an estimated 7,000,000,000 pounds, but if sales would be made today, it could be much more. I’m not inventing the facts. If you don’t believe me, just read the Wikipedia article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sale_of_UK_gold_reserves,_1999%E2%80%932002

or any other article about it in Internet archives. There are hundreds of articles describing the sheer stupidity of that move. This is dot one: remember that Labour Party will sell anything at any price to prop up books in the short term.

Little note: Labour sold gold at 275 USD per ounce. Today price is… 1800 USD per ounce…

DOT TWO

Labour Party debt problem

If you read my previous articles, you know those facts: Shirebrook has the largest debt in the region, the highest employee costs and the highest other costs, one of the smallest cash reserves and on top of that- when Clowne and Bolsover added 100 000 pounds to their cash reserves, we lost almost 30 000 pounds, and we added 7000 pounds to debt (that we still not paying back so it will only grow). Shirebrook today is like miniUK just before Credit Crunch- STC suffers on same ailments as the central government back in 2008. Bureaucracy is bloated to the limit, budget deficits, crushing debt, no cash reserves.

Labour claims that all is good, all is fine. Well, this is your next dot- remember when Labour kept telling people all is good, all is fine? Do you remember how it ended? No? Just look at the picture below. So this is your dot two: Labour has a history of lying about the financial situation to the public and leaving a mess behind themselves.

DOT THREE

Labour Party transparency problem

Until the last by-election, NO ONE outside Labour Party inner circle knew what they are scheming. If they want to cut off people from some information, they just put it as an “exempt item”, shut the door and don’t report discussed issues in meeting minutes. Labour Party inner circle is not that big- maybe 15-20 people. In recent years it was almost impossible to get any information about STC activities. “The Post” is just a smokescreen, misleading the public and publishing texts omitting the facts (for example, actual cost of new Town Hall as well as source and cost of funding this project).

Anyway- let’s say you want to know what they are talking about. So you go to the agenda page and open… let’s say… I don’t know… agenda from STC Ordinary meeting on 16th of June 2021. You scroll down and…

… you will know that STC talked behind closed doors about the Portland Road plot. You will never know (in the public interest or is it Labour Party interest) what was discussed, but I was there. The first time inside, witness to what Labour want to keep hidden. For me, more important is WHY they want to hide it, not WHAT. “What” will come to light anyway- in documents to be published in the coming years. “Why”- that is the question.

There is nothing I can say about that part of the meeting- I’m not allowed. I will respect the law even if I disagree with it. You have to see here that Labour Party doesn’t want you to know any details about this…UPDATE IN RELATION TO PORTLAND ROAD SITE. That is your dot. I can’t say anything more, but I will say that it should not be secret from my point of view. Nothing in this update should be secret.

It is secret because residents would be furious if they knew the truth… and Labour Party knows it.

DOT DOT DOT

So here it is- I wrote nothing of substance, but if you know how to connect the dots and you’ll go back to the title question, now you should understand why they are not scared. Labour is still the same, old Labour operating in the same, old way.

However, to end the article with a slightly more optimistic note: it seems to me that we will avoid a tax increase for at least the next two years. Personally, I will insist on it at every opportunity – after all, that’s why I took part in the elections to the town council and if I manage to achieve it together with increasing the transparency of STC’s activities through my blog, it will achieve two of my three main goals.

One to go…

Sylwester Zwierzynski info@shirebrook247.com

Lead picture: Photo by Daria Shevtsova from Pexels.com