Internationally, it was a week when China entered into UK politics after Huawei got kicked off the approved vendor list for Telecoms networks.
Nationally, it was a week when Julian Lewis MP was thrown out of the Tory party, after he’d been elected to chair parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee and when Matt the Hapless learned that England’s Coronavirus numbers were wrong.
Locally, it was a week in which a number of apparently disconnected little things added up to one rather bigger thing.
Security, what security?
Whether the UK bowed to American interests or whether someone in high places was beginning to get worried that the country’s communications were being compromised, the government decided to remove Huawei from its list of permitted suppliers.
Only to wake up and discover that there’s no UK alternative and that the Chinese government were ‘somewhat disappointed’.
The consequences of compromised communications range from scary to complete wipeout while the lack of a UK alternative is down to generations of governments and bankers and the consequential decline in manufacturing enterprise. Oops.
Safety in Numbers
As Mr Hancock-up has discovered, Covid-19 death statistics in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland record those who’d died within 28 days of testing positive while those in England include people who’d tested positive at any time.
So it might look as if England had been over-stating things.
With the UK being second only to Belgium in Covid-19 deaths per million, he might be looking forward to reducing the UK’s count from its current 45,000 level.
However massaging the numbers won’t explain why 2020’s excess deaths are between 59,000 and 64,000.
But Hancock is an honourable man, as are they all: Right; Honourable; men.
Wakey-Wakey, rise and shine
You know things are getting back to normal when a borough contractor trots out Coronavirus as their excuse.
Emmbrook and Winnersh residents will be under-joyed by Balfour Beatty’s announcement of extended hours, 6.30am until 7pm, for the Winnersh Relief Road Phase 2 (WRR2) and the NWDR (North Wokingham Distributor Road) roundabout on the Reading Road.
It’s reminiscent of Wokingham Borough Council’s decision to extend the working hours on Highways’ last jewel-in-the-crown project – the refurbishment of Wokingham’s town centre marketplace where, despite hours from 7am to 11pm, the job ran late and the uneven and poorly marked surface was an embarrassment.
As work on WRR2 is between three and five years late in starting, you might wonder what’s the hurry?
Are WBC Highways trying to recover their reputation before the May 2021 elections?
Or are the Tories trying to give two rebel provinces a hard time?
Perhaps Wokingham Borough’s bidding to become even more ‘developer-friendly’?
Building up reserves
On local radio last week Cllr John Kaiser, WBC’s Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Finance, said that the Borough Council had been building up reserves.
Fact-checking showed that this was at odds with previous Council Leaders’ pronouncements.
As WBC’s Chief Finance Officer has pointed out year after year after year in writing in his MTFP (Medium Term Financial Plan), the General Fund Balance is the most important of the Borough’s financial reserves.
The General Fund Balance in successive years from 2015 was £11.1M, £10.4M, £10.0M, £9.1M, then £8.8M in 2019 and projected as £8.5M in 2020.
So it’s a downwards sort of building-up.
And as the Borough is alleged to have spared no expense during the Coronavirus emergency, if the Government bail-out doesn’t arrive as promised (best Matt Lucas voices now and everyone in unison: “we ARE the lowest funded authority in the country”) then 2020’s number will look more like ‘worst ever’ than ‘building-up’.
Northamptonshire anyone?
The Omnishambles
Not so much ‘Malcolm the Silent’ as ‘Malcolm the Silenced’ because Wokingham’s IT (henceforth WIT), appeared as much responsible as the Leader was for the catastrophically badly-run Full Council meeting a couple of weeks ago.
Fortunately Keith Baker (deputy mayor) wasn’t among the WIT-less and, using his own kit, was able to step in and run the show well until the Shute Endians could start WITtering on again.
However, a review of the video gave WITness to this not being the only problem – as the way questions, motions, even the shonky ‘hand’s up’ voting system showed.
Although a ‘light bulb moment’ had come a couple of days before this review, it was reinforced some 2 hours, 29 minutes and 5 seconds into the meeting when WBC Leader Cllr John Halsall said “One of the victims was a very popular Holt schoolteacher, James Furlough”.
For the record, this gentle man’s name was James Furlong. Requiescat in Pace.
Trying, or very trying?
As the Leader said in answer to an opposition member’s question about the way the Full Council meeting as well as the Planning Committee meetings were structured and administered, “I have been trying to do that for the past 13 months.”
Important though the question and he answer both are, they aren’t the only issues that surround our Borough Council.
Frequently as one goes through life, many things jostle for attention and the seemingly minor can easily be overlooked or forgotten in the press of events.
But every so often even the tiniest matter can crystallise things and bring everything into sharp focus – pointing the way to wider or deeper-seated problems – in this case our Borough’s political leadership.
Barbecue of the Vanities
The Woke-splaining started back in May 2016 when a letter from WBC Licensing told the owner of the BBQ King van that his license wasn’t being renewed because “the lay-by you occupy will be classified as a proper bus stop”.
Which was rather odd as the hardstanding WBC provided for the van lay under the trees, set well back from the road, not in a lay-by at all.
