Pete Boggs

i.e. the economics of the madhouse, expending capital to pay the bills. Like I said, what happens when the proceeds have all been spent? Is there a magic money tree the council can go to in order to pay its future outgoings? It's too late now, but anyone with half a brain would have invested in, and maintained, potentially income producing assets so that they could continue to provide a revenue stream over the long term. Never going to happen with this bunch of spivs and intellectually deficient carrot crunchers in charge though.

Yes, other councils seem able to manage their assets and produce an income from them. This lot just flog everything off and spaff the money on vanity projects. What are they going to do when they run out of things to sell?

Thereby hangs a tale I suspect Denise. Good looking website although I wonder how many views it's getting compared to the HT. Didn't see any comments on any of the stories I looked at. Given the amount of semi-literates, caps lock addicts and not-rights that regularly infest the HT web pages this may not be a bad thing.

I was more concerned about the attitude of his employer. You may recall that the HT used to get some flak for pulling its punches under the editorship of the fragrant Ffffffiona, Something to do with not offending a a major advertiser as I recall. Looking at the Herefordshire Live page they do seem to feature a number of Council stories although the Amey one seems largely cobbled together from Bill Tanner's old HT pieces and is in dire need of proof reading. One sub-heading reads the The Amey Dispite. Not a particularly auspicious start but hopefully things will improve. The Hereford Times could certainly do with a spot of competition.

I suppose it'll make a chance from HT's current raft of "Cat stuck up tree, not many dead" stories but I thought Allpay were webbed up with HC in a major way so wouldn't hold my breath on Council expose stories. Also a mate who used to work for them says they're pretty useless at project management, so we'll see what transpires before getting too excited.

You'd need a heart of stone not to laugh. I'm glad the club is doing well though after the doldrums of the last couple of years.

That's the Hereford way! Unfortunately.

I'll have a guess and say Patricia "Moron" Morgan, who allegedly made a right balls of things when she was nominally in charge of Young People's services a while back. I gather she may now well be deputy leader. The primary responsibility of this exalted position is giving Tony Johnson a sharp kick in the shins under the table every 30 minutes or so to prevent the lobster faced one falling asleep in cabinet meetings.

I wish you the best of luck with this, but wouldn't be surprised if there's a lack of enthusiasm from the Council to do anything, given their remarkably tolerant attitude towards this fundamentalist cult.

I take it you're not referring to the Council's former chief executive. He was never one to rock the boat, especially where members were concerned.

Ah, I see we have an intellectual in our midst.

Once again the stench of corruption hangs heavily over Herefordshire Council.

The Hereford Times report is slightly misleading. It's not been shut for five years - the Numbers pub co were operating it until relatively recently. I think it's them who've had their trade affected by the fire damage. As I recall the pub was originally shut subsequent to an allegation of a sexual offence by the landlord.

I'd hazard a guess that the judicial review application is being considered because the families believe that the decision has already been made. That's certainly been the implication in the news reporting. You only get a three month window to make an application and delay can seriously affect your chances of success. I dare say the families have been advised they need to protect their position.

I think you might be waiting a while Dippy.

I see some of the no 1 Ledbury Road parents are considering a judicial review. I'm wondering if the farms decision could be examined in a similar way. There's certainly the appearance of procedural impropriety in the way things were decided. After all this is a Council whose default mode is to ignore or subvert the proper processes.

Senile gerontocracy flogs off family silver to fund more interims, pay offs to disgraced officers and white elephant vanity projects. I suppose this will keep them afloat for a while but what happens when that money runs out? What are they going to sell then?

I'm sure that Councillor Bramer is a "legitimate businessman" and would never seek to use his influence in an untoward manner.

Article on The Faming UK website as well. Harry Bramer is to blame apparently. Herefordshire Council not following proper governance procedure and/or best practice, again. "Despotic oligarchy." I liked that bit, although personally I think plutocracy is nearer the mark.

Just to be clear - I was referring to the Council rather than the County as a whole. I'd suggest the prominence of Freedom Church is ample evidence of the authority's backwardness and dysfunctional nature. What properly run authority would give so much latitude to a money grabbing, happy clappy fundamentalist cult?

Word's got round it's a lousy authority to work for. Herefordshire's regarded as backward and dysfunctional by most other authorities in the 3 counties region, hence no doubt the recently reported failure in trying to share services with the likes of Shrops and Glos.

Shoot to wound is a favourite of liberal armchair warriors. I remember reading a book crime novelist and former policeman Joseph Wambaugh where he explained exactly how difficult it is to hit a moving target when being shot at yourself or running in pursuit, never mind targetting a specific location. Should be compulsory reading for any bien pensant types whose only experience with firearms is video games and hollywood movies.

Yes, I appreciate that, and I expect you're right. My feeling was that if rumours like this are taking hold then that's undesirable in itself.

Fair enough - thanks for letting us know where you stand. The fact that these rumours are going around about the Council is testimony enough to the harmful influence of FC I think. There certainly was an FC element in the Council's Adults and Young People dept a few years ago.

Denise, my apologies. I stand corrected.