Forum Topic

Hounslow in 'Rotten Boroughs'

Another mention for our esteemed council in 'Private Eye' today!

Vanessa Smith ● 1207d26 Comments

To save us from buying a copy of Mr Hislop's organ, perhaps you could tell us what it says ?

Richard Greenhough ● 1207d

They appear so often that they should have a reserved column. Almost as often as Croydon. Richard it covers the somewhat dubious mayoral election and the blatant lie about the level of support for LTNs

N V Brooks ● 1207d

It repeats stories which will already be familiar to members of this forum with no new detail. Firstly, there is appointment of the Mayor which some Labour councillors allege was undemocratic even though, as far as I can see, Labour Councillors voted for him.Secondly, there is the case of the chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee apparently telling porkies about receiving over one hundred emails telling him LTNs were great when he only got two and an overwhelming number telling him they were terrible. I haven't seen a response for him but I would imagine he will try and wriggle out of losing his role by saying he was including social media posts he had seen. There could easily have been a hundred of those but they would have been made by only four or five people.Overall, slightly disappointing from Private Eye in that this was all already well known to anyone interested in these things locally and why would anyone outside Hounslow Borough care? It looks like the magazine has a source in the borough they use regularly but the misdeeds of our local councillors are small beer compared to other authorities that feature particularly Croydon.

Francis Rowe ● 1206d

Michael Good ● 1206d

thanks for that helpful info, Michael

Rae Lewis ● 1206d

Far lower key then Croydon, Thurrock, Woking and Slough but only goes to show that the level of corruption and incompetence extends across the board and across all political parties.

N V Brooks ● 1206d

'Firstly, there is appointment of the Mayor which some Labour councillors allege was undemocratic even though, as far as I can see, Labour Councillors voted for him.'But did they? Were Labour councillors allowed to choose from several candidates at a meeting of the Labour group? From what is known that did not happen - they were told who they were getting and threatened with disciplinary action if they defied the Whip, hence no-one had the bottle to vote against the instructions at the Borough Council.  Frankly anyone saying 'well Hounslow isn't as bad as others' is daft, do we want to wait until they are as rotten as some of the others or ask what the bloody hell is going on now?

Vanessa Smith ● 1206d

"... he will try and wriggle out of losing his role by saying he was including social media posts he had seen."On social media, as far as I can see Cllr Sayyar Raza isn't on Facebook or Twitter and I can't see any comments from him on NextDoor. Besides, his words were specifically about emails.  He said, "I've been getting loads of emails, hundreds of emails, saying how good the LTN scheme is". You can hear him here; the claim starts at around 1.11.45: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3PnWUjimuUAs for wriggling out of it, this was the defence, as published in an article in The Chiswick Herald: "The Labour Group has since responded to these allegations stating that Cllr Raza has admitted that ‘he was speaking figuratively in referring to hundreds of emails and should have been more careful with his language’. They also stated that members of the committee, including Cllr Raza, received ‘a large number of emails’ ahead of the meeting on 11th April."On the "large number" Cllr Raza said he received 75 emails. I received 74 of them plus another 11.

Joanna Biddolph ● 1206d

Okay, there is clearly an element of pants on fire here but you are a member of a party which was led by a man who lied more often, more unambiguously and caused far greater harm to the nation with his untruths so glasshouses and all that.

Francis Rowe ● 1206d

Are you saying "two wrongsMake a right"

James Dow ● 1206d

Nice attempt at whataboutery there, Francis. This thread is about LB Hounslow and its Labour leadership.

Richard Greenhough ● 1206d

God forbid you should ever accuse Vanessa, a former Hounslow Labour councillor, of ever being a member of the Conservative Party.

N V Brooks ● 1206d

Vanessa would need the smelling salts at such an idea ! However, Francis' post was addressed to Cllr Biddolph.

Richard Greenhough ● 1206d

My mistake. I wish this forum allowed threaded replies.

N V Brooks ● 1206d

You just have to check the indents.

Richard Greenhough ● 1206d

https://www.facebook.com/tanveer.kiani.31/videos/179251548104923/The Labour Party and others seem happywith the new Mayor and his record in the Community.... Chiswick must fit in!

Jim Lawes ● 1204d

Furthermore... other YouTube reports say that the new Mayor was elected unopposed! Is that correct reporting?Is that democracy? No descent or discussion allowed?

Jim Lawes ● 1204d

No descent. How low can you get!

Robert Fish ● 1204d

Such laggards. But then, the Eye lost the plot a long while back.

Russell Pearson ● 1203d

Still one of the best sources of investigative journalism in the UK. The Post Office Horizon scandal would never have been exposed, nor would the extent of PPE profiteering were it not for Private Eye.

N V Brooks ● 1202d

Completely agree - the Eye was all over the Post Office failures and also the ongoing 'park homes' abuses and many other scandals.

Vanessa Smith ● 1202d

With apologies for a bit of flagrant thread hi-jacking....I've been a faithful subscriber to the Eye since the days of my youth - even had the odd contribution published. The end result if this is that I have over 50 years' worth of magazines, mostly in binders, that really need a new home. There was a time when these used to be bought and sold quite readily, but no longer it seems - I enquired of a seller advertising in the Eye classifieds what sort of response he had received, and he said there had not been a single enquiry. Anyone got a suggestion as to what I should do with them? I can't believe I'm going to have to throw them out.

Bruce Hammal ● 1202d

I am in the same boat. Fifteen binders full and I know that I am never going to open those binders again. No one wants them and even those offered for free on eBay attract no bids.

N V Brooks ● 1202d

What about the local library?

Vanessa Smith ● 1202d

I’ve been a fan of Private Eye since about 1962, the same time as I used to watch TWTWTW, the age of the ‘satire boom’.  I recall that Gerald Scarfe was the regular cartoonist.  I would love to look again at one or two of those very early editions but I must say that I can recall some shocking homophobia within its pages but of course the past is a different country etc etc.  I’m surprised it’s hard to find buyers though I wouldn’t personally be interested.

Alastair Banton ● 1202d

Libraries don't want them Vanessa. I still have the Lord Gnome flexidisks from the early 1970s.

N V Brooks ● 1202d