Monthly Archives: December 2007

Counting the cost of Brown's Britain

Posted on December 20, 2007 by The Bristol Blogger

£180,000 – the amount of money Bristol City Council will pay their new Chief Executive, career bureaucrat Jan Ormondroyd – who’s never had to take a risk in her life – EVERY YEAR until she chooses to pack it in … Continue reading →

Posted in Labour Party, Local government, Middle East, Ministry of Defence, Politics | Tagged , , , | There are 2 comments

"Bloody foreign onions, coming over here, taking our shelves …"

Posted on December 19, 2007 by The Bristol Blogger

“I, for one, wasn’t put on this earth to make life easy for British farmers, who are a reactionary and misanthropic lot as a rule – gaily destroying wildlife, backing blood sports, feeding animals the remains of their relatives and … Continue reading →

Posted in Bristol, Journalism, Media, Middle class wankers | Tagged , , | There are 13 comments

Building (empty) schools for the future

Posted on December 19, 2007 by The Bristol Blogger

It’s official. A recent Commons answer reveals that empty school places in Bristol have spiraled alarmingly upwards since Bristol’s much touted £270m ‘Building Schools for the Future’ (BSF) programme has started delivering new schools in the area. In 2001 Bristol … Continue reading →

Posted in Bristol, Education, Labour Party, Local government | Tagged | There are 5 comments

Compare and contrast:

Posted on December 18, 2007 by The Bristol Blogger

“We want our city to be an ambitious city that includes and values all citizens – whatever their backgrounds, needs or lifestyles. We want to drive forward real change that makes a difference to people’s lives. We want to ensure … Continue reading →

Posted in Bristol, Bristol Evening Post, Culture, Developments, Labour Party, Local government | Tagged | There are 16 comments

SWRDA: Those executive travel expenses in full

Posted on December 17, 2007 by The Bristol Blogger

You’ve got feel for our friends at the SWRDA – Chair Juliet Williams and Chief Executive Jane Henderson – struggling along on pro rata pay packages with benefits worth around just £166,000 and £170,000 a year respectively. How do they … Continue reading →

Posted in Arena, Bristol, Local government, SWRDA | Tagged , , | There is 1 comment

Arena petition

Posted on December 16, 2007 by The Bristol Blogger

The Bristol Rocks website have started a petition over the arena. Sign it here.

Posted in Arena, Bristol, Local government | Tagged , | There are no comments yet

New sweatshop plan for the city's poor

Posted on December 16, 2007 by The Bristol Blogger

After twenty years of failed regeneration wonkery attempting to solve inequality in the city through a bizarre combination of obsessive equal opportunity practice and small-scale community action and six years of Kelly and his culture crowd promising action on inequality … Continue reading →

Posted in Bristol, Education, Local government | Tagged | There are 2 comments

SWRDA: You scratch my back . . .

Posted on December 16, 2007 by The Bristol Blogger

That tireless worker in the public interest, Merchant Venturer John Savage – a board member of the SWRDA – told us earlier this week in the Evening Cancer after the cancellation of the arena project: in the end, we are … Continue reading →

Posted in Arena, Bristol, Local government, Merchant Venturers, SWRDA | Tagged , , , | There are 5 comments

Northern Arc Ltd. update

Posted on December 16, 2007 by The Bristol Blogger

We said on Friday evening that the two Merchant Venturers, John Savage and Colin Skellett, who have seats at the head table of the SWRDA, were currently in talks with Swindon-based GWE to merge their Business West operation with them … Continue reading →

Posted in Bristol, Local government, Merchant Venturers, SWRDA | Tagged , , | There are no comments yet

2008: Year of the comic book city

Posted on December 15, 2007 by The Bristol Blogger

With just two weeks until the frenzy begins, news finally begins to leak out about the city council/Business West £70k a year cultural wallah Andrew Kelly’s grand vision for 2008 – our “city of culture” year. But first let’s reappraise … Continue reading →

Posted in Bristol, Culture, Local government | Tagged | There are 4 comments