Competition time! Update

Thank you to BristleKRS and Shawn for having a crack at the recycling press release competition.

Although I’m sorry to have to inform you that unfortunately it wasn’t a real competition at all. It was in fact a rhetorical device to draw attention to the council’s recent citizen’s jury on waste and the fact that they appear to have decided to introduce a charge – for the first time – for the collection of extra waste, which the council’s press release then attempted to disguise.

If it is the case that waste collection charges are to be introduced then the Rubicon truly has been crossed on this issue and expect, over the next few years, further charges for waste collection – on top of your council tax – to be slyly introduced at every opportunity.

What the jury has certainly not backed are Bristol Labour Party’s election promises. On a number of leaflets they published during this year’s election they promised a return to weekly rubbish collections, to scrap charges for bulky waste collections and to introduce special arrangements for inner-city areas.

They certainly did not mention anywhere anything about charging for waste collection. Strange that.

The Blogger has now taken delivery of the draft report of the citizen’s jury. Look out for further posts on this issue throughout next week.

Unsurprisingly not one local journalist has taken The Blogger up on his offer to supply them with a copy of the draft report. We can only conclude that either:

1. They already have a copy and we can expect an EXCLUSIVE from them early next week. This is unlikely because these reports are quite hard to come by apparently. The Blogger’s even been contacted by the Bristol’s Lib Dems asking for a copy!
2. They don’t need a copy because they know for sure that the citizen’s jury process was 100% watertight and represents a new dawn for democracy in Bristol. What’s there to criticise?
3. They couldn’t give a toss about original journalism or this city and will just publish whatever the council’s press release says about the citizen’s jury as fact.

But fret not comrades. The Blogger will continue to fearlessly deliver the news others seek only to suppress!