“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 the city is safer and healthier for all. And we want to deliver visible improvements to the streets, parks, open spaces, community facilities and transport links in your local neighbourhood – so that wherever you live you can be confident the council is serving you well.”
Helen Holland, Leader, Bristol City Council, 17 December 2007
Sadly those who work, live and play in Bristol can cite a whole raft of public misadventures which have left the city reeling and dented its ambitions.
The theatre is currently shut. The long-awaited arena has been scuppered by a combination of the city council and the regional development agency. The Colston Hall is still nowhere near fit for 21st century purpose.
The Industrial Museum is closed, its successor is growing ever more expensive and the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum is moving to London.
The Wild Walk is shut and is quietly rotting away on Harbourside. while next door the giant Imax cinema has closed too.
We could go on and say the city the Christmas decorations city-wide ill-befit a place of Bristol’s presumed prestige and, allied to all this, those who travel to and through it daily are greeted by gridlock.
So what is it that’s all wrong about Bristol? A place fast making a name for itself as the city where nothing goes right on the civic front.
Anything it touches, anything it possesses, anything which is iconic and specific to the city, seems to be tainted by inertia, lack of vision, decline or outright failure.
You begin to wonder if Bristol is showing the early signs of what could be terminal malaise.
Comment, Bristol Evening Post, 18 December 2007
Wow… the illiteracy and childlike drivel comments of most of your readers befits the utter bollocks you spout from the safety of your anonymous and, may I say, utterly shit blog.
May I recommend any of the following, in no particular order. Get a life, get out more, go and meet women, stop being a tedious little prick, fucking well get over yourself.
Cheers
Not a bad statement- a fine editorial in itself, but really, the Evening Post? They have been instrumental in the decline of Bristol’s public life. As the City’s principle newspaper, they have totally failed to challenge the non-entities who are holding this City back. For years now they have simply been reprinting as fact anything the local establishment spin out free of critisism.
When you look at what than amateur muckracker like the Blogger has been able to uncover in a few months, the failure of the BEP & most of the rest of our tame local media is shameful.
I think Mungo Shuntbox could possibly be, an investor in a lovely property in Bristol. Who wanted to escape the crowded dirty East. Unfortunately its dawning on him/her, how amazingly lifeless and backward thinking Bristol and the leaders are.Is it bollocks about the loss of the Old Vic, Imax, Wild Walk. Bristol is turning into a london commuter town, with takeaways and bars as attractions.
Not many attractions left in Bristol now, bets on the Cube microplex lasting another 12 months..anyone? If only Ray “Bristol Exhibtion Centre” Purnell was still around to mix it up.
Christ, dissenting minds think alike!
I arrive with my mouse heavy with the weight of La Holland’s honeyed words and lo and behold! – her drivel is already here!
Guess I’ll never use that paste……
Our Mungo must be yet another annoyed Council officer/cllr, Business West lackey, SWRDA failure, Labour drone or Northcliffe wageslave.
Truth hurts, dunnit Shuntbox?
I thought it looked like finally, if belatedly, The Evening Post has began to criticise the various civic bodies that run this city – elected or otherwise.
What the last week or so has shown is that the current civic set-up is not fit for purpose.
Bristol CC is neither big enough to effectively change things or accountable enough that the people of Bristol feel they have any say in what happens.
On top of that it has been made explicitly clear Bristol, and government investment in Bristol, is really run by a raft of unaccountable quangos.
The only newspaper in Bristol has enjoyed a monopoly for many years and as a result feels no need to rock the boat or make life difficult for those in power and would rather run with a cover story on a kid tripping up in a playground than challenge those in power.
What sites like the Bristol Blogger do is challenge all of the above to deliver, so of course they are an irritant and comments like those from “Mungo Shuntbox” must be expected – at least the blogger leaves them in.
Solution, increase the size of the city of Bristol to include all the suburbs that depend on it. Ultimately we are back to Avon, but why not, it makes an awful lot more sense than 4 unitary authorities all posturing against each other.
Have an elected and accountable Mayor who is given the power to make real changes and the money that otherwise goes to the various quangos.
So where does the campaign for Mayor of Greater Bristol begin?
Mr Angel, my cap is duly doffed.
Bristol is the only major city in England that has not had it’s borders enlarged in living memory. Consequently, many of the income generating areas of the city, such as the Northern Fringe are located in made-up places called “South Glos”.
Give us all of our city back, give the rural bits of Somerset and Goucestershire back to their historical counties and for Christ’s sake, someone start a political party that actually has the interests of Bristolians at heart, not ineffective corrupt Labour, incompetent Lib Dems and frankly odd Tories.
As Dave Angel says, equip our new-look Metropolitan Authority with some real power so that the likes of Knight, Savage and all the other corrupt gravy-train passengers get the boot and we can start to exercise some democratic control over how OUR tax pounds are spent.
I remember that we had a “Bristolian Party” some time ago that contested a few council seats. It sprung from that departed and sadly missed scandal sheet of the same name.
After our beautiful city is dragged further into the mire (I note the Old Vic may never again open thanks to another Govt quango), surely a party by Bristolians, for Bristolians would fare far, far better this time around.
I just feel that the time is ripe to give the cunts that run this city a real kicking.
Communit facilities?? according to council reports from some departments community facilities could become a thing of the past in the not to distant future.
Unless anyone here knows different ?
Agreed shuntbox your a complete rodney!
It’s much easier to pretend that any dissenters must be “evil council employees” out to “silence the opposition” than face the reality that they might just be someone who thinks you’re an arrogant fuckhead, isn’t it. And kudos to the taxi drivers, Sun readers (“readers” in the loosest sense of the word) and other associated mouth breathers who have chimed in with their (or as they would say, “there”) £2.99 worth of illiterate, reactionary garbage.
SUMFINK MUST BE DONE etc. (though not by me, i isnt clever enuf)
See?
You really don’t like people disagreeing with the status quo in Bristol do you?
Rant all you like my friend. And then go back to licking Simon Caplan’s arsehole – in fact if you’re the chubby rock and pop nut himself, why not get someone like John Savage or Mike Norton to do it for you?
….or Stephen McNamara – he’ll oblige.
Who the fuck are they? I’m not part of your wanky world of moaning so I don’t know who these people are that you seem to hate so much.
Bye, bald twat!
“so that wherever you live you can be confident the council is serving you well” hmmmm BCC must think that people who live in Bristol are stupid, I know our secondary schools are the worst outside London but come on BCC!!! As for the Evil Post, well years of bias reporting on all pages does make me feel pissed off they mention the above, of course they are apart of the local establishment. Just remember readers, none of this would happen in Places like Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Liverpool, Leeds, just to name a few. I wonder if Bristol will follow up on the Liverpool Nativity? and can anyone explain why as part of the planning permission to redevelop the Mem that the council wanted BRFC to invest £10,000 in the local roads but £50,000 in local art projects? heads in the sands!
You’re right there Archie, BCC do think people who live in Bristol are stupid. Problem is some are stupid , Mungo Shuntbox and barry shitpeas for instance
I love the fact the the Blogger riles the likes of Barry/Mungo.
The rest of us enjoy reading about the incomptetence and corruption that despoils our fair city whilst sad little jerks like Barry/Mungo clench their sphincters and bang their little fists in rage at what is probably the most readable blog about Bristol in existence.
As long as the Blogger annoys the likes of Barry/Mungo, then he’s doing a fine job.
Barry/Mungo are just too damn stupid to realise that if they react with their self-righteous, shrill little shrieks of anger, they’ve already lost the argument.
We’re laughing at you, boy.
There’s a few things worth thinking over before forming a political party for Bristol and sweeping to power.
First, at the next election in 2008 only 24 seats – or one third – are up for grabs. Even in the unlikely event that this party managed to sweep the elections it wouldn’t take power.
Moreover running a successful election campaign across 24 wards is going to cost you at least £10,000. You’ve also got to find yourself 24 decent, credible candidates (something none of the other parties can manage) and – here’s the killer – you’re going to need the support of the local press to win.
On top of all this you’ve also got to come up with a serious, realistic, costed, practical manifesto that’s ready to implement. It’s easy enough to slag the other lot off but you’re going to need a clear plan otherwise you’ll end up soon enough – like all the others – gormlessly sat in the council chamber, attending various meetings,drowning in paper work and spouting hot air while the career civil servants run rings around you with their self-serving bureaucratic inertia.
So with the next election just 18 months away, you need to be starting right now …
In my view, if you want to shake the city’s political system to its foundations, you might find looking at the rules around mayoral elections a cheaper, quicker grassrootsier option. As far as I know if 10% of the city sign a petition then the council has to hold a referendum on an elected mayor.
Getting 30,000 signatures is – admittedly – a lot of hard work but it is possible through a combination of the internet and standing on street corners in the cold in Broadmead.
The effect of this on the trad parties would be galvanising, to say the least, as between the lot of them they don’t have a serious candidate and view an elected mayor as a major threat to their current cosy city council carve up and vested interests.
If you contact Stephen McNamara he’ll provide you with the exact number of signatories the petition needs and an approximation of the form of words required.
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